Drew Nance Book 2: "The Hidden Staircase" by Bobbie J. Cabot Chapter One: Drew and Her Girls / Carson and Hawaii

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“Hi, Pop,” Drew said, traipsing down the stairs for breakfast, and bussed her dad on the cheek.

“Good morning, Drew,” Carson said. “Breakfast is almost ready.” He put a finger over his lips in a shushing gesture, and pointed at his briefcase in the breakfast nook.

Drew nodded. She went to the closet in the living room and came back with one of the portable radio signal detectors and the nonlinear junction detector that was disguised as a metal detector. The junction detector even had a sticker on it that her dad put on. It said "Sunspot Metal Detector: lots of fun at the beach." Both were devices that they bought the previous month to look for spy devices and bugs. Sure, they weren’t foolproof, but they were the best available.

She opened his briefcase and ran both devices over it. She sighed. “Nope, nothing,” she said. Carson sighed, too. “Whew. Sorry, Drew, I forgot to check them out last night.”

Drew put both devices back in the living room closet and sat down at the dinner table. She eagerly picked up her knife and fork and thumped them on the table like an orphan kid in a school revival of Oliver. “Bring on the vittles!” She exclaimed. “Food! Food!”

Carson laughed. “Vittles? What were you guys watching last night, anyway? Gunsmoke?”

Drew giggled. “No. Iola brought her DVD of ‘The Crazy Ones.’”

“Haven’t seen that.”

Drew giggled. “It was Robin Williams’ last TV show. It’s super funny. I’ll ask Iola later if I can borrow the DVD so you can watch it.”

“Robin Williams? Nice! But, speaking of which, what time did you come in last night anyway?”

“Ummm... past one?” She shrugged nervously, hoping Carson wouldn’t get mad. “I was over at Callie’s. Ummm, I left you a message?”

“That’s okay. Be glad that it’s not a school night.”

“School night? Pop! School’s been out for a while now.”

“Okay, okay. Force of habit. Simmer down. Here.” He put down a plate of scrambled eggs and corned beef in front of her.

“What’s this?” she asked, puzzled. “Corned beef for breakfast?”

“Sorry, Drew, we’re running low on groceries. But I found powdered eggs and canned beef in the cabinet above where you put your vitamins, so...”

“Dad! Those are for when there’s a storm and the fridge goes off or something!”

“No worries. I’ll do some grocery shopping later and replace them, okay?” He put a couple of slices of toast on a plate, a mug of coffee and a glass of orange juice beside it.

“Oh, no need,” Drew said. “I’ll do it. It gives me something to do.” She held her hand out, with the palm up.

“What?”

“Money. For the groceries.”

“Haven’t I said you don’t get an allowance anymore? That you have to use your own money for all your stuff now?”

“Yes. But this is for the house, not for me.”

Carson frowned. He stalked back to his briefcase and brought out his checkbook.

“Okay,” he huffed. “I’ll give you a check for the groceries.” He paused. “Come to think of it, maybe you should take care of our groceries from now on. As well as the water, electric, cable, Internet and phone.”

“Huh? Wait, wait!”

He took his phone and started adding up numbers. “Let’s see. We spend around a hundred sixty a week for groceries. Round up to four and a half weeks a month makes seven-twenty. Our monthly electric bill averages two-fifty. Water’s about one-fifty, including the bottled water refills. And the cable, Internet and phone is one-fifty. So that comes out to one thousand, two hundred and seventy dollars. I’ll write you a check every month and you can take care of the groceries, the water, electric, cable, internet and phone.”

“What!”

“Hmmm. You’re right. I’ll give you a thousand-five even, just in case.”

“Dad! That’s unfair!”

“And anything left over – think of that as your tip.”

“Tip!”

“I’ll also write out a check for Arlene’s monthly salary, or maybe include it in one check, and you encash it for her.”

“Wait – why don’t you just make out the check to her?”

“She has to get her salary in cash, ‘coz we’re not reporting this to the IRS, so you have to be the one to encash it and give it to her in cash, and in installments instead of one whole lump.”

Drew looked at him rebelliously.

“Come on, Drew. With the new job, I just don’t have the time anymore.”

Drew sighed. “Okay. But! You make it two thousand instead one thousand and five, and I get to keep everything that’s left over.”

Carson looked at her with his best negotiating expression. “All right. But you have to get everything in the regular grocery list, and you take care of any other household things that we may need.”

“What if extra expenses make me go over what you gave?”

“Then that means you have to keep receipts so I can properly reimburse you.”

“Okay, it’s a deal!”

“Deal! Two a month for buying the groceries, paying for the utilities, and paying Arlene."

They shook hands on it. As they were shaking hands, they broke down laughing.

“Is that how you are when you’re with a client?” Drew giggled.

“Oh, that was nothing. But you were a worthy opponent.”

Drew stuck her tongue out at him, and they sat down to eat. She got a forkful of scrambled eggs and corned beef.

“Hmmm! This ain’t half bad!”

“Good.”

“Or maybe I’m just hungry.” Drew giggled.

“Did you guys even eat dinner at Callie’s last night?” he said, a little worried.

“Of course!” Drew said. “What do you think, Callie and her aunt don’t take care of us? Sure, Aunt Arlene can’t cook worth a...”

“So takeout then?” Carson interrupted.

Drew sighed. “Well, yeah. Otherwise we would have been stuck with Callie’s cooking.” Drew made a face. "I'd rather starve. Anyway, we got dinner from that new Korean place. Korean barbecue’s pretty good. It’s just that I didn’t get to eat a lot – Callie and Iola are pretty quick with the chopsticks.”

Carson laughed. “Did you get Kimchi? How’d you like kimchi?”

Drew made a face. “Bulgogi's nice. Beansprouts and noodle salad - nice. Kimchi? Ekkk!”

“Kimchi’s good! You just have to develop a taste for it.”

Drew shrugged and listlessly moved her scrambled eggs around her plate. “You’re bored, huh?” Carson said, watching her.

She sighed. “I’m sooo bored!”

“Yeah. I know.” He waggled his eyebrows at her.

“And before you say anything, I’m not working at your office! ‘Kay?”

Carson laughed. “Well, that wasn’t what I was going to say. I have some other ideas.” Carson went back to his briefcase and came back with some brochures.

“What do you think of these?” he asked.

She looked through the brochures. “Oooh! Hawaii! What made you think of Hawaii?”

“American Amalgamated, my organization’s retail arm, is partnered with a couple of travel agencies. All of the executives get a discount on any bookings, like seventy percent off the standard rates. If that’s true, I’m willing to cover all expenses.”

“Cool! But... can you get time off?”

“That’s not the first question that should have come to mind. I mean, Hawaii? Swimming?”

“Huh?”

“Swimming? Bikinis? Scanty clothes?...”

“I don’t get... Oh... OH!”

“Now you get it. I’m willing to arrange for the trip so long as it’s... I mean, that your attire will remain, ummm, impenetrable.”

Drew looked at him for a long time.

“Ummm, Drew?”

“Stay here. Gimme five minutes.” She went upstairs.

“I guess it’s my turn to say ‘huh?’” he said, but she wasn’t there anymore. Less than five minutes later, Drew came back down wearing her white suit. “Ummm. That’s a very... nice swimsuit.”

“Specifically, this is called a one-piece.”

“Oookaay.”

“So?” Drew said, and stood in several poses in what Carson thought were very reminiscent of Sports Illustrated beach layouts. What she wore looked like the swimsuits the girls in the old Baywatch TV show used to wear, except that this one was white instead of red. “What do you think?”

“Okay, okay!” Carson said in a slightly distressed voice. “I admit it. Your camouflage is perfect.”

Drew giggled and continued to pose. And Carson had to note that her... stuff was... not in evidence. And she moved totally normally. If he didn’t know the truth, Drew looked and moved exactly like any teenager in a swimsuit. And as she went through more poses, Carson had to grimace a bit. Drew had now ruined his image of women. Hopefully not forever. He shook his head in a futile attempt to get rid of the pictures in his head.

“Stop that, Drew,” he said. “I’m not exactly comfortable seeing you do that...”

“Oh, Pop,” she sighed.

“One of these days, you have to explain to me how you do that.”

“Do what? The poses? It’s just like the layouts they do in fashion magazines.” She demoed again.

“Not that,” he said. “I meant that.” He gestured to the bottom part of her suit. “Did you have Doctor Joe do some procedures on you without telling me?”

“Oh no! It’s the underwear I have on.” She started to pull down the bottom of the suit from the back so that she could show him the elastic of the gaff she was wearing.

"It’s called a gaff, and...”

“Stop! No, no. I’m fine. I’ll take your word for it. Objection retracted.”

“Oh, Pop! What’s wrong? I went swimming with the girls once. Don’t you remember? What did you think I was wearing that time?”

“I’m sorry. I had assumed that you were wearing board shorts or something like that. Let’s move on, okay?”

Drew giggled. “Okay. So, will you be able to take time off for us to go to Hawaii?”

“I’m still too new on the job to be able to take days off, Drew.”

Drew shrugged. “Then that’s that.”

“Wait, Drew – listen to me. What if I get you and Callie and Iola one of those two- or three-week packages, and I’ll take a weekend off and catch up with you guys.”

“But, Pop...”

“Do it, Drew. We didn’t get to do much together before. We haven’t gotten a chance to go to Hawaii or anywhere before, in fact. The farthest we’ve gone together was our trip to New York.”

“We do plenty of things! What about our Sundays? What about our Thanksgiving weekends?”

“Well, our Sundays are great, and camping is always fun. But it’s not like Hawaii. We’ll keep doing our thanksgiving weekends, to be sure. But we can do other things as well, can’t we?”

“Okay.”

“Good.” Carson gave her a peck. That felt super-weird while Drew was wearing her one-piece.

“I gotta tell Callie and Iola, then!” Drew exclaimed, for once clueless of Carson’s discomfort. “They’re gonna go out of their minds!” She pulled out her phone and started texting.

Carson chuckled.

“Do you think Aunt Arlene and Iola’s folks will give their permission?”

“I don’t know, but they’ve been cool with you guys doing stuff on your own before.”

Someone knocked on their door.

“Ooops,” Carson said. “That would be my guy. Time to go. We can talk about this later, okay?”

He handed Drew a check and she helped him put on his coat.

“Okay, Pop,” she said, and gave him a kiss. “Have fun at the office.” She waved goodbye as Carson was taken away in his chauffer-driven company-assigned car, hiding behind the door as she did. She was suddenly stricken with shyness when she remembered she was wearing just a swimsuit.

After a couple of days of Carson arriving in the office grumpy because of having to contend with morning rush hour traffic, Alice, Carson’s secretary, had convinced Drew to convince Carson to allow her to assign him a car and driver. And ever since then, Carson would be picked up and brought home by a chauffeured company car. Since then, his mood in the office had improved.

What was curious, though, was that the car would arrive as early as six, sometimes even earlier, and the driver would just park in front of the house waiting for eight AM before knocking on their door. Also, at the end of the day, the driver would stay out there for about an hour or so after bringing Carson home before eventually driving away. Alice explained that was standard procedure in case of changes in Carson’s schedule, or if he needed the car after work. In fact, even Drew was authorized to use the car so long as Carson doesn’t need it, and they just need to call her or Tate Center’s dispatch line if they needed a car on the weekends.

Still, Drew found it suspicious and, under a contrived reason, she walked out a couple of times to say hi to the driver, with one of the radio signal detectors in her pocket (the alarm volume turned low, of course). When she did, the alarm was triggered both times. It could be just be the walkie-talkie or cell phone the driver was carrying to keep in touch with the office, or the car’s radio on the dash, but Drew was suspicious nevertheless, because the source seemed to be in the back passenger compartment, not in front.

Drew couldn’t tell if it was all innocent. It probably was, actually, and the video from their cameras showed that the driver stayed in or around the car, and never approached the house until he was ready to knock on the door. But they couldn’t take any chances.

So they behaved “normally” as always, continuing on without any “non-Drew” or “non-Carson” behavior. But they were doubly careful now, lest Carson’s driver sees something to make him suspicious. That was all they could do to not tip their hand.

Just another day in the life of the Nances.

- - - - -

A little under five months ago, Attorney David Fayne and his daughter Jane were murdered. David was an attorney working for the New York County District Attorney’s Office, and had this little private project to uncover a criminal syndicate working under the cover of the country’s largest commercial conglomerate – a conspiracy that routinely did its clandestine activities in the guise of normal business. It was David's own personal pet project that no one knew about – except for himself and his daughter.

David’s information indicated that this illegal underworld did business in the billions, and was responsible for a long string of murders as well. But while on a supposed cross-country road trip to visit his brother Bill and Bill's son Andy in their childhood hometown of River Heights, those that he was after had David and his daughter Jane killed.

But before David and Jane set out on their trip, David was able to send some of the information that he had already gathered to his brother Bill.

Hours after Bill got David’s hard drive, as well as a file folder full stuff, Bill and his son, Andy, were quickly tracked down by David’s unknown nemeses. Without Bill’s quick thinking, he and Andy would have been killed as well: David had concocted for himself and Jane a couple of undercover identities in order to go into hiding if necessary, but they had been murdered before they could make use of them. Bill decided to use these undercover identities for himself and Andy.

So, under the guise of the fictitious Carson and Andrea Nance, Bill and Andy continued David’s little “project,” and eventually expose David’s, Jane’s and Maria’s murderers (Maria was Bill and Andy’s long-time housekeeper, killed just before the two went into hiding).

Of course, it would be difficult to complete their “project” without exposing themselves, so they planned to do it secretly and carefully, so as not to leave any trails and keep anyone from even suspecting who they really were and what they were doing. It would be a long, slow process because of that.

Bill and Andy knew that their “project” would probably take years, but they didn’t care about that so long as they eventually catch the people responsible for David’s, Jane’s and Maria’s deaths. They would bide their time while they gathered their evidence. And while they did, they would live their lives as their new alter egos of Carson and Andrea Nance.

David originally prepared the Carson identity for his own use in case he needed to go underground, and since the Andrea Nance identity was meant for Jane, it was a girl’s identity... Which was a bit problematic for Andy...

While Bill had it easy playing his part as Carson, it was a bitch for Andy trying to live as a girl. But he, or rather she now, eventually learned to cope. And as they worked to accumulate their evidence, Carson got on with his new life as a high-powered corporate lawyer and Andrea (Drew to her friends) started her life as her new school’s hottest, most popular blonde.

Aside from their facial plastic surgeries, they made sure to take other precautions to keep their disguises impenetrable: things like not breaking out of character ever; keeping nonlinear detectors and radio frequency detectors around the house to check for bugs; keeping hidden surveillance cameras; putting away all of their “evidence” and other stuff in their hidden safe; and for Drew – soaking in long baths and slathering moisturizers all over herself each morning and evening to keep her skin as soft as a girl’s, always dressing in the most feminine of outfits, and always wearing a gaff.

Unlike Carson’s surgery on his face, Drew’s surgical procedures included breast implants, electrolysis, selective liposuction and fat transfer using the fairly new technique called “structural fat grafting.” This gave Drew the look and figure of a very attractive girl. Intensive voice lessons also gave her a completely passable feminine voice. But that was all that she had done – Drew didn’t want to do any truly permanent or... “fundamental” changes to herself, so she needed to be careful of her choice in clothes, especially her pants and skirts, otherwise she might be found out.

A month ago, Drew picked up her old hobby of solving “cases” again – the little mysteries that the old Andy seemed to have a knack for stumbling over, which, apparently, Drew still had as well. Solving these little mysteries used to be a fun hobby for Andy, the aspiring detective. For Drew, it was still fun, but it was also a kind of therapy – it kept her mind from dwelling on her need to hide her gender from everyone, and it kept her analytical abilities as sharp as possible.

She needed those abilities to help complete their “project,” after all. And, again, it was fun.

The first “case” she tackled as Drew was the case that they had come to call “the Mystery of the Old Clock.” Drew found solving it was interesting and very rewarding indeed, and her best friends thought it the most fun they’d ever had, sneaking around and looking for clues, and being chased by, and escaping from, the police. And in the course of solving the case, Callie and Iola were also able to help Drew become a cheerleader just like them, and Drew acquired a monster Cadillac Escalade ESV and several new admirers. But all that’s a different story from this one.

This one that you’re reading now is about the second case she tackled - the case she and her friends would eventually call “the Mystery of the Hidden Stairway.”

- - - to be continued - - -

 

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