Red Dragon Centre; Cardiff, Wales

Ianto Jones stepped into the coffee shop and hesitated. Anxiety flares were few and far between, but he couldn't help but remember the attempted robbery and the chaos that followed. The same cashier was behind the counter; she smiled at him. He'd spoken to her a couple times since than. He ordered his usual.

Laren was already seated at a table against the far wall. The elderly woman was impossible to miss. She preferred bright colored clothes. She'd chosen the spot so they could both have their backs to walls and see the room. Part of it was consideration for his problems. She didn't talk about it, but she had her own.

"The cashier thinks you're cute."

"Did you see the news about…"

"Yeah. Are you okay being in here?"

Ianto sipped his coffee. "She thinks I'm James Bond."

"A bad ass in a suit." Laren smiled. "Does she know about Jack?"

"Yeah. She asked me if he was hot while we were hiding behind the counter. I said he was." Ianto shrugged.

Laren laughed. "And she still hits on you?"

Ianto gave it a moment. "The office is crazy right now. The case in Forest Farm from a couple days ago."

"I read about that to." Her humor faded. "I appreciate you meeting with me." She looked at her hands cupping her coffee. "After the problem with my sister's husband, I signed up for the foster care program. I have time and money and…" She signed. "I'm good with kids. I've got a lot of experience. But the child I have right now, he has something going on with him. The social worker implied she'd failed to place him in a religious home. I took that to mean he had an issue with Catholicism."

"What happened?"

"Little things. When he stared off into space, I just figured he had problems. Goodness knows care is Hell on kids and none of them enter the program from good situations. Then things started getting moved. He wasn't stealing anything. I wouldn't find anything in his room. But things I always kept in the same place were somewhere else. I thought the boy was exerting control or something. Then I started hearing things move. Doors would open and close. Furniture would be at odd angles or whatever. I mentioned it to the kid's psychiatrist." She shook her head. "Have you ever watched a chair move across a room by itself? I checked it for rigging. But he doesn't built things or disassemble radios."

"You think he's haunted?"

"It sounds crazy, I know. He's a cute, quiet little boy. He doesn't yell or talk back. He behaves better than my sister's grandkids." Laren closed her eyes. "The whispers started on Tuesday. Or maybe I just didn't hear them before." Pause. "I know I'm flighty. I prefer not to take anything seriously I don't have to. But there is something going on with this kid. I called his social worker yesterday and asked her if there was anything she hadn't told me. She asks if I wanted him moved." Laren opened her eyes. "I don't want to toss him out. I want to know what's going on."

Ianto doubted it was as simple as a haunting. Best case scenario might be a Rift ability or other psychic ability. There were ancients and aliens. Then he remembered the Neal family case files. Bree's family thought their house was haunted. It was a stretch, but if there was even a remote chance, they couldn't risk. Bree's family had been murdered and Torchwood had been unable to determine cause of death.

"I need to call Jack. We will check your house. I need the child's name, his social worker and any doctors/teachers or other people who interact with him. Including other children." Ianto removed a notebook and pen from his inner pocket. "Birthday and parents' names too."

"Thank you." She started writing.

Ianto needed to call Nessa. Despite his connection to Lewella, he knew very little about area abilities not associated with the Rift. They might need information from Colina Dove, Nessa's aunt. He would likely be the one to talk to her. Colina didn't like Gwen for some reason, and Bree was at the Refuge in Kenya indefinitely.

Torchwood Three

John Hart stepped into Jack's office. Dmitri called about a case, but didn't say much. After seeing the police report for Forest Farm, he accessed the Torchwood file. The reference to George the Dragon and the reptile-like claw marks reminded him of the prophesy Idrissa mentioned. The whole attack on the wedding appeared to be engineered to make them aware of it. According to the general, Idrissa's sisters were psychic but unstable. Interpreting their visions was complicated by psychological problems and accuracy was uncertain.

Jack looked up from a tablet on his desk. "Dmitri's packing equipment."

"He told me to talk to you. This isn't about Forest Farm?"

Jack smiled. "No."

"A new case?" Anwen mentioned missing children. She'd overheard Ianto talking to Gwen. That involved interviewing nuns and visiting homeless shelters.

"A ghost hunt."

"Ghosts?" John crossed his arms.

"Laren, a friend from a social group, has concerns about her foster son. Moving objects and furniture. Opening and closing doors."

"Ha ha."

"You need to look up the Breanna Neal file prior to leaving. We have nothing connecting the case to Bree. It's the only case I know of where harmless haunting activity preceded a Torchwood situation was Bree's family."

"Any indication of haunting with the missing kids?" John asked

"No. But we have no witnesses who aren't involved somehow. We can't ask the foster parents anything that would give them a possible defense."

"Do we have victim profiles on the missing children?"

"Partial," Jack replied. "Ianto has been working on it. We don't have enough information on most of the kids."

Nor a solid victim list. Street kids were hard to track. "Have shelters outside of Cardiff been checked?"

"Yeah. Officially, the charities can't transport minors. But teenage boys have been relocated to London shelters. The Sisters are concerns that homeless girls are moving toward Cardiff, not away."

Shit. "Cult?"

"Best guess currently."

Laren McDougall's House

Dmitri Petrescu parked Ianto's car in front of the house. If anyone asked, they were cleaning her carpets. The mini maintenance bot in the backseat was nicknamed Roomba after a vacuum cleaner. It fit. As he had no idea how modern vacuum cleaners worked, he hoped no one asked.

"What is eye candy expecting us to find?"

Dmitri couldn't help himself. "Why do you call Ianto that?"

"It's a long story," John hedged.

"He's dating your ex?"

"Originally. Now it means I'm annoyed with him."

Dmitri had an uneasy feeling as soon as Ms. McDougall opened the door. The device on his wrist wasn't indicating. Nothing about the owner or the house stood out immediately.

Dmitri waited until the door closed behind them. "Ma'am." He hesitated. "Do you have any magical items, unusual antiques, or alien technology in the house?"

"No." She looked at John briefly.

"Did you see everything the boy brought with him?"

"Yeah. He barely had anything."

Dmitri took a moment. "Anything other than clothes?"

"Why?"

Dmitri had no idea how to explain that. Culture had changed a lot since the days he learned to investigate. Even asking for Torchwood to review her house didn't mean Ms. McDougall believed in the paranormal. After everything that happened, people didn't necessarily believe in aliens. "I specialize in oddities."

"Uh. He has an old superhero toy."

He hoped that wasn't it. "Can I see it?"

"Yeah."

John said, "I'll do scans."

Ms. McDougall led him through the house. The boy's room was in the back. With Ianto's investigation into the missing kids, he'd heard a lot of foster care nightmare stories. His childhood hadn't been fun either. The small bedroom she provided said a lot about her. It had toys and books and a thick bedspread.

"He keeps it under his pillow."

Dmitri crossed the small room to check the toy. He did not want to take a child's prized possession. He lifted the pillow and checked. It thankfully wasn't the figurine. Relieved, he remade the bed. Then he looked around. Nothing felt off.

"What are you looking for?"

Dmitri wasn't sure. "Something about your house makes me uncomfortable."