Cosima returned to her bed, but could not sleep. Finally she got up and switched on the TV. The headline was on all channels:

"The Nobel Laureate Professor Aldous Leekie was murdered in a hotel room in the early morning hours. His wife, Dr. Delphine Cormier, who possibly injected the poison, that is presumed to be the cause of his death, is on the run. The police was alerted by the night porter who found the dead body shortly after the deed."

"Oh shit," she sighed. "We're in serious trouble."

She returned to the bedroom watching Delphine sleeping peacefully on her side of the bed. Perhaps she should have told Beth the truth. But Delphine wasn't guilty of that murder and she had an alibi. But would anybody believe her story?

Delphine turned around and opened her cute puppy eyes.

"Bon jour, ma chérie!" Her voice still sounded sleepy.

"Hey good morning, Honey," Cosima gently answered. "How are you?"

"Much better with you around," Delphine answered and smiled. "Mal aux cheveux... In need for a headache pill and une grande café..."

"Sounds like a plan," Cosima smiled. Let me order room service and fill you up with the latest news then."

After ordering coffee, orange juice and bread rolls Cosima informed Delphine about the murder of her husband and the investigation of the police.

"Merde!" Cosima noticed the other woman was a lot more angry than sad. "He was an asshole, you know. I was leaving him, but he did not deserve that. Even though he made me so furious I couldn't have killed him."

"I doubt you would have done him much harm," Cosima said. "You are not the cold-blooded killer type."

"Bien, merci," she smiled. "Would you tell the police for the records?"

"Nah. They would give a shit on my impression. Maybe they'd call me biased or something," Cosima answered. "And I really doubt you should go to the police."

The remained silent for a moment and Cosima thought that she would have loved to kiss her again very soon.

"So what are we doing now?" she asked.

"What did you plan to do?" Delphine asked.

"I was thinking about a hot bath, more coffee and a cab to take my flight back to Minneapolis at 1:30 pm. You?"

"Aldous' private jet back to Toronto."

"Wow. But impossible now."

"Oui."

She looked a bit lost now and Cosima leaned over to kiss her softly. "I'll skip the flight. Let's rent a car and drive the long way to Toronto. How long is it? Like 900 kilometers?"

"Maybe." She smiled, and nodded her head. "But I would never pull you into the trouble I'm stuck in now. You take that flight and I... will think of something."

"This is totally bullshit!" Cosima made it clear with the help of her hands. "We will sneak out here, get us a car and off we go. Like Thelma and Louise."

They laughed and kissed again and did not discuss other options then. They took turns to take a shower and get dressed and Cosima called the reception and asked for a rental service.

"Ok Delphine," she gave the blonde the good news. "We have a Renault waiting for us in the Garage in about 30 minutes."

Silently they waited for the call that announced that the car was ready. Cosima took her bags and left to retrieve keys and papers of the car, and then checked if the path was clear for Delphine to sneak out of the room and leave without being seen by whoever could report them to the police.

Then finally they were on the road. Delphine sighed in relieve and their conversation quickly became a bit lighter. Soon they came back to Leekie and the research of the company and Delphine gave her new friend a short update about the recent development.

"After his cloning project had to be stopped we worked on genetic reproductive cures on genetic deceases," Delphine said. "His honor was only restored when he identified the genes responsible for cancer and found a way to repair embryos in an early stage."

"Later he found a way to cure cancer by replacing genes with a programmed virus, which is now the main business of the institute."

"Wow that sounds like a god-like healing technology," Cosima commented, really impressed. "I bet they have a really brilliant immunologist to work this out."

Delphine blushed and Cosima could not help but stare at the other woman with a large grin on her face.

"The cure against cancer was only the start, though that alone made DYAD one of the richest research groups ever. Alzheimers, hay fever, ALS, diabetes - as soon as we were able to isolate the genetic defect we could design a patch to repair. I think everything went really great until he came in contact with these Neolution guys."

"What was that about?"

"These people appeared to be a some kind of spiritual group at the first glance," Delphine explained. "They were talking about evolutionary technologies to improve human being, bringing mankind to 'another level'. But I quickly found they were going much farther than DYAD ever wanted in body modifications. It started in projects of body modification for beauty and overweight, over increase of sexual stamina until subtle brain modifications to change the subject's personalities."

"Wow, that sounds gross." Cosima stared at her, thinking about the impact of what she just heard.

"Watch the street!" Delphine shouted.

"Oops. Sorry. Was a little bit distracted..."

Again they laughed and Cosima badly wished she could kiss the French girl again very soon.

"It is impressive how Leekie was developing from a creepy biology teacher to a successful businessman and Nobel Laureate," she mused.

Delphine shook her head. "Non, there isn't anything impressive here. He was a friend of my father."

"Holy shit!" Cosima suddenly understood. "Your dad was Professor Patrick Cormier then. I read so much about his research. His approach on decryption of the genetic code is the base of all knowledge in that area."

"Oui," she smiled. "This was him. He was the impressive one. I fear Leekie had none of his qualities. He was simply the one that could lead the company and sell the fruits of the DYAD research and patents. Uncle Pierre recommended him and Maman had the idea to arrange that marriage. Back then it looked like a good deal for me. How could I have been so naïve?!"

"Dr. Pierre Fournier?"

"Yes."

"Cool. He is my boss," Cosima said. "Or the boss of my boss' boss. Something like this. Another brilliant guy in that field."

Again that mind-blowing smile from the blonde woman Cosima was totally falling for.

"And then?" she asked. "Someday you found out the truth about Leekie being a total asshole."

Delphine nodded. "He is a complete power guy. He loves to have the control. His employees, the institute, the family, his wife."

"Oh yes, I can totally imagine that. So what was it that you decided you'd finally leave him?"

She sighed. After a moment of hesitation she started to tell.

12 hours earlier

"Non, Aldous. You don't dare do this!"

Delphine was more than angry when Leekie told her about his ambitious plans. In the same moment she knew he was determined to do whatever it took to go there even against her will.

"Why do you hesitate, Darling? It is the answer to the most urgent question of mankind. To understand the cause of aging of organisms and the fugacity of life."

She nodded. Sure it was. She had also been excited about the project and its results. Obviously much more due to her curiosity to understand life and the universe and how everything was working than the business opportunities the discovery could impact.

"Are you looking for another Nobel Prize? You shouldn't mess around with things like that. Don't you think about the consequences?"

"I do. I will be 70 in a year and my wife is so young and beautiful."

Yes, that had always been their main problem. His jealousy and inability to give her anything in return, trying hard to be more than just successful with everything he did, she thought. Him being 34 years older was a minor issue in comparison.

"And then, Aldous? Live forever without even having balls? How sad!"

SLAP

The pain was unexpected. She gave him a fierce look. This time he really went too far.

"Hell Aldous," she spat at him. "Go back to school and tell horny teens about their biology!"

She took her bag and left their room, heading to the bar. She would never allow him to treat her like that again.

"I shouldn't have said it."

Cosima nodded.

"He shouldn't have slapped you," she added.

"Those were his weakest points, "Delphine explained. "Being an unsuccessful teacher without any enthusiasm to teach. And having that testicular cancer, needing the surgery two months before the cure was successful."

"Hehe I don't envy him," Cosima scoffed. "He could not even mount his beautiful wife that way."

"Oui. It was terrible. For him. "

"Of course!"

Delphine blushed. Shit, she looks so damn cute when she blushes like that, Cosima thought.

"So Helena was right," Cosima observed. "That episode in the bathroom was a fake."

"He made such silly things just to hide the secret he was a sexual cripple."

"Oh this is hard to hear from his widow," Cosima grinned. "No pun intended."

"You are such a brat!"