A Study in Charlotte

The atmosphere at Sherringford becomes tense in the wake of Dobson’s murder. Many parents pull their children out of the school. Reporters descend to quiz the remaining students. James does his best to avoid them. Even the local drug dealer gives a statement to the press: “I’ve heard the stories too. I have a lot of, uh, friends who say Charlotte Holmes is the head of this messed-up cult, and James Watson is, like, her angry little henchman” (63). Despite the turmoil, the school prepares for homecoming weekend, and students plan to attend the dance. James says, “It might have been a waste of time and money, but for once, I understood it. Better to focus on pageantry than on death” (64).

During the week, Charlotte and James spend most of their time in the lab trying to assemble clues. Charlotte breaks into the infirmary to see if Dobson was there complaining of poison symptoms in the days before he died. Shepard learns of her visit and lectures her about breaking and entering. In addition, he notices her collection of poisons in the lab and says that he’ll interrogate both Charlotte and James at Mr. Watson’s house on Sunday night. Later, Charlotte dons a disguise, looking like a wide-eyed high school student: “She was like textbook jailbait, all curves where there used to be straight lines” (76). Her plan is to spend time with some of the freshmen boys to see if anyone is a likely suspect.

That same night, James attends the poker game that Charlotte usually hosts in the dorm basement, but her roommate, Lena, has taken her place. Already drunk, Lena accidentally discloses to James that Charlotte had a problem with someone back in England named August. James remembers Charlotte telling him about a Moriarty descendant named August. James goes to Charlotte’s dorm room, where he finds her napping. Since it’s nearly midnight, James proposes taking her to get a late-night breakfast. She eats like a bird, and he insists that she have a full meal.

They end up at a local diner where many of the school’s students go to buy drugs. As they eat, Charlotte reveals that her family sent her to school in the US because some of her behavior angered them: “In their eyes, my vices got in the way of my studies” (88). She has been using drugs since the age of 12 because they help calm her hyperactive brain. As they leave the restaurant, the two see a black sedan with its lights off, making a fast exit from the parking lot. Suspecting that they’re being watched, Charlotte and James climb into Lena’s car and give chase. Eventually, the driver loses control, and his vehicle crashes. Then, he runs off into the woods. Charlotte takes off after the man on foot, with James struggling to keep up.

The sound of sirens in the distance forces the amateur detectives to flee, but Charlotte searches the sedan before they go, taking a packet with her that she refuses to show James. She speculates that the man they spooked isn’t a local drug dealer. He was fit and dressed expensively. She suspects that he may work for her brother Milo, who is probably having her watched.

On the evening of the dance, James decides to stay in his room and do homework. His roommate, Tom, will be taking Lena to the dance and is unable to persuade James to come along. A few hours later, James is surprised when Charlotte arrives, dressed for the dance: “Her dress looked nothing like I imagined. It looked, in fact, like the night sky. I could see why Lena had coveted it: the cut of it brought my eye to certain places I’d tried to avoid looking at” (103).

Charlotte insists that James accompany her to the dance. She says that it will offer an excellent opportunity to observe everyone and gather information. Confused but pleased, he gets dressed. The dance is half over by the time they arrive. As it winds down, Charlotte goes outside for fresh air. She finally shows James the object she recovered from the black sedan: “In her lap was a madman’s journal. Its pages were thick with handwriting, the same five words scrawled again and again. Each time they were written in a markedly different style […] CHARLOTTE HOLMES IS A MURDERER” (114).

Charlotte explains that this is a forger’s notebook and that she has a similar one at home. She expresses her frustration at not being able to make sense of this clue. He grows angry that she refused to share this piece of evidence with him. They get into a shouting match in the middle of the quad near a grove of trees, where they stumble across another body.

This time, the target is a freshman girl named Elizabeth, who previously asked James to go to the dance with her. She isn’t dead, but something has been jammed down her throat. As students gather around, Charlotte and James extract an object from her windpipe that looks like a blue diamond. In reality, it’s a cheap plastic gem, but it relates to another Holmes story called “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.”

When paramedics and the police arrive, James spots a man lurking at the edge of the crowd. Suspecting that he might have been the driver of the black sedan, Charlotte and James begin to chase him on foot. Shepard sees the pair running and follows with additional police. Eventually, the man ducks into the tunnel system that runs under the school. He leads Charlotte and James to a darkened room before disappearing completely. When they switch on the lights, they find all sorts of evidence implicating them in Dobson’s murder. Shepard arrives, sees the evidence, and concludes that the room belongs to Charlotte. Even James briefly suspects that she might be behind the crimes.

The amateur detectives are taken in for questioning. While James waits his turn, his doubts about Charlotte increase: “What if she actually did kill Lee fucking Dobson and decided, for a lark, to drag me along, pretending to solve the crime that she committed?” (132). Mr. Watson arrives to collect James and Charlotte. He says that the police don’t have enough evidence to charge them, so they’re being released. However, more questions will follow on Sunday evening. Then, he drives them back to his home, where they spend the day sleeping.

When dinnertime arrives, Mr. Watson prepares a meal and reveals that he and Charlotte’s uncle, Leander Holmes, are old chums who attended university together. They’ve stayed in touch over the years and concocted a scheme to bring the two youngsters together. With Charlotte banished to a US school, it seemed an ideal time to bring James into the picture. After learning these facts, James is furious with his father for interfering in his life without his consent.

Shepard arrives at the Watson house with the clear intention of arresting Charlotte and James. Before they leave, he gets an emergency phone call. Apparently, a box laced with poison was delivered to Charlotte’s dorm room, and an unknown assailant attacked Lena, mistaking her for Charlotte. These facts cause Shepard to conclude that his two suspects are actually being set up by the real perpetrator: “This blows my list of suspects wide open. […] So we’re back to option one. Someone trying their damnedest to frame you two” (154).

After the detective leaves, James realizes that Charlotte set up the entire crime. It mimics a Watson story called “The Adventure of the Dying Detective,” in which Holmes receives a box laced with poison and fakes his own near death to trap a murderer. James thinks, “She’d set herself up to be the target of a fake crime to get us off the hook for the real one” (150). Feeling contrite for having suspected his friend of killing Dobson, he declares that he won’t doubt her again.