Page 202 of Lovers' Dance: Vol. 2

Ensuring my fingernails were still painfully stabbing Dante’s palm,I gave Collins my brightest smile and said, “Early days, a little over four weeks.”

There. It was done. A lie had been committed. A gigantic lie. I dreaded to think of what karma would have in store for me. Dante took an abrupt inhale of air and held his breath. I dug my nails in some more. Mr Blabbermouth better keep his mouth shut.

“Well, congratulations once again,” Collins nodded a few times, he looked relieved at my admission of timings. It was obvious to me why.

Collins had Matt’s, his real client, best interests in mind. A potential pregnant soon-to-be ex-wife would be costly if the baby was his. Collins might have done a ‘hide your financial assets’ jig on Matt’s behalf if his relieved expression was anything to go on. With him thinking Dante and I were expecting, well, it would make the smoothest divorce for Matt. Wife knocked up by another man? Any judge would sympathize with him. Collins could probably see the drying ink on the divorce papers right this second. That was fine by me for now.

“We here to do our jobs,” DCI Ramsbottom advised. She seemed less antagonistic now. Maybe she had a soft spot for knocked up criminals-

“Wait a minute,” I relinquished my death hold on Dante’s hand. “I’m not a money launderer. You’ve made a mistake. We’re funded by the Arts Council and public sponsorship.”

“Let me handle this,” Collins was quick to interject.

“No,” I hushed him. His presence made me look dodgy, made it look as if there was something to hide. “This is all a mistake. I have an accountant who deals with these things. All of my company’s finances are legal-”

“We have documentation linking you to Geoffrey Kincaid,” DCI Ramsbottom stated.

I almost bit my freaking tongue before gasping out, “Geoffrey? What does he have to do with-” Then I stopped. Ok, sometimes a girl could easily blag her way through a tough situation; lift the chin arrogantly with cool eyes while ejecting intelligent sounding shit from her lips. This wasn’t one of those situation. I turned to Matt’s lawyer, suddenly afraid but trying my best to hide it in front the detectives.

“Ah, Mr Collins,” I called to him in need, never mind I hadshushed him only seconds ago, and he responded.

Whatever Matt paid him must be worth his skills. My husband had a squeaky clean record, his brother did too. I knew neither of them were angelic…a good lawyer made you look angelic, kept you out of jail. A great lawyer could make shit smell of roses. Matt would never have a lawyer who wasn’t great.

“It’s fine.” He flashed me a wide reassuring smile before looking at DCI Ramsbottom. “Are you intending on arresting my client?”

My heart dropped to the soles of my feet.

“At this point, no. We simply need to speak to her.” DCI Ramsbottom confirmed.

“Will she be interviewed under caution or will this be an informal interview?” asked Collins.

My heart rocketed back into my chest cavity where it danced to an unhealthy tempo. Under caution? Didn’t people always get arrested after being interviewed under caution? I didn’t know the UK laws in depth. Would they mind if I Googled it or should I just ask them? They were the police after all.

“We just need to talk to you to clear up a few things. It’s best to get this done as soon as possible.” DCI Ramsbottom directed her answer to me.

Collins didn’t appreciate that. He cleared his throat loudly, grabbing her attention and saying, “Let’s get one thing straight. She’s not being arrested, you’re not planning on interviewing her under caution,” He eyed DCI Ramsbottom. “Don’t try and intimidate her.”

I chewed my lip. Collins better know what he was doing.

“We’re not intimidating anybody.” DCI Sturridge countered.

Collins tilted his head at the other two officers meticulously going through the filing cabinets, the derisive curl of lip from him spoke volumes. “Let’s get this resolved as quickly as possible,” he demanded with a blatant chiding only ridiculously overpaid lawyers could pull off when dealing with the police. “My client has a busy day ahead.”

I was thankful no one had Government issued guns while shitting a brick over the whole situation. Why were they interested in my connection with Geoffrey? What had he done? The detectives were talking about money laundering and fraud. Those were serious white-collar crimes. Geoffrey Kincaid was one of the sweetest men I knew. He would never-

“I’ve known Geoffrey since I was eighteen. He’s one of the kindest-”

“Ms DuMont,” Collins cut me off harshly, practically glaring daggers at me in warning before turning with a smile to face DCI Ramsbottom. “You wish to speak to my client. Can we do that here or are you expecting to hold thisinformaldiscussion at the nearest station?”

“Oh,” That one word from my lips sounded like a wail. Heck, it was a wail. I started to fidget on my feet, already visualizing the police leading me away in handcuffs. And why was Collins now calling me solely by my maiden name? It had been Mrs Bradley before the cops showed up.

“We want her statement on record,” DCI Ramsbottom confirmed.

“Oh,” This ‘oh’ sounded more desperate, teary-like. I wrung my hands together and Dante began to fidget too. It was catching.

“Fine. We’ll come to the stationtodayand my client will give her statement. This will be cleared uptoday.” Collins wasn’t messing around. I wondered if he could speak to the police as such and not catch a case himself.

“Oh,” My third ‘oh’ was barely above a whisper.

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