Author's Note: This story is entirely fictional, and none of the
characters or places exist in real life. Enjoy the story.
Desperately Seeking Stephanie
By Charlotte Dickles
My head felt as though someone had hit the right side with a meat
cleaver, and was now trying to force the two halves apart. Somewhere,
someone was screaming to get an ambulance, please. I didn't know what
had happened; I didn't really care.
***
Sometime later: a minute? An hour? A week? I didn't know. It only
mattered that the pain in my head had subsided to a splitting headache.
Bad enough, but relatively comfortable, compared to the way it had
been.
I opened my eyes to stare at a bed quilt. Anyone, who has stayed at any
RestEasy Motel, up or down the country, will recognise that same design
of bed quilt, covering every bed in their chain of motels. I wondered
what I was doing, laying by the side of a bed in a RestEasy, I didn't
know where.
But there was something needing more urgent attention than my splitting
headache. My right arm was lying trapped underneath my body, and had
lost circulation. I had to move, or it would fall off. That's how it
felt, anyway.
I used my left hand to push up my torso from the floor, and then got
first one knee beneath me, and then the other. Finally, I managed to
get one foot flat on the floor and push myself up so I could sit on the
edge of the bed, my right arm hanging limply beside me, my hand still
grasping its important possession.
I used my left hand to massage the top of my right arm - the pain got
worse as the circulation returned, but it didn't matter. At least the
circulation was returning. I kept the massage up for several minutes,
working my way down from shoulder to elbow, until finally I could lift
my arm and ease it onto my lap, all the better to massage my lower arm.
That's when I first noticed it. The item grasped in my right hand - the
item I had known, even as I'd regained consciousness, that I must hang
on to at all costs. It was a pistol.
Now for those who don't live in the UK, I'd better explain that
handguns are illegal here, except for the armed forces and the like.
Simply being caught in possession of a handgun would result in a
minimum of five years in prison - and a bloody good thing too.
Except that I was holding one!
I placed it carefully beside me on the bed and stared at it, as I
continued to massage my wrist and hand. Why did I have a gun in my
hand? Was it mine? Had I ever handled a gun before in my life? I didn't
know the answer to any of those questions.
Why not? What was I doing in this room? What events had led up to it?
What was my name?
The last question rang hollowly around my brain. I didn't know!
I didn't know my name; I didn't know who I was; I didn't know where I
was! On the wall facing the bed was a full-length mirror. I slid
sideways along the bed until I could stare at my own reflection.
I didn't know the woman staring back at me!
She wasn't pretty, but she was quite attractive, if that makes sense,
and with her large breasts, she would be an immediate hit with men. She
was quite tall, with a big frame, and was wearing a smart, royal blue,
pleated skirt and jacket, over a pale-blue blouse, casually unbuttoned
to expose the deep valley between her breasts. She had matching heavily
patterned stockings covering shapely legs, which descended to dark-
blue, sling-back sandals, with a low, pointed, heel. It was difficult
to explain why her face was appealing. It shouldn't have been with the
combination of deep-set eyes which were rather too close together, a
nose which was too long, and a square jaw line.
But of course, the attractiveness of the woman in the mirror had little
importance, compared to the fact that I didn't recognise my own face.
The crack on the head was to blame, of course. I guessed I needed some
medical attention. Except that I had a gun, and as soon as anyone saw
it, they'd be calling the police.
I stood up in front of the mirror, and peered more closely at my face -
at my rounded cheeks and full lips, and at every minor imperfection on
my skin, seeking to recognise just one element of myself. Nothing.
I did a swirl in front of the mirror, and that's when I caught sight of
the man - in the chair in the corner of the room, over by the window.
It made me jump, and I turned and started to say, in a voice I didn't
even recognise, "Why didn't you tell me you were..."
The blank, staring eyes informed me that he would never be telling
anyone, anything, ever again, even before my gaze had taken in his
slumped position, and the hole below his left shoulder, through which a
bucketful of blood and gore had poured, staining his clothes down to
the floor, and forming a puddle there.
It didn't take an expert to work out he'd been shot. From the mess on
the wall, he'd been standing up when the bullet went right through him
and smacked into the wall behind, he'd dropped into the chair, and
there he'd slowly bled to death. Vaguely, I could remember someone
screaming for an ambulance. Perhaps it had been him.
Had I been dashing over to the telephone to call for help when I'd
stumbled and smacked my head against the bedside table? I wondered:
would I really have dashed to call for help, after shooting him?
The question hit me straight between the eyes. The gun had been
underneath my body ever since, tightly clasped in my right hand.
Therefore, it must have been me who had shot and killed him!
***
Salvation! I found another dead body!
OK, that doesn't sound a good reason to celebrate, but it was. I turned
away from the body in the chair and immediately saw the other body,
lying in the hallway by the hotel door. All RestEasys have that same
hallway just inside the hotel room, with the door to the en-suite on
one side, and a hanging space for clothes on the other.
He was lying on his back, half in the hanging space. He also had that
vacant look in his eyes. But he had a third eye in his forehead, and
judging by the amount of brain splattered on the door behind where he
would have been standing, and the lack of anything coming out the hole
at the front, death must have been instantaneous.
Still doesn't sound a good reason to celebrate? Next to his right hand,
there was another gun lying on the floor. Now that opened up all kinds
of possibilities.
For my money, it was him who'd shot the first guy in the shoulder, and
me who, obviously in self-defence, had shot the second guy in the head.
That made me feel a little better, and in turn, it made me start to
think with a little more cunning.
Firstly, the scenario I'd just imagined was only one of several the
police would consider. Since I couldn't remember a single event that
had occurred in the few hours before I awoke, or even the whole of my
life, I wasn't in a strong position to argue in favour of mine.
Indeed, there was, for me, an even better scenario. Still alive for a
few seconds or minutes after being shot, the guy in the chair had
managed to lift his gun and shoot the other in the head. Afterwards, he
too had passed on to the next world.
The only problem with that scenario was that his gun had miraculously
transferred itself into my hand, and my fingerprints would be all over
it. A problem, I surmised, which could be overcome.
***
The TV clock indicated 09:52. Any minute now, the chambermaids would be
knocking on the doors to make up the rooms. Even if there was a 'Do Not
Disturb' sign outside, they'd still come in shortly after the eleven
o'clock check-out time. I had to make haste.
I'd flicked on the safety-catch of the gun and then took a bunch of
tissues from the complimentary box and spent ages wiping the gun clean
of fingerprints, especially around the trigger and the butt.
Then, holding the gun in a tissue, I went over to the body in the
chair, carefully took his right hand (I just hoped he was right-handed)
and wrapped it around the barrel, and forced his index finger onto the
trigger. Finally, I dropped it onto the floor.
Dimwit!
I'd left the safety-catch on. A dying man would hardly think about
flicking on the safety-catch before expiring. I lent over and used the
tissue to pick up the gun again, and that's when disaster happened. My
skirt touched his left leg, which was covered in blood and gore.
I stared down at it, aghast. The royal-blue skirt had a huge patch of
purple, running from mid-thigh to hem. Shit! Shit! Shit!
I flicked off the safety-catch on the gun, and left it lying beneath
his right hand, before stepping back towards the safety of the bedside.
I painstakingly took off the jacket, careful not to get it covered in
blood as well, then unzipped and stepped out of my skirt. I folded it
inside-out, and then looked around for the plastic laundry bag,
provided, I noticed, "...for my convenience by the Seacombe RestEasy
Motel". Seacombe! At least I now knew where I was.
With my dirty washing safely concealed, I reviewed my position.
I was almost naked on my lower half. No panties, I noticed, only
stockings and suspender belt.
Hanging in the open wardrobe were some men's clothes, but a quick
inspection showed they had been sprayed with the brains of the second
man!
I desperately looked around and then my eyes alighted on the small
vanity case by the side of the bed where I'd been lying. Mine, without
doubt.
I popped it onto the bed and opened it. Inside, was a large toilet bag
with all kinds of cosmetics and pills; a change of underwear; a white
swimsuit; and then, neatly folded underneath all that, a dress. I
slipped it out and held it up for inspection.
I gasped. It was the yellow sundress, the one with black polka-dots,
and the deep V halter-neck. It was that dress which had started it all
off; the one which had been recognised. I couldn't even explain what I
meant by my statement, but I knew it was that dress which had got me
into this mess.
I couldn't put it on. Does that sound stupid? Here I was, half-naked in
a hotel bedroom with two dead bodies, I'd wiped my fingerprints off a
gun and planted the gun onto one of the bodies, got my only skirt
covered in blood, and I couldn't bring myself to put on the only spare
dress I had, because it was a yellow dress with black polka-dots.
It may have been stupid, even insane, but I couldn't do it. I stuffed
it back into the vanity case, and did the only other thing I could.
I took off all my clothes: blouse, bra (nice firm tits, I noticed -
hardly any sag, in spite of their size), flat-heeled sandals, stockings
and suspender belt. Then I took the swimsuit out of the suitcase,
stepped into it and pulled it up over my body.
I slipped my jacket over the top to give a slight air of
respectability, put my shoes back on, and stuffed everything, including
my dirty laundry bag into the case. Thirty seconds later, I was
stepping into the hotel corridor and rapidly walking towards the
stairs, my vanity case in my hand.
"Have a good day, Miss Stewart," the hotel receptionist bade me as I
got to the bottom of the stairs opposite Reception. She was dealing
with a customer, and I'd rather hoped to avoid her notice, but it was
an exceptionally useful, albeit short conversation. I had a name!
Miss Stewart. Stewart. It was familiar, but what was my first name?
Suzie Stewart? No. Sandra Stewart? No. Sheila Stewart? No. Stephanie
Stewart? YES!
***
The other piece of knowledge that came back to me as I stepped outside
the motel was that the Seacombe RestEasy was only one block away from
the seafront, on the edge of the town - but I guessed I'd
subconsciously known that already, which is why I'd put on the
swimsuit.
Seacombe still got a fair number of holiday visitors, especially
families, who loved the wide, safe beach, so there was nothing unusual
in seeing people in swimming things walking a short distance from their
hotel rooms and bed-and-breakfast houses to and from the sea.
Once on the seafront, I could take off my jacket and stroll along
almost inconspicuously. Well, I would have been able to do that if my
rounded tits hadn't been poking out my swimming costume like large
grapefruit. I drew the glances of every passing male, which felt a bit
strange. Why it felt strange on that occasion when it must happen every
time I went out, I could not explain.
As I walked towards the town centre, I realised I had virtually jumped
out of the frying pan and into the fire. There was a limit as to how
far a swimsuit-clad woman could wonder from the seafront and not look
suspicious. So, I could hardly go to the station and get the train for
London, even if I had the fare.
I HAD NO MONEY!
The thought struck me rigid. There had been no purse inside the case,
and a quick examination of the two pockets in the jacket revealed they
were totally empty except for a set of keys - to what? I was penniless,
dressed only in a swimsuit, and by now probably wanted for murder. Not
an enviable position.
"Bingo hostess urgently wanted. Uniform provided."
The notice was in the window of Seiza's Palace, Seacombe's answer to
Las Vegas. Imagine a Vegas casino without the good taste, continual
sunshine and a couple of billion dollars investment, and you have an
idea what Seiza's Palace was like. Absolute tack!
On the other hand, a uniform was a uniform. I went inside.
***
OK, the uniform looked more like a nightdress than a uniform, made of
white chiffon through which my breasts could tantalisingly just be made
out. It had a full skirt down to mid calf, which conveniently hid the
fact that I had no underwear worth wearing. Harry Jones, my new boss,
found some white sandals with three-inch heels left by a previous
worker, who had been only about two sizes smaller than me, so I had to
stagger around in those.
My job was fairly straightforward. The bingo session started at eleven,
and the customers - most of them elderly - were already flocking in by
the time I'd got kitted up. I had to help behind the bar in that first
crush period, and then once everyone got seated and Harry had started
calling the numbers, I had to serve customers at their seats.
It was pretty hard work but I really enjoyed it. For the first time
that day - and I suppose you could say in the whole of my living memory
- I knew what I was doing, and why I was doing it. The pay wasn't good,
but at least I'd have enough to buy myself a meal. If I did alright,
Harry said, he'd hire me for the afternoon session as well.
The customers were great - everyone was there for an enjoyable time and
you don't get the hassle you would with younger people. All the old
blokes leched at me, and at the end, Harry was really pleased because
bar takings were up - we both reckoned this was solely because the old
geezers wanted to have another oggle at me as I bought over their
Horlicks and pulled their half pints of bitter shandy.
I, too, was more than delighted because so many customers left tips -
only a pound here, and fifty pence there, but it all mounted up. When
Harry told me he would employ me for the afternoon session, I thought
I'd probably earn enough to pay for a bed-and-breakfast overnight.
I was behind the bar finishing off the cleaning-up when the man's words
took me by surprise.
"A pint of bitter, lass, and it's on the house."
"I'm sorry?" I peered at him, a huge, incredibly ugly-looking man in a
well-used suit, who was openly leering at my tits - the dirty bastard.
"You heard me."
"Give him what he wants." Harry's voice came from over by the bingo
area, where he'd been cashing up. He shut his till, and strolled over
to us. From his expression, there was no love lost between him and the
visitor. "I'd better introduce you, Stevie."
Unfortunately, Harry had insisted on calling me Stevie all morning, a
diminutive I hated. Stephanie was my name. Twice I'd reminded him of
it, before giving up, when I realised he was deliberately doing it to
tease me.
"This," Harry continued, "is Detective Inspector Godolphy, from
Seacombe nick." Harry turned towards him, " Have you come here to ask
if I'm responsible for the double murder?"
Godolphy looked at him sharply. "How do you know about that?"
Harry smiled. "It was on local radio five minutes ago," he said. "So
what's it all about?"
Godolphy looked around at me. "What happened to that beer, then?"
Harry nodded at me, and I proceeded to pull a pint of beer. The hand-
pumps in there were incredibly stiff, and Godolphy enjoyed the picture
of me straining my tits off to pull his pint just as much as the old
geezers had, half an hour before. Except that I didn't begrudge making
their day a bit brighter, whereas I really hated being leched by this
fat slob.
He sank half a pint down in one go, and wiped the froth off his lip
with the back of his hand. "Not fucking bad," he said, and then added,
whilst eyeing me up and down, "The beer's alright as well."
"So what's with the murder," Harry asked.
"That's what I'm here for," Godolphy replied. He took another swig from
his beer, and then reached into his inside pocket for two photographs.
"Seen either of these guys in here before?"
Harry glanced at them and shook his head. "Naw. We don't get murder
victims in here."
"Don't give me that bollocks. You get every kind of law-breaker in
here, and these two were certainly that." Godolphy passed the photos in
my direction. "What about you, love?"
I looked down at the faces of my two dead bodies. I pulled a face,
shivered and was about to speak when Harry said, "Stevie's only just
started here. She won't have seen anything."
"Let her answer for herself."
"No." I shook my head.
He shrugged, and put the photos back in his inside pocket. "It's
alright," he said. "We'll have this thing fucking solved by the end of
the day, anyway."
Harry grinned, unbelievingly. "That simple, is it?"
Godolphy grinned back, obviously wanting to see the expression on
Harry's face as he revealed how easily he would crack the crime. "It's
obviously drugs related," he said. "Guy called Brian Mitchell,
telephones the RestEasy motel last night."
It was a good job that Godolphy was looking at Harry at that point,
rather than at me, for I recognised the name and I'm sure my eyes would
have shown it.
"He books a room for the night," Godolphy was continuing, "and an hour
later at 9:57 he checks in to Room 107. He lives over at Dorton, so
everything lines up with him suddenly deciding to stay here, and then
driving over from his house.
"This morning, he goes down to breakfast at 8:12 - fucking marvellous
these computers in hotels. They almost tell you the exact time anyone
farts. Anyway, he starts his breakfast at 8:12." He sank another
enormous gulp of beer, and repeated the exercise with the back of his
hand.
"Around 8:20," he continued, "another guy sees one of the chambermaids
outside Room 107, and tells her he's left his key inside the room, and
it's a fucking emergency, so can she let him in? Against all the rules,
of course, but she opens the door for him.
"Now it looks like chummy waited in the en-suite for Mitchell to
return. Mitchell walks in, goes over towards the window, and chummy
comes out of the en-suite and shoots him. He was probably aiming at the
heart, but the bullet goes a little high and doesn't kill him outright.
"Mitchell already has his own gun out, and he shoots chummy straight
through the brain, and then, according to the doc, it probably takes
Mitchell about ten minutes to die So, we've got two stiffs, both of
whom are obviously up to no good, since they've both got shooters, and
incidentally, there was over a thousand quid in Mitchell's jacket
pocket. All we have to do is identify the other stiff - and his
fingerprints will probably be on record - and work out what they were
up to."
He held up some keys in his hand, and added, "I'm going over to
Mitchell's house in Dorton after lunch, to have a snuffty around, and
probably find a few million quid's worth of drugs. After I've pocketed
my share, I'll be rolling in it, but in the meantime, one of your
baguettes on the house will set me up very nicely, Harry."
Harry started to look expectantly at me, so I quickly said, "I need to
go off to my lunch, now, Harry. See you at three."
***
I walked as quickly as I could back to the RestEasy, trying to put
everything in my confused mind into order. Firstly, the police appeared
to be buying the clues I had left at the scene of the crime.
Secondly, I knew Brian Mitchell. He lived at 23 Laburnum Crescent,
Dorton. At least, I thought I knew him, and how else would I have known
his address, presuming that address hadn't come from a figment of my
imagination.
Thirdly, that had not been Brian Mitchell lying dead in the chair in
the hotel room, but please don't ask me to describe what the real Brian
Mitchell looks like, because I can't.
Fourthly, I needed to see Brian before Godolphy did, and discover
whether he could throw any light on my circumstance, and also ensure he
didn't tip the police off about me.
And fifth, one of the keys on the key ring from my jacket pocket was a
car-key, so presumably, I had a car which, I hoped, would be parked at
the RestEasy.
***
In the old days, trying to match a car-key against a car park full of
cars would have meant the highly suspicious behaviour of trying the
keys in every car door. Nowadays, I only had to stroll around the car
park, pressing the button on the remote until a BMW flashed its
indicators at me. I went over to it.
"Did you stay at the motel overnight?"
I turned. This time it was a policewoman who'd surprised me. She smiled
at me, and remembering I was a totally innocent member of the general
public, I smiled back at her. "That's right. I've just called to
collect my car."
I had a brainwave. "There isn't a problem with me leaving it here for
the morning, is there?"
"Oh no." Her smile was very broad now. "But there was a serious crime
committed here in the hotel this morning. Can I ask you your name?"
"Stewart. Miss Stewart." Better not be too clever about my assumed
first name.
She looked at a list on her clipboard. "Oh yes, Stephanie." Not only
had she confirmed my name, she'd also said it properly. "You were in
Room 108. Is that right?"
I nodded, non-committally. I'd seen on TV how Columbo lays these traps
for the victims to fall into. "Some number like that."
"OK, so your room was immediately opposite where the crime was
committed. Can I ask whether you heard anything unusual between eight
and ten am?"
I shook my head. "No. Why? What sort of thing?"
"An argument? Shouting? Gun fire?"
I shook my head. "No."
"Did you see the man in the room opposite?"
"No."
"Could you look at these photographs?" She held them out.
I shook my head. "I've already seen them. Your Sergeant Godolphy was
showing them around, down at Seiza's Palace."
Her face crinkled into laughter. "Gosh, don't let him hear you call him
that. He's Detective Inspector Godolphy, and God help anyone who
forgets it." She eyed my dress. "Do you work at Seiza's?"
"Just a temporary job. I... had a bust up with my boy friend - walked
out on him. I needed the money."
She nodded, sagely, looking at her clipboard again. "I wondered why you
were staying here when you lived close by. Men are shits, aren't they?
He let you go without any cash?"
I nodded back.
"Well just be careful down at Seiza's. There are some right villains
down there, not the least of them is Harry Jones. We reckon he's into
all kind of things - drugs, prostitution, fencing stolen goods - but
we've never caught him at it. That's why Godolphy went down there just
now. Harry's certain to be mixed up in this murder. You take care if
you continue to work there."
She delved inside her pocket and produced a card, and then wrote
something on it. "Here's my card, and I've put my home number on it,
just in case you need any help when I'm off duty. Don't hesitate to
call at any time of the day..." she paused for a second and stared me
in the eye as she added, "...or night."
What did that mean, I wondered. I glanced down at the card. "Well,
thanks for the offer, PC Wright." I started to get into my car.
"Call me Sally," she said.
***
The drive over to Dorton took about forty-five minutes, and when I
reached the outskirts of the town, I simply let the car drive itself
until I was turning into Laburnum Crescent.
Number twenty-three, I knew, was the white painted house, halfway down
on the left side of the road. I drove slowly past, making certain there
was no one else around - such as a police patrol car, waiting for
Godolphy to arrive. I parked almost at the end of the road, and then
got out and walked back, my heels making a loud clack-clack-clack.
Fortunately, this was a commuter area, with no nosy neighbours peering
through their windows all day long.
I knew that Brian kept a key behind one of the white stones bordering
the edge of his drive, and I picked it up almost without pausing on my
way to the front door. From my detailed knowledge of Brian and his
house, I certainly knew him pretty closely. I guessed he was my lover -
but why the hell couldn't I remember him?
I rang the doorbell, and waited a few seconds before slipping the key
into the lock and letting myself in. Inside, there was that empty feel
about it, and I knew I was not going to be talking to Brian that
lunchtime. Never mind, my instincts were telling me there were other
pressing things to do. I let my instincts rule.
The lounge was on the left of the hallway, and I went in and turned
directly to the computer, just behind the door. That's what I needed to
get at.
It took forever to boot up, but once on, my fingers flew over the
keyboard. Onto the internet, into Favourites, and then clicking on a
site from the list. "Desperately Seeking Stephanie" flashed in front of
my eyes in lurid purple and yellow - an obnoxious combination.
An instant later, a photograph filled the screen of a girl in a yellow
sundress with black polka dots! A photograph of me.
According to the caption, it was Jim standing next to me in the
photograph, with his arm casually around my waist, although when I
looked at the photograph more carefully, I reckoned that his image had
been carefully superimposed onto the photograph.
This, apparently, was Jim's site. He was in love with me, but we'd had
a stupid argument about whether we should get married in Hawaii or Las
Vegas. I had walked off in a temper, and had never been seen again. Jim
was desperate to find me. If anyone could tell him where I was, he
would pay for them to go to the wedding, wherever in the world it was.
It wasn't a very professional site, but the whole story had a certain
charm about it. One could imagine people all over the country coming
across the site and wanting to help. If that resulted in a trip to
Hawaii, so much the better. The main problem I had with the site was
that Jim's photograph showed he was the same guy who'd been in the
RestEasy, this morning, with the bullet through his brain!
I really didn't have time to think. The very fact that this site was in
Brian's Favourites would be incriminating evidence. It was easy enough
to delete from there, but with computers, life is never that simple. My
fingers started to fly across the keyboard again.
***
Fifteen minutes later, I'd logged into the account of the "Desperately
Seeking Stephanie" web address (don't ask me how I knew the password),
and made a few changes to it. The text now read: "Thanks to a tip off
from a user, I have made contact with Stephanie. Unfortunately, I
realise we have nothing in common, so there will be no wedding, and we
will not meet each other again. Thank you to everyone who helped. I'm
sorry it hasn't worked out."
The response form, which allowed users to give information about where
Stephanie had been seen, would automatically send off an email to two
addresses; one was to jim.walker, the other was to brian.mitchell. I
removed the response form along with both email addresses.
I logged onto Brian's email account and deleted the email which had
come the previous evening from the one of the chambermaids via the
website. Stephanie had checked into the RestEasy in Seacombe, it said.
I also logged into Jim's email account and deleted the same email. Then
I changed his password. Hopefully, the police might not even make the
connection between Jim and the account. Finally, I went into all those
places on the computer where Bill Gates insisted on storing extra
copies, just in case the police wanted to find out what you'd been up
to, and deleted everything of relevance. I had just finished, when the
front door crashed open, and Godolphy stormed through!
***
Fortunately, the half-closed door to the lounge concealed me from the
hallway, and I only caught a glimpse of Godolphy through the crack in
the door as he dashed into the downstairs toilet. I heard the toilet
seat crack as it was smashed back against the cistern, then a noise
like Niagara Falls abruptly commencing, with a, "Oh fucking hell! I
needed that."
I brought up the screensaver on the computer and, offering a silent
prayer of thanks to Brian for his wall-to-wall carpet, crept out of the
lounge and past the open door of the toilet. Godolphy was making a
pretty poor job of aiming the yellow deluge streaming from his
elephant's trunk of a cock in the general vicinity of the toilet bowl.
I made a mental note to ensure the whole area had been thoroughly
cleaned before using that toilet again.
***
"I'm glad I've caught you."
I had parked my car in the town car-park, and was heading towards the
casino when the voice I recognised came from behind me. The words were
scary, but even so, I turned and smiled at PC Sally Wright.
"Is there a problem?" I queried.
"I need to ask you some more questions. Can you come down to the
station with me?" Sally opened the passenger door of her police-car,
which she'd drawn to a halt, immediately behind where I'd been walking.
"Don't Panic! Remember, I'm totally innocent," I thought to myself,
whilst actually saying, "Couldn't it wait until later. I need to start
work at Seiza's in ten minutes time."
She continued to hold open the car door. "I'm afraid not. We need to
talk now."
I sighed, and got in.
Once we'd set off, Sally said, "I'm glad I caught you. Godolphy has
decided to raid Seiza's this afternoon, and I thought it would be
better if you were out of the way when it happened. Some of our guys
can be right pigs when there are half-dressed, pretty women like you
around. And of course, we don't have to go to the police station; we
could go round to my place, instead."
I nodded. I thought I was starting to get an idea of where PC Sally
Wright was heading.
***
"You did say white, no sugar, didn't you?" Sally asked, holding out
towards me a large, yellow mug of coffee.
I nodded and took it from her.
"Same as me," Sally said, as though having things in common was
important. She took a sip from her green mug and flicked her tongue
around her lips in a rather suggestive manner.
The strange thing was, I found her rather attractive. If I had been
having an affair with Brian Mitchell, I was presumably a normal
heterosexual woman. Yet here was this big-breasted but rather butch-
looking policewoman, who was obviously making a play at me, and the
only issue I was worrying about was whether my criminality made it too
dangerous to have sex with her. I was quite convinced that I seriously
wanted to.
"It looks a nice place you have here."
"Oh, it certainly is," she said. "I've just had my kitchen refitted.
Come and have a look." She put down her mug onto the tiered stand
packed with hi-fi equipment and marched through to the kitchen.
My mind must have been on other things, because as I went to put down
my own mug next to Sally's, I knocked her mug over, and its contents
poured liberally down the back of the hi-fi.
Common decency said I should have called Sally back and confessed to
buggering her equipment, but that would definitely have put an end to
the dalliance we were both leading up to. Instead, I took a quick
glance round to make certain the coast was clear, and then righted her
mug and poured the contents of my own mug into it.
As I followed her into the kitchen, I was pretending to drain the last
dregs from it. "Mmm, excellent coffee," I said. "I really needed that."
I held the mug under the tap and rinsed it out. "Thanks." I gave her a
nice smile to follow it up.
We spent a few minutes in the kitchen, whilst she showed me all her
built-in units. When we went back to the lounge, I got rather worried
as Sally went over to the hi-fi unit, because I thought she might be
going to switch it on, and she'd be electrocuted, or the whole thing
would explode. Fortunately, she only went to pick up her coffee and
drink it.
"Oh, I didn't tell you, did I?"
Since I didn't know what she was referring to, I could only shake my
head.
"Well, I shouldn't really gossip like this, but we are good friends,
aren't we?"
I nodded brightly. Even if we weren't at this moment, the way things
were shaping, we certainly would be before the afternoon was over.
"We got the ID back from the fingerprint check. It seems that the guy
just inside the door who'd been shot through the head was called Jim
Walker. He was released from prison three months ago, after serving
five years of an eight-year sentence for armed robbery of a British
Museum security delivery.
"But what was really interesting," she continued, "was that other the
body wasn't Brian Mitchell, as we thought. It was a guy called Stuart
Stevenson, wanted for questioning in connection with the British Museum
hoist, six years ago."
"So they pulled the same job together."
"Of course. Didn't I just say that?"
It may have been glaringly obvious to her, but I had to work it out bit
by bit. "Jim Walker got caught and sent to prison," I continued,
"whilst Stevenson got away with it. Did they recover the stolen goods?"
Sally shook her head. "Nope - a load of artefacts which we believe have
gradually been seeping their way onto the black-market. Difficult to
put a value on them, but certainly worth millions."
"So presumably, when Jim Walker was let out of prison he got in contact
with Stevenson, with a view to sharing the booty," I said.
Sally shook her head. "The police in London think he's been looking for
him ever since being released," she said.
Or perhaps, I conjectured, looking for the woman who would lead him to
Stevenson. Did that mean I was Stevenson's girlfriend? Then why didn't
I recognise him?
"And this morning," I brightly interjected, "it looks like he found him
and demanded his share. They had a row and killed each other." All very
nicely sewn up, I thought, without the need for anyone else to be
involved.
"It's not quite as simple as that."
I frowned. "Why not?"
"There are a few problems. For example, where's Stevenson been hiding
all this time, and where are the missing artefacts now? Then there's
something which is really strange - the guns had been reversed. The gun
lying next to Jim Walker was the one which had been used to kill him,
fired from a distance of three to five metres.
Oh shit!
"The gun used to kill Stevenson, again fired from a distance of three
to five metres, was lying just beneath his fingertips. We thought it
was the gun he had just used to kill Jim Walker. But both guns had
Stevenson's fingerprints on them. So explain that."
I shook my head. I knew from watching Columbo how hazardous it was for
the guilty one to try to put an answer to these kinds of questions.
"Don't know," I said.
Sally smiled, pleased that the police could work out things which
others could not. "Neither Stevenson or Walker could have shot
themselves, or were in a position to mess about rigging fingerprints
after they had been shot. Therefore, someone else rigged the evidence.
Our assumption must be that this third person killed both Stevenson and
Walker, probably in order to make off with the stolen artefacts. In the
heat of the moment, this person fouled up rigging the evidence, and got
the guns confused."
God! This policewoman was far cleverer than Columbo. She completely had
me sussed, and must be about to arrest me. I had to ask the question -
it would sound even more suspicious if I didn't. "So who do you think
that was?"
"Why Brian Mitchell, of course. He obviously set up a trap so both
Stevenson and Walker would be killed and he could get away with the
loot. We suspect Harry Jones is involved, simply because this is all
happening in Seacombe, and he's involved in everything around here.
Perhaps he'd been fencing the stuff that Stevenson was slowly selling
off, and got greedy. That's why we're raiding Seiza's anytime now.
Hopefully, we'll find both Brian Mitchell and some of the stolen goods
there."
She looked me fully in the eye, "That's why I wanted you well out of
the way."
A little shiver ran all over her body, and a beautiful smile spread
across her face, and she said, "We've been talking about serious things
for far too long. Why don't you have a look around the bedroom now? I
think you'll find it's really pretty."
It was too. Pretty Dutch drapes at the windows; matching bed linen,
which looked totally fresh, as though Sally had only put it on a few
minutes before; pleasant furniture which blended nicely together, and a
large bed with brass bed-posts - the kind which are so useful for tying
up your partner.
"Oh, how beautiful it is, Sally. It must be lovely to go to bed in
here." Was I misreading all the signals and pushing my luck here? I'd
soon find out.
"Oh, it's a bit hot in here, isn't it?" she said. "I think I'd better
take off my tunic."
Nope, I think I'd read her correctly. She slipped off her tunic and
went to hang it on the back of a chair, but missed it and it dropped to
the floor. Her hat dropped besides it, and then she sat down on the
edge of the bed and stated to untie her shoe-laces, except she got them
in a knot.
"Oh, what must you be thinking of me?" she said, giggling slightly.
"It's just that I seem to have gone very hot, all of a sudden, and I
need to get my clothes off." She seemed to find that even funnier, for
she giggled some more.
Then she flopped right back on the bed and stuck her left foot up in
the air. "Do you think you can get my shoelace undone? I seem to have
got it knotted." Another giggle.
I smiled back. He transformation from police officer, about to nick a
murderer, into a giggling girl had been almost instantaneous. I took
her ankle in my one hand and carefully picked at the knot on her shoe
with the other. It wasn't difficult, and I was able to pull the shoe
off and drop it on the floor. Rather than simply dropping her leg to
the floor, I carefully lowered it, using both hands, my one hand
creeping up her calf beneath the trousers she was wearing.
"It was so much more convenient when we wore skirts instead of
trousers," she giggled. "We didn't even have to take them off for a
quick bit of fun. Can you undo the other shoe, now." She obligingly
lifted her right leg in the air and waved it at me.
I grabbed hold of it, removed the shoe, and this time slid my hand as
far up the leg of her trouser as it would go.
"Oops! I think I'm getting your drift, Stephanie. And don't you know
you should never put your hand up a police officer's trouser leg?" She
paused a second before adding, "It's much better if you pull the
trousers down, first." This was enough to send her into a fit of
raucous laughter.
She waved both legs in the air in an open invitation to do as she had
invited, and I willingly assisted her in that action, also in removing
her panties and tights.
"Do you know," Sally said, "I have never before been with a girl who
has got me undressed so quickly. Why it's almost like..."
Her voice dried up as a flash of enlightenment crossed her face.
Then, "You switched them, didn't you? You switched the mugs of coffee.
That's why it's me giggling like a schoolgirl, and you who's pulling
off my knickers. Why you randy little bitch on heat. But how did you
know I'd slipped you a happy-orgasm pill?"
The idea had hit me at the same time. Sally had slipped something into
my coffee with the direct intention of getting me into bed. I had
accidentally reversed her plan by spilling her coffee and replacing it
with mine.
I was about to start the explanation, when Sally said, "Oh hell! Don't
bother with the excuses, just get your tongue on my pussy."
I don't know what the pill was, but crikey, it was a superb advert for
illegal substances. No sooner had my tongue slowly traced a path along
one lip of her pussy, and then back along the other until it reached
her clit, than she hit the kind of orgasm that many people only dream
of.
She screamed so loudly, it was a wonder the neighbours didn't call the
police, except that perhaps they'd heard the effect of these pills
before, and knew she was the police. Her climax must have lasted for
about ten minutes, until I thought she ought to come down before she
had a heart attack.
Then she was frenziedly applying her tongue to my nipples, and my clit.
Unfortunately, with my headache still throbbing, I could hardly feel a
thing. I really did not want to use the old headache excuse, so I
simply suggested we reversed roles again, with me going to work on her
tits. Another deafening blockbuster!
I have to say, I was feeling incredibly frustrated, for I was giving
her everything she wanted and wasn't getting any reward myself. I'm not
certain how much longer we'd have gone on together like that, but
Sally's next orgasm was cut off in its prime.
"Bravo Tango One. Come in please." The metallic voice of a police radio
interrupted.
"Oh shit! I gorra ansa dat. Werisit?"
I picked up her tunic from the floor and pulled out the radio. She
desperately tried to sit up on the bed, and I helped to lift her to a
sitting position as the radio repeated its message. Looking at the size
of Sally's big tits, I wondered which wag at the police station had
allocated her the BT1 call-sign.
"Bravatangawonere." As she finished speaking, the radio slipped from
her hands, and dropped to the floor. Sally tried to catch it, but ended
up collapsing onto the floor after it. I went around the bed and turned
her over so she could sit up again, and rummaged between her legs until
I found her radio. She started to giggle again as I pulled it out.
"Bravo tango one. We've just heard the School Crossing Warden at
Seacombe Middle has gone sick. Can you fill in for him? His duty starts
at 15:55."
"Bravatangawon. Noproblum. Owt." Sally dropped the radio on the floor
and struggled to get upright. "Gemeup. I
gorrahelpthekidsacrosstheroad."
"Sally!" I shouted at her, to try to get through. "You can't do that in
this condition. Why didn't you tell them you were ill?"
She shook her head. "Lookinforascusetagerridame. Elpmegedressed."
"No way. You'll get one of the kids killed if you work in this
condition." I eyed her uniform lying around the floor. "I'll do it for
you."
She looked puzzled for a second, and then enlightenment lit up her
face. "Goodidee," and she flopped backwards, her eyes closed, and an
enormous snore started from her mouth.
***
For the first time that day, I felt as though I looked pretty good.
Sally's uniform fitted me really well. Sally was right - it was a shame
that policewomen no longer wore skirts, but even the cut of her
trousers suited my well-rounded arse to a 'T'. I'd found a fresh blouse
and tie - you know, the one with the black-and-white check - in Sally's
wardrobe, and simply taken the rest of her things from the floor as I
didn't have that much time, especially as it had taken me so long to
pin-up my hair underneath the cap. It was almost as though I'd never
before had to pin-up my hair.
Fortunately, my sub-conscious knowledge of Seacombe served to get me to
Seacombe Middle School, just before the kids all came streaming out.
Within seconds a whirlwind of kids descended on me, and I was kept busy
helping children and parents across the reasonably busy road. The first
time I stepped off the pavement and held up my arm in front of a car, I
felt terrified the driver wasn't going to stop. But after a few
attempts, I was enjoying the fantastic power of halting huge
juggernauts to let across children who were so tiny, they didn't come
halfway up the wheels.
Quite a few of the drivers, particularly the lorry drivers gave me
whistles, or shouted things like, "You've stopped me - I'll buy one,"
or "You haven't got a lollipop, luv, do you want to grab hold of mine?"
- a play upon the round STOP sign-on-a-pole carried by the normal
Crossing Patrol Wardens, or Lollipop Men and Ladies as they were
usually called.
I guess I should have come heavy with them, got out my truncheon and
whipped them for being so cheeky, but it was all good-natured fun, and
what's more - I really enjoyed it. The kids were lovely; one showed me
a picture she had drawn, and another, a birthday card he'd made for his
mum. So by the time the flow of kids had stopped, I had a really big
smile on my face.
***
I'd borrowed Sally's police car to take me to the school and I was
still smiling as I got back inside it and noticed the clipboard on the
back seat - the clipboard upon which Sally had the details of every
guest who'd stayed overnight at the RestEasy motel.
Room 108 - there I was: Miss Stephanie Stewart, Sea View Court, The
Promenade, Seacombe. No wonder Sally had remarked how close I was to
home when she'd checked my details in the RestEasy car park.
The strange thing was, I didn't have any recollection of that address,
as I had so certainly known Brian Mitchell's address in Dorton.
Obviously, I knew Seacombe Promenade - it was the road that ran along
the sea front, with the beach on one side and, on the other, all the
large Victorian edifices which at one time had been splendid hotels,
but were now either rather seedy bed-and-breakfast places or had been
turned into apartments. Sea View Court was presumably one of the
latter. It would only be a minor diversion to pass it by on the way
back to Sally's house.
By now, I'd got so used to my uniform, that I never gave a second
thought to the fact that I was parading around the town, masquerading
as a police officer in a police car. At least, I didn't until I was
driving along the Promenade and I saw a policeman about one hundred
yards in front, walking towards me.
Shit! He'd be sure to give a wave towards the driver, and then notice
that the policewoman inside was not someone he recognised as one of his
colleagues. A call on his radio, and every police officer in the area
would be looking out for me.
As those thoughts flashed through my mind, I saw Sea View Court on my
left. I wasn't driving fast, so I gently braked and turned in to the
car park at the front of the building. I gave a silent sigh of relief
as I parked, at the same time noticing the man casually looking out the
window, and then doing a double take on the police car. A look of panic
crossed his face.
What it was, I revelled, to have the power to cause such concern. If
I'd really been a police officer, I'd have been asking him some
questions. As it was, I simply had to go through the entrance door and
get out of the way before PC Plod walked by, outside.
When I got inside, I realised the man I'd seen would have been behind
the porter's desk. He appeared to have disappeared now, no doubt to
ensure he wasn't asked any embarrassing questions. Well, that suited me
fine. I, too, didn't want to be asked any embarrassing questions about
why I, a resident of these apartments, should be dressed in a police
uniform and lurking in the entrance foyer, waiting for a police officer
to walk by. And it was hardly as if I could go up to my apartment, as
I'd failed to include the number on the motel registration card.
"Can I help you?"
I turned. The woman facing me had a friendly smile on her face, but she
wore a crisp, grey dress with a white collar and a wide leather belt
with a large buckle, indicating she was some kind of nurse - probably a
very senior one; a matron I guessed.
Hell! This was some kind of nursing home. If I lived here, did that
mean I was a nurse? She obviously hadn't recognised me in my change of
uniform, and there would be hell to pay when she did.
"Stephanie Stewart," I murmured in a tiny voice.
Matron continued smiling. "Do you want to see her?"
Gulp! But then I recovered sufficiently to realise she must be talking
about a patient - and clearly not me! I smiled and said, "Yes please."
As she led the way up a wide staircase, she turned and asked, "Can I
ask why you need to see her?"
I smiled back. "I'm sorry. It's a bit like patient confidentiality.
We're not allowed to talk about our cases."
"Of course." She accepted it without question, and led me along a
corridor to the rear of the building, and then into one of the
bedrooms.
"Stephanie, you have a visitor," she announced.
As I'd been following Matron, I'd been inventing my inquiry, based
partly on the truth. I was checking that she was not the same Stephanie
Stewart who'd been staying at the RestEasy...
My inventions came to a halt. Stephanie was a woman of about thirty,
lying on her bed, eyes closed, with absolutely no trace of movement to
betray the fact she was even alive.
"Stephanie's parents were both killed in a car accident almost ten
years ago," Matron said. "Three days later, Stephanie took a massive
overdose of heroin. She's been in a comma ever since."
"I didn't realise."
"Does this mean she's not guilty of whatever heinous crime you thought
she might?" she asked, the broad grin taking the sting out of her
words.
No, I thought, but someone has been using her identity to do so. I
smiled at her again, hiding my thoughts. "No, I don't think she's the
person I need to see, but thanks for showing me."
I glanced at the cards displayed by the side of her bed. "Is it her
birthday?"
"Yesterday. The cards are mainly from the staff here, but the big one
is from the solicitors who act as her trustees."
As we left the room, I noticed the sign on the door: Miss Stephanie
Stuart - so it was even spelt differently. It made me think some more.
"What happens to her post?" I asked.
"Apart from things like that birthday card - which is marked 'For her
personal attention' - It gets sent to the trustees. They're in London,
I think, but you'll have to check with Eric, our porter. I'll take you
back down to him and ask him to find the details."
But when we got back down, there was no sign of Eric. "Where on earth
has he got to?" Matron bristled. "Wait here. I'll see if I can find
him."
She disappeared down a corridor, and thirty seconds later, I could hear
her voice returning. "...and what would have happened if Mrs Whitely
had wandered out onto the road? She could have been knocked down and
killed, and it would have been your fault."
Matron was obviously giving Eric an earful for disappearing, and as he
and Matron appeared, he looked incredibly sheepish.
"Sorry Matron. It won't happen again." Without even glancing at me,
Eric returned behind his porter's desk and started busying himself with
some paperwork.
"And you can give this officer the forwarding address for Stephanie
Stuart's post." Matron called over her shoulder, as she disappeared
down the corridor.
"It gets sent to her solicitors," Eric said, again not looking me
directly in the eye.
"Here," he abruptly turned to a set of pigeonholes behind him,
extracted an envelope and passed it to me. "That's something that needs
forwarding."
It was junk mail, advertising a magazine promotional offer. The address
of Sea View Court had been crossed through, and written in felt pen was
another address in Lincoln's Inn, London WC2. Stephanie's parents must
have been very rich, I surmised, to afford solicitors in one of
London's Inns of Court. Why, even to discard a redirected junk mail
envelope, they probably charged a hundred pounds.
"Do you forward everything to the solicitors?" I asked. "Even this
junk."
"We're not allowed to exercise discretion," Eric said. "Everything must
go to them."
"But what about," I asked, inspiration suddenly hitting me, "mail
addressed to the other Stephanie Stewart. The one spelt S-T-E-W-A-R-T?"
He physically jumped. "Don't know nothing about another Stewart," he
said. He was shaking like a leaf.
"I think you do," I said. Annoyed he still hadn't looked directly at
me, I snapped at him, "Look at me!" God! I was really enjoying this
police work.
Slowly, he looked up at me and then I saw recognition dawn in his eyes,
followed by hope, and then by shocked horror.
"It's you!" he cried. "You're in the police. That's entrapment. I only
did it..."
"Quiet!" I said the word quietly, but with sufficient force to cause
him to stop.
I glanced around to see if we'd been overheard, but we were still
alone.
"Actually," I said, "I'm not a police officer. I simply borrowed this
uniform to give you the shock of your life. And I think I've succeeded,
don't you?"
"You're not police? Fucking hell, that's dangerous! Where did you get
the uniform?"
"I have connections."
"Fucking hell!" And then, "Look, I'm sorry about the delay."
What delay? No point in revealing I couldn't remember what he was
talking about, so I ad-libbed. "I should think so, too."
He bent down and rummaged under the desk in a big cupboard. He pulled
out a large, bulging Jiffy bag and hesitantly pushed it towards me.
"Sorry," he said.
I took it from him. This envelope had been originally addressed to Miss
S Stewart at Sea View Court, and that had been crossed through. At
first glance the forwarding address appeared the same. I looked more
carefully and noticed the change: Lincoln's Inn Mews, London W2.
London W2 instead of WC2 meant West London, rather than West Central
London. I thought it was probably the area behind Paddington Station,
rather than the hallowed cloisters of the Inns of Court - quite a
difference.
The date on the postmark, for once entirely legible, gave the date of
posting two weeks before. Eric noticed me looking at it.
"Sorry," he repeated. "I was just about to take it to the post when
Matron came round, and I shoved it into the back of the cupboard to get
it out the way."
"And?"
He looked extremely embarrassed. "Well, I just kinda forgot about it.
In my mind I'd posted it, you see. It wasn't until you appeared in your
police car that I had a little check around and found it still lying
there. I almost shit myself.
"Look," he continued, seeing the impassive look on my face which was
actually hiding the total confusion reeling through my mind, "why don't
we say half price for this delivery. Five hundred. How's that sound?"
"Why don't we say this is a freebie, and if you make another cock-up
like that, you pay me five hundred?" It wasn't as though I had five
hundred pounds to give him. But hadn't Godolphy said that Stevenson had
one thousand pounds in cash in his pocket? That would have been Eric's
full payment.
***
It was almost eight pm by the time I reached Lincoln's Inn Mews. I'd
had to go back to Sally's flat, get changed into my Seiza's uniform,
write a note for Sally as it was impossible to awaken her, get a taxi
to the car park where I'd left my car, and then drive to London in the
rush hour traffic.
Oh yes, and as soon as I got into my own car, I opened the Jiffy bag
just wide enough to see it was packed with bundles of fifty pound
notes. It should have been a jubilant moment, but the money just served
to heighten my confusion, not reduce it. It had been a long day, and
the headache, which had been nagging me all day long, had returned with
a vengeance. I felt shattered.
Lincoln's Inn Mews was like most other mews in London. Originally, the
mews were the roads leading along the backs of the grand houses, used
to access the stables and garaging for the carts. Now the stables were
mostly converted into twee flats with a garage beneath - highly
desirable bijou residences.
There was a remote device in the car glove-box which operated the auto
garage door, and the key on my ring fitted the interconnecting door to
the flat. Inside, the burglar alarm started beeping. Shit!
A moments thought, and I punched in yesterday's date - Stephanie's
birthday. It worked.
Then I went upstairs to the flat and spent only a few minutes looking
around. Once I'd wandered into the bedroom, and seen the bed, I simply
pulled off my shoes and slipped between the sheets.
***
I slept like a log all night, and then as it was getting light, I lay
awake for a few minutes, recapping the events of the previous day. It
was too much for a girl to take in, and I felt my eyes growing heavy
with sleep, again.
The dream was quite strange, because in it, I was someone else - a
computer security consultant called Brian Mitchell. I had come across
the "Desperately Seeking Stephanie" website by pure chance, but had
been absolutely captivated by a photograph of Stephanie wearing a
yellow dress with black polka-dots. They say there's no fool like an
old fool, and as Brian, I certainly proved that true.
Thirty-eight years old, and I fell in love with the girl who could only
be in her late twenties, and whom already had a guy called Jim wanting
to marry her. It wasn't even as though she was a classical beauty. So
what? When a man gets an obsession with a woman, logic doesn't come
into it.
As a computer security expert, I had no problem hacking into the
website and adding my own email address to that of Jim's. The site had
been produced by Microsoft software, so there was a shed-load of extra
garbage in the HTML that no one wanted, or ever bothered to read. I was
pretty confident that Jim would never notice my unauthorised addition
hidden amongst that lot.
Slowly, messages started coming in, from locations as near as London,
or as remote as San Francisco. I suspected the majority of them were
false, some even maliciously false, but what the hell? I lived the
dream that someday I would beat Jim to find - and marry - the beautiful
girl.
Then, one evening, I'm watching TV when an email drops onto my computer
from the website. Stephanie is staying in Room 108 at the RestEasy in
Seacombe, barely thirty miles from where I live.
I don't hesitate. I telephone the RestEasy. Yes, they have
accommodation for the night. Yes, there's no problem in allocating me
Room 107, although all their rooms are to the same high standard.
Within the hour, I'm checking in. As I'd guessed, Room 107 was
immediately across the corridor from 108. I could keep an eye on her
door through the security spy-hole. A walk around the outside of the
building shows that Room 108 is in total darkness. She's either asleep,
or out for the night. I keep a lookout for a while, and then decide it
would be better for me to get an early night, and restart my vigil
early next morning.
Next day, my patience is rewarded. After a two-hour wait, at just after
eight am, she emerges from the room, looking as beautiful as she did in
the photo, only wearing a smart blue suit. She's not carrying any
luggage, so I assume she's going down to breakfast. I am about to go
dashing after her, when I remember I haven't got my key card handy, and
I panic, wasting precious minutes trying to find it.
Eventually, I get down to the crowded dining room and check-in,
resisting the waiter's offer to allocate me a table. I'm looking for a
friend, I tell him.
I grab a glass of orange-juice and a coffee from the self-service table
and wander the length of the room looking for her. There she is, right
at the end, by the window.
"Hi," I say. "It's a bit crowded in here. Do you mind if I join you?"
She looks up with a not unfriendly expression and shrugs her shoulders
to indicate acquiescence.
I'm never any good at chatting-up women, but within minutes we fall
into a natural conversation - talking about computers, actually,
although every time my eyes wander to her fantastic cleavage, my
logical mind shuts up and my words almost fade away. She is obviously
clocking my eyes, but the tiny smile at the corner of her mouth
indicates she doesn't seem to mind.
Then, her glance locks on something outside the window, and hardens for
a second. I follow her gaze. Shit! Jim is outside, just getting out of
a car! I guess he'd responded to the same email, but obviously lived
much further away than me. How am I going to make certain he doesn't
snatch the girl away from me? I needn't have worried.
"Tell me," she says, "do you want me to fuck you?"
"What?" I say.
"You heard," she said. "I was hoping to get off quite quickly, but
there's someone outside I'd rather not meet, so I need to keep out of
sight for a while. You look very suitable for my needs. I was wondering
if you'd like me to fuck you."
In my dream, we seem to float upstairs and suddenly we're inside her
bedroom, and she has her tongue down my throat, and I'm pushing my
rock-hard prick against her tummy, and she's wriggling against it and
murmuring all kinds of sweet things.
"Get undressed and into bed," she says. "I need to go to the bathroom."
She's in there quite a long time, before the bathroom door opens and a
naked man comes out, carrying some kind of garment over his arm.
"Fuck!" I say. "Who are you?"
And I'm leaping out of bed because he's moving very quickly and
aggressively towards me. As I stand up, he punches me in the stomach.
It didn't seem a very hard punch until it landed, and then I'm folded
up double on the floor, gasping for air.
"You said you wanted me to fuck you, so I did," Stephanie's voice says,
and I look up, and the words are coming from the man's mouth. "I'm
afraid you were deceived by the bodysuit I was wearing." He points at
the garment he'd thrown onto the bed.
I stare at it. It looks like a skin, but it seems impossible it could
transform the athletic looking guy standing in front of me into a
beautiful woman.
"Now I need you to help me get rid of my admirer," he continues. "I
want you to put on the bodysuit, get dressed in her clothes and drive
off in her car, whilst I borrow your clothes and your car. We can meet
up later on."
As he speaks he's putting on my clothes, and I'm too frightened to
argue with him. He gets a bundle of money out of a vanity case and
waves it at me.
"I'll pay you one thousand pounds," he says, "if you do as I say.
Otherwise, I'm going to get very angry with you." He puts the bundle of
money into his jacket pocket - that is, into the jacket pocket which
ten minutes ago I'd been wearing, but he has now taken for his own.
Then he folds his right hand into a fist and starts massaging it with
his left, his knuckles making horrible, cracking noises.
"I only have to break a few of your ribs," he says, "and it will be
very, very painful, and take a long time to heal. So," he nods at the
bodysuit, "just put it on. Now!"
I put on the bodysuit. It's in two halves - the bottom half is like a
pair of flesh-coloured tights, only with individual toes and painted
toe nails. There's soft, thick padding around the hips and buttocks to
give a shapely rear end, and at the crutch, there's a slot to allow my
genitals to poke through.
The top half is like a matching leotard, with a face mask and wig, and
individual fingers and finger nails. Again, there's plenty of squelchy
padding to give me enormous breasts. The guy helps me on with the top,
and shows me how to get my head inside the mask, and feed my tackle
into the bag on the underside of the gusset, and then pull it between
my legs and fasten it without causing me too much pain.
When I look in the mirror, I'm looking at a naked Stephanie, not Brian.
Now I truly know what is meant by the expression, "Beauty is skin
deep." (By this time in my dream, I'm bloody confused about who I
actually am.)
"I was right," he says, admiringly. "I thought you'd be just the right
shape to fit inside the bodysuit. Do you know, in Seacombe they make
the best bodysuits in the world? Kept me out of trouble for years.
That's