Trick or Treat

3

Benji leant on the side of his battered old car, smoking a cigarette. It was getting on for eight in the evening. He'd had to cut his shift short so he could come and collect Katie from the Halloween school disco; it was the party for the younger kids that night at Turing High. There was no way he was letting his eleven-year-old daughter go anywhere on her own with these particular crimes currently afoot. There were a lot of adults milling around out there, many of them giving him dirty looks for smoking at all, and especially near a school. It probably wasn't allowed on school premises, so he took another drag and then flicked the butt away, stubbing it out in a puddle. Katie hated him smoking, she was always trying to get him to stop; Maria, too, complained about it whenever she saw him, asked him not to do it around their daughter – which he never did, but she never ceased to remind him.

Before long, kids accompanied by a handful of teachers began to file out of the front doors, dressed in their Halloween costumes, carrying bags of sweets and laughing. Benji was so detached from pop culture that he didn't recognise what most of them were even dressed as, aside from the cliché ghosts, ghouls and goblins. He barely even knew what Katie had gone as, just that she was wearing a very hard to find princess costume. He'd had to get the train into London to find somewhere that had it in stock; probably because he'd left it too late. But he'd still recognise her anywhere, and she came ambling out of the school with her friends. When she saw him she beamed and ran straight over. He wondered how long it would be until she stopped being happy to see him.

"Careful, there," he said, crouching a little, "You don't want to slip and hurt yourself."

"You're not late this time," Katie said. That stung – 'this time.'

"I got off work early," he said, "To make sure you're alright."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well… you would, of course," he said quickly, then went to change the subject, "Did you have a good time at the disco?"

"Yes! Look at all these sweets I got," she showed him her haul, "It's especially good because you won't let me go trick or treating." She'd been guilt-tripping him about that for over a week now, but with these new murders, he was even more rigid in not letting her go wandering around the streets and knocking on doors.

"Just don't eat them all at once, you know what your mother will say if you need another filling."

"She'll tell you off for letting me eat sweets." That was exactly what Maria would do when she got back into the country next week. He usually only had Katie on the weekends when he was able to get time off work; during the week was very chaotic, but she'd had to go back to Barcelona for a funeral.

"It's Halloween! You can have as many sweets as you want if you brush your teeth." Probably not the best move for responsible parenting, but he wanted to avoid more arguments about trick or treating.

"You should brush your teeth. Your breath smells again." Because he'd been smoking. He sighed.

"I'll have a mint in the car," he said, straightening up and turning to open the car door.

As he did this, he glimpsed something very unusual on the road near the school. Tearing away into the night was an ice cream van. Benji wasn't used to seeing ice cream vans driving around in the evening in October, but while that piqued his interest, it wasn't the strangest thing about the vehicle: that award went to the driver. He was only able to glimpse the figure in the front, but it was sickeningly familiar. He could have sworn they resembled the bizarre costume found in Carter's Confectionary early that morning, the animatronic mascot that had been lingering ominously by the light switch, that was so unnerving nobody had bothered to turn the lights on. But how could an empty costume be driving an ice cream van around? And why at that time of night?

He dug a pen out of his pocket and scribbled the digits of the number plate onto the back of his hand. IEZ 567. Much worse than that though was that as the van passed, a handful of the children deigned to wave to it and shout, including Katie.

"Who's that?" he asked her.

"It's the Candy Man," she answered him.

"Who's the Candy Man…?"

"He did the DJing."

"…Wait in the car for me a minute, Katie."

"Why? Where are you going?"

"Have a word with your teachers," he said, taking out his keys to unlock the car, "Don't leave the car, alright?"

"Can I go talk to my friends?"

"No," he said, a little too sharply. He clenched his jaw. "Please, princess, I need you to say in the car, I won't be long. You can get started on your sweets, alright?" She wasn't too happy about this, but at least she obeyed him. He didn't often give her specific orders or instructions. She wandered around to the passenger side and got in. Benji took extra care to make sure the vehicle was locked as he went to find a member of staff.

Clara Oswald, a teacher at that school, was a circumstantial witness to Dennis Carter's murder, the very same place where the odd costume had been. Then she had found the second body earlier that evening, and now the same costume had appeared at an event full of children at the same school she taught in. And there was the matter of her wife's nickname 'Doctor', appearing at the same murder scene that morning – another teacher. What was the connection? Were they really responsible, despite having alibis? And he wasn't sure either of them could fit in such a large costume; they were both barely five foot tall.

But he didn't see either of them there that night, instead settling on the closest pair of adults, two middle-aged women who didn't seem to be having an awful lot of fun being there.

"Excuse me," he asked, catching their attention, "Could I have a word with you?"

"What's the matter, mister…?" the older woman asked him curtly.

"Speyer," he said, "Detective Sergeant. I'm Katie's father."

"I don't know a Katie Speyer."

"Fuentes," he corrected awkwardly, "It's Katie Fuentes. She has her mother's name." Because his name belonged to a crime family, and his ex-wife's didn't.

"I hear she's very bright," the woman smiled, "Is she having a problem in school?"

"Not that I know of… could I get your names? I have some questions about your DJ, for an inquiry." He got out his phone to take his usual notes.

"Really?" she was surprised, "I'm Celia Frost."

"Debbie Tierney," said the second woman. He wrote down their names.

"Was that the DJ in the ice cream van that just drove off?"

"Oh, yes, that's him."

"What's his name?"

"He has the kids call him the Candy Man," said Celia Frost, "It's a play on his name."

"Which is…?" he prompted again.

"Andy K. Man."

"It's…?" he asked incredulously, frowning, "Are you sure?"

"Yes," said Frost firmly.

"Odd name."

"He had a full DBS check, detective. Are you accusing us of something? Of not doing our due diligence with the children in our care?" He could well be, but he would look into this alleged DBS check himself.

"Why does he drive an ice cream van if he's a DJ?" Benji asked next.

"I don't know. To be quirky, or something. Stand out," Frost shrugged.

"Do you have a phone number for him? An address?"

"…I'll go speak to reception for you," she said, irritated, taking her leave. Now he was left with Debbie Tierney. He had a different line of questioning for her.

"What subjects do you and Ms Frost teach, exactly?"

"She's the Head of Science. I teach English," she said.

"English? So you'll know Clara Oswald?"

Tierney scowled, "Yes."

"Not a fan of her?"

"I've been a teacher here for fifteen years. She hasn't even been here for two, and she saunters in and snatches the head of department job as soon as Rhonda retired. Completely out of her depth. She isn't even thirty. And I don't think much of her professionalism."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm just not sure married couples should be teaching in a school alongside each other."

"Why?" he probed.

"It can distract the children, the two of them. Especially the boys."

"Are they bad teachers? Clara and – what's her wife called, again?" He knew but wanted to hear Debbie's answer.

"The Doctor."

"That's her name?"

"Her name is… do you know, I'm not even sure. Everybody only ever calls her either 'the Doctor' or 'Dr Oswald.'" So it really was a prevalent name. Prevalent enough that somebody wanting her specific attention would write it on the wall of a crime scene, maybe.

"Do the kids like them?"

"Yes, for some reason," she said bitterly.

"Do they get good grades?"

"What's this about, detective?" she snapped, "You ask about our DJ, then you ask about two of our teachers? For an 'inquiry'? You're not going to get into Clara Oswald's knickers." He was aghast at the suggestion but couldn't tell her the truth without compromising the investigation. Besides, he still didn't actually know if they were suspects or not.

Before he had to answer, Frost returned carrying a sheet of paper she handed over to him. It had written on it the name 'Andy K. Man', along with a phone number.

"No address?" he asked.

"No. Is that everything?" she asked coldly. "If it's that important, he's here for the second disco tomorrow night. The one for the older children."

"Along with the Oswalds you're so interested in," said Debbie.

"What do you want with them?" Frost was surprised.

"Routine questions," he said, "I'll let you know if I need anything else."

"Like what? Clara's phone number?" Debbie asked him. He thought she was the one whose professionalism was somewhat lacking.

"Thank you for your time," he ignored that comment and turned to leave, hearing the pair of them muttering about them as he did. Maybe they didn't believe he was a detective; he hadn't shown his badge, after all.

Benji was relieved that Katie was still waiting for him in the car, and he promptly returned to take her home.

"Am I in trouble?" she asked as he got into the car.

"No, nothing like that…" he said, starting the engine, "How are you finding big school, then? How are your teachers?"

"It's great! I'm in all the top sets." He'd known that already.

"Who's your favourite teacher?"

"Oh, I don't know… probably Mrs Oswald. She never shouts, even when people are being awful."

"Never?"

"No. And she's never angry when people get things wrong or don't know the answer to a question." She didn't sound like a sadistic murderer, and he trusted what Katie thought about people. She had good instincts. "Can we listen to the radio, dad?" He turned on the radio and let her change the station to whatever she wanted, deep in thought about the crimes, about 'Andy K. Man', and about Dr and Mrs Oswald.

All the way home, Katie talked his ear off about what had happened at the disco, her and her friends dancing to whatever the popular songs were, and she made more than a few attempts to get him to change his mind about the trick or treating yet again. He tried his best to listen to her but was desperate to get back to his computer and invest in a little overtime. So desperate that when they finally did get home, he let her take her sweets off into her room to go to bed, something Maria would give him hell for next week when she returned to England.

Benji made himself a coffee, which he sorely needed, and sat down at the kitchen table of his small flat with Katie in her room. He couldn't afford a bigger place and had relegated himself to the much smaller bedroom so that Katie could have the larger one - even though she was only there a few days a week.

The first thing he did was a search for this alleged DBS check of one 'Andy K. Man.' It was only dated to around a week or so ago, saved onto the police database as a request for a criminal record, but he couldn't find anything wrong with it. It didn't say what the 'K' stood for, which Benji thought was an oversight, but it wasn't fraudulent. So he ran the number plate from the ice cream van next, IEZ 567, and that was when things got interesting. The picture on the registration for the van was the same as the DBS check, except the van wasn't registered to Andy K. Man, it was registered to one Daniel Nelson. And it had also been reported missing a week ago, the same date of the DBS check, in Surrey. After running a search for Daniel Nelson, he was even more disturbed to find that, just like the van, he'd also been reported missing.

He decided to try the phone number he'd been given at the school, but it went immediately to voice mail, so it must have been turned off. The voice mail was for Daniel Nelson. Either Nelson had gone AWOL and decided to become a murderer, or there was a third victim the police didn't yet know about. Benji had the sickening feeling it was the other. Knowing he couldn't leave Katie on his own to go investigating this further that night, however, he decided to call the police station to get an all-points warning on the ice cream van. While doing this he did get a few laughs, until he stressed that he was serious and reiterated that the van had been reported missing.

Then he found himself debating whether or not to call Clara Oswald. He knew she, or her wife, was wrapped up in it somehow but was now thinking that maybe even they weren't quite sure of the extent. Did he need to warn her? Warn her to keep an eye out for an ice cream van, let him know if she saw one? He still had his phone in his hand and was beginning to formulate what he was going to say, when it rang. For a moment he thought it would be the mobile of Daniel Nelson calling him back, but it wasn't. It was Maria. He sighed and put the phone to his ear to answer.

"Hi," he said.

"Hey, Ben…"

"How was the funeral today?" It had been her grandmother's, Katie's great-grandmother.

"It was, um… weird. Sad."

"When are you coming back?"

"Sunday, early morning. It was going to be Saturday, but some things came up with the wills… how are you getting on with Katie?"

"Fine, she's good. She had a lot of fun tonight at the Halloween disco."

"They still do those in high school?"

"There's another one tomorrow for the older kids."

"Are you taking her trick or treating?"

"No."

"What? Why not? She loves going every year." Maria always took her.

"I… there's some stuff going on. At work."

"What stuff?" she asked seriously.

"Strange murders. We're looking into the possibility they're connected."

"…Maybe I should come back sooner."

"If you need to be there for the wills-"

"Ben, if you're worried, then I'm worried. Do you want me to come back and take her home while you work on this case?"

"I'm capable of taking care of my own daughter."

"I never said you weren't, but you know how you get when there's a case like this. If she's not your number one priority, I can come back to Hove tomorrow instead. The flight isn't long." Benji didn't say anything. "…At least let me talk to her."

"…Yeah. Yeah, okay…" he stood up, "I'll go give her the phone."

Matilda paced up and down in her bedroom, her laptop sitting on her desk with a video call set up between Stefani and Aki so that they could continue to work on their project. At least, that was the premise; in actuality, they were discussing the only thing it seemed reasonable to discuss: the murders. Steph had already had an unpleasant but brief encounter with DS Speyer asking her to corroborate Clara's story about being outside the sweetshop the previous night, and Aki's father had also been questioned because the Inoue Noodle Bar was only a few doors downed and they thought he could be a witness. But like Clara, Aki and Steph had seen nothing amiss except for the lights being on. As for the second murder… they were quizzing Mattie for everything she could remember. But despite her other vivid encounters with the dead – Mrs Ward and her cat, Madame Tussaud's workshop, Marie Antoinette's reanimated corpse, et cetera – this time she'd been kept well away from the body Clara had found.

"It's the demon," said Steph through the camera, "It's killing people, doing all this fucked up shit, I know it."

"It's not a demon," said Mattie, though she was getting less and less convinced by her own words.

"If it's not a demon then why are you so freaked out?"

"Because! Clara's sort-of involved with two awful murders…" she said. What she hadn't mentioned was the words at the crime scene: that 'Doctor' had been found at Dennis Carter's shop, and 'Ace' had been found on the body at the pumpkin farm.

"She's not involved," said Aki, "I mean, like, she's got an alibi. She was at her house last night and then she was at school all day."

"I don't think Clara's the killer, she might…" Be the target? Was that really what Mattie was suggesting? "Look, look," she shook her head and pulled out her desk chair, sitting down in front of the camera but still tapping her foot, "Let's not talk about this."

"You don't wanna talk about the demon we summoned to kill Clara?"

"You summoned it!" she exclaimed.

"So you admit, the demon exists," said Steph.

"No! Of course the demon doesn't… there's no demon."

"We need a Ouija board. We could banish it."

"No way. I'll kill you myself before you pull out a Ouija board," Mattie threatened her.

"Oh my god," Steph dropped the pen she was holding, "Mattie's possessed by the demon. She's the killer."

"I kind of just want to do the homework…" Aki mumbled.

"Yes, the homework…" Mattie picked up her own pen.

"Are you two still going to the disco?" Steph asked.

"Why wouldn't we be?" said Mattie.

"I don't know. Afraid you're gonna get murdered by the demon, I guess," she shrugged, rolling her pen between her fingers on her desk. "Think about it, how would you know who it is?"

"Because I recognise the people we go to school with."

"You've only been at school for two months," Steph reminded her.

"What do you think a demon looks like?"

"Like a person, I guess, if you can see them. I mean… they have to be convincing to trick people, or whatever."

Mattie shook her head, "I'm not… look, we just need to explain redshift. The Doctor said it's about inflation and things in space moving away from each other-"

"How's your Halloween costume going?" Steph interrupted again.

"It's fine."

"Come on! You're the horror movie, special effects nerd. You're probably gonna win the award for best costume."

"There isn't an award for best costume," said Aki.

"My costume is fine. I can't do most of it until tomorrow. I've got the clothes done and the stuff I need for the makeup. What about you two?"

"I'm going as the Lightning Girl," said Aki. Mattie almost laughed. Not out of maliciousness, but at how strange the idea was. Somebody dressing up as Esther Drummond, of all people. She picked up her phone and opened her messages app, writing out a text to Esther, who'd been talking to her recently about comparing zombie designs in different works.

My friend Aki is dressing as the Lightning Girl for Halloween, she wrote. Of course, Esther being an American (who lived with a vampire), she loved Halloween more than life itself.

"How're you gonna do that cool mask she has?" Steph asked. They'd both met her now, after the incident with the trees, not knowing quite enough about who Esther was for the excitement to be lost on them. It was a cool mask though, built by Oswin like the rest of her equipment, so Mattie was also interested to see how Aki would replicate its digital fluidity.

"They sell, like, versions."

"They're unlicensed, though," said Matilda. Esther didn't like people making merchandise of her.

"It's not like I know where she got her stuff to begin with. She looks like something from outer space," said Aki. And there was a good reason for that. Mattie's phone buzzed.

Neat! Send pics! Esther's message read. Mattie responded saying she would tomorrow when she saw the costume.

"What are you going as, Steph?" Mattie asked.

"Dunno. Maybe a witch. I've got a hat."

"Wow. That's the laziest Halloween costume idea I've ever heard."

"Fuck you, zombie girl. You could be dead for real if the demon gets you tomorrow, maybe you shouldn't even bother with the costume."

"There's no demon! Piss off!"

"Getting pretty agitated about something you don't believe in."

"I'm agitated about you. You're annoying." She heard someone laugh in the background of Steph's webcam, which succeeded in getting on her nerves more than what Mattie had said.

"Fuck off, Jake," Steph said.

"What?" asked Jakub, who must be hiding somewhere out of frame; Mattie hadn't known he was there. He appeared after a few moments, lingering in the background to squint at Steph's computer screen. "It's true, you're annoying… hey." He held up his hand in a small wave at both Aki and Mattie.

"Um, hi," said Mattie, who never talked to Jakub. Aki also mumbled something unintelligible.

"What are you talking about demons for?" he asked.

"Would you stay out of my business?" Steph snapped at him. He looked at the webcam, prompting one of the girls to reply to him.

"It's nothing," said Mattie, "Steph tried to summon a demon when she was here last night."

"And it's already killed two people."

"I'm sure that those people were killed by… a totally normal sadistic murderer. Who isn't a demon," said Mattie. She wasn't convinced about it being 'totally normal' though, not when it had so thoroughly caught the Doctor's interest.

"Wait, what murderer? Is that why the police were here earlier? Steph, I'm gonna have to tell mum if-"

"Don't tell her anything," Steph told him off quickly, "It's nothing. We just saw a sweetshop with the lights on when Mrs Oswald drove me home yesterday, that's it." Steph was able to join the video call because she was home alone that evening. Aside from Jake, apparently.

"What happened at the sweetshop?"

"The owner was murdered," said Steph, "The police think it might be related to this murdered girl Mrs Oswald found at a pumpkin farm earlier."

"What? Mrs Oswald has been at two murder scenes?"

"Yeah, because of the demon," said Steph.

"There is no demon!" Mattie exclaimed, growing more and more frustrated, "You didn't summon a demon with the fucking washing up bowl, I swear to… you know, I'm going. I'm not in the mood."

"Chill out! It's just a joke," said Steph. Aki didn't say anything but did look up in surprise. Jake, too, was confused.

"Well I don't think it's very funny, alright? That's two people who are dead and whoever did it is still out there," said Mattie. "I'm gonna do my bit of the homework that's due tomorrow, and you two can do your bits, and then it'll be finished."

"Mattie, you're not going?" Steph didn't know she was serious.

"Yes, I'm going to sit downstairs." She started to pack up her stuff. "If you need anything important, just text me. But it better not be about demons, or I'll block you." And she unceremoniously slammed the computer screen down, probably a little too hard, before sitting back in her chair. She did not like Steph making jokes about the murders when she didn't know that they were targeting the Doctor.

She decided she was serious about going to sit downstairs and picked up her computer with her notebook, pen and phone balanced on top. She almost tripped over her own shoes and some other objects on her way down the attic stairs that she had been meaning to tidy up for a while; the more she thought about cleaning though, the messier it seemed to get.

In the living room, Clara was curled up on her own on the sofa reading a book and the Doctor was sitting in the large, novelty egg chair next to the fish tank with her eyes glued to her own laptop. Clara looked up when Mattie came in and plonked herself down in the armchair closest to the window and the television, on the opposite side of the room to the Doctor. It was the chair Rose occupied when she was there, but she wasn't coming to visit until the weekend.

"Coming to hang out with us?" Clara asked.

"Steph was just… I don't know, being Steph, I guess."

"Oh yeah?" Clara looked up from her book.

"What's going on with these murders? Is it to do with you?" Mattie asked abruptly, the thing that was really on her mind, "Are they going to try and kill the two of you?"

Clara sighed, "I know as much as you, sweetheart. She's not telling me anything at the moment." The Doctor didn't say a word, she wasn't listening at all. "As soon as she decides she wants to talk, you'll know what's going on, I promise."

"…What about that stuff with Hannah's dad?"

"Nothing else has happened."

"The police talked to Steph."

"Did they? Is she alright?"

"I think so."

"…Are you alright?"

"Why are you always asking me if I'm alright?" she questioned.

"I knew it!" the Doctor announced suddenly, startling them both. Mattie dropped her pen. She got up from her chair to bring the laptop over to show Clara, muttering something. Clara sat up a little. "Didn't I say? I can hardly believe this…"

"You haven't said anything, darling."

"Look! He's right there, in the crime scene photos from the sweetshop," the Doctor pointed something out on the laptop screen. Mattie put her stuff down on the chair to come over and see; neither of them stopped her. She was showing them a shadowy figure in the background of a photo of Mr Carter, lying dead at the bottom. The image was zoomed in though, so the body wasn't fully visible. The thing in the background looked a bit like a giant man made out of sweets.

"What is that?" Clara asked, frowning, "It looks like a… mascot, or a costume, or… one of those animatronics you get in those weird restaurant chains in America. With the instruments."

"I'll bet that's what the fuzz thought, too," said the Doctor, "Talk about hiding in plain sight. That's the murderer."

"Bertie Bassett the liquorice man?" Clara asked.

"No! Not Bertie Bassett – what's the matter with you?" Clara just shrugged. The Doctor tutted.

"Is it a costume?" asked Matilda.

"It's a robot called the Kandyman. He's an executioner built by a dictator, Helen A, on Terra Alpha, a human colony way in Earth's future. The whole idea was that no one was allowed to be anything other than happy and joyful. Otherwise, you'd be taken away by the Happiness Patrol and branded a 'killjoy', and if you behaved badly enough, you'd get executed by this guy with his Fondant Surprise." Deep down, Matilda was a little bit relieved that it wasn't actually a demon.

"With his…? Sorry, what?" asked Clara, "Is that a euphemism?"

"Fondant Surprise," the Doctor repeated, "He'd drown people in big vats of boiling, liquid candy. That detective and the autopsy report say that Carter was choked to death on icing sugar."

"You're sure that's what this is?"

"Yes, I was there with Ace. And then a girl who looks kinda like Ace, with a weird, home-made chocolate bar that has 'ACE' written on it in blood – after another crime scene with my name written on the wall – turns up dead in a field. Both crime scenes are themed. I think us showing up at them is a coincidence, sort of."

"Themed?" asked Clara.

"Around candy, Halloween, that sort of thing," she said, "Best time of year for the Kandyman to be wandering around. Looks like just another schmuck in fancy dress, albeit very elaborate fancy dress… Helix, you can see my computer screen, right?"

"Affirmative, Doctor. I have access to all electronics," said Helix smoothly.

"Have you seen anything like this robot near our house?"

"Negative, Doctor. Would you like me to increase my surveillance?"

"Yes, this robot is dangerous. If you see it near the house, it's an emergency. Everybody needs to be warned."

"Affirmative, Doctor."

"Well, the good news is that now the two of you know what he looks like you'll see him coming a mile away. He is not subtle."

"What's the bad news?" asked Mattie.

"That I don't understand how nobody's seen this thing. Including us. That girl at the pumpkin farm was freshly murdered, and we were there for a while. So how's he hiding? In the middle of the day?" she mused.

"But what does it want?" Mattie asked.

"I don't know. Kill me, I guess. It is built to execute people; I must be the one that got away. I do wonder how he knows I'm in Brighton, though… I'll have to ask him."

"Ask him? What do you mean?" said Clara seriously.

"When we catch him, obviously. We have to go after him or he's just gonna keep killing people. He's trying to attract my attention, so let's give it to him. Anyway, he's not that frightening. Last time I sprayed him with lemonade and his feet got stuck to the floor."

"What? He's actually made of sweets?" Mattie asked.

"Bits of him are. All we have to do is fill the pressure washer with soda," she said.

"And that'll do what? Stick him to the floor? That's your grand plan?" Clara asked. "What did you do to him last time?"

"I didn't do anything. We put him temporarily out of action with some fire – Ace loves explosives – and went after Helen A, the demagogue. The Pipe People took care of the Kandyman, they melted him in his own fondant surprise. I'd love to know who rebuilt him, and why. His creator said he was better off dead," the Doctor explained, "The issue is, it's not very easy to get the means to deliver a couple gallons of molten candy… I don't have the right kind of instruments."

"Or a few gallons of solid candy to melt," Clara pointed out.

"See, this is the issue with having to live on Earth full time, worrying about getting arrested for arbitrary things like the possession of volatile explosives… I'm going upstairs. I need to look at my stuff. See if I can throw something together that doesn't look like a bomb." She stood up and pushed her laptop into Clara's hands, still with the crime scene photos blown up on its screen.

"Don't damage any of my books if you're building a bomb in there," Clara called after her as she disappeared out of the living room.

"I won't!" the Doctor assured her. Her footsteps faded away and Clara turned her attention to the computer, putting her book to the side and pulling it onto her lap. Mattie lingered awkwardly nearby.

"…She's not actually going to build a bomb, right?"

"I don't know. I doubt it, she doesn't like them," said Clara, "I'll let her have her fun with her gadgets."

"But you need a plan, right?" Mattie sat down on the arm of the sofa next to her so she could continue to spy on the computer. "You can't just let that robot wander around out there killing people."

"My telekinesis is just as powerful as Rose's super-strength, don't worry," Clara said, "This thing doesn't even look that big. The Doctor would just rather everyone relies on her to save the day – she's got an ego."

"So do you," said Matilda.

"Thanks," Clara responded automatically, her typical response to being made fun of. She was made fun of frequently. "Can you grab my e-cigarette, please? It's by the fish tank."

"Smoking's bad for you," Mattie said, getting up to do as she was asked anyway.

"Yes, correct," Clara nodded, "Very bad. Technically not smoking since it's just vapour, but don't do it." Mattie picked up the device – of which Clara had a fair few, usually one in every room because the Doctor categorically would not let her smoke real cigarettes in the house (thankfully) – and brought it over.

"What are you doing?"

"I find it hard to believe that nobody has seen that thing walking around. Even if it is Halloween, you'd still definitely notice, wouldn't you?"

"Well, yeah." Clara began to fumble around next to her, muttering to herself about where she'd left her phone. She eventually found it stuck between the sofa cushions and wiped some lint on the screen, before unlocking it to do an internet search. She was searching for the pumpkin farm they'd been at earlier today. "What are you looking for?"

"Their phone number," she answered. It wasn't hard to find since the place was a public attraction. She dialled the number.

"Put it on speaker," Mattie implored. Clara sighed.

"Fine, fine…" she tapped the icon. It didn't take long to get an answer.

"Hopkins Family Farm, Don Hopkins speaking," said the middle-aged owner of the farm, whom the Doctor was on speaking terms with because she liked to pretend that she, like the Hopkinses, was an American immigrant. Though she normally told people she was from New York, and they were from somewhere in the Midwest. Wisconsin, or something.

"Hi, it's Clara Oswald," she said. A lull. "You know my wife, the Doctor. And it was me who found the body this afternoon."

"Oh, yeah, Mrs Oswald. Are you doing okay after all that?"

"I'm fine, thanks… how's the farm after everything? Are the police still there?"

"Yeah, they've got forensics out there now. They've taken the poor girl away, though."

"Do you know if they have any leads?"

"Naw, sorry. That detective from earlier hasn't been back, I think it's his case. Tell you the truth, I don't know how the farm's going to recover after a crime like this. Nobody's going to want to buy pumpkins from us anymore." Even the Doctor had decided against buying any pumpkins after the incident.

"You never know. People are forgetful in this country. Do you mind if I ask you a question, though?"

"I've had nothing but questions all night."

"Yeah, sorry about that… might be a bit of a weird question, though."

"Shoot."

"Well, have you seen someone in a very elaborate Halloween costume?"

"It's Halloween tomorrow, Mrs Oswald, and I operate a pumpkin farm. I've seen plenty."

"Right, but more specifically, this costume looks like a giant man made of sweets. Liquorice sweets, mostly. Like Bertie Bassett."

"Oh, you mean Andy?" Clara's blood ran cold.

"Andy?"

"Andy K. Man."

"Andy K. Man?"

"That's the one. He drives an ice cream van."

"His name is Andy K. Man and he drives an ice cream van?" she repeated. She sounded like a limerick.

"The kids call him the Candy Man. He's a children's entertainer. Sort of like a clown. He was here today helping the kids carve their pumpkins, left just before you and the Doctor arrived."

"Did you, um… I don't mean to sound like I'm making any accusations, but have you ever seen him out of his costume?"

"Andy's very professional, won't take off his costume around the kids. Y'know, like one of those people who works at Disneyland." Yeah, just like that, she thought dryly. "He had all the right paperwork. A DBS check, and everything." She knew DBS checks could be faked, though; she and the Doctor both had fake ones, not because they were criminals but because their whole identities were fraudulent. They had to pretend they'd been born in the late 2030s, and working in a school meant you couldn't escape from that sort of red tape.

"You've never seen his face, though?"

"I saw it on his driver's license… oh, god, you don't think that Andy had something to do with this?"

"Um… I don't know."

"Why would you ask?"

"Just because I saw him driving away, in the oncoming lane. In his ice cream van. Thought he looked a bit funny," she lied.

"Oh. I'll have to go and tell the police about this."

"Uh, yeah, sure… we'll see you around, Don."

"Take care, Mrs Oswald. Tell your wife I said hi."

"Okay, bye," she said, hanging up as quickly as she could. It wasn't the best way she'd ever ended a phone call, but she was distracted.

"So, he's not hiding at all?" Mattie asked after listening intently to the whole conversation.

"Hiding in plain sight," said Clara, "Literally, since he was in the bloody crime scene photos from the sweetshop." Since she was still tapped into the Sussex Police computer system, thanks to the Doctor trying to find the photos, she decided she'd take the opportunity to run a search for 'Andy K. Man' and see if anything did come up.

Imagine her surprise when she found not only the DBS check Don Hopkins had just told her about, but also an APW that had been put out for an 'Andy K. Man' driving a suspect ice cream van registered to someone called Daniel Nelson, who'd been reported missing. She was even more surprised to see that the officer who'd put out the APW was Detective Sergeant Benjamin Speyer – how had he come across this information?

"Come on," she said to Mattie, picking up the laptop and holding her vape pen between her teeth as she stood up.

"Where are you going?"

"Upstairs," she said. She had to tell the Doctor about this as soon as possible. Mattie followed in her wake, not wanting to be left out of all the excitement, as Clara entered the transdimensional study on the first floor. In there, the Doctor had arranged an array of water guns she'd found and was studying them all closely, crouching down and examining them in turn. Mattie wondered why she had so many water guns to begin with.

"Which one of these do you think is the best dispenser for lemonade?" she asked when she heard the door open.

"Forget about that, come and hear what I've just found," Clara bade her. Intrigued, the Doctor stood up.

"What's up?"

"I decided to call Don Hopkins and see if he's seen any Bertie Bassett lookalikes, and wouldn't you know, he seems to have hired your Kandyman to work as a children's entertainer at the farm. Left just before we arrived."

"Wait, what?"

"Don told me that they hired someone called 'Andy K. Man' to work as a sort of clown and that he had a DBS check and everything, but they never saw him take off his costume. I checked, he does have a DBS check, and he's currently wanted by the police in connection to Dennis Carter's murder. And that ice cream van he's driving his registered to someone called Daniel Nelson, who's gone missing, just like his van, last week on the other side of the county." She gave the Doctor her laptop back so that she could look at this new information.

"The cops are already looking for him?"

"Yeah, DS Speyer is the one who put out the APW."

"Really? I guess I didn't give him enough credit. But we can't let the cops arrest this guy, they'll find out he's a robot and he'll blow the lid on us. We have to find him first."

"Maybe we should talk to Speyer and see what he found?" Matilda suggested.

"Are you crazy? Talk to the feds? No way," said the Doctor, "We'll put out our own APW. Helix, how much of the city's security systems can you access for surveillance?"

"99%, by my last estimate, Doctor," said Helix.

"Great, keep an eye out not only for the Kandyman but also for this van, with the registration IEZ 567. And keep close tabs on the police dispatch. I wanna know immediately if there are any developments."

"Affirmative, Doctor."

"Awesome, thanks…"

"Well?" Clara prompted, "What now? We go out and look for him?"

"No, he'll come to us, eventually. What I need to do is get my hands on a whole lot of soda in a short space of time. That's my top priority. And put the finishing touches on my Halloween costume for the disco tomorrow." Of course, a psychotic robot had embarked upon a killing spree to get the Doctor's attention, but she was more interested in getting disco-ready. Typical.