A Study in Charlotte

Inside, they find Milo and a team of his men waiting for them. The apartment has been cleaned out. Both James and Charlotte are shocked by this high-handed approach. James asks, “Is this the end? Detective Shepard gets a confession out of Bryony Davis-Downs, and you take her stuff off to be freelance policed, and…what, roll credits?” (268). Charlotte insists that she’ll find real evidence rather than having her brother manufacture any. She’ll look for poisons, protein powder, and bomb-making equipment, and she has already found a snakeskin under the chair. The rattlesnake itself is hiding in the walls. Charlotte intends to find out who else is working with Bryony.

James must go to his dorm because everyone is being evacuated from campus, and he’s allowed only a scheduled 10-minute window to collect his belongings. When he gets into his room, he confronts Tom about the video and audio devices. Tom says that their creative writing teacher, Mr. Wheatley, put him up to planting the bugs. The teacher plans to write a book about the reunion of Holmes and Watson, and he bribed Tom to spy on his roommate.

Angry and distracted by this news, James grabs the handle of his closet door to begin packing when he feels a sting. Something sharp grazes his knuckle. Then, he sees a message written on the wall: “YOU HAVE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS TO LIVE UNLESS SHE GIVES ME WHAT I WANT XOXO CULVERTON SMITH” (278). Culverton Smith is the villain in the Sherlock Holmes story “The Adventure of the Dying Detective.” James realizes that the killer has used the story about a poisoned box to turn the tables on the detectives. This is the same story that Charlotte used earlier to get them out of trouble. James has been poisoned by an infected metal spring on the closet door handle.

He staggers outdoors and passes out in a snowbank, where Charlotte, Milo, and his operatives later rescue him. They all return to Bryony’s flat, where a doctor named Warner will attend to James. Charlotte explains that he has been infected with a lab-created viral toxin, and Warner is a specialist who may be able to concoct an antidote: “‘Come here,’ I said, moving over in the bed. ‘If you really don’t mind my being patient zero.’ She swallowed her tears. I pulled back the sheet, and she crawled in beside me, putting her head on my chest” (285).

Charlotte says that Bryony will give them the antidote if they concede to her demands. She wants $3 million and safe passage to Russia, which won’t extradite her back to the US. Furthermore, she wants Charlotte to confess to killing Dobson, trying to kill Elizabeth, and bombing the science building. Despite James’s protests, Charlotte has already written her confession. Bryony will arrive at nine o’ clock the following morning to make the exchange. Charlotte says, “One way or another, you’ll die if I don’t take this fall. I think it’s a good idea to listen to her, as she’s proven herself handy with a suitcase bomb” (287). As Charlotte leaves the room to let James sleep, he’s about to express his feelings for her when she kisses him: “‘I don’t know if it’ll ever be enough.’ It was confusing, what she said, but I thought I understood it. ‘You don’t have to try,’ I said to her. ‘Whatever this is, already—it’s already enough’” (289-90).

By the following morning, James feels much worse. When he awakens, he hears voices in the next room and realizes that Bryony has arrived. He tries climbing out of bed but crashes to the floor. When Charlotte comes to help him, she says, “When I blink twice, you play your last card” (294). Not quite sure what she means, he agrees. Milo and Charlotte carry him into the next room, where Bryony has demanded to see him. She already has a suitcase of money and plane tickets but agrees to explain her crimes to Charlotte before she leaves.

Dobson had attracted her notice when he came to the infirmary with his various sports injuries. He seemed curious about narcotics, and Bryony quickly grasped that he intended to drug female students to have sex with them. She gave him information about oxycodone and steered him toward Charlotte. Then, when he got into a fight with James, Bryony knew that she could pin his death on Holmes and Watson and started lacing his protein powder with arsenic. Bryony’s motive is revenge: “When you orchestrated my fiancé’s downfall—all for the crime of loving me—you ruined my life. You ruined. My life” (299).

Bryony claims that Lucien was sent to jail for dealing cocaine and that August died by suicide, shooting himself in the head. James secretly believes that August faked his death but never told Bryony about it. He simply disappeared with his family’s help. Bryony continues her story and admits that her accomplice is Lucien, who has his own score to settle with Charlotte.

As Bryony taunts Charlotte about her lack of cleverness in connecting the dots, Charlotte gives James the signal to play his last card. Finally understanding her meaning, James collapses, feigning death. Bryony is distracted enough to get on her hands and knees to examine the boy. In the interim, Charlotte gets hold of a pistol and trains it on Bryony. She also points out that Bryony is wearing a wire and Lucien is eavesdropping on the meeting.

Charlotte announces that this is the end of the charade. She and Milo have deduced that Bryony hid the antidote in James’s dorm room, and an operative has gone to fetch it. Knowing the game is up, Lucien calls Milo’s cell phone and asks to be put on speaker so that he can address Charlotte. He says that he helped Bryony not for revenge but to find out what Charlotte cares about. This turns out to be James. Lucien says:

‘It’s good to know what matters to you, Charlotte. So very little does. My brother didn’t. Your own family doesn’t. But this boy…’ I could almost hear him licking his lips. ‘No, I don’t want you in jail. I don’t want you to have the satisfaction of this being over’ (309).

Presumably, Lucien will use this information against Charlotte at some future point. Milo takes Bryony away, not revealing to Charlotte what he intends to do with her. James is given the antidote and rushed to the hospital.

Five days later, James is recuperating at his father’s house while Milo and Charlotte are getting ready to fly back to London for the Christmas holidays. James has been invited to visit them at Holmes Manor when he arrives in England to stay with his mother and sister. Both Charlotte and James agree that they’ll finish the school year at Sherringford after the holiday break. Shepard is given a flash drive with Bryony’s confession and is alerted to Wheatley’s nefarious behavior. The teacher then loses his job at the school. Having wrapped up their case neatly, Charlotte urges James to join her for the holidays: “‘Do come home soon. It won’t be London without you.’ ‘You never knew me in London,’ I said, smiling. ‘I know.’ Holmes looked down at me with gleaming eyes. ‘I intend to fix that’” (316).

Charlotte concludes the tale by commenting on James’s sentimental way of writing about their adventure. She corrects a few minor inaccuracies in his narrative and looks forward to solving more mysteries with him in the future: “Later today I will ask him to spend the rest of winter break at my family’s home in Sussex […] We will look for a good murder or […] an interesting heist to solve. Watson will say yes, I’m sure of it. He always says yes to me” (321).