The Doctor followed the young UNIT agent into the leisure centre, stopping at the reception desk where a bushy haired woman smiled at them as they entered. Idly, he observed a notice board with various posters & adverts pinned to it.
"Not been missed, have I Val?" asked Freya.
"That was a quick walk." said the bushy-haired receptionist. "No, he's been in the pool all day, banned a couple of businessmen for running & jumping in at one point. Who's your funny looking friend?"
"Just someone helping with my enquiries." said Freya, sighing with relief. "We're heading up to the office."
The Doctor turned his attention to the reception area as the two women spoke. It was, presumably, typical for the 1990's, though he expected the place had been built in the 1980's. The colour scheme had a certain air that wouldn't have been out of place on his previous self's clothes. Greens, reds, yellows, blues, browns, the explosion of colour was everywhere from the reception desk to the walls & floor. The faint smell of chlorine drifted in from somewhere else as a door opened, further up a corridor to the right of the desk, & a young man emerged. Waving at Valerie, he exited through the sliding doors.
"Still." thought the Doctor. "Doesn't seem a bad place to work."
Freya finished speaking & gestured for the Doctor to follow her. As he fell in behind her, he doffed his hat to the receptionist & carried on. They were passing through a corridor that overlooked the pool when the Doctor decided to speak.
"Why are you working out of a leisure centre?"
"There's a bit of a flap on in London just now. Something to do with Rutans, whatever they are." replied Freya. "I was the only agent they could spare to come up & investigate what's been happening. However, I've been told to be as cagey as I can, so much that I think it's just the local Detective Superintendent that knows who I work for. I'm not allowed to let slip too much about what might be going on & I'm not allowed to throw money about, so I've got to make do. I met the manager of the centre when I was meeting with the Detective Superintendent & he offered the spare office when I said that I was helping the police."
Freya's face broke out into a wry grin as a reminiscence came to her.
"He was in complaining about the kids who keep painting his personal car parking spot."
The Doctor tilted his head quizzically at this.
"It's marked "Manager" & they keep blotting it out & replacing the word with "Twat". He's a bit officious & tends to ban people over...trivial matters."
"Yes, I know the type...couldn't they have put you up?" said the Doctor. "The police that is."
"No." said Freya, shaking her head. "All they've got in this borough is the equivalent of a garden shed & a single cell. The bigger premises is on the other side of town & I thought it better to stay nearby."
After several more labyrinthine corridors, the two soon found themselves in Freya's office. The Doctor, placing his hat & umbrella on a set of coat pegs on the door, made himself comfortable in the chair on the opposite side of the desk. The UNIT agent flicked the nearby kettle on & set two mugs near it. Moving to her chair, she glanced nervously at the little man sitting opposite her. He was watching her calmly & with a small smile on his face.
"Tell me all you can, Ms Drury." he said quietly.
"Just Freya will do." she replied. "Well, it all started about 3 months ago. At the time, it didn't fall under UNIT's purview because it seemed like normal, human crimes. However, a combination of a government minister, the strange circumstances surrounding the case & the police not being able to come up with a single suspect, despite the...grizzily nature of the crime scenes, came together to put UNIT on it."
At mention of the crime scenes, the young woman shivered. Seeing the kettle had boiled, she moved over to it & the clink of china filled the room as she continued to talk.
"Most of the houses have been literal blood baths but with no...bits & pieces left over. Others, well there a different story. Milk?" she added.
The Doctor nodded & took the proffered cup with both hands. He took a moment to enjoy the warmth spreading through his fingers before laying it on the table. Looking up, he saw that Freya had resumed her seat across from him. Idly, she stirred her tea as she spoke.
"Fingers, toes, even the leftover bits of someones face were found in one of the crime scenes, but still no tangible trace of anyone else other than the victims being in the room. To be honest, it's the lack of evidence of another party & the seemingly random nature of the disappearances that's so dumbfounding."
Sitting back, the Doctor made a tent with his fingers, interlocked the digits & flipped his hands so they all pointed upwards. His blue eyes switched from examining his fingers back to the agent.
"Random?"
"The disappearances have ranged from a 24 year old bachelor in a poxy one bedroom tenement flat to a married couple of pensioners, about 70, living in a bungalow. A whole family here, a lone person there, well off folks one night, a poor couple without two ha'penny's to rub together the next. There isn't any rhyme nor reason to what's been happening."
"What about rumours, anything strange been heard about the town?" he asked quietly.
"Just something called ""Lament"", some new drug I assume but...well, you never know, could turn out to be some local euro-dance group making waves. It's stupid just to assume until there's more info." she said with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Clever woman. Never assume, unless you absolutely have to." said the Doctor, smiling warmly. Freya had noted a momentary dark look come over his face at the mention of the word lament.
"Thanks, but I don't see what connection it has with the disappearances."
"Let's keep it in mind, shall we?" said the Doctor, unlocking his hands & picking up the mug of tea before him. Sipping it gingerly, he locked eyes with Freya.
"My apologies for being forthright, but I get the impression that you're a little out of your depth. I just wonder why you would volunteer for an assignment like this."
"I never said that I volunteered." replied Freya, flinching slightly at the Doctor's direct hit.
"UNIT Protocol states, or at least it did when I was scientific adviser, that if multiple, unrelated events transpire, agents can volunteer to take on these tasks at the discretion of their C.O. Ordinarily, the Commanding Officer would just pick a seasoned soldier or agent & send them out, but I'm afraid you don't convey the image or the air of a seasoned veteran."
Freya's shoulders slumped at this, the Doctor had hit the nail on the head.
"You're right. I've only been in UNIT for two years. I...I'd like to say I volunteered to prove myself, but truth be told, I did it because I thought it'd be easy. Even if it wasn't, I hoped that I'd make enough headway for someone senior to take it off my hands once the business in London was over with, but I've been here two weeks now."
The Doctor silently sipped at his tea, his blue eyes refusing to budge from the young woman. Self-consciously, Freya picked up her own mug & took a sip of tea, wincing at the burning heat on her tongue.
"I think you're better than that, Freya. You simply lack confidence." said the Doctor, sipping his tea again.
"There's a reason for that..." she said darkly.
Noting the tone of her voice, the Doctor debated whether to press her on it. Deciding against it, he replaced his mug on the table & smiled.
"Let's go over your files, shall we?"
It had started with the disappearance of a young waster by the name of Marcus Fitzgerald. He was known in the area for being a meth head, spending most of his days wandering the streets or hanging outside the local shops. Often times he could be seen trying to cadge money from someone. Despite his seemingly destitute circumstances, he had a flat at the Ludovico Estate on the northeast side of town, which also doubled as the city-limits.
"Bit of a hole is the Ludovico Estate." said Freya. "High-rise flat that the Council seems to enjoy dumping everyone & anyone to when the chance arises."
Neighbours claimed not to have heard anything on the nights before or after he was last seen, something the police found hard to believe given the volume of blood which had been spilled.
The next disappearance had been the Crosbie's, a family of 5. This time, they had disappeared from a 3 bedroom house on the Springvale Road. Neighbours who had been questioned stated they had heard an argument the night before the Crosbie's vanished, but that this had become a regular occurrence since the eldest entered his teenage years.
The list went on. Houses left derelict, blood & the occasional viscera left as the only evidence of the inhabitants passing. All except one.
"The Beattie family on Marchfield Drive, a couple of streets up from where you landed your Tardis. They were the most recent vanishing, just four nights ago. The night of the disappearance, an old dear, Elsie Barclay, had gotten up at 2:00AM to let her cat in & swore blind that she saw someone coming out of the Beattie house. She couldn't see clearly, combination of her eyesight & there being no lamppost outside the house, but she was certain it was a man with a noticeable limp. She was less certain about this, but she was sure he had a bit of a twitch."
"Twitch?" said the Doctor, staring grimly at a bloody crime scene photo.
"Hmm. Kept jittering every few seconds as he walked up the street. The police have talked to everyone, but no-ones ever heard or seen of a limping bloke with a twitch."
The Doctor sat back in his chair, laying the gory photos on the table. It was certainly puzzling. Something was bugging him, however, something that Freya had just said.
"It all seems so random." said Freya, dejectedly.
"Not so." said the Doctor, calmly. "All of these disappearances have taken place in homes, no-one has disappeared off the streets. There's been no sign of bloodbaths at the local parks or people suddenly disappearing when they went out shopping. It's all happening at night & in the sanctity of these peoples homes."
"That's true, but it doesn't get us any further on."
The Doctor "hmmed" in agreement & fell silent. Curling a forefinger to his lips, the Doctor became lost in thought.
"Wait." he said, suddenly. "A moment ago, did you say the Beattie's were the most recent disappearance?"
"Yes, why do you ask?" replied the UNIT agent, worrying her scar as she spoke.
"I had a...relatively informative chat with a pimply cashier at the shops before you found me. He told me that, according to the pub-going pensioners, one of their number, a Balfour, went missing just a few days ago."
Freya sat for a moment, her brow creasing in a perplexed manner. Reaching for his mug, the Doctor sipped the last dregs of his tea & grimaced. It had gone cold.
"I hadn't heard anything about any Balfour. Even the police haven't, & they usually inform me."
"Well, we can make a start on finding out about this mysterious Balfour after I've seen the Beattie residence. I assume that it's been left as it was found?"
"Oh, yes. I haven't got the keys, but we can see the constable & get them. Why do you want to see it?"
As the Doctor was about to speak, a phone began to ring under the piles of paper on Freya's desk. Sifting through it, she eventually found the offending article.
"Hello?" she said. "Speaking. Of course, can you give me the address?"
Freya began searching the desk for a pencil. As she did, the Doctor leaned over & extended his hand. Freya stared at it for a moment, there was nothing there, when suddenly, the Doctor opened & closed his hand & a pencil was suddenly between his thumb & forefinger. Smiling, he handed it to the UNIT agent. Hurriedly, she began scribbling, silently impressed by the magic trick.
"What was the name again?" she said, looking at the Doctor. "Balfour, thanks we won't be long."
"What a stroke of fortune." said the Doctor. "Or misfortune depending on how you look at it. How did they know to phone you?" he added, pointing at the phone.
"The police set up a call-line & they send missing persons reports through to me. It's been something of a waste so far, the last couple of times it was just some teens staying out late or a husband staying longer at the pub than he should do. That said, it did lead us onto one or two disappearances that we think connected. Anyway, the woman on the line, Yumiko Pollington, said that her grandfather, Harold Balfour, lives with her grandmother & that, whilst it's just him gone missing, he hasn't been seen for three days."
"It is a bit odd, doesn't really fit the pattern." said the Doctor, scrunching his brow. "The area seems to have gotten wind of Balfour's disappearance before the police, but not so unduly worried to actually inform them. If it had been anything like the charnel houses we've seen so far, I expect we'd have heard this Yumiko Pollington screaming from here. Still, his vanishing act seems to have happened around the same time as the Beattie disappearance, if the spotty Fraser is to be believed, & it may be worth having a look. What's the address?" he added.
"21, Alpin Crescent. Apparently, it's in a more desirable part of North Fens, at least according to an ambulatory compost heap I overheard."
As Freya walked past the Doctor, the little man smiled curiously, wondering just what exactly the agent had meant by that comment. Reaching into his breast pocket, he removed his pocket watch & checked the time. The digital read out flashed 12:45PM.
"I'm afraid we'll have to hoof it." said Freya apologetically. "My car packed in last week & it's still at the garage."
Standing up, the Doctor retrieved his hat & umbrella.
"Never mind, a good walk is always conducive to warming up the little grey cells." he replied, holding the door open for Freya. "Unless, of course, it gets any colder. In which case the little grey cells will just freeze."