[ WP ] You are caught smuggling what you think is cocaine , but it turns out you were shipping bricks of flour .

The flashing red and blue lights in my rearview mirror made my heart pound in my chest. A million thoughts crossed through my mind - maybe I could toss it out the window! Maybe I could pretend to be dead, or or or... maybe I could pretend to know nothing about it! 
 
 *I mean... it's not like me, a perfectly respectable citizen, would EVER be smuggling cocaine in the back of my car in the dead of night while driving 20 miles over the speed limit... * 
 
 As the officer approached my vehicle I could feel the sweat building on my forehead. I gulped, trying to calm my shaking hands as they rested lightly on the steering wheel. Maybe I could just talk my way out of it. I mean, I was just speeding, there was no way he could know that I was carrying three bricks of cocaine in my trunk... 
 
 The officer tapped on the window and I jumped, pressing the button for the window to roll down. The officer looked weary already, his eyes tired and frustrated all at the same time. `` Ma'am, do you know why I pulled you over?'' 
 
 My mouth seemed to go dry at the words. *I was speeding. I was speeding. * The words pounded on and on my head, but when I opened my mouth nothing came out but an exasperated sound. The officer frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, clearly not amused by my lack of response. 
 
 `` I'm going to need to see your license and registration, ma'am.'' He said after a moment passed and no further words came out. 
 
 I closed my eyes, trying to relax. `` Right... right... uhm... give me a moment... I... my license is in my... my purse and the regis... registration...'' 
 
 `` Any day now, ma'am,'' the officer chided, and I could hear the sound of his boots taping on the pavement. 
 
 I finally managed to find my license and pulled the registration out of the glove compartment, handing it over to the officer meekly. 
 
 It felt like ages as I waited until the officer finally came back to the car. *Of course my luck, the very first job I have and I get pulled over... * They told me I was a sure-shot for this job since I looked like your average woman, the cops would never be able to guess that I was really smuggling the goods. They told me if I was successful they'd pay me well - well enough to finally put some food on the table. 
 
 `` Ma'am, I'm going to need you to step out of the vehicle.'' 
 
 I jumped, not realizing that the officer had returned. `` I-Is there a problem, officer?'' My voice stammered. 
 
 The officer scowled, his yellowing teeth haunting my vision. `` I'm going to need to search your vehicle, ma'am.'' 
 
 I did n't have a response for this. *Shit! They told me I was a sure-shot, they never told me how to get out of this mess! * I closed my eyes and nodded, opening the door and stepping out. `` Go sit on the curb,'' he growled, and I obeyed quietly, feeling tears form in my eyes as I realized I was about to go to jail and there was nothing I could do to stop it. 
 
 The officer searched through the front seat for about five minutes, then moved onto the back seat and ( upon finding nothing there either ) finally popped the trunk. I looked away, fighting back the tears. There was no way I was going to be able to talk myself out of this, now. 
 
 `` Well, well, well,'' I heard him mutter the moment he opened the trunk. `` Looky what we have here.'' 
 
 I did n't need to hear much else. From that moment forward I listened to him call into dispatch on his walky-talky, then he pulled out a pair of handcuffs. I vaguely heard him read out my Miranda rights and before I knew it I was stuffed into the back of the police cruiser. 
 
 It was a twenty minute drive before we made it to the station. It was another hour to get through the initial processing, where they then stuck me in a holding cell. After that, I lost track of time. The hours bled on and on in my mind, and finally when I was just calming down enough to try and get some sleep someone entered the holding room. 
 
 `` Ashley Neils?'' an officer called, and I looked up sleepily, wondering if it was time to go to the judge already. `` Ah, there you are. You're wanted in for questioning right now. Get your ass off that floor and come here.'' 
 
 I obeyed quietly, and he took me through two other doors until I was left sitting in an interrogation room. I was n't sure how much time passed until the original officer who arrested me came through the door. 
 
 `` Ashley Neils, nice to see *you* again,'' he began, sitting down across from me and placing a folder on the table. 
 
 `` I ca n't really say the same about you,'' I said back, though my voice was dry as I had been refusing any water before that. 
 
 He chuckled, leaning back in his chair. `` You're quite the firecracker now that you've spent a few hours behind bars, huh?'' 
 
 I did n't answer, looking down at my hands still in the handcuffs. 
 
 `` So I know you were n't transporting all that just on your own. You've got a clean record, never even had a speeding ticket until I pulled you over,'' he began, finally opening up the folder in front of him and glancing at the papers within. `` So I wan na know who your supplier was, and who you were giving it to.'' 
 
 I shifted uneasily in my chair. While they had been completely confident in my abilities, I had heard enough bad blood in the drug trade to know that if I told that it may come back to bite me in the ass. 
 
 `` Come on now, Ashley,'' he said after a minute passed with no response. `` We can be friends. I really do n't think you're a bad kid. You wo n't have to spend much longer in here if you just tell me the information I'm requesting.'' 
 
 Tears formed in my eyes again. *Dammit. This is why women were never taken seriously, * I thought savagely, raising my arms ( however awkwardly it was ) and wiping away the tears. `` I-I'm scared they'll hurt me if I tell you,'' I admitted finally, sniffling as my nose started to run from crying. 
 
 `` We can make sure that does n't happen,'' the officer said softly, his tone much nicer than he had been previously with me. `` We have ways to protect you.'Protect and serve' and all of that jargon - we do n't just make it up. But I ca n't help you unless you tell me who.'' 
 
 I hesitated, but his eyes reminded me in that moment of my father. Gentle, kind. Warm. `` The person who gave it to me is a man named Jacob Guy, and I was supposed to be delivering it to the JB Warehouse on 5th. They did n't give me the name of the contact there.'' 
 
 The officer smiled, nodding as he quickly wrote down the information I provided. `` Thank you, Ashley. We will make sure you're secure. You'll have to spend another hour or two here so that we can clear your charges, and then you'll be free to go.'' 
 
 I relaxed in my chair, nodding as I watched him head towards the door. Maybe it was n't so bad. After all, maybe I could hide out for a while at home. Pretend I had the flu, or something. 
 
 As the officer walked towards the door, he hesitated, before turning around with a small smile on his face. `` Oh, and by the way Ashley?'' I looked at him, wondering what more there could be. `` That cocaine we both thought you were carrying? It was actually flour.'' 
 
 And as he exited the door my heart sank. They did n't trust me, even though they said they did. 
 
 *I'm dead. *
