sinister

The autopsy

Charlotte's body was taken for Autopsy as the forensics continued searching the scene for evidence. The head pathologist was immediately put onto Charlotte's case, it was a priority. Her name was Erin and she was very skilled in her field. She took one look at Charlotte and could tell immediately that she was poisoned.

Forensics that were searching the scene looked through the entire nursery for things that looked out of place and suspicious. They didn't find anything in the toddler room, everything seemed normal. You'd never have known a woman had just died on the carpet.

However, in the staff room, they did find something. Stashed inside a cupboard was an empty bottle of cleaning spray. It was odd that it was seemingly hidden behind all the coffee mugs. They immediately collected this as evidence because it was suspicious. They also found Charlotte's water bottle in the toddler room and they also took that for forensic examination.

During the autopsy, it was found that Charlotte was definitely chemically poisoned. They suspected that Charlotte had some kind of cold that meant she couldn't taste or smell and that's why she didn't notice the chemicals. They also deciphered that this wasn't premeditated, it was spontaneous. They didn't plan to kill her until the heat of the moment.

Vivian and Sara decided that because Charlotte's murder had happened not long after the hit and run on Clodagh that they were probably connected in some way. Maybe even done by the same person. They knew one thing for certain though, this was not a coincidence. They also found that Charlotte's water bottle was where the chemicals were planted after testing.

During the time the autopsy was being performed, Vivian and Sara had managed to question everyone about their actions on the day that Charlotte died. They initially thought it would be easy to pinpoint who was with Charlotte in the staff room to poison her, but they soon found that the nursery staff would all offer to fill up everyone else's drinks. On their different breaks they would go into every room and ask if anyone needed more water and they all trusted each other to do so. After all, the staff were like a family.

After a few days of mourning Charlotte, some of the staff attempted to start slowly getting back into their regular routines. Charlotte wouldn't want them all sat around mourning, she would want them continuing to do all the things they loved. For some of the staff, especially Mia, this wasn't gonna be possible. She had just lost the love of her life, she couldn't even think about anyone but her.

One person that needed a distraction and wanted to attempt to go back to doing some of the things she loved was Carly. Charlotte and Carly were very close and she was distraught at her loss. Carly's dad was a volunteer lifeguard on evenings and after the pool was closed on a weekend Carly enjoyed going and having a peaceful swim. All alone and without the worries of the outside world. She told all the staff she was going because everytime she went silent for too long after Charlotte's death they would worry.

There were two separate pools. One was a shallow pool for kids and the other was a smaller and deeper pool. The pool that Carly would go to had covers that her and her dad had to put on before they left, to keep the pools clean. Carly's dad wouldn't stay in the building while Carly was swimming, she was a good swimmer so he knew she would be fine. He would leave for an hour and then come back to lock up. On this particular day, this would be a fatal decision.

The deep pool was Carly's favourite. As Carly was swimming underwater in the deep pool, she heard the cover be pulled over the top of her. She instantly swam up to try and push it off but it was too heavy. She was stuck underwater, she couldn't get up for air. She tried not to panic because that would make things worse. She swam to the corner of the pool and tried to see if it was easier to move. It wasn't. She was stuck underwater. Someone had trapped her underwater, and just left her there to drown.

Water running through your ears
Your sense of everything is blurred
Such an agonizing way to die
But maybe perhaps it was deserved

The killer obviously won't stop
Until their end goal is complete
How many people have to die?
How many ends to be made meet?

Authors note - Poem credits to Partofthecribs x