Chapter 109: Chapter 109

Charlotte's whole body was tense as she saw that Jessica recognized who she was. She could literally feel the panic and helplessness that the other girl felt, and could see as her eyes widened in absolute terror. Charlotte herself was terrified, and at her wit's end. If only she could complete this last task without a hitch, then her mission would be accomplished and none would be the wiser. She could already envisage the look of shock on Sebastian's face when she came in all her full glory to claim what was rightfully hers. Realizing that she was beginning to zone off again, she shook herself to find that Carol was looking at her expectantly and with a sort of pleading look on her face.

Since Charlotte did not know if Carol had said anything to her or not, she took her gaze back to Jessica who was now staring hard at Carol, trying to give her a sort of signal with her eyes. The medications they gave her must be making her boneless because Charlotte was sure that if she was the one, she would have at least thrashed her hands about and made some sort of scene, but she was not willing to wait to find out if Jessica could or would do that.

"Oh, goodness me, Carol." Charlotte began, rummaging in her purse as though searching for the necklace, then sighing and slapping at her forehead so that she drew Carol's attention away from that of Jessica, who was still trying to make eye contact. "I can't find the necklace that Mr. James asked me to give to her. I must have dropped it in the lobby when we went there earlier. I remember playing with it while we were there. If you don't mind, can you grab it for me? It should be on or around where I was sitting. I still feel a little faint and can't think of going all that way and coming back." Charlotte finished, hoping against hope that Carol would buy the lie and do the needful. Carol more than bought the lie. In fact, she looked absolutely relieved to flee from the room, which more than worked for Charlotte.

"Um, sure. I'll go look for it." Carol replied, glancing at Jessica on the bed and then immediately turning and leaving the room as though the room was on fire. With any luck, she would be away long enough to give Charlotte more than enough time to do what she had to do.

As soon as the door shut behind her, Charlotte turned to Jessica and gave her a sickening smile, ignoring how Jessica seemed to shrink away from her. A lone tear fell from the girl's eye and her eyes darted frantically about in her head as Charlotte quickly approached the bed, praying that the guard who was stationed to watch Jessica would not get it in his head to come in and check on her. Anyway, what she had to do will not take more than a few seconds.

"Well, well, well. Look who came back from the land of the dead. No worries though, I'm about to send you right back there, exactly where you belong." Charlotte sang, quickly taking the syringe filled with drugs that were potent enough to cause Jessica to slip back into a coma and from there, to the great beyond from her purse. Jessica's eyes widened, and her eyes streamed with tears as she pleaded with Charlotte not to do that with her eyes, but Charlotte was not even looking at her, and even if she were, Jessica's pleas would have fallen on deaf ears.

Without further ado, Charlotte gently injected Jessica with the drugs, wishing that she could also inject her with the second one too, which would be sure to kill her almost immediately, but it would be too suspicious if Jessica died within minutes of Carol's leaving the room. It was better that she remained having a semblance of consciousness while the drugs and poison worked their magic in her bloodstream without anyone suspecting.

"Shush now. Don't worry. This will not be nearly as painful as getting shot. You won't even feel a thing as you slip away, okay? But I can't have you going around and telling people what you know." Charlotte said tenderly, almost as though she were comforting her crying child and wiping the tears from Jessica's face with her hand.

She then stepped back and went back to the position in which she had been standing, while the drugs began to take effect on Jessica. A minute later, she heard the sound of running footsteps approaching the room. The door burst open and Carol shot through it, panting as heavily as though she had just run a marathon race. She glanced straight at Jessica who was on the bed with her eyes still open, although they were now a little glazed.

"Did you find it? Why are you running up and down the hospital corridors in such an undignified manner?" Charlotte asked, going to stand by the window.

"Oh, um ... no, I didn't find it. Someone must have taken it or something." Carol replied, trying hard to get her breath back and feeling extremely foolish. Everything seemed to be fine here. There was a sharp knock on the door and then the guard poked his head through it, glancing around at the three women.

"Ma'am, is anything the matter? I saw you running towards this place and I thought..."

"No, no. Everything is fine. Just don't go far from here again, okay?" Carol replied.

"Sure, ma'am." He said and retreated.

"That's sad. What do I tell Mr. James now if he asks me if I gave her the necklace as he asked me to do?" Charlotte asked, not sounding sad at all.

"Mr. James is dead. Sebastian just called me to inform me about that fact. They found him dead in his bed some minutes ago." Carol said mechanically. Now that her adrenaline had worn off, the reality was setting in, and the pain of Mr. James's death was beginning to hit her hard.

"Oh, my God! That's horrible! That very nice man. Why today of all days? He did seem very weak today. Oh, my God! I killed him with all my endless chatter. I should have allowed him to rest as you wanted. What was I thinking?" Charlotte exclaimed, putting on a very convincing look of sorrow and guilt.

"Don't be silly," Carol said, but her tone sounded suspicious and without anyone telling her, Charlotte knew that Carol knew something about her, but she did not know what it was.

"He even predicted his death, you know. He was telling me that he did not think that he would last more than today, or at the very best, tomorrow. Oh no! Now, I must look for that necklace. I must fulfill his last wish, which was that I give Jessica that necklace." Charlotte continued, already plotting her escape. Neither of them paid Jessica, who was trying desperately to get Carol's attention, any mind.

"Melissa, I have something to ask you." Carol began, taking a very deep breath. She hated having to accuse someone of anything, especially when she did not have proof, but Sebastian had said that the CCTV camera captured Charlotte taking something from Mr. Sebastian's room.

"Here it comes." Charlotte thought to herself but did not say anything.

"Did you take anything from Mr. James's room?" Carol continued when Charlotte did not say anything.

"What? Why will you ask me that?"

"Because they saw you captured on the CCTV camera, and you took something from there, but whatever it was that you took wasn't the necklace you claimed that he asked you to give to Jessica. What did you take from there, Melissa?" Carol finished, looking straight into her eyes.

"It's all over then. It's only a matter of time before they find out that I had a hand in Mr. James's death and Jessica's impending death." Charlotte thought to herself and then said aloud.

"Who the fuck keeps a CCTV camera in their bedroom for chrissakes?" She asked.

"You didn't answer my question."

"Fine, fine. Whatever. I only took some money from there. What's the big deal? He's not gonna use it now anyway."

Carol was about to say something else when they heard a feeble voice speak.

"Carol ... help."

They both turned around to see Jessica looking at them, her eyes still filled with unshed tears. She had used her last energy to say those words.