Chapter Five
Curtain
The Doctor frowned as if he had just been told that he couldn't eat the last biscuit at a tea party- which was a really disproportionate response, Ace thought. He could be at least a bit worried that someone was threatening to kill her. A bit of outrage would be nice. "I'm sure we can all work this out logically and calmly over a nice cup of tea," he offered.
"Give me my coat back," the man said coldly. The Doctor quickly tossed it back, and he caught it with the hand he wasn't using to brandish the knife. Ace caught the time on the digital display. One minute. And the train was slowing down.
Oh, god. We're too late, thought Ace. The train loudspeaker was saying something, but she couldn't quite hear it, being slightly distracted by the drama unfolding around her.
"You're an assassin, aren't you?" asked the Doctor, almost curiously. Ace wanted to shout at him to hurry up; the train was about to stop, but it was all she could do to breathe anyway. "A hired thug. Now, I wonder what that girl did to deserve a professional killer?"
"She saw too much," he sneered. "Just like you."
Out of the corner of her eye, Ace could see the man with the mobile phone slowly dialling a number. She thrashed around a bit more, not because she thought she could get free, but to distract him. The Doctor must have noticed, too, because she saw him wink ever-so-slightly at her. Or was that just a trick of the light?
"I'd appreciate it if you would put my friend down," he said. "I'm sure she would, too."
The train stopped, but the doors hadn't opened yet.
"What will you do to me if I don't?"
"Nothing," said the Doctor happily. "But I'm sure the gentleman behind you will."
The murderer spun around, loosening his grip on Ace, who promptly punched him in the jaw. There was no one behind him, and there never had been.
"Good work, Ace," the Doctor said as the doors hissed open. He pressed the alarm button on the side of the door. "Would you mind holding him down until the police arrive?"
"No problem," said Ace, and sat on him, twisting his arm up behind his back until he yelped. The passengers on the train compartment all looked at each other.
"Er," said one. "Can we go?"
"Sure," shrugged Ace. "Just send the police in here if you happen to see them, okay?"
They filed out, still sending nervous looks back at Ace and the Doctor. The man with the mobile phone hung back for a moment.
"Thank you very much," said the Doctor to him warmly.
"We really couldn't have done this without you," Ace added with a genuine smile.
He shook his head. "You really aren't police, are you?"
The Doctor and Ace looked at each other, and Ace burst out laughing. "Police? Can you imagine him in a uniform?"
The Doctor grimaced a bit, as if trying to picture it, deciding that it was too much effort, suddenly realising what it would actually look like, and then immediately trying to forget it. "Er, yes. Quite. No, we're just passers-by."
The man with the phone left the train, leaving them alone with the man Ace was currently sitting on. She frowned with a sudden thought. "Professor," she said suspiciously. "You didn't plan this all as a test for me, did you?"
He looked genuinely shocked. "You think I'd plan the murder of an innocent girl just as a test?"
"Well, no," she admitted. "But you could have found out beforehand and, I don't know, got us here just to do this whole deduction business."
He shook his head; leaned over and tapped her nose fondly. "Whenever did you become so suspicious?"
"I had an excellent teacher," she replied. "Now, after we've taken care of this, can we get something to eat? I'm starving."
He smile, and leaned back in his seat. "I know an excellent place near where we are right now. They serve arguably the best sushi on this planet."
"Sounds good," Ace said. She paused. "I was wrong," she added. "You're the Sherlock Holmes here."
"I prefer to think of myself as Hercule Poirot," he said, with a little quirk of his mouth.
"And I suppose that makes me Miss Marple," she returned.
"Yes," said the Doctor. "I rather suppose it does."
The End.