Doctor Who: Telos Novellas [006] - Rip Tide by Louise Cooper

Author:Louise Cooper
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
ISBN: 9781903889121
Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside
Published: 2003-02-28T23:00:00+00:00

BURGLARY

‘No, he’s at work.’ Barry, Steve’s flatmate, looked at Nina curiously, and she belatedly realised that she had made a tactical mistake. Of course she knew Steve was working, and Barry knew she knew. Blunder; now his suspicions would be aroused. Still, she had to try.

‘Well look,’ she said, giving him what she hoped was an innocent smile, ‘I only wanted to pop into his room and pick up something I left here the other day.’

Barry didn’t trust her, and his expression showed it. ‘Fine,’ he said.

‘Tell me what it is, and I’ll get it for you.’

‘I, er, can’t, really. It’s personal. A girl thing, you know.’

‘And you left it in Steve’s room.’ Disbelief was palpable.

‘Yeah. It’ll only take a minute, honestly.’ She paused. ‘Please?’

For all his doubts he couldn’t really refuse and, reluctantly, he stepped back and stopped blocking the doorway. ‘All right – but make it quick. I’m supposed to be at work, too; I only called in on my way from one place to another.’

Nina shot past him into the flat. As she opened Steve’s bedroom door she found time to be grateful that she and her brother weren’t alike. Her room was a permanent tip – ‘Woolworth’s after the Bomb’ as her father grumblingly called it – but Steve’s was neat, tidy; a place for everything, and everything in its place. The pendant would be either on top of his chest of drawers, or inside one of the drawers. Right. Nothing on the top, so – She started to open the top drawer and Barry said, ‘It’s not going to be in there, is it?’

Nina started, and swung round to see him standing on the threshold, arms folded. Damn! She hadn’t expected him to follow her.

‘It might be,’ she said defensively. ‘Steve might have put it away.’

‘No, he wouldn’t.’ Barry sighed with exasperation. ‘OK, Nina; game over. I don’t know what you’re up to, but if you’re trying to get your hands on something of Steve’s, you’re just going to have to ask him.’

‘Barry –’

‘No,’ Barry repeated firmly. ‘You’re not doing it, and that’s final. Now, out, please.’

‘But –’

‘Out. I haven’t got time to mess around. Come back when Steve’s home, and have the guts to be honest. Go on. I’m busy.’

Nina had no choice. She made one more attempt to reason with Barry, as she saw it, but he wasn’t having any, and the front door of the flat shut firmly in her face.

A rush of frustration and anger welled up in her. Why were people so dense? If Barry only knew, if he realised – But he didn’t realise, and neither did Steve, and even if they did they wouldn’t believe her.

She spun on her heel and stamped away so hard that the pavement hurt her feet. Down the side lane, into the high street and towards the beach road – she was unconsciously heading back to the Doctor’s cottage to report her failure when abruptly the anger crystallised into a new determination. This was too important for failure to be an option.

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