Chapter Seven

Ianto stood at the front desk of the Tourist Information Office, anxiously trying to remove the coffee stain that Owen had left there the previous day, when the bell rung as the front door was opened. Without even bothering to look up Ianto sprung into his usual opening line ...

"I'm sorry, we're clos- ... oh my god!"

As he looked up, Estelle stood in the doorway, her face covered in dried cuts and purple bruises. He rushed out from behind the counter called Jack over the comms system.

"Jack, you'd better get up here. It's Estelle!" As he got closer he noticed that she also seemed to be suffering from what appeared to be a massive hangover. "Are you OK, what happened?"

"It's alright Ianto, I'm fine, really, it's nothing" She took Ianto's offer of an arm and walked over to the counter, just as Jack arrived.

"Where the hell have you been? I was beginning to get – " He stopped short as he noticed Estelle's injuries. He rushed to her side and placed his hands on her shoulders as he examined her face.

"What happened? Who did this to you?"

"I don't know, I don't remember"

Jack took her gently by the hand and led her down to the main area of The Hub.

- T – T – T -

"Wait here, I'll find Owen" Jack instructed her as he walked off towards the MediBay to find Owen. Estelle absent-mindedly watched Toshiko for a moment or two; she was deep in thought at her workstation. Estelle felt her consciousness cloud momentarily, as though she was half asleep – not quite dreaming, but not quite awake. She walked over to join Toshiko, she was suddenly fascinated by all the computers and monitors, intrigued by the data and graphs flashing and winking across the screens. However, she found herself drawn to one in particular. She turned to Toshiko,

"This looks complicated!"

"Not really! That's the Rift Activity Locator" replied Toshiko smiling, impressed that at least someone had taken an interest in her latest project.

"What does it do?" asked Estelle, still not feeling entirely with it.

"It tells us when and where the Rift is active at any point in time. If you look here, you see that spike?" She pointed at the screen. "That shows where the Rift was active 4 days ago." Toshiko leaned in towards Estelle, her voice quietened almost to a whisper and she smiled smugly, very pleased with herself "I've given the programme a bit of an upgrade recently so now it can predict future spikes too!"

"How does it work?" Estelle asked shortly.

"It measures fluctuations in Rift energy and background radiation levels within the local environment then compares them against current and recent atmospheric conditions. It runs that data through the Predictor Programme (subjecting it to a series of mathematical equations) and – Hey Presto!" Toshiko frowned slightly "Unfortunately it can only predict to a nearness value of 99.8% within 72 hours, but I'm sure I'll get that ironed out in a few days!"

"Do you predict anything happening soon?" Estelle asked, her expression blank as she stared intently at the screen, trying to take in all the information in front of her.

Toshiko turned back to face the monitors and shook her "No, all seems pretty quiet at the minute" She looked back up at Estelle and indicated to her bruised face "Are you OK?" she asked quietly.

Estelle's expression returned in a flash, her mind suddenly clear and as alert as she always was. She nodded, slightly confused.

"I'm fine! Thank you Toshiko." The atmosphere lightened as Jack reappeared followed closely behind by Ianto. Jack held in his hands a vast amount of cotton wool balls and a glass bottle containing a curious, thick green liquid.

"Typical - never a medic around when you need one!" Jack teased and motioned to Estelle to go up to his office.

"Before you go –" Ianto interrupted "I'm making some coffee Estelle, would you like some?"

Estelle stopped on the bottom step "Actually, Ianto, do you have any tea?"

Ianto stood. Dumbfounded. He looked at Estelle as though she had spontaneously sprouted two heads right there in front of him. Jack laughed and gestured to Estelle to escape while she still could!

"What? I like tea!"

- T – T – T -

Safely within the privacy of his office, Jack pulled out a chair for Estelle and shut the door.

"What happened?" He asked her gently

"I don't know, I can't remember." She replied shakily. Jack poured some of the green liquid from the bottle onto a piece of cotton wool and started to clean the wounds to Estelle's face. She winced as it stung.

"Stop it! – It'll help." Jack scolded teasingly. "What do you mean you can't remember?"

"I mean I can't remember. Everything's a bit hazy."

Jack examined a cut on her forehead in closer detail, and then continued to clean it.

"Who the hell did this to you?" He said, unsure of whether he was actually talking to himself rather than her.

"The funny thing is, I didn't even have that much to drink last night! I must've fallen over on the way home from the club – " Estelle stopped short. She bit her lip nervously as she realised she had let slip to Jack that she been in the one place where Jack had asked her not to be. She turned her head away to avoid his angry glare. She hated it when he was angry with her. It wasn't that she was frightened of him, far from it; it was just that she owed him so much.

"You went there? After everything I said? Who with?"

"Nobody - I'm sorry! I was just ..." Estelle faltered "I didn't want to go home. But, what's the prob-"

"Wait a minute – "Jack suddenly interrupted her "– you said 'last night' –" He frowned and replaced the lid on the antiseptic solution.

"Sorry?" Estelle was confused.

"You said you went to the club 'last night'"

"Yes. I asked you but you said you couldn't come and everyone else was busy, so I – "

"Estelle, today's Thursday! You've been missing for nearly 2 days!"

"What?" Estelle stuttered "Don't be absurd!"

Jack sat down at his desk, opposite Estelle.

"OK Look", he took a deep breath "Start from the beginning. What's the last thing you do remember?"

It was Estelle's turn to take a deep intake of breath. She closed her eyes and tried to think but her memory was cloudy.

"Last night." She said eventually "I had dinner at Gwen's. I left there about 10.30 then I went to the club." She paused, then opened her eyes and looked worryingly at Jack. "But … that's it; I don't remember leaving there, I don't remember coming home or anything. Then, I woke up this morning looking like this. I don't ... 2 days?"

The phone on the corner of Jack's desk suddenly burst into life. It's antiquated ring startled the pair of them. Jack picked up the receiver.

"Hello?" He paused. "Who is this?" He asked sternly. "How do you know her?" His gaze switched to Estelle, and his face darkened. "No, you listen to me, 'cos I have a big problem with this. I don't tend to listen to people who go around beating up defenceless girls. NowWHO THE HELL IS THIS?"

The telephone line went dead. Incensed, Jack slammed down the receiver, stood up and stormed out of the office. As he reached the hallway, he turned and pointed directly at Estelle.

"Stay here!" He said angrily as he flew down the stairway into the main Hub and made his way to Toshiko's workstation.

"Toshiko!" He barked "I need you to check some CCTV images from Tuesday night. A club called 'Catch 22' in Splott. Check every image. Every entrance, every exit, and ... every toilet if you have to. Find Estelle. I want to know who she talked to; who she danced with and ... who she happened to … do… anything else with!"

"But..." Toshiko protested

"JUST DO IT!"

- T – T – T -