Page 201 of Lovers' Dance: Vol. 2
“Your family friend is your solicitor?” Sturridge questioned me in a deep voice.
I think he was going for a substantial tonal level of threat. It worked. I immediately wanted to explain Collins wasn’t a family friend…well technically I was still a Bradley, so I guess in a way…Oh shit. Why were they looking at me in that way? Why were they here? Why wasCollinshere? Today of all days he showed up unannounced? And he’d made it clear to the police he was ‘my’ lawyer. That was a lie. Oh no. Why were they staring at me?
“I’m not resisting.” My hands were up, reaching for either my head or the ceiling, the unconscious decision hadn’t been made yet. Jesus help me. I didn’t remember putting them up. “I-I’m not- what’s going on? Someone please tell me what’s going on.”
“Madi,” Dante called from the doorway. There were two more strangers coming up behind him. Another male/female grouping. And my usually unflappable Gloria was nowhere to be seen. God. I hoped she was ok.
“I need to get past you, mate.” The man tried to muscle past Dante, who in turn simply hurried over to where I stood. He reached for one of my arms, the one nearest to him. They were still hovering in the air. Sheepishly I lowered them as I belatedly remembered the normal police weren’t armed in the UK.
“Why are you people here?” I asked again.
DCI Ramsbottom handed the warrant over to Collins while addressing me. “We’re investigating a case of potential fraud and money laundering,” she stated with cool bluntness.
Before I could ask what the hell that had to do with me, she motioned to the other coppers and they began to fan out in my office.
“Your name has come up on multiple documentation tied in with our main suspect and this leads us to believe,” Her voice trailed off as my breath became loud and raspy. I was also clutching my chest, a Victorian pre-swoon sort of clutch, very lame but quite apt for the moment.
“Leads us to believe that your company may be involved,” she continued as her colleagues headed for the filing cabinets, the paperwork on my messy desk, the unopened boxes in the far corner. They began going through everything.
I turned with wild eyes to face Dante in my pre-swoon state and laboured breathing; he lost it then.
“This is bullshit!” He took a step forward.
Sturridge stiffened, moving his large frame surprisingly fast to stand in front Dante. “Calm down.”
Forget the upcoming panic attack, I stretched out and grabbed the back of Dante’s t-shirt. My fingers curled around the material and I yanked hard even as I hastily assured Sturridge. “He’s cool, we’re not resisting.”
The raspy jaggedness of my voice didn’t help lessen the warning stare Sturridge levelled towards Dante. I tugged some more on Dante’s top, mentally praying this was a bad dream.
“This seems to be in order,” Collins had been reading through the warrant. He handed it back to DCI Ramsbottom. It appeared she was the one in charge. Collins’s demeanour remained relaxed, but underneath his smooth words and polished smile, a leashed energy simmered. I could feel it, so could everyone else.
“Now it doesn’t explicitly state my client as a named suspect,”Collins continued, idly fiddling with his cufflinks as if he had no cares in the world. “But her company is,” He stopped messing with his cufflinks and straightened up. “And as she holds the major interest in this company, it’s logical to assume she’s a person of high interest.”
“She is,” DCI Ramsbottom confirmed.
I swayed at those words. Fraud? Money laundering? Person of interest. When would I wake up from this nightmare? It made no sense.
“She’s pregnant,” Dante shouted out when he noticed my swaying. “And suffers from panic attacks. You’re stressing her out. If anything happens to her, I’m lodging a complaint.”
There was a moment of silence. I stared at Dante, incredulous over his outburst. Did he just lose his damn mind? Had I just witnessed him suffering a massive brain melt? Could I deny it? But then what would the police think of Dante? Why the hell were they after me alone? Dante had a stake in my company too! How could he just blab my business out? The fool. My best friend was a total fool.
Collins turned his head square on to face me. “You’re pregnant?”
Fuck me sideways. This was bad, so bad I had no explanation for what happened next. Maybe it was instinctive, wanting to protect myself from the unimaginable fallout or maybe it was the need for support. Whatever it was, I did it without thinking.
Grabbing Dante’s hand, I nodded. “Yes, we only found out five days ago.”
Oh shit. It wasn’t a lie, just a tiny misdirection. Collins stared at my fingers entwining themselves with Dante’s. While Mr Blabbermouth himself stiffened up like a board.
“Congratulations to you both.” Collins said, gaze jumping from our clasped hands to our faces.
“Pardon?” Dante spluttered in confusion.
Collins mouth parted slightly, his eyes narrowed in pure suspicion. Sharp eyes that searched the contours of my features intently. My short fingernails were suddenly embedded so deeply into the fleshy palms of Dante’s hand it made him squeak. Hopefully I had drawn blood and gotten my unspoken point across.
“Ah, yes,” Dante forced out. “Thanks.”
“How far along are you?” Collins asked with a pleasantness that almost hid his professional concern.
