Terry hovered in the doorway, watching the Doctor as he approached the body lying in the centre of the library. Agatha and Donna were right behind the Time Lord, also peering down at the body, while the butler, Greeves, who had arrived with them appeared to be faint as he leant against a bookcase in shock.
"Oh, my goodness."
The Doctor ignored the man's horrified gasp. Instead, he whipped out his glasses and crouched beside Professor Peach to better examine the man.
"Bashed on the head. Blunt instrument." The Doctor tapped the dead man's watch. "Watch broke as he fell. Time of death was quarter past four."
The Doctor hurried over to the desk that stood right beside the body and he started to rifle through the papers as Donna pointed to something else on the ground beside Professor Peach's head.
"A bit of pipe. Call me Hercules Poirot, but I reckon that's blunt enough."
Terry simply kept her gaze intentionally on the Doctor as Agatha wandered over toward the fireplace while Donna spoke. From the corner of her eye, Terry saw Agatha swoop down quickly and grasp something from the grate. But she pretended not to notice as she instead watched the Doctor glance at the glass door of the bookcase before he straightened up from his poring.
"Nothing worth killing for in that lot. Dry as dust."
Donna meanwhile edged her way over to Terry and she whispered to the Time Lady incredulously, "It's a bit of a coincidence, isn't it? The 'Body In The Library'? I mean, Professor Peach, in the library, with the lead piping?"
Terry didn't answer as the rest of the party finally caught up with the foursome, only to find their way blocked by the Time Lady.
"Out of my way!" Colonel Curbishley exclaimed as he tried to peer around Terry, who didn't move. Lady Eddison meanwhile had spotted the body on the ground, and she gasped, "Gerald?"
Roger managed to push his way past Terry, opening the path for the others to see the scene. Miss Redmond gasped loudly while Reverend Golightly crossed himself.
"Saints preserve us."
"Oh how awful." Miss Redmond murmured, sounding horrified. Terry just watched them all while behind her, Agatha straightened.
"Someone should call the police." The writer started firmly, but the Doctor cut in swiftly.
"You don't have to." He held up his psychic paper, showing it to Agatha first and then the rest of the group.
"Chief Inspector Smith from Scotland Yard, known as the Doctor. Miss Storm is my assistant and Miss Noble is the plucky young girl who helps me out."
Terry almost smiled at the indignant look Donna shot the Doctor; if it weren't for the body in the room, she might have.
"I say." Lady Eddison murmured, sounding quite overwhelmed. She wasn't the only one as the others all seemed unsure of what to do or say. The Doctor was quick to use this to his advantage as he took further control of the room.
"Mrs. Christie was right. Go into the sitting room. I will question each of you in turn."
He gestured for Greeves and Roger to move toward the door. Everyone hesitated for a moment, but Agatha took over and ushered them all out past Terry.
"Come along. Do as the Doctor says. Leave the room undisturbed."
It was only after Roger, the last one out behind Agatha, had past her that Terry moved into the library at last. Closing the door behind her to ensure they were undisturbed, Terry approached the body while Donna whirled on the Doctor.
"'The plucky young girl who helps me out'?" She demanded, tone sharp now that there was no one to hear them.
The Doctor shrugged, unapologetic as he knelt down beside the body again and started to examine the floor with much more scrutiny. "No policewomen in 1926."
"I'll pluck you in a minute." Donna snapped. "How come Terry is your assistant?"
"I really don't think it's much more of a compliment, Donna." Terry answered as she peered down at Professor Peach rather sadly. A man's life had been snuffed out like a light. And for what?
Noticing the Time Lady's mood, Donna switched gears. In a much more controlled voice, she asked, "Why don't we phone the real police?"
"Well, the last thing we want is PC Plod sticking his nose in," the Doctor answered before he suddenly leaned forward and scraped something off the floorboards with a small tool from his pocket "Especially now I've found this."
He held up what looked like sticky gunge for Terry and Donna to see. Terry finally straightened up from beside Professor Peach and rejoined her friends as the Doctor explained what he had found for Donna's benefit.
"Morphic residue."
"Morphic?" Donna repeated, frowning as she peered at the residue. "Doesn't sound very 1926."
Well, so maybe he hadn't explained it that well.
"It's left behind when certain species genetically re-encode." Terry elaborated. Donna's eyes widened.
"The murderer's an alien?"
The Doctor nodded and looked meaningfully to the closed library door. "Which means one of that lot is an alien in human form."
He looked at Terry as he spoke. She nodded; Donna, however, was still skeptical.
"Yeah, but think about it. There's a murder, a mystery, and Agatha Christie."
"So?" The Doctor shrugged again. "Happens to me all the time."
"No, but isn't that a bit weird?" Donna insisted. "Agatha Christie didn't go around surrounded by murders. Not really. I mean, that's like meeting Charles Dickens and he's surrounded by ghosts at Christmas."
The Doctor paused. "Well…"
Donna scoffed in disbelief. "Oh, come on!" It's not like we could drive across country and find Enid Blyton having tea with Noddy."
The redhead paused, before she added more uncertainly, "Could we? Noddy's not real. Is he?"
When the Doctor, still absorbed in examining the morphic residue, didn't immediately respond, Donna looked from Terry to the Doctor.
"Tell me there's no Noddy."
"There's no Noddy." The Doctor finally answered.
Donna looked faintly relieved, until Terry added absently, "But, the Magic Faraway Tree wasn't exactly from her imagination."
Donna stared. "You're joking."
"Not at all." Terry answered as she walked toward the study door. "Come on, we'd best get started on the questioning."
The Doctor walked with her, and Donna chased after the two Time Lords as she protested while they hurried around the corner and toward the stairs, "Next thing you know, you'll be telling me it's like 'Murder On The Orient Express', and they all did it."
"Murder on the Orient Express?"
The trio whirled around at the voice that spoke behind them and Terry winced when she saw Agatha. The woman had been waiting in the shadows of a doorway just around the corner, and the trio had walked right by her by mistake. Terry had forgotten about that - she really needed to start being careful again.
"Oooh, yeah. One of your best." Donna, none the wiser, complimented the author.
Agatha looked faintly puzzled, when the Doctor chimed in with a pointed look at Donna, "But not yet."
Donna snapped her mouth shut as she belatedly realized her blunder, but Agatha was already musing.
"Marvellous idea, though."
"Yeah." Donna brightened. "Tell you what. Copyright, Donna Noble, okay?"
Agatha looked mildly amused, but the Doctor hurriedly cut in, "Anyway. Agatha and I will question the suspects. Terry, Donna, you search the bedrooms. Look for clues."
In a lower voice, he added for just his companions' ears, "Any more residue."
Raising his voice back to a regular volume, he added as he rummaged about in his pocket, "You'll need this."
With a flourish, he produced a large magnifying glass. Donna glanced at it for only a second before she turned a deadpan expression on the Doctor.
"Is that for real? Is he serious?" She turned the second question on Terry.
The Time Lady just nodded while the Doctor added with a slight smirk, "Go on. You're ever so plucky."
Donna scowled but Terry simply took the magnifying glass and handed it to the redhead.
"Come on, Donna. This is a big house, we'll need to get a move on if we're going to finish in a day."
Donna grumbled but followed Terry as the Time Lady led them upstairs.
"Try not to have too much fun, Theta." Terry warned telepathically as she left.
He didn't even reply but Terry didn't push it. As she walked up the stairs, she recalled Queen Victoria's words from a few lifetimes ago.
"I know that you consort with stars and magic and think it fun. But your world is steeped in terror and blasphemy and death."
But the late queen had been wrong. It wasn't that their world was filled with darkness; every world had a balance of light and dark. It just happened that when the Doctor found such darkness, he didn't pretend not to see it or run from it. Instead, he stayed to help.
But the darkness also triggered the memories. And the only way the Doctor - all the regenerations of him that Terry knew, the ones who had survived Gallifrey's fall - coped from the trauma was making light of it. To keep at bay the memories that he was running from.
"God, this is so boring." Donna complained as they moved on from yet another room and toward another. So far, their search had come up with nothing - not that Terry had expected it to just yet. Not that she could tell Donna that.
"Agatha always made it seem so easy in her books. The answer was always right there, hidden in plain sight."
"Only because it was fiction." Terry pointed out. "You forget, Poirot might have claimed on occasion that he didn't need to go around looking for clues like the common detective, but he did need information to make his solves. It's why Hastings will often depart to look here or there at Poirot's orders, or why Miss Marple listens to what others have done or looked for. That's what we miss as the reader, because you're right - it is the boring, grunt work."
Donna paused. "Hang on, are you saying that the Doctor sent us off like a parent sending a child on an errand just so he didn't have to?"
"And now you see why Hastings would get cross with Poirot." Terry replied sagely.
Donna grumbled but it was then that they reached the next door… only to find it locked.
"What…?" The redhead jiggled the doorknob, brows furrowed in confusion as it refused to open.
Terry meanwhile spun around as she sensed someone creeping up behind her; only to find Greeves staring at her and Donna severely.
"You won't find anything in there." The butler warned.
Undeterred by the butler's rudeness, Donna gestured at the door. "How come it's locked?"
"Lady Eddison commands it to be so." Greeves answered imperiously.
Donna instantly straightened. "And I command it to be otherwise. Scotland Yard. Pip, pip."
She gestured at the door again. Looking faintly startled, Greeves glanced at Terry. The Time Lady just leant against the wall.
"You heard her, sir."
Looking now a little put out, Greeves still reached for his keys and obliged the ladies.
"Why's it locked in the first place?" Donna questioned as Greeves started to unlock the door for them.
"Many years ago, when my father was butler to the family, Lady Eddison returned from India with malaria." Greeves explained. With the door now unlocked, he turned to look at the two ladies waiting beside him. "She locked herself in this room for six months until she recovered. Since then, the room has remained undisturbed."
With those ominous words, Greeves opened the door and stepped back for Donna and Terry to enter. Terry moved inside first while Donna observed the butler for one moment longer before she followed her friend into the room. It was not what she expected.
Where Donna had expected some dark, perhaps dangerous room, she found instead a child's bedroom. It had clearly been untouched for years, possibly decades, as dust remained gathered on all surfaces. The curtains were just as dusty and remained drawn, keeping the room in darkness. Donna looked around while Terry reached out and picked up a soft teddy bear from the bottom of the little bed the child must have slept on.
"There's nothing in here." Greeves insisted, but Donna ignored him.
"How long's it been empty?"
Greeves shrugged. "Forty years."
"Why would she seal it off?" Donna wondered aloud. Terry looked over as she put down the teddy beard; catching the Time Lady's eye, Donna turned to the butler imperiously. "All right, I need to investigate. You just butle off."
Donna waved the large magnification glass that the Doctor had given her at the older man. Looking highly offended, Greeves strode away in a mild huff. Donna ignored the butler as she instead joined Terry by the bed.
"What is it?" She asked her friend.
"Nothing. Just that this teddy bear is awfully soft." Terry answered. Donna narrowed her eyes at the Time Lady.
"You don't just say stuff like that for no reason." Glancing at the teddy bear briefly, Donna looked back at Terry. "It's an expensive toy, isn't it?"
"It is." Terry agreed although her eyes were now fixed on the curtain, behind which a faint buzzing could be heard.
Donna noticed the noise too and she groaned. "1926, they've still got bees."
As the buzzing sound grew louder, Donna moved toward the curtains.
"Oh, what a noise. All right, busy bee, I'll let you out. Hold on, I shall find you with my amazing powers of detection."
She drew back the thick, dusty curtains - only to stumble back in shock at the sight of a giant wasp, the size of any man, hovering right in front of her. Donna then screamed as the wasp smashed its way through the window and into the bedroom, and she scrambled to get out of the way.
"Angel-!" Donna cried only to find herself alone in the room. "Terry?!"
She then turned back to stare at the giant wasp now flying right at her.
"That's impossible." She gasped. The wasp dove at her and Donna hurriedly ducked out of the way.
"Doctor!" She screamed before remembering the magnifying glass in her hand. Donna also distinctly remembered Terry refusing to carry the thing; odd for the Time Lady considering she was not usually as lazy as the Doctor sometimes made himself out to be. Which meant she'd known this was coming… and she'd known Donna would need it.
Trusting in her friend, Donna raised the magnifying glass hastily as the wasp came at her. The wasp shrieked as the sunlight beamed off the glass and burnt its midsection. Using the wasp's pained distraction, Donna raced out of the bedroom and she slammed the bedroom door behind her.
"DOCTOR!" Donna bellowed as she backed quickly away from the bedroom door. It was a good thing she did, as seconds late, the wasp's giant sting smashed through the wooden door and almost stabbed Donna in the leg.
Donna shrieked just as the Doctor came dashing around the corner, followed closely by Agatha Christie.
"It's a giant wasp." Donna gasped as soon as she saw the Time Lord. The Doctor stared at her like she'd lost her mind.
"What do you mean, a giant wasp?"
"I mean, a wasp that's giant." Donna exclaimed.
"It's only a silly little insect." Agatha protested, trying to placate the frazzled redhead. Donna whirled on the famous author.
"When I say "giant", I don't mean "big", I mean flipping enormous! Look at its sting." She gestured at said sting sticking out of the door.
Agatha's jaw dropped while the Doctor frowned as he looked around.
"Where's angel?"
"I don't know! She ditched me." Donna replied, sounding like she didn't quite believe it herself.
The Doctor's gaze darkened. "Or she's been taken."
Donna's expression instantly turned concerned but the Doctor was already pushing past her into the bedroom. Peering around the destroyed room, he tutted.
"It's gone. Buzzed off."
He peered out the window, trying to get a clue for where Terry might have gone off too (or worse, kidnapped), but he turned around quickly when he heard Agatha murmur behind him, "But that's fascinating-"
"Don't touch it." The Doctor exclaimed, running back to stop Agatha from reaching out toward the giant sting still stuck in the bedroom door. "Don't touch it. Let me."
The Doctor stooped down and using a pencil he stole off Agatha, he scraped some of the goo from the stinger into a test tube from his pocket.
"Giant wasp. Well, tons of amorphous insectivorous lifeforms, but none in this galactic vector." He muttered as he examined the goop while Agatha started at him.
"I think I understood some of those words. Enough to know that you're completely potty." The blonde exclaimed. The Doctor shrugged but his eyes were darting all around the corridor in confusion.
Donna noticed and she supplied hopefully, "Lost its sting, though. That makes it defenceless and it must mean Terry's safe."
"A creature this size? Got to be able to grow a new one." The Doctor answered shortly as he got to his feet. "Question is, why would angel just run off when she knew you would be in danger?"
"So you also think she foresaw this adventure?" Donna asked grimly. The Doctor nodded, when Agatha interrupted loudly.
"Can we return to sanity? There are no such things as giant wasps. And what do you mean, angels foresaw this?"
"You're right, Agatha. There are no such things as giant wasps." The Doctor agreed, completely ignoring Agatha's second question. The blonde noticed but she was forced to move on when the Doctor turned to her and he added, "So. The question is, what's it doing here?"
Donna pursed her lips, but the trio were startled when a loud scream sounded from outside.
"What-?" Agatha started in shock, but the Doctor was already running in the direction of the scream with Donna hot on his heels.
"Angel! Angel?"
The Doctor skidded around a corner outside the house, where he drew to a stop at the sight before him. Terry didn't even look up from where she was knelt over Mrs. Chandrakala, who was barely still conscious from beneath the broken stone gargoyle that had landed on her.
"Mrs. Chandrakala." Terry was murmuring. "It's all right. You'll be fine, and don't fear, your lady will be in good hands."
"Oh, my God." Donna gasped as she also arrived on the scene while the Doctor moved to kneel beside Terry as Mrs. Chandrakala's eyes fluttered.
"Mrs. Chandrakala-" Terry started again just as Agatha also arrived. Mrs. Chandrakla's gazed up without seeing at the Time Lady.
"The poor… little… child…" The housekeeper whispered, before her hand relaxed minutely.
Agatha placed her hand over her mouth while Terry solemnly placed her hands over Mrs. Chandrakala's eyes. She closed them, allowing the woman to find her peace in death, and then leant back heavily.
"Did you see who killed her?" The Doctor asked in a quiet voice. Terry nodded, her eyes still on Mrs. Chandrakala's aged face.
"The giant wasp Donna saw in the bedroom; he flew off when he heard you three coming."
The Doctor nodded before he looked at Terry. "What were you doing out here?"
Terry just turned to look at the Time Lord with eyes that were decades older than they should be in a face so young.
"I couldn't find her in time." Was all the Time Lady said. And it was all her friends needed while Agatha watched on in silence.
*A/N: Sorry to end on a bleak note but I wanted to say to all my loyal readers, Merry Christmas Eve and hope you have a wonderful holiday!