Lady Of The Island

Break Time At Allcroft Studios

We all sat in silence, thinking about what I had just blurted out.

"Missing Woman, eh?" Neville stared into the sky. "That sounds familiar."

"Probably because he's told us about this before..." Molly smirked.

"No, no. I get what Nev's talking about." Clarence interupted. "Do you have a description of this 'Missing Woman'?"

I flipped my notepad's pages. "Erm, not many. Young woman, long hair, potentially bruised, worked at Allcroft Studios...yeah, not much."

"Hmm," Rawlinson started at me. "Did the studio not have a record room? You know, where they would keep records of their employees?"

"Hm, I didn't check - that's a good shout!"

Becca raised an eyebrow. "How's that going to help you? Do you even know when she went missing?"

"Well, it's before Thomas And The Magic Railroad was released, and after this sketch of Rawlinson was created so, i'd guess around 1998? It all really depends on who got let go or quit around that time." I shrugged.

"Need a ride, again?" Becca asked, smiling. I was no longer noticing the smokebox, just the lovely face beneath.

"Just to Tidmouth, I'll walk to the studio there."

"And you're sure about that? It's a long walk, you know."

"I'm aware, I just like the town."

"That's a first." Molly snickered.

I rolled my eyes, noting that it was pretty clear that Molly didn't take my mission seriously, and climbed inside Becca, who pulled away. Suddenly, there was a light pop.

"Ouch!" She snapped. "I think something broke!"

"No, you've just come off the rails a little at the back," Clarence laughed. "Nothing too bad, but I don't think you should really take Gray with that - for safety and all."

"Yeah, but who else would?"

"I'll do it." Neville smiled. "I've longed for a nice run."

I shrugged once again. "Sure! As long as you know the way!"

"Tidmouth? Pah, I know that like the back of my buffer! Climb aboard!"

And with that, Neville pulled away with me in his cab.

He didn't take his time zooming along the short stretch of mainline towards Knapford. We passed several familiar engines going about their daily grind - Gordon, Daisy (Who was covered in makeup), Toby and even our little Thomas (Who shot daggers at us).
He didn't seem pleasant in the slightest. Good thing I didn't plan on talking to him.

When Neville pulled into the station, he let me off quickly and I finally got a good look at his face. The gaping hole under his eye was incredibly visible.

"Oh, Look!" Came a snarky voice from another platform. "It's the freak!" A blue vertical-boilered shunter laughed, with a purple tank engine joining in too.

"Knock it off!" Came another voice, followed by a slightly deeper one shouting:
"Can it! Bugger off!"

The two little engines scoffed and rolled away.
I turned around to see two browned bogie coaches, smiling fondly. The names "Annie" and "Clarabel" were written on the side, though they were covered in a little bit of dirt.