"They didn't know anything, Dad," Rose told Pete on her mobile as she and the Doctor pounded the pavement on their way back to her car. "Jake was there with a woman and we got a description – that's all we have to go on." She noticed the Doctor shoot a curious glance in her direction. Rose knew he was wondering why she wasn't saying anything about Jake's I.D. badge or the paper rose clearly meant for the Doctor. But she had her reasons. Chief among them was that she didn't trust Torchwood – not fully, not yet. Sure, she had worked there and her dad ran the place now, but they were all still novices when it came right down to it. She knew better now than to give away all her cards unnecessarily. Rose inwardly shrugged; probably something she picked up from the Doctor. And when it came down to it, it was better with just the two of them. They were simply just more capable. They had always only needed each other – only relied on each other. It was a habit that worked. "We want to interview some of the blokes that Jake talked to. The ones that disappeared. Got any contact information on them?" Rose asked her dad.
After Rose shoved her mobile back in her pocket, she dug out her car keys and zipped up her jacket as she shivered a bit from the cool breeze. The Doctor stood on the other side of her car, arms resting on the top of it as he studied her. If the cold affected him at all, he didn't show it. "You withheld information from your superior," he said. His tone was stern, but his eyes were curious and appraising.
Rose opened the car door. "Torchwood is always on a need-to-know basis with me."
The Doctor followed suit. "And you don't think they need to know about Jake's I.D. badge?" he asked.
Moving the car into gear, Rose bit her lip and glanced quickly in his direction. "More like I don't reckon they need to know about the note left for you. At least, not yet. If someone is going to find out why that is, I'd rather it be us first."
He hid a smile, pressing his lips together in a thin line, nodded, and looked out the window. "You want to filter the information; control what they know and how the information is presented."
"Right," Rose said. "Somethin' wrong with that?"
Sighing, the Doctor said, "It's not very Torchwood of you."
"We're freelance now, remember. If they want our help now, it's by our own rules."
"But why would you think to filter information about the note left for me?"
Rose shrugged as she drove to the address that her dad gave her. "S'pose 'cos it's personal now."
"Instinct taking over?" the Doctor asked her. "Covering your tracks, camouflaging your nest? A very basic survival tactic."
"Yeah, I guess it is," she admitted. "Why? You gettin' an idea?"
The Doctor made an exaggerated frown. "It just seemed like a very logical reason to hide something from them – because it's personal."
Rose finally realized what the Doctor was getting at. "You think that's why Jake did all this in secret, yeah?"
"Makes sense," he said. "We've been wondering why he went rogue on this one. Could be for a similar reason that you just did."
"I'm not going 'rogue.' I just didn't tell them everything," Rose protested. "Not used to sharing everything. And I'm really not used to relying on loads of people that I don't know very well to handle things that I'd rather do myself." She smiled at him with her tongue between her teeth. "Might have picked that up somewhere."
"Jake's pretty similar then, actually," the Doctor said. "He admires and trusts your father and Richard. But we have to remember that when we met him, he only trusted a small group of ragtag friends. It was only them against the big, powerful Cybus Industries. It stands to reason that he would be as distrustful of the organization that Torchwood is becoming, doesn't it?"
Rose nodded. "I see your point. So we just have to figure out why this assignment was personal to him."
"If I had to guess," the Doctor rationed, "I'd say that it was probably for the same reason that you hid the information about the note left for me from your father. Someone he cares about is involved. He's protecting someone. We just have to figure out who that someone is."
"Well, this could be a start," Rose said, parking the car. She and the Doctor exited and stood on the pavement staring up at a huge, posh building. "Flat of Harvey Larkin. He was the most recent disappearance that turned back up three weeks ago. He was a strugglin' author but ever since he reappeared, Mr. Larkin signed a huge publishing deal on his next crime novel and hit his big break. He quit his job as an assistant editor and moved in here. His twin sister, Selma, reported him missin' and he won't tell anyone where he was. He's hosting some gathering here tonight to celebrate. They're callin' him the new Dan Brown."
"We're going to crash his party?" the Doctor asked her. He looked delighted at the prospect. "Psychic paper would be handy right about now," he said, rubbing his chin.
"Who needs psychic paper when you're the mysterious Vitex heiress?" Rose asked him and strode right up to the man standing at the glass doors. "Rose Tyler and Doctor John Smith," she said simply.
The man (who was obviously security judging by how large and imposing he was) stepped back a few paces and said something into his headset.
"Oh, tell me it's not that easy," the Doctor said, holding back laughter.
Then he stepped forward again and nodded at her. "Right upstairs, Miss Tyler. You'll want to hit the lift button for the penthouse."
"Thanks," Rose told the man and went inside. When they got to the lift, she turned to see the Doctor grinning like the cheshire cat. "Somethin' funny?" she asked him, smiling back at him because she already knew.
"All this time I've been running around with psychic paper, lying through my teeth, when all I really needed to do was pick up an heiress. Best keycard in the world, you are," he said, his enthusiasm lighting up his face making him look positively boyish.
She laughed. "There are perks to being moderately famous."
"Next you'll tell me that I don't need to sneak and sonic my way into high security facilities," he said as the lift doors opened.
"I don't know if the perks extend that far," she said. "But usually the Torchwood clearance helps with that."
"Blimey, I think I might actually miss hearing 'halt' and having guns waved in my face."
"Oh, don't worry," she quipped, "I'm sure with the trouble the two of us get up to, that'll still happen."
"Good," the Doctor said as Rose pressed the button for the penthouse. "Wouldn't want to get out of practice."
