Chapter 6 - Who knew?
"Alright, Martha, Gwen with me to the hospital." Jack said.
"What's happening?" Arianna asked. She looked up at Jack with her big blue eyes, he picked her up and she put her arm round his neck.
"Don't worry, minor crisis." Jack said, "Ianto will look after you, right Ianto?"
"Yep, I'd love to." Ianto said from behind Tosh.
"Alright, be good kids," Jack called out, he kissed Arianna on the head and put her down again. "If you find anything else let me know."
Jack walked off, Gwen smiled at Arianna before following him but Martha knelt down in front of Arianna.
"We'll talk more later okay?" She asked.
Arianna nodded, then unexpectedly she put her arms around Martha, Martha smiled and gave Arianna a hug. Owen raised his eyebrow, "Well there's something you don't see every day," he muttered as he walked back to his medical bay.
Arianna was usually slow to trust people, she was only really at ease with the team because she had spent so much time with them, but she hardly knew Martha.
"Alright, I've got to go now." Martha smiled, "See you later."
Arianna let go and stood watching as Martha went after Jack and Gwen. Ianto walked up to her and took her hand, "You like Martha then?"
"She's nice," Arianna smiled.
"What about me?" Ianto asked with a cheeky smile on his face.
Arianna looked confused, "You're nice too."
"Just nice?" Ianto asked.
Arianna caught on to his teasing, "You're very very nice, the nicest nice person I know" she smiled.
"That's more like it," Ianto chuckled.
She looked up to Ianto and raised her arms.
Ianto laughed, "Come on then," He said as he hoisted her up.
Ianto carried Arianna to her room so that she could get ready for bed. Once Arianna was in pyjamas and curled up under the covers Ianto got out a book, he usually read to her at night, apparently that's what her father used to do. Before long Arianna had fallen asleep and Ianto went to find Owen and Tosh to see if he could help.
In the hospital Gwen, Martha and Jack were alone in a room with patient Marie, who was in bed and wired up to many machines which were monitoring her. Martha took a vial of blood from the surviving victim.
"Yeah, but the doctors said they'd finished with me." Marie said.
"We're a bit different." Martha told her.
Gwen walked over to the other side of the bed, "We know this is tough on you, Marie. But did you recognize the man who attacked you?" she asked.
"I already told the police." Marie said.
"We're different from them, too." Jack informed her.
"No, I never seen him before." Marie told him.
"Did he say anything in the course of the attack?" Gwen asked.
"No." Marie replied.
"Open wide." Martha told Marie as she took a swab sample from Marie's mouth.
"Look, he just ... he just came towards me with a great big bloody needle,
didn't he? You know, my dog bit him and then I kicked him in the nuts." Marie said.
Jack laughed, "Respect!"
Once they got back to the hub Owen and Martha set to work, they moved fast and worked well together. Martha grabbed two bottles with orange and green liquid inside. She handed them to Owen and he put them on the table. Martha then grabbed the squeeze bottle and tossed it over to him, Owen caught the bottle with ease.
Martha smiled she was enjoying herself, it seemed almost like a game rather than work. Owen grabbed another squeeze bottle and a cylinder off the side table. Martha then opened the cover off a Petri dish whilst Owen uncapped a bottle and put some
liquid from the two squeeze bottles into it. Martha scratched the bottom of the Petri dish as Owen shook his bottle and muttered something to her that made her laugh. Owen added a few orange drops to his bottle. And Martha continued working.
Owen looks at a transparency film.
"This is a... three four." He said.
Martha just nodded.
She held out the slide and Owen added a couple of drops of the stain mixture from the bottle he was holding. He put the bottle down and took the slide from Martha.
Owen then went to the computer and typed something in.
They kept working for another half hour until they reached the point where they were both leaning against a work table and watching a blue blob move across a screen, Owen broke the silence.
"So you and Jack go back a long way?" Owen asked.
"Forward and back really." Martha said.
"And Arianna get's on well with you, I was surprised she hugged you, no offense or anything but it usually takes her a while to trust people." Owen said.
"Yeah, I have to say I was a little surprised." Martha paused, "But then she's a sweet girl."
"Yeah she is, a sweet alien girl." Owen added. "Jack won't tell us what she is, but we know he knows."
"Maybe he has a reason for keeping it from you." Martha said.
Owen huffed, "So what brought you two together?" Owen asked, referring to Jack.
"Let's say… we were under the same doctor." Martha replied.
Owen looked confused but Martha changed the subject. "These killings - why the ammonium hydroxide? It's a weird way to kill someone."
"Yeah, Yeah. It's gross. It's like injecting them with bleach." Owen agreed.
"Unless the objective isn't just killing." Martha said suddenly.
Owen raised his eyebrows, "It's destroying something in the victim's bloodstream."
They both took a step towards the monitor whilst they were thinking.
"It's getting rid of evidence!" Martha said, she turned to Owen who nodded in agreement.
Jack called a meeting and the whole team gathered to exchange information that they had collected. Marie's picture and information was on a board for them all to see clearly and they all sat around the large wooden table.
"Locally, we've got a murder victim and a survivor. Both attacked with
hypodermics, both with their medical records wiped." Jack informed them.
"And more cases across the UK. We think the point of the attacks is to
destroy evidence of their medical condition." Martha added.
Jack looked over to his left, "Gwen, Ianto, pursue the criminal investigation."
"Okay." Gwen said and Ianto nodded.
"Martha, Owen will follow up with the medical side." Jack said to his right.
"Fine," Owen replied.
"Tosh, any luck in retrieving those medical records?" Jack asked her.
"Not yet. I'm gonna have to dig down into the system memories, see if I can
find any remnants of deleted or temporary files. Completely illegally, of course." Tosh told him.
"Do what you have to. We're not dealing with a freak with some needle fetish.
This is a conspiracy." Jack said seriously.
Gwen and Ianto drove out to investigate another body that had been found in the woods. Once they got back Gwen told Martha what she had found.
"The attack took place in the woods, so no witnesses, no CCTV." Gwen explained.
"Same as the others." Martha said.
"Yeah. Tosh just checked Barry's medical records - already wiped." Gwen replied.
"And the puncture mark on his eyeball was identical to the other victims. I
mean, Jack's right. These attacks are not random, they're clinical. Professional. More
like assassinations." Martha said.
"Except Barry Leonard was a student. Who'd assassinate a student?" Gwen asked.
"Student Loans Company." Martha replied.
"Yeah, yeah, I think you've just cracked it." They both smirked but Gwen continued, "But why delete medical records? You know, what did all these people have in common?"
"Owen's analyzing Marie's test results now. I'm hoping that will give
us an indication." Martha told her.
"So we're still in the dark, no idea where the killer will strike next
and the attacks are getting more frequent." Gwen sighed.
"We keep looking, Gwen, we'll find something." Martha reassured her.