Charged

Nichole Jackson. 10

Chapter 10.

"Look here," Greg raised his head from under the bed holding a small plastic bag of cocaine. He picked it up wearing his gloves so he wouldn't get his prints on it.

"Cocaine? Nicky was an addict?" Tom said with a little uncertainty in his voice.

Tom took the bag and opened it to be sure it was cocaine. He sniffed it and that answered his question. He scrunched his nose from the strong scent.

"Cocaine, definitely cocaine." He held the bag at arm's length disgusted by the pungent scent. He had a pretty keen nose.

Tom took out a plastic bag and placed the cocaine in it, sealing the bag shut and threw it lightly to Greg.

A little later, Catherine came through the door. She squinted her eyes to get a better look of what Greg was holding in his hand. "Is that drugs?" She drew closer grasping the plastic bag. "Cocaine?" She also said surprised.

Nicky looked like a well groomed person to everyone else, as explained by her co-workers. If she really does do drugs, what's the reason for it? It's definitely not money. She got money from being an accountant and her parents are well off, so cross money out of it. She made enough money to have a good standard of living. Not a lot of money but not too little.

If it was depression then Miss Jackson would probably win actress of the year since everyone saw no sign of her being depressed or stressed.

She was cheerful 24/7. She contributed in communal work when she could, and on many occasions, picked up her neighbour's kids from school since it was closer to her work place. She didn't look strung out or anything.

Her death came as a shock to many people. Outside was crowded with her neighbours sorrowfully standing by watching the cops do their job. They stood behind the Police Line, murmuring to themselves.

"We should go check up on her body in the mortuary. We could get more info there than here." Tom looked at the dirt at the edge of the window showing the others his side profile. His jawline clenched handsomely with Catherine rolling her eyes at the view.

"Sure, let's go." She exited first.

Nicky's body was found around 12midnight last night. Her dog's continuous barking woke up half the block. Patricia, knocked repeatedly on Nicky's door to be sure everything was alright but after long minutes of no response they called the police and that's how her body was found.

"It's good you came. There is something I have to show you," The pathologist met them at the door before they entered the morgue. He spoke with them with familiarity, like he knew them all too well.

Of course. They do visit the morgue more than they would like, being in their work description.

"What is it, Gerald?" Tom narrowed his eyebrows folding his hands across his chest.

"Nicky uses drugs..." "Yeah, we already know. We found cocaine in her room." Greg added. "Well did you know she has tylenol in her system? Nicky could have died of overdose, not a strangled neck." He said in expectation that they didn't know about the tylenol. Their perplexed expression said it all.

"She took in Tylenol too?" Catherine took a step forward folding her hands across her large chest. "It was shot into her. By a syringe. Someone was drugging her."

"So are you saying the cocaine and Tylenol, was shot into her?" Tom inquired. "I said she has tylenol in her system. I didn't say anything about cocaine in her system," Gerald hedged. "There's another drug in her digestive system but if it is cocaine then maybe Nicky was an addict. I'll find out what it is by the end of the day. I sent samples to forensics. It should be ready soon." He continued.