Sometimes life has a habit of creeping up on you and sending you careering down a different and unexpected trajectory. Nicola – the stand-in Chapter 16 by Louise Anne Smithson Copyright © 2021 Louise Anne Smithson All Rights Reserved.

Chapter 16

It took a little while for me to emerge from my pleasant dreams and sit up to see Amy looking somewhat more haggard and anxious than the last time that I’d seen her.

‘Amy, whatever is the matter?’

‘Nikki, I need your help, Rob has been busted. Someone saw him snorting coke and reported it to the police. They stopped and searched us both. Thank heavens they found nothing on me, but they did find a small bag of coke in his coat pocket which he’d forgotten about. It’s not enough for him to be charged with trafficking although they clearly have their suspicions. They have taken him to Paddington Green Police Station for questioning. I have to make a statement at ten o’clock this morning. Fortunately, a friend was able to drive me home before the press got to know about the story.’

‘What are you going to say to the police?’

‘I can’t deny that Rob and I were at the club together earlier in the evening; there’ll no doubt be photographs appearing in the celebrity press, but I can deny that I had any knowledge that he was carrying that particular bag.'

‘So what do you think will happen to him?’ I asked.

‘He’s been lucky so far and has no previous convictions, so it may be just a fine or even a caution. However, he’ll have to watch his step, in future.’

‘But what about you?’

‘That’s the point, I can’t afford the publicity of being involved with drugs. I’ve already been cautioned by the police once, although, fortunately, my manager was able to keep that story out of the press.’

I really wanted to ask her why, in that case, she was so willing to put her future career at risk in return for short-term excitement, but I was too much of a coward to do so. In any event she looked suitably chastened by the events of the night.

‘So what do you want me to do?’ I asked.

‘There are half a dozen photographers waiting outside the entrance to the flats. The last thing I want is for them to be following me to the police station later this morning. Geoffrey Kelly, my manager, and one of his assistants will be arriving at nine. I would like you to wear one of my outfits and put on a pair of my sunglasses and pretend to be me. The assistant will collect you from the front entrance and drive you away somewhere. Hopefully the paparazzi will either give up or follow you. As soon as the coast is clear, Geoff and I can make our way to the police station in his car.’

‘But what if they realise it isn’t you in the car?’

‘I don’t think that is likely if you wear my sunglasses and keep your head down.’

‘Where do you want me to go and what am I to do?’

‘Go somewhere where the paps can follow but will lose interest when they realise that it is unrelated to the events of last night. I’ll phone you as soon as it is safe for you to return to my flat’

‘I don’t know London very well.’

‘I know! Ask your driver to take you clothes shopping, you are going to need some more underwear. The paps won’t bother you once they realise where you are going. You can even use my “tap and go” debit card as long as you promise not to spend more than £200. Bring back the receipts as they will provide me with evidence that I was elsewhere at the time I was supposedly making a statement to the police.’

‘Alright, but I want you to write a note giving me permission to use your debit card, just in case I’m challenged by one of the shop assistants.’

Shortly before nine, Amy’s manager pulled into Amy’s parking place in the basement and then took the lift to her flat, thereby avoiding the growing scrum of photographers and journalists waiting outside the main entrance. I was wearing a dress, shoes, coat and sunglasses that Amy chose for me as she had recently been seen wearing them. She had even arranged my hair in a style similar to hers and I carried a handbag that she had previously owned.

‘As soon as you’re ready, Nicola, I’ll make a call to Julie, my assistant who is waiting round the corner. She will pull up at the front entrance and I’ll help you into the car,' said Geoff. 'Keep your head down and don’t say anything or look at the cameras. The car has tinted windows so once you’re inside you should be able to relax. Julie will drive you out to Croydon where you can stay until we give you the all-clear. That should persuade most of those present that Amy is no longer in the flat. There may be one or two who will follow on motorbikes but if they eventually realise that you are not Amy, so be it.’

Amy looked guiltily at me.

‘Thanks for doing this for me Nikki. I’ll owe you a favour afterwards.’

‘Just don’t get me involved again,’ I replied. Then turning to Geoff, ‘Alright go ahead and make your call.’

My entry into the limousine was nicely orchestrated. Geoffrey and I waited in the locked lobby until the car pulled up directly outside the main entrance. Julie, the driver, got out and held open the passenger door, while Geoff and I made a quick dash through the throng, with his arm over my shoulder so I doubt if anyone got a good shot of me. As soon as I was seated Julie pulled away. She drove in accordance with the speed limits and traffic signals thereby giving several of the press pack the opportunity to follow us on motorbikes, while others appeared to have given up. Geoff Kelly made as if he was leaving the scene but, in reality, he returned to Amy’s flat via the basement.

‘I’ve been told to take you out shopping in Croydon for the morning. I know the area well including where we will be able to park,’ said Julie as we drove down Brixton Hill. ‘I’ll get as far as Thornton Heath and then I’ll lose those two in some side roads’, she said gesturing to the two motorcyclists that were following us.’

‘OK, I am happy to do whatever you suggest,’ I said.

‘By the way, Nicola, I do know the story of your background, although I must say that I would never have guessed if I hadn’t been told.’

‘Yes, it is a bit of an unusual story, although Amy has been very good to me. But please don’t think that I was involved with any of this nonsense with Amy,’ I replied.

Julie smiled.

‘Oh no, you’re not the first person to become involved with one of Amy’s escapades. That’s why Lorna quit her job. I think Geoff is also becoming tired of extricating her from her own stupidity.’

Julie seemed to know what she was doing for, after having lulled our pursuers into a false sense of security, she suddenly accelerated and just caught a set of lights as they were turning red as we were passing through Norbury, leaving the motorbikes in a queue of traffic waiting behind. As soon as we were out of sight of them, she took a left turn into a side-street followed by a right turn towards Thornton Heath. In no time we had driven through various side streets with no more sign of our pursuers, eventually approaching Croydon via Whitehorse Road. We then pulled into the Whitgift Centre Car Park.

‘OK Nicola, let’s go and spend some of Amy’s money to teach her a lesson not to go out with drug dealers.’

I followed my instructions and over the next hour bought enough underclothing to last me for the duration of my time as Nicola and a new pair of shoes. For each transaction I kept to the £45.00 limit for contactless purchases. By this time, I’d ditched the sunglasses as, if anything, they attracted more attention to us, especially when shopping indoors. Fortunately, no-one seemed to recognise us, although I did notice one shop assistant do a double-take when she saw the name of the debit card I’d just used, but fortunately we were just leaving the shop and she had a queue of customers to serve. In another shop there was a sale on and in the window was a pink midi length summer dress offered at half the marked price, which attracted my attention.

‘What do you think, Julie?’ I asked.

‘It’s nice but it would be beyond the limit you can spend using Amy’s debit card unless she has also given you her pin.’

‘No, but I have been given a clothing allowance so I could pay by cash from my own account.’

‘In that case, if you like it and can afford it why don’t you go in and try it on.’

In spite of the morning’s events I found that I enjoyed our shopping trip, especially trying on and subsequently, purchasing, the dress that I had chosen for myself, as opposed to one that had been bought for me or given to me by Amy. We were just returning to the car when my mobile phone rang. It was Frank Wilson; this time he sounded very angry.

‘Nick or Nicola, will you please tell me what the hell is going on. I have had the producers ring me to say that there is a report that Amy has been arrested. Neither she, nor her manager, are answering their phones. Now I discover that you are involved!’

‘I don’t think she’s been arrested. She happened to be in the company of a guy who was found to be in possession of a small quantity of cocaine. I think she’s making a statement to the police.’

‘How were you involved?’ he asked.

‘It was nothing to do with me. I wasn’t even there when it happened. But Amy has been letting me stay in her flat until we begin filming again.’

‘Well you can tell her from me that if she wants to flush her future career down the toilet that is fine by me, but not until after we have finished making my film. If either of you holds up production by so much as a single minute or gets any more bad publicity she and her manager will be hearing from my lawyers.’

He rang off before I could say anything else.

‘Here endeth any prospect of future employment for Nicola in the film industry,’ I thought to myself.

While I was on the phone to Frank, Julie received a text from her boss indicating that all was clear and we could begin to make our way back to Amy’s flat. She dropped me off at the main entrance and this time there were no journalists around. I let myself into Amy’s flat using the key she had previously given me. There was no sign of Amy, but her manager Geoff Kelly was in the sitting room taking a call on his mobile phone. It was apparently from a newspaper, as he was busy denying Amy’s involvement in the events of the previous night. He broke off talking for a moment to address me.

‘Thanks for your help this morning. I think we have successfully killed the story. Amy’s sleeping now as she was up most of the night. Can you give me a couple of minutes to finish this call, and then I’d like to have a chat.’

I took my purchases through to my bedroom where I changed out of Amy’s dress and shoes that I’d been wearing and instead tried on those that I had purchased earlier. Life as Nicola could be quite eventful, even at times upsetting, but in many respects it felt right for me. If only I could find a job and somewhere to live.

A few minutes later there was a knock at my bedroom door.

‘Hi Nicola, I’ve just made us some coffee, would you like to come through to the kitchen for a chat,’ said Geoff.

I followed his invitation.

‘Thanks again for standing-in for Amy this morning. The press didn’t get any usable photographs and nobody saw her enter the police station so there is not much of a story for them to report.’

‘I have several receipts for you which will show that she was in Croydon shopping all morning. But what happened at the police station?’ I asked.

‘She made a statement. The police know perfectly well that she had been taking drugs and told her so in no uncertain terms, but there was nothing more they could do on this occasion, although they will be watching out for her in future.’

‘What about Rob Singleton?’

‘He will be charged for possession of a small quantity of cocaine for his own use – that’s all they can prove. He was clever enough to hide his stash out of the way. The conviction will be a nuisance to him, but nothing more.’

‘That’s a pity.’

‘I’m afraid he blames you for his getting caught.’

‘Me? I never told the police!'

‘I know that, but he told Amy that he had offered you a bag as a free sample, and you had refused to take it. That was the bag they found in his pocket when they searched him’

‘I didn’t ask him to bring me dangerous drugs!’ I said.

‘He’s a typical drug dealer, giving free samples in the hope that you will become hooked. When he gets caught, he starts looking for someone else to blame.’

‘I trust that Amy isn’t going to have anything more to do with him in future.’

‘She says she won’t, but who can tell? Amy is a nice kid but she is immature and entitled. She has had everything handed to her on a plate – good looks, a nice voice, the only child of two doting and stage-struck parents. She has never had to struggle for anything in her life. She can’t see that she’s in danger of ruining her career before it even gets started. If she ever got arrested the publicity would finish her in kids tv and in advertising and probably damage it elsewhere.’

‘Yes, I can see the problem of keeping her on the straight and narrow.’

‘That’s why I was pleased to learn that you would be staying – you strike me as being a little more level-headed that she is.’

‘Level-headed! I am not even sure what sex I’m supposed to be|’ I replied sheepishly.

Geoff smiled.

‘I am sure that you will work that in due course, but in the meanwhile, Amy likes you and you are unlikely to lead her into any more trouble.’

‘I’m not sure what I feel about Amy,’ I replied. ‘I’m still a little sore about have been falsely accused about being involved.'

On the other hand, I had to admit that Amy had been good to me, and as each day passed it felt increasingly right for me to be spending my time as Nicola.

‘So what can I do to help?’. I asked.

‘Don’t be frightened of telling her what to do, and more importantly, what not to do – I think she will listen to you.’

‘Alright, I’ll do my best to keep her away from drugs and from getting arrested.

It was late in the afternoon before Amy eventually emerged from her bedroom, looking contrite.

‘Hi Nikki, you look very nice in that dress.’

‘Thank you, I bought it this morning in Croydon using the dress allowance from Frank. I’m afraid your debit card paid for the shoes.’

‘That’s alright. It was the least I could do to repay your trouble.’

I didn’t respond and there was an awkward silence.

‘I am so sorry about the events of this morning.’

‘Amy, it is your career that is at stake.’

‘I know, but I had no right to involve you in my problems.’

‘You are my friend, I was happy to help although, given a choice, I would rather not repeat the episode.’

‘Yes, I suppose that Rob and I were acting like a couple of idiots last night. Geoff made it clear this morning that we mustn’t be seen out in public together again, at least while his case is pending.’

‘You had better also ring Frank Wilson and put his mind at rest. He has heard a rumour about the events of last night and was hopping mad about it. He also assumes that I was somehow involved.’

‘Don’t worry I’ll ring him later and tell him the whole story.’

I smiled by way of thanks.

‘Would you like me to prepare us something to eat?’ I asked.

‘Alright but you had better get changed out of that new dress first.’

‘There’s something I would like to discuss with you over dinner – about my future.’

Thanks for the comments and corrections everyone. Feel free to keep them coming.
Louise