Jo was most definitely the answer Tony decided, after having spent much of the night thinking about it; it was a bit of a pity that he really wasn’t sure of what the question was, but Jo would know. She knew everything. She was ever so slightly scary, but her breadth of knowledge and habit of solving every case was like a soothing balm.
He just needed to get upstairs to CID. He needed a pretext: actually a scrap of paper with something relatively meaningless printed on it would do; anything that allowed him to mount the stairs. Preferably without tripping over the multitude of cables on the way up.
He looked into the Green Room, wincing at the alarming decor, no wonder no one spends any time in here... bilious!! Green was supposed to be soothing, well not that in that shade! Half a dozen limply curled fliers for the latest X Factor’s Got Britain littered the coffee table. They looked rather like someone had screwed them up and then danced on them. That will do nicely. Tony scooped them up, smoothed them out a bit and stuffed them into an old, slightly crumpled manila folder he found abandoned by the pigeon holes.
Having found his pretext, Tony slipped quietly up the stairs, carefully working his way around the edge of the shot. Thank heavens for scripts. Jo was exactly where he predicted she’d be. She was doing an excellent job of looking busy at her desk, and.... random uniform guy was heading straight for her, file in hand. “I’ll take that.” Tony said firmly. Random uniform guy looked confused. His lips formed the word but, Tony shook his head. Random uniform guy retreated, scratching his head; he was certain the script told him to do it. [Walk r to l centre, hand file to DC Masters], but Tony Stamp told him otherwise.
Tony crossed the floor handed the file to Jo, aware that the cameraman was also scratching his head. Well, that’s gonna be another of those famous wobbly shots.
Jo opened the file. “Okay... I agree with you there... Criminal, but unfortunately not actually an arrestable offence... yet.” She closed the cover, as Tony realised he’d handed her the wrong file.
Smoothly he ad libbed the second file. “Jo, can we talk?”
Jo raised an eyebrow, and glanced across her desk, Stuart was apparently otherwise occupied fishing around in his top drawer, she hoped fervently that it wasn’t that aftershave he was looking for again. A joke is a joke, but I’ve got another scene in a car with him later.
“Of course we can Tony, but now isn’t the time.”
“Later, when we’re all supposed to be off to The Seven Bells.”
“Later.” Tony nodded and confidently walked out of shot, leaving three assorted crew members and a confused cameraman staring at his back.
“Something I should know about.” Jo looked round, Stuart was staring after Tony.
“No... and you were evesdropping.”
He shifted his chair back a little and spread his hands wide in that gesture of apparent innocence which didn’t fool Jo (or the fans) for a second.
“So?”
“So... that’s not nice... and stop flirting. Talk about transparent... I could glaze a greenhouse with you.”
She got to her feet, and he followed her, slinging an arm round her shoulders as they exited shot, “but Jo you know you’re the only character I can talk to without some deranged fan wanting to stab me.”
Jo frowned slightly, “Stu... stop being paranoid...”
“I’m not paranoid... or insecure for that matter.”
“Yeah right!!”
“Just because they’re not out to get me, doesn’t mean they’re not out to get me.” He looked over his shoulder. “All those Huxons.” He shivered.
Jo’s lips twitched slightly, “just be thankful it’s just the fanficcers and you’re not Will, he’s got more proposals of marriage from the fans on the message board.”
Stuart grinned, “so, he’s got far more to worry about than me exerting my superiority over him; now hasn’t he?”
Jo choked back a laugh and tried to look stern, “it’s not funny... the poor boy’s looking positively hunted.”
“So, anyway... what’s this thing with Tony all about?”
“It’s not a ‘thing’... honestly... that’s not in my idiom at all.” Jo frowned, it was a little peculiar, true she got on well with Tony, but he’d never really asked for her help before. “It’s probably nothing.”
She glanced sideways at Stuart, “anyway, why is it bothering you, you are abandoning me to my fate after all!”
“Shuuusssssh!” Stuart looked behind him again, “no one’s supposed to know about that.”
“Stu... it’s been common knowledge for weeks... like Sam’s exit...” Jo sighed. Stuart’s paranoia seemed to be overspilling the bounds of common sense these days. Perhaps it was the Huxons... but three years after the affair to still be hating him... that’s just not rational! Fans! She shook her head slightly, no accounting for folk.
~*~*~*~*~
Having secured Jo’s assistance, Tony decided that between scenes he had better be searching for proof. One off the good things about having been here so long is that wandering about the corridors, no one actually notices that you shouldn’t really be there. He carefully dug back through Graham’s repertoire... any spies in there? The closest he could come up with was a guerrilla in the wartime thriller series Secret Army and a Federation Trooper from Blake’s 7. Somehow he had the feeling that impersonating a Cyberman wouldn’t be that inconspicuous.
He recalled his conversation about ‘new dynamic’ and how Tony wouldn’t fit. Perhaps it would be best to start with the marketing department? He wandered in that general direction.
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