Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! All I can say in response is... read on and see! :-)
Enjoy!
"So what are we investigating?" Seo chirruped, skipping alongside them. "Is it a mystery? Does it have to do with aliens? Or other-dimensions? Or hell demons? Once, I met this hell demon, and he was—"
"Actually, we're investigating the disappearance of a certain… Mr. Gerald Keating," said Madam Vastra, calmly. Her dark veil drawn over her face, so that the general public couldn't see her lizard features. "A normal-looking man, by all accounts. Ran a small chemist's shop, no wife, no children. But he had a penchant for selling… scavenged alien artifacts, on the side."
Seo took this in. Her face bending into concentration. "Dangerous ones?"
"Any alien artifacts can be dangerous in the wrong hands," said Jenny Flint.
"We'd been trying to stop him for some time," Madam Vastra explained. "But he always manages to slip through our fingers. We did originally ask for help from the…" She paused. Then muttered, "But he never helps anymore."
And dropped the subject.
They arrived in the chemist's shop where Keating used to work. Jenny Flint and Madam Vastra searching for clues. Trying to work out what could have happened.
Jenny Flint waved her wife over, pointing at something in the wall.
Yanked down a book from the bookshelf.
And it swung open.
"Secret door," Madam Vastra confirmed. Following Jenny Flint into the back room. "Well done."
They examined the artifacts, carefully. Looking them all over, Madam Vastra offering her best guess on what they were and what they might do. Jenny Flint glancing back at Seo, who was holding one of the artifacts in her hand, very quiet. Her face… expressionless.
"Very clever, you said," Jenny Flint hissed.
Madam Vastra snuck a peak at Seo. "Perhaps… she's thinking?"
Jenny Flint nodded. Then stood up straight, smoothing down her skirts. And strolled over to Seo, a friendly smile on her face.
"What's that?" Jenny Flint asked, pointing at the orb in Seo's hand.
Seo jumped at Jenny's voice. Spun around, only just seeming to register Jenny was there. "What's what?" She looked down at her hand. "Oh. That." She shrugged. Then tossed it over her shoulder. "No idea."
Madam Vastra dove for it, catching it before it hit the ground. Just in case it was something dangerous that Seo shouldn't be tossing about.
"I was just thinking," said Seo. "All this… it's just bits and bobs. Odds and ends. Rubbish!" She kicked a metal contraption, which broke apart under her foot. "None of this actually seems to be a thing. Just… pieces of a thing."
"And many pieces can be compiled to create a whole," said Madam Vastra.
"But only by someone who knows the technology," Seo qualified. "None of this, by itself, would have gone off randomly and vaporized this Keating bloke. In fact, I'd say that in order to build something using any of this, you'd need to already have some alien technology stashed away. Which means… even if Keating didn't have any sense, he'd work out what was going on, and begin stocking up on…" She rushed over to the shelves. And began picking up all the carefully labeled items. Examining each in turn.
"It means the people who bought from him were already alien collectors," said Madam Vastra.
Seo laughed. "What? No!" She spun around, showing them two handfuls of items. "Keating worked out the perfect business model! This isn't an alien technology emporium! It's a spare parts shop for alien spacecraft!"
"Spare… parts?" said Jenny Flint.
Seo dropped the items on the ground, save for one. Which she tossed at Jenny Flint, who caught it.
"Most of this stuff I can't identify," Seo admitted. "But that bit… and a few others… I recognize. That's a power converter with a flux limiter. And this one," tossing another part at Jenny, "is a sparking trigger for a starter motor."
Madam Vastra looked over at Seo, a bit intrigued.
"Torchwood's around, at this point in history, right?" Seo said. "I'm guessing most of the really good bits went to them. While this Keating bloke got whatever was left over. Made a modest living out of it."
Jenny Flint and Madam Vastra both froze, at mention of Torchwood.
Exchanging nervous looks.
"You think… Torchwood's involved in this?" Madam Vastra confirmed.
If Torchwood was involved, then they'd probably have to give the case up. They were all too familiar with Torchwood's treatment of alien life forms, and neither wanted to risk Vastra getting anywhere close to them.
Seo thought it over. "Possibly," she said. "Then again… by Jack's account, while Torchwood did shoot a lot of aliens at this point in time — Jack was pretty clear that Torchwood didn't tend to kill people who'd be missed."
"Keating could have been recruited," Jenny Flint offered. "To the Torchwood team."
"Could have been," Seo admitted. She stepped forwards, analyzing all the shelves, closely. Then all the items on the shelves. "This is very neat and tidy. Every item numbered, tagged, and then kept in its proper place."
"Yes, well, some people do believe in tidiness," Madam Vastra muttered. Thinking of their kitchen.
"We've seen items missing," Jenny Flint offered. "Numbers skipped. Probably items he'd sold on."
Vastra stepped, cautiously, alongside the shelves. Her eyes fixed on their labels. "Then we make a list of the missing numbers," she decided. "There are too many items here for him to have memorized all their codes. He must have written down what they stood for, or at least where he found them. We could try to reconstruct—"
Seo was already out the door.
Grabbing up a fire-axe, as she left.
A crash of splintering wood sounded from the main shop.
And Seo re-emerged, seconds later, with a series of ledger accounting books, all neatly ordered and stacked.
"We match them all up against these," Seo replied. Tossing Jenny Flint the spare ledgers, and flipping through the one in her hands. "If he's that neat and tidy, he'll have accounted for everything he sold." She skimmed her finger down the page. "We work out who he sold them to, and what… he…"
Seo paused.
A deep frown settling across her face.
"That's odd," said Seo. She looked up at Madam Vastra. "This… Keating. You sure he was human?"
"He smelled human," said Madam Vastra, coming over to Seo. Leaning down to look in the ledger book. "Why?"
Seo pointed. "He's very specific with the names of all the parts. Almost like… he knows the ins and outs of alien space ships."
"But… how would he have acquired that knowledge?" said Madam Vastra, squinting at the book. "Unless an alien was helping him."
Jenny Flint flipped through one of the books Seo had handed her. Then cried out, in triumph.
"Or," Jenny Flint proclaimed, "Edward Grover."
Madam Vastra looked up.
Jenny Flint had turned the book around, pointing at accounting journal entry she'd been analyzing. Written in neat handwriting, Keating had recorded, "Sold item 412, Jezobian facetted bolt set, to Mr. Edward Grover."
Seo looked between Jenny Flint and Madam Vastra, confused.
"Edward Grover," Vastra explained, "is a very rich collector of alien artifacts. He used to work for Torchwood, before he became disillusioned and stepped down. He guarded against their attempts to wipe his memory by using his connections to government officials."
"We've worked with him before," said Jenny Flint. "Used his knowledge to help us save the world. If something's happened, here… perhaps Mr. Grover would know about it."
So off they headed.
To confront Mr. Grover.
The Doctor was frantically digging through the TARDIS.
Trying to work out where his jacket had gone.
"No," said the Doctor, flinging clothes around the wardrobe. Bringing out pinstripe suits and long scarves and panama hats, then throwing them aside. "No, no, no!"
He'd been certain he'd left it in the console room!
But he'd already looked there, and it was nowhere to be seen. Nowhere at all.
"Should have bought a duplicate of the jacket," the Doctor muttered. Bringing out a bin of clothes stuffed together, and pawing through it. "Knew I should have bought a duplicate! Even Amy told me…!"
He trailed off.
Decided he didn't want to think about Amy, anymore.
"At least I still have my sonic screwdriver," said the Doctor, bringing it out of his trouser pockets. Fiddled with the settings. "Perhaps… I could set it to detect some sort of… residual artron energy in the jacket's fibers, or…" He paused. "No, that's daft. That wouldn't work."
But the sonic began to bing, anyways.
"It's clearly picking up on something, though," the Doctor muttered, following as the binging got louder and louder, leading him right back to the console room.
He sighed, as he re-entered it.
Turned his glare on the sonic screwdriver.
"Yes, I've already looked here," the Doctor chided the sonic. Waggled a finger at it, as it gave another bing. "And don't give me any of that! I don't even know what you're tracing!"
He still followed the bing sound.
As it led him beneath a pile of discarded items he'd thrown onto the ground, back when he'd first been looking for his jacket.
"I looked here," the Doctor grumbled at the sonic screwdriver. Digging down in the pile. "I'd have remembered finding it. My memory's perfect! Mostly."
He stopped, when he got to the bottom of the pile.
And discovered the note, left for him.
The one the sonic had been carefully guiding him towards.
The Doctor popped back to his feet, note in hand, head bent in alarm, as he read through it.
"Father… dinner party… big disappointment… crushing my hopes and dreams… yada yada yada…" the Doctor skimmed through the rest of the front side. "She does natter on a bit, doesn't she?"
Flipped it over.
His eyes bulged.
"I have borrowed your clothes and made some alterations," the Doctor read aloud, "since you're retired and won't be needing them to be all impressive and save the world anymore!" Then, his voice rising, "The bow tie makes a rather lovely hair ribbon?!"
He scrunched up the note in his hand, slamming it on the floor.
"Oh, you are in so much trouble when I find you!" the Doctor shouted, racing outside in his shirtsleeves. "Everything I've done to the Daleks will be nothing compared to what I'll do to you if you've harmed that bow tie! Mark my words!"