An Outside View of Things, Part III (1/1)
Title: An Outside View of Things, Part III (1/1)
Author: jlrpuck
Rating: K
Characters: Ruby Quarles, Rose Tyler, James Ennis
Disclaimer: Characters from Blackpool and Doctor Who are the property of BBC, are are used with the greatest of love and respect; no profit is intended from the writing or sharing of this story.
Summary: In which we get to see both Rose and Ruby at work.
Notes: More of the remnants of my attempt to write a story strictly centered on Elias and Ruby. While this doesn’t specifically mirror any of the events in “And So Things Go,” it does answer one big question that came out of the story.
Um. I don’t think this was beta’d. Which means that-even moreso than usual-any and all mistakes are mine, and mine alone. If you do find errors, please be so kind as to PM me :)
An Outside View of Things, Part III
“Are we almost done?”
Ruby Quarles (McCoy) had been working for more hours than she wanted to count by the time she finally gave in and asked the question of no one in particular. Hours since her phone had rung, pulling her out of bed; hours spent outside in the cold December drizzle, waiting for the forensics teams to deal with the bodies at the scene, then going in and looking through the communications equipment which belonged to the Met…and then being shepherded off to a corner of the scene whilst another team arrived.
Torchwood.
She’d heard of them, of course-everyone who’d spent more than a few weeks in the Yard had. She’d worked several cases with them, in fact; but it was a rare case indeed where she worked with them for more than an hour here, or a couple of hours there.
The man who seemed to be leading the investigation from Torchwood was nice enough-tall, dark, handsome in the conventional sense-but he’d still politely asked her to stand aside. “James Ennis,” he’d introduced himself as, and he’d been nothing short of polite and courteous in spite of taking over. It was a nice change from the time, three cases back, where the Torchwood rep had ignored her completely, going to a Junior DI simply because the DI happened to be male.
Still, it was a bit vexing. She had work to do; and the longer Torchwood took, faffing about in the freezing drizzle (was it her, or was the pavement growing slick?), the longer it would take for the Yard to do theirs. Granted, the scene was huge-not the small corner of a vacant lot they’d originally thought, but several square blocks. And, to be sure, another body or two had turned up along the way. But, still-she wasn’t going to let the facts get in the way of what was promising to be a good fit of pique when she got home.
“Inspector Quarles?”
Ah, the adorable Mr. Ennis was back. He wasn’t much younger than she was, really-Ruby had now had several hours in which to watch he and his partner, an attractive black man either named or nicknamed “Mickey”-nor was he terribly tall. But he certainly didn’t lack in confidence, and it made him seem both older and taller.
“Aye. How may we be of service this fine night?” Ruby unfolded her arms, tucking her hands in the pockets of her coat.
Ennis gave her a small smile; the man had a sense of humour, which she’d also picked up on in watching him. “We’re done. Almost, at any rate, so we’ll be turning the scene back over to you.”
Ruby wasn’t able to stifle her sigh of relief. Only another hour or so, then, and she’d be able to make her way back to her office. With luck, she’d be able to find a dark room for a quick nap before settling in to tackle the paperwork.
“We may be in touch again, though.” Ennis passed her his card. “Alternatively, if you need anything from us, just ring me there. Mobile’s probably best-we don’t seem to be in the office very often.”
“Hopping all over England, then,” Ruby offered as a statement of fact.
Ennis gave her an enigmatic grin. “Let me know if we can help.” He extended his hand; she took it, and was given a firm handshake. “It’s been a pleasure.”
The flirt. “Nice to meet you,” she replied, noncommittally.
Ennis grinned at that and turned, sauntering off towards a side street. Ruby sighed, beginning to run through the checklist of things she still had yet to do as she idly watched the man walk away. She needed to find her partner, for one thing, and they needed to-
“Bloody hell!” she whispered. She blinked, sure she’d not seen right. But yes, she had.
James Ennis had walked to the end of the street, and had been met by none other than Rose Tyler.
Rose Tyler? It couldn’t be.
Ruby glanced around; no one else seemed to see what she did; her partner, Dave Cox, was still on the other side of the tape, chatting up one of the technicians from the Yard. She slowly began to make her way down the street, staying in the shadows, trying not to attract attention. It was easy, really-the klieg lights threw everything into sharp relief, and provided lovely shadows-and she was soon close enough to hear the voices of Ennis and the person who looked like but couldn’t be Rose Tyler.
“-report. Then go home and get some sleep. I’m sure Susan wouldn’t mind seein’ you.” The words were said with a note of amusement…and were definitely in Rose Tyler’s voice.
Ruby peeped around the edge of the skip she was currently hiding behind; Rose was perpendicular to her, and was giving Ennis a smile which could only be described as mischievous.
“You’re just jealous.”
“What, of goin’ home t’Susan? I think not.”
“Mmm. And when do you head north? Tomorrow? Next day?”
“My leave begins in…oh…” there was a pause; Ruby peeped out again to see Rose looking at her watch. “Thirty-seven hours. So best get cracking.”
“I bet he’s got a countdown clock on his desk.”
Rose laughed. “Williams wouldn’t let him. Now c’mon, chop chop. Work to be done. And I’m bloody freezing.” Ruby slowly ducked back as she noted Rose starting to look around the scene. “Think we’ll need anything more from this lot?”
“Nah. Inspectors Quarles and Cox were helpful enough-and they left us be, so we’ve got most of what we need.”
“That’s a pleasant surprise.”
“They do happen, as you well know.”
Another non-committal noise from Rose.
“Just imagine if you and Peter had got along from the start…”
If Ruby had had any doubts at all that it was Rose Tyler standing twenty feet away, they were erased by the last statement.
“-meeting tomorrow, usual time. I expect you and Mickey to have your reports done by then, James.” Rose’s voice was now brisk, and Ruby chanced one more glance around the skip.
Rose had straightened, her posture much more business-like; Ennis, too, had changed his body language, reflecting the fact that he was receiving orders.
“Will do. See you back at the ranch?”
“I’ll probably beat you back.”
Ruby heard some movement, and listened to Ennis’s voice fade away. “We’ll make sure to have plenty of coffee brewed…”
Rose Tyler worked for Torchwood. As a field agent. And, if she had to guess, as a field team lead.
Ruby leaned against the wall, still hidden in shadow, taking it all in. Peter, obviously, knew what she did. But who else knew? She didn’t seem to be making much of an effort to hide her presence. Did her family know? Her father did run Vitex, which-if she remembered correctly-was tied to Torchwood somehow...
Her partner found her there, a few minutes later. “Got a wee bit of work left yet, Quarles,” Cox said, looking at her apologetically.
“Aye, and here I am loafing about.” She joined her partner as he walked back towards the scene. “Anything left for us to work with?”
“More than you might think. Better than last time, at any rate.”
Last time, Torchwood had cleaned the scene out completely. That had been a nightmare.
“Right. Game on, then.”
It was another two hours before she and Dave were sat at their desks, thawing out from their time in the elements. Ruby had downed several cups of tea as she finished writing her report, weeding through documents and pictures and statements, working out what was pertinent and what wasn’t. She cynically wondered if it would really matter: she couldn’t think of a single case she’d worked with Torchwood where the investigation remained in the Yard’s hands.
Ah, well. Better to make sure she’d done her part; at least then she’d not be one of the disappointing locals Rose and Ennis apparently had to work with.
Peter Carlisle, apparently, had fallen into that category, at least if Ennis’s comment was to be believed. Or maybe it was that he and Rose had simply disliked each other? From what she’d seen of Peter-and heard from Elias-she found it hard to believe that he’d be anything other than thorough and diligent in an investigation. Truth be told, he’d probably drive her spare with his intensity-heavens knew she couldn’t work with Elias on a case because of his single-mindedness about seeing justice done.
Peter had always been cagey, talking about he and Rose and how they’d met. Ruby had assumed it was because the story involved some fantastical blind luck, and Elias had come to agree with the idea. Peter had, eventually, let slip that he’d charmed Rose with a poem-it had taken a few whiskies to get him to that point, and he’d immediately gone silent once the words had slipped out.
But then at dinner, when Peter had finally introduced them to Rose…Rose had confirmed the poetry, but said they’d met before that. She’d been terribly vague about the circumstances, as Ruby recalled-had said that she and Peter kept crossing paths, and that Peter had been in a foul mood.
Had Rose been working a case in Kendal? Was that how she and Peter had really met? It would explain everything, really-Peter’s surliness, the crossing paths, and the dancing around the questions both of how they’d met, and why Rose was in Kendal at all.
Ruby shook her head, taking a sip of tepid tea before moving to retrieve her report from the printer. She was letting her mind wander over things which were better considered after she was done doing her job.
“Coxie, boy, are ye almost done?”
Her partner glanced up, rolling his eyes. He was newish-they’d been partnered before she went to Glasgow, but he’d remained behind when she went north, working with one of the other Inspectors. In spite of having worked several cases together, the two of them were still learning each other’s rhythms. Last case, she’d taken hours longer on her report than David had done; this time, it seemed, they’d both overcompensated, with the result that she was done well before Cox.
Ah, well. They’d figure it out, in the end.
~ - ~
Elias had left a note on her desk before he’d gone home for the night, with firm instructions written on the outside not to open it until she was done. So, when she and Cox finally signed their documents and submitted them, she allowed herself the luxury of seeing what it was Elias had written.
“Call me.”
She tossed the letter aside, rolling her eyes. She’d had to wait for that? Besides it was nearly midnight; Elias should be asleep in bed, scheming on making sure Carlisle was offered a position with the Yard.
She picked the letter up again and noticed, in very small print at the bottom, “I mean it. Love you.”
She picked up the phone and dialled home.
“There’s a good lass,” Elias answered, his voice smug.
“Ye git. You’re meant to be abed!”
“I have tomorrow off-they want me away from the place when they make their decision.”
“I can’t fathom why that’d be, Eli.”
“The question is, my love-can you take the day tomorrow?”
Ruby sighed. “I don’t think so; we’ve only just finished the paperwork on this, and I need to be around in case I’m needed.”
“Can you go in late, then? Just a morning to have a lie-in; we’ve not done that in ages.”
Tempting. Very tempting.
“I’ll talk to Dave, and see what I can do love.”
“You gorgeous creature.” Elias’s voice was warm, and Ruby felt a flush wash through her.
“Ye tease. I’ll be home in a bit, assuming service on the line is good.”
“Love you.”
“Love you, you rascal.” She heard Elias’s delighted laugh as she rang off.
“Any objection to my coming in a bit late tomorrow?” she asked when her partner returned to his desk.
“How late is ‘a bit’?”
“Two hours? Maybe three? You can leave early…”
Cox sighed. “Ah, fine. But if any calls come in from the ninja scientists, I’m forwarding them to you.”
Ruby laughed. Everyone had a nickname of some sort for Torchwood.
“It’s a deal. Thank you.”
She spent her ride home on the train (service wasn’t good-but there were only minimal disruptions on the line which was a minor miracle) pondering Rose Tyler. More to the point-was she going to tell Elias what she’d seen?
Rose, clearly, didn’t advertise her job. Neither did she appear to hide it. She’d not been comfortable enough with either Elias or her, though, to be frank about her job. And Ruby knew from her long perusal of the gossip and society pages that Rose put forth a carefully crafted story about working for one of her father’s companies as some sort of executive assistant.
Hang on. Did that mean that Torchwood fell under Pete Tyler’s control? And if that was the case, how on earth had no one in the media reported on that?
The train finally reached her stop, and she slowly made her way up the tiled stairs, mulling things over. She’d be able to do a bit of research on Torchwood tomorrow, at work-there was no question about that.
And, after she had an answer or two, she’d talk to Elias. Perhaps.
~ - ~
A pile of papers greeted Ruby upon her arrival at work the next morning, and she stifled a sigh. She’d had a glorious morning with her husband, snuggled together in their bed; if a pile of paperwork was the price for that, she’d happily pay it.
Still, it wasn’t great fun, weeding through more statements, more documents, and initial results from the medical examiner. She chuckled ruefully, wondering what her former commander would make of it: she was a communications specialist who somehow had become just another Detective for Scotland Yard. Hardly what the man would have predicted when he dressed her down-repeatedly-for her lack of insight and intuition when surveilling the enemy, those many years ago.
“Quarles?” her partner’s voice broke her concentration.
“Yeah?”
“You going to answer that?” He gestured to her phone, ringing merrily away on her desk.
“Pushy, pushy,” she said, winking at Cox as she answered the phone.
It was Torchwood. More specifically, it was Ennis, calling to update Ruby-and Dave-on what they’d learned, and to inquire as to what the Yard had come up with in return. It had a definite feeling of quid pro quo to it, and Ruby wondered if what she was experiencing was how Torchwood usually operated, or if it was unique to the team she’d lucked into.
In spite of the collegial conversation-and it was, with Ennis making small talk while he leafed through his notes on the end of the line, or randomly singing snippets of song while she scrambled for a specific piece of paper-Ruby was hardly surprised when, at the end of the call, she was politely informed, “Thank you for your help. It looks like this may be something which falls under our jurisdiction, however-“
“-Torchwood will be taking command of the investigation writ large, and collecting both our notes and our reports,” she finished ruefully.
“You’ve heard the line before.”
“Oh yes. You’re more polite than most about it.”
“It’s a shame. I did enjoy working with you.”
“My wedding ring and all?” she bantered back, smiling. Dave was seated at his desk, listening as his hand hovered over his report. He’d not written a word for minutes.
“The good ones are always taken. Isn’t that just the way?”
“You charm all of your POC’s into doing what Torchwood wants, then?”
“That’s why they keep me on the payroll over here.”
If Rose was, as she suspected, James Ennis’s supervisor, the poor woman most likely had her hands permanently full keeping him in line.
The conversation ended cordially enough, and Ruby placed the handset in the cradle with a soft click. “That’s our past day wasted, then.”
“They’ve taken the case.”
“Indeed they have. Want to go for a stroll so we can tell the DCI?”
“What, they didn’t pass that along?”
“We’ve got five minutes head start.”
Dave arched his eyebrows. “Sounds like they might have started to populate that place with human beings.”
Being relieved of the case wasn’t how she’d hoped her day would go-she did love solving a good puzzle. But it did free up time to begin to do a spot of research on Torchwood and its link to Vitex-and Pete Tyler.
With a few hours’ work-some of that spent on the phone with Elias, some of it spent tying up the last loose ends left over from Torchwood taking her case-she was able to determine that, on paper, the Tyler family was nothing exceptional. Pete Tyler had founded Vitex; its research arm had been spun off into Torchwood several years earlier, in an effort to counter the crimes committed by Lumic.
Ruby shuddered-she’d been lucky, in that none of her family had been murdered at that madman’s hands. Elias had lost several cousins; his uncle had bought earpieces for the entire family as a Twelfth Night gift earlier in that year, and the man had only survived because his youngest child had broken his the day before things went wrong.
The government of Great Britain had taken control of Torchwood after Lumic’s death, creating it as a quasi-private organization dedicated to cutting-edge research on all issues scientific. Pete Tyler’s role was well-publicized: he served on the board of directors for the privatized side, which marketed and distributed many of Torchwoods inventions. Fuel efficient automobiles: oil platforms which were able to convert methane into sustainable fuels, making them self-sufficient; mattresses which were completely hypoallergenic. All had been created by Torchwood, and had found an eager market in a variety of sectors.
There were, of course, conspiracy theories: Torchwood housed aliens. Torchwood was run by aliens. Torchwood ran genetic experiments in its offices. Torchwood had been behind Lumic’s plans. Torchwood had been responsible for the metal robots which attacked London a few years previous.
Most of the theories had listed Pete as an unwilling accomplice, stating that he was given the role on the board simply to add legitimacy to an underhanded organization; Ruby found only one entry which insisted, vehemently, that Pete Tyler was the brains behind the entire endeavour. The lone voice of dissent hadn’t been updated in years, however, whereas most of the other ones provided fresh justification for their theories nearly every month, if not every week.
That explained Pete, then. And it explained how Rose had been able to get a job with Torchwood: Of course they’d want to appease the director of their money-making side. But did Pete know that Rose actually went out into the field? The family seemed close-Pete and Jackie Tyler, along with Rose and now Peter, invariably appeared pictured together at society events or out to dinner.
Ruby closed the browser on her computer, pondering. She didn’t want to ring Rose-not when they’d only recently met, and certainly not to demand to know how Rose Tyler fit into the Torchwood organization. No, she’d have to simply tuck the information away-or forget about it, but that was hardly going to happen-and wait for an opportunity for discussion to present itself.
As for telling Elias…no. No, she’d hold off on that, as well. Elias might believe her-but he’d want proof, and she didn’t feel that there was enough of that. Never mind the fact that, really, it wasn’t their business at all. Peter appeared to know the truth of Rose and her job-and, in the end, he was the only one who really needed to.
~ fin ~
Author: jlrpuck
Rating: K
Characters: Ruby Quarles, Rose Tyler, James Ennis
Disclaimer: Characters from Blackpool and Doctor Who are the property of BBC, are are used with the greatest of love and respect; no profit is intended from the writing or sharing of this story.
Summary: In which we get to see both Rose and Ruby at work.
Notes: More of the remnants of my attempt to write a story strictly centered on Elias and Ruby. While this doesn’t specifically mirror any of the events in “And So Things Go,” it does answer one big question that came out of the story.
Um. I don’t think this was beta’d. Which means that-even moreso than usual-any and all mistakes are mine, and mine alone. If you do find errors, please be so kind as to PM me :)
An Outside View of Things, Part III
“Are we almost done?”
Ruby Quarles (McCoy) had been working for more hours than she wanted to count by the time she finally gave in and asked the question of no one in particular. Hours since her phone had rung, pulling her out of bed; hours spent outside in the cold December drizzle, waiting for the forensics teams to deal with the bodies at the scene, then going in and looking through the communications equipment which belonged to the Met…and then being shepherded off to a corner of the scene whilst another team arrived.
Torchwood.
She’d heard of them, of course-everyone who’d spent more than a few weeks in the Yard had. She’d worked several cases with them, in fact; but it was a rare case indeed where she worked with them for more than an hour here, or a couple of hours there.
The man who seemed to be leading the investigation from Torchwood was nice enough-tall, dark, handsome in the conventional sense-but he’d still politely asked her to stand aside. “James Ennis,” he’d introduced himself as, and he’d been nothing short of polite and courteous in spite of taking over. It was a nice change from the time, three cases back, where the Torchwood rep had ignored her completely, going to a Junior DI simply because the DI happened to be male.
Still, it was a bit vexing. She had work to do; and the longer Torchwood took, faffing about in the freezing drizzle (was it her, or was the pavement growing slick?), the longer it would take for the Yard to do theirs. Granted, the scene was huge-not the small corner of a vacant lot they’d originally thought, but several square blocks. And, to be sure, another body or two had turned up along the way. But, still-she wasn’t going to let the facts get in the way of what was promising to be a good fit of pique when she got home.
“Inspector Quarles?”
Ah, the adorable Mr. Ennis was back. He wasn’t much younger than she was, really-Ruby had now had several hours in which to watch he and his partner, an attractive black man either named or nicknamed “Mickey”-nor was he terribly tall. But he certainly didn’t lack in confidence, and it made him seem both older and taller.
“Aye. How may we be of service this fine night?” Ruby unfolded her arms, tucking her hands in the pockets of her coat.
Ennis gave her a small smile; the man had a sense of humour, which she’d also picked up on in watching him. “We’re done. Almost, at any rate, so we’ll be turning the scene back over to you.”
Ruby wasn’t able to stifle her sigh of relief. Only another hour or so, then, and she’d be able to make her way back to her office. With luck, she’d be able to find a dark room for a quick nap before settling in to tackle the paperwork.
“We may be in touch again, though.” Ennis passed her his card. “Alternatively, if you need anything from us, just ring me there. Mobile’s probably best-we don’t seem to be in the office very often.”
“Hopping all over England, then,” Ruby offered as a statement of fact.
Ennis gave her an enigmatic grin. “Let me know if we can help.” He extended his hand; she took it, and was given a firm handshake. “It’s been a pleasure.”
The flirt. “Nice to meet you,” she replied, noncommittally.
Ennis grinned at that and turned, sauntering off towards a side street. Ruby sighed, beginning to run through the checklist of things she still had yet to do as she idly watched the man walk away. She needed to find her partner, for one thing, and they needed to-
“Bloody hell!” she whispered. She blinked, sure she’d not seen right. But yes, she had.
James Ennis had walked to the end of the street, and had been met by none other than Rose Tyler.
Rose Tyler? It couldn’t be.
Ruby glanced around; no one else seemed to see what she did; her partner, Dave Cox, was still on the other side of the tape, chatting up one of the technicians from the Yard. She slowly began to make her way down the street, staying in the shadows, trying not to attract attention. It was easy, really-the klieg lights threw everything into sharp relief, and provided lovely shadows-and she was soon close enough to hear the voices of Ennis and the person who looked like but couldn’t be Rose Tyler.
“-report. Then go home and get some sleep. I’m sure Susan wouldn’t mind seein’ you.” The words were said with a note of amusement…and were definitely in Rose Tyler’s voice.
Ruby peeped around the edge of the skip she was currently hiding behind; Rose was perpendicular to her, and was giving Ennis a smile which could only be described as mischievous.
“You’re just jealous.”
“What, of goin’ home t’Susan? I think not.”
“Mmm. And when do you head north? Tomorrow? Next day?”
“My leave begins in…oh…” there was a pause; Ruby peeped out again to see Rose looking at her watch. “Thirty-seven hours. So best get cracking.”
“I bet he’s got a countdown clock on his desk.”
Rose laughed. “Williams wouldn’t let him. Now c’mon, chop chop. Work to be done. And I’m bloody freezing.” Ruby slowly ducked back as she noted Rose starting to look around the scene. “Think we’ll need anything more from this lot?”
“Nah. Inspectors Quarles and Cox were helpful enough-and they left us be, so we’ve got most of what we need.”
“That’s a pleasant surprise.”
“They do happen, as you well know.”
Another non-committal noise from Rose.
“Just imagine if you and Peter had got along from the start…”
If Ruby had had any doubts at all that it was Rose Tyler standing twenty feet away, they were erased by the last statement.
“-meeting tomorrow, usual time. I expect you and Mickey to have your reports done by then, James.” Rose’s voice was now brisk, and Ruby chanced one more glance around the skip.
Rose had straightened, her posture much more business-like; Ennis, too, had changed his body language, reflecting the fact that he was receiving orders.
“Will do. See you back at the ranch?”
“I’ll probably beat you back.”
Ruby heard some movement, and listened to Ennis’s voice fade away. “We’ll make sure to have plenty of coffee brewed…”
Rose Tyler worked for Torchwood. As a field agent. And, if she had to guess, as a field team lead.
Ruby leaned against the wall, still hidden in shadow, taking it all in. Peter, obviously, knew what she did. But who else knew? She didn’t seem to be making much of an effort to hide her presence. Did her family know? Her father did run Vitex, which-if she remembered correctly-was tied to Torchwood somehow...
Her partner found her there, a few minutes later. “Got a wee bit of work left yet, Quarles,” Cox said, looking at her apologetically.
“Aye, and here I am loafing about.” She joined her partner as he walked back towards the scene. “Anything left for us to work with?”
“More than you might think. Better than last time, at any rate.”
Last time, Torchwood had cleaned the scene out completely. That had been a nightmare.
“Right. Game on, then.”
It was another two hours before she and Dave were sat at their desks, thawing out from their time in the elements. Ruby had downed several cups of tea as she finished writing her report, weeding through documents and pictures and statements, working out what was pertinent and what wasn’t. She cynically wondered if it would really matter: she couldn’t think of a single case she’d worked with Torchwood where the investigation remained in the Yard’s hands.
Ah, well. Better to make sure she’d done her part; at least then she’d not be one of the disappointing locals Rose and Ennis apparently had to work with.
Peter Carlisle, apparently, had fallen into that category, at least if Ennis’s comment was to be believed. Or maybe it was that he and Rose had simply disliked each other? From what she’d seen of Peter-and heard from Elias-she found it hard to believe that he’d be anything other than thorough and diligent in an investigation. Truth be told, he’d probably drive her spare with his intensity-heavens knew she couldn’t work with Elias on a case because of his single-mindedness about seeing justice done.
Peter had always been cagey, talking about he and Rose and how they’d met. Ruby had assumed it was because the story involved some fantastical blind luck, and Elias had come to agree with the idea. Peter had, eventually, let slip that he’d charmed Rose with a poem-it had taken a few whiskies to get him to that point, and he’d immediately gone silent once the words had slipped out.
But then at dinner, when Peter had finally introduced them to Rose…Rose had confirmed the poetry, but said they’d met before that. She’d been terribly vague about the circumstances, as Ruby recalled-had said that she and Peter kept crossing paths, and that Peter had been in a foul mood.
Had Rose been working a case in Kendal? Was that how she and Peter had really met? It would explain everything, really-Peter’s surliness, the crossing paths, and the dancing around the questions both of how they’d met, and why Rose was in Kendal at all.
Ruby shook her head, taking a sip of tepid tea before moving to retrieve her report from the printer. She was letting her mind wander over things which were better considered after she was done doing her job.
“Coxie, boy, are ye almost done?”
Her partner glanced up, rolling his eyes. He was newish-they’d been partnered before she went to Glasgow, but he’d remained behind when she went north, working with one of the other Inspectors. In spite of having worked several cases together, the two of them were still learning each other’s rhythms. Last case, she’d taken hours longer on her report than David had done; this time, it seemed, they’d both overcompensated, with the result that she was done well before Cox.
Ah, well. They’d figure it out, in the end.
~ - ~
Elias had left a note on her desk before he’d gone home for the night, with firm instructions written on the outside not to open it until she was done. So, when she and Cox finally signed their documents and submitted them, she allowed herself the luxury of seeing what it was Elias had written.
“Call me.”
She tossed the letter aside, rolling her eyes. She’d had to wait for that? Besides it was nearly midnight; Elias should be asleep in bed, scheming on making sure Carlisle was offered a position with the Yard.
She picked the letter up again and noticed, in very small print at the bottom, “I mean it. Love you.”
She picked up the phone and dialled home.
“There’s a good lass,” Elias answered, his voice smug.
“Ye git. You’re meant to be abed!”
“I have tomorrow off-they want me away from the place when they make their decision.”
“I can’t fathom why that’d be, Eli.”
“The question is, my love-can you take the day tomorrow?”
Ruby sighed. “I don’t think so; we’ve only just finished the paperwork on this, and I need to be around in case I’m needed.”
“Can you go in late, then? Just a morning to have a lie-in; we’ve not done that in ages.”
Tempting. Very tempting.
“I’ll talk to Dave, and see what I can do love.”
“You gorgeous creature.” Elias’s voice was warm, and Ruby felt a flush wash through her.
“Ye tease. I’ll be home in a bit, assuming service on the line is good.”
“Love you.”
“Love you, you rascal.” She heard Elias’s delighted laugh as she rang off.
“Any objection to my coming in a bit late tomorrow?” she asked when her partner returned to his desk.
“How late is ‘a bit’?”
“Two hours? Maybe three? You can leave early…”
Cox sighed. “Ah, fine. But if any calls come in from the ninja scientists, I’m forwarding them to you.”
Ruby laughed. Everyone had a nickname of some sort for Torchwood.
“It’s a deal. Thank you.”
She spent her ride home on the train (service wasn’t good-but there were only minimal disruptions on the line which was a minor miracle) pondering Rose Tyler. More to the point-was she going to tell Elias what she’d seen?
Rose, clearly, didn’t advertise her job. Neither did she appear to hide it. She’d not been comfortable enough with either Elias or her, though, to be frank about her job. And Ruby knew from her long perusal of the gossip and society pages that Rose put forth a carefully crafted story about working for one of her father’s companies as some sort of executive assistant.
Hang on. Did that mean that Torchwood fell under Pete Tyler’s control? And if that was the case, how on earth had no one in the media reported on that?
The train finally reached her stop, and she slowly made her way up the tiled stairs, mulling things over. She’d be able to do a bit of research on Torchwood tomorrow, at work-there was no question about that.
And, after she had an answer or two, she’d talk to Elias. Perhaps.
~ - ~
A pile of papers greeted Ruby upon her arrival at work the next morning, and she stifled a sigh. She’d had a glorious morning with her husband, snuggled together in their bed; if a pile of paperwork was the price for that, she’d happily pay it.
Still, it wasn’t great fun, weeding through more statements, more documents, and initial results from the medical examiner. She chuckled ruefully, wondering what her former commander would make of it: she was a communications specialist who somehow had become just another Detective for Scotland Yard. Hardly what the man would have predicted when he dressed her down-repeatedly-for her lack of insight and intuition when surveilling the enemy, those many years ago.
“Quarles?” her partner’s voice broke her concentration.
“Yeah?”
“You going to answer that?” He gestured to her phone, ringing merrily away on her desk.
“Pushy, pushy,” she said, winking at Cox as she answered the phone.
It was Torchwood. More specifically, it was Ennis, calling to update Ruby-and Dave-on what they’d learned, and to inquire as to what the Yard had come up with in return. It had a definite feeling of quid pro quo to it, and Ruby wondered if what she was experiencing was how Torchwood usually operated, or if it was unique to the team she’d lucked into.
In spite of the collegial conversation-and it was, with Ennis making small talk while he leafed through his notes on the end of the line, or randomly singing snippets of song while she scrambled for a specific piece of paper-Ruby was hardly surprised when, at the end of the call, she was politely informed, “Thank you for your help. It looks like this may be something which falls under our jurisdiction, however-“
“-Torchwood will be taking command of the investigation writ large, and collecting both our notes and our reports,” she finished ruefully.
“You’ve heard the line before.”
“Oh yes. You’re more polite than most about it.”
“It’s a shame. I did enjoy working with you.”
“My wedding ring and all?” she bantered back, smiling. Dave was seated at his desk, listening as his hand hovered over his report. He’d not written a word for minutes.
“The good ones are always taken. Isn’t that just the way?”
“You charm all of your POC’s into doing what Torchwood wants, then?”
“That’s why they keep me on the payroll over here.”
If Rose was, as she suspected, James Ennis’s supervisor, the poor woman most likely had her hands permanently full keeping him in line.
The conversation ended cordially enough, and Ruby placed the handset in the cradle with a soft click. “That’s our past day wasted, then.”
“They’ve taken the case.”
“Indeed they have. Want to go for a stroll so we can tell the DCI?”
“What, they didn’t pass that along?”
“We’ve got five minutes head start.”
Dave arched his eyebrows. “Sounds like they might have started to populate that place with human beings.”
Being relieved of the case wasn’t how she’d hoped her day would go-she did love solving a good puzzle. But it did free up time to begin to do a spot of research on Torchwood and its link to Vitex-and Pete Tyler.
With a few hours’ work-some of that spent on the phone with Elias, some of it spent tying up the last loose ends left over from Torchwood taking her case-she was able to determine that, on paper, the Tyler family was nothing exceptional. Pete Tyler had founded Vitex; its research arm had been spun off into Torchwood several years earlier, in an effort to counter the crimes committed by Lumic.
Ruby shuddered-she’d been lucky, in that none of her family had been murdered at that madman’s hands. Elias had lost several cousins; his uncle had bought earpieces for the entire family as a Twelfth Night gift earlier in that year, and the man had only survived because his youngest child had broken his the day before things went wrong.
The government of Great Britain had taken control of Torchwood after Lumic’s death, creating it as a quasi-private organization dedicated to cutting-edge research on all issues scientific. Pete Tyler’s role was well-publicized: he served on the board of directors for the privatized side, which marketed and distributed many of Torchwoods inventions. Fuel efficient automobiles: oil platforms which were able to convert methane into sustainable fuels, making them self-sufficient; mattresses which were completely hypoallergenic. All had been created by Torchwood, and had found an eager market in a variety of sectors.
There were, of course, conspiracy theories: Torchwood housed aliens. Torchwood was run by aliens. Torchwood ran genetic experiments in its offices. Torchwood had been behind Lumic’s plans. Torchwood had been responsible for the metal robots which attacked London a few years previous.
Most of the theories had listed Pete as an unwilling accomplice, stating that he was given the role on the board simply to add legitimacy to an underhanded organization; Ruby found only one entry which insisted, vehemently, that Pete Tyler was the brains behind the entire endeavour. The lone voice of dissent hadn’t been updated in years, however, whereas most of the other ones provided fresh justification for their theories nearly every month, if not every week.
That explained Pete, then. And it explained how Rose had been able to get a job with Torchwood: Of course they’d want to appease the director of their money-making side. But did Pete know that Rose actually went out into the field? The family seemed close-Pete and Jackie Tyler, along with Rose and now Peter, invariably appeared pictured together at society events or out to dinner.
Ruby closed the browser on her computer, pondering. She didn’t want to ring Rose-not when they’d only recently met, and certainly not to demand to know how Rose Tyler fit into the Torchwood organization. No, she’d have to simply tuck the information away-or forget about it, but that was hardly going to happen-and wait for an opportunity for discussion to present itself.
As for telling Elias…no. No, she’d hold off on that, as well. Elias might believe her-but he’d want proof, and she didn’t feel that there was enough of that. Never mind the fact that, really, it wasn’t their business at all. Peter appeared to know the truth of Rose and her job-and, in the end, he was the only one who really needed to.
~ fin ~