Life Beyond… Part 1
[This story was originally written in 2004. I updated it in 2010 and again in 2014 and yet again in 2016 so I thought that it was time it got posted.]
Many of us have seen the people selling the Big Issue plying their magazine outside the Tube stations and other prime locations. They come and go over the years. They sell a copy and pocket a bit of money from the sale. They work hard and for most of them it is the first step in their return to some form of normality from whatever deep dark place that have been.
A lot of people who buy their copies don’t read them but still continue do make their purchases just so that they can feel good about helping someone out.
I usually buy a copy not that I read much of it but at least these Guys (And a few Girls) were trying to get themselves and their lives out of the gutter. You never know when it might be you who finds themselves out of a job and homeless.
Those who sold this esteemed publication usually last between 3 and 6 Months before they either moved on to pastures new or went back to sleeping rough.
The current seller of this publication who plied their trade outside Moorgate Tube Station was a not unattractive woman probably in her mid twenties. She had been occupying this prime City pitch for nearly 4 months. In that time, her attitude to her customers had softened considerably until now, she knew some of her regulars by name and would sometimes be seen passing the day with customers during the less busy parts of the day.
Her mode of dress made it somewhat difficult to determine an exact age. Underneath the copious amounts of makeup, huge dreadlocks and multiple layers ‘Goth’ clothes it was not easy to tell. Her face was also adorned with numerous pieces of jewellery in the form of piercings. Her lips, nose, eyebrows and tongue were all pierced at least once. She might have had at least a few tattoos for all her customers knew.
One of her more irregular customers is a man named Martin Wilson. He was an occasional visitor to London on business. Mr Wilson is a very private man, but also a lonely man. His work entails designing security software for a number of the most security conscious and most private financial institutions in the world.
Underneath all those layers, he could see that she was an attractive woman. From the albeit brief conversations he had with her over the weeks she came over as someone that wasn’t thick or backward and actually seemed to have a good sense of humour.
His work would take him up to London once or twice a week. At other times, he worked from home. He had just been getting by at home since his last housekeeper had left a few months before. It had been an amicable yet sad parting of the ways. So far, the very temporary replacements had been next to useless and none had lasted more than a week or so.
Then one day he had an idea. His slightly weird idea was to offer the woman who was selling the ‘Big Issue’ outside the Tube station the chance to get a job out of the cold. Winter was fast approaching and although she had the prime pitch at this Tube station the wind chill in the winter at this particular spot could get you very cold quick quickly.
With this crazy idea firmly planted in his mind, he left the offices of one of his clients that afternoon well before the evening rush. The markets were still open so the number of people using the tube station was far below the peak it would reach less than half an hour later.
He afforded himself a little smile as he approached her pitch.
“Big Issue. Big Issue. Get your Big Issue Here” came her familiar cry.
He stood in front of her.
“Do you want one mister?”
“No, I bought one from you this morning thanks” was his reply
“So?” came the slightly suspicious reply.
“I just wanted to ask if you were looking for more some permanent employment.”
“It depends,” she said suspiciously.
“Upon what?”
“Upon whether or not you want to get inside my knickers”
“I don’t understand.”
“Look here mister, I get offers of Sex almost every day from you lot. Yeah, I could make a whole heap of dough giving quick one to you City Slickers but for how long? How long before I get ‘dobbed’ in to the police? How long before I get a dose of the clap if not HIV eh?”
He nodded his understanding but he was prepared for this tirade.
“So if that is what you want then you can take your offer and stuff it up your tight arse”, she continued.
“Thank you for the very clear explanation. The answer is no. Most certainly No, that is not what I want at all”, and again.
And finally came the obvious, “I don’t do nude pinups or porno films either.”
“Good for you” he answered calmly. Her outburst was not going to deter him from at least answering.
“So what is this job offer then?”, she asked with a look of defiance on her face and one hand on her hip.
“It’s a housekeeping position.”
“What sort of housekeeping?”
“Oh the normal stuff. Cleaning the house. Cooking and generally running the place while I work.”
“Where is this place?”
“It’s near a village called Sissinghurst, in Kent.”
“That’s no good. I live in a Squat in Camden. Now if it was Islington or Highgate then I might be able do it.”
“Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear. The job includes accommodation, all your food and it pays 20% above minimum wage.”
“That’s different.”
“But?” he asked.
“I move in, and things are all ok for a week or two and then you want to have cheapo sex with the live in help. What do I do then eh Mister?”
“Look. Think about my offer. You don’t have to say yes or no today. Come down on Saturday to take a look at the house and where you would be living. If you are interested then I’ll draw up a contract that fully describes the services you will be required to do and the hours you will be working and all that stuff.”
“Can I bring someone with me?”
“That’s not a problem. I fully understand any personal safety concerns you might have.”
“Ok I’ll do it. I’ll come and visit provided you cover my train fare?”
He gave her his business card.
“Take the train from Charring Cross to Staplehurst. Call me when you know what train you are on and I’ll meet you at the station. I’ll certainly pay for your tickets even if you say no to my offer. Is that fair enough? Deal?”
“Its fair enough. Deal.”
“Good. I’ll look forward to seeing you on Saturday then.”
He turned to go but she reached out a hand and stopped him.
“Why did your last housekeeper leave?”
“She left for a role more suited to her talents.”
“Yeah and my name is Julia Roberts and you are most certainly not Richard Geere.”
Her directness surprised him but the irony of her statement was not lost on him.
“I’ll let you call her on Saturday if you want. She will describe the job and what I expect from my Housekeeper if that will help?”
“We’ll see. We’ll see.”
“Fine. I’ll see you Saturday.”
“Bye.”
He left her holding his business card and studying the address.
Martin rose early Saturday Morning and did his best to tidy up some of the ‘single guy living alone’ mess. He is a naturally untidy person much like most men. He would argue, why put something away that is either going on the wash or being worn the following day? Still, he made a decent impression in the mess. At least the kitchen was clean and all his clothes were put away and a load of washing was in the washer.
He was putting the final touches to dusting the living room when the phone rang.
“Hello?” He said into the phone.
“Mr Wilson?” asked an unfamiliar voice.
“Yes. Can I help you?”
“My friend Angela asked me to call. It’s about the job offer thingy you talked about with her.”
At least he knew her name now.
“Yes?” He said almost hopefully.
“She’s on the 12:10 train from Charring Cross to Staplehurst. She asked me to call to let you know that she was on her way.”
“Thanks for letting me know. Can I know your name so I can tell her you called?”
“It’s Zoë. Tell her Zoë.”
“Well thank you very much Zoë I appreciate the call and for letting me know that’s she’s on her way.”
Martin looked at the clock. 12:30. He judges that there was still time to do a bit more ‘housework’ before he had to leave to meet the train.
He finished the bit of dusting was doing, ran the vacuum cleaner over the carpet upstairs and put a few more things away. Then he got in his car and drove the few miles up the A229 to Staplehurst Station to wait for the train from London.
The train was the usual five minutes late. Angela was the only person to alight from the train.
She walked along the platform looking around nervously.
Martin got out of his car and went towards her with a smile on his face and said,
“Hello Angela. Zoë called to say you were coming. I’m glad you decided to at least come and take a look at my offer.”
She returned the smile with a warm one of her own.
“I didn’t decide until this morning. It was Zoë who eventually persuaded me to come.”
“Does Zoë live in the Squat with you?” he asked trying to make some conversation.
“Nah, she works on a clothes stall in Camden Market. It is where I buy most of my clothes. It was her who got me the job on the Issue. I help her out from time to time. I was doing that when she basically strongarmed me Camden Tube saying that thins might be the break I needed.”
They got into his car and he drove to his home. Angela spent most of the journey staring out of the window at the late autumn landscape.
Martin noticed that she was wearing the same clothes that she’d been wearing when he’d suggested the housekeeping job. This made him wonder if she possessed any other clothes.
He detected a whiff of scent. He also noticed a bit of an odour. It was obvious that she needed a bath.
Her clothes probably could have been cleaned as well. Such was life at the bottom of the heap.
He turned off the A262 about half a mile east of the village and turned down a small country line. A few hundred yards later, he turned into the driveway of his house. When she saw it, she gave a gasp.
“Oh wow. Do you live here alone?”
“Yes. I inherited from my parents.”
“No Mrs Wilson then?”
She heard a visible sigh from her host.
“There was but she went off with my best man after we had been married for just over a year.”
She didn’t answer. She almost did but thankfully stopped herself from putting her foot right in it. From his tone of voice, she could tell that the episode was still hurting.
He stopped the car and turned to her.
Before he could say anything.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I just wanted to know the real reason you want a housekeeper. Why you want someone like me for that role.”
“And why is that?”
“You want someone to skivvy for you. Plain and Simple eh?”
“Close but not entirely correct. Still, that is what a housekeeper does isn’t it?”
She didn’t answer but got out of the car to avoid having to.
He opened the door and let her inside.
She was looking intently at the house and everything in it. Not that there was much of obvious value on show. Death Duties and a spendthrift ex Wife had taken care of that. The money he made from his consulting business was invested for the long term and not in huge amounts of trendy stuff for the house.
He took her coat and hung it up by the front door. He guessed that it was probably an ex-military great coat and was pretty heavy. Underneath it she wore more black, a long skirt with a few frayed ends and a stretchy top all in black. On her feet were boots. Again black with thick soles. Very Goth style or so he thought. Then he realised that they were DM’s.
He got things started.
“Come on through to the kitchen. I have prepared some lunch. Let’s have that and then I’ll take you on the grand Tour”, he said leading the way into the kitchen.
“I hope you like vegetable soup? It’s homemade. The Veggies come from an organic farm a few miles away” he added with a smile on his face.
“Is this some sop towards me in case I’m a Vegetarian?” she queried.
“Not in the slightest. I get a vegetable case delivered every week. I also buy locally produced meat. I thought that on a cold day like today a bowl of soup would be appropriate. Are you a Vegetarian then?”
“No” she smiled. Then she added, “Not really. But everyone in the squat is. It’s a long time since I had any meat other than in a Burger or Kebab.”
“That’s not real meat. Is it?” He said as he dished up the soup
“Not really,” she said with enough of a smile for him to know that he was right.
They both sat down around the large fairly rustic wooden table with the bowls of soup in front of them.
There was also some Wholemeal bread and cake. Martin explained that these were bought from the same farm that supplied by Veggies.
“This is good soup. Thanks,” said Angela as she tucked in with some gusto.
“I’m glad you like it.”
“Why do you need a housekeeper if you can cook like this?”
“Cooking is a pleasure and a change from my day job.”
“What is your ‘day job’ then?”
“Me? Rather boring really. I write very specialized computer security software for Banks. Boring. Like me I suppose?”
They chatted as they ate lunch. As it progressed, he started to feel more hopeful about Angela and her chances of her coming to work as my housekeeper.
As a prelude to he possible role in his household, he let her stack the dishes in the sink after lunch. It was already clear to him that she was by nature a much neater person than me.
When she was finished, he gave her the grand tour of the house.
As he did so, he explained in detail about the job.
“Your duties would be to clean the house, cook the food, pay the household bills, get the gardener in, basically run the place. That sort of thing.”
“That is rather a lot of responsibility. Are you sure you are prepared to trust me?”
“Yes. If I weren’t sure then we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
She couldn’t argue with that.
“What days do I work? I do need some time off. Even selling the Issue is only a 5 day a week gig on my pitch.”
“You would be on duty every day apart from the two days a week I go to London. So, it is in reality a 5-day week. However, if you want to do something like go to college then you can have time off to do that. Also one or two evenings a week, I’ll do the cooking. As I said over lunch, I use it to relax. There will be other evenings when I’m out usually on business so you will be free to look after yourself.”
He continued the tour of the house. She continued to ask very detailed questions. This was a pleasant surprise to him and helped him get his hopes up that she’d accept the offer.
At the end of the tour, they returned to the kitchen. Martin put the kettle on for some tea.
“What do you think? Of this place and of me?” he asked hesitantly.
In her typical direct style, she responded.
“What I think is that there is no where near enough work to keep a housekeeper occupied for three days let alone 5. What I think is that you don’t really need a housekeeper. You need someone who comes in a few days a week and ‘does’ the job for you.”
He was clearly stunned by her directness.
“So what’s the catch?” she said slightly angrily.
“Angela. There is no catch whatsoever.”
She stared at him.
“Please don’t take this the wrong way.”
The stare got stronger.
He tried pleading with her.
“I have seen you selling the paper every time I went up to London over the past few months. I sort of got a bit of a conscience in that I had had it so easy all my life. So I got this crazy idea about offering you the job as housekeeper.”
“What did your previous one do all day?”
He smiled back at her.
“I’ll let you speak to her in a minute if you want. While she was here, she went to college and finished her A levels. When she left, she was half way through an Open University Degree. Her job here let her have time to better herself as well as earning some money. If you want to, you can do the same.”
“Was she an Issue Seller like me?”
“Oh no. Far from it.”
He chuckled at the memory.
“Laura, the person who you will speak to on the phone, was a petty criminal. I knew from… well before. She called me one day asking for a job. I gave her one and a chance to get her life sorted out.“
He smiled at her.
“At the time she called me she was living with a total looser but she couldn’t see that at the time. She was infatuated with him and they were doing a job together. When the alarm went off he left her to face the music. She, rather unluckily got stuck inside the wardrobe in my bedroom. She ratted on him but took her punishment, 9 Months in Prison. I put in a word for her with her Probation Officer and as a result offered her a job when she got out much the same way as I have done with you. She worked here for me for nearly 3 years. Does that explain things a bit?”
“It does. I still want to check to see if you really are a dirty old man underneath that polished exterior.”
Martin laughed.
“Here is her phone number. Her name is Laura Mitchell. I’ll let you call her in private. She doesn’t know about you and my offering you the job as her replacement. Just explain who you are and why you are asking. She won’t bite.”
He left her alone and went into the living room.
It was nearly 15 minutes later before Angela came to join him.
“Did she confirm what I told you?”
“Yes. But.”
“What?”
“There was something she didn’t say. There was obviously something she was holding back. She mentioned someone called Chloe who sometimes visited. I sort of got the impression that the two things were connected but it is only an impression though.”
“Do you have any other reservations?” he asked
“I almost fell off the chair when she told me about the Dress Code. I now believe you about the Sex thing.”
“Does this mean that you will accept the job?”
She smiled and as she brushed the dreadlocks out of her eyes.
“Yes. We have a deal but naturally subject to contract.”
Martin felt very happy. He thought to himself, ‘she is a sharp cookie’.
Naturally, subject to contract. Laura had obviously explained the contract she signed when she came to work for him.
During the rest of the afternoon Martin got to understand a bit about how Angela came to be on the streets and living in a squat.
When she’d told all, made a suggestion.
“I don’t mean to insult you but is it difficult to have a good wash living in the squat?”
The implications started to make her angry.
“Are you saying I smell?”
He tried to placate her.
“Just a little underneath that perfume. I was only going to suggest that you might like to have a good soak in the bath then it’s fine by me.”
“And let you come barging in on me?” she said angrily.
“No. No, you’ve got it all wrong. You can stick a chair under the door handle if you want. I was offering you some hospitality with no strings. The offer still stands even if you turn me down.”
She looked at him long and hard.
“Ok”
Then a smile appeared on her face.
“Laura said that you were a naturally kind and generous person. I’m sorry but until now pretty well all the men I’ve known only want one thing.”
Martin didn’t know what to say.
“I was wrong. You are a kind person and yes, I’ll have that bath.”
It was dark when he took her to the station for her journey back to London. She had seen the draft contract and actually laughed when she read some parts. Martin guessed the bits she was reading.
As they waited for the train to arrive, Angela turned to him and said,
“I’ll think about everything I’ve seen today and let you know when you come up to London next week.”
Martin laughed.
“What’s so funny?” she asked in a slightly hurt tone.
“I’m away in Geneva and Zurich all next week.”
It was Angela’s turn to look a bit hurt.
“I’ll tell you what, I’ll meet you for lunch on Saturday. How about outside Camden Lock around midday?”
A beaming smile appeared on her face.
“Deal.”
Martin stood on the platform watching the red taillights of the London train disappear into the distance. He’d had a lot of fun with her that day. He dearly hoped that it was not going to be the only time that happened.
Despite their agreement, he’d rather hoped that Angela would have called him during the week. Swiss Bankers were good at their job but were exceedingly boring. It was a real relief to get back to his hotel in the evenings. Even the attempts by two rather beautiful women on Wednesday evening to get him to return to their rooms failed to interest him. The only thing on his mind was Angela. He was sure she’d accept his offer and was getting rather irritable at the waiting.
The cold rainy weather of the previous week had cleared away nicely by Saturday lunchtime. Martin was full of hope for a positive outcome that day.
His smile broadened considerably when he saw Angela threading her way through the crowds of shoppers.
“Hello Angela,” he said cheerily when they met.
“Hello Mr Williams.”
His heart sank. This didn’t sound too hopeful.
“Why the formality?”
She looked seriously at him.
“I’m sorry, I can’t accept your offer.”
“Why? I thought you liked it? You said you liked the house, the country?”
He nearly added, ‘You liked me’ but didn’t.
“Oh I did. You bowled me over with the job, the house, with everything but I just can’t. Something in me says no.”
Angela looked very sad.
“I’m sorry Martin, I just can’t.”
Then she left him standing there alone.
Angela headed for the nearest back alley and burst into tears.
Martin stood there stunned. His day was in ruins. He was rooted to the spot for nearly five minutes. Eventually, he stirred himself and went home still unsure what he’d done wrong. His wastepaper basked took several hard kicks later that day. It was lucky he didn’t have a cat.
Once again, his work kept him away from London for another 10 days. When he did travel up to town, the Kent Countryside had turned white. An early and extremely heavy snowfall had caused transport chaos. At first everything seemed to grind to a halt. Two days behind schedule, he managed to get into London for a lunchtime meeting near Liverpool St.
He emerged from the meeting and immediately had to wrap his coat tighter. The stiff wind coming in from the east was bitingly cold. Instead of heading towards Bank Tube station and the Northern Line to London Bridge and home, he headed towards Moorgate. He’d see if Angela was still there. If she wasn’t he’d still be able to take the Northern Line south.
As he turned the corner near the station, he could see her mass on unruly hair. His heart skipped a beat.
“Hello Angela,” he said calmly as he approached her pitch.
After a slightly surprised look, she smiled back at him.
“I’ve not seen you in these parts recently?”
Martin smiled back.
“Work and this awful weather.”
She nodded her understanding.
“I was wondering…wondering…”
“Yes. I’ll accept.”
He grinned from ear to ear.
“Why. Why did you change your mind?”
“Would you want to be standing out here in this all winter?”
“Come on, let me buy you a hot drink?”
“The place round the corner is pretty good,” she suggested in an instant.
Five minutes later they were both in the warm clutching large mugs of hot chocolate.
“Thanks Martin. I’m frozen.”
“Have you been here all week?”
“Yeah.”
“Why didn’t you stay at the squat and not go to work?”
“What squat? We got evicted last Friday. I’m kipping down at Zoe’s until I can find somewhere of my own”
“Why don’t you get your things and come down tomorrow?”
“You are serious about the job offer being still on the table then?”
“Yes. Why else would I have come looking for you today?”
“Then, Mister. Williams, I’ll accept and yes, I’ll be down on Saturday with all my things. I owe it to the Issue people to see out the week.”
She shook his hand to seal the deal.
Martin was waiting impatiently and anxiously for the train to arrive the following Saturday Morning. It had started snowing heavily once more.
Eventually, it arrived this time some fifteen minutes late. Angela staggered off the train lugging a huge soft bag and dragging a small, wheeled suitcase.
“Hi Angela. I thought you didn’t have very much stuff?”
“Neither did I until I tried to pack it up last week,” she said laughing.
“Come on. Let’s get out of this snow”, said Martin as he picked up the huge soft bag.
They dashed as fast as we could towards the car. The bag was so big; it would only just fit in the back.
Once Angela had settled in, the two of them sat down in the kitchen to complete the formalities relating to her position in the house.
“When I first read this contract I couldn’t believe this bit here. In this day and age, I thought why? Then I thought about it I realized it was for your protection as much as mine. I will not be sorry to see the back of these though,” she said fondling her dreadlocks.
“Why do you have them if you don’t like them very much?” he inquired.
“When I moved into the squat, I was shacked up with a guy who had huge ones. I was so desperate to find and keep a roof over my head I soon started putting my hair in locks as well. When he went off to Jamaica last year, I didn’t know what to do with my hair so I kept them. Whoever cuts them off is going to have their work cut out putting a comb through this lot. They have not been properly brushed out for nearly 3 years”
They both laughed.
“Are you ok to sign then?” asked Martin.
“Yes I am.”
He signed two copies. Angela signed them as well and gave one copy back to him.
“Angela. Welcome to my house. I hope that your time here is enjoyable and a long one.”
“Thank you Mr Wilson.”
“Martin please.”
“Thank you Martin,” she said with that wry smile he was coming to know on her face.
During that first week he could see a dramatic transformation in the house. Every room apart from Martin’s office had been completely cleaned and sorted from top to bottom.
Angela had altered some of Laura’s old outfits and was wearing them until some of her own arrived. With her agreement he had carefully measured her that first Sunday for the two types of uniform that we had agreed in the contract.
As he did the measuring, he thought to himself, ‘I think one style was a going to be a big change for her but which one she wore was going to be totally up to her’.
She also made an appointment to get her haircut the following Friday.
Martin went up to London on the Thursday as normal. As he was leaving for the station he said to Angela.
“I’ll cook tomorrow night. You can have the night off. If you want to go up to London to see your friends after your trip to the hairdressers and come back on Saturday, then you are more than welcome to do so. Just let me know tomorrow morning.”
“Ok Martin. I don’t think I’ll go up to London. Besides, most of my so called friends think I have sold out by coming to work here.”
“What about Zoë?”
“She’s cool with me working her. She really gave me grief for not accepting right away.”
She smiled at him and then asked.
“Is it a problem for her to come down for a visit in the future?”
“None whatsoever. Please invite her whenever you like.”
Martin returned home that night to another meal from Chez Angela. It was more, greasy spoon level than Michelin Star cuisine. However, she appeared keen to learn. He sincerely hoped that she would.
When dinner was over Angela, was clearing away the dishes when Martin joined her in the kitchen.
“Angela. Here is some money. I’m cooking tomorrow night so I think it might be appropriate to dress up a bit for dinner. You are already going into Maidstone to get your hair done so why not buy yourself something suitable. The same bus that runs to Staplehurst goes onto Maidstone. There are busses every hour”
Angela thought about it for a second. Then she shook her head.
“Thank you Martin but I shouldn’t accept this. I have some money of my own. If you don’t mind, I’ll use that.”
‘’’’’’’’’’’
“Ok, have it your way. The offer still stands,” He said firmly as he put the 5 crisp £50.00 notes on the table.
Angela left him alone and went off to her hairdresser’s appointment just before 9:00am. The house was silent once more. Even though it had only been a week, it felt strange for it to be silent again.
Martin tried really hard to get on with work but his mind was not really concentrating. Eventually, just before lunch, he gave up the cause and called it a day.
Over a lunchtime sandwich he created the list of ingredients for the evening’s meal. When the lunch things had been cleared away, he got in the car and went shopping. As he left the house, he smiled to himself. Before Angela had arrived, he’d probably have left the dirty plates and stuff sitting in the sink.
Now? She was having an effect on him all right.
When he returned home, he could hear that Angela had returned and was upstairs. She was in her bedroom and had the bedside radio turned on. He left her alone as they had agreed that Martin was not allowed in her room when she was there.
He respected her desire for some privacy. She had told him that this had been in short supply in the Camden Squat and the Welsh commune before that. He also wanted to prove that he wasn’t an ogre like most of the other men in her life. She deserved better than that.
Just before 6pm, he started preparing the meal. The local butchers had supplied some locally reared Organic Wild Boar. He reckoned that Angela had never eaten this type of meat.
Time flew by and it was nearly 7:00pm before he had everything under control and had time to a quick shower and change before dinner.
Martin was just thinking about calling Angela in her bedroom to ask if she wanted an aperitif before dinner when she walked into the kitchen.
“Oh my God Angela? What have you done to yourself?”
This was not the same person I had left this morning.
“I’m sorry to startle you Martin. I really had no other choice.”
She was almost totally bald.
“My hair was pretty well stuffed. Not only were there lice but also the knots were just horrific. So in the end, I said cut it all off. I’ll let it grow again. So, here I am, almost as bald as a coot. Just a bit of hair left.”
In an attempt to change the subject, he said.
“The dress you are wearing is very nice.”
“Thank you. It is a total change for me. I have never worn anything like this before.”
She gave him a twirl.
The long satin dress suited her to a tee. She was also wearing heels.
“I expect my feet are going to pay for this later but there was no time to shorten it today so I had to buy some high heels. It is a long, long time since I have worn shoes like this.”
“I must say you look very nice indeed.”
“What else do you notice?” she asked.
He looked at her. Then he realized what it was.
“All that jewellery. It’s gone.”
“Not quite but most of it has been consigned to the bin. I decided that I needed to make a complete new start to go with my new job. New Hair, New Dress, New Start.”
“I think you have made a good start in your new job. The house looks much nicer.”
“Thank you Martin. Whatever we are eating tonight, it smells good.”
“It’s Wild Boar. I hope you like it. They are truly wild around here,” he replied.
“I’m sure that I’ll enjoy it.”
They talked about general things over dinner. Angela had revealed that she had had some trouble adjusting to living here.
“It’s so quiet. In London there is always some traffic noise. Here, all I hear are the owls at night. For a few nights, I had to go to sleep with my radio on. It was so weird.”
Martin laughed.
“It is very quiet here. This is one thing I like about it.”
“Did you like the Boar?” he inquired.
“It’s not like Pork at all. Much Stronger. Very tasty though.”
She paused for a moment.
“If you can cook like that you should have been a chef.”
He laughed at her comment.
“I nearly did become one. It was a toss up. Eventually, I decided the long hours were not what I wanted. Even so, I do sometimes have regrets about not giving it ago.”
She looked sad.
“I’ll never be as good a cook as you.”
“Don’t worry about it. This meal was supposed to be special. “Beans on Toast” is fine by me. Take your time and if you are prepared to receive some really truthful comments then I’ll gladly be the guinea pig for your culinary trials.”
“Thank you Martin. You are so understanding, so amenable. Why?”
“Why What?”
“Why are you so understanding? I make lots of stupid mistakes. Look at that Vase I broke this week? Then there are the chipped plates.”
“Don’t worry about the Vase. It is a physical object and as such, can be replaced just like the plates. They are only a cheap set from Ikea. My ex took the decent ones, not that I bothered. We are here on this Earth for out Four Score and Ten Years and that’s it. We must make the best of it and live our lives to the best we can.”
She thought for sometime before replying.
“I’m not sure I can live up to your high expectations though.”
“Angela. As long as you try and do your job here, I’m going to be happy. Is that clear?”
“Yes Martin. Thank you.”
Martin lay in bed unable to sleep for hours that night. There was something about Angela that was going to be very difficult to resist now she has changed the way she had this past week. The difficulty in reducing his obvious hard-on that was ever present during dinner was going to be a problem. Angela was not only the hired help; she was ten years younger than him. He was also sure that his pretty obvious attraction he had for her was not going to be reciprocated.
Angela’s uniforms arrived later that week. She’d been given two options on styles, neither, of which was the sort of uniform that most men desired in Maids. Angela was housekeeper so Martin gave her the choice of a knee length dress and an almost floor length Edwardian Style black skirt and white blouse. She laughed at the latter option but Martin gently reminded her of the contract she had signed.
“At least it’s not a ‘French Maids’ uniform” she joked.
“Exactly” agreed Martin.
“I’m going to look a real dork going out in that.”
“You can always change into something else if you want. My only condition is that you wear a uniform while you are on duty here.”
“So if I have to go out to do some shopping I can change?”
“Yes. Actually, it might be better if you did. After all, you are a free woman not some form of indentured slave. Some people might get the wrong idea if you wore uniforms especially the more revealing sorts when you went out.”
“Don’t go putting ideas in my mind,” joked Angela.
She modelled them for him with a good degree of panache.
Martin applauded the efforts she was putting in to do her job and have a bit of fun at the same time.
When she had finished showing Martin the last one he asked.
“Angela, are you enjoying life here?”
“Yes, I think I am.”
“No regrets?”
“Nope. None. At least, none so far that is.”
“Well I hope it continues.”
“I have made one decision though.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m going to stay with this short hair. Well for at least the time being I am. I’m going to get a wig so that I don’t get to many stares when I’m out and about. After years of not doing anything to my hair with the Dreadlocks, the next best thing is almost no hair and still not having to do anything in the morning.”
“Angela. You are an adult. You can do what you like with your hair. If you want it purple with blonde streaks then that’s fine by me.”
“Ha-Ha. I might take you up on that sometime.”
Secretly, he hoped that she might just to that at some point in the future.
Martin went up to London a few days later. As usual, he secured his office and switched on the security camera before leaving. Working on banking software meant that he had to take security seriously.
It was very late when he got home. Angela was in bed. He dumped his bag, took a shower and quickly fell asleep.
After breakfast the following morning, Martin went into his office and opened up his systems ready for work. There was an email from his security server. It told him that someone or something had been in his office.
Puzzled by this, he scanned the security video. The server automatically saved the section of video that had caused the alarm.
As soon as he saw it, he burst out laughing. It was so loud that it drew the attention of Angela.
“Martin? Is there anything the matter?”
“No. Most certainly not Angela.”
He rapidly regained his composure.
“Angela, would you come in here for a moment please?”.
“Can I help with anything Martin?”
“Please take a look at this.”
He set the video to play.
She went very red in the face.
“You have been spying on me! You pervert!” she shouted.
“Calm down. Calm down. If you recall, I told you that you were not to come in here when I was not in the house.”
“But you have video cameras. How long have you been spying on me?”
“There is ONE camera. It is in here. That is why you must not come in here when I’m not at home. If you do enter this room you will be captured and the system will alert me.”
“But you were spying on me!”
“I was not deliberately spying on you. Besides, why were you doing your duties naked?”
“Was that what made you laugh?”
“I laughed at the total surprise to see a beautiful naked woman wielding a duster in my office. By the way, that tattoo on your back is very beautiful. I don’t normally approve of tattoos and frankly most are stupid and crass but that one is very beautiful.”
“I feel rather invaded.”
“I expect you do. I did provide you with uniforms to wear yet you decide not to wear them. That is your choice and I respect that.”
By now she had calmed down a bit.
“Angela. I do appreciate the work you have done since you came here and the changes you have made in your life. But if you do want to clean this room, please do it when I’m here. If you want to go naked when I’m not here, then you are free to do so. Actually, I think it is very liberating to have the nerve to do that. I certainly couldn’t sit here and do my work naked.”
She gave a little smile at that. He expected that she was trying to imagine him without any clothes on.
“Are you comfortable with that?” he asked.
“Yes. I have to admit that I forgot about not coming in here when you are out. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear it. You may get on with your duties.”
She didn’t move.
He looked at her.
“That video clip. What is going to happen to it?”
Martin smiled.
“I can keep it as a memento or I can delete it. What do you prefer?”
“I don’t want you sitting here and jerking off while you looking at my naked body. Would you delete it please?”
“Certainly.”
He did a few commands on the computer.
“Here you do it. Press the delete key,” He asked.
She pressed it.
She was asked to confirm the deletion.
“Click Yes.”
She did.
“It’s gone,” he said confidently.
“No its not,” she said.
“It’s in the recycle bin,” she added.
“Ahh. Yes, the recycle bin.”
She looked at him in that way that sent shivers down his back.
He pulled up the recycle bin. The file was not there.
“On this system when you delete something it is deleted. Nothing goes into the recycle bin as it would normally do.”
“Ok. I believe you. Thanks.”
“No Angela. You are right to be suspicious. However, if I was going to really spy on you and use this to as you say jerk off while ogling your naked body would I really have told you about this?”
“I suppose not.”
“Good. Let’s consider the matter closed.”
Then he had an idea.
“Look Angela. I’m really sorry about this misunderstanding over the video. Can I make amends somehow?”
“It’s ok really,” she replied.
“Let me take you out to Lunch. We can go for a walk over the High Weald and finish up a great pub I know. Forget your duties today.”
“What about your work? Isn’t that rather important?” she asked.
“Sod the work. I’m well ahead of schedule on my current project so I can take a day off when I want. I am my own boss after all and deciding when to work is my choice,”
“I’ve nothing to wear.”
He laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“What is it with Women when they say that they have nothing to wear?”
She found it funny too.
“In my case, it is true. I’ve really only my old clothes, your uniforms and the dress I bought using your money.”
“Ok. We can remedy that easily. Put on the same clothes you used to wear when selling the paper in London. They will keep you warm.”
“What about this?” she said patting her nearly bald head.
“I haven’t got around to getting a wig yet”
“I have a woollen hat you can wear if you are that self conscious.”
“I suppose I am now. When had it all cut off I didn’t care but I think I would like to get a wig for when I go out. This really short hair just looks out of place with some sorts of clothes.”
Martin thought for a few seconds.
“We can do that today. Why don’t you go and get changed? Then we will do some shopping before we have a walk and some lunch. I need to make a few phone calls and get ready but it won’t take long.”
In fact, it was almost an hour before Angela was ready. She had indeed put her old clothes on. Also adorning her face was the heavy makeup. Making a return was the white face and big black eyes.
Martin felt rather strange seeing her almost hiding behind it once more. Around the house, she had worn very little and he’d felt she looked all the better for it. At least she had not work all the bits of metal into all the holes in her body. She only had put on a ring through her septum. Still, it didn’t look out of place.
Martin drove them into the old spa town of Tunbridge Wells. He knew there were a few shops where Angela could get the things she wanted especially the wig but he wasn’t going to let on about that.
“I’m sure you don’t want me tagging along behind so here is some money to get what you want.”
“No please come with me. I would really value your opinion.”
“Are you sure? My ex wouldn’t have me in the same shop as her when she was buying clothes.”
“She sounds like a bit of an odd character, your ex.”
“She was. Perhaps I’ll tell you about her sometime.”
“I’ll keep you to that promise,” replied Angela smiling.
The ‘couple’ spent actually an enjoyable two hours shopping with Martin offering little bits of advice only when asked. The end result was that Angela found herself a wardrobe far more suitable to her new life in the Country.
Finally, Martin directed her towards found a shop that sold Wigs. He deliberately didn’t tell her that he’d had looked it up in the phone book and made an appointment earlier that morning.
As they entered the shop Martin said to the assistant.
“Good Morning. This is Angela Smith. I believe there is an appointment for her.”
She looked at him with razor sharp eyes.
He smiled back.
“One moment please,” said the assistant.
“I booked it this morning when you were getting changed,” he said to put her out of her misery.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wanted it to be a surprise.”
At this point, the assistant returned.
“Mr Cohen will see you now Ms Smith.”
Angela followed the assistant into a back room.
She found herself surrounded by wigs and hairpieces.
Martin was daydreaming some 10 minutes later when the assistant returned.
“Mr Wilson. Miss Angela says that this will take a while. Why don’t you go and get a coffee at the shop over the road? She will join you there shortly.”
“Ok” It made sense. He stood up and went to pick up the various bags that contained the purchases she had made that day.
“No leave them. They will be fine here,” said the assistant.
Martin left the shop and crossed the road. He purchased a coffee and sat down to wait for Angela.
His mind turned back to Angela. First she wanted him to accompany her then she didn’t. Can’t they ever make up their mind and stick to it? Women? Pah?
Then he chuckled to himself, the words ‘Prerogative’ and ‘Women’ passed through his mind on several occasions.
Martin was rudely woken from my daydreaming when Angela entered the shop. She was wearing her new clothes and a beautiful new auburn shoulder length wig. She had removed all of her war paint and even the nose ring. She looked gorgeous. Martin secretly felt so jealous of her.
“How do I look?” she asked.
“Beautiful. Fantastic. Will that do? Or do you want the whole plethora of plaudits?”
She just smiled back and said.
“Come on then, its time for our walk. Then you can buy me lunch”, she said offering him her hand.
Without thinking he got up and held it as they left the shop.
They had walked a bit down the road before he realized she was not carrying any bags. He let go her hand and said.
“The shopping bags and your old clothes. You left them in the shop”
“I’m wearing all I want. Mrs Cohen was very understanding when I said I wanted to get changed in the shop and all that old stuff has been consigned to the bin. We can pick the rest up later on before we go home.”
She looked at him and then said,
“Besides, I don’t need them any more. I think it is time that part of my life was consigned to history. Don’t you agree?”
“If you are sure then yes I agree.”
A beaming smile appeared on her face.
“Come on then. I feel the need for a walk and then a nice lunch as you promised.”
He drove them out to a village in the High Weald. Martin knew of a three-mile long walk that would take us to some lovely scenic views over the surrounding countryside. Angela was well kitted out for the walk in her new Wellies, Waterproof Jacket and a head scarf holding her wig on in the fairly stiff breeze that was blowing from the southwest.
They walked on for about half a mile before Angela said,
“A penny for them?”
“Eh?”
“A penny for your thoughts. You looked so deep in them you were not really enjoying the countryside. I can see why you wanted to come up here but it’s plain that you are not really enjoying it.”
Martin looked at slightly hurt.
Then he replied
“I’m so sorry Angela. I was engrossed in my own thoughts. I must try to stop that when I’m with you. It was one of the things that my ex cited when she ran off…”
“Martin, there are times when silence is very appropriate. However, this is not one of them ok?”
He smiled.
“Yes I suppose so.”
“Then tell me about your ex. What was she like and where did it all go wrong? From the short time I have known you; you are a very nice and considerate person who should not be on your own. So, spill the beans and let Agony Aunt Angela make a diagnosis?”
They both laughed at the joke.
Martin let out a big sigh.
“I suppose so.”
They walked for an hour during which, Martin spoke for most of that time. By the time we had reached the pub he was just about done.
He ordered two pints of the excellent local beer and they both sat down to examine the menus.
After he’d placed their order they sat back enjoying the heat from the log fire and the refreshing beer.
After some minutes suddenly Angela said to him,
“Martin, are you gay?”
“Me? No way,” he said laughing at the very suggestion.
“So why don’t you have many friends? In fact, you don’t seem to have any that call you at home. There has been none visiting while I’ve been living there. So why?”
“I suppose I have always been happy in the company of myself. I was an only child. That probably goes a long way to explain it.”
She nodded.
“Do you fancy me?”
“What a silly question to ask?”
“I don’t think it is silly. So do you?”
“I suppose I do but I’m your employer and nothing is going to happen between us.”
This was a total lie but he hoped she believed it.
Angela smiled in such a way as to say ‘Oh Yeah, really?’
“This woman Chloe that your former housekeeper told me about. Where does she fit into your life?”
“She appears from time to time and makes me very happy.”
Angela did something I didn’t expect. She put her mobile phone on the table in front of me and said,
“Call her now. Invite her down for the weekend. I’m serious about this. I can see an innate sadness in your life. If she can cheer you up, then that’s the better for you. So ‘phone a friend’?”
“I can’t call her,” he protested.
“Does she exist?”
“Yes she does.”
“Is she in this country?”
“Not at the moment. She’s a long way away.”
“So why can’t you call her then? I’m sure she’d like a call from a friend.”
“Because…”
“She’s married?”
He didn’t reply.
“She is! You sly dog you!”
“It’s not like that. We’ve never kissed. We are just good friends. My ex couldn’t understand that a man can be really good friends with a woman without there being any sexual motive in it,” he said hoping that he’d believe his excuse.
“Wouldn’t she see it as a threat to her?”
“Possibly?”
Angela laughed.
As they ate a very late lunch Angela said,
“About yesterday, and me going into your office.”
“What do you mean, I thought matter was closed?”
“Sort of.”
Then she continued,
“That was my first and last time in the buff so to speak. There are draughts everywhere and the place is frigging cold when the heating goes off.”
Martin smiled and said,
“So?”
“What do you mean?”
“Didn’t your job description include running the house?”
“Yes why?”
“So run the house. Get some people in to quote for new windows and doors and anything else that is needed to sort this place out. Then we’ll go over them and decide which ones to accept.”
Angela was patently stunned by this sudden shift in responsibilities
“You’d trust me to do all that?”
“Yes. Why shouldn’t I?” was his straight to the point reply.
She didn’t say anything for quite a while.
It was well past sunset when they arrived home.
“Martin thanks for today. I really enjoyed it. It has been a long time since I went on a date with a man and he didn’t try get it off with me.”
“Was that a date? I didn’t realise,” replied Martin egging her on a bit.
Angela glared at him.
Then she started laughing.
“Sorry. Bad choice of words.”
He didn’t reply, he just smiled at her.
[continued in part 2 of 3]
[Late March]
Martin was in a meeting at a London Trading House when he felt his phone vibrate. He’d set it on ‘silent’ before the meeting. From the nature of the vibration he knew he’d received a text message. His innate politeness stopped him from looking at the phone until the meeting was over.
It was more than an hour later before he could look at the message.
When he did so, he smiled. It was from Angela.
“Martin, come home please. Am sort of stuck”
He replied
“Understood. Tied up until 4. Back ASAP”
In the end, it was nearer 4:30pm before he left the Trading House Offices. Then he just missed one train and had to stand even in 1st class as far as Sevenoaks.
That meant that it was well after 6:30 pm before he arrived home. He still had no idea what ‘stuck’ meant. He was about to find out.
He entered the strangely dark house and called out.
“Angela! Where are you?”
He heard a noise from upstairs.
He climbed the stairs and asked again.
This time the noise told him that it was coming from her bedroom.
He went in and turned on the light.
Then he saw her sitting in a corner looking very sad.
On her head she had a large metal device part of which went inside her mouth stopping her from speaking.
Desperately trying not to laugh, he went over and helped her to her feet.
“This is a fine mess you have gotten yourself into.”
He laughed.
She glared at him.
“It’s ok. I was just laughing at my own joke. That was a line that Oliver Hardy used to say to Stan Laurel”.
Angela looked none the wiser.
All in all, she didn’t look very happy.
“Let’s get you out of here. Then I think we need to have a little talk.”
Without thinking, he led her by the hand downstairs and into his study.
The door to the cellar was open.
He smiled to himself and thought,
“Well, it took her long enough to find the key. There have to be some ground rules if this door is going to remain unlocked.”
He sat her down in his chair and went over to the small wall safe.
Making sure she couldn’t see him enter the combination, he opened it and removed a bunch of keys.
After he’d locked the safe once more, he went over to her and unlocked the steel contraption encasing her head.
“Thank you” she said once her mouth was free.
Then he handed her the set of keys.
“These are for you. If you want to play with the toys down in the cellar, then you must be able to get out again afterwards.”
“You mean,… You aren’t angry?”
He smiled back.
“I’m actually angry with myself in that I didn’t hide the cellar key better. Am I angry with you? No. All I saw was that a little temptation got the better of you.”
She looked relieved.
“Besides, when have I ever gotten angry with you?”
“Never,” came her slightly puzzled reply.
“So in future, if you want to play with the things down there, just be careful Ok?”
She nodded her head.
“What is this thing called?”
“That’s a Scolds bridle. It was used to control unruly wives in the 17th & 18th Centuries.”
Angela picked up the device and examined it.
“This is that old? It sure don’t look like it?”
“No. It is only a few years old, almost new in fact.“
“Is it yours?”
“No, my god no. All that stuff belonged to my ex. She was a ‘mistress’ when we met. Most of those toys down in the cellar were hers from that period.”
“Did you ever… you know?”
He laughed.
“Yes I’ve worn it a few times in the past. We did a lot of playing around when we first got together and a bit after we got married….”
She put the device down on the table.
“You really don’t mind me ‘playing’ as you put it?”
“Look, as I’ve told you before, consider this is your home now. There are only a few rules to remember. One this is my office room. You can come through here to go down to the cellar but if you come over to the desk, the alarm will go off. The second is that I won’t touch you or go into your room without your permission. I think that today was a bit of an exception.”
He smiled.
“I’m only trying to protect you.”
She looked at him strangely.
“Are you such an ogre?”
He chuckled.
“No I’m not but I’m a man and you are if you don’t mind me saying so a very beautiful woman. I respect you as a person and do not want to hurt you. That’s why there has to be some rules.”
She was about to reply ‘No, that’s not all. What are you hiding? Are you gay?” but she bit her lip and decided that this wasn’t the right time or place for that question.
She stood up and went to leave the room.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
She topped and stared at him.
Then she realised what he’d meant.
She went back to the desk, picked up the bridle and the set of keys. Then after giving him a slight smile, she went down into the cellar to put it away.
When she returned, Martin said,
“As you haven’t started dinner yet, why don’t we go out to a pub? I have something to discuss with you”
“Can we go to that place we went to before? I think it was called The Blackboys Inn? The food was nice there?”
He grinned back.
“Yes. Why not.”
She disappeared to get changed.
While she was gone, Martin had some time to reflect on the changes the Angela had undergone in her time at the house. The hard, abrasive and very defensive person who was a ‘Big Issue’ seller in London had all but disappeared. In its place was a far calmer and thoroughly more pleasant woman who had a good brain and at times, a very sharp wit. But there was a lot more to her than she was letting on.
He heard her coming down the stairs so he went into the hallway to meet her.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Yes. I’m famished. I was locked in that thing from the middle of the morning.”
He laughed.
She gave him a dirty look.
“Will you be wearing it again?” he teased.
“Maybe yes, maybe no”
He grinned. He was getting to like her, and like her a lot. That was going to be trouble unless he was very careful.
Over their meal, he outlined the help he needed from her the following week.
“I’m going to need a few things to wear if I’m to be ‘your bit of stuff’ as you so eloquently put it”
“Hardly my bit of stuff. Just my married assistant.”
“Still, I have to look the part if I’m going to carry this off.”
“Yes. I know it is going to cost me. How much do you think is it going to cost me?”
She grinned back.
“How much am I allowed to spend?”
Martin did a little bit of thinking.
“Pretty well as much as you want. Obviously no five grand LBD’s or Five hundred quid Jimmy Choo’s, but I’m relying on you to be sensible. You are playing the part of my assistant not a super model so you need to dress appropriately but not over top.”
The breadth of her smile was answer enough.
Angela went shopping the very next day with an evil grin on her face.
Almost five hours later she returned with several large bags and a satisfied grin on her face and a large debit balance on the household credit card.
Martin went to bed happy that night. One more step in her ‘normalisation’ had been achieved. The next ones did leave him with a good deal of anxiety even though he was not entirely sure what they were going to be.
[A week later]
Martin was waiting anxiously for Angela to come downstairs. She’d been up since well before dawn getting ready. They were going up to London together and Angela was going to act as his assistant in a series of meetings at a couple of clients.
After yet another anxious look at his watch, he heard her coming down the stairs.
He was most assuredly not prepared for that he saw.
She was wearing a knee length grey and black business dress. To say is was figure hugging would be an understatement. It was also very tight in the skirt so even walking down the stairs was a slow and deliberate job. The very high heels that she was wearing didn’t help that. On her legs was a pair of barely black stockings. The dress was so tight that it was pretty obvious that she wasn’t wearing any underwear whatsoever.
Her usual black wig was gone as well. In its place was a shoulder length blond ‘bob’. Add all the little touches and her look was totally stunning.
She had even gone to the trouble of buying and wearing a second hand engagement and wedding rings on her left hand ring finger.
“How do I look?”
He just grinned.
“Well Mrs. Angela, you look good enough to eat.”
She smiled.
“Well, I’m off the menu.”
“Yeah, I know, but I was…”
“I know what you meant. I’ll take it as a compliment.”
“Can you bring the rest of my stuff down? This outfit is not really conducive to carrying luggage.”
He chuckled and went upstairs to get her overnight bag.
As he came down, he wondered exactly how much money she had spent on the clothes for this little operation.
He carried a largish suitcase out to the car and loaded it in the back.
Angela meanwhile had slung her new coat over her shoulders, placed a pair of sunglasses in her hair and climbed in.
He returned to the house and locked up.
As he walked back to the car he saw her smiling at him.
The words ‘bloody contract’ passed through his mind as he returned her smile.
Angela despite her previous bravado was getting noticeably more nervous the closer they got to London.
“Don’t worry, you will be fine. You know what you have to do during the meeting.”
“I know but… But what if I meet some of my old clients?”
He chuckled.
“So? Do you really think that they will realise who you once were? Look at you know? You are worth a million dollars in anyone’s eyes.”
She didn’t answer.
“But the way, how much of my hard earned money did you spend?”
She whispered an answer. He couldn’t hear it.
“What was that again?”
“Just over twelve hundred quid.”
His mental ‘guestimate’ was closer to fifteen.
“That’s fine. If I get this deal, then I will easily be able to afford it.”
“I can take most of it back if you want me to?”
He turned to look at her.
“Do you want to take it back?”
There was no answer for a while.
Then she gave a small laugh.
“If you’d have said to me last November that I’d be dressed like this and enjoying myself I’d have said something unrepeatable to you. This will take a lot of getting used to but I may get to like it.”
She paused.
“That is another problem I’m not sure I want to face at the moment.”
He just grinned and thought, ‘perhaps all is not lost after all’.
Just after Midday, they pulled up outside their hotel. A uniformed doorman came out and opened the car doors for them both.
Martin handed him the keys.
“There are four bags in the back.”
“Yes sir.”
“We’ll be staying until tomorrow midday. Can you take care of the parking please?”
“Certainly Sir.”
There was a good deal of emphasis on the ‘Sir’ as Martin slipped him a £20.00 note.
On this trip, impressions were going to be everything.
Another uniformed porter took their bags up to their suite with them. Martin had booked a two-bedroom suite for the night. If he didn’t get the work, he was going to be seriously out of pocket.
The old saying ‘speculate to accumulate’ sprang to mind as he tipped the porter with another £20 note.
“Well, what do you think?”
She turned round slowly and looked at him.
“How much is this costing for one night?”
“Don’t ask. At least double what your outfits cost me.”
“How the other half live eh?”
“And us for tonight only.”
She grinned back.
“Have we time for lunch before the meeting?”
He laughed.
“I don’t mean to say the wrong thing but are you sure you could eat anything and still not burst out of that dress.”
Luckily for him, Angela took it in the right spirit.
“You might be right at that. I should have bought the size 10.”
“Just be careful. It will be a tad embarrassing if it were to split open during the meeting especially as you don’t seem to have anything on underneath.”
“I will be. Don’t worry.” She replied with a big grin on her face.
“Well, you did say that I was to flirt with some of them?”
“I certainly did and if I were in their shoes, I’d be wanting to take you to bed in an instant.”
She glared at him and was about to comment when she realised he’d said it in all seriousness. She took it as a real compliment. Then memories from her past came flooding back. Memories that she’d done her best to push into the darkest, deepest recesses of her mind. She gave a momentary shiver before regaining her composure.
An hour later, they were ushered into an oak panelled boardroom deep in the heart of Mayfair.
“Good Afternoon Gentlemen. I think we all know each other. May I introduce my assistant Mrs. Angela Jenkins? She will be taking some notes for me during the meeting.”
At least four of the grey suited men around the table got all hot and bothered as they introduced themselves.
“With the introductions over, let’s get into the main topic for discussion,” said Martin as he took centre stage.
There was a general nodding of heads around the table.
“As you know, I was asked to looking to your employee fraud prevention systems. As you all know, you estimate that it is costing the different companies in the group in excess of £20 million annually.”
More nodding of heads.
“Gentlemen, I am afraid to say that my very conservative estimate is that the true cost of the fraud is closer to £40 million annually.”
He put up the first of a series of slides that were going to explain the problem.
The next hour and a half went by very quickly for Angela. Martin was on his feet for most of the time talking about things that went right over her head. It was not her job to understand the facts and figures. Her job was to watch two of the eight men present and take notes of their reaction to certain facts when presented.
This didn’t stop her from starting to realise that Martin was a real star performer. This was the first time she’d seen him in full flow. It didn’t take her long to realise that he knew all the fact and figures from memory. At no time did he have to refer to his copious notes or the printed report that sat on the desk in front of him.
She did her job and observed the men’s reactions throughout the meeting. Two of them looked decidedly uncomfortable several times as Martin had expected.
As the end, Martin said,
“Gentlemen, are there any further questions before we wrap up?”
One of the men who’d looked decidedly uncomfortable turned to Angela and said,
“Mrs. Jenkins, what is your opinion of our situation?”
Angela smiled and mentally thanked Martin for briefing her well the previous day.
“Well, Mr. Francotti, from that I’ve heard here today, I’d say that two of your subsidiaries are if you’d pardon my language, up shit creek without a paddle. It seems obvious that at least two of the East of Scotland Sales Offices are riddled with corruption. The sales figures and bottom line profit are totally out of kilter with the rest of the business. Martin was very clear that your current systems are totally inadequate in preventing this degree of Stock Fraud while clamping down like a ton of bricks on errors as little at £1 in other areas. To paraphrase the Bard, ‘something is rotten in the State of Dundee’.”
The company chairman smiled broadly at her. He obviously liked her comment despite the fact that he’d been mentally undressing her almost every minute of the previous 90.
When the meeting broke up, a very relieved Angela and Martin left the offices. Once out in the street, Martin hailed a cab.
Angela touched his arm.
“I fancy a little walk. Green Park is not far away. I need a little air”, she asked.
Martin looked a little surprised.
“Ok. But are you going to be able to walk in those shoes? They are really for looking good in rather than taking a walk in the park?”
“I know but I just need to breath some fresh air. I didn’t realise how horrible, smelly and noisy London was until today.”
Martin grinned.
“Yeah, I know what you mean. It will be nice to get home tomorrow.”
As luck would have it, it came on to rain before they’d managed to cross Piccadilly. So they took shelter in a café.
“A Hot Chocolate and a mineral water please” said Martin to the waitress.
“Who's is the mineral water?” asked Angela.
“Yours. I rather like that dress on you so it would be nice to keep it, that is if you don’t take that as an insult.”
Angela grinned back.
What Martin didn’t know was that she had bought a larger sized one as well. They were going for 40% off in a Sale so just in case this one was really too tight, she’d purchased the second one. Still, she thought to herself, I rather like the way this one just fits everywhere. His words did worry her in one respect. He was starting to treat her like his girlfriend despite him keeping pretty well right to the letter and spirit of her contract.
She drank her mineral water in silence. Her stomach was rumbling gently so the thoughts of ordering room service upon their return to the hotel was not far from her mind
It was starting to get dark by the time they returned to their hotel.
Angela kicked off her shoes as soon as they entered the room.
“Why don’t you go and take a bath. We don’t have to be at the restaurant until eight,” suggested Martin.
“Don’t you want to know my report from the meeting?”
“There will be plenty of time for that. I’ll order a few snacks to tide us over. We probably won’t be eating until after nine.”
Angela desperately wanted to disagree but her feet said ‘pamper me’. It had been a long time since she’d worn heels that high and for that long. She gave in and headed off to the bathroom.
Nearly an hour later, she emerged feeling much better apart from her ever more noisy stomach.
Martin was nowhere to be seen but to her relief, set out on the table was an array of little snacks.
She selected some and sat down on one of the two huge sofas, put her feet up and started to watch some TV.
She thought that this would be a nice change as even though there was a TV back ‘home’, it was rarely on in the evenings. Most evenings they’d have dinner and talk for a while. Then she would clear away, do the washing up, ok, put the dishes in the dishwasher and switch it on. Then she would settle down and read a book. His library was very extensive in both size and range. After a while, she really didn’t miss a daily dose of TV.
After some 30 minutes and a huge amount of channel hopping, she realised why she didn’t miss it. There was nothing worth watching on despite her flicking through some 100+ channels. Long look at the EPG told her that there was only one thing on that night worth watching and that was an old Lana Turner movie that started well after midnight.
The clock on the TV told her that it was time to go and get ready. There was still no sign of him.
Slightly worried by this, she quietly opened the door to his room.
She opened it a tad.
Sure enough, there he was fast asleep.
She smiled and decided to let him sleep a bit longer.
She set a mental timer for 20 minutes. Then she’d wake him up regardless.
She sat down in front of the dressing table mirror on her room and started to get ready.
Before she knew it, the 20 minutes was up and she went into his room and gently shook him awake.
“Come on sleepy cat. Time to get ready.”
He opened his eyes and then shut them again tight.
“What’s wrong? Aren’t you pleased to see me?”
“Go away. You have nothing on.”
It was her turn feel embarrassed.
He was right. She was totally naked. She’d been like that since she’d emerged from her bath.
“Sorry. I just thought it was about time for you to get ready. Sorry.”
Then she fled back to her room.
She sat down in front of the mirror and tried to sort out what went wrong.
It didn’t take her long to realise what it was.
She was now totally used to spending most of the day doing her chores around the house without any clothes on when Martin wasn’t there and now that the house had been ‘fixed up’ and was nice and warm. It just felt totally natural to emerge from the bath and not bother to get dressed until she had too.
Angela sat there for a few minutes unsure what to do. It bothered her that she’d gone back to wearing little or nothing so quickly. It bothered her even more that Martin was being the perfect gentleman despite her foo-pahs and frankly blatant taunting of the poor man over the past few months.
She made herself a resolution. After that night, she’d stop that and try to be a more normal person.
Dead on time at 19:45, Angela walked out of her bedroom, dressed to kill.
Her LBD with the L meaning LONG and fitting her like a glove. A pair of long black ‘opera’ gloves adorned both arms. Her only jewellery was a five strand pearl and silver choker with a matching broach on her left breast and matching single pearl earrings.
A black patent clutch bag containing a few essentials was in her left hand.
The final touch of magic was the last minute addition of velvet ‘Alice’ band in her hair.
“I’m ready!” she announced.
Martin was waiting for her in a pure White DJ complete with white Bow Tie.
“You look fantastic, but it appears that I pay my assistant far too much money,” remarked a grinning Martin.
Angela did a twirl. This revealed that the full skirt was slit right up to the top of the thigh in at least two places.
“Do you approve?”
“I do. I do indeed.”
“Well then let’s go. I’m famished.”
Martin sighed. Angela had demolished the plates of Tapas that Room Service had delivered earlier and still she was still hungry.
He took her arm and after checking his wallet, they left the room and headed downstairs.
Their ‘Limo’ for the evening was waiting for them outside.
The doorman helped Angela into the vehicle and in return got a good view of her stocking clad legs.
He returned to his post a very happy person as well as another £20.00 richer. Views like that made his job very rewarding.
The Limo took them to Westminster Pier where their ‘Dinner Boat’ was waiting. All the other guests were already aboard so they’d hardly stepped off the walkway before the ropes were ‘let go’ and their evening began in earnest.
All of the men at the afternoon meeting were there. Many were with their partners. Angela knew from the afternoon that she would have to play hard to get if only to avoid some potentially nasty run ins with the ‘wives and partners’ of the men.
Martin handed her a glass of Champagne and whispered to her,
“Just go easy on the booze.”
“Yes boss.”
They mingled amongst the other people on the boat until it was time for dinner to be served.
Just before nine and with the former ‘Millennium Dome’ off the starboard bow, the gong sounded, announcing the serving of dinner.
Angela spotted Martin in the crowd. She started to hang back but he waved her forward.
Still not quite sure where she was going, she entered the dining room. Everyone had pre-assigned seats at the table. Along with many people, she wandered along the aisle between the tables looking for her assigned place.
It took her less than a minute to discover her seat. Feeling relieved, she plonked herself down.
A good many other diners were still locating their seats. Angela looked around for Martin. He was at the far end of her table. He smiled at her from afar. A few butterflies committed ‘hara-kiri’ in her stomach at the same time. She really wanted him to be closer even though they’d spent hours going over seemingly every detail of the role she was to play that evening.
Her thoughts were interrupted by one of the men who’d been at the meeting earlier sitting down opposite to her.
Angela smiled at him.
He tried to smile back. He was not very successful.
Before she could engage him in conversation, another man sat down next to her.
“We meet again Ms. Jenkins.”
Angela shook his offered hand.
“Good evening Mr. Moffatt. It seems we do indeed meet again.”
Before he’d even settled down he whispered in her ear,
“What say you and me duck out of this and enjoy the moonlit night out on Deck. It can be very romantic.”
Angela immediately felt like punching him on the nose right there and then. Luckily, she held back.
Under the table, she used her 5in pointed heel of her left shoe as an unseen substitute.
Alec Moffatt winced in pain.
Angela gave him a little smile that said,
“Try that again buster and it won’t be your foot that gets hurt I am a happily married woman.”
Just then, her ‘target’ or ‘person of interest sat down on her right.
“Hello Ms. Jenkins. You are looking ever more radiant tonight.”
“Hello Mr. Griffiths. It is nice to see you again.”
“Just call me Charlie please! Like the Fast Bowler.”
“Eh?”
He looked startled.
He picked up his striped tie.
“MCC. Just got in last year. Charlie Griffith was a West Indian Fast Bowler who played in the late 1960’s. I used to go to Lords to see him when I was a child.”
“I’m sorry Charlie, I don’t follow.”
That was a lie. Martin had briefed her about the game of Cricket and in particular the MCC. Charlie was the man he’d briefed her about.
Angela sat back and let Charlie spout forth until it was time for the first course.
All the time he’d been speaking, Angela was playing footsie with the man opposite. He was trying to do everything possible to avoid contact with her patent clad foot.
She smiled at him. He tried to look everywhere but back at her.
Then she knew it, he was ‘gay’.
She made polite chatter all evening with ‘Charlie’. Despite them playing ‘footsie’ under the table, he gave nothing away all night.
Back in their hotel room, Angela kicked off her heels and sat down on the sofa and rubbed her feet.
“It’s been a very long time since I've worn heels that high and for that long,” she remarked for the second time that day.
Then she laughed at what she’d just said.
“What’s so funny?”
“I said those very words to myself after the meeting earlier.”
He joined in with a laugh but then he said,
“Then you’d better practice a bit then,” quipped Martin
“And why would that be?”
“Well, I’ve invested a good deal of hard earned money in those clothes. It would be a shame not to get my monies worth from now wouldn’t it?”
“Hmm. I suppose you have at that”
“Good. Then its settled then.”
“Hey wait a minute what about today?”
“What do you mean?”
“Did you sort out their problems? Did you get the job?”
“Oh yeah. I was pretty well all signed sealed and delivered before today”
“Then why the fuck did you get me to partake in that charade?”
“Because my dear Angela, it is all down to image. I only had to win over the chairman and you my friend Angela did that marvellously. Not only were you the beautiful secretary come assistant but you did the chairman a big favour by stomping on that idiot’s Moffatt’s foot. He’s no friend of the Chairman. So that really clinched it. He had a good laugh over that.”
Angela didn’t even begin to understand what Martin had just said. All that she did know was that her foot stomping had by some freak of chance been the right thing to do.
Angela knew one thing though and that was that she was rather hurt by the deception though. She felt a bit ‘used’.
Without thinking, she said angrily,
“Don’t ever use me like that again without telling me the reason why, the full monty not half the full story.”
“Hey, didn’t you enjoy the attention?”
Angela had to admit that she’d enjoyed the day even though her feet hurt like blazes.
“I did for a bit but being this glamorous comes at a cost you know. Would you massage my feet? They hurt like blazes.”
Martin sat on the end of the sofa and gently massaged her stocking clad feet for well over an hour until she fell asleep.
When her breathing steadied, Martin stood up and went into her bedroom and returned with the bedspread and draped it over her inert form.
Then he went to bed.
The following morning Martin awoke very early. Angela was still prone on the couch just where he’d left her the previous night.
He smiled at her when he saw her sleeping form.
He returned to his room and got dressed. When he returned, there was still no signs of movement from Angela so he ignored her and ordered breakfast from ‘room service’.
Some twenty minutes had passed and the arrival of breakfast was imminent. Martin then decided to gently tickle her feet until she woke up.
“Morning sleepyhead.”
“Uh?”
“I said good morning.”
“What time is it?”
“A little after nine.”
Suddenly she sat up.
“We’ve got to check out,” she said still not quite awake.
“Hold on Angela. We’ve until noon to check out. Besides, I’ve ordered Breakfast. It should be here in a few minutes.
“I must go and change.”
“By all means. Take your time.”
“It’s all right for you. I have a lot more things to do before I’m ready.”
“Ha-ha”
She glared at him. Then she headed for her room, the skirt of her dress flying everywhere.
A little over an hour later, Angela presented herself in the main part of the suit.
“Ready for something to eat?” asked Martin.
“Yes. But don’t sound so cheerful.”
“Why not. The world is a fine place. Thanks to in no small part to you; I’ve enough work for the next 6 to 9 months. So tell me why shouldn’t I be cheerful?”
“Pah,” was Angela’s only comment as she tucked into the assorted goodies on the Breakfast tray.
Just before midday the pair checked out of the hotel and drove home.
As Martin turned off the main road towards the house, he said,
“Thanks again Angela. You did everything perfectly. If you would like to there could be more events like that.”
She didn’t reply. In fact, she didn’t say anything until they’d unloaded the car and were inside the house once more.
“I’d like that very much. Thank you for involving me in your work.”
“I’ll try to do it a bit more then.”
Martin just smiled in reply.
[about a week later]
Martin was working in his office and Angela was changing the Winter Curtains for the Summer ones in the room upstairs when the phone rang.
“Hello,” said Martin.
“Oh hi Babs. Thanks for getting back to me.”
“Yes. I owe you two. So how’s about both of you coming over for Sunday Lunch.”
“Ha-Ha. Yes, I do. She’s been here since the beginning of December. Her name is Angela.”
“You’ll just have to make you own mind up on Sunday.”
“Yeah. You too. Bye.”
His smiling face said everything. That was one phone call he’d been looking forward to.
After finishing something on his computer he went in search of Angela.
He found her in his Bedroom. She’d just finished swapping the curtains.
“Angela, can I have a word please?”
“Yeah sure. I’ve just about done up here.”
“We have two guests coming over for lunch on Sunday.”
“Friends of yours?”
“Yeah. They are two very nice people. Lawyers. The have their offices in the village. They are neighbours of ours actually.”
Angela stood there waiting.
“Well?”
“What?”
“Aren’t you going to tell me some more?”
Martin smiled.
“I was trying to find the right words. Their names are Jo and Babs. They are women and they live together.”
“Are you trying to say that they are Lesbians?”
“Sort of.”
“I’m ok with that if that’s what you are concerned about?”
“Yes, yes I am.”
“Thanks for letting me know.”
Martin felt relieved.
“I’ll do the cooking. All you have to do is to look nice.”
“The trophy wife role again eh?”
“No. Not in the slightest. Just be yourself. They won’t bite. Besides, they know you are my housekeeper.”
Angela smiled.
“Now get the hell out of here or this housekeeper won’t be cooking you any food tonight.”
“Ok. Ok, I can take the hint”.
[The following Sunday]
Angela was busying herself in the kitchen when she heard the crunch of footsteps on gravel. She looked up and out the window. Two people were walking towards the house. They’d come up the garden.
Angela cried out, “Martin! Two people are coming up the garden path”.
“That’s ok. They are our guests,” he called back from the upstairs where he'd gone to get changed after preparing the food for Lunch.
“I’ll be down in a minute. Let them in and play hostess.”
Angela’s thoughts at that moment were unprintable.
She put down the saucepan that she’d been carrying and opened the back door.
“Hello. You must be Babs and Jo?”
“That’s us,” said Babs.
“I’m Babs. This is Joanna or Jo for short.”
“Please come on in.”
The two came into the kitchen. They were both carrying large plastic carrier bags.
Jo gave hers to Angela.
“Please be a dear and hold that while I get these boots off.”
Angela stood there dumbfounded.
Babs noticed this.
“Its’ ok Angela. Martin and us two old dears go back years. We live in the house beyond this one. Coming over the garden is the easiest way. The downside is the stream that we have to cross at the bottom of our gardens. Hence the wellies. We have a change of clothes in these bags.”
Jo had removed her coat and her pair of ‘red spotted wellies’.
“Thanks.”
Then they left her alone in the kitchen.
She heard them going upstairs.
Angela thought, what the fuck just happened.
Two women had breezed in and through her kitchen without as much as a 'by your leave'.
A good 10 minutes later Martin and their guests came downstairs. Both Martin and Babs had evil smiles on their faces. This didn’t go unnoticed by Angela.
They sat down and waited while she served the first course, Gravlax and Salad.
At the end of an excellent meal, Martin said,
“Chloe is coming for tea.”
“Since when?” said Angela angrily, momentarily distracted from her problems.
“Since just before Lunch. Jo persuaded me to ask her to visit”
“What if she’s doing something else? Something with her family?”
“She won’t be doing anything.”
“How far will she have to travel?” asked Angela/
Martin realised that he’d nowhere to go now. He had to come clean.
“Angela, she won’t have to go anywhere. I’m Chloe. There I’ve said it. I’m Chloe.”
Then it clicked.
“Oh fuck. I never saw that one coming. Sorry for that.”
“Well, do you want to meet Chloe or not?”
Martin was getting desperate now.
Then he dug the hole he was in a whole lot deeper.
“Angela, I love you. I have done ever since we had that trip to London. I saw the real you and I can’t get you out of my mind, but part of me is Chloe and you have to know about her.”
“If this is some ploy to get inside me into bed then you are rudely mistaken?”
“No. No it’s not that at all.”
Then it was Martin’s turn to start weeping.
Angela saw that his emotion was genuine. She was also unsure how to handle it.
In the end, she came back to the kitchen table and gently took hold of his hand.
They sat there for some time silent. Each of them totally immersed in their own thoughts and trying to understand what to do next.
Eventually, Angela said.
“Yes, I’d like to meet Chloe, to find out where she’s been hiding all this time. I’m….”
“Angela, take your time and give Chloe a chance,” said Jo.
Then she took hold of Bab’s hand and looked lovingly into her eyes before saying,
“We both had real problems coming to terms with our sexuality. Now we are truly comfortable with our life.”
“What’s so hard about being Lesbians? I’ve known plenty of them who are really in your face in London?”
“Angela,” said Babs.
“We are both like Chloe.”
This was too much for Angela to take. She fled into the kitchen.
Martin came into the kitchen soon after.
“I knew you weren’t telling me everything!” she exclaimed.
“I know and I’m sorry. I’ve wanted to tell you for several weeks but kept chickening out. Babs threatened to tell you herself unless I told you today.”
She tried to say something but the words just would not come out.
He went down into the cellar and opened the hidden wardrobe where ‘Chloe’s’ things were kept.
With an armful of clothes and carrying a large makeup bag, he quietly went upstairs. Be put everything onto his bed and then returned to the kitchen.
Angela was still sitting there where he’d left her.
Martin said quietly,
“Angela, Chloe would appreciate some help in getting dressed. It has been a long time since she has put any makeup on.”
She didn’t say anything.
Gently, he took hold of her left hand with his right one.
She didn’t resist as he led her upstairs and into his bedroom.
“Where… Where were these clothes? I cleaned out all your drawers and things after the builders were in fitting the new windows.”
“There is another wardrobe down in the Cellar. Chloe’s things are kept in there.”
She saw herself in the mirror. She’d stopped crying now.
“God I look a mess.”
“You look as beautiful as ever.”
“Don’t give me that crap.”
“It is true Angela. I realised that once you’d cleaned up on your very first day here. Then you were a real knockout in that grey and black dress. When I saw you in it, I almost keeled over. You are a beautiful and intelligent woman and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
“That’s as maybe. We are not here to talk about me. Where’s this Chloe character then?”
Martin smiled. There is nothing like a bit of OTT praise to perk a woman’s spirits up.
“Which outfit do you think she should wear?”
“Where is she going to go this rainy Sunday afternoon?”
“Perhaps Angela might like to take her out for a meal tonight? After all, she did spend a lot of time in the kitchen already today.”
Angela gave him a weak smile in return. She was having doubts about Martin's ability to 'pass' in Public.
“If I don’t think Chloe’s up for it then we’ll stay in ok? And I'll make supper?”
“Absolutely. She wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Angela bent over and pulled out a long black knitted dress. It had a high roll collar.
“Let’s start with this one.”
“Ok. Can you sort out the makeup whilst Chloe scrubs her face clean?”
Angela gave him a little nod of agreement.
Martin went into his bathroom and had a shave, his second of the day. While he was doing so, he tried to understand where things went wrong at lunchtime. Clearly the smell of his ‘come’ of Bab’s lips was the tipping point. The only positive he could think of about the whole episode was that at least he’d told Angela of his feelings but if she’d even heard it was another question entirely.
A few minutes later, he sat down in front of the mirror in his bedroom.
“Well Chloe, this lot of makeup was once upon a time ok but now? Well frankly it is only worth putting in the bin. Most of the foundation has dried up so we shall have to make do with what we’ve got.”
Martin smiled back. He was pleased at her use of ‘Chloe’.
Chloe stripped off all her horrid male clothes and put on a clean pair of knickers and hooked up a front closing bra around her chest.
She stuffed a pair of false breasts inside the cups. Then she pulled the dress on over her head.
“How do I look?”
Angela chuckled.
“Like a frigging man in a dress. How else should I answer?”
Chloe smiled and sat down in front of the mirror.
Angela began her work. Her skill with makeup was soon very evident.
Half an hour later, she pronounced that she was done.
“Well Chloe, with a bit more work, you could be quite pretty”
Chloe felt completely different.
She opened a plastic bag and pulled out a light brown ‘bobbed’ wig.
“This is just perfect for that dress,” commented Angela as she put a comb through it.
Soon, it was in place and Chloe was nearly ready.
“I’ll let you finish off. I need to sort myself out now.”
Angela left him alone.
Then he heard the door to Angela’s room slam shut.
Chloe tiptoed along the landing to her door.
She could hear Angela inside swearing and cursing over the sound of the latest ‘one hit wonder boy band’ on the Radio.
The words “Why me” were repeated many times.
Gradually the sounds of her remonstrations subsided.
Chloe crept back to her (or rather his) bedroom.
She put on a pair of black tights and a pair of medium height shoes.
Quietly she went downstairs and into the warmth of the kitchen. The Aga made the room nice and toasty even on the coldest days. Babs and Jo had left them to it now that Chloe was now out in the open.
She put the kettle on to boil while she set too and cleared away the remains of the Lunch things.
The kettle boiled noisily and Chloe made a pot of Chamomile Tea. This was a favourite of Angela’s.
As it was brewing, the kitchen door opened. Angela came into the room. Her makeup had been repaired and she’d changed into a long skirt and matching a sweatshirt top.
“Just in time for some tea” suggested Chloe.
“Thank you. I could do with some.”
She sat down opposite Chloe.
Chloe poured the tea into her favourite mug. She poured herself one too.
Angela sat for a long while with her hands wrapped around the mug. She didn’t say anything.
She drank some of the tea.
“Where do we go from here?”
“What do you mean?” asked Chloe.
“I thought we were getting along so well. Then you go and mess with my brain by coming out as a tranny and then you top it all by telling me that you loved me. I was so happy just being here and… Just being here and safe and in the warm, well warmer now that I got this place fixed up a bit. But safe and earning a bit of cash as well. It was a good gig.”
“And now?” asked Chloe very concerned about the use of the word ‘was’.
“I really don’t know. If I had somewhere to go, I’d probably have left earlier but I couldn’t for some reason.”
She stopped.
“Sorry, I’m rambling”
“No Angela. It’s all right. I didn’t plan on today turning out like this that is for sure.”
She drank some more of the tea.
“I guess you didn’t. I think we both said a few things we didn’t mean, you know before.”
“All forgotten. Now we are here. You and Me. Trying to talk things over like to sane adults.”
“Sane? That’s a laugh.”
“Why?”
“Look at you?”
“Me?”
“Yeah. I got halfway through putting your makeup on then I realised that you were ok. Comfortable in yourself and at ease despite everything that had gone on. I realised that Martin was a front for the real person and frankly that has scared me shitless.”
“Why? Why would I scare you shitless?” asked Chloe softly.
“I’m so bloody jealous of you.”
This admission really shocked Chloe.
“Why would you be jealous of me?”
“Didn’t you hear a word I’ve just said? As Chloe, you are totally comfortable in yourself. As Martin, there was always something holding you back, something about you that didn’t quite fit. Then as I put that make-up on you, you changed before my very eyes. Gone was the edginess and everything. It made me scared, shit scared.”
She sat there looking at her now empty mug.
“Did you mean it? Telling me that you loved me?”
“Yes. Do you think I’d say it if I didn’t?”
“I wish you hadn’t done that. It ruins everything. I’m not sure what to do now. Part of me says get the hell out of here but the rest of me says stay. To stay and try to get to know Chloe, the real you but I’m scared that I might fall in love with you.”
She sat looking at the table.
Chloe poured some more Tea for Angela.
“Is that such a bad thing? You know falling in love with me?”
Then Chloe added,
“Am I really that scary?” asked Chloe.
“No. Chloe. It’s not you. Its me.”
Chloe felt sad inside. She’d heard the ‘It’s me not you’ line from her ex a week before she walked out on him with everything of value she could stuff into her car. Only the sterling work of Babs and Jo had gotten most of it back in the Divorce.
“It’s me Chloe. I know this sounds corny but ever since I was thirteen or fourteen, I’ve had one disaster after another in relationships with one piss awful man after another. They all seemed to only want one thing.”
“So that’s why you…”
“Yeah, that’s why I told you not to even think about getting inside my panties.”
Angela chuckled.
“You didn’t even try and after a month or so, I knew that you weren’t such a bad person at all”
“So Martin is not all bad then?”
“No. No he isn’t. Maybe that’s why I stayed. He tried very hard to make me feel at home, part of his family. That was nice. Looking at it now, that was a pleasant change. He went out of his way not to try to get me to do anything I didn’t want to do.”
Chloe laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“I think that ‘don’t mess with me’ should be carved on your gravestone.”
They both had a good laugh at that.
“Anyway, I’m glad you didn’t go. Are you going to give me a chance? A chance to prove that I can love you and not hurt you?”
Once again Angela didn’t say anything for some time.
She drank the now nearly cold remains of her second cup of tea.
“Is Chloe planning on staying around for a while?”
“I guess so if that’s what you want?”
She shook her head.
“No. It’s what Chloe wants that matters.”
It was soon obvious that they were going round and round in circles and not getting any further. Chloe gave up and went to bed thinking that perhaps if Angela slept on it, they might make some progress in the morning.
The morning came and Angela wasn’t in the mood to talk things over despite Chloe’s attempts to get her to speak. In the end, she had to give up as she had some work to do and Angela went out without saying where she was going.
For a moment, Chloe was concerned that Angela was leaving for good but she just put on her coat and went out.
Angela returned well after Lunch. She walked right into the ‘office’ where Chloe was struggling to get anything productive done.
“I’m staying.” Angela announced.
“If Chloe stays, I’m staying.”
Chloe was rather taken aback by her abruptness.
“But…”
Angela put up her hand to stop her.
“Ok, I know that Martin has to be around some of the time. But I want a relationship with Chloe. A lesbian relationship.”
“Eh? A lesbian relationship?”
“Yeah, but I don’t do cocksucking. I’ve done more than enough of that in my old life.”
Chloe was amazed at her directness.
“Babs told me a lot of interesting things about you, them and stuff. That’s where I’ve been. At lot of things make sense now. According to Jo, your ex was jealous like me and couldn’t handle it. So she got her own back by going off with your only really close male friend.”
Angela sat down and took hold of Chloe’s hand.
“I know it won’t be easy for both of us. For me especially. I have to overcome a bit phobia I have about commitment. But I want us to at least try.”
“Besides, your ex. Babs said that it didn’t last. She cleaned him out as well. I’m not like that. I’ve had enough ‘bad’ things in my life. I’m determined to make this different. To give us a chance.”
Chloe sat there dumbfounded. She’d fully expected Angela to return, pack her bags and leave him alone once more. The change in her attitude, and everything was dramatic.
Chloe leaned over and hugged Angela. Then for the first time they kissed. They kissed long and hard.
Chloe went to bed that night thinking hard about the events of the day and how her life had changed. Despite her reservations, she decided to give this ‘gig’ a go. Eventually she fell asleep realising that she hadn’t given Chloe or Martin and answer to his declaration of love for him. She had a few demons that needed exorcising before she could move on with her life.
[To be continued]
Now that Chloe was out in the open things moved along nicely at the house.
Angela more or less took control of Chloe’s metamorphosis from ‘yeah but you are a man aren’t you?’ into something more like ‘what are you doing on Friday?’ sort of appearance. She thinned his eyebrows a bit but not too much so that when Martin had to make an appearance it wouldn’t be obvious that the was a cross-dresser.
After some arm-twisting, Chloe and Angela ventured out into the big bad world together. At first, they went walking in the High Weald. For Angela this place was just about as far removed from central London as you could be and she began to feel at home for the first time in a very long time.
The walking trips became more and more frequent as the weeks and then months went by. Martin’s appearances became more and more infrequent. The space in his wardrobe for Martins’ clothes shrunk considerably as Chloe’s wardrobe grew by leaps and bounds thanks to the wonders of the Internet. Angela’s wardrobe also grew but Chloe didn’t mind paying for them.
As the saying goes, ‘All good things must come to an end’. For the couple, it did in a way that neither of them had expected.
One day in late summer they were walking along the promenade in Whitstable. Chloe was going to introduce Angela to the local shellfish when Martin’s phone rang. Normally, any calls received when they were out together but the ring-tone on this one made her say,
“Sorry, I have to take this call.”
“Hello?”
“There has? When did this occur?”
“Did the alerting work properly? Is everything shutdown?”
Chloe breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the answer.
“I guess the next step is to reset the keys?” asked Chloe.
“That’s ok. I can be there in about an hour traffic permitting. At the most Ninety minutes.”
“No, I’m not in the City. I’m out on the Kent Coast in near Margate,” was Chloe’s slightly evasive reply.
“Yes, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
She hung up the phone with a very serious look on her face.
“What’s wrong?”
“There’s been a security breach at one of my customers. The master keys to several thousand ATM’s have been compromised.”
“That does not sound very good?” asked Angela.
“It isn’t. Close on two thousand Cash Machines all over the country have been shutdown.”
“Oh. That doesn’t sound too good?”
“That is rather an understatement,” said a very serious Chloe.
Then she added,
“Look Angela, I’m going to have to go and sort this out but I can’t afford the time to take you home before I go to the site to work on this. Time is of the essence.”
“That’s ok. I’ll come with you.”
“Are you sure?”
Angela giggled.
“Have you forgotten that you are not Martin?”
An expression of despair appeared on her face.
“Oh well, I guess the time has come for me to go public then? Not in the way I’d envisaged but needs must.”
A huge smile appeared on Angela’s face.
“Are you sure about this?”
“At this point in time, I don’t have any choice now do I?”
They hurried back to the car and set off towards London. Chloe drove with a determined expression on her face. Angela took this as a sign that idle chit-chat was not on the menu.
Their destination turned out to be a non-descript industrial unit not far from the Lakeside Shopping Centre. They arrived some 75 minutes after the call. There were three other cars parked outside.
“What is this place?” asked Angela.
“It is a Computer Data Centre for one of my customers.”
“But it says, ‘Douglas Material Services’ on the outside?”
“All part of keeping the place anonymous and very low key.”
“Do you want me to sit here? While you are doing whatever you need to do?”
“No, you’d better come inside. There’s a small office with a Coffee Machine you can use.”
“Where will you be?”
“Somewhere in the building.”
“Ok, you can’t say where. But couldn’t you do whatever you have to do from home?”
Chloe smiled.
“There are a few things that have to be done by people actually in front of the machine and this is one of them. Sort of like hitting the nuclear button. I have to observe the operations and make a report to the Board of Directors tomorrow.”
Once Angela was settled in the Office, Chloe went up to a security door and used both her thumb to gain access to the internals of the building.
With a final smile back at Angela, she went inside.
A couple of hours later Chloe and three men emerged. They all had stern expressions on their faces.
Angela asked Chloe, “Is everything ok?”
“The first part is done. Now we need to go to Warrington.”
“Warrington? Why?”
“There is another system that is the backup to this one there that needs to be reset in the same way as we have just done here.”
Angela looked at her watch and said,
“At this time of day? That is going to take hours and hours.”
Chloe looked outside. The three men were obviously waiting for her.
“We are flying. There is a plane waiting for us at London City Airport.”
“What about me? You are going to be gone for hours?”
“You could come with us?”
“Me? I’m hardly dressed for going on a trip?”
Chloe laughed.
“Neither of us are but we need to get a move on. The flight Plan has been filed and the plane needs to get airborne ASAP.”
Chloe took Angela’s hand and they left the building.
As Chloe introduced Angela to the men, she stared at one of them. She recognised him from her past. She desperately tried not to show that she’d remembered him. He just smiled at her when she was introduced.
They piled into two of the cars and headed down the A13 towards London and the City Airport.
The experience of flying in a private jet was new to Angela but the men weren’t saying much. They all had stern looks on their face. She took the hint and kept quiet. The ‘event’ whatever it was, was serious.
They landed at Liverpool John Lennon some forty minutes after take-off. Two cars were waiting for them. These whisked the party along the M62 to another anonymous building on another almost identikit industrial estate.
The men disappeared into the building leaving Angela alone in the car with one of the drivers. He wasn’t especially chatty so she gave up and waited for the men to return.
This time, they were gone less than thirty minutes. Then it was back in the cars, back to the airport and back to London. By the time they got back to the first building and Chloe’s car.
As they drew away, Chloe asked,
“Is it all done?”
“Yes. Now they can start rolling out the new keys to all the ATM’s. The Security Admins will be in for a long night. Each one could take around 20 minutes to update.”
“Don’t you have to be involved in this?”
“Thankfully no, I don’t. I’ll be working into the night as well writing a report. It should only take a few hours.”
Angela hesitated a bit before asking.
“The man with the broad pinstripe suit? Who was he?”
“Why? Do you know him?”
“Yes,” replied Angela somewhat reluctantly.
“Oh.”
“His name is Alexander Stewart. He’s the company Financial Director.”
“It wasn’t that when I knew him. He was introduced to me as Jim Pascoe.”
“How long ago was this?”
She thought for a few seconds before answering.
“Three and bit years.”
Chloe thought for a bit.
“Thanks for that. I’ll do some digging. I’ve never liked him. Perhaps there really is more to him than meets the eye.”
It was very late by the time they got home. Angela prepared a few sandwiches for Chloe before going to bed. Sleep didn’t come easily for her. Her past might well have caught up on her. Chloe knew most of the bad bits but she’d left out a few of the really bad things she’d had to do before she got on the road to recovery.
Things didn’t look much better in the morning. Angela came downstairs to find Chloe fast asleep at her desk. She tiptoed past her and into the kitchen where she sat down and wept. It was looking like she’d have to leave a place that had grown upon her these past months.
Eventually, she got herself together and started making some Coffee and while that was brewing, she began to prepare breakfast hopefully not making too much noise.
She’d nearly finished when she noticed a movement out of the corner of her eye. It was Chloe.
“Good morning, Angela,” she said sleepily.
Angela smiled.
“You look like death warmed up. Why don’t you go and take a quick shower? You’ll feel a lot better.”
Chloe smiled back at her. She just nodded her head and disappeared.
Half an hour later, Chloe returned looking a lot better.
“I bet you are hungry?” suggested Angela as she sat down.
“Just a bit.”
“What time did you finish?”
“I think it was close to five.”
“You poor thing, you must be exhausted?”
“Nothing a few hours in bed wouldn’t cure.”
Angela dished up a hearty breakfast and sat down at the table with Chloe.
“Aren’t you eating?”
“Later,” came her simple reply.
When Chloe had finished eating, she sat back nursing a cup of Coffee in one hand.
“I think I found out the source of the problems. I have to thank you for the idea.”
“Me? What did I say?”
“You suggested that Mr Alexander Stewart might not be all he appeared to be.”
A beaming smile spread across Angela’s face.
“And?”
“He is a mystery. But I have enough to go to the CEO and start a formal investigation.”
Then Chloe asked,
“How did you come to know Mr Stewart or Pascoe?”
“He was a client of mine. I say client, several of us shall we say entertained him and a few of his friends on several occasions in a former life, before I escaped and went on the streets.”
Chloe knew that Angela was not proud of her past and had very reluctantly told Martin about it a month or so before.
“Oh, I see,” said Chloe.
“The problem is, if he recognised me then you could be in trouble.”
“Trouble how?”
Angela sighed.
“All of our, shall I say, encounters were arranged by my former Pimp. He will more than likely get to hear about it and will come looking for me. He does not like his girls leaving. I ran away after taking a bit of a beating from a client. I also took close to a grand in earnings with me. He’ll want that back with interest plus a considerable sum in lost earnings for the time since I legged it.”
Chloe knew a lot about Angela’s background but this worried her.
“Do you think he’ll come looking for you here?”
“This is bit off his patch but quite possibly, yes he will. He probably thinks he still owns me.”
“Then we will have to take precautions then won’t we?”
“What do you mean?”
“Let me worry about that. Is there any way you can find out if your old pimp knows about your new life? What’s his name by the way?”
“Vladimir Putin.”
Chloe almost fell off her chair laughing.
“This is no laughing matter!” exclaimed Angela.
“I’m sorry. But…”
“Yeah. The story is that he knew the real one back in Russia as they served in the KGB together before the fall of Communism. He came over here in 1992 and changed his name soon after long before the real Mr Putin became famous.”
“Do you know what it was before?”
“Yeah, he keeps a Russian passport in his old name. I got a chance to see it one day. It’s Igor Ivanovitch.”
“Can you reach out to anyone to see if you have been busted?”
“Yes but…”
“I know it will cost me some money.”
“No but I’ll need another phone. One that can’t be traced.”
Chloe smiled.
“No need for that. I’ll setup a call for you. It will be totally un-traceable, you can count on that.”
“Are you sure? He’s got all sorts of connections.”
“I’m sure. This is what I do for a living remember.”
An hour later, Angela joined Chloe in her office. Chloe handed Angela a headset complete with microphone.
“Right, what’s the number?”
Angela wrote it down on a slip of paper.
“Good. If the person we are calling has caller ID, they’ll see a number in Moscow. The general number for the Kremlin to be exact.” said Chloe as she rapidly punched in a series of numbers into his keyboard.
“It’s ringing,” said Angela.
Chloe picked up an earpiece to listen in on the call.
After a few rings, it was answered.
“Hello Sam, this is Francesca,” said Angela using her ‘working girl’ name.
“Hi Fran. Back in the land of the living then? We heard that you were back last night.”
“Not exactly back but I take it Vlad is on the warpath?”
“Yeah, he took a call around ten last night. Then he went ballistic. If you can get out of wherever you are then I’d get going. He’s not a happy Russian. More like an angry Russian Bear. I hear the south pole is good at this time of year. If you could go, I’d get on a plane now.”
“Thanks Sam, that’s what I needed to know. You take care now."
Chloe disconnected the call on the computer.
“Well? It is as we feared,” said Angela.
“In that case, I’d like you to go and get a few things together and put them in a small bag. Make it look like you left in a real hurry, drawers left open, clothes strewn about in a mess. Then go to Babs. She’ll take you to a safe house.”
“Safe house?”
“Babs and Jo, are as you know solicitors. Their main business is representing young Gay, Lesbian and Trans people who have to run away or are being abused at home. They have at least one safe house where they put their clients up until they can get the legal things like guardianship sorted out.”
“I didn’t know.”
“They like to keep their business close to their chests so to speak. Not everyone would understand.”
Angela was flabbergasted.
“But…”
“That’s between us ok. They really prefer to be known as ‘that lesbian couple who live in Orchard View’ and keep a low profile.”
“I get it. I’ll keep quiet,” then she added,
“So I go to this safe house what happens then?”
“The less you know the better and even better for me to know nothing at all. What I don’t know, I can’t tell.”
“Like that is it? I thought that we didn’t have any secrets between us now?”
“It is not a secret but at the moment, what you don’t know, can’t hurt you. So when Vlad comes a knocking, I can say truthfully that I don’t know where you are.”
Angela couldn’t argue with that given her very suspect background.
“Go on, get going!” said Chloe.
Angela started to say something but stopped before she said something that she might regret. Instead, she stomped off upstairs to pack.
Twenty minutes later Chloe kissed a tearful Angela goodbye. She watched as Angela disappeared down the garden path towards their neighbour’s house.
Then Chloe burst into life and before long she’d disappeared and Martin was back. At the same time, he activated the hidden cameras that watched every room and importantly the grounds surrounding the house. These cameras had Infrared capability. The various data feeds were then sent over a hidden cable to a server farm in Scotland.
His next task was to make a call to an old army colleague of his. The call was brief and to the point. It ended after less than a minute with the person on the other end saying, ‘Understood Sir. We’ll be there within three hours.”
Finally, he sent a text message to another person. He received a reply less than five minutes later. With a small smile on his face he did a factory reset on the phone. It was backed up in the cloud but he wanted no evidence for any visitors to find and should the worst outcome he could imagine actually happen.
Then Martin waited for the first of his visitors to arrive.
Around midday, three men appeared at the back door to the house. Martin quickly let them in.
After greetings and pleasantries were exchanged as well as a brew of strong tea, they got down to planning the operation. Martin reckoned that it was highly unlikely that any unwelcome visitors would appear before darkness so the team had a few hours to get ready. Near the end of the discussions he said,
“Don’t be surprised if we have another visitor soon. Don’t worry, they are on our side but they weren’t ever here understood?”
None of the men argued. They knew the importance of ‘need to know’ and ‘know to need’ when it came to field operations.
The men were former colleagues of his from his days in the Army. Each of the three was assigned tasks and left to get on with it. The smallest, Pete naturally nicknamed ‘Titch’ was assigned to set up an Observation Point in the attic. The tiny window gave him good views of the road and the driveway leading to the house. The other two set up small camouflage bivvies on either side of the driveway leading to the house.
Then three men settled down to wait. This was something they were good at.
Martin meanwhile was sending the results of his investigations into Mr Stewart to the Company as well as to the Serious Fraud Office of the Met Police. He also tipped off a few of his more reliable journalist friends. These were the ones he could trust not to blab to all and sundry where they’d got the tip from.
With that done, Martin occupied himself by making sure all the windows and doors to the house were locked and the alarm system set. Finally, he started copying all his sensitive data to the secure server farm in Scotland. As his lawyer, Jo had details of how to access the data should the need arise. He sincerely hoped that he could manage the situation without… well getting kidnapped.
Just before 10pm, a black Mercedes SUV with blacked out windows swept into the drive. Three large men emerged.
Up in the attic, Titch spoke into the encrypted radio that the team were using to communicate.
“Target arrived. Three heavies all carrying concealed weapons doing obbo on the house. A fourth man is in the Vehicle.”
There were no replies from the other team members. Radio Silence was all part of their training.
Martin watched the men via the camera system. They’d come prepared as one of them had a night vision scope and was using it to scan the garden. Martin smiled because he’d done the same after it had gotten dark. His team were well dug in and knew that they’d find nothing. After a couple of minutes, one of them gave the ‘Ok’ to the man in the car and he emerged.
This was obviously the boss. Another very well built man. His broken nose and rugged features indicated that he was not a person you would want to meet in an alley on a dark night.
The four of them walked towards the house. One rang the bell.
‘At least they are being polite’, Martin said to himself as he got up out of his chair and walked towards the front door.
He opened it.
“Yes can I help you?”
The boss said,
“I think you have something of mine. I’m here to collect it.”
“What do you mean?” asked Martin feigning ignorance.
“Her! That bitch you were with yesterday when you were all tartied up yourself by all accounts!”
“Oh you must mean Angela. She’d not here. She left early today.”
The boss nodded and two of the men burst through the door into the house.
“You don’t mind if we look around do you?” asked Vladimir.
“No… No not at all.”
By now all four of the visitors were inside the house. Two went upstairs, the third heavy searched downstairs while Vladimir stood close to Martin.
After a couple of minutes, they returned and reported that she was gone.
“Where’s she gone?” asked Vlad.
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t say. She even refused to let me take her to the station. The last I saw of her was her running down the drive to catch the bus to Maidstone. That was around ten this morning.”
Vlad didn’t like this answer.
“I can see that we are on camera so I’ll keep this polite. You owe me Four Hundred Grand. That’s the loss I’ve suffered since she went walkabout. If you pay, then we are good. If you don’t then I’ll be back and I won’t be so…. So polite. Understand?”
Martin nodded that he understood.
The boss gave a nod.
“I’ll be in touch to arrange payment. I will send someone to collect the money in a few days.”
“A few days? I don’t have that sort of money?”
“Really? Your credit report says otherwise.”
“Most of it is tied up in long term securities. I can’t just sell them like that?”
The boss grinned. Martin had revised his opinion of him. He was a smart wily character.
“I’m sure you will find a way. It is my money after all.”
Then his face went serious.
“Otherwise…”
He drew an imaginary knife across his neck with an evil smile on his face.
Then they headed out the door and climbed into their vehicle.
As they disappeared down the drive, his earpiece crackled into life.
“Trackers installed. Sump holed. Over to you Sir.”
Another voice came online. It was ‘Titch’.
“They’ve stopped just up the road. One of the heavies has got out and is checking the car over with some device.”
Martin smiled. Just as he’d anticipated, in that they were looking for tracking devices. The ones his team had used were designed to remain dormant for up to an hour after activation for this very purpose. He wasn’t a security consultant for nothing.
“All ok. He’s got back in and… Sir. They are just sitting there.”
Martin unlocked a drawer in his office desk and pulled out a handheld device. He switched it on and started to wave it about.
He was looking for bugs. He didn’t find any in his office so he closed the door and picked up a pen from his desk. He spoke into it.
“Thanks Titch. Everyone stay in position.”
Ten minutes went by before Titch spoke again.
“They are pulling away.”
“Everyone stay in position. I need to check the house.”
Martin had learned to be careful. He went through this procedure every time anyone he didn’t trust came into the house.
By the time he’d finished, he’d found six of the little beggars. He left them alone and went back into his office.
He spoke into the pen.
“Ok guys you can stand down. I’ll call the boys in blue then you can get out of here. Titch, I’m afraid you’ll have to stay were you are for a few more hours. My visitors have left a few ears behind.”
The team would know what Martin meant by ‘ears’.
“No problem Sir.”
Martin sat down with a sigh. He picked up the phone and dialled ‘999’.
“Police please,” he said with a determined tone to his voice.
An hour later, a car pulled up at the house. Two men got out and walked up to the house. Martin met them at the door. He put a finger to his lips and stepped outside closing the door behind him.
Outside the three men exchanged introductions. The two visitors introduced themselves.
“DCI John Parker. This is my colleague DI Imran Khan.”
“Pleased to meet you.”
“We are from the Met Serious and Organised Crime Division.”
“We understand that you gave us a tip about Vladimir Putin,” said the senior officer.
“Yes. He was here earlier demanding that I pay him a lot of money otherwise I might not be long for this world.”
“About that… “
“Yes?”
“He’ll deny it.”
Martin smiled.
“I have it all recorded on video.”
“We’ll need all copies. For our investigation you understand.”
Martin started to look worried.
“Why? Why all copies?”
“To preserve the chain of evidence.”
“I can’t get it today.”
The two men looked at each other.
“We need them now.”
Martin began to realise that there was something wrong with these men. He wondered if they were actually Policemen.
“The recordings are a long way away.”
“Can’t you get them over the internet?” asked the second officer.
Martin shook his head.
“No. The whole system was designed to be one way only. Security systems are my business.” he replied lying through his teeth.
“That makes things difficult. Very difficult indeed for us and even worse for you.”
As he said it, he pulled out his handcuffs. The second officer pulled out his expanding truncheon and flicked it into its operational position.
“You are going to have to come with us.”
“I’m not sure I should,” replied a nervous Martin.
“Oh but you must. We insist. Are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?”
Martin took a step backwards away from the two men.
“I’m sorry but I have to stay here. Those men might be back.”
“Come on Sir. We can do this quietly or…”
The DI moved forward in an attempt to grab hold of Martin’s arm.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” came a voice from the darkness.
The two officers turned round and looked for the owner of the voice.
“Now Officers, if you really are the Polis, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. You two are nothing when compared to the Taleban or ISIS.”
“You! Whoever you are, are breaking the law by threatening two Police Officers.”
“Police Officers? My arse. From what I’ve heard so far, you are Officers only by name. If you ask me, you are in the pockets of that Russki who was here earlier.”
“I didn’t ask you. We are doing our duty. We have to take this man in for questioning.”
“Oh yeah, what’s the charge?”
“Withholding evidence.”
The voice let out a laugh.
“Is that the best you can do?”
The DCI had had enough.
“Who the fuck are you? Why don’t you show us your face?”
“No. That won’t be happening. I’m ok here with this pump action 12-Bore aimed at both of you. Each shell is loaded with shrapnel. Now who is going to win this exchange?”
“You won’t get away with this,” said the DCI angrily.
More laughter came from the shadows.
“Really? I’m already supposed to be dead. Helicopter crash in Scotland. Not a lot more to lose really.”
This quietened the two Officers. Martin took his chance and relieved them of their handcuffs. He slipped them on their owners and stepped away.
“Now Gentlemen,” said the voice.
“On your knees. We don’t want you going anywhere in a rush now do we?,” said the voice.
They complied without further complaint.
“Martin, why don’t you go and call the real Police?”
He looked for the source of the voice but like the Police Officers, he failed but that was par for the course for the owner.
As ordered he went inside and called the police from his office.
Once the call was over, he picked up the pen and spoke quietly,
“Titch, are you there?”
“Yes Boss. I saw what happened.”
“Can you see who the mystery voice belongs to?”
“Sorry Boss. There is a shape but they were totally cammed up.”
“Thanks Titch. Stay where you are.”
“Boss? I need to move soon or I’ll make a mess.”
Martin suppressed a laugh.
“Ok. Do it quietly and don’t flush the bog. Those bugs are still active and we don't know where they are sending the data.”
“Boss.”
Martin returned to the scene outside his front door. The two officers were still on their knees.
“The local Police are on their way.”
“You won’t get away with this,” said the second Officer.
“If I don’t, then neither will you,” replied a more confident Martin.
Two local Police Officers turned up a little later.
“Arrest this man. He’s had a gun trained on us for the past hour,” exclaimed one of the officers who were still on their knees.
“Really. I’ve no gun. There was a voice from the darkness that claimed to have a gun but I’ve no gun. I have the whole thing on video.”
“He’s lying!” exclaimed the second Officer.
“Really? Sergeant? If you’d like to accompany me into the house, I’ll be more than happy to show you.”
“I think that would be best.”
Martin showed the Sergeant into his office. Then he called up the outside video recording. He started it at the point where he went outside with the officer.
Five minutes later, the pair returned to the outside of the house.
“I can see no gun anywhere in the recording. I can see you try to arrest this man and then I can see you go down on your knees with your hands in handcuffs.”
“But….” Protested the first Officer.
“I will get a copy of the Video for our Forensics people. At the moment, I’m inclined to believe Martin. I have my doubts about you. Your presence in my area should have been notified to my station. As it wasn’t so I have to think that you are here unofficially. Until it is proved otherwise, you two are staying restrained.”
“Your career is over. Don’t you realise who we work for?”
The Sergeant just smiled back.
“I’m due to retire next month so what do I care? Besides, I’m following protocol. If you two pan out when we get to the station, I’ll apologise and you can get on with your job. Until then…”
He nodded at his colleague. Between them, they escorted the first two officers into the back of their patrol car. Martin disappeared into the house.
By the time they’d done that, Martin had returned. He handed the sergeant a DVD with a copy of the Video of the incident outside the house.
“DCI Jacobs will be around in the morning to take a statement,” said the Sergeant as he accepted the DVD disk.
“Have you heard anything about a Black SUV?”
“Yes. It stopped for some reason in the middle of the Dartford Crossing Tunnel going north. Armed response are there trying to get the men to come out.”
Martin grinned.
“They ran out of oil.”
“How?”
Then he smiled,
“I’d better not ask. But my Inspector is very pleased. Apparently Mr Putin is a person of interest to us. We suspect him of people trafficking, prostitution and money laundering to name just a few crimes."
“Thanks Sergeant. Will we see you as usual at the Bull on Sunday? I’ll buy you a pint if you are amenable?”
“That will do very nicely Martin but, will we see the new you this time around?”
“You know? How?”
“You seem to have been frequenting the BlackBoys Inn a lot in recent weeks. My sister works behind the bar.”
Martin let out a big sigh.
“I guess it will be time for the new me to appear in the village. That will give the locals something to talk about.”
“Aye, it will that.”
After the Police Car drove off Martin looked around for whoever owned the voice. He found no one in his grounds then with a wry smile on his face, he went back inside the house.
He found Titch waiting for him.
“Time for a drink then Titch. I think we’ve earned it.”
“That will be fine boss. I’ll get the others to come in. I expect they could do with a brew.”
Then he added,
“I think the person in the darkness might have been a woman.”
“Why? How do you come to that conclusion?”
“Just from the way they moved.”
“Thanks for that.”
“You know who it was don’t you?”
Martin nodded his head.
“Well, they moved like a cat all right. One minute they were there and then they were gone.”
Then Titch seemed to have an epiphany.
“I get it. From what they said and the way they said it, they are like us aren’t they?”
Once again Martin nodded.
“Oh Fuck,” as Tiny realised who the person was.
“It was Captain Younger wasn’t it? She was the only one who could move like that.”
Martin just smiled.
“Don’t worry Boss, I’ll take that little secret to my grave.”
The captain had been close to being the first woman to be selected to be a member of the SAS. Both Martin and Tiny had been on the selection trials and both had wanted the captain to pass the selection test but she’d failed at almost the last hurdle when she’d broken her ankle. The now former Royal Marine Captain who’d reportedly died a year or so later in a Helicopter accident in Scotland. She would not want her presence at the house known to a wider audience.
Then Titch said,
“Boss, why don’t you get some shuteye? I’ll keep watch and get rid of those nasty little bugs for you.”
“Thanks Titch. You are a star.”
“As usual Boss, as usual.”
[The following day]
Martin rose feeling apprehensive about the day ahead. He’d have to go to the Police Station in Maidstone and give them a statement about the previous evenings event. He wondered how much of the truth would be acceptable.
As he made breakfast, he realised that the house felt empty. He’d found a note from Titch saying goodbye when he came downstairs. As he read it, he realised that this was the first day since Angela had come into his life that she wasn’t here with him. This was almost the same feeling he’d had when his ex-wife moved out. This time, he hoped that Angela would be back soon. She was a real gem. Despite him being fifteen years older than her, he felt that she wanted to stay. Well to stay with Chloe but that was not going to be a problem.
In the end, the visit to the Police Station was better then he’d hoped. One of the more senior Police Officers who been taking bribes from Vladimir and his gang had started blabbing. As a result, a lot of other Officers had been implicated including the two who’d visited Martin the previous night. This made the incident at the house pale into insignificance by comparison.
Despite that, he turned over copies of the videos recordings of the evening to the Chief Inspector at Maidstone. He kept other copies in a very safe place. He’d already sent instructions to Jo about how to get at them in the event of something happening to him in the future.
As Martin left Maidstone, he suddenly stopped his car. He sat for several minutes just looking into the distance. He’d risked a lot for Angela and had done it all without thinking about the consequences. He knew that he didn’t want to lose her and it was clear what he had to do to keep her in his life.
When he returned home, to his eternal relief, he found Angela waiting for him.
The surprise at her being there was magnified by what she was wearing or rather not wearing.
“Angela!”
“Shhhhh. Just enjoy this and you blame Jo for getting me all dolled up. We had a very long talk about you while we were in that safe house. I don’t know what happened here earlier but I do know one thing and that is, you did it for me. No one has ever done anything for me before. Now it is my turn to do something for you.”
She walked towards him on totteringly high heels. She was wearing thigh high leather boots, a leather micro-miniskirt and a black leather corset. Her makeup was… well for her since she came to live with Martin, totally over the top. Her outfit complimented her makeup right down to the opera style gloves adorned her hands.
She touched him gently as she walked around him. He realised that she was doing a dance of seduction so he let her carry on.
Gradually, she undressed him. Not a word was said but it was all by feeling, gesture and touch.
When he was naked, she started to touch the top of hit now erect penis.
She kissed it several times gently as the dance continued.
Then she wrapped her arms around him and came close.
I a single movement, she’d also wrapped her legs around his body and eased his penis into her vagina.
As he came inside her, she whispered in his ear,
“Yes, I’ll marry Chloe only when Martin is consigned to history once and for all. Martin is a front and from what I’ve seen recently, you are much happier now she’s out in the open so lets make it for good eh?”
Martin nodded and kissed her on the tip of her nose. This always seemed to arouse her.
“But….”
“It does not matter darling. You are here and safe and that is all that matters isn’t it? Besides, any more and I’d have to kill you. Understand?”
Chloe laughed at her use of words. She thought back to a former life and how it would have been Martin who would have spoken them.
Angela then squeezed his penis gently making it become hard again.
[Two days later]
Chloe and Angela walked hand in hand back from the pub. True to his promise, Chloe had bought the Sergeant and the rest of the patrons of the Pub, a beer, wine or whatever they were drinking to celebrate the ‘coming out’ of Chloe. Only two of the more ‘nethanderal’ locals objected to Chloe and stormed out of the pub in protest. The landlord, told the couple not to worry and banned the two objectors for a month.
Earlier in the day, Martin had signed a deed poll formally changing his name to Chloe Maria Foster. Jo had cracked open a bottle of Champagne to celebrate the event.
Both of them were quite tipsy by the time they arrived home late that night.
In the kitchen, the telephone answering machine light was blinking.
Almost absentmindedly Chloe pressed ‘Play’.
“Martin, this is Gerald Houseman. I am an Assistant to the Commissioner to the Metropolitan Police. We want to thank you for breaking the case. I am pleased to tell you that the Home Secretary has issued an order stripping this Mr Vladimir Putin of his British Citizenship. As we speak, he and his fellow Russians are about to be put on an aircraft chartered by the Russian Government. That flight is taking him to Moscow where he will be handed over to the Russian Police. We are given to understand that his namesake is eager to interview him. President Putin is currently in Eastern Siberia. It might be that the fake Mr Putin will be staying there for some time to come. Thank you again for your help.”
Chloe pressed replay and the two of them listened to the message again.When it had finished playing the second time, Angela literally dragged Chloe up the stairs. Neither of them was going to get a lot of sleep that night but for Chloe this was going to be very memorable because she was no longer being tormented by her very chequered past.
[The End]
[Authors note]
I started this story in 2003/2004 and was never really satisfied with it and the old ending until I recalled an incident that took place at a bank in Moscow ironically, in a building next to the former KGB HQ. That led me to this ending which I hope is a better way for Angela to get rid of her past once and for all.
Samantha