Don't Blink -35/?
Title: Don't Blink - 35/?
Characters: Ten, Rose
Summary: AU. What if Rose had stayed through Doomsday and was the one to end up in 1969 with the Doctor? How would they get back to their proper time? Would they want to?
Rating: PG
Beta: nattieb
(ch 1) (ch 2) (ch 3) (ch 4) (ch 5) (ch 6) (ch 7) (ch 8) (ch 9) (ch 10) (ch 11) (ch 12) (ch 13) (ch 14) (ch 15) (ch 16) (ch 17) (ch 18)
(ch 19) (ch 20) (ch 21) (ch 22) (ch 23) (ch 24) (ch 25) (ch 26) (ch 27) (ch 28) (ch 29) (ch 30) (ch 31) (ch 32) (ch 33) (ch 34)
The Doctor found his voice first. “What?”
“It’s him!” she insisted, as all the officers turned to look at the Doctor and then back at her. She was a woman in her fifties or sixties, with overly black hair that was clearly dyed, wearing a dark red housecoat and scuffed black slippers. One hand clutched the front of her housecoat tightly, as if any moment she would be accosted by one of the men standing in the building.
“What?” he repeated in shock.
“He killed Kevin!” She stabbed the air with a finger from her free hand for emphasis, and a lock of hair fell from the messy beehive on top of her head to fall in front of her face.
“What?”
“Oh, honestly. You’re crazy,” Rose said angrily, recovering from her own surprise and taking a quick step forward. Only the Doctor’s arm, swiftly raised to block her, kept her from attacking the woman. Even then, she would have simply stepped under his arm, but he roughly pulled her back against him and held her in place with an arm around her waist. She struggled against his grip and hit his arm. “You are absolutely out of your mind!” She made another attempt to move and this time the Doctor lifted her off her feet as he tried to keep her from attacking the woman.
“Are you accusing this man of murder?” Rogers asked the woman in the red housecoat.
“I am! He killed Kevin! I’ve seen him around at night,” she added, glaring at the Doctor. “Always coming and going in that long coat of his. I always knew he was up to no good.”
Rose gave up on moving out of the Doctor’s grip. She flushed angrily. “Have you been spying on us?”
“I don’t spy on anyone!” the woman said shrilly.
Rose scoffed and narrowed her eyes. “I know you! I’ve seen you around at night, looking out your window. Last month you were leaning so far out you almost fall to the street.”
“This is Joan Maddock,” one of the uniforms said in response to a question from Cutler. “Lives upstairs in one of the front flats. Doesn’t leave home much, but she keeps an eye on the comings and goings from her window.”
“Spying, more like,” Rose snapped. The Doctor was still struck speechless by the accusation of murder.
Joan Maddock folded her arms and looked very satisfied. “It was him.” She jerked her head at the Doctor.
The Doctor finally recovered his voice. “You’ve made a mistake,” he said firmly. “I haven’t done anything of the sort.”
“If you saw him do it then why are you just now saying something?” Rose demanded, years of watching police procedurals on the telly finally coming back to do some good. “And why are you on our floor if everyone was supposed to stay inside their flat?”
“That’s a good question,” Rogers said. “Mrs. Maddock, why are you not safely inside your home?”
One of the uniformed officers cleared his throat. “She wouldn’t stay in her flat, sir. Said she had a right to know what was going on.”
“I didn’t realize who it was until I saw him just now,” the woman sniffed. “His clothes reminded me.”
“You mentioned a long coat,” Cutler said swiftly. “He’s not wearing a coat.” The uniformed officers looked on, ready to intervene if necessary but also looking like they couldn’t quite believe what was happening.
“Well, they looked like those clothes,” the woman said defiantly. “All the young people wearing those dreadful jeans these days, not a care in the world about how you look anymore.”
“I’m not wearing jeans,” the Doctor said mildly, but Rose could hear tension in his voice.
“It was him!”
The muscles in the Doctor’s arm tightened as he clenched his fist. Rose could feel the change in him, and for some reason his reaction frightened her. She turned her head to look at his face, but instead of meeting her gaze he stepped in close behind her, holding her back tightly against his chest. She could feel his increased heartbeats and the tension in him. Rose covered his hand with her and squeezed. He relaxed slightly.
Cutler took a deep breath. “All right, then. Mr. Tyler -”
The Doctor cut him off before he could continue, determined to end this farce as quickly as possible. “I do have a long coat,” he acknowledged. “But it’s not one that I’ve been wearing lately, since the weather has been so warm. And I wear it with my suit. I don’t wear these clothes outside, as Rose will tell you; she’s tried hard enough to get me. I’ve never seen this woman before, nor do I know the poor man who was killed. I’m sorry.”
“I know what I saw! He’s a killer! And no better than he ought to be,” she added scornfully. “Sending his woman out to work when she should be home cooking and cleaning and raising children like a decent woman.”
Rose gasped in outrage. “Listen here, you old cow -”
“Rose!” The Doctor’s warning stopped her, but she still glared at the woman.
“Mr. Tyler,” Cutler said. “Under the...circumstances, I’m afraid this leaves us no choice.”
The Doctor sighed. He knew what was coming.
“We’ll need to speak to you down at the station.”
“You’re not serious!” Rose in disbelief. “She’s lying!”
“It would make things easier for us,” Rogers said calmly. “We’re trying to piece together a timeline for last night.”
“And if I refuse?” the Doctor asked, just as calmly.
“Agreeing to assist in an investigation would be very helpful to us. Refusing might lead to coming with us in handcuffs. The choice is yours.”
A hundred things were running through the Doctor’s head. He had to maintain a low profile in this time period. A police record would not help with that. He had to keep Rose safe - how could he do that if he was arrested? The blood on the stairwell, the disappearances, this murder were all dangers to her.
“I’ll be happy to speak with you,” he said finally. “Once I make sure Rose is safe.”
“Don’t you dare!” Rose said angrily. “He hasn’t done anything! It’s not right to make him come in for questioning! He hasn’t done anything wrong!”
“Rose.” He spoke quietly. “It’s all right.”
She spun around to face him, making his arms fall away from her. “It’s not all right! How can you say that it is?”
He was thinking about what would happen if he was arrested and it became public knowledge, if his alias was broken. UNIT, Torchwood, his former self, Sarah Jane and the Brigadier. So many potential timelines altered or destroyed by the fact that he was here where he shouldn’t be with no way back. He could not let that happen. Any small change might result in a change for the Time War, a change in his past. It could result in him never meeting Rose.
His mind ran through all sorts of crazy scenarios. He pictured himself contacting his former, younger self, asking him to take care of Rose. Return her to the right place and time, perhaps. If he was going to be trapped here, perhaps he could make sure Rose got back to Jackie.
And then what? he asked himself in derision. Leave Rose to be killed by the Cybermen, along with Jackie? Hope that Pete found them both and brought them back with him? He could not interfere with his personal timeline without altering the course of events.
“He hasn’t done anything! There’s no way he could have killed anyone!” Rose had transferred her glare to the policemen.
“Rose!” he said again. “It’s all right. They’re not placing me under arrest. I’ll go answer some questions and I’ll be back before you know it.”
“No.” She blinked back furious tears.
“I’m going of my own free will,” he promised her. “I’ll get this all cleared up and I’ll come back. I promise.” He hugged her tightly. She stood stiff in the circle of his arms, so angry she was almost giving off steam.
“He’s been accused,” Cutler said, looking slightly uncomfortable. Clearly they hadn’t believed the Doctor was a suspect until the moment on the stairs. “It’s standard procedure, nothing more.”
“I tell you it was him!” Joan Maddock insisted shrilly.
“You’ll come with us as well, Mrs. Maddock. We have some more questions for you.”
“It wasn’t me,” the Doctor said calmly, not allowing himself to look at Rose again. Instead he turned to the detectives, both of whom looked like they wished they were anywhere else. “I need to know that Rose is safe here.”
“We’ll have a guard posted outside on the stairs, miss. No one will get through to you.”
“Please,” Rose pleaded, without being sure what she was asking for. “At least let me come with you.”
He shook his head. “Stay here. You’ll be safe.” He bent his head and gave her a quick, hard kiss. “I’ll be all right.” He gently pushed her back inside the flat.
“Lock the door,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”
Rose was starting to shake. She flung her arms around him. For a moment his arms squeezed her tightly, taking her breath away. As he let her go her eyes met his, and Rose’s heart skipped a beat at the hidden panic she saw in his. His unease made her more frightened than ever. He had never reacted like this to an arrest or accusation before.
“Doctor,” she whispered, “whatever you think you’re doing-”
He kissed her again, gently this time. “Lock the door,” he told her again, and left with the officers.
Rose stared at the closed door, hugging her arms tightly around herself. How did things get out of hand so quickly?
What if he didn’t come back?
“Thank you for coming down to the station, Mr. Tyler.” DI Cutler said. “My partner will be along in a bit. Comfortable?”
The Doctor had been left sitting alone in a small room with a small metal chair. The table was shaky on its legs, the room was very cold, and he was the farthest thing from comfortable that he could be. And yet, it was still nicer than some of the prisons he’d found himself in in the past, so he was able to force a smile.
“I’m fine, thanks.”
“I have been told that you’ve declined advice from counsel?”
The Doctor refused to think about the fact that he might need counsel. He’d been in plenty of worse situations on other worlds without anything more than his own quick mind to get him out of the mess. And the TARDIS, of course.
“I haven’t done anything that would require legal help,” he said calmly. He was glad that they had the wrong alias - while John Smith might send up all sorts of flags for various organizations that were tracking him, John Tyler would never register with anyone.
“All right, then.” Cutler sat down across from him. “Did you know Kevin Moore?”
“No.”
“Never seen him around the building, in the neighborhood?”
“I wouldn’t know him if I did.”
Cutler consulted his notes. “According to the witness, you attended a party with him in your building.”
The Doctor frowned as he thought back. “Do you mean the moon landing? Back in July?”
“Yes. The flat upstairs. The host was-”
“I know Jeff. I didn’t know all the people there.”
“Mrs. Maddock says you both attended.”
“Well, who am I to doubt Mrs. Maddock’s word?” The Doctor smiled in derision and leaned back in his chair. “Was she there as well? Did I spill a drink on her or something?”
“She was not invited, actually.”
“Well, she doesn’t seem like the most friendly type of neighbor, does she? How does she know I was at the party?”
Cutler cleared his throat. “She happened to be looking out her door, investigating a sound she heard.”
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “Was that her excuse for spying on her neighbor’s guests?”
Cutler’s mouth formed into a straight line. He might not have cared for Mrs. Maddock’s statement, but he wasn’t going to agree with a potential suspect. “Were you up all last night?”
“Most of it,” the Doctor hedged. He rarely required sleep, but that was not something this human would ever understand.
“What do you do when you can’t sleep?”
“Read or write. Grade papers, plan lectures. Eat.” The Doctor flashed a brief grin. “Sometimes I walk around the neighborhood.”
“In the middle of the night?”
“Well, I’m not afraid for my safety, if that’s what you mean.”
“Do you ever meet anyone while you’re out? Anyone who might remember seeing you out and about last night?”
The Doctor sighed heavily. “I stopped for some takeaway at Bombay India. Two streets away from our flat.”
“You were alone?”
“Rose was sleeping. I go there once a week or so - I like the tandoori chicken.”
Cutler made a note on his notepad. “What time was this?”
“Eleven-thirty or so.”
“You didn’t meet up with any mates, have a bite and then a drink at the pub?”
“No. We only recently...arrived in London. I don’t really know many people. I spend most of my time at the university.”
“Your insomnia. It is a chronic problem?”
The Doctor wouldn’t call it a problem. It was simple biology. “I don’t sleep very often,” he acknowledged.
“So you are frequently awake at night, and often outdoors, walking about.”
“Yes.”
“There have been several other people reported missing who have lived in your building, Mr. Tyler. Do you know anything about that?”
The Doctor shook his head. “I don’t.”
“Most of them disappeared before you moved in. All reported by the building manager.” He consulted a note. “Mrs. MacMurray. One person disappeared right before you arrived. Did a runner on the rent, apparently. One took off with no forwarding address not long after you moved in.” The DI flipped through a notepad. “Name of Isaac. His car was later found in a quarry. No sign of him since.” He glanced up at the Doctor. “But you never met him.”
The Doctor frowned, thinking. “No, I met Isaac once. He was having trouble getting into his flat. That was the only time we spoke. Rose knows more of our neighbors than I do.”
“Yes. Rose.” Cutler regarded him thoughtfully. “Is she your only one?”
“My only what?” the Doctor asked blankly.
Cutler raised an eyebrow and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “We’re both men, Tyler. We’re alone here. You wouldn’t be the first man to have someone on the side. Do you use insomnia as an excuse to meet another woman someplace else?”
Anger flared within the Doctor. “No, I don’t!”
“Your missus is a pretty piece, and certainly young enough, but come on, now.” Cutler leaned back in his chair, a smug smile on his face. “You’re at Cambridge, about to become a PhD, eh? You’re going places. And she’s just a, what? A bit of a shopgirl. Where’d you find her, anyway?”
The Doctor stood up so quickly that his chair shot backwards.
“Sit down, Mr. Tyler!” Cutler glanced at the door.
“You keep Rose’s name off your lips,” the Doctor said dangerously. “She is worth ten of you at the very least.”
“Are you a killer, Mr. Tyler?” Cutler asked abruptly, and two entire civilizations flashed before the Doctor’s eyes.
Thirty-six
Characters: Ten, Rose
Summary: AU. What if Rose had stayed through Doomsday and was the one to end up in 1969 with the Doctor? How would they get back to their proper time? Would they want to?
Rating: PG
Beta: nattieb
(ch 1) (ch 2) (ch 3) (ch 4) (ch 5) (ch 6) (ch 7) (ch 8) (ch 9) (ch 10) (ch 11) (ch 12) (ch 13) (ch 14) (ch 15) (ch 16) (ch 17) (ch 18)
(ch 19) (ch 20) (ch 21) (ch 22) (ch 23) (ch 24) (ch 25) (ch 26) (ch 27) (ch 28) (ch 29) (ch 30) (ch 31) (ch 32) (ch 33) (ch 34)
The Doctor found his voice first. “What?”
“It’s him!” she insisted, as all the officers turned to look at the Doctor and then back at her. She was a woman in her fifties or sixties, with overly black hair that was clearly dyed, wearing a dark red housecoat and scuffed black slippers. One hand clutched the front of her housecoat tightly, as if any moment she would be accosted by one of the men standing in the building.
“What?” he repeated in shock.
“He killed Kevin!” She stabbed the air with a finger from her free hand for emphasis, and a lock of hair fell from the messy beehive on top of her head to fall in front of her face.
“What?”
“Oh, honestly. You’re crazy,” Rose said angrily, recovering from her own surprise and taking a quick step forward. Only the Doctor’s arm, swiftly raised to block her, kept her from attacking the woman. Even then, she would have simply stepped under his arm, but he roughly pulled her back against him and held her in place with an arm around her waist. She struggled against his grip and hit his arm. “You are absolutely out of your mind!” She made another attempt to move and this time the Doctor lifted her off her feet as he tried to keep her from attacking the woman.
“Are you accusing this man of murder?” Rogers asked the woman in the red housecoat.
“I am! He killed Kevin! I’ve seen him around at night,” she added, glaring at the Doctor. “Always coming and going in that long coat of his. I always knew he was up to no good.”
Rose gave up on moving out of the Doctor’s grip. She flushed angrily. “Have you been spying on us?”
“I don’t spy on anyone!” the woman said shrilly.
Rose scoffed and narrowed her eyes. “I know you! I’ve seen you around at night, looking out your window. Last month you were leaning so far out you almost fall to the street.”
“This is Joan Maddock,” one of the uniforms said in response to a question from Cutler. “Lives upstairs in one of the front flats. Doesn’t leave home much, but she keeps an eye on the comings and goings from her window.”
“Spying, more like,” Rose snapped. The Doctor was still struck speechless by the accusation of murder.
Joan Maddock folded her arms and looked very satisfied. “It was him.” She jerked her head at the Doctor.
The Doctor finally recovered his voice. “You’ve made a mistake,” he said firmly. “I haven’t done anything of the sort.”
“If you saw him do it then why are you just now saying something?” Rose demanded, years of watching police procedurals on the telly finally coming back to do some good. “And why are you on our floor if everyone was supposed to stay inside their flat?”
“That’s a good question,” Rogers said. “Mrs. Maddock, why are you not safely inside your home?”
One of the uniformed officers cleared his throat. “She wouldn’t stay in her flat, sir. Said she had a right to know what was going on.”
“I didn’t realize who it was until I saw him just now,” the woman sniffed. “His clothes reminded me.”
“You mentioned a long coat,” Cutler said swiftly. “He’s not wearing a coat.” The uniformed officers looked on, ready to intervene if necessary but also looking like they couldn’t quite believe what was happening.
“Well, they looked like those clothes,” the woman said defiantly. “All the young people wearing those dreadful jeans these days, not a care in the world about how you look anymore.”
“I’m not wearing jeans,” the Doctor said mildly, but Rose could hear tension in his voice.
“It was him!”
The muscles in the Doctor’s arm tightened as he clenched his fist. Rose could feel the change in him, and for some reason his reaction frightened her. She turned her head to look at his face, but instead of meeting her gaze he stepped in close behind her, holding her back tightly against his chest. She could feel his increased heartbeats and the tension in him. Rose covered his hand with her and squeezed. He relaxed slightly.
Cutler took a deep breath. “All right, then. Mr. Tyler -”
The Doctor cut him off before he could continue, determined to end this farce as quickly as possible. “I do have a long coat,” he acknowledged. “But it’s not one that I’ve been wearing lately, since the weather has been so warm. And I wear it with my suit. I don’t wear these clothes outside, as Rose will tell you; she’s tried hard enough to get me. I’ve never seen this woman before, nor do I know the poor man who was killed. I’m sorry.”
“I know what I saw! He’s a killer! And no better than he ought to be,” she added scornfully. “Sending his woman out to work when she should be home cooking and cleaning and raising children like a decent woman.”
Rose gasped in outrage. “Listen here, you old cow -”
“Rose!” The Doctor’s warning stopped her, but she still glared at the woman.
“Mr. Tyler,” Cutler said. “Under the...circumstances, I’m afraid this leaves us no choice.”
The Doctor sighed. He knew what was coming.
“We’ll need to speak to you down at the station.”
“You’re not serious!” Rose in disbelief. “She’s lying!”
“It would make things easier for us,” Rogers said calmly. “We’re trying to piece together a timeline for last night.”
“And if I refuse?” the Doctor asked, just as calmly.
“Agreeing to assist in an investigation would be very helpful to us. Refusing might lead to coming with us in handcuffs. The choice is yours.”
A hundred things were running through the Doctor’s head. He had to maintain a low profile in this time period. A police record would not help with that. He had to keep Rose safe - how could he do that if he was arrested? The blood on the stairwell, the disappearances, this murder were all dangers to her.
“I’ll be happy to speak with you,” he said finally. “Once I make sure Rose is safe.”
“Don’t you dare!” Rose said angrily. “He hasn’t done anything! It’s not right to make him come in for questioning! He hasn’t done anything wrong!”
“Rose.” He spoke quietly. “It’s all right.”
She spun around to face him, making his arms fall away from her. “It’s not all right! How can you say that it is?”
He was thinking about what would happen if he was arrested and it became public knowledge, if his alias was broken. UNIT, Torchwood, his former self, Sarah Jane and the Brigadier. So many potential timelines altered or destroyed by the fact that he was here where he shouldn’t be with no way back. He could not let that happen. Any small change might result in a change for the Time War, a change in his past. It could result in him never meeting Rose.
His mind ran through all sorts of crazy scenarios. He pictured himself contacting his former, younger self, asking him to take care of Rose. Return her to the right place and time, perhaps. If he was going to be trapped here, perhaps he could make sure Rose got back to Jackie.
And then what? he asked himself in derision. Leave Rose to be killed by the Cybermen, along with Jackie? Hope that Pete found them both and brought them back with him? He could not interfere with his personal timeline without altering the course of events.
“He hasn’t done anything! There’s no way he could have killed anyone!” Rose had transferred her glare to the policemen.
“Rose!” he said again. “It’s all right. They’re not placing me under arrest. I’ll go answer some questions and I’ll be back before you know it.”
“No.” She blinked back furious tears.
“I’m going of my own free will,” he promised her. “I’ll get this all cleared up and I’ll come back. I promise.” He hugged her tightly. She stood stiff in the circle of his arms, so angry she was almost giving off steam.
“He’s been accused,” Cutler said, looking slightly uncomfortable. Clearly they hadn’t believed the Doctor was a suspect until the moment on the stairs. “It’s standard procedure, nothing more.”
“I tell you it was him!” Joan Maddock insisted shrilly.
“You’ll come with us as well, Mrs. Maddock. We have some more questions for you.”
“It wasn’t me,” the Doctor said calmly, not allowing himself to look at Rose again. Instead he turned to the detectives, both of whom looked like they wished they were anywhere else. “I need to know that Rose is safe here.”
“We’ll have a guard posted outside on the stairs, miss. No one will get through to you.”
“Please,” Rose pleaded, without being sure what she was asking for. “At least let me come with you.”
He shook his head. “Stay here. You’ll be safe.” He bent his head and gave her a quick, hard kiss. “I’ll be all right.” He gently pushed her back inside the flat.
“Lock the door,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”
Rose was starting to shake. She flung her arms around him. For a moment his arms squeezed her tightly, taking her breath away. As he let her go her eyes met his, and Rose’s heart skipped a beat at the hidden panic she saw in his. His unease made her more frightened than ever. He had never reacted like this to an arrest or accusation before.
“Doctor,” she whispered, “whatever you think you’re doing-”
He kissed her again, gently this time. “Lock the door,” he told her again, and left with the officers.
Rose stared at the closed door, hugging her arms tightly around herself. How did things get out of hand so quickly?
What if he didn’t come back?
“Thank you for coming down to the station, Mr. Tyler.” DI Cutler said. “My partner will be along in a bit. Comfortable?”
The Doctor had been left sitting alone in a small room with a small metal chair. The table was shaky on its legs, the room was very cold, and he was the farthest thing from comfortable that he could be. And yet, it was still nicer than some of the prisons he’d found himself in in the past, so he was able to force a smile.
“I’m fine, thanks.”
“I have been told that you’ve declined advice from counsel?”
The Doctor refused to think about the fact that he might need counsel. He’d been in plenty of worse situations on other worlds without anything more than his own quick mind to get him out of the mess. And the TARDIS, of course.
“I haven’t done anything that would require legal help,” he said calmly. He was glad that they had the wrong alias - while John Smith might send up all sorts of flags for various organizations that were tracking him, John Tyler would never register with anyone.
“All right, then.” Cutler sat down across from him. “Did you know Kevin Moore?”
“No.”
“Never seen him around the building, in the neighborhood?”
“I wouldn’t know him if I did.”
Cutler consulted his notes. “According to the witness, you attended a party with him in your building.”
The Doctor frowned as he thought back. “Do you mean the moon landing? Back in July?”
“Yes. The flat upstairs. The host was-”
“I know Jeff. I didn’t know all the people there.”
“Mrs. Maddock says you both attended.”
“Well, who am I to doubt Mrs. Maddock’s word?” The Doctor smiled in derision and leaned back in his chair. “Was she there as well? Did I spill a drink on her or something?”
“She was not invited, actually.”
“Well, she doesn’t seem like the most friendly type of neighbor, does she? How does she know I was at the party?”
Cutler cleared his throat. “She happened to be looking out her door, investigating a sound she heard.”
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “Was that her excuse for spying on her neighbor’s guests?”
Cutler’s mouth formed into a straight line. He might not have cared for Mrs. Maddock’s statement, but he wasn’t going to agree with a potential suspect. “Were you up all last night?”
“Most of it,” the Doctor hedged. He rarely required sleep, but that was not something this human would ever understand.
“What do you do when you can’t sleep?”
“Read or write. Grade papers, plan lectures. Eat.” The Doctor flashed a brief grin. “Sometimes I walk around the neighborhood.”
“In the middle of the night?”
“Well, I’m not afraid for my safety, if that’s what you mean.”
“Do you ever meet anyone while you’re out? Anyone who might remember seeing you out and about last night?”
The Doctor sighed heavily. “I stopped for some takeaway at Bombay India. Two streets away from our flat.”
“You were alone?”
“Rose was sleeping. I go there once a week or so - I like the tandoori chicken.”
Cutler made a note on his notepad. “What time was this?”
“Eleven-thirty or so.”
“You didn’t meet up with any mates, have a bite and then a drink at the pub?”
“No. We only recently...arrived in London. I don’t really know many people. I spend most of my time at the university.”
“Your insomnia. It is a chronic problem?”
The Doctor wouldn’t call it a problem. It was simple biology. “I don’t sleep very often,” he acknowledged.
“So you are frequently awake at night, and often outdoors, walking about.”
“Yes.”
“There have been several other people reported missing who have lived in your building, Mr. Tyler. Do you know anything about that?”
The Doctor shook his head. “I don’t.”
“Most of them disappeared before you moved in. All reported by the building manager.” He consulted a note. “Mrs. MacMurray. One person disappeared right before you arrived. Did a runner on the rent, apparently. One took off with no forwarding address not long after you moved in.” The DI flipped through a notepad. “Name of Isaac. His car was later found in a quarry. No sign of him since.” He glanced up at the Doctor. “But you never met him.”
The Doctor frowned, thinking. “No, I met Isaac once. He was having trouble getting into his flat. That was the only time we spoke. Rose knows more of our neighbors than I do.”
“Yes. Rose.” Cutler regarded him thoughtfully. “Is she your only one?”
“My only what?” the Doctor asked blankly.
Cutler raised an eyebrow and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “We’re both men, Tyler. We’re alone here. You wouldn’t be the first man to have someone on the side. Do you use insomnia as an excuse to meet another woman someplace else?”
Anger flared within the Doctor. “No, I don’t!”
“Your missus is a pretty piece, and certainly young enough, but come on, now.” Cutler leaned back in his chair, a smug smile on his face. “You’re at Cambridge, about to become a PhD, eh? You’re going places. And she’s just a, what? A bit of a shopgirl. Where’d you find her, anyway?”
The Doctor stood up so quickly that his chair shot backwards.
“Sit down, Mr. Tyler!” Cutler glanced at the door.
“You keep Rose’s name off your lips,” the Doctor said dangerously. “She is worth ten of you at the very least.”
“Are you a killer, Mr. Tyler?” Cutler asked abruptly, and two entire civilizations flashed before the Doctor’s eyes.
Thirty-six