She was about to say as much when, to her surprise, the door opened again and, with a brief look up and down the street, Mr Eldon beckoned them inside.

‘Sorry about that,’ he said shutting the door behind them. ‘I had to check that you were official. We’ve had so many weirdoes wanting to talk to Kerry since that wretched documentary. Please …’ he gestured towards the door at the end of the hallway. ‘We were just finishing our dinner.’

Impressed by the immediate effect that the psychic paper had had on the man, Ace followed the Doctor down the hallway and into the kitchen. It was virtually identical to the house that she had grown up in as a child. The same slightly outdated wallpaper, the same kind of knickknacks and pictures on the walls, the same smell …

Kerry was sitting at a dining table, her mother clearing dirty plates into the sink. A baby monitor sat in the middle of the table. Both women looked around nervously at Mr Eldon as he followed the Doctor and Ace into the room.

‘Andrew?’ asked Mrs Eldon. ‘Who are these people?’

‘Kerry, Tracey, this is the Doctor and Ace. They’re from NASA.’

Ace bit her lip, wondering if the Doctor’s psychic paper might have over-exaggerated their importance just a tad. Her concerns seemed to be justified as Kerry pushed her chair back from the table, her eyes wide and frightened.

‘She’s not from NASA. And her name isn’t Ace. It’s Dorothy. Dorothy McShane. She’s from that charity.’

‘Smart girl.’ Ace pulled up a chair and sat down opposite her. ‘Ace is an old nickname. Only really old friends are allowed to call me that. It’s why I named my company A Charitable Earth – same initials. And you’re right, I’m not from NASA like the Doctor is, but I do help them out occasionally. You probably saw in the papers last year that I was going out with an astronaut called Will Buckland?’

The tabloids had made something of a big deal about their relationship. They’d even been photographed by paparazzi on a holiday they’d taken in Greece. Ace was hoping that it was the sort of thing that might stick in the head of a teenage girl. To her relief, Kerry nodded.

‘Well, he introduced me to the Doctor.’ Ace shot a look at the Doctor, making it clear that she wanted her to back up the lie. ‘She’s NASA’s expert in extraterrestrial life.’

‘Yeah, that’s right.’ The Doctor pulled up a chair next to Ace. ‘Not much about aliens that I don’t know. Love ’em.’

Ace mentally crossed her fingers and hoped that no one would question why an expert from NASA would have such a broad Northern accent. Fortunately Kerry and her parents just seemed relieved to be able to relate their story to what they assumed to be an ‘official’ investigator.