A Reasonable Doubt by Susan Sloan (free novels .txt) 📕

mean anything terribly sinister,” Lily assured her.  “I mean, did you smoke them, did you snort them, did you inject them, did you swallow them?”

Lauren was obviously flustered.  “I don’t know that I can remember all that clearly, it was such a long time ago,” she declared.

“I’m sorry,” Lily said smoothly.  “I thought you said the drug use you and your husband engaged in was towards the end of your marriage.”

“I think we smoked some, and maybe we snorted some, and we probably swallowed some -- so what?  What possible difference could it make now?  My husband’s dead.”

“Which one did you swallow?”

Lauren sighed.  “I don’t know what it was called.”

“What did it look like?”

“Like a pill.”

“What did it taste like?”

“I don’t remember.”

“How did it make you feel?”

“I don’t remember.”

“All right, which one did you smoke?”

“Your Honor,” John Henry said, “I fail to see the relevance of Mrs. Scott having to identify which recreational drugs she and her husband might have enjoyed in the privacy of their own home, and when they enjoyed them.”

“If the court will give me a bit of leeway, Your Honor,” Lily responded, I believe I can show the relevance.”

“You have some leeway, Miss Burns.”

“Thank you, Your Honor,” Lily said, and turned back to Lauren.  “Which one did you smoke?”

“Marijuana,” Lauren said without hesitation.  “It looked like dried grass -- which I guess is why they call it weed.”

“What did you do with it?”

“We rolled it up in cigarette paper and lit it and smoked it.”

“And what did it taste like -- bitter, sweet, salty?”

“Bitter.”

“And how did it make you feel?”

“Like I didn’t have a care in the world,” Lauren replied.

“Was that the first time you had smoked marijuana?” Lily asked.  “When you smoked it with your husband?”

“No,” Lauren admitted.  “I tried it a couple of times when I was in high school.  Actually, if I recall correctly, you and I tried it together.”

“That’s right, we did,” Lily confirmed with a smile.  “And it did make us feel like we didn’t have a care in the world, didn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“And which drug did your husband bring home that you snorted?”

“I think it was some sort of powder.”

“And how exactly did you snort the powder?”

“We just sprinkled a little of it out on the coffee table and sniffed it up through a straw.”

“You sniffed it?”

“Yes. . .I think that’s what we did.”

“And how many times did you do this?”

“I don’t remember.  Just once, I think.”

Lily walked over to the defense table and picked up the waterproof packet Joe had found in the Scotts’ toilet tank.  “Defense Exhibit 15,” she informed the court clerk, who marked the item into evidence.

“Mrs. Scott, do you recognize this?”

“Yes,” Lauren said reluctantly.  “You found that in the toilet in our bathroom.  But I have no idea what it was doing there.”

“You didn’t put it there?”

“No, certainly not.”

“Does that mean your husband put it there?”

“I don’t know how it got there.”

“Well, does anybody else have access to your private bathroom?”

The widow hesitated for a long moment before she responded.  “No.”

“Then who else could have put it there?” Lily asked reasonably.

“I don’t know -- nobody else, I guess.  It must have been Dale.  He went on drug raids all the time, as part of his job, and it was probably something he found during one of them, and maybe he put it there for safe-keeping, or something.”

“Or something,” Lily murmured.  “Do you happen to know what’s in this packet?”

“I suppose it’s a drug.”

“Yes, it’s a drug,” Lily confirmed.  “Do you know which drug?”

Lauren shook her head.  “No, not by name.”

“Well, it’s called cocaine,” Lily told her.  “And it’s a drug that comes in powder form.  Is that what you and your husband sniffed?”

“It could be,” the witness said with a shrug.  “I’m afraid I really wouldn’t know cocaine powder from baby powder.”

“So you and your husband put some kind of powder out on your coffee table and sniffed it through a straw?”

“I guess so -- isn’t that how it’s done?”

“Yes, that’s how it’s done,” Lily confirmed.  “And on how many different occasions did you do this?”

“I don’t know -- once or twice, maybe.”

“Once or twice, and that was it?  After that, neither you nor Dale had any further interest?”

“No,” Lauren asserted.  “We just wanted to try it, that’s all we wanted to do.  It was just an experiment.  We wanted to know what drugs were out there that our girls might be able to get hold of, and what they would do to them.”

“Do you know how much cocaine there is in this little packet?”

“No, I have no idea.”

“Well, there’s at least a gram of cocaine here.  In other words, enough for more than twenty sniffs, or almost two dozen ‘experiments’.  What did you intend to do with it?”

“Like I said,” the widow replied, “I didn’t know anything about it.”

“Is that really true, Mrs. Scott?  Did you honestly not know what your husband was doing with this much cocaine in the house?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Well, let me tell you what this little packet is known as on the street -- it’s known as a rainy day stash.  It’s what an addict squirrels away in case his supplier is unable to deliver.  Your husband was a cocaine addict, wasn’t he?”

“I object, Your Honor!” John Henry cried, jumping to his feet.  “What possible relevance can all this have to Detective Scott’s murder?”

Grace Pelletier knew exactly what the relevance was, and she knew that the prosecutor knew as well.  “Sit down, Mr. Morgan,” she directed.  “Your objection is overruled.”

“Your husband was a cocaine addict, wasn’t he, Mrs. Scott?” Lily repeated.

“No, he wasn’t!” Lauren cried.  “How can you say that?  He was a good man.  He worked very hard.  He did his best.  Sometimes, it just all got too much for him, and he needed to unwind, that’s all.  Don’t you ever need to unwind?”

“You never used any drugs with your husband, did you?” Lily asked gently.  “That’s just a story you made up because you wanted to protect his