Arthur stumbles back as he stands in a corridor that he has never seen before. He wipes his tears away from his eyes as he walks around. Danny's words are still echoing.
Monster.
"What are you doing?" A voice demanded, which he soon realises belongs to an older woman behind him. "The party's outside."
"Party?" He frowns before nodding. Better playing along. "Yes. Uhm…My apologies. I think I'm lost. I have never been here."
The woman's face went soft. "I can show you, but if you don't mind, I should get Professor Peach first. Everyone's waiting for him."
"Of course," Arthur nods and walks beside the maid—Miss Chandrakala, as he learned.
As they arrive, Miss Chandrakala reaches the door of the library and knocks. "Professor? Professor Peach?"
"Let me," Arthur kindly said, try the door. "Not locked."
They went inside…and found Professor Peach's body laying on the floor.
"Oh God," Arthur murmured while Miss Chandrakala ran outside, informing anyone while yelling. The brunette stands still, looking at the crime scene before the 10th Doctor enters the library alongside Delaney with a 1920s white, silk beaded dress with square shape, white headband, and white t-strap heels. Behind her, there's Agatha Christie (oh, wow!) and a ginger woman in a brown beaded dress that he never sees.
Wait. He did see her. In his vision when confronting Prisoner Zero.
"Artie!" Delaney called, surprised to see him here. "How did you get here?"
"Just arrived," he shrugged as the Doctor examines the body while Agatha looks around.
"Wait," the ginger woman looks up and down at him. "You're Arthur? But you…your face...and your hair's not…"
"Time Lord," the blonde explained. "They can change faces, appearances, even genders. The Arthur you see here is the younger version. Arthur, this is Donna Noble. Donna, this is younger Arthur."
"Nice to meet you," he shakes her hand with a smile and some small scenes enter his mind.
Donna looks into the telescope as Wilfred explains besides her. "Right? That's the only planet in the Solar System named after a woman."
"Good for her," Donna said. "How far away is that?"
"Oh, its about 26 million miles. But we'll get there one day. In a hundred years time we'll be striding out amongst the stars. Jiggling about with all them aliens. Just you wait."
"Make the choice again, Donna Noble, and change your mind," a woman—a fortune teller—alleged. "Turn right. Turn right. Turn right. Turn right! Turn right, and never meet that man. Turn right, and change the world."
"Someone should call the police," Agatha said, taking Arthur back to their situation.
"You don't have to," the Doctor implored, flashing the psychic paper. "Chief Inspector Smith and Inspector Jonas from Scotland Yard, known as the Doctor and the Explorer. Miss Noble and Miss Redwood are the plucky young girls who help us out."
"I say," a woman in regal clothes said.
"I suggested you all go into the sitting room. We will question each of you in turn," Arthur added.
"Come along. Do as the Doctor says. Leave the room undisturbed," Agatha encouraged, leading the others away.
Donna turns at the Doctor. "'The plucky young girls who help us out?'"
"No policewomen in 1926," he reported.
"I'll pluck you in a minute. Why don't we phone the real police?"
Arthur ducks down and scrapes some gunge off the floorboards. "Because of this."
"What's that?" Delaney asked while the Doctor carefully took it.
"Morphic residue," the Doctor realised.
"Morphic? Doesn't sound very 1926," Donna remarked.
"It's left behind when certain species genetically re-encode."
"Which means, the murder is an alien," Delaney said. "And among the guest parties…one of them is an alien in human form."
"Yeah, but think about it. There's a murder, a mystery, and Agatha Christie," Donna noted.
"It is strange," the brunette man admitted.
"Right? Agatha Christie didn't walk around surrounded by murders. Not really. I mean, that's like meeting Charles Dickens and he's surrounded by ghosts at Christmas."
Delaney coughs while the Doctor looks sheepish. "Well…"
"Oh, come on! It's not like we could drive across country and find Enid Blyton having tea with Noddy. Could we? Noddy's not real. Is he?" Donna looks at Arthur. "Tell me there's no Noddy."
"There's no Noddy," Arthur replied before they walked outside the library.
"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?" Agatha repeated as she met them.
"Ignore it," Arthur said quickly.
"Marvellous idea, though."
"Yeah. Tell you what. Copyright Donna Noble, okay?" Donna prompted.
"Anyway," the Doctor interjected. "Agatha, Arthur, and I will question the suspects. Donna, Delaney, you two search the bedrooms. Look for clues."
"Any more residue," Delaney nods.
"You'll need this."
"Is that for real?" Donna asked as Delaney took a large magnifying glass from him.
"Go on. You're ever so plucky," he nudges her, watching them go upstairs and turns at Agatha. "Right then. Solving a murder mystery with Agatha Christie. Brilliant."
"Read the room, Doctor," Arthur reminded him. "There's a murder happening."
"Sorry. Yeah."
Agatha looks at the Doctor hardly. "I'll work with you, gladly, but for the sake of justice, not your own amusement."
"You know everything, yet do nothing about it, keep it a secret. You know how people might die and you let it happen."
As he walks behind the Doctor, Arthur shakes his head off. Don't think. Stop it.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
The Doctor is conducting individual interviews as Agatha takes notes while Arthur observes.
"Now then, Reverend. Where were you at a quarter past four?" the Doctor asked.
"Let me think," the Reverend paused. "Why yes, I remember. I was unpacking in my room."
"Alone?" Arthur asked,
"With the Lord, one is never truly alone, Mister Jonas."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"And where were you?" the Doctor asked Roger.
"Let me think. I was. Oh, yes. I was taking a constitutional in the fields behind the house. Just taking a stroll, that's all," Roger recalled.
"Alone?"
"Oh, yes, all alone. Totally alone. Absolutely alone. Completely. All of the time. I wandered lonely as the proverbial cloud. There was no one else with me. Not at all. Not ever."
Roger meets Davenport, the young butler, and goes off with him, hand in hand.
Yeah, right.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"And where were you?" Arthur asked Robina.
"At a quarter past four? Well, I went to the toilet when I arrived, and then er…Oh, yes, I remember. I was preparing myself. Positively buzzing with excitement about the party and the super fun of meeting Lady Eddy."
Inside the toilet, Robina's checking a small revolver she is carrying in her little bag.
"We've only got your word for it," the Doctor pointed out.
"That's your problem, not mine," she stated.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"And where were you, sir?" the Doctor inquired towards Roger's father, Colonel Curbishley.
"Quarter past four? Dear me, let me think. Ah, yes, I remember. I was in me study, reading through some military memoirs. Fascinating stuff. Took me back to my days in the army. Started reminiscing. Mafeking, you know. Terrible war—" he stops talking the moment he notices Arthur takes a champagne, his brown eyes glances down. "Are you alright, young man?"
"Yes! Perfectly fine!" The young Time Lord quickly replied, putting the glass down with his nose crinkle, trying desperately to erase what really happened. He's going to need a memory worm from the lab inside the Tardis after this.
"Okay. So, I was in me study—"
"No, no, no. Right out of it," the Doctor cut in, already having a good guess what exactly happened as Arthur squinted his eyes shut with a disgusting expression.
"Oh, sorry. Got a bit carried away there," he apologised, clueless as to why Arthur reacted like that.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"And where were you at a quarter past four, my lady?" the Doctor questioned.
"Now, let me see. Yes, I remember. I was sitting in the Blue Room, taking my afternoon tea," Lady Clemency, Roger's mother, remembered.
Lady Clemency's drinking spirits from a bottle.
Holy crap, this entire family is a big lair.
"It's a ritual of mine," she continued. "I needed to gather strength for the duty of hostess. I then proceeded to the lawn where I met you, Doctor, and I said, 'who exactly might you be and what are you doing here?' And you said, 'I am the Doctor and this is Miss Donna Noble and Miss Delaney Redwood—'"
"You don't need to repeat that part," Arthur said.
"Of course," she nods before hiccuping. "Excuse me."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"No alibis for any of them," Agatha pointed out to the Time Lords after they conducted the interrogations. "The Secret Adversary remains hidden. We must look for a motive. Use ze little grey cells."
"Oh, yes, little grey cells. Good old Poirot," the Doctor beamed. "You know, I've been to Belgium. Yeah. I remember I was deep in the Ardennes, trying to find Charlemagne. He'd been kidnapped by an insane computer."
"Doctor," Arthur interrupted him, raising his eyebrow as he got one vision in his mind of his father making his way through the woods with a machete, Martha with red leather jacket holding a bow, while Delaney quiver slung across her back. Maybe he can ask him later, but clearly not now. "Really?"
"Sorry."
"Charlemagne lived centuries ago," Agatha remarked.
"I've got a very good memory."
"For such an experienced detective, you missed a big clue."
"What, that bit of paper you nicked out the fire?"
"You were looking the other way."
"He saw you reflected in the glass of the bookcase," Arthur clarified with a smile.
"You crafty man," Agatha mused before showing it to them. "This is all that was left."
They both rush to her and they try to decipher the writing. The charred fragment says aiden. "What's that first letter? N or M?" the Doctor asked.
"It's an M. The word is maiden," Arthur realised.
"Maiden! What does that mean?"
"We're still no further forward," Agatha sadly said. "Our Nemesis remains at large. Unless Miss Noble's found something."
"Doctor!" Donna bellowed from upstairs.
The Doctor, Arthur, and Agatha run to the second floor, where Donna and Delaney are standing outside a door. "What's wrong?" Arthur asked.
"There's a giant wasp!" Delaney yelled.
"Like giant, giant?"
"Yeah!" Donna agreed.
"It's only a silly little insect," Agatha insisted.
Arthur glances at the door that has a sting in it. "Clearly not," he remarked, pointing at it.
"Let me see," the Doctor suggested as they all entered the empty room. "It's gone. Buzzed off."
Agatha's studying the sting, embedded in the door. "But that's fascinating—"
"Don't touch it. Don't touch it. Let me." The Doctor stopped her, scooping some gunk from the stinger into a test tube with a pencil. "Giant wasp. Well, tons of amorphous insectivorous lifeforms, but none in this galactic vector."
"I think I understood some of those words. Enough to know that you're completely potty."
"Lost its sting, though," Donna noticed. "That makes it defenceless."
"I don't think so," Arthur disagreed. "This big? Probably able to grow a new one."
"Can we return to sanity?" Agatha demanded. "There are no such things as giant wasps."
"If that's the case," Delaney added. "What's it doing here?"
Then, they hear another scream from outside. All five of them rush into the source of the scream, lost to speak as they find Miss Chandrakala's body on the grass, a gargoyle stone with some blood on its tip.
"The…poor…little…child," she whispered before dying. Not long, they can hear buzzing.
"There!" Arthur gestured to the wasp that had grown a new stinger already.
"Come on!" the Doctor said and they all ran up the stairs.
"Hey, this makes a change," Donna realised. "There's a monster, and we're chasing it."
"It can't be a monster. It's a trick. They Do It With Mirrors," Agatha protested before they entered a corridor with the wasp still in there. "By all that's holy."
"Stay back!" Arthur warned the others before looking at the wasp. "Stop this. You don't need to do this."
The wasp lunges at them, scarring the wall with its stinger.
"Oi, fly boy!" Donna yelled, held up the magnifying glass and it retreated.
"Don't let it get away!" the Doctor said. "Quick, before it reverts back to human form."
They burst out on a long corridor of doors. Arthur can briefly hear a muted buzzing from nearby, now fading. "Where are you?" Arthur called. "Just come out already!"
Every door opens and someone steps out.
"You have got to be kidding!" Delaney huffed.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"My faithful companion, this is terrible," Lady Clemency said as they all sat in the drawing room.
"Excuse me, my lady, but she was on her way to tell you something," Davenport informed.
"She never found me. She had an Appointment With Death instead."
"She said, 'the poor little child,'" Arthur recalled. "Any clue to what that means?"
"No children in this house for years. Highly unlikely there will be," Colonel Curbishley stated.
"Mrs Christie, you must have twigged something. You've written simply the best detective stories," Lady Clemency noted.
"Tell us, what would Poirot do?" the Reverend inquired.
Agatha didn't say anything. Which seems upsetting Lady Clemency's husband as he says, "Heavens sake. Cards On The Table, woman. You should be helping us."
"What, like you?" Arthur blurted, not liking his tone at Agatha. "You did nothing to help this matter. I suggest you be silent, Colonel."
"But, I'm merely a writer," Agatha murmured.
"But surely you can crack it," Robina remarked. "These events, they're exactly like one of your plots."
"That's what I've been saying. Agatha, that's got to mean something," Donna entreated.
"But what? I've no answers," she pointed out. "None. I'm sorry, all of you. I'm truly sorry, but I've failed. If anyone can help us, then it's the Doctor, not me."
She walks away from the room, upset.
"Give her time," Arthur suggested.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
When Arthur and Donna found Agatha, she had retreated to a little wrought iron gazebo just outside the house.
"Do you know what I think? Those books of yours, one day they could turn them into films," Donna shared. "They could be talking pictures."
"Talking pictures? Pictures that talk? What do you mean?" Agatha asked.
"Oh, blimey, I've done it again."
"Now you know how I feel," Arthur murmured.
"I appreciate you trying to be kind, but you're right. These murders are like my own creations. It's as though someone's mocking me, and I've had enough scorn for one lifetime," Agatha bitterly said, slowly looking at Arthur. "You too as well?"
"Am I that obvious to you?" Arthur inquired while Donna frowned, confused. "It's been recent. Not mocking, to say the least. Accusation is the right term."
"Whatever for, if you don't mind?"
"Being a monster, for once," Arthur shrugs.
"What?" Both women repeated.
"Not their fault. That person is traumatised for what they had done in the past. In a way, they might have a point." Despite how much it stings, he added earnestly in his mind with humourless laughs.
"You're too kind," Donna pointed out, angry that a kind man like Arthur was being accused as a monster. If she ever finds them, oh, that person will be sorry for saying that!
The brunette smiles. "The Doctor said that too."
"Sometimes you three and the Doctor talk such wonderful nonsense," Agatha pointed out.
"Agatha, people love your books. They really do. They're going to be reading them for years to come," Donna consoled, trying to focus on the matter.
"If only. Try as I might, it's hardly great literature. Now that's beyond me. I'm afraid my books will be forgotten, like ephemera."
"I disagree," Arthur said.
But Agatha's eyes found something. "Hello, what's that? Those flower beds were perfectly neat earlier. Now some of the stalks are bent over."
She picks up a small case and shows it to them.
"See?" Arthur remarked.
"Who'd ever notice that?" Donna added. "You're brilliant."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
The Doctor opens the case. It is full of lock-picking tools. "Ooo. Someone came here tooled up. The sort of stuff a thief would use."
"The Unicorn. He's here," Agatha concluded.
"'The Unicorn and the wasp,'" Arthur murmured as Greeves, the butler, entered. "Good title case."
"Your drinks, ladies. Doctor, Mister Jonas," he said, giving them each drink they ordered.
"Very good, Greeves," the Doctor replied before he left.
"Find anything?" Delaney inquired.
The Doctor waggles the test tube. "Vespiform sting. Vespiforms have got hives in the Silfrax galaxy."
"Again, you talk like Edward Lear," Agatha commented.
Arthur frowns. "But do Vespiforms always this careful?"
"That's the thing," the Doctor denoted, "this one's behaving like a character in one of Agatha's books."
"Come on, Agatha," Donna prompted her. "What would Miss Marple do? She'd have overheard something vital by now, because the murderer thinks she's just a harmless old lady."
"Clever idea. Miss Marple? Who writes those?"
"Er, copyright Donna Noble. Add it to the list."
"Donna," the Doctor called.
"Okay, we could split the copyright."
"No. Something's inhibiting my enzymes." He winces. "I've been poisoned."
"Me too," Arthur cracked, holding his chest in absolute pain.
"What do we do? Doctor, what do we do?" Delaney asked hurriedly.
Agatha sniffs their drink. "Bitter almonds. It's cyanide. Sparkling Cyanide."
"Get us to the kitchen!" The Doctor instructed. Donna and Delaney helped him while Agatha helped Arthur as they entered the kitchen in a hurry. "Ginger beer!"
"I beg your pardon?" Davenport repeated.
"We need ginger beer!" Arthur insists as Delaney searches for it.
"These gentleman's gone mad!"
"Found two!" Delaney said, giving each one to two Time Lords.
"I'm an expert in poisons. Doctor, there's no cure. It's fatal," Agatha remarked.
They both spit out the surplus ginger beer simultaneously. "No, not for us. We can stimulate the inhibited enzymes into reversal. Protein. I need protein."
Donna hurriedly grabs some walnuts. "Walnuts?"
"Thanks," Arthur thanked and as he and the Doctor filled their mouths with them.
The Doctor makes some gestures that Arthur cannot understand. "I don't understand you. Hint?" He gestures one finger. "One?"
"Uh. One word. Shake. Milk shake. Milk? Milk? No, not milk? Shake, shake, shake. Cocktail shaker. What do you want, a Harvey Wallbanger?" Donna exasperatedly guessed.
"Harvey Wallbanger?!" The Doctor repeated after drinking it while Arthur coughs.
"Well, I don't know."
"How is Harvey Wallbanger one word?"
"Doctor, what do you want to say?!" Arthur yelled, holding his head.
"Salt. I was miming salt. It's salt. I need something salty."
Donna takes a brown bag of salt. "What about this?"
"What is it?"
"Salt."
"That's too salty."
"Oh, that's too salty."
"Gimme," Arthur suggested. The moment he grabs it, the brunette wastes no time eating it all.
"What about this?" Agatha asked, showing the Doctor a jar of anchovies.
Delaney frowns as she pats Arthur's shoulder. "What's that?"
"Anchovies," she answered before the Doctor downs the contents of the jar and makes some weird gestures.
"What is it?" Donna inquired. "What else? It's a song? Mammy? I don't know. Camptown Races?"
"Camptown Races?" the Doctor asked incredulously.
"I think he meant shock," Arthur said. "Donna, please hit us!"
"Right then," Donna replied, clenches her fist and punches the Doctor. She did the same to Arthur, which he should have expected, yet the strong forces in her punch shock both of them to make smoke come from their mouth.
Arthur takes a few long breaths. Delaney helps him stand up and ask, "What was that?"
"Detox. Oh my. I must do that more often," the Doctor pondered, earning many confused looks. "I mean, the detox."
"Doctor, you and Mister Jonas are impossible!" Agatha announced. "Who are you two?"
The Doctor simply winks at her.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Night has fallen, and thunder and lightning crash overhead. The hosts and guests are on the soup course. There is a vase of Yellow Irises on the table.
'A terrible day for all of us. The Professor struck down, Miss Chandrakala taken cruelly from us, and yet we still take dinner," the Doctor stated.
"We are British, Doctor. What else must we do?" Lady Clemency asked
"And then someone tried to poison me and Mister Jonas. Any one of you had the chance to put cyanide in our drink. But it rather gave us an idea."
"And what would that be?" The Reverend inquired.
"The Doctor and I agree that we should've laced the soup with pepper," Arthur shared.
"Ah, I thought it was jolly spicy," Colonel Curbishley remarked.
"Do you know that the active ingredient of pepper is piperine? And interestingly enough, traditionally used as an insecticide?"
"So, anyone got the shivers?" The Doctor asked.
On cue, there is a crash of thunder and the windows blow open, extinguishing the candles.
"What the deuce is that?" Colonel Curbishley demanded.
"Listen!" Arthur whispered, quietly hearing a small buzz.
"No, it can't be," Lady Clemency muttered before lightning illuminates the room.
"Show yourself, demon," Agatha ordered.
"Nobody moves!" Arthur insisted.
"Stay where you are! All of you!" Delaney added.
Then the wasp is there, causing chaos and panic.
"Out, out, out, out, out, out!" The Doctor urged.
Everyone scatters except the Doctor, Donna, Arthur, Delaney, Agatha and Greeves. The Doctor takes a sword from the panelled wall while Arthur pushes everyone else behind him for safety.
"Well, we know the butler didn't do it," Donna remarked.
"Then who did?" Arthur asked.
All of them hurriedly enter the dining room, finding everyone else is still there. The Colonel is on the floor, wheelchair overturned. His wife was in shock, clutching her throat. Robina still sits, bewildered. The Reverend was already at the side of the room, while Davenport simply sat on the ground, stunned.
"My jewellery. The Firestone, it's gone. Stolen," Lady Clemency cried.
Delaney takes some steps backward as she sees Roger has his face in his soup bowl and a large knife in his back. "Oh my God!" She muttered, covering her mouth in horror as Roger's parents cried in pain, holding their son's dead body.
Arthur quietly holds Delaney, thinking of his daughter Claudia. Seeing Roger's death just gave him a dreadful notion that he too might see the death of his daughter in the future.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
The Doctor, Arthur and Agatha are quiet as Donna and Delaney enter. Both women sat next to Agatha and Arthur.
"That poor footman. Roger's dead and he can't even mourn him," Donna lamented. "1926? It's more like the dark ages."
"As if you know what it's like to lose someone."
Arthur gritted his teeth in silence. "Did you ask about the necklace?"
"Lady Eddison bought it back from India," Delaney informed. "Apparently, It's worth thousands."
"This thing can sting, it can fly. It could wipe us all out in seconds," the Doctor pointed out. "Why is it playing this game?"
"Every murder is essentially the same," Agatha stated. "They are committed because somebody wants something."
"So what does a Vespiform want?" Arthur pondered.
"Mister Jonas, stop it. The murderer is as human as you or I."
"You're right," the Doctor agreed. "Ah, I've been so caught up with giant wasps that I've forgotten. You're the expert."
"I'm not. I told you. I'm just a purveyor of nonsense."
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because plenty of people write detective stories, but yours are the best. And why? Why are you so good, Agatha Christie? Because you understand. You've lived, you've fought, you've had your heart broken. You know about people. Their passions, their hope, and despair, and anger. All of those tiny, huge things that can turn the most ordinary person into a killer. Just think, Agatha. If anyone can solve this, it's you."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
Later, everyone is gathered, like any stories where Poirot or Miss Marple will reveal the truth.
"Mister Jonas and I called you here on this Endless Night, because we have a murderer in our midst," the Doctor began. "And when it comes to detection, there's none finer. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, Agatha Christie."
Agatha stands up, full of conviction. "This is A Crooked House. A house of secrets. To understand the solution, we must examine them all. Starting with you, Miss Redmond."
Robina blinks. "But I'm innocent, surely?"
"You've never met these people, and these people have never met you. I think the real Robina Redmond never left London. You're impersonating her."
"How silly. What proof do you have?"
"You said you'd been to the toilet."
"Oh, I know this. If she was really posh, she'd say loo," Donna guessed.
Agatha picks up the locksmith's case, continuing her explanation. "Earlier today, Miss Noble, Mister Jonas and I found this on the lawn, right beneath your bathroom window. You must have heard that Miss Noble and Miss Redwood were searching the bedrooms, so you panicked. You ran upstairs and disposed of the evidence."
"I've never seen that thing before in my life."
"We know you have, stop lying," Arthur remarked as Agatha slowly opened it.
Lady Clemency frowns. "What's inside it?"
"The tools of your trade, Miss Redmond. Or should I say, the Unicorn." She takes the Firestone, startling Robina and everyone else. "You came to this house with one sole intention. To steal the Firestone."
"Oh, all right then. It's a fair cop," Robina admitted with a cockney accent. "Yes, I'm the bleeding Unicorn. Ever so nice to meet you, I don't think. I took my chance in the dark and nabbed it. Go on then, you knobs. Arrest me. Sling me in jail."
She throws the necklace to the Doctor, who inspect it.
"So, is she the murderer?" Donna inquired.
"Don't be so thick. I might be a thief, but, well, I ain't no killer," 'Robina' insisted.
"Not yet," Arthur murmured darkly, remembering the gun she carried.
"Quite," Agatha agreed. "There are darker motives at work. And in examining this household, we come to you, Colonel."
"Damn it, woman. You with your perspicacity. You've rumbled me," he grumbled before standing up.
"Hugh," Lady Clemency gasped. "You can walk. But why?"
"My darling, how else could I be certain of keeping you by my side?"
"I don't understand."
"You're still a beautiful woman, Clemency. Sooner or later some chap will turn your head. I couldn't bear that. Staying in the chair was the only way I could be certain of keeping you." He glances at Agatha. "Confound it, Mrs Christie, how did you discover the truth?"
"I told her," Arthur confessed with an enigmatic smile.
"Don't lie to a psychic," Delaney added with a wink.
"But I know you're completely innocent. So, just sit down. And in case you're asking…no, Donna, he's not the murderer."
"Indeed, Mister Jonas. To find the truth, let's return to this," Agatha grabs the Firestone that the Doctor holds. "Far more than the Unicorn's object of desire. The Firestone has quite a history. Lady Eddison."
"I've done nothing," Lady Clemency implored.
"You brought it back from India, did you not? Before you met the Colonel. You came home with malaria, and confined yourself to this house for 6 months, in a room that has been kept locked ever since, which I rather think means—"
"Stop, please."
"I'm so sorry. But you had fallen pregnant in India. Unmarried and ashamed, you hurried back to England with your confidante, a young maid later to become housekeeper. Miss Chandrakala."
Her husband looks at her. "Clemency, is this true?"
"My poor baby. I had to give him away. The shame of it," Lady Clemency wept.
"But you never said a word."
"If she did, would anyone ever care for her and her child?" Delaney asked back. In her time, illegitimate children are very much seen as a scandal. To think that such a statement still carried in this period is such a shame.
"Not only that, but it was no ordinary pregnancy," Arthur proposed. In a way…that child had similarity with him. Different circumstances, but still.
The older woman stares at him. "How can you know that?"
"Excuse me Agatha, this is our territory," the Doctor interrupted. "But when you heard that buzzing sound in the dining room, you said, 'it can't be.' Why did you say that?"
"You'd never believe it."
"Try," Arthur appealed.
Lady Clemency sighs as she tells her story. "It was 40 years ago, in the heat of Delhi, late one night. I was alone, and that's when I saw it. A dazzling light in the sky. The next day, he came to the house. Christopher, the most handsome man I'd ever seen. Our love blazed like a wildfire. I held nothing back. And in return he showed me the incredible truth about himself. He'd made himself human, to learn about us. This was his true shape. I loved him so much, it didn't matter. But he was stolen from me. 1885, the year of the great monsoon. The river Jumna rose up and broke its banks. He was Taken At The Flood. But Christopher left me a parting gift. A jewel like no other. I wore it always. Part of me never forgot. I kept it close, always."
"Just like a man. Flashes his family jewels and you end up with a bun in the oven," 'Robina' mocked.
"Be quiet," Delaney snarled.
"'A poor little child.' Forty years ago, Miss Chandrakala took that newborn baby to an orphanage. But Professor Peach worked it out. He found the birth certificate," Agatha affirmed.
"Maiden," Arthur realised.
"Precisely."
"So she killed him?" Donna concluded.
"I did not," Lady Clemency responded.
"Miss Chandrakala feared that the Professor had unearthed your secret. She was coming to warn you," Agatha explained.
"She did not kill her, Donna," Arthur quickly said, knowing what she's going to ask. "But still…remember our discussion before? How is this whole thing acting out like a murder mystery?"
"Which means it was you," the Doctor pointed at Agatha. "Agatha Christie."
"I beg your pardon, sir?" Agatha asked.
"What he meant," Arthur said, glare annoyingly at the Doctor. "Is that you had written so many mystery novels. Which brings us to an account from Lady Eddison." He stares at the women. "Last Thursday night, what were you doing?"
"I was…I was in the library. I was reading my favourite Agatha Christie," Lady Clemency recalled. "Thinking about her plots, and how clever she must be. How is that relevant?"
"Oh!" Delaney's eyes went wide. "Of course!"
"I don't follow," Donna said.
"What else happened on Thursday night?" The Doctor asked as he glanced at Reverend Arnold Golightly.
He frowns. "I'm sorry?"
"You said on the lawn, this afternoon. Last Thursday night, those boys broke into your church."
"That's correct. They did. I discovered the two of them. Thieves in the night. I was most perturbed. But I apprehended them."
"A man of God against two strong boys?" Arthur asked.
"A man in his forties? Or, should I say forty years old, exactly?" The Doctor inquired.
"Oh, my God," Lady Clemency murmured.
"Your child came back," Arthur shared.
"Oh, this is poppycock," the Reverend censured.
"You said you were taught by the Christian Fathers," Delaney realised, something she remembered stories that she heard from her maids in her old home. "That implies you were raised in an orphanage."
Lady Clemency simply stares. "My son. Can it be?"
"You found those thieves, Reverend, and you got angry," the Doctor explained. "A proper, deep anger, for the first time in your life, and it broke the genetic lock. You changed. You realised your inheritance. After all these years, you knew who you were." He takes the Firestone again. "Oh, and then it all kicks off, because this isn't just a jewel. It's a Vespiform telepathic recorder. It's part of you, your brain, your very essence. And when you activated, so did the Firestone. It beamed your full identity directly into your mind. And, at the same time, it absorbed the works of Agatha Christie directly from Lady Eddison. It all became part of you. The mechanics of those novels formed a template in your brain. You've killed in this pattern, because that's what you think the world is. It turns out, we are in the middle of a murder mystery. One of yours, Dame Agatha."
"Dame?" Agatha repeated.
"Spoiler!" Arthur grumbled at the Doctor, who looked at him apologetically.
"So he killed them, yes? Definitely?" Donna guessed.
"Yes," the Doctor replied.
"Well, this has certainly been a most entertaining evening," the Reverend denoted. "Really, you can't believe any of this surely, Lady Edizzon."
"Oh no," Delaney murmured, standing up, taking in a sharp breath.
"You're making a buzzing noise," Arthur pointed out.
"Don't make me angry," he warned.
"Why? What happens then?" The Doctor challenged him.
"Damn it, you humanzz, worshipping your tribal sky godzz. I am so much more. That night, the universe exploded in my mind. I wanted to take what wazz mine. And you, Agatha Christie, with your railway station bookstall romancezz, what'z to stop me killing you?"
"Oh, my dear God. My child," Lady Clemency cried, horrified at what her son had become.
"What'zz to stop me killing you all?" He demanded, slowly transforms into the wasp.
"Forgive me!"
"Stay back!" Arthur ordered everyone before looking at the wasp. At the man who had no control over himself. "Reverend, please stop this."
Sensing how the wasp will kill more, Agatha takes the Firestone. "No more murder. If my imagination made you kill, then my imagination will find a way to stop you, foul creature," she decided.
"Don't!" Delaney yelled, which Agatha didn't listen as she ran out of the room with Firestone.
The Doctor, Arthur, Delaney, and Donna follow her from behind. The wasp as well.
"Wait, now it's chasing us," Donna realised.
"Agatha knows it will follow her," Arthur muttered, shutting the main door as they all outside.
They see Agatha is driving the car and she hoots the horn. The wasp bursts out through the doors. "Over here! Come and get me, Reverend."
"Agatha, what are you doing?" The Doctor shouted.
"If I started this, Doctor, then I must stop it," she answered before driving off. The wasp hesitates then follows her.
"Come on," he gestures to the others to get into another car and give chase.
"You said this is the night Agatha Christie loses her memory," Delaney emphasised.
"Time can often be rewritten," Arthur imparted. "For all we know, this is the night Agatha Christie loses her life and history gets changed."
"But where's she going?" Donna asked.
"The lake. She's heading for the lake," the Doctor noticed the sign of the lake. "What's she doing?"
▪︎▪︎▪︎
They soon arrive on the lake, spotting Agatha carrying the Firestone as she lures the creature. "Here I am, the honey in the trap. Come to me, Vespiform."
"She's controlling it," Donna noticed.
"Its mind is based on her thought processes," Arthur noted.
"They're linked," Delaney realised as they exited the car and ran to Agatha.
"Quite so, Miss Redwood," Agatha agreed. "If I die, then this creature might die with me."
"Don't hurt her," Arthur begged, shielding Agatha away.
"You're not meant to be like this. You've got the wrong template in your mind," the Doctor implored.
"It's not listening to you," Donna realises, then takes the Firestone from Agatha and throws it into the lake. The wasp follows it. "How do you kill a wasp? Drown it, just like his father."
"Donna, that thing couldn't help itself."
"Neither could I."
"What else can we do?" Arthur lamented, looking at the water that was bubbling purple.
"What's the point of seeing the future, if you can't do anything to stop it?"
"Death comes as the end, and justice is served," Agatha said.
"Murder at the Vicar's rage," the Doctor suggested.
"No," Arthur disagreed with a deadpan face.
"Needs a bit of work."
"Still no."
"Just one mystery left, Doctor. Who exactly are you four?" Agatha asked…before suddenly doubled over in pain.
"Oh, it's the Firestone. It's part of the Vespiform's mind. It's dying and it's connected to Agatha," the Doctor realised.
"Let me try," Arthur kneels beside the Doctor, grabbing Agatha's hand, ready to use his Time Vortex…
"Hold on," the Doctor stops him, watching as Agatha glows purple for a few moments before the glow disappears. "He let her go. Right at the end, the Vespiform chose to save someone's life."
"What about Agatha?" Delaney asked.
"Of course. The amnesia. Wiped her mind of everything that happened. The wasp, the murders."
"And us. She'll forget about us," Donna realised.
"Yeah, but we've solved another riddle. The mystery of Agatha Christie. And tomorrow morning, her car gets found by the side of a lake. A few days later, she turns up in hotel at Harrogate with no idea of what just happened."
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"Sad," Arthur murmured, watching Agatha walk into the hotel. "No one'll ever know."
"Lady Eddison, the Colonel, and all the staff. What about them?" Donna inquired.
"Shameful story. They'd never talk of it. Too British," the Doctor concluded. "While the Unicorn does a bunk back to London town. She can never even say she was there."
"Of course," Delaney shook her head. Typical aristocratic people.
"What happens to Agatha?" Donna asked.
"Oh, great life. Met another man, married again. Saw the world. Wrote and wrote and wrote," the Doctor shared.
"She never thought her books were any good, though. And she must have spent all those years wondering."
"Nah," Arthur responded, gesturing to them to come into the Tardis. "She might not remember, but there's definitely some lingering thoughts in her mind."
"Great mind like that, some of the details kept bleeding through. All the stuff her imagination could use," the Doctor agreed. "Like, Miss Marple."
"I should have made her sign a contract," Donna huffed.
"And, where is it, where is it, hold on. Here we go." The Doctor pulls up a deck plate and gets out an old wooden chest. "That is C for Cybermen, C for Carrionites…and Christie, Agatha. Look at that."
Delaney and Donna look at a 1957 paperback edition of Death in the Clouds with a wasp on the cover. "Wow," Delaney whispered.
"She did remember," Donna noted.
"Look at the copyright page," Arthur added.
Donna opens the page. "'Facsimile edition, published in the year five billion!'"
"People never stop reading them!" Delaney smiles.
"She is the best selling novelist of all time," Arthur denoted. "Well…one of many."
Donna's forehead furrowed. "But she never knew."
"Well, no one knows how they're going to be remembered. All we can do is hope for the best. Maybe that's what kept her writing," he remarked. "Same thing keeps me travelling. Onwards?"
"Onwards," Donna, Arthur, and Delaney responded, ready for another adventure.
▪︎▪︎▪︎
"I'm not interrupting, am I?"
Arthur smiled, closing the diary he had been writing about his experiences with Agatha Christie. "Oh, Doctor. You never bother me."
The doctor took the answer as a signal that he could come in. Hesitantly, he entered Arthur's room and sat on the side of the bed, concern evident on his face. "Are you all right?"
"Sure." Arthur tilted his head. This entire adventure, he acted much kinder than he thought he would. But still, this is the Doctor. He's so oblivious to the whole situation. Unless...Ah, that was it. "Did Donna tell you?"
"I was just curious—"
"I can't say who. Spoiler."
"Don't worry, I know that. It's just...are you really okay?"
"Of course, why not?"
"Because you know what I'm like, and I've known you long enough to know what you're like."
Arthur sighed softly. There was no point in lying to his father. Well, even if he didn't know that fact until Demons Run. "I know that one day my powers won't make everyone happy. Sometimes, it's good to be able to see some pieces of the past, present, and future. But that doesn't make me a superhero. I'm still like every other being, still flawed."
The doctor looked at her for a long moment. "But?" he asked, encouraging Arthur to continue speaking.
"But sometimes it sucks. And...painful. I mean, I can save them, save these people I met. It's just…I don't know if I could do that."
"You can't always save everyone."
"And it still hurts to see them die."
He nods, fully understanding. "Just so you know…you're not alone. Donna and Delaney will be there for you. And I'll try to be supportive."
"I will," he replied. "Thanks, Doc."
"Don't call me Doc," he pouted.
"Get used to it. One day, someone will."
"Who?"
"Spoilers."
He groaned as Arthur giggled. "Hate you."
"No you don't."