Hearing in-depth about Daphne and Ethel's disappearance, Theodore rubbed his chin as he and Lila sat across from the bedeviled couple as they held each other's hands in comfort as they tell the duo the same story as they told the police.
When they finished, Theodore asked questions about Ethel and the MacDonalds answered his questions.
She came from Scotland after her husband passed away a few years ago and needed work, the MacDonalds hired her as their nanny and they've never had any problems with her.
Daphne loved her nanny, if there were any problems, she would've told them instantly.
"What do you do, Mr. MacDonald?" Lila asks him what he did for a living and Nathan tells her that he worked as a banker, he'd finished working out a deal expanding a business into Ireland, they were set to leave for Dublin a few days ago.
Nathan's sure no one in his business had any part in the disappearance of his daughter, he primary deals with small businesses. He couldn't authorize anything above that and if this was some kidnapping attempt, they couldn't do much to force his hand, he simply didn't have the pull.
"Well, what about money, in general?" Theodore asks how they'd re financially, if there's a reason for them to suspect that this' a ransom, but Nathan said they're not awfully rich by any stretch.
He's at risk going into debt keeping him and his wife here, in hopes of finding their daughter, their trip wasn't supposed to be this long.
"The police said that there's a chance they could've been trafficked, that there's no chance they'll be found," Beatrice sniffled lightly as she tells them what the police told her and Nathan.
The MacDonalds have no political or financial ties to anyone, they're a simple family, the police told them that because of this, it's likely that their daughter and nanny became victims of trafficking, and they can't hope to find them after a certain point.
Once they leave the city, that's that.
"They said it's happened so many times, it's almost impossible finding the fiends," Nathan shook his head disapprovingly about the argument between him and the constables.
The constables received numerous reports over the span of months about missing people, that it's near impossible for them to reasonably track down every lead that came through their desks.
Without solid leads and evidence, they're chasing ghosts at this point, and that alone made Nathan's blood boil.
"Is trafficking that big of an issue?" Lila inquired as she watched Nathan pour himself another glass of bourbon.
There's doubt in Nathan's voice as he said that he spoke to other people, even the salacious types, and they told him differently.
Yes, there are instances, but not on the scale happening.
Nathan ended up talking to someone who's main job's transporting women between cities and he mentioned that the rate of people disappearing bothered him, because it's drawing unwanted attention.
More, even the salacious types had their own disappear without a trace.
Since they can't reasonably go to the police without risking themselves getting arrested, they're forced to fend for themselves, and it's not going well according to the Shanghaier.
Women of the night simply disappearing during their shifts, causing a stir among their pimps who believed they ran off, leading them to accuse each other of stealing, getting into fights as they're trying to find answers.
Lead to bloody noses, broken noses, and unwanted attention by the police that drove them back underground in attempts at thwarting capture.
What bothered Nathan the most's the randomness of the disappearances, there's no theme to it like one expected, and this didn't help the police, either.
People of all walks disappeared, from destitute to a noblewoman, they've all disappeared, but nobody saw them since, and if who Nathan talked to meant anything, it sounded awfully like the work of a serial killer, only time will tell if anyone found a body.
"This many people going missing in one city alone, wouldn't that raise an alarm?" Lila turned towards Theodore for guidance as he processed what Nathan told them, before saying that it's about statistics.
The noblewoman's disappearance would've warranted action from the police because of her status, but even they couldn't find a trace of her, and it drove Theodore into asking what Nathan found in his quest for answers.
Anything from witnesses, something collaborative, and it took the weary man a while to respond before he finally said that in all his inquiries on the disappearances, every witness mentioned them disappearing into a shop, when police go there, they find it empty.
"What's the shops?" Lila asks Nathan more on the shops the people disappeared into and she's told by Nathan that the witnesses weren't observant in that regard.
Looking into the shops the witnesses reported seeing the missing people enter, Nathan found they're empty and been for sale for quite a while.
"Please Doctor, if there's anything you can do, we'll pay you. It won't be much, but, please, find my little girl," Nathan begged Theodore for help, offering to pay him handsomely for his trouble, and Theodore comforted him before telling him that payment isn't necessary.
These types of businesses didn't warrant payment, justice is his reward, and Nathan needed the money more than Theodore did, anyhow.
Poor man nearly broke down in tears as he thanked Theodore for helping them, Beatrice holding him.
Everything Nathan knew given to Theodore, the duo began their search for his missing daughter, with Al helping find records on the fly for them, reporting what he can.
"Forty-six-year-old woman and a five-year-old girl, in a city of hundred thousand somethings, in a time where you learn more from pubs," Lila summed as she left with Theodore in the TARDIS, reappearing somewhere else for the moment, wanting to give them privacy, and room for the MacDonalds.
Sighing as he rubbed his nose, Theodore says, "That's about it, yes."
Finding a lost child and her nanny, not exactly Theodore or Lila's job description, but it is the duty of the Doctor to help anyone who needed help, so they went ahead, and tried their hand, anyway.
Nathan's sure it wasn't the work of a trafficker, there hadn't been reports of bodies, nobody he talked with knew what became of the missing people.
"So, there's a chance they're still here," Lila hedged a guess that the victims are still somewhere in the city, given nobody saw them elsewhere, and no reports of bodies found.
If so, it's a matter of deducing where exactly they're located, how many are involved in this, and how to proceed with caution.
Maybe not the same universe, but the last thing they need's a version of Jimmy Crane running around calling the shots.
Lila didn't not want to encounter another one of him, even if there's a chance that one's decent!
Thinking it over as they began walking, Theodore said that Nathan found in all the abductions, dozens of shops involved, but the police couldn't find anyone, as the shops were supposed to be empty.
"Someone's using empty storefronts," Lila summed that the person or persons they're looking for's using empty buildings as fronts for kidnapping unsuspecting people.
Get whoever they wanted, take up everything they used to lure people inside the shop, nobody's the wiser, and without a name, the police don't have leads.
Still, all that effort to furnish a small shop just to capture people before dismantling the shops didn't make sense, but with everything Theodore and Lila experienced, nothing ever does.
"Come along Lee, we've much to do," Theodore motioned with his large hand as he guided Lila through the busy streets of Birmingham, getting an idea on how someone could've easily swooped into an empty building and using it as a front to kidnap people.
One thing they're noticing's that the few empty buildings they found on their walk were all in heavily populated areas, with enough people that reasonably setting up a front would've caught attention, and with the layouts, sneaking captured people out of the buildings under the cover of darkness wouldn't work, either.
"You think they're sticking around?" Lila asked Theodore's opinion on the chances of the culprits responsible for the kidnappings absconding with their victims from the city once the heat got to them, but the aloof giant tells her that he isn't sure, but if it'd be foolish if they did.
Thinking like a criminal for a moment, it'd be stupid staying in the city after kidnapping a handful of people, knowing that the populace becoming nasty would've put a ding in productivity.
Kidnapping a noblewoman's a bold move, considering that her family would've paid heavily for her return, and police weren't above taking bribes from wealthy families to do their biddings.
Whoever kidnapped them probably made their way through Europe by now, maybe further, evading authorities and those salacious people wanting revenge for the kidnapping of their prostitutes.
"Whether they're still alive, I don't want to think about, not yet," Theodore summed he didn't want to get into the discussion whether or not the people kidnapped are even alive still, until they're at the point.
Nodding, Lila held his arm as they walked through the busy streets, getting an idea on how someone worked out the plan.
The city's not as bustling as London, smaller, yet there's enough ambiguity that someone with brains and a healthy dose of sadism could've easily made work without anyone finding damning evidence.
Turning the corner, the two overheard a paperboy arguing with his friends.
"If it's true, why don't you try it?" Theodore heard a boy tell another boy, but the boy refused, telling him it should be him.
Snorting, a nasally boy hissed, "Everybody knows it's true!"
The arguments continued until they took off running the moment, they saw Theodore and Lila walking up, leaving a small paperboy who looked at them with his small hazel eyes, radiating disdain.
"Why were you arguing?" Theodore inquired why the boys were having an argument like they're debating a book.
The small paperboy, grim on his face and all, snorted at him, showing contempt, despite being about eight years old.
Even though Theodore towers over him, he's still sharp.
"What's it you?" the small paperboy looked up at Theodore with his hazel eyes.
Shrugging his wide shoulders, Theodore asks him why he was arguing with his friends just now, but the paperboy wouldn't tell him anything.
Thinking it over, Lila lightly nudged Theodore, subtly reminding him of the golden rule.
Acknowledging it with a wink, Theodore looked back to the paperboy, telling him that it's too bad, he would've paid for a decent gossip these days.
"Oh yeah?" Theodore heard the small paperboy with buck teeth and grim on his nose look up at him as he crossed his arms.
Hm, the one time they didn't accept payment because it wouldn't be useful elsewhere, and being there's no ATMs during this time, it wasn't like Theodore could've stopped by one.
Mulling it over, Theodore remembered the psychic paper that he and Lila carried around them, deciding that a white lie won't hurt much, especially when it comes to possibly getting bogus information.
"Suppose a deal, you tell me what you were arguing about and I'll pay you," Theodore tells the paperboy as he reached into his pocket, fishing out the psychic paper, clasping it in his hands.
The small paperboy stared into his icy blue eyes and already, Theodore sees he's been hustling since he was in nappies because he wasn't convinced until Theodore gave him half now.
"Fine," Theodore rolled his eyes as he went and paid half of the deal he wanted from the paperboy.
Well, the paperboy didn't explicitly say he wanted to be paid in money, did he?
"What's this?" Tim looked at half of a pastrami sandwich with bewilderment that Theodore procured just now, having convinced a nearby deli with the psychic paper that they'll receive proper payment in a few months.
Theodore smiled mercilessly as he tells the paperboy that he paid half, now Tim's gotta talk.
"I wanted money!" Tim balked as he looked up at Theodore with disdain for swindling him, but the aloof giant put him sharply in his place in the only way he knew how from his uncle, and it caused the boy to stop his foolishness.
Besides, food now, money later, won't have much energy to hustle if he didn't eat, now.
Having lost this battle, Tim's forced to tell the two what he and the other paperboys argued about.
There's a rumour about a monster coming from underneath the manhole covers around the city, that if someone went down into the sewers when they see a manhole cover off, they'll see it, and they won't come back.
"When did this become a thing?" Theodore asked the paperboy as he munched on the pastrami sandwich with a smidge of mustard.
As he inhaled the first half of the sandwich, Tim tells Theodore that it was talk among the children for a while, now, but none of the adults believed them.
Said it was their wild imaginations and that was that.
"It took little Susie!" Tim tells them that the sewer monster took the little sister of one of his friends, but the family wouldn't believe him, telling him that he imagined it, that someone kidnapped her.
Never found her again and his friend moved away with his family in grief.
Blinking, Lila asks Tim if anyone caught sight of this alleged monster, but Tim said that nobody saw it, but he doubted they would live to talk about it, if they did.
"We call it the Bogeyman," Tim gestures as he tells them the name the children gave the monster that plagued them. "It went after some children from an orphanage, but the police don't care none!"