Silhouette by Justin Richards Read Free Book Online

from there opened into a narrow alley that led back to the street. They returned to the house and checked the rooms again. But all were empty and unfurnished.
    ‘What was that?’ the Doctor said as they stood in one of the front rooms on the ground floor.
    ‘What?’ Clara strained to hear. There was something, a faint noise like a light tapping sound. ‘Something outside in the street?’
    The Doctor shook his head. ‘I think it’s coming from the next room.’
    ‘It’s gone now,’ Clara realised, following him out.
    The other reception room was as empty as the first.
    ‘Perhaps you’re right,’ the Doctor said.
    ‘Always possible. It does happen.’
    ‘Perhaps it was something outside.’ The Doctor crossed to the window. The glass was dusty and one pane was cracked across. Another pane was completely missing. ‘Ah,’ he said quietly. ‘Interesting.’
    Clara joined him staring murkily into the street outside. ‘Can’t see anything.’
    ‘I meant this.’ The Doctor pointed downwards. A piece of paper lay on the windowsill, folded into the shape of a bird.
    ‘More origami. That can’t be a coincidence.’
    ‘No,’ the Doctor agreed. He picked up the delicate shape and examined it. ‘Hasn’t been here long, it’s not dusty enough.’ He dropped it back onto the windowsill. ‘But I can’t believe our Mr Milton came here just to leave a paper bird behind.’
    ‘What do you think he’s up to?’ Clara said. ‘Something that needs power, right? I mean an advanced form of power that could generate the spike we picked up.’
    ‘Whatever he’s up to, it’s not good. A man’s dead,’ the Doctor told her. ‘I can’t believe that’s not connected. Especially now,’ he added, nodding at the origami bird lying close by.
    ‘You think Milton’s up to no good?’
    ‘He’s definitely up to something. I’d like to know what it is before we reveal our own credentials. The less he knows about us for the moment, the better.’
    ‘And now what? We don’t even know where he’s gone.’
    They walked slowly back across the room and out into the hall.
    ‘If we work out what happened to poor Mr Hapworth, then we go a good way to working out what’s really going on here,’ the Doctor said.
    ‘He was at the Carnival,’ Clara said. ‘And so was Milton. Another connection?’
    ‘Could be. And then there’s those birds …’ The Doctor paused, tapping his finger against his chin. ‘We should probably bring that one with us. It might repay a closer examination.’
    ‘Taking a piece of folded paper into protective custody,’ Clara said as she followed him back into the room. ‘That’s a first.’
    ‘Not yet it isn’t,’ the Doctor said from the window. ‘How do you mean?’
    ‘It’s not here.’
    Clara joined him, looking down at the dusty windowsill. Sure enough the origami bird was gone.
    The Doctor held his hand up in front of the missing pane of glass. ‘There a breeze. It might have blown away.’
    Clara looked round. ‘But where too? It’s not on the floor. There’s no sign of it.’
    ‘There’s a gap here between the sill and the window. Maybe it slipped down there.’
    ‘Well if it did we’re not getting it back. Is it important?’
    The Doctor considered, eyebrows knitted together and forehead furrowed. ‘I don’t see how it could be, really. Not in itself. Someone left it here. Someone left three more at Hapworth’s, according to Vastra. The question is, who? And why?’

Chapter
6
    The late afternoon sun struggled weakly through the scattering of clouds. The light was already failing, and in another hour it would be twilight. The snow was crisping underfoot as the day grew chillier. The Doctor and Clara let themselves out of the front door of the empty townhouse and headed back towards the river. Had either of them turned and looked the other way down the street, they might have seen what looked like a large snowflake dancing in the air, carried by the breeze.
    A