Chapter 12:
As the detective had wanted him to, Bosco got back to vice-squad the following afternoon. His lawyer had told him they would meet there and had wanted him to be there in time. Although there was no more chance for a good first impression, it couldn't harm if they wouldn't let the detective wait. He entered the foyer of the department and – once again – Manzini was already waiting for him. He asked himself how this guy did that. Didn't he have anything else to do? He had had a whole free day and he hadn't managed to be here before him.
"I'm not late, am I?"
His lawyer gave him a slight smile and reached out a hand to greet him.
"No, you're not. I had been round the place – I had to be at court for a case – so I came here right afterwards..."
He didn't get the chance to explain anything else as detective Sheldon entered the foyer and gave them a sign to follow him. He was walking front and without a word of hello or any explanation he lead them into one of vice-squad's interrogation rooms, where he finally turned around to face them.
"Sit down."
They both followed the detective's instruction, but Bosco could see by the expression on Manzini's face that it was the last thing he wanted to do. He definitely disliked the way the detective was behaving.
"As I already told you – Mrs. Mandell has already given her testimony and she repeated it yesterday. So now we're here to hear your view of the events. Can we have a start then?"
Manzini nodded without saying a word and got out his notes, he had written down, when Bosco had been at his office yesterday morning, so he could check if Bosco's testimony at his office would fit the one he would give today. Bosco himself seemed to be extremely nervous. He wasn't sure if he could do this, didn't want to do it and he was concerned – you could even say afraid of the consequences that might occur from it.
"Where am I supposed to start?"
He asked almost shyly. The detective gave him an impatient look.
"Mrs. Mandell started to tell me about the events up from the point of your first meeting."
Bosco nodded nervously and tried to focus. He knew the more nervous and less concentrated he was, the greater the danger was he would forget something or not remember it clearly. He breathed in deeply and then he faced the detective.
"I met her in my mother's bar Saturday night at about 11 p.m. I was there with two co-workers of mine and we just wanted to have a relaxed evening with a little bit of talking and drinking – nothing big... So when we arrived there, she was already there, sitting at the counter having a drink. She was good looking and I admit I felt attracted to her, but I wasn't really in the mood for anything more than having a drink that night. None the less, I was having a closer look at her, as I passed her by to say hello to my Mom, and I really liked what I saw. But as I was there with some friends I didn't address her, went back to them and waited for the evening to proceed. So, for the next hour or so – she was trying to attract me, giving me looks and smiles and when we decided t finally leave, I went to talk to her..."
"So you mean she was giving you signs?"
"Yeah, she did."
"Alright, go on."
Bosco had frowned by the detective's question, but he didn't dare to ask him why he wanted to know this. Did Judy testify something different? Was this of importance? Did the detective believe he had misread the signals? Looking at Sheldon's impatient expression told him that now it wasn't the time to think about this. He concentrated once again.
"We were sitting down there for a while, talking about each other's jobs and she told me why she moved here – stuff like that. We were joking, laughing and talking. We were – well – flirting. She was having two or three more drinks and I could see her getting more and more tipsy and drowsy. It was just a matter of time until she would have fallen asleep right away. So after about an hour of talking or so, she told me she needed to get up early and asked me to take her home. We were leaving and, after she told me where she lived, I lead her to her place and I helped her opening her front door as she couldn't find her keys. We were joking a bit and she was giggling to the fact of her tipsiness. I opened the door for her and asked her if she needed anything else – like a lift or a helping hand. I think she took a moment to sort out what I wanted. If I was trying to get a chance to end up in her bedroom or if I just was concerned and wanted to help her. So she smiled at me and asked me if I would like a coffee. I said I would like to. We went upstairs and she was slightly wavering as we went upstairs – I just hoped she wouldn't fall backwards and down the stairs... She tried to open her dwelling's front door and started to giggle once again, cause she had difficulties doing it. When she finally had managed to do it, she went in turned around, gave me a coquette smile and told me she had just realized she hadn't any coffee in the house and she actually didn't even like drinking it. I told her that it was no problem... Next thing happening was her leaning in and kissing me..."
The detective frowned at him and interrupted his testimony.
"Wait a second – she was kissing you? It was her initiative?"
"Yeah..."
"You know you're under oath and if you lie to me... You're sure it was like this ?"
Bosco started to get angry at the detective, he asked himself what he was so troubled about.
"Yeah, I'm absolutely sure about this. Why should I lie about it? She was there with me and if I would lie to you, you would know, because she definitely told you the truth! She is the victim, she has no reason to lie. So I wouldn't lie to you either – you would know..."
"Okay – go on."
"When we stopped I asked her if she wanted me to come in, but she didn't say anything, she just turned around and went inside, so I followed her. She told me she was tired, went through the dwelling to her bedroom door and started to drop off her clothes while walking there. She turned to me again, standing in the doorframe of her bedroom only wearing her bra and a slip and she told me she needed to go to bed and she was tired..."
"Did she sound offended or afraid in any way?"
"No, not as I remember it. I felt she sounded pretty much ... sexy. It sounded more like an invitation than a statement... like she wanted to tell me she didn't wanna go to bed alone."
"So what did you do?"
"I followed her into her bedroom, took her by her arms, turned her around and close to me and kissed her once again and she kissed me back – it was pretty passionate..."
Bosco hesitated for a moment, he felt extremely uncomfortable to tell the detective about the events happening next, about his sexual relationship with that girl. But the detective didn't seem to care, he was impatient.
"Go on!"
"I was letting her go and she was taking a few steps backwards to let me into the dwelling fully. She was licking her lips I just kissed and then she asked me if I wanted something else than coffee. She came close to me and told me she felt so very tired and needed to sleep. Then she turned around and took off her top. I took off my shirt and she was still standing there smiling at my invitingly. I managed to get rid of my jeans, took her by the arms and forced her to the bed... but neither did she tell me to stop, nor did she try to escape from my grip or struggle against it. She just allowed me to do it. She lay down below me and we dropped the rest of our clothes, kissing each other even more passionate now. She was moaning in pleasure while we did and she still didn't say anything..."
"So you were holding her down?"
"Yeah, but..."
"Did she have a chance to escape from your grip?"
"No, but she..."
"So you forced her!"
"No, I didn't! She didn't tell me to stop! She didn't say anything, she..."
"You forced her to have sex with you!"
"That's not true..."
Manzini interrupted their heated conversation with an alarmed tone in his voice.
"Detective, stop that! This is an interrogation, an interview, you have no right to question my client like this, you have no right to force him to tell you anything. You have no right to twist the results of this testimony as you wish to have it so it fits to your investigation, you have no right to blame him. And if you won't stop trying to force him to say something that didn't even happen or isn't true, we will stop this whole thing immediately!"
The detective's face went red while Manzini was talking, he was absolutely furious, pretty much raging and he had extreme difficulties to keep himself under control as he answered to Manzini's statement.
"As you wish, Mr. Manzini, let us go on then..."
Manzini looked at Bosco and gave him an encouraging and friendly look.
"So, the situation got more passionate and heated and we were feeling more and more attracted to each other and finally..."
"You were having sex."
"Yeah, we did."
"How did Mrs. Mandell react, how did she behave?"
Bosco looked at his lawyer as he hesitated with his answer. This was the most difficult part of the whole testimony, the only thing he was still hardly thinking about, the only thing he wasn't sure about.
"She was moaning and she was gripping hardly, but I don't think she did struggle..."
"You think? So, you aren't sure?"
Bosco could feel Manzini's gaze on him – this was the critical point, the thing he had wanted to avoid, the only question he had wanted Bosco to answer quickly and decidedly, but he had failed to do it and now the situation would become delicate, because the detective wouldn't stop asking, would use his weakness until he would receive an answer he could use to blame him for raping the girl.
"I'm not completely sure – yeah."
There was no use in lying, it would just involve him more deeply, than he already was.
"So if you can't be sure she wanted it, why didn't you stop?"
"That's not what I wanted to say with that. I mean – I'm not sure now. I was sure when I was with her – I believe she really liked it."
"Yeah. Obviously."
The detective murmured and Manzini was immediately there to rebuke him.
"That was absolutely unnecessary, Detective Sheldon!"
"It's okay, Mr. Manzini. So what happened next? Did you stay, did you leave, did you ask her if she was okay?"
"I...I – well – went to the bathroom and when I came back she was already asleep. I didn't wanna wake her up, so I got dressed, left her place and went home... That's it."
"Okay, there are a few more questions I have..."
Bosco looked at Manzini in desperation. This really had been hard, harder than he had believed.
"Could we have a little break please?"
Before the detective got a chance to say no, Manzini already had answered.
"Of course we can. I don't think the detective has a problem with that?"
Sheldon's face told them that he had a big problem with that, but he didn't say anything.
"No, of course not. There's a room at the end of the floor which is empty, if you need some time for yourself."
Almost fleeing, Bosco left the room – he really needed this few minutes of spare time. The detective and Manzini left the room together and one of the vice-squad officers addressed Sheldon as they closed the door of the interrogation room behind them.
"Sir, Mrs. Mandell is here now."
Sheldon saw the lawyer's frowning to the officer's words and answered the question before he even got a chance to say it out loud.
"I know myself that it's not a good idea and an amount of bad timing, but there was no other way. She was very tired yesterday evening and the doctors wanted to see her today. So there was no chance to get her signature for the testimony before. I'll go and meet her – have your client back in the room in 15 minutes..."
As the detective had wanted him to, Bosco got back to vice-squad the following afternoon. His lawyer had told him they would meet there and had wanted him to be there in time. Although there was no more chance for a good first impression, it couldn't harm if they wouldn't let the detective wait. He entered the foyer of the department and – once again – Manzini was already waiting for him. He asked himself how this guy did that. Didn't he have anything else to do? He had had a whole free day and he hadn't managed to be here before him.
"I'm not late, am I?"
His lawyer gave him a slight smile and reached out a hand to greet him.
"No, you're not. I had been round the place – I had to be at court for a case – so I came here right afterwards..."
He didn't get the chance to explain anything else as detective Sheldon entered the foyer and gave them a sign to follow him. He was walking front and without a word of hello or any explanation he lead them into one of vice-squad's interrogation rooms, where he finally turned around to face them.
"Sit down."
They both followed the detective's instruction, but Bosco could see by the expression on Manzini's face that it was the last thing he wanted to do. He definitely disliked the way the detective was behaving.
"As I already told you – Mrs. Mandell has already given her testimony and she repeated it yesterday. So now we're here to hear your view of the events. Can we have a start then?"
Manzini nodded without saying a word and got out his notes, he had written down, when Bosco had been at his office yesterday morning, so he could check if Bosco's testimony at his office would fit the one he would give today. Bosco himself seemed to be extremely nervous. He wasn't sure if he could do this, didn't want to do it and he was concerned – you could even say afraid of the consequences that might occur from it.
"Where am I supposed to start?"
He asked almost shyly. The detective gave him an impatient look.
"Mrs. Mandell started to tell me about the events up from the point of your first meeting."
Bosco nodded nervously and tried to focus. He knew the more nervous and less concentrated he was, the greater the danger was he would forget something or not remember it clearly. He breathed in deeply and then he faced the detective.
"I met her in my mother's bar Saturday night at about 11 p.m. I was there with two co-workers of mine and we just wanted to have a relaxed evening with a little bit of talking and drinking – nothing big... So when we arrived there, she was already there, sitting at the counter having a drink. She was good looking and I admit I felt attracted to her, but I wasn't really in the mood for anything more than having a drink that night. None the less, I was having a closer look at her, as I passed her by to say hello to my Mom, and I really liked what I saw. But as I was there with some friends I didn't address her, went back to them and waited for the evening to proceed. So, for the next hour or so – she was trying to attract me, giving me looks and smiles and when we decided t finally leave, I went to talk to her..."
"So you mean she was giving you signs?"
"Yeah, she did."
"Alright, go on."
Bosco had frowned by the detective's question, but he didn't dare to ask him why he wanted to know this. Did Judy testify something different? Was this of importance? Did the detective believe he had misread the signals? Looking at Sheldon's impatient expression told him that now it wasn't the time to think about this. He concentrated once again.
"We were sitting down there for a while, talking about each other's jobs and she told me why she moved here – stuff like that. We were joking, laughing and talking. We were – well – flirting. She was having two or three more drinks and I could see her getting more and more tipsy and drowsy. It was just a matter of time until she would have fallen asleep right away. So after about an hour of talking or so, she told me she needed to get up early and asked me to take her home. We were leaving and, after she told me where she lived, I lead her to her place and I helped her opening her front door as she couldn't find her keys. We were joking a bit and she was giggling to the fact of her tipsiness. I opened the door for her and asked her if she needed anything else – like a lift or a helping hand. I think she took a moment to sort out what I wanted. If I was trying to get a chance to end up in her bedroom or if I just was concerned and wanted to help her. So she smiled at me and asked me if I would like a coffee. I said I would like to. We went upstairs and she was slightly wavering as we went upstairs – I just hoped she wouldn't fall backwards and down the stairs... She tried to open her dwelling's front door and started to giggle once again, cause she had difficulties doing it. When she finally had managed to do it, she went in turned around, gave me a coquette smile and told me she had just realized she hadn't any coffee in the house and she actually didn't even like drinking it. I told her that it was no problem... Next thing happening was her leaning in and kissing me..."
The detective frowned at him and interrupted his testimony.
"Wait a second – she was kissing you? It was her initiative?"
"Yeah..."
"You know you're under oath and if you lie to me... You're sure it was like this ?"
Bosco started to get angry at the detective, he asked himself what he was so troubled about.
"Yeah, I'm absolutely sure about this. Why should I lie about it? She was there with me and if I would lie to you, you would know, because she definitely told you the truth! She is the victim, she has no reason to lie. So I wouldn't lie to you either – you would know..."
"Okay – go on."
"When we stopped I asked her if she wanted me to come in, but she didn't say anything, she just turned around and went inside, so I followed her. She told me she was tired, went through the dwelling to her bedroom door and started to drop off her clothes while walking there. She turned to me again, standing in the doorframe of her bedroom only wearing her bra and a slip and she told me she needed to go to bed and she was tired..."
"Did she sound offended or afraid in any way?"
"No, not as I remember it. I felt she sounded pretty much ... sexy. It sounded more like an invitation than a statement... like she wanted to tell me she didn't wanna go to bed alone."
"So what did you do?"
"I followed her into her bedroom, took her by her arms, turned her around and close to me and kissed her once again and she kissed me back – it was pretty passionate..."
Bosco hesitated for a moment, he felt extremely uncomfortable to tell the detective about the events happening next, about his sexual relationship with that girl. But the detective didn't seem to care, he was impatient.
"Go on!"
"I was letting her go and she was taking a few steps backwards to let me into the dwelling fully. She was licking her lips I just kissed and then she asked me if I wanted something else than coffee. She came close to me and told me she felt so very tired and needed to sleep. Then she turned around and took off her top. I took off my shirt and she was still standing there smiling at my invitingly. I managed to get rid of my jeans, took her by the arms and forced her to the bed... but neither did she tell me to stop, nor did she try to escape from my grip or struggle against it. She just allowed me to do it. She lay down below me and we dropped the rest of our clothes, kissing each other even more passionate now. She was moaning in pleasure while we did and she still didn't say anything..."
"So you were holding her down?"
"Yeah, but..."
"Did she have a chance to escape from your grip?"
"No, but she..."
"So you forced her!"
"No, I didn't! She didn't tell me to stop! She didn't say anything, she..."
"You forced her to have sex with you!"
"That's not true..."
Manzini interrupted their heated conversation with an alarmed tone in his voice.
"Detective, stop that! This is an interrogation, an interview, you have no right to question my client like this, you have no right to force him to tell you anything. You have no right to twist the results of this testimony as you wish to have it so it fits to your investigation, you have no right to blame him. And if you won't stop trying to force him to say something that didn't even happen or isn't true, we will stop this whole thing immediately!"
The detective's face went red while Manzini was talking, he was absolutely furious, pretty much raging and he had extreme difficulties to keep himself under control as he answered to Manzini's statement.
"As you wish, Mr. Manzini, let us go on then..."
Manzini looked at Bosco and gave him an encouraging and friendly look.
"So, the situation got more passionate and heated and we were feeling more and more attracted to each other and finally..."
"You were having sex."
"Yeah, we did."
"How did Mrs. Mandell react, how did she behave?"
Bosco looked at his lawyer as he hesitated with his answer. This was the most difficult part of the whole testimony, the only thing he was still hardly thinking about, the only thing he wasn't sure about.
"She was moaning and she was gripping hardly, but I don't think she did struggle..."
"You think? So, you aren't sure?"
Bosco could feel Manzini's gaze on him – this was the critical point, the thing he had wanted to avoid, the only question he had wanted Bosco to answer quickly and decidedly, but he had failed to do it and now the situation would become delicate, because the detective wouldn't stop asking, would use his weakness until he would receive an answer he could use to blame him for raping the girl.
"I'm not completely sure – yeah."
There was no use in lying, it would just involve him more deeply, than he already was.
"So if you can't be sure she wanted it, why didn't you stop?"
"That's not what I wanted to say with that. I mean – I'm not sure now. I was sure when I was with her – I believe she really liked it."
"Yeah. Obviously."
The detective murmured and Manzini was immediately there to rebuke him.
"That was absolutely unnecessary, Detective Sheldon!"
"It's okay, Mr. Manzini. So what happened next? Did you stay, did you leave, did you ask her if she was okay?"
"I...I – well – went to the bathroom and when I came back she was already asleep. I didn't wanna wake her up, so I got dressed, left her place and went home... That's it."
"Okay, there are a few more questions I have..."
Bosco looked at Manzini in desperation. This really had been hard, harder than he had believed.
"Could we have a little break please?"
Before the detective got a chance to say no, Manzini already had answered.
"Of course we can. I don't think the detective has a problem with that?"
Sheldon's face told them that he had a big problem with that, but he didn't say anything.
"No, of course not. There's a room at the end of the floor which is empty, if you need some time for yourself."
Almost fleeing, Bosco left the room – he really needed this few minutes of spare time. The detective and Manzini left the room together and one of the vice-squad officers addressed Sheldon as they closed the door of the interrogation room behind them.
"Sir, Mrs. Mandell is here now."
Sheldon saw the lawyer's frowning to the officer's words and answered the question before he even got a chance to say it out loud.
"I know myself that it's not a good idea and an amount of bad timing, but there was no other way. She was very tired yesterday evening and the doctors wanted to see her today. So there was no chance to get her signature for the testimony before. I'll go and meet her – have your client back in the room in 15 minutes..."
