Dr. Scarlett Clark (Carly Schiller)

Dr Scarlett Clark is the protagonist of Layne Fargo’s psychological thriller, They Never Learn. When she was younger, she was known as Carly Schiller.

To the world, Scarlett is a respected English professor — smart, confident, and admired by her students. But under that calm and perfect surface, she hides a dark secret. She’s a serial killer who hunts down abusive men: rapists, harassers, and those who think they can hurt women and get away with it. She’s also openly bi, flirting with men and women around campus, while no one suspects who she really is.

But what she does isn’t just about vengeance for women she barely knows. Her actions are rooted in her past. Years earlier, she was a frightened, traumatised girl who finally escaped her violent father and the mother who always defended him. Carly never felt safe at home and getting accepted into university felt like freedom.

There, she met Allison, another girl from a strict and problematic background. Allison had been rejected by her religious parents for being bi and became a pariah in her hometown. But despite that, Allison seemed bold, confident, and open about who she is. She flirted with Carly and told her that she could tell she was bi too — “all the cutest girls are bi”. 

Through Allison, Carly discovered normal university life: parties, laughter, and a feeling of belonging. Their friendship slowly turned into a romance, but they both kept dating boys, still trying to fit into what the world expected from them.

At a Halloween party, Allison’s boyfriend dragged her away and tried to assault her. That betrayal shattered her and pushed her toward becoming a vigilante.

Years later, Scarlett is no longer that frightened girl. She’s controlled, sharp, and done tolerating violence. Killing abusive men becomes her way of reclaiming power in a world that fails women.

She meets Mina, a bi professor investigating the campus deaths—an ex-wife of the same Alexander who once targeted Carly. Mina carries her own scars from years of emotional abuse. Their fascination becomes a dangerous romance: two bi women connected by pain, like a queer Bonnie and Clyde driven by a sense of justice. Mina doesn’t try to change Scarlett; she accepts her, darkness and all.

Scarlett’s character is not the usual stereotype of a “confused” or “oversexualised” bi woman. She’s complex, self-aware, and unapologetically herself. 

Her bisexuality isn’t treated like a plot twist or a problem — it’s just part of her. She flirts with women and men and is happy with it. But she is an extremely unlucky person when it comes to relationships with men – despite that she was dating men all her life and seemed to have male friends, the majority of them betrayed, harassed, or abused her, and it shaped her experience. She never felt as safe with men as she did with women, and it shows the dynamic some real bi women – survival of male domestic abuse – have in the relationship. 

Scarlett also challenges the idea that bi women—or women in general—have to be soft, forgiving, or “respectable” to deserve empathy. She refuses to be a victim. Her violence isn’t romanticised, but it represents the anger of all women who have been ignored or disbelieved, especially bi women who are told to hide parts of themselves to be accepted.

Scarlett Clark isn’t a hero, but she stands for every bi woman who has been silenced, shamed, or underestimated — and who finally decides to take back control.