CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Cosima sat waiting for Tony to turn up. She knew that if he wanted to speak with her alone it was something important. She had tried to get hold of Donnie but his secretary had told her that he wasn't allowed to interact with her now that he knew the exact ins and out of the case. She had also explained that if Cosima tried to get in contact with Delphine then it could be misconstrued as being intimidation even when it wouldn't be.
She had sat cradling Delphine's phone in her hands. She had recorded a message for her on the recorder. If she couldn't ring or talk to her she would give Delphine something herself. Cosima was thrown out of her thoughts with a frantic knocking at the door.
"Hold on I'm coming!" She shouted towards the door as she walked towards it.
She unlocked the door and let in Tony.
"Hey," She said as he rushed passed her.
He didn't reply and made his way to the bathroom.
"Rude much!" Cosima exclaimed.
'Tony' quickly turned round to face Cosima and then quickly turned back towards the bathroom. A huge smile spread over Cosima's face. Suddenly realising why 'Tony' hadn't spoken. She started making her way towards the bathroom. As she turned the corner, the radiant smile of Delphine was greeting her.
"Ma Cherie, I had to find a way see you before this all gets out of hand and to give you something." Delphine explained quickly. "I do not have much time as Mr Hendrix is coming round to go through things with me. Here take this and hide it somewhere that no one will find it. You will need to charge it. Also here, I want you to have this. It was my mothers. I wanted to give you something special and I couldn't think of anything more special to give you."
Delphine held out the small jewellery box. Cosima took it tentatively and opened it slowly. She gasped when she saw what was inside.
"Oh my god it is so beautiful. I really cannot take this!" She said as she fingered the delicate Clodagh ring in the box.
"You can and you will. This is for you to remember I will always be in your heart as you are in mine." Delphine said with a smile before she leant down and gently kissed the smaller woman.
Tears started to fall silently down Cosima's cheeks.
"We will get through this won't we?" She asked in a small voice.
"We will get through anything Cherie. We are strong, and we love each other that will be what makes us stronger." Delphine said from the heart.
"Cosima I must go. Have the phone on tonight I will call you around 11pm. Do not worry, we will be together again." Delphine said as she kissed Cosima again before running out of the house. Cosima just turned and faced the door in shock. How could Delphine be so stupid as to risk everything just to give her the phone? She was also happy that she did. Even if it was just for a few seconds she knew that it meant everything to Delphine to see her this last time before the shit hit the fan. Smiling to herself Cosima turned round and did what Delphine told her and took the phone upstairs and plugged it in to charge. Cosima wasn't sure if she should be happy or sceptical about the situation but she knew she trusted Delphine.
The house phone ringing brought Cosima out of her thoughts.
"Hello?" She asked.
"Good evening is this Miss Neihaus?" The polite male voice asked.
"Yes it is who is calling?"
"Yes, OK I am calling from Bethnal Green Police station, we require coming in and giving a statement with regards to the on-going inquiry…."
"NO! I will not come in and give a statement as there is nothing to say!" Cosima cut off the officer on the phone.
"This interview is to make sure that everything we have got so far matches and they are no discrepancies. We would like to try and get this resolved as soon as possible." The officer continued.
"There are no issues to be resolved because there wasn't an issue to start with!" Cosima could feel the anger rise in her body.
"Miss Neihaus we would need that in a statement because this is a serious allegation that has been made about someone. In fact it could destroy her life, so I think giving up a little bit of your time is worth it to stop this from going too far is a small price to pay!" The officer knew that the statement he had just made would resonate with Cosima.
Cosima sighed into the handset "Who do I ask for when I get there?" She conceded.
"Just ask for either Detective Bell or Detective DeAngelis. They are the leading officers on the case."
"Alright let them know I will be there within the hour."
"I will Miss Neihaus, thank you for your time." The officer said as he hung up the phone.
Cosima picked up her phone and sent Felix a message.
Fee, meet me at Bethnal Green cop shop! They want to interrogate me now! I want some back up xCx
Within seconds Felix had replied.
On my way babe. See you there soon x
Delphine arrived back at her place and opened the door. She almost fell through it as Tony had also started to open it.
"So Del, how did it go?" Tony asked wanting all the gossip.
"Tony it went better than I thought. Cosima really thought I was you until I turned round and she could see my face. Her expression was brilliant. I know I took a huge risk but it was worth it. I would have done almost anything to see her one last time." Delphine explained with a massive grin on her face. "I have given her a mobile too, just a pay as you go one but we can still stay in contact."
"Del, I'm not one to stand in the way of true love but even I think that by doing that you are digging you way into prison without any case against you. What has happened to you? When I first met you, you were so level headed. Now you really are acting like you have done something wrong!" Tony said concern etched in his voice.
"Tone, I have done something wrong! I slept with my employer. That is a big no no. if I am going to end up going down for that I want to make sure that I have everything thrown at me not just falling in love with someone. But I am not going to go down. I am just going to tell the truth about what happened and if that is so wrong then so be it!" Delphine said defiantly.
"Well just make sure it doesn't blow up in your face and cause more harm than good. I don't want to be involved anymore in these little plans anymore. I don't want to have my name dragged through the mud." Tony warned.
"So you are bailing on me now?" Delphine asked surprised.
"No I'm not bailing on you. I just want you to know that I will always be here for you to talk to and support you. But now if you want to run a suicide mission count me out." Tony announced to his shocked friend.
"Anyway I need to go. Felix has text me asking to meet him. So I am going to do that. Talk to you soon. Please don't do anything stupid again." Tony said as he grabbed his hoodie off Delphine and put it on as he walked out the door.
Delphine just nodded at him. She didn't like hearing the stuff she had heard but she knew deep down he was right. Was it all really worth making a bad situation worse? She knew that she would do anything to be near Cosima stuff the consequences.
Cosima arrived at the police station, Felix was already satin the waiting area.
"Thank God you could come Fee, I didn't know if I could do this on my own." Cosima said as she hugged her friend.
"Cos, you know I will be here for you no matter what! Just remember this is about you and Delphine. Just tell them the truth. They can't hurt you if you're honest with them. I still think your mother is behind this in all honesty. She did all this with me and we still don't know what her motives were back then. So what could her motive be for you and Delphine?"
"I really don't know Fee; I just remember how much it annoyed her that after she got you sacked we still were friends. It was like she was trying to hurt me completely."
"Well she won't do that this time. I know you and Delphine will make it out the other side stronger than ever!"
"I know Fee; it doesn't stop me worrying about what would happen if mum got to Delphine and Delphine decided it was too much to have to cope with!" Cosima wanted to tell him about the visit earlier but knew she had to keep that to herself.
"Cosima Neihaus?" A voice sounded from her left and made her jump.
"Yeah that's me!" She said as she stood up. Felix went to stand up too; to go with her but the officer stopped him.
"You can stay here and wait. Miss Neihaus is not under caution so does not need anyone with her." Detective Bell said.
The door closed and Felix slumped down in his seat and watched as Cosima was led down the corridor.
"So this is just an informal chat then? Why was I told it was an interview on the phone? Why couldn't you come to my house? This is ridiculous!" Cosima was starting to get pissed off; she could also feel her anxiety start to surface.
"Miss Neihaus, we have called you in because the 2 stories we have so far do not add up. We are just hoping to get a clearer picture from you before we make our decision on what to do." Art said quite matter-of-factly.
They then walked in relative silence to the interview room. Art opened the door and held it open for Cosima to enter. She did but stopped just inside the room. The shock was just too much for her. Sat at the table was her mother.
"What the fuck are you doing here?!" Cosima spat towards the other woman.
"I am here because Detective Bell here rang me up seeing as I am your next of kin and wanted me here as the responsible adult for you." Her mother replied.
"I told you this before I DO NOT WANT YOU IN MY LIFE!" Cosima shouted at her.
"Cosima I know you are only talking out of hurt because your relationship has ended. That disgusting woman has manipulated you for long enough!" Her mum replied quite calmly.
"Detective I think you should take me out of this room before I do something that may well result in me being in jail!" Cosima said quite seriously to Art.
"Miss Neihaus….." Art started to say
"My name is Cosima! Stop calling me Miss Neihaus call me fucking Cosima!" Cosima shouted at the officer.
"OK Cosima. I think you need to calm down." Art said apprehensively.
"I was told that this was just a chat. I was not told that I needed to have someone with me. I have brought someone who I would like with me rather than HER!" Cosima pointed at her mum.
"Cosima we will leave this room, there is a room just down the corridor. I'm guessing by the person who was sat in the waiting area with you that's who you brought. I will send someone to take him to that room then hopefully we can get started."
"Just get me the hell out of this room. She is nothing but trouble." Cosima said staring her mum down.
Art opened the door and let Cosima leave. He looked at Mrs Neihaus and gave her an apologetic look as he turned to leave. Detective DeAngelis stayed with her.
"You cannot do this. She has been brainwashed by that filthy animal she thinks she loves." Her mother shouted after them.
Cosima waited for Art to walk past her and show her the way to the room they were going to go to. They stopped briefly at the desk and Art asked them to get Felix and bring him to where they were going. Once there Cosima sank into the chair. She really didn't feel like talking anymore.
Felix entered the room a couple of minutes after her.
"They brought the fucking evil bitch in to sit with me. I told them NO. I am not under arrest so I do not have to have anyone with me but I wanted you with me Fee." She said as she hugged her friend.
"It's alright Cosima I am here for you." He soothed.
"Alright now can we start please?!" Art asked.
Both Cosima and Felix sat down.
"OK Cosima can you tell me in your own words how things developed between you and Ms Cormier?"
"Erm, I met Delphine when she came to DYAD for an interview. I was on my way to the roof to have a smoke; she was coming out of the lift. I instantly knew that I had to get to know her. I didn't know that she was being interviewed to be my Support worker. When I returned to the office my uncle, Aldous Leekie told me that he had someone picked out for me. Someone he thought would challenge me. He gave me her number to ring and tell her that she had the job and to introduce myself as the person she would be supporting. I did contact her and tell her all the important stuff like she had got the job, but I left out the part where it would be me her employer. We kept in contact, we met, we started dating, and we started sleeping together. She found out about the job situation and dumped me, she continued as my support worker, nothing happened until we did an overnight visit, we slept together again. We both knew it was wrong but when something feels so right then why deny it? This continued until my witch of a mother caught us in bed together then all this happened. It is not Delphine's fault. It is all down to me. I should not have let her fall for me without being honest." Cosima was crying by the end.
"So you are saying that even though she knew what she was doing was wrong she still continued to sleep with you?" Art asked.
"No know you are twisting it to make it seem as if it is all Delphine's fault. I have just said that it was both of us not just one person!" Cosima declared.
"So let me rephrase that. Even though you both knew it was wrong you still slept together?" Art asked again.
Cosima nodded. Yes that is right so if Delphine gets in trouble then so should I. it works both ways. You can't charge one of us without charging the other." Cosima said feeling confident with her statement.
"Cosima, you have just told me that even though you both knew it was wrong you carried on sleeping together. The aim of this chat was to find out if Delphine actually knew what she was doing was wrong and she did everything she could to stop it from happening. You have now said that she didn't. She was working when you started sleeping together again so that shows me that she knew exactly what she was doing. You were just making it easier for her to do this because you believe that you love her." Art admitted.
"NO that is a lie. We did try so hard. I gave her the option to leave but she refused. I'm glad she did refuse because I could have lost the best thing that has ever happened to me!" Tears fell freely down her cheeks.
"OK this chat has finished." Art announced.
"What's going to happen now?" Cosima asked.
"That I cannot tell you. The investigation is still on going. We have to get some more statements and we will have to get an official statement from you. So I would say get yourself a lawyer. You are not allowed contact with Ms Cormier. So I advise that you hand all devices that would tempt you to get in contact in to the desk, we would need them to establish the timeline of events. This is going to be a long process Cosima, so I would be prepared to be here a few times for questioning."
Cosima put her head in her hands "What the fuck have I done?" She whispered to the table.
A/N: SORRY IT HAS BEEN ANOTHER LONG WAIT FOR THIS CHAPTER. IT WAS NOT MEANT TO BE THIS LONG BETWEEN POSTING. REAL LIFE STUFF HAS BEEN DRAGGING ME DOWN AND I HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE RIGHT MINDSET TO WRITE. THE NEXT COUPLE OF CHAPTERS SHOULD HOPEFULLY MAKE UP FOR THIS. I WANT TO GIVE A BIG SHOUT OUT TO THE USUAL SUSPECTS THAT HAVE KEPT ME WANTING TO WRITE. Spookycj, Erika and CK thank you so much for your constant support and reviews. Hopefully now I can crack on and get part 2 finished sooner rather than later. Also to everyone that has been reading thank you so much, it means a lot to see the numbers go up each month. XmaziX