Doctor Who_ Deep Blue Part 5

'Drinking alone, love? Why don't you come and join us?'

invited another.

Tegan sighed. 'No thanks,' she replied curtly.

'What's the matter, love? Don't you fancy us?' asked a man with a pockmarked face and a scrubby blond moustache.

'Not much, no.'

'Ooh, too good for us, are you?'

'Here,' said a man, whose thick dark fringe almost covered his eyes, 'where you from? You an Aussie, are you?'

Tegan looked the man squarely in the eye and said, 'Look, I just came in for a quiet drink, so I'd appreciate it if you'd all go away and leave me alone.'

Her words were met with a barrage of comments: 'Playing hard to get, are we, darling?'

'Tie me kangaroo down, sport.'

'Hey, you know what they say about Aussie birds.'

The blond man with the moustache and the pockmarked face leaned forward, resting his knuckled fists on the edge of Tegan's table. In a voice that was quieter and more threatening than his friends' he said, 'We only want to buy you a drink, lady. We're only trying to be polite.'

Tegan's temper flared. She couldn't help it. 'No, you're not,'

she snapped. 'You're a bunch of annoying little boys, all trying to act the big macho man in front of your mates.'

She saw the blond-haired man's face change, a strange blankness come into his eyes, his lips curl aggressively.

Astonished, she watched as he drew his arm back, his hand closing into a fist. She had no doubt that he intended to punch her in the face.

At that moment she was aware of someone barging through the crowd of youths, and a split second later the blond man's head jerked up and he was yelping in pain. The man who had grabbed her would-be a.s.sailant's wrist and twisted it behind his back ignored the threats from around him, and leaned over the blond man's shoulder so that his mouth was positioned directly beside his ear.

'Get off on attacking women, do you, sonny?' he said. 'That about your level, is it?'

'Let me go,' the blond man cried through the pain.

'Or what?' said the newcomer. 'Will you tell your mummy?'

'I'll tell the police you attacked me. I've got witnesses here to back me up.'

'I am am the police,' said the man, thrusting an ID card into the blond man's face. the police,' said the man, thrusting an ID card into the blond man's face.

The way the others melted away from the scene, some of them sidling over to the pool table on the far side of the pub, a couple even sneaking out through the door, almost made Tegan smile.

The last vestiges of defiance drained from the blond man's voice and he became whiny, craven. 'I didn't do anything,' he said. 'We were just messing about.'

'Well, I don't think the lady found it very funny. Do you?'

'Er... n-no, probably not.'

'So what do you say?'

'Er...'

'I think an apology is called for, don't you?'

'Oh. Oh yeah. Sorry, officer.'

'Not to me, you moron, to the young lady.'

'Oh... er... yeah. Sorry... er, miss.'

Tegan snorted and rolled her eyes.

The policeman said reflectively, 'Now, what shall we do with you? I think a night in the cells might make you think twice about throwing your puny weight around, don't you?'

The blond man quailed. 'No... no, don't, please. I mean, I've... I've learned my lesson. I've never been in trouble before, honest. I won't do it again.'

The policeman was silent for a moment, making the blond man sweat. Finally he said, 'You know, I really can't decide what to do, so I think I'll ask the young lady here. Miss, would you like to press charges against this... er...

gentleman?'

Again, Tegan had to fight hard not to smile. She stared coldly at the blond man, who gazed back at her pleadingly.

After a leisurely sip of her wine she gave a dismissive shake of the head. 'He's not worth it.'

The policeman abruptly released his captive, who sprawled across her table, his legs splaying in a way that reminded Tegan of Bambi on the ice. Wincing from the pain in his arm, he pushed himself groggily to his feet. When he turned he found himself almost nose to nose with the thicker-set policeman, who grinned and said, 'It's just lucky for you that this lady has such a generous nature and that I'm off-duty.

Now make yourself scarce.'

The blond man looked for a moment as though he wanted to say something, but didn't have the courage. Finally he gave a short nod and stumbled away. Rather than joining his friends over by the pool table, he headed straight for the door and lunged outside, his cheeks burning with humiliation.

The policeman watched him go, then turned to Tegan. 'Are you OK?'

'Fine,' said Tegan. 'I might not have been, though, if you hadn't showed up. I really think he intended to punch my lights out.'

'Can I get you a drink?' he said. 'Calm your nerves? I just popped in for a quiet one myself, believe it or not.'

'Sure,' she said and held up her gla.s.s. 'Same again, thanks.'

'Coming up.' He walked over to the bar.

Tegan watched him ordering the drinks. He was attractive in a seventies' sort of way. He was around thirty and, perhaps like many policemen of his era, obviously modelled himself on George Carter from The Sweeney. The Sweeney. Certainly his hair was the same style, albeit darker, as were his clothes: kipper tie worn loosely, cuffs of his shirt turned up in a way that she always thought looked faintly ridiculous when she watched re-runs. He was not as rugged as Carter, though; his face was boyish, pleasant-looking, seemingly never far from a smile. He was broader-shouldered too, stocky but certainly not fat. He came back with another gla.s.s of wine for her and a pint of bitter already half-drunk for himself. 'There you go,' he said. Certainly his hair was the same style, albeit darker, as were his clothes: kipper tie worn loosely, cuffs of his shirt turned up in a way that she always thought looked faintly ridiculous when she watched re-runs. He was not as rugged as Carter, though; his face was boyish, pleasant-looking, seemingly never far from a smile. He was broader-shouldered too, stocky but certainly not fat. He came back with another gla.s.s of wine for her and a pint of bitter already half-drunk for himself. 'There you go,' he said.

'Thanks.' She drained the remains of her first gla.s.s and picked up her second. 'Cheers.'

'Cheers,' he responded. They c.h.i.n.ked gla.s.ses and drank.

After a few moments he said, 'Perhaps we'd better introduce ourselves. My name's Andy Weathers.'

'Is that PC or...'

'Sergeant,' he said with a grin.

'Tegan Jovanka,' said Tegan, thrusting out her hand for him to shake. He looked faintly surprised at the gesture, but shook anyway.

Nodding at the group by the pool table, he said, 'So, do you know that crowd?'

'Do I look as though I'd hang around with creeps like that?'

She smiled to soften her indignation. 'No, I was just sitting here when they came in and started giving me ha.s.sle. When I told them where to go, Prince Charming decided to thump me.'

He shook his head. 'Toerags. I ought to arrest the lot of them.'

'I'm OK. I've handled a lot worse than them, believe me.'

'So what brings you to the Sands?'

She smiled teasingly, 'How do you know I'm not a local?'

'If you are, that's a very convincing Australian accent you've got there. So, come on, what brings you to this part of the world? Are you here on holiday?'

'Got it in one.'

'So which part of Australia are you from?'

'Brisbane. But I don't live there at the moment.'

'No? Whereabouts do you live?'

'So many questions!' she said. No wonder you became a policeman.'

He took another sip from his gla.s.s and leaned back with a smile. 'Sorry. Just making conversation. I don't want you to think I'm coming on too strong.'

'No, that's OK,' she said. 'I'm enjoying just sitting here, talking. I can't remember the last time I did this with anyone.'

'Really?' he said, visibly brightening, and leaned towards her again. 'Why's that?'

'I guess because my life's so hectic.'

'Why? What do you do?'

'I used to be an air hostess, but now I just... travel.'

'Seeing a bit of the world, eh?'

'Something like that.'

'Isn't it a bit dangerous,' he said, 'a girl travelling around on her own?'

Tegan realised she was going to have to tread warily here.

She didn't want to get embroiled in a tangle of lies, but neither could she tell Andy exactly what her life entailed. 'Oh, I'm not alone,' she said. 'I travel with a couple of friends.'

'And where are they tonight?' he asked.

'One decided to stay back at the hotel and the other one's gone off on his own somewhere.'

'"His"?' said Andy casually. 'They're not both girls then?'

Tegan knew where this was leading, but found that she didn't mind. Equally casually she said, 'No. As a matter of fact they're both blokes.'

'Really?' he said, raising his eyebrows. 'Sounds like an interesting arrangement.'

'It's not what you think. They're just friends,' she said, and added teasingly, 'Not that it's any concern of yours anyway.'

'Course not,' he said innocently, swiftly draining the last of his pint. 'Fancy another?'

Tegan laughed. 'Are you trying to get me drunk?'

'Course I am. Get the tourists drunk and have our evil way with them. That's what we do in this town.'

When he returned from the bar, Tegan asked him to tell her about himself. Andy grimaced and said there wasn't much to tell. He'd been born and brought up in Tayborough Sands, and came from a long line of fishermen. 'I decided to break tradition and become a copper,' he said. 'There's no future in fishing any more for little family businesses like ours. The big factory trawlers are taking over.'

'How does that make you feel?' asked Tegan. 'Pretty bitter, I bet.'

He shrugged. 'Not so much bitter. A bit sad, maybe. But it's progress, isn't it? Time moves on. You can't do anything to stop it.'

'No,' Tegan said, 'you can't. So what's it like being a policeman in a place like this ?'

'Seasonal. Quiet in the winter, h.e.l.l in the summer.'