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 20 by Louise Anne Smithson Copyright © 2021 Louise Anne Smithson All Rights Reserved.

Chapter 20

I had been in process of sending Amy a copy of the selfie that I’d just taken when Rob suddenly appeared at the door demanding Amy’s help. I was just able to start the sound recorder app on my phone and put it out of sight on a nearby shelf before he even noticed my presence.

‘You!’ he said looking angrily at me. ‘All of this is your fault! If you’d only accepted that bag of coke that I offered you, then none of this would have happened.’

‘You attempted to have me wrongly convicted for dealing in drugs,’ I replied barely able to contain my anger.

‘I thought I’d teach you a lesson not to be such a “goody two shoes”. It was easy enough to do since you all left your bags with a friend of mine who was open to taking a line of coke as a bribe.’

It seemed that nobody could be trusted these days.

‘As a result of your spiteful action, the police will be taking much more notice of your activities in future,’ said Amy.

‘It’s a lot worse than that. They have already intercepted one of our deliveries and some of the others suspect that I was the one responsible when I was arrested. As a result, I’ll need to disappear for a while’

‘So, what the hell are you doing here and how did you know where to come?’ asked Amy.

‘Since you wouldn’t answer any of my phone calls, I drove out to Wilton. The last few staff who were clearing the site told me where I might find you.’

‘What do you want?’

‘It isn’t you, it’s your caravan. That time I visited you at Wilton, whilst you were sleeping off the effects of the night before, I stashed two kilos of coke behind the water tank of your caravan. It was my insurance policy; just in case anything ever went wrong. But now someone seems to have locked the door to the compartment holding the water tank.’

‘I expect the transport crew would have locked that compartment before they moved the caravan over to Hatfield,’ I commented.

‘And what the hell would have happened to me if your little package had ever been found?’ Amy asked, angrily.

‘Oh, I’m sure you would have found some way to deny any knowledge of it; after all your friend here appears to have got off when she was arrested,’ he answered carelessly. ‘Now if you will kindly open that compartment for me so I can retrieve my coke, you won’t see me again.’

‘The ground crew have the key to that compartment and I wouldn’t open it for you even if had one,’ said Amy.

‘In that case you’d better find someone to open it for me or else I have some rather incriminating photos of you snorting coke which will find their way into the popular newspapers. They won’t fetch as much as my coke, but I’m sure the papers would be willing to pay me for them. We’ll see how your precious film career looks then.’

‘You bastard!’ said Amy.

‘I think I know where the spare key is kept, there is a box of keys under the sink in the kitchen,’ I said.

‘In that case you’d better find it.’

He didn’t seem to notice as I picked up my phone, as I went towards the kitchen.

I found the key quite quickly and surreptitiously moved it to one side out of the way.

‘I’m sure I’ve seen it here somewhere,’ I said as I went through a box of spare keys.

‘Here, let me look through that,' he snarled, grabbing the box out of my hand.

As he looked through, I was able to send a copy of the sound file from my phone to Amy together with another copy to my cloud storage. As soon as I’d done so I emerged from the cupboard.

‘No, I must have been wrong, there’s nothing in here.’

‘I’ll get a screwdriver from my car and force the lock.’

‘I don’t think so, I have just sent a sound recording of you admitting to several serious crimes to Amy’s phone. We will be forwarding a copy to the police unless you agree to leave us immediately.’

‘You’re bluffing.’

‘Amy, would you like to play the file that I have just sent you?’

Amy retrieved the file on her phone and played it so that we could all hear the events of the last quarter of an hour.

‘Give me that!’ said Rob attempting to grab Amy’s phone.

‘There’s no point in doing that,’ I said. ‘That is one of three copies of the file, one of which has already been sent to Amy’s agent in London. As I said, unless you leave here immediately, another copy will be sent to the Paddington Green police who are investigating cocaine dealing.’

‘You will both regret this,’ he said.

‘Not as much as you will, if any of those pictures of Amy ever get to be published,’ I said angrily. ‘There is enough evidence in that file to put you away for several years, and I wouldn’t fancy your chances in prison once some of your associates find out what happened.’

He left us without saying another word and ostentatiously drove away.

‘What a creep! Whatever attracted me to him in the first place?’ asked Amy.

‘There’s no accounting for taste,’ I said with a grin, but noticed that I was quite shaken up by recent events.

‘Did you really send a copy of that file to Geoffrey Kelly?’ she asked anxiously.

‘No, the fewer who know about today’s events the better. However, I do suggest that you make a second copy and keep it somewhere safe just in case he ever comes back in the future.’

‘Thanks for all your help, Nicola, I’m really grateful for everything you have done,’ said Amy giving me a hug.

‘I’m glad if I have offered you a little repayment for your kindness to me over the last few weeks.’

‘It has always been a pleasure to have helped you to find your true self. I don’t think Rob ever suspected your origins.’

‘No, I don’t think so either. But let’s now go and retrieve that package and dispose of it before anyone else finds it.’

‘I thought that you said we didn’t have a spare key,’ said Amy.

I went to the cupboard and retrieved the spare key from its hiding place.

‘I was hardly going to let him have his precious drugs, after what he’d tried to do to me,’ I said.

‘Good for you, Nicola.’

We went outside to investigate the hiding place. Fortunately, by this time there were relatively few workers still on site and nobody noticed as we opened the compartment and searched inside. The package, wrapped in black plastic, was where Rob had said it would be. It was unlikely to have been noticed if someone had merely been refilling the water tank, but anyone carrying out a more detailed inspection would have found it.

‘Now that we’ve found it how are we going to get rid of it?’ I asked Amy.

‘I suppose we do have to get rid of it?’ she replied.

‘Amy, hasn’t cocaine got us into enough trouble as it is?’ I replied impatiently.

‘Yes, I suppose you’re right. Maybe we should hand it in to the police?

‘Unfortunately, that will just result in a lot of questions to you, me and Rob and perhaps give rise to more unwelcome publicity.’ I said aware that I’d not yet received the contract for my new job,

‘You’re right; there’s an artificial lake in the grounds, let’s lob it into there,’ suggested Amy.

‘Won’t that poison the fish?’ I asked.

‘I don’t know, but if you’re worried, we could always flush it down the ladies’ toilet. That water will be treated before it is released to the environment.’

Later that evening we managed to dispose of all the evidence.

Amy and I were a little shaken-up by the events of Sunday evening, but nobody else had become aware of what had taken place and the filming of the remaining scenes went ahead as planned the following day. In fact, the whole production went well over the next fortnight and Frank was very pleased with progress. I did a mixture of stand-in work in costume, taking the place of Amy when she was not directly in shot and some time spent in everyday dress helping the crew plan the lighting and camera angles. My new contract arrived mid-way through the first week, dated for me to begin as soon as we had finished filming. I would be able to continue living in Amy’s caravan for the first week after filming helping to co-ordinate the strike of the set and return of equipment and props to storage. Thereafter, I would transfer to Elstree studios and would have to find my own accommodation. However, Sandra had a spare room nearby which she offered to rent to me until I could find something more permanent. Once it became known that I would shortly be taking over from Sandra as a Production Assistant, I was also given various other jobs to do on set so by the end of the fortnight I had a good idea of the duties involved.

We didn’t hear any more from Rob Singleton over the next fortnight that we were filming at Hatfield or since. A few days after his disappearance there was a newspaper report about various drug arrests that had recently taken place in London and on-going investigations. Rob’s name was not listed so he appeared to have got away with things on this occasion, although he would have been wise to keep well away from his former haunts and associates. He knew that Amy and I were holding some highly incriminating evidence about him that would ensure his future good behaviour, at least as far as Amy was concerned. I also got the impression that Amy had learned an important lesson over the six weeks that we had known one another. She was less full of her own importance and had begun to realise that her success had been as much due to good fortune as anything else, which might end at any time unless she took care.

As usual, the evening after the filming for a particular project was finished, the producers organised a drinks party in a marquee. Amy and I had finished our work by that Friday lunchtime and so we spent the afternoon together getting ourselves ready.

‘Why don’t you wear the outfit that I loaned to you when Frank took us out to dinner?’ suggested Amy.

‘Isn’t that a bit too dressy for such an occasion?’ I asked.

‘No, it will be a chance to show off to your future colleagues how good you can look.’

‘Alright if you don’t mind loaning it to me again.’

‘No I don’t mind, in fact the dress and shoes can be a parting gift, as you will be on your own after I leave tomorrow.’

‘Yes, it is going to be a new chapter in my life, so I’m inevitably a little anxious,’ I admitted.

‘I’m sure that you’ll do just fine as a production assistant. and I expect them to be renewing your contract after three months.’

‘Thanks for everything that you’ve done for me Amy, you really have changed my life.’

‘For the better, I trust.’

‘Yes, I believe so. As soon as I have a fixed postal address, I intend to take steps to secure some official ID and then begin the process of a permanent transition.’

‘Well good luck, Nicola and please let me know how you are getting on. You are welcome to come and stay with me whenever we are both free.’

‘Thanks for the offer, Amy. but I’d better steer clear of London for the next few weeks, but I do promise to keep in touch.’

‘Alright, but now you can demonstrate to me just how well you can do your hair and makeup while I find you that dress to wear.’

Thanks to everyone (especially Bronwen) for the corrections and comments. Feel free to keep them coming. I’m taking a break for a few weeks, but I hope to post another story in the summer.
Louise