Miss Charlotte’s Case Journal - Chapter 3

“…What on earth am I thinking?”

Charlotte picked up her pen and slashed lines over Lucy’s name. Not satisfied with that, she shaded the area meticulously so no one could ever tell what had been written there.

There’s no way Lucy could have done it. Charlotte wasn’t someone who let personal feelings cloud her judgment, but in this, she was absolutely certain. Lucy wasn’t that kind of person. She knew exactly how kind and gentle Lucy was. Even if the sky fell, Lucy would never be the one.

Charlotte recalled little Toby. Toby had been the puppy she and Lucy secretly raised together when they were roommates in the academy dormitory.

Lucy had found Toby lying in an alley, whining and too weak to move. Unable to ignore a small, helpless life, she’d smuggled him into the dorm. Keeping animals on campus was a serious violation of school regulations, but Lucy had been unyielding. Charlotte had voiced her reluctance, yet Lucy had only looked at her apologetically and refused to back down.

Lucy had done her utmost not to cause Charlotte any trouble. She woke up early every morning to feed Toby, made sure he didn’t bark too loudly or feel trapped in their cramped room, and played with him whenever she could. Even when friends invited her out after class, she turned them down so she could go straight back to care for Toby.

As time went on, Charlotte, too, became attached to him. Stroking his soft fur, feeling the warmth of his tongue as he licked her hand—it filled her with indescribable comfort. The two of them did their best for Toby, and watching him grow round and healthy brought them nothing but joy.

But the walk. Yes, the walk. That was their mistake. As Toby grew, he wanted more and more to run outside. Charlotte and Lucy tried every way they could to entertain him indoors, but Toby was no longer satisfied.

Eventually, one weekend, the two snuck out of the academy under the pretense of running an errand and brought Toby along. He ran around everywhere, thrilled beyond measure. He was quick, so quick that even when the girls chased after him with all their strength, they couldn’t keep up.

Still, Toby was well-behaved. No matter how far he ran, sniffing and digging here and there, he always came back to one of them soon after. It happened so often that, eventually, they stopped worrying even when he wasn’t immediately in sight.

That had been a mistake. When it was time to return to the academy, Toby was nowhere to be found. Charlotte and Lucy, pale with panic, searched every alley. And then, in a backstreet they never should’ve entered, they found traces of him.

Charlotte called it traces, because that’s all they were.

A few ragged children, looking like street urchins, had built a small fire and were hastily roasting something over it. Toby.

Overcome with rage, Charlotte shouted at them on the spot. Terrified by the sight of an angry noblewoman, the children trembled and burst into tears. They had only been hungry. After starving for three days straight, they’d found a plump, healthy dog, and without thinking, they’d caught him.

If they’d had even a sliver of reason left, they would’ve noticed Toby’s glossy fur and bright eyes and realized he wasn’t a stray. But no one there had the luxury of reason. Faced with the small creature that could fill their empty stomachs, their instincts had taken over.

Amid the chaos, Lucy quietly picked up Toby’s skin, discarded by the fire. She then tried to calm both Charlotte and the crying children. Charlotte had been so furious she wanted to call the police, but she couldn’t, because Lucy stopped her.

As soon as they returned to the academy, Lucy buried Toby’s skin in a quiet corner of the garden beneath a beech tree where no one would find it. She dug the ground with her bare hands, without any tools, and broke her delicate fingernails, but she didn’t seem to care. Charlotte had been furious because Lucy looked as though she wasn’t even sad about Toby’s death. So she didn’t say a single word to her.

But that night, Charlotte heard Lucy sobbing quietly from her bed. The sound went on through the night until dawn, and the next morning, Lucy came down from her bed with her eyes completely red. She couldn’t even eat properly. That continued for a whole week.

Unable to stand it any longer, Charlotte climbed onto Lucy’s bed at midnight with a cookie in her hand. Only then did Lucy finally cry out loud. She clutched her chest and called Toby’s name again and again, her grief unbearable to watch. Charlotte had never felt so ashamed of herself for being angry with her. Lucy took the cookie Charlotte offered and ate it between sobs, and that night, the two of them lay in the same bed, holding each other tightly, mourning Toby’s death together.

Lucy was that kind of friend. Someone who couldn’t even scold hungry orphans for what they’d done, who couldn’t correct her friend’s misunderstanding, who only swallowed the death of a small, pitiful animal quietly inside her heart. The idea that such a person would poison her husband was laughable enough to make a passing dog bark in disbelief.

Charlotte calmly crumpled up the paper and threw it into the trash can. Then she pulled out a new sheet and began writing the autopsy report again.

***

“…I’m sorry, Charlotte.”

When Charlotte placed a steaming teacup in Lucy’s hands, Lucy whispered quietly.

“What are you sorry for?”

“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have had to go through this.”

Lucy spoke in an embarrassed voice. She sounded so weak that Charlotte quickly waved her hand in dismissal.

“Don’t say that. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Lucy gave her a small, grateful smile. Seeing her friend smile a little more easily, Charlotte finally relaxed and smiled back.

What awaited Charlotte when she arrived late to work was the Turobe family. Or rather, Charlotte hadn’t been the one they were waiting for; she had simply stumbled upon the scene of their uproar.

“You! You’re the one who killed my brother!”

The man shouted as he lunged at Lucy with violent movements. The staff rushed to restrain him, but there was no way they could forcibly subdue a noble. The man eventually reached Lucy and raised his hand high.

Without thinking, Charlotte dashed forward and wrapped her arms around Lucy. A sharp sound cracked through the air, followed by a stinging pain in her shoulder. It hurt less than she’d expected, but that didn’t make her anger any less. That bastard. He was trying to hit her face, wasn’t he?

Charlotte hid the trembling Lucy behind her and glared at the man. He hesitated for a moment, startled at having struck the wrong person, but then shouted again.

“And who the hell are you to butt in?!”

His face flushed red, and he shouted so hard that spittle flew from his mouth. His eyes were unfocused, and his body swayed unsteadily. It was clear he wasn’t in his right mind.

Charlotte looked around in disbelief and anger. The Turobe family members only cleared their throats awkwardly as if to maintain their dignity. None of them stepped forward to stop him or defend Lucy. The looks they gave Lucy were just as cold.

The man reeked of alcohol. He was clearly drunk.

“Step back.”

Charlotte felt Lucy’s trembling hand clutching at her collar. What kind of bastard is this? Rage boiled inside her as she clenched her fist without realizing it. And just then—

“You’re being far too noisy.”

The director, who had rushed over upon hearing the commotion, quickly stepped in front of Charlotte. She subtly gestured with her hand, signaling Charlotte to step back.

“Robert, that’s enough.”

Only then did the man’s family finally move. Robert scowled viciously, glaring at Lucy, but in the end, he turned his head away with a sharp motion, as if he couldn’t completely ignore their words.

Taking advantage of the moment while the director handled them, Charlotte guided Lucy away. She led her to her office, helped her into a chair, and placed a cup of warm tea in her trembling hands.

Lucy stared blankly at Charlotte’s movements. Only after taking a sip of the tea did she finally manage a faint smile. But that smile was strangely distorted, and Charlotte thought she looked as though she were crying while pretending to smile.

Charlotte hesitated for a moment, then spoke, “Those people, Lucy… are they….”

“My husband’s family.”

Lucy answered calmly, as if it were nothing. That calmness made Charlotte’s heart ache even more.

“It wasn’t like this from the start… I don’t even know what went wrong. Maybe I did something I shouldn’t have. If I did, I’d apologize. If there’s been a misunderstanding, I’d clear it up. If only we could just talk it out, that would be nice.”

“Ah, Lucy….”

Charlotte clasped Lucy’s hands tightly. How could someone be this foolishly kind? She wanted to splash cold water on her past self for ever doubting her, even for a moment.

“Does it hurt?”

When Charlotte noticed Lucy’s eyes drifting toward her shoulder, she shook her head.

“It just looked and sounded worse than it is. It doesn’t really hurt.”

“I’m sorry, Charlotte. Robert’s… he’s not such a bad person. He just has a temper, that’s all….”

Sure, more like a brute. Charlotte muttered inwardly but kept quiet.

“Robert and my husband were always close. My husband used to say that since Robert was the youngest and their parents hadn’t given him much, he felt sorry for him. He’d always try to take care of him. They were that close. I suppose that’s why this hit him so hard.”

“I see….”

Or maybe their parents had disowned him because he was a drunken fool. Charlotte swallowed the thought, forcing a dry laugh instead. She could already tell Lucy was only making excuses out of guilt.

“The truth is, the day before my husband… passed, the two of them argued a little. Maybe that’s what’s weighing on him. I think he blames himself for letting their last conversation end in a fight.”

“…They argued?”

Charlotte immediately gripped Lucy’s hand tighter, her voice rising slightly in urgency. When Lucy blinked in surprise and fell silent, Charlotte pressed again.

“Lucy, please, tell me. Did they fight? Why? What was it about?”

“I, I’m not entirely sure. But… they hadn’t been getting along for a few months now. My husband always let Robert stay for days at a time whenever he visited the mansion. They’d spend so much time together. But lately, even when Robert came, he’d only talk for a short while before being sent away. Robert seemed upset about it when he left. But that day, it didn’t seem that serious. They did raise their voices a bit during the day, but that evening, my husband said they’d be drinking together.”

“I see….”

The two had argued the day before the incident, then shared drinks that evening, and the next day, one of them was dead from poisoning.

A highly likely suspect had just emerged.

Charlotte’s eyes gleamed as she slowly released Lucy’s hand. Lucy, noticing Charlotte’s curious expression, looked puzzled, as if wondering why she was asking these questions.

It was just as Charlotte was about to ask more about that brute.