Can't Wait

Walkthrough

Nikki read through the first cue card again;

"Niks, I really hope you don't think I've invaded your privacy with all this, but I'm confident that you can present enough evidence with the contents in this box to challenge your accusations. It doesn't answer everything, maybe you can fill in some blanks, but it's enough to call most of the victims statement into question. I've pulled together these notes, as I know you'll not have much time to digest everything before your meeting.

Niks, load up your laptop and log into The Lyell cloud. There is a folder that contains everything called 'Nikki Cold Case'. The password is Jack15s0rry. I've got a timeline of everything I've found, videos, evidence samples with results, and you should just be able to walkthrough and just read each card."

Nikki smiled at the password he had put on the file, her heart leapt at the thought of there being some hope for her after all, and that Jack had clearly been dedicated in helping her case, despite everything that had happened between them. She looked up. "May I load up my laptop and sync to the meeting room monitor please? I'll go through my explanation, and show you what we have."

Mr Jenkins smiled, "Of course. This is your opportunity to present as much as you can, so we can all be on the same page."

Nikki picked up on a hopeful tone from Nr Jenkins. She frowned as she loaded up her computer, internally wondering what he was thinking. Maybe she had misread his intentions of taking swift action, maybe what he said earlier was true, about trying to make this quick for her sake, not realising it would be so hard for her to defend herself. She shook the thoughts away, concentrating on connecting up her laptop to the large screen, tapping away on the keyboard as The Lyell cloud view came onto the screen.

She loaded up the file, typing in the password Jack had given her, and saw the numerous contents. She smiled. He had been busy. She noted the time stamps on some of the files, they had been created throughout the night. Her mouth dropped open, he must have had no sleep, she realised.

Moving to the next cue card, Nikki read quickly:

"Niks, load up the file labelled 'Timeline'. Drag that over to the left of the screen. You'll need to refer to it as you walk them through the case."

Nikki double clicked on the file, doing exactly as Jack instructed in his notes. She could feel a calmness being restored to her body, the feelings of nausea being subdued. For the first time in a while, it felt like she had her Jack back, his virtual hand on her shoulder, supporting her in her hour of need. She read on through his notes:

"I don't know if you ever saw my message about who the victim was. Load up the second file Niks. This has the photographs of the victim who is making the accusations; Liz Burrell - she is Beth, your Pilates friend. I recognised her from that selfie you took when you showed me her message."

Nikki took a sharp intake of air. Beth? Message? She was suddenly so confused. Beth is the person saying Matt raped her? She was stunned. Her hand trembled as she opened the file. Taking a moment to absorb the information Jack has shared with her on the card, and look at the images in front of her. Beth with her arm around Matt, looking at him at what looked like a Christmas party. And another of her works ID pass, both with dark hair, before she had it dyed the same colour as her own hair only a few weeks ago. It all seemed so surreal. Jack had messaged her this information? She realised he must have been trying to contact her over the last couple of days. Her heart leapt a little at the thought.

"What's going on here? We redacted the file with the identity of the victim!" Ms Wharbetter complained loudly.

Nikki read the next part of the card: