The Charlotte Holmes Case (Sherlock Holmes fanfic)

Chapter 22: Searching TBPC

**NOT LAST CHAPTER**

Will Charlotte even find Sherlock at all? Is he even alive? This chapter should resolve her question and yours as well.

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Chapter 22: Searching TBPC

Charlotte hadn't slept at all that night, she mainly stayed awake and pondered at unanswered questions. What if Sherlock is never found? What if he had been moved to a different location? What if he had been tortured to death or just immediatley killed when Flinch found me? What if he doesn't remember who I am?

Many questions she asked herself as she lay awake in bed, staring at the darkness and all of them remained unanswered. The first rays of the sun started to peek out from the window and she decided to get ready for the day. She quietly crept out of her room and headed over to Hamish's to check up on him, but remembered he wasn't here.

When she was younger, she would sneak out at night and walk around the streets of London just because it was more peacful at night and less busier. Whenever she returned, she would notice Hamish's door to his room was opened when originally before she left, it wasn't. Assuming he knew she left, he would try to search for her around the house but could never find her. He would return to his room and leave the door open.

She would step inside and she would leave a pebble near his nightstand, to assure him she was safe and back home. Over the years, she did this so often, some nights she wouldn't even sneak out, she would just check up on him because it was from out of habbit and she liked the thought of checking up on him to see if everything was alright. Today however, he wasn't in his room and she walked past his door remembering he was elswhere. Thankfully safe.

She went to the kitchen, warmed up the kettle and pulled a cup out from the cabinets. She waited for the tea to boil and then poured it in her cup. She sat down and held on to the hot cup in her hands, not bothered by the burning sensation placed on her palms. It was cold anyways, and she had other things to worry about than hot tea burning her hands.

John trotted down the stairs some time later, her tea was cold by the time he came down and she decided now would be the best time to drink it. "How long have you been up?" he asked. "A while," she responded. They ate breakfast quickly and heaed out of 221B to meet up with Lestrade to find Sherlock.

"Where do we head first?" she asked Lestrade as they entered a wagon. "We already searched P, so might as well go and see what T can bring us. It's a river, so I doubt we would find much there," he explained. "There could be something along the river. Flinch never explained anything to me, I'm sorry I can't tell you anything."

"It's alright, what we should focus on is finding these victims and getting them out of there. We took twelve people out of P a few days ago, not including you and Hamish. I wonder how many people are trapped in T," he wondered. She nodded and kept her eyes on the road. I hope one of them is Sherlock.

They arrived by the Thames and started to search around it. If I were a kidnapper, where would I hide my victims? If by a river, where would the location be? she thought. The Yard spent a good two hours searching around the river before finding a trapdoor near a bunch of plants. It led to a sewer and they followed the tunnel. It was a long walk but they arrived at another door, it led to a compartment of cells upon cells in a long hall. The men immediatley got to work and started to unlock the cells releasing the men.

Charlotte went to each and every man asking if they were Sherlock Holmes or knew where he was atleast. Every man, all ten of them, replied with a no. She slumped herself on the floor, dissapointed with the answers that she recieved but was determined to keep looking for him.