Doctor Who: The Shining Man by Cavan Scott

Author:Cavan Scott [Scott, Cavan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ebury Publishing

Chapter 17

A Groove in Time

The Doctor rushed back into the house, finding Rob standing in the hallway. ‘There you are. Tell me, where was Harold when he vanished?’

The builder shook his head. ‘I don’t know. I grabbed a hard hat for him, went into the living room and—’

‘And found it empty. Show me.’

‘Just hang on a minute,’ PC Schofield said, pushing through the plastic. ‘This isn’t your investigation.’

The Doctor stepped up to the police woman. ‘Constable, did you ever meet Mr Marter before today?’

Schofield sighed, already used to the Doctor’s whims. ‘Yes. There was a break-in at his warehouse a month or two ago.’

The Doctor pulled the plastic sheeting aside so they could see the stretcher in the back of the ambulance. ‘And did he look like that old man out there?’

‘No,’ she admitted. ‘But that’s not Harold Marter. It can’t be.’

‘It looks like him,’ Bill said. ‘Well, sort of.’

Schofield was approaching the end of her tether at speed. ‘That man must be 90 if he’s a day.’

‘Older,’ the Doctor agreed. ‘But he wasn’t when he woke up this morning.’

‘People don’t age in the blink of an eye.’

‘He did,’ the Doctor said, producing a black wallet, its leather cracked and brittle.

‘What’s that?’ Schofield asked.

‘Evidence,’ the Doctor told her. ‘I took it from Marter before they put him in the ambulance.’

‘You pickpocketed a man on a stretcher?’ Bill asked. ‘Classy.’

‘How could you do that?’ Schofield said, her face creased in disbelief.

‘He was strapped down,’ the Doctor explained, ‘It’s trickier when they’re moving about.’

Bill wanted to kick him. This really wasn’t the time to be provocative, but he just couldn’t help himself.

Schofield snatched the wallet from his hand. ‘I could have you arrested.’

‘But you won’t. Not when you look in there.’

The police officer opened the wallet and examined the contents. ‘Cash … Credit cards …’

‘In what name?’ the Doctor asked.

Schofield sighed as she answered. ‘H. Marter.’

‘Any photos?’

‘You already know there are.’

‘Show me.’

She held up the wallet, showing a photo behind a plastic window. It was a holiday snap, a family of four on a glistening white beach. Happier times. There was no mistaking the man. It was Harold Marter. The young Harold Marter.

‘That’s the man you met a few weeks ago, isn’t it, Constable?’

‘Yes,’ Schofield confirmed through gritted teeth.

‘Who is exactly the same man that was just wheeled out of here.’ He shook his head. ‘Nobody blames you.’

‘For what?’ she said, chin jutting out.

The look he gave her was kind, but firm. ‘You’re out of your depth, but I’m not. I swim these waters every day. I know what I’m talking about.’

Schofield turned to Bill. ‘Is that true? Does he?’

Bill looked at the Doctor and then back to the police officer. ‘It’s hard to believe sometimes, but yeah, he does.’

Schofield held up a hand, either in surrender or as a marker of time, Bill couldn’t tell. ‘Five minutes,’ she said, standing out of the Doctor’s way. ‘That’s all you have. Any longer, and I’ll remember how you got hold of this wallet.’

‘Thank you,’ he said, before asking Rob to take them to the back room.

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