We entered the small door on Kreston Street. John was the lead, I was in the middle, and Harry was the last one. That place wasn't safe, so Harry, being his kind-self once again, offered to come with us. John convinced me to accept, saying the more the merrier. I wasn't sure about the merry part, but certainly two tall skinny men in suits were better than just one, especially in that place, so I ended up agreeing. I could smell the illegality and mobster's sweat from the entrance.
Getting down the spiral staircase, we got to a corridor, it had just one door in the end of it, so we walked till there. I gulped, feeling scared and a bit excited, all at the same time. The Doctor opened the door and there was the market, with tents and small shops everywhere, and customers walking around. We could buy anything there, from bottles with drugs, to weird animals in cages and collectible items. All looked a bit shady.
"Act naturally," said John to us, and both me and Harry agreed. John looked like a natural, as he already was part of the scenery. The child-like detective that I met through the day was out, and a different man was there. I had to admit I preferred the puppy version of him. That John was pretty scary. I gulped.
"It's okay, ma'am, you don't have to be afraid," said the driver, who was walking behind me.
"Thank you, Harry. You are a good man," I smiled.
We kept walking till the Doctor stopped on a tent. There was an old woman there, her hair was in an updo, and she was wearing a black dress. She looked at us uninterested.
"Do you have cyanide?" asked John, shortly.
"No, but that old rag has. There..." she said, pointing to a man, sitting by himself just two or three tents from where we were. The man's hair was gray, but he looked younger than the lady. Just like her, he seemed uninterested by our arrival. He didn't seem very eager to sell, in the end.
"I was told you have cyanide," John said, using a deep tone.
"Who wants to know?" asked the man, and I looked at John nervously.
"I'm the Doctor, those are Ginger and Driver," he said.
"Never heard about you," he asked suspiciously.
"We could fix that, old rag," said the Doctor, with such a terrifying glance that even I shivered in fear.
"I have it, but just in powder," the man said, as scared as I was. At least he was starting to take us seriously for once.
"Does it take too long to have the effect?" asked John.
"The same as always," said the old man.
"So, five days would be enough?" asked John.
"If you want to make it look natural, you could make it last for a week or more," said the old man.
I was disgusted. I couldn't believe we were discussing how much time it would take to kill someone with cyanide. Worse than that, I couldn't stop wondering if Lance had that same conversation with some of those vendors, when he was planning to kill me.
"Ginger, go ask about the snake for me. Driver, help her," said John, all authoritarian. Normally I would have slapped him to call me ginger, but since we were on a mission, pretending to be the worst people in the universe, I agreed. He was probably trying to spare me from all that cyanide poisoning talk. Harry followed me to the next tent.
"Are you alright, Mrs. Noble?"
"Yes, Harry. Don't worry."
He smiled, and I smiled back.
"You know, they have some pretty weird stuff here," he said, trying to distract me.
I smiled, grateful for his kindness. I looked around, finding specially curious all those spiders inside a big transparent jar. They were big and creepy, and I would hate to find something like that in the middle of the night. Thank goodness my killer wasn't the creative type. I sighed. I still couldn't believe it was Lance, and a big part of me was convinced it was all a very bad dream.
"I can see that," I said. "Creepy little things."
"Some of them are not that bad. Have you seen the bats?" he asked, probably trying to distract me.
I looked around, and saw a cage with giant bats. They were almost vampires, and that was pretty scary. I was about to make a snarky comment to Harry, when I saw my husband, walking around. He didn't see me, but he entered a shop. My heart dropped, and I felt it way heavier than before, as it had turned into stone. Lance was there! He was really there!
"Harry, have you seen my husband?" I asked, but my driver looked surprised.
"Mr. Bennet here? Are you sure ma'am?"
"Yes, I am!" I said, feeling as the ground had opened to swallow me. I couldn't deny it anymore. My husband was really there. I ran to the Doctor, being followed by Harry.
"Doctor, my husband is here," I whispered to John.
"What? Are you sure?" he asked.
"I am. I know I saw him!"
"Where is he?" asked the Doctor, talking through his teeth.
"That shop," I said, pointing to a door. "We must follow him," I said, taking the lead.
The Doctor called me. Harry did the same, but I didn't care. I had to follow Lance, I had to talk to him. I saw him entering a door, and followed. He was my husband, for God's sake! I wanted to... No! I HAD the right to get my answers. That was dark inside, I couldn't see anything or anyone. Where Lance went? I felt the Doctor behind me.
"I saw him, Doctor. He is here," I said.
"Are you sure this is the right place?"
"Yeah."
The door suddenly closed and all became dark. Suddenly, I felt someone grabbing my arms.
"Oy! Let me go! What the hell is going on here? Lance, is that you?" I asked, but there was no answer. Instead, someone gagged me with a piece of fabric. I started to struggle and scream, but that was in vain.
"Doctor!" I yelled, but it came out as a muffled sound.
They sat me on a chair, and tied my arms. Then a light was turned on over my head. I felt my head pumping on something. Someone. There was someone else behind me. I tried to call the person, but there was no answer? Could it be the Doctor?
"Donna..." Yes! That was the Doctor, but his voice was weak. What have they done with him? I yelled again, but my words were indiscernible.
"Hello, Donna," that was Lance, coming to me. I looked at him surprised. What the heck he was doing?
"It is so good to hear you silent for once! After two years your squeaky voice started to drive me crazy."
My voice? What was wrong with it? He had never complained about my voice before.
"You know, Donna. I should get a medal for marrying you. I was a hero to all of mankind! But even a hero gets tired of you. A person has limits…" he said. What he was saying? It looked like he was a martyr, and I was a damn monster. But I've never forced him to marry me. Okay, I might've nagged him a bit to propose to me, but he played along with it. How was I supposed to know he was annoyed by me? I… I just wanted to stay with him, because I loved him. Was that wrong? I felt my tears running down my cheeks again.
"Oh, and here goes the crying! Cry me a river, Donna…"
"You bastard! That's why you poisoned her, because you were tired of Donna?"
"You must be the Doctor, right? Or detective John Smith. I'm sorry my stupid wife dragged you into this," said Lance.
"Donna is not stupid," said John.
"Oh, Doctor, you don't know my wife as I do. All she knows are celebrities and cosmetics. That idiot doesn't even know what the capital of Germany is, and I'm not exaggerating. Tell me, Doctor, could you spend your life with a woman like that?"
"She loved you! That should be enough," he said.
"I'll take that as a no," said Lance, walking away.
After all those years, after everything that happened. I loved him! I was loyal to him! And that was what I got? No way! I started to move again, trying to free myself. The ropes were too tied, but I couldn't care less. I yelled, asking for freedom. He obviously couldn't understand me, but it worked. Rolling his eyes, Lance took the fabric out of my mouth.
"Talk, you tart! Talk! Even like that I can't stand you!' he said.
"How could you, Lance?"
"What were you talking about love, Doctor?
"I loved you, you idiot! I really do!"
"You are pathetic Donna. You, know, I'm done with the talking. Master, end your job," he said.
Harry stepped into the light.
"Harry? What is going on here?" I asked, confused.
"Harold Saxton, Donna" said John.
"Who?"
"The guy Mickey was investigating, Harold Saxton."
I looked at Harry, surprised. He smiled, amused. God! Even the driver!
"It's you? And you paid for him, didn't you? So the poison… Oh my God, Lance!"
"Donna, you are so thick! I can't believe it took you that long to understand," said Lance, folding his arms.
"Lance, we can work that out! I can change."
"Sorry, Donna. But it's necessary. You see, I want to marry Racne."
"Racne? Your secretary? Are you kidding me? That tart? You are doing all that for that tart? Lance, I'm gonna kill you!"
He laughed.
"Let's finish this, I have another appointment later," said the Master, annoyed.
"Okay. Start with the detective then," he said.
"My pleasure."
"Wait! He has nothing to do with that! Let him go!
"No, Donna. You don't need to…" said John.
"Sorry to drag you on, John. I didn't know my husband was such a knob!"
"I won't miss that. Not at all. Actually I won't miss anything about you. Not even the sex," laughed Lance. That was hard to hear. Looked like he wanted to kill my soul before ending the job. That was torture.
"Killing two will double the price," said the Master.
"Really? Come on! You brought them here!"
"Are you complaining?" asked the Master, and I couldn't recognize him anymore. His kindness was nowhere to be seen.
"Fine then! I can pay you with her money," he said.
"So that's it! You also wanted the money, right? You wanted to get rid of her, but stay with the money. So you started poisoning her. But then what? It wasn't fast enough?"
"Exactly! She started receiving the letters, and the idea came. Easy, right? While the police is investigating the letters, I'm off the hook"
"How could you?" I asked crying again.
"Now, I'm just going. You can handle this, right?" he asked the Master, with a satisfied grin.
"Just go," said the Master, rolling his eyes.
Lance went away and we stayed there, tied up.