"You" James said, turning to face Ebenezer where he sat in terror on the bed, "did this! Your guilty conscience has finally gotten the better of you and you wrote it with your blood stained hands!"
Ebenezer slowly turned to look at James, his mouth hanging agape with shock. "No!" he managed to stammer, "I, I..."
"The room was locked from the outside, the butler is the only one with a key!" James said in protest as he turned towards The Doctor.
"Well let's not jump to conclusions," The Doctor said, holding onto Sarah with one hand and addressing the butler with the other, "is that true?"
"I'm afraid it is sir," the butler said to The Doctor, "I took possession of the keys to prevent Mr. Osgood from locking himself away and possibly hurting himself after Mrs. Osgood passed away."
"Well where did the blood come from then?" asked Sarah from within the folds of The Doctor's coat.
"It was her," Ebenezer whispered, "ghost!"
"Returned from the grave to bring her murderer to justice!" James said.
"Let's dispense with the unsubstantiated accusations for the time being, they aren't helping us get anywhere!" The Doctor said.
"I"m sorry," said James, taken aback by The Doctor's authoritative tone, "I've been trying to put on a good facade, but I seem to be failing as of late."
"Then how about making yourself useful and getting something to clean up with?" The Doctor said.
"I suppose that would be the thing to do," James said remorsefully as he left the room with the butler.
"And Sarah, how about sitting here for the time being?" The Doctor said as he assisted Sarah onto the small chair in the room.
"Why did you leave me alone again?" Sarah asked, he tone tinted with anger. "I actually almost wished I had stayed downstairs now,' Sarah said as she looked around the room.
"Who, who are you?" Ebenezer creaked from where he was still sitting upright on the bed, his eyes frozen in a look of horror.
"I'm The Doctor, I'm here to help," The Doctor said, "and this is my assistant Sarah."
"Charmed I'm sure," said Sarah sarcastically. She then chided herself silently for her rudeness. After years of traveling with The Doctor, the pace of life had seem to become a blur and it was easy to forget that the people she encountered were real and not just some sort of animitronic characters in a giant amusement park that existed only in The Doctor's mind.
"He wants to poison me and make me die too," Ebenezer said suddenly.
The Doctor bent down and leaned in towards Ebenezer. "Who does?" he asked.
"James. He poisoned Carol," Ebenezer said bluntly.
"Are you sure?" asked The Doctor.
"I've never been more sure of anything in my life," Ebenezer said.
"But he was away at sea when she died and in South America before that," Sarah added.
"How did he poison her?" The Doctor asked.
"I don't know," Ebenezer said as his face fell to a shadowy look of self doubt. "Perhaps then, I am truly mad," he said, looking down at his bloodstained hands.
"Tell me, what did you see over there, before?" The Doctor asked.
Ebenezer turned his head to look at the wall where he had seen Carol's skeletal hand emerge, which now displayed the word MURDER.
"She called me to join her in the grave," Ebenezer whispered,"Ebenezer, Ebenezer..."
"She's buried in the catacombs beneath the house, she can't hurt you now," Sarah said reassuringly.
Ebenezer slowly shook his head in disagreement. "She called to me," he whispered, "with her hand."
The door to the room opened and James entered and was followed by the butler who was carrying a bucket full of cleaning supplies and several towels.
"Look, I'm sorry about earlier," James said as he started mixing a powder into the bucket, "but we'll have this sorted out in no time."
"Well, let's not be so hasty," The Doctor said, "I haven't had any time to examine the room for clues." The Doctor covered the short distance to the opposite wall in the room and made a close inspection of the bloody words by taking a jeweler's loupe out of one of his pockets and affixing it to his eye. After a few moments, he let the loupe drop into his hand and quickly pocketed it as he pulled a small pen knife with his other. He then opened the knife and proceeded to pick and poke at the dried blood for a few minutes. Seemingly satisfied, he closed the knife and returned it to it's former resting place.
"It certainly is real blood," The Doctor began, "which you can obviously tell by the way it has dried. And what's more, is that it was drawn by hand. There are several prominent lines throughout that would indicate finger strokes. Now the question of the moment is, where exactly did the blood come from? And I believe that can be solved by turning our attentions to our friend here."
The butler seemed to become aware of The Doctor's unintentional request and dutifully moved to accommodate his command out of acquiescence. Picking up the bucket and a towel, he went over to Ebenezer and knelt down beside him and began cleaning his hands. When he finished, they showed no sign of damage nor injury.
"Well I do believe that make things all the more mysterious," The Doctor said. He paused to reflect on the sudden turn of events for a moment. Not wanting to let the latest development further affect Ebenezer's already addled state, a sudden thought came to him. "Do you think you could stand up? Would you like to perhaps put on some clothes and come down to dinner? Your friend here has made quite a spread and it would be a shame for it to go to waste," The Doctor said with his biggest grin, "if you think you can manage that is."
"That would be nice" Ebenezer said with a hollow voice.
"Ah, that's a good fellow then!" The Doctor said enthusiastically.
"I'll assist him, Sir," the butler said as he stood up from where he knelt.
"Sarah, if you think you can walk, perhaps we should all return to the dining room," The Doctor said, "where we can wait for out host."
Sarah sighed inwardly. The night was quickly unraveling into a swirling mass of confusion. "Yes, if you'll help me," she said to The Doctor reluctantly. Begrudgingly she stood up and leaned against The Doctor's tall frame. James had begun making concerned remarks to the butler as the pair began their dark descent down the stairway.
"And it wasn't there before?" The Doctor asked Sarah as they negotiated their way down the stairs.
"No, I don't know where it came from. I just happened to look down at my hands and there it was," Sarah insisted.
"That is mysterious," The Doctor said.
Sarah sighed inwardly again. She should have known better than to probe The Doctor's mind for clues or answers. She never really was able to tell what he was thinking until some grand finale moment where he'd finally either dispense a long winded denouement in the manner of Sherlock Holmes or some grandiose speech about how the fate of a civilization hangs on the decision whether to press a button or not. What about the small things in life? Sarah supposed there must be no small things in The Doctor's mind. Sometimes she wondered if he avoided vacations on purpose. Of course he claims that the TARDIS has a mind of it's own, or that some preternatural force guides their journeys around time and space. You could never really tell for sure, but one thing she knew for sure was that she deserved a break. She contemplated this on the way to the dining room to await their creepy host in an even creepier mansion.