Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Torchwood or it's characters
Note : I can't believe it, chapter 6 already. I hope you guys are still reading ^^
Chapter 6 – St Mark Shipping
The run from the park to the police station was short and as he crashed through the doors, he found himself nearly falling onto Gwen and Ianto, who were stood waiting. Standing up straight, he straighten his jacket and smiled lightly. Running a hand through his hair, he looked ready to start talking, but Gwen cut in.
"St. Mark Shipping, it's a company which both of our bodies worked for, and also Mr & Mrs Smith, a case from about 2 months ago, which were killed in the same way. So you met their daughter, Claudia then?" Gwen watched as Jack shuffled about on the spot for a moment, before nodding.
"You could say I met her." He gave a nervous laugh. "That does not matter anyway, what we need to do is get to St. Mark shipping and find out what is going on. You got an address for the place then?" The reply to Jack's question came in the form of Ianto waving a piece of paper in his face and smiling lightly. "Good job, lets get going."
Once Jack had had a look at the address, he lead the way to the building. It was a grey building, making it blend in with all the other buildings in the street it was on. 6 floors high, the name of the company was written on a small board which was fixed to the wall just by the doors. There seemed to be no life coming form the building itself, the windows were all covered up with blinds and the main doors were dark and uninviting.
Pushing the door slowly open, Jack looked inside and smiled at the small woman who was sat doing her nails at the front desk. She had blonde hair which was tied into a bun with chop sticks through to try and look more stylish. Filing them into a point, her nails were going to be a painted a deep red gloss, until she saw Jack stood waiting to talk to her and a smile appeared over her thin pale lips.
"Hiya, how can I help?" She asked in a very fake happy voice, putting on a smile and giving a light giggle. Jack smiled back, before placing a hand down on the desk and leaning close to her face.
"Hello. I'm here to see your boss. We're Torchwood. So, if you would not mind telling us where to go, we will leave you to your nails." Jack spoke in a mocking tone as he looked down at the woman, who smiled, nodded, before standing up and pointing to the lift.
"5th floor. Just take the lift straight up. I'm sure my 'boss' is waiting for you." Both Gwen and Ianto headed over to the lift, looking back at Jack who smiled, stroked the woman's cheek lightly and whispered something in her ear. A laugh burst from her and she blushed, before sitting back down in her chair. Gwen rolled her eyes and Ianto pressed the button which called the lift.
While Jack was walking over, the doors to the lift opened and the light inside flicked slightly, before a pre-recorded female voice sounded 'Welcome to St. Mark Shipping, we hope we can help you today'. Ianto was the first to step inside and he held a button in to stop the doors shutting while Jack and Gwen got into the lift. The three looked at each other, before Ianto was watched letting go of the button for the lift doors and pressing the one for the 5th floor.
As the doors shut, Jack spoke up. "Don't look at me like I just committed a crime. I was telling her that she did not need all the make-up to look nice. Did you see her, perfect skin, perfect hair? Don't you think it's a bit odd that someone can look that good WITHOUT make-up on? I know the difference between someone wearing make-up and someone without it. That woman did not have a ounce of foundation on or anything."
"Some people are just that lucky Jack, maybe she was born to parents who had good skin and hair, it's not something uncommon you know." Gwen said low, crossing her arms as she watched the numbers going up on a small screen above the lift doors.
"Gwen, nothing is normal with us." Ianto said, almost in a whisper as the lift stopped and the doors slowly opened. The hallway which the lift connected to was dark, the lights trying to come on but failing. The only light which could be seen, was coming from a room at the end of the hallway, the door partly open. Gwen, Ianto and Jack looked at each other before heading out of the lift. The doors crashed shut and the lift disappeared back down.
"Looks like someone does not want us going back downstairs then." Jack gave a small laugh as he removed his gun from the hostel around his waist. Ianto and Gwen copied Jack and slowly inched down the hallway towards the door. They were guessing it was the office of the boss of St. Mark Shipping, but no one could be sure with the poor lighting.
Gwen was the first to reach the door and keeping her gun out of sight, slowly pushed the door open more. She looked inside and a small 'Hello' left her lips, before she pushed her gun back into the hostel.
"I was told some people were here to see me, Torchwood is it?" The gruff man's voice came from the office. Jack raised an eyebrow as he looked over at Ianto for a moment, before slipping his own gun away, which was an action repeated by Ianto not long after Jack. Gwen opened the door enough for all three of them to be seen and also for them to see inside the office at the man sat inside.
The office was like any normal office, a desk with a chair, filing cabinets with files in, an old computer sat working on the desk along with a number of photo frames which their guessed had family photos in. The walls had once been white washed, but had started to turn yellow over time and the paint work was peeling badly. The man sat at the desk was nearly the same colour as the walls, going yellow from sickness. His hair was falling back in patches and any left hair had turned a mix between grey and white. The only part of him which looked young was his eyes, still bright, still full of life.
Looking at Gwen, the man's eyes moved onto Ianto and then fixed themselves on Jack, which caused a smile to form on his lips as he sat there. He rose up from his chair and held out a hand to them, it was meant to be shook, but no one took it. His nails were a deep yellow, and his hands were old with age. He left his hand stay in mid air, before Jack pushed forward and took the hand, shaking it lightly.
"Hello, I'm Jack Harkness. Captain Jack Harkness. And you would be?" As he asked the question, he let go of the man's hand and took a step back. The man replaced his hands in his pockets and made a small bow towards the small group.
"I'm Mark, head of St. Mark Shipping. I don't remember having made an appointment to see anyone, so this is a shock." Mark sat himself down in his chair and looked up at the three. "So, how can I help you then?" His voice was calm, slightly too calm for Gwen's liking and she eyed him wearily as he was sitting there.
Gwen went to open her mouth, but Jack had already planted himself down in the only other chair in the room, his legs crossed so he looked more at ease. "Well, we are looking into the deaths of four people who used to work for this company. You wanted to know if you knew anything which could help in the investigation." Mark seemed to be weighing up the answer in his mind before he spoke, trying to collect the correct words.
"Well, it has been a great lose to the company. And my heart goes go out to the families of those who have died." But his eyes were telling a different story, joy mixed with fear showed out of his bright eyes.
"Yes, it must have been hard on other people working here to lose 4 people in 2 months. Do you know anything about what happened to them, a reason why they could have been murdered like they were?" Gwen piped up, not liking to be left out. Her question caused Jack to look around at her and gave her a stern look to 'be careful about what your saying'. Ianto was just happy to stand with his back against the door frame, looking down at the floor.
Mark played with a pen for a moment, before shaking his head. "I know of no reason why someone would wish to kill them. They were some of the best workers I have had in my company. Always willing to do extra hours, happy to help on the weekend when they did not have to work. Like I said before, it has been a great lose to the company, but then again, no one lives forever. It was hard to fill their places in this place, but we found people in the end willing to work here."
"Do you find it hard to employ people then?" Ianto suddenly asked from the door, not looking up as he did so.
Mark looked shocked and smiled gently. "No, it's not finding the people, it's about how they fit with the people already working here. You know how it is, people build up friendships and you can't just put someone else into the picture to replace them." Both Jack and Gwen looked at each other and at that point, Jack sighed and Gwen looked to the floor.
"Well." Jack slowly stood. "If you can think of anything which could help, please don't hesitate to call the police and let them know. Thank you for your time." Mark made a small nod, before smiling at them all.
"Any time." His voice trailed off slightly as the three left his office and headed back down towards the stairs. The door to the office closed and the light in the hallway all but went. Finding their way back to the lift was not easy, but soon they were outside the cold doors and looking about for the button to call the lift. There did not seem to be one.
A growl appeared behind them, and someone screamed before everything went dark for Gwen, Ianto and Jack. Bright red eyes appeared in mid air and a laugh rose from a dark figure stood looking down at the stunned bodies of the members of Torchwood.
"Shame, this is what happens when people stick their noses into my business."
OOC - Continued