[another oldie from 2010 dragged out of cold storage]
[Notting Hill, West London]
The owner of the flat buzzed his caller in through the front door to the house. Thirty or so seconds later there was a discrete knock on his flat.
Liam answered the door. He’d been expecting the person who now stood in front of him.
“Hello Trixie. I didn’t think you were coming tonight.”
“Hi Liam. I had a few things to take care of. Still I’m here now.”
Liam smiled.
“You know I’m always pleased to see you. Trixie.”
Trixie went into the bedroom. Liam joined her there and closed the door.
A couple of hours later, they were both in the kitchen.
“Liam, I won’t be able to come any more. I guess you will have to find another lady of the night for your Tuesday sessions.”
This was obviously a shock for Liam.
“Why won’t you be able to come any more?”
Trixie was finding this a little hard.
“Liam, I’m giving up the game. I’ve made enough money and now I’m getting out while I’m young enough and healthy.”
“Well, good for you. I’m pleased for you. I shall really miss you Trixie. I hope you know that.”
She held his hand.
“I know that Liam. You are so nice and gentle. It has always been a pleasure to come here.”
“Trixie, if there is anything I can ever do for you, please let me know.”
“You are a real sweetie Liam. My best client by a long way.”
“What does Delroy say about you quitting the game?”
“He’s cool. Sorry to see his best girl leave but he always treats his girls nice. He’s a big sweetie really. He has a replacement for me if you are interested. Helga, a very leggy Swedish Blonde?”
Liam thought for a moment.
“I think I’ll pass on her”
He smiled at Trixie.
“If we had met in a different situation, I’d be asking you out for a date”, said Liam with a big sigh in his voice.
“Oh Liam, you are so sweet.”
She kissed him gently. So gently that he got an erection.
As she left him for the last time, she whispered into his ear,
“I’d have said yes by the way.”
[Three months Later]
Liam sat down quite exhausted from all the packing. His flat had finally sold and tomorrow the removers would take all his worldly goods to his new place.
He looked around and realised how bare the place was without his ‘stuff’ all around. For a moment, he looked a bit sad.
After a while, his stomach started rumbling. It was reminding him that it needed a refill as he often joked to himself.
He wandered from the bare living room into the equally bare kitchen. A stack of sealed boxes reminded him that the cupboard was indeed bare.
He thought to himself that there would be nothing to it but he’d have to wander down to Portobello Road and get a pizza or something. Despite the hunger pangs and rumblings from his stomach he didn’t relish going out as it had been chucking it down with rain almost all day. Only for a brief period in the middle of the afternoon had the forecasters statement of heavy rain and sunny periods come anywhere near to being true.
Liam was just about to put on his coat when the door buzzer went off. He had hardly moved when it went off again.
“Ok. Ok. I’m coming.”
He went to the intercom in the hall and pressed the intercom button.
“Hello. What is it? Whatever it is, I’m not buying anything.”
“Liam, it’s Trixie. Can I come in? I need your help?”
“Trixie? What?”
Stunned by her unexpected arrival, he buzzed her into the building
“Please come in.”
Less than 30 seconds later, she was banging on his front door.
Still somewhat surprised by her arrival, Liam opened the door.
The woman that stood there was not the Trixie he’d known for the last four years. She looked like she’d been pulled through the proverbial hedge backwards, sideways and any which way several times.
“Come on in”, he stammered.
She almost fell into the flat and collapsed with her wet coat dripping onto his white leather sofa.
Then she started sobbing.
“Thank you. I didn’t know where I could go…”
Liam sat next to her but didn’t try to comfort her. This was indeed a very different Trixie from the confident, self-assured person who had regularly visited him over the proceeding four years.
He helped her out of her very wet ‘wet-look mac’.
In the three months since their last meeting, Trixie had changed her appearance beyond belief.
Gone was the beautifully cut black bob. Now she had bleached blonde hair with the roots clearly in need of attention.
Gone, was the near perfect makeup. Now she was more like one of the young ‘punk or Goth’ women that you would see all over London.
Gone, was the expensive ‘Bond St’ suits and dresses. Now she wore a skimpy top, denim hot pants and black fishnet tights. Trixie had always loathed tights especially when she was ‘on business calls’.
Gone, were the beautiful elegant Designer high-heeled shoes. Now she wore a pair of Red patent 5 inch really cheap ‘tart shoes’.
“What had happened to you?”
“I was kidnapped.”
“Who by?”
“The Ukrainians, Russians. I don’t know they all looked the same to me.”
“What Ukrainians or Russians?”
“The ones who killed Delroy and then took over his business.”
“I thought you were giving up the game?”
“I did. Apparently, Delroy didn’t erase my name from his ‘little black book’. When they took over they assumed that everyone who’s name was in that book was now their property and as their property, they would do what they want with them. Anyone who argued would not survive long. That was made clear to me right from the outset.”
“I was just about to go out for some food. Why don’t you come with me?”
“They might have followed me,” she said in a panic.
He could clearly see that Trixie was in a state.
“Ok. I’ll go and get something for both of us.”
“Please don’t leave. What if they come while you are out?”
“It’ll be all right. They can hardly mistake me for you, can they?”
“I do need something to eat. I haven’t eaten all day.”
“Don’t you have anything in the fridge?”
He smiled.
“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m about to move house. After a year on the market, I sold this place. I’m due to move tomorrow. I did tell you that I was trying to sell this place but that was a lifetime ago.”
Trixie didn’t like what she was hearing. She gripped Liam’s arm even tighter.
He held for a long time.
“Let me go and get us something to eat. Then we can talk about what to do with you. Besides, I can have a look around for anything suspicious outside. I live here and my going out and coming back is not out of the ordinary.”
Slowly, she let his arm go.
“I’ll even switch the light off while I’m gone. Just stay where you are. Don’t go up to the windows. If there is someone watching, then you don’t want to make it easy for them to find you. I’ve taken down the curtains in every room apart from my bedroom. Why don’t you stay in there until I’m back?”
Liam spouted that out without thinking but he meant what he said.
Gently, he coaxed Trixie off the sofa and into his bedroom. He held her once more and slowly left her alone. He switched off the lights and left the flat with his mind reeling.
The cool evening air greeting him as he stepped out of the 4-story Victorian Town House and onto the street. There was a cold wind to accompany the rain as he turned up the collar to his coat and headed towards the bright lights of Portobello Road.
Luckily, there was no queue at his favourite Jamaican ‘Take-away’ close to the railway arches.
“Hello there Mr Liam” said the owner Leroy. Liam was a regular customer of the establishment.
“Hello Leroy. Not a very nice evening out there is it?”
“No Man. It almost makes me wish I was back in the Caribbean if you know what I mean. All that sun and sea and rum and the most beautiful women on the planet.”
The beaming smile on Leroy’s face was evident that he missed his homeland.
“Surely you have made enough money from this place to build your dream home by now?”
This was a standing joke between Leroy and many of his regular customers.
“Not yet Mr Liam. Close but not yet.” came his standard reply.
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“What will you be having Mr Liam?”
“How’s the Chicken and Peas tonight?”
“As good as ever Mr Liam.”
“Fair enough. I’ll have two to go.”
“Two? In all the times that you have been coming in here this is the first time you have ordered two portions. You have some company?”
Liam laughed.
“I have some company. Yes, this is the first time. And the last I’m afraid.”
“Why?”
“I’m moving out of town tomorrow.”
Leroy’s face dropped.
“Aren’t my Chicken and Peas good enough for you?”
Liam laughed.
“They are by far the best in Notting Hill Leroy and I would not think of going anywhere else. Sadly, for you, I’m moving to the country. Not much call for Jamaican food out there you know.”
Leroy finished dishing up the food and placed the carrier bag on the counter.
“Thanks Leroy. What’s the damage?”
“No charge Mr Liam. On the house. That way, you can come visit us every time you are back in town. If you don’t, I’ll get the voodoo on you.”
They both laughed. Liam understood Leroy well enough. He ‘owed’ Leroy a favour.
“Thanks Leroy. I’ll not forget.”
They “High Fived” each other as Liam left the shop.
On his way home, he stopped at a supermarket, where he bought a bottle of wine and some milk. With a bit of renewed confidence, he turned into Clydesdale Gardens and almost stopped dead.
Two men were almost blocking the path. Not ordinary men but huge men. They were talking in what sounded like Russian but could have been any of the Slavic languages for all Liam knew of them.
They saw Liam and after glaring at him, one of them stood aside and let him pass by.
He hurried down the street and into his building.
He closed the door to the street and breathed a sigh of relief.
As he climbed the stairs, he started to wonder what he would say to Trixie.
Liam let himself into the flat and didn’t switch on the lights.
He went into the bedroom and saw Trixie lying on the bed fast asleep.
He smiled. That would give him some time to think.
Liam went into the sitting room and sat down. He felt relieved that he didn’t have to explain to Trixie that in all probability, there were some Russians outside.
The light from the streetlights was sufficient for him to eat most of Leroy’s excellent ‘Chicken and Rice’ or as Leroy put it, ‘Rice and Peas with some Chicken’. He opened the wine as luckily it had a screw top bottle.
The next thing Liam knew was someone knocking at the door.
Liam woke with a start at the knocks.
He looked at his watch and breathed a sigh of relief. It was 8am. It was probably the removal people.
Still wiping the sleep from his eyes, he opened the door.
Any sleep still remaining, was quickly eradicated.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
There were two police officers standing outside.
“Hello. Mr Patrick?”
“Yes. What can I do for you?”
“I’m DC Carslake. This is DI Jarvis. We are from Notting Hill Police. We are wondering if you can help us?”
“Well, if I can, I will?”
“We are looking for this young lady. I believe you may know her?”
One of them handed Liam a photo of Trixie.
“Yes. Yes, I do. Well, I did. I’ve not seen anything of her for several months.”
He handed the photo back.
“As you can see, I’m moving today. I thought you were the removal people”, said Liam standing to one side so that the officers could see the pile of boxes in the hallway.
“What was your relationship with this young lady?” asked the other officer.
Liam didn’t say anything for several seconds.
“Ok.” He said holding his hand up.
“I was a regular client of hers until three months ago. She told me that she was giving up the game. I never found another lady that was remotely like Trixie. She was special. Why? What’s she done?”
“Thank you for being honest Mr Patrick. Trixie as you called her was indeed a call girl. We have reason to believe that she was indeed giving the game. She disappeared more than a month ago. We have her on CCTV leaping out of the back of a Black Transit in Shepherds Bush last night. We also have her on CCTV heading in this general direction. Yours is however only one of several clients she had in this area.”
“She was reported missing two weeks ago. Her landlord gave us access to her home. We are checking with all her… her clients such as yourself.”
The other one said,
“Do you have a contact number where we can reach you if we want to ask you anymore questions?”
“Yes sure. 07100402399. I’m hardly likely to see hear from her though as I said, I’ve sold this place and I’m moving out of London today.”
One of them wrote it down on his pad.
He heard the removal men arriving.
“If there isn’t anything else, my removers are here.”
“No Mr Patrick. If you do happen to see ‘Trixie’, please get her to call us. We would like to help her. She may have information relating to the murder of her former pimp, one Delroy Thomas. His body was retrieved from a lake near Staines two days before she went missing.”
Liam smiled.
“Certainly, I will get her to call you if I see her.”
The removal men arrived to get Liam out of any more questions.
“Thanks again Mr Patrick.”
The two officers made their way down the stairs.
“Hi” said Liam to the two removal men.
“Why don’t you start with the sitting room? I’ve got a few things to sort out in the bedroom first.”
“Ok Guv.”
Liam went into the bedroom. Trixie was cowering in the corner.
He shut the door and went over to her.
“Hey, it’s going to be all right. The Police have gone.”
“What’s happening now?”
“The removers are here.”
“Oh Fuck. What am I going to do now?” she cried.
Liam sat down on the floor next to her and put his arms around her.
“I’ll think of something.”
He sat quietly for more than 5 minutes.
“Oh shit. Why didn’t I think of that? It’s staring me in the face.”
“What? What have you thought?” asked Trixie urgently.
Liam smiled.
“That trunk is the something.”
“What do you mean?”
“It is your way out of here”
“Me? No way. I can’t fit in there. Besides, I’d suffocate.”
Liam laughed.
“Not in there you won’t. I used to play in there all the time as a child. It was one of my favourite places for hide and seek games.”
Reluctantly, Trixie got up and opened walked over to the trunk.
She released the single hasp catch and looked inside.
“There’s an awful lot of clothes in here.”
“They are easily removed,” said Liam joining her.
Together, they lifted most of them out of the truck and put them on the bed.
“Get in.”
Trixie slipped off her shoes and climbed inside. Her supple body easily fitted inside.
Liam closed the lid.
“How’s that?”
“Seems ok,” came the voice from inside the trunk.
“How long would I have to be in here?” she added.
“Probably about 6 hours all told.”
“Ok. Let’s do it. Can you let me out? I need to pee first.”
Liam let her out of the trunk.
“I’ll have to lock you in. That way, the movers won’t be tempted to look inside.”
Trixie thought for several seconds.
Then she gave him a small smile.
“I’ll just have to trust you, won’t I?”
Liam squeezed her hand gently.
“Let me see when the coast is clear,” he said moving towards the door.
A minute later, he said.
“They’ve just taken a load down to the van. Be quick…”
Three minutes later, she was back in the bedroom.
As she climbed into the trunk, she gave Liam a little peck on the cheek.
“Thanks Liam. I really owe you for this.”
He looked into her eyes and said.
“Don’t worry about things like that now Trixie. The most important thing is to get you out of here safely and away from those Russkies.”
She pecked him again on the cheek and climbed into the trunk.
As he closed the lid, she gave him a little wave goodbye.
Quickly, he locked the lid and set about putting the clothes into several large plastic bags that were left over from his other packing.
An hour later, everything including the trunk was loaded into the Van. With a decisive slam, the movers closed up the van and prepared to drive off.
Liam watched them go. He noted that one of the Russians from the previous night was standing on the corner watching events.
Liam went back upstairs, got his things together and locked up his flat for the last time.
Once outside, he went up to the Estate Agents “Sold” board and pulled it down.
He went over to his car and drove off to the country only stopping to drop the keys and the “Sold” board off at the Estate Agents in Notting Hill. ‘Sold’ boards outside empty properties were a nice juicy target for the thieves who delighted in stripping properties bare. Kitchens and bathrooms and even light fittings were known to go ‘walkies’ within days of a property becoming empty. Liam didn’t want that to happen to his old place.
Liam waited anxiously for the Removal Van to arrive at his new home. It had taken them almost 5 hours to travel from London to rural Dorset.
He breathed a big sigh of relief as the van made its way carefully along the track to the 18th Century Cottage he’d bought with his last bonus from the City Bank where he had worked for some 8 years.
“Hello Chaps. Did you have a good Journey?” he asked as the crew climbed out of the lorry.
“Not too bad once we got out of London and through those roadworks on the M3, but that is the norm these days” said the driver.
“I’ve got a fresh brew in the kitchen.”
“Thanks Guv” said the driver.
He turned to the rest of his crew.
“10 minutes and then we’ll get unloaded. I want to be back home for the Rangers game tonight.”
They all disappeared into the house for some tea.
Unloading took a lot less time than the loading. So, Liam said goodbye to the removers less than an hour later and watched the van drive away.
Once it was out of sight, he hurried inside and released Trixie from the trunk.
“Hello. We’re here,” he said cheerily.
“Hello again” said a slightly grumpy Trixie.
As he helped her out, she complained.
“Everything has gone to sleep. I’m so stiff.”
He smiled.
“Sorry about the little extra time you were in there. I wanted to make things appear as normal as possible.”
“How long was I in there?”
“A little over 6 hours”
She smiled sheepishly.
“I fell asleep on the journey down so it didn’t seem so long”
Changing the subject, Liam asked.
“Hungry or do you want a shower or a bath first?”
Trixie was about to answer when her stomach rumbled loudly.
They both laughed.
“I think we have the answer,” she said. “Which way is the food?”
“Follow me Trixie”
He sat her down in the kitchen.
“I made something while I waited for the removers. It should be ready by now,” said Liam opening the oven.
He extracted a large cast iron casserole pot. He put in on a wooden plate in the middle of the table and opened the lid.
“That smells good,” said Trixie.
He smiled.
“Just a hot pot.”
He put a dish in front of her and said
“Help yourself. There is plenty.”
He opened a bottle of wine and poured two glasses. He put one in front of Trixie and sat down.
“I think you should stop calling me Trixie. I’m done with all that. For good.”
“Ok. What do I call you?”
She looked at him.
“Promise not to laugh?”
“Ok. I’ll try”
She looked at him harder.
“My real name is Elizabeth Sophia Audrey Christmas”
“That is certainly a strange name.”
“Yeah. My Mum was a movie fan. Elizabeth for Liz Taylor, Sophia for Sophia Loren and…”
“Don’t tell me, Audrey for Audrey Hepburn?”
“Yep. She idolised their films.”
“Christmas is a funny name too.”
“Yeah. My dad hated it. I thought it cool as a kid though, as I had a real ‘father Christmas’.”
“Did you ever think about changing it?”
“Lots of times but I could never settle on a name I liked.”
She added.
“This is good. You’ll make someone a good husband one day.”
Liam smiled back.
“I’ve never found the right woman. One who would understand me and not want me for my money.”
”She’ll turn up sooner or later Liam. Don’t worry about that.”
He laughed.
“Not so easy now that I’ve given up the bright lights of London.”
“How about I call you Sophia. You were always very sophisticated.”
Trixie laughed.
“Ok then. Sophia it is.”
She smiled at him.
“That is what I always went by at school so it is nice that you chose that name”
She ate the last mouthful of her food and pushed the plate back contentedly.
“What more could a girl ask for eh? Good food, good company.”
“Why thank you, kind lady,” said Liam returning the compliment.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, exactly where the hell are we?”
Liam giggled.
“Sorry. Let me give you the grand tour. All will then be revealed.”
He offered her his hand that she took gratefully.
Liam showed Sophia all over his new home. Then he took her outside.
“This is the reason I came here,” he said admiring the view.
“That is Cranborne Chase. Beyond that is the nearest town, Shaftesbury. The one with that hill in the ‘Hovis’ TV adverts.”
“That is a beautiful view. Far better than your old one.”
“Yes. One that I’m going to really like waking up to in the morning.”
“How much land do you have here?”
“Seventeen Hectares. A little over 42 Acres in old money.”
“That is a lot of land. It must have cost a packet.”
“Yes, it did. Nearly as much as I got in bonuses for the last three years plus what a good part of what I made on the sale of my flat. Most of the others at work blew it on fast cars and the like. I invested it and then… Well, I had enough to buy this place and enough to live on for a long time if I’m careful enough.”
Sophia had an idea of the cost. She knew the sort of figure Liam’s bonus ran to.
What do you intend to do with it?”
“Farm it naturally. Organic mixed farming and being virtually self-sufficient in everything. That will feed me and whatever is left over, I’ll sell.”
“Everything? Even Electricity?”
“Yep. There is a small river down there. It is the River Stour. There was once a water mill. Actually, there are the remains of the water wheel and mill building still there. I’m going to restore it and generate my own electric. The surplus I’ll sell to the electric companies. The water will be collected from the rain and treated by a solar purification plant. That will be over there in the small barn off to the right. I estimate that the thing will pay for itself in about 4 years. Then a bank of solar panels on the barn roof and some batteries and then I can go off grid.”
“What about animals?”
“Chickens, pigs and a maybe few sheep. The land over the hill is perfect for grazing sheep and possibly the odd rare breed cow. The Pigs will have the time of their life in the copse over to your left. Then the two fields in front of you will be veggies and some fruit. That is the plan anyway.”
“Sound like a lot for one person to do on their own?” asked Sophia.
“Yes, it is a lot. But there is no rush. It does not have to be done tomorrow. We are well into the growing season for this year so I’ll work on getting the basic infrastructure sorted out this year.”
“Do you know what comes first?”
Liam laughed.
“Yes. Get a small patch dug over and some herbs planted. Plus a few salad crops and the like. Then a bigger patch for winter cabbages, leeks and other root veggies.”
“What about the mill?”
“That will take some time. I’ll need planning permission for it and the overhead cables from down there to up here.”
“Why don’t you bury them? Overhead lines look so ugly and may even spoil the view?” suggested Sophia.
“They would need to be at least 4ft down to avoid any possible damage from ploughs in the future. That will cost a lot of money.”
Sophia seemed to accept that.
They stood in silence for a while watching the sun setting.
“Well, I don’t know about you but I think there are some jobs that need doing inside.”
“Such as? This is so beautiful.”
“Such as somewhere to sleep tonight?”
“I’d sorta forgotten about that. It has been a hell of a day. From locked in a truck to escape London to standing here watching the sunset in deepest Dorset. That is the sort of day you could only dream about.”
“If we do it together, it won’t take long.”
“What won’t take long?”
“Making up a couple of beds”
Sophia looked really downhearted when Liam mentioned separate beds.
She shrugged her shoulders and went inside with him.
It was nearly 11pm when they finally said goodnight to each other and went into their bedrooms.
Liam lay there listening to the silence of the countryside, the calling of the foxes and the cry of some distant cows.
Sophia lay in her bed unable to sleep. It was just too quiet. No cars. No police sirens. No aircraft flying overhead into Heathrow.
Just after three, she gave up and crept into Liam’s bedroom.
“Are you awake?” she whispered.
“Yes. Can’t sleep. It is too quiet.”
“Me neither. Can I join you?”
“Sure. Climb on in.”
Sophia climbed into bed next to Liam and put her arms around him. In less than 10 minutes, she was fast asleep. He eventually dropped off a while later.
The birds were singing and the sun was streaming in through the windows when Liam finally woke. Sophia was still fast asleep. He hadn’t realised that she was naked when she came into his bed in the night.
He was shocked at the bruises on her arms and neck. Her top had obscured them from view previously.
Carefully, he lifted the duvet up and peered underneath.
There was bruising around the tops of her thighs as well as to her torso. She had obviously been through a lot in her time as a working girl for the Russians.
He smiled when he saw her tattooed foot.
He loved the snowflakes that she had acquired over her right foot. Everyone was different just like the real thing. The light blue ink made them almost invisible when she wore anything heavier than 10-denier hosiery.
He lay there for a while as Sophia stirred herself into life.
“What time is it?”
“A little after 7am.”
“Seven. Far too early.”
She turned over and went back to sleep.
Liam had to have answer the call of nature so he slid out of bed and got dressed, used the toilet and went downstairs in search of some breakfast.
It was close to nine when the smell coffee and Bacon and Eggs cooking roused Sophia from her slumbers.
“Good Morning,” she said half stifling a yawn as she walked into the kitchen still naked.
“Morning Sophia. Hungry?”
“Yes. I don’t normally have breakfast but today, I think I will.”
“Bacon and Egg coming up.”
Sophia sat down and drank from the mug of coffee that Liam had poured for her.
“It is a lovely morning”, commented Sophia.
“The forecast is for a fine day today. Rain tomorrow. I thought about doing some digging and preparing a veggie patch. I can unpack tomorrow”
“What can I do?” I’m not very good at this digging thing. Actually, I’ve never tried.”
They both laughed.
“There are a lot of boxes to unpack in the sitting room and in here”
He smiled.
“I’ll risk the ‘woman’s touch’.”
Sophia glared at him but underneath saw the funny side of things.
“Sophia, I couldn’t help but notice those bruises”
Suddenly she became very conscious of her nakedness. She rushed out of the room and up the stairs. He could hear her crying.
Liam waited for a few minutes before going upstairs to comfort her.
She was curled up in a ball in the trunk wrapped in a towel.
Liam knelt down beside her and took her hand.
“I’m sorry Sophia. I didn’t mean to hurt you”
“It is me who should be saying sorry Liam. You are right. They must look awful. They were done by one of the goons. Sergei. Huge ugly brute with a big tattoo on his neck and head.”
Liam knew whom she meant. It was one of the two ‘goons’ he had met when he was out the evening Sophia had arrived on his doorstep.
“Don’t worry Sophia. You are safe here with me.”
“I can’t stay here forever.”
Without thinking, Liam said.
“Sophia, you can stay here as long as you like. I’ll never throw you out or mistreat you. I never did before and I’m not going to start now.”
She didn’t say anything but gripped his hand tightly.
It was only then did he realise what he had said.
The more he thought about it, the more he actually felt comfortable with her beside him. She had always been more than just a ‘call girl’ to him in the past. Now she was something far more. Far more important to him.
Gradually, she regained her composure.
“I’m so sorry for running away like that.”
“Don’t think about it anymore. If you want to wander around naked then its fine with me.”
“I don’t have anything to wear. I’m not putting those horrible clothes on again”
Liam smiled.
He held her hand and let her get out of the trunk.
“Where are we going?” asked Sophia.
“To find you some clothes,” he said smiling.
Liam led her into the third bedroom on the cottage.
There were two suitcases and several large plastic bags on the floor.
“There should be something for you in there. They might not fit perfectly but they will have to do until we can buy you some of your own.”
He opened the first case to reveal that it was filled with women’s clothes mostly tops and skirts. It was the same with the other case. This one contained some underwear, hosiery and shoes.
Finally, he opened one of the large bags. Inside once carefully pressed were a selection of slightly crumpled summer dresses.
“Whose are these?” asked Sophia.
Liam didn’t reply straight away.
“Mine,” he said quietly.
Sophia turned to look at him. She hugged him.
“I always knew were different from other men. You were so gentle with me. Now I know why. Are you transgendered, a transsexual or just someone who like to dress in women’s clothing like that Lumberjack song?”
Liam smiled.
“I’m a Lumberjack and I’m ok, I like to dress in women’s clothing and press wild flowers,” he sang quietly.
They both laughed.
Then it was Liam’s turn to have a little sob.
“Shhh. Liam. I’m not going to turn into some ogre and make you wear them if you don’t want to. I’m just thankful that you have something for me to wear.
She picked up one of the dresses and looked at the label.
“You have very good taste Liam. Very good indeed. This is only a little on the large size for me”
Sophia hugged him once more.
“You wouldn’t happen to have some makeup around would you?”
“In the small case”
Then Sophia kissed Liam full on the lips and with a lot of passion.
When they broke off, she said,
“Now skedaddle and let me make myself presentable”
Sophia needed some time to think about what had just happened.
Liam tried to put the event of the past half hour from his mind as he put on his boots and went outside to begin preparing a seed bed for some herbs.
It was nearly lunchtime when Liam detected that he was being watched. Sophia was standing by the back door of the cottage.
Liam stopped raking the soil into a fine tilth and smiled at her.
Standing before me was someone much more like the Sophia he knew of old.
“Hello there Sophia. That dress really suits you”, he said trying to compliment her.
“Only if you want to appear older than you really are,” came her reply.
“That is not always a bad thing”, replied Liam.
“especially given the bad men in London.”
She smiled at him.
“You are trying hard to make me feel nice. I’m sorry. Yes, I feel a lot better and this is not a bad fit.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” said Liam smiling back.
“I’ll not be long out here. I’m just about to plant some herbs and a few veggies. When I’m done, I’ll make us some lunch.”
Sophia shook her head.
“Why don’t I make it?”
Liam chuckled.
“And risk ruining that pretty dress?”
“Don’t you have a pinnie anywhere?”
“No I don’t sorry.”
“I’d better think of something else then but don’t worry. You go and get digging and leave lunch to me.”
Without waiting for a reply, she turned and went into the cottage.
Liam watched her disappear and realised that Sophia was going to be a long-term project. Strangely enough, he was not as worried about it as he had been less than 48hrs earlier.
Liam did as he was instructed and planted a variety of herb seeds plus some Carrots, Spring Onions and Salad Leaves before putting away the tools and heading into the kitchen.
“Don’t come in here in those muddy boots” cried Sophia as he came inside.
“Eh?”
“I’ve just swept the floor. It will do for now if you don’t drop lots of muck on it!”
“Ok. Ok” said Liam and backed outside once more and removed his boots. He wasn’t going to argue with Sophia while she was still very fragile”
Now bootless, Liam once again entered the kitchen. Sophia had solved the problem of getting her dress dirty by wearing his cotton towelling dressing gown.
“You look very fetching in my dressing gown.”
“Sorry. It is all I could find.”
He smiled back.
“Don’t worry. I hardly ever wear it anymore.”
Sophia smiled back.
On the table were some sandwiches.
“Just some corned beef, onion and pickle I’m afraid.”
“That’s fine. I guess we should go shopping later.”
“Are you sure?” said Sophia suddenly very nervous.
“It will be fine. This is not the sort of place that those Russians will want to come.
They will stand out like a boil on a baby’s bum around here.”
That analogy made Sophia laugh.
“I guess so.”
“Good. We’ll go out and get some supplies. Plus a pinnie or two?”
“Plus a pinnie or two!”
Liam sat down after washing his hands and dug into the sandwiches.
“I’ve been meaning to ask,” said Sophia between mouthfuls.
“Are you in the internet in this remote corner of Dorset?”
“I arranged for it to be connected by the end of the week. Not high speed though. Why do you ask?”
“I’d like to check my bank accounts. I have this feeling in my stomach that they will have been emptied by the Russians.”
“Oh! That is a very good reason to check. Why don’t we take my laptop with us and we can try to find a Wi-Fi hotspot in town?”
“Good idea”
Sophia continued to eat.
“I feel rather exposed without my stuff around me. I know it sound trivial but that is how I feel.”
“What is likely to happen to your flat?”
“That? It is all bought and paid for luckily and thanks to people like you.”
Liam thought for a minute.
“Do you want to stay here?”
“Eh? What do you mean?”
“Stay here. I know you were going to get out of the game. You never confided in me as to what you were going to do once you did.”
“I did, didn’t I? I didn’t have much idea about what I was going to do once I stopped… doing you know what.”
“So? Do you want to stay here?”
Sophia thought for a while.
“I’d like to stay here for at least a while. At least until I get myself together if that is all right?”
Liam smiled.
“I’ll never force you to leave Sophia. I want to promise you that. You mean a lot to me.”
“Hey, are you coming on to me?”
Liam looked down at the table.
“Yes. I suppose I am.”
“Oh my god! Why?”
Liam was stunned.
“Why? Because I like you very much… Sorry that’s all wrong. Let me start again.”
“I’ve always felt at ease with you Sophia. Right from the beginning, from your first visit. Then helping you out has brought it home to me. I missed you. Not just having a quickie but everything about your visits. I’ve never been able to talk to a woman like I can talk to you. I…”
“Liam, I think you are a great guy but I hope you can appreciate that I’m not looking for a long-term relationship at the moment.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Liam, you are and always have been the perfect gentlemen to me. For that, I’m truly thankful. I do enjoy your company that is sure. Here I am wearing your clothes which if I may say so, are delightful and I’d love to wear some more of them. I’m not going to suddenly get up and leave you here. I just want to take things one day at a time.”
Sophia leaned over and gently kissed him.
Then she whispered,
“Thank you. I needed to know that someone needed me. You really don’t know how good that feels.”
“Sophia, I will be here for you when you need me.”
A single tear ran down her cheek. It was a tear of happiness.
Liam took Sophia into Shaftesbury that afternoon. She borrowed some money from Liam and bought herself some knickers because as she said to Liam,
“Yours are a little big and certainly not my style.”
They found an outlet of a Coffee chain and while Liam went to get them some drinks, Sophia logged onto her bank account.
When Liam arrived with the coffee, Sophia was grinning.
“They haven’t touched it.”
Liam sat down beside her and saw the sum in her current account.
“Err, isn’t that rather a lot of money to be sitting there doing nothing?”
“Eh?”
“Sorry. Old banking habits die-hard. What I meant to say is, isn’t that rather a lot of money to be left sitting there at risk. The bad guys could easily be trying to hack into your account as we speak”
Sophia thought for a minute or two.
“You have a good point. What should I do about it?”
“Do you have a place where you stash your earnings?”
“Yes why?”
“One idea would be for you to move it all there”
“Not possible I’m afraid. The ‘stash’ as you put it is in Geneva.”
“Ok then, open another account somewhere and transfer it?”
“Nope. I need ID. All my real ID is back at my flat in London, or it was the last time I saw it. Don’t worry, I don’t expect the Plod to find it. It is not sitting in a drawer.”
Liam thought for a while.
Finally, he said,
“Ok I have an idea. I’ll tell you on the way home.”
Intrigued, Sophia logged out of her bank account and shutdown the laptop.
As they walked out of the shop Sophia said,
“There is one place I need to go before we go to your home.”
She directed them into the Mobile Phone shop that was next door to the Coffee Shop.
Fifteen minutes later, they emerged with a new phone for Sophia and a ‘dongle’ thingy for the laptop.
Sophia spent most of the journey home programming all the phone numbers she could remember into the phone.
“I think you should be careful when calling anyone. Well, at least for a while. Can you make the phone withhold your number from the caller?”
Sophia thought for a moment.
“That is a good point. I don’t know. Well, actually, I don’t know how to do it.”
“RTFM,” replied Liam.
“RTFM? What does that mean?”
“The polite version is ‘Read the Frigging Manual’.”
“Opps,” said Sophia smiling.
Liam saw this and smiled. He liked it when she smiled.
When they got back to the cottage, Sophia was eager to find out all about Liam’s idea.
As he was putting the food away, he calmly said.
“Why don’t I go and get the things you want from you flat?”
“What if they see you? You know the same ones who were outside your flat?”
“Eh? I didn’t say anything?”
“You didn’t have to. I watched from the window in the dark. Don’t worry they didn’t see me. I stood well back.”
Liam smiled at Sophia.
“I was planning on going in disguise.”
“Disguise? What? Oh yes. I get it now!”
Suddenly, she was up and eager to go.
“What are we waiting for?”
“For one thing, I would be going alone. It is far too risky for you to go as well. The second is that I wouldn’t want to park my car anywhere near your flat in case the number plate is recognised. Thirdly, I walk in heels like a complete prat! And before you ask, I don’t have any flats in my size.”
“You want me to teach you?”
“Exactly”
“Ok” said Sophia in a matter of fact way.
“There is something else,”
She smiled.
“I knew it. Well, what is it?”
“I’d like you to give a statement to the Police. We can pick the time and place but I think you need to tell your side of the story. Then you need to sell your flat. It is not going to be safe for you in that part of London for the foreseeable future. You could do it by giving a solicitor power of attorney.”
“You seem to know a lot about this?”
“My mother had it for my Dad when he was dying of pancreatic cancer. The solicitor will sell your house for you.”
“What happens to all my stuff?”
“The solicitor can send in a crew to remove all your stuff and clean the place ready for selling.”
“Hey, wait a doggone minute. Are you saying that I don’t keep my place clean?”
“No. It is not that at all.”
“Well, what is it then?”
“Besides the three months worth of dust and mail waiting for you, there is all your stuff. According to the plethora of TV programmes about selling homes, they need to be dressed. Specifically, they are tarted up in a particular way to please the buyers. Fresh Coffee on the go or newly baked bread, smart cushions and all that. Apart from the place being spotless. Always the stuff you can’t see just because it is your place.”
“Wow. I didn’t know you knew so much about selling homes.”
“I did sell my old home recently didn’t I? After more than a year on the market too. I had to get someone in to tart the place up. Once I did that, the place sold in three weeks.”
“Ok. Ok. I get the message,” said Sophia smiling.
“That one hell of a lot of ‘one more things’ though” she added after some thought.
“I know. We have a lot to do. I need you to make me walk more like a woman and I need to dress and appear as someone of a certain age.”
“What sort of certain age?”
“At least 10 years older than my current one. What you said about the dress and appearing to be older. By appearing to be an older person, I’ll raise less suspicion than I’d otherwise would.”
This wasn’t going how Liam had envisioned it when they were in the town but giving Sophia something to do might help a lot with her recovery.
That evening, Sophia got started.
“The first thing is to get used to wearing heels. Any heels will do to start.”
“I don’t have anything but these,” said Liam holding up a pair of court shoes with 4in heel.
“Good point. You can start by wearing them for a bit. What is your size? A Nine if the ones I’m wearing are anything to go by?”
“Yes, A nine or a ten.”
“Ok. You wear them while I get on the Internet with my new dongle thingy and see what I can find. I give you a shout if I find anything.”
Liam felt like saying ‘yes boss’ but thought better of it.
Liam put on the shoes and got on with unpacking more of his possessions. It didn’t take long for his feet to start aching. He sat for a while before carrying on.
After about half an hour, Liam heard Sophia call from downstairs.
“Suzi Darling. Could you come down here for a minute.”
“Suzi Darling?!” Liam got the joke. He slowly made his way downstairs.
Sophia was sitting at the kitchen table peering at the laptop screen.
“How are your feet?”
“Sore.”
“Yeah. Isn’t being stylish a drag?”
They both laughed.
“It will get better but it will take time”
“What have you found?”
“These” said Sophia pointing at the screen.
“They look… sensible”
“Yes. Those are for the mission”
“Hey, what with this Suzi thing? And what’s with this ‘Mission’?”
Sophia laughed.
“Your mission should you choose to accept it is to remove these items from my flat without being detected.”
Liam understood the meaning. He held up his hand.
“Ok. Ok. I get the ‘Mission’. What about this Suzi thing?”
“I need to call you something when you are impersonating a member of the female species don’t I?”
“I suppose so. Why Suzi?”
“It was the name of an old friend of mine from school. Do you have a name that you use when… You know…?”
Liam smiled. I’ve never thought about it before. I need to think.”
Sophia smiled. “Don’t take too long about it”
She turned back to the screen.
“These are for your general use.”
Liam looked at a pair of 2in “Mary Jaynes”.
“The strap will make them feel better on your feet. No training needed.”
“Then we’ll get these,” said Sophia flipping to another page.
“Ok” said Liam reluctantly as he saw the pair of ‘ballet flats’ that were on the screen.
Sophia held out her hand palm upwards.
“What’s that for?”
“How do you think I’m going to pay for them? My cards are in London.”
Even more reluctantly, Liam opened his wallet and gave Sophia a credit card.
“Here take this one.”
He grabbed a pad and wrote down a PIN number.
“Here’s the PIN”. Why don’t you use it as if it was your own until we get yours back?
Sophia didn’t take it straight away.
“What’s wrong?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m sure”
Then Liam smiled.
“There’s only a £500 limit on it”
Sophia grinned as she took it from him.
“Cheapskate.”
“Yep, that’s my middle name. If I hadn’t been careful with my money, I’d still be working at the bank and you would really be up the creek without a paddle.”
*
The new shoes arrived a few days later. Liam put the ‘Mary Jaynes’ on his stockinged feet and started walking around in them.
“They are a bit easier than the other ones. They feel more secure on my feet”
Sophia smiled and kissed him.
Over the following week, Liam wore those shoes all the time unless he was wearing boots outside. Two vegetable beds were dug over and sown, the garden was tidied up. Sophia made the inside really nice even though she missed her things, after a while, she got used to his style in décor.
Sophia had moved into his bedroom. Nothing was said about it but they shared the bed together. They ventured no farther than hugs and kisses. There was no need for sex, things were, well different between them.
“I think you are ready” said Sophia the day another delivery was made to the cottage.
“Am I?”
“Yep. With these clothes and my expert makeup, you are going to be the perfect middle aged woman”
Liam grimaced.
“I’ve never been out in public before.”
“You’ll be fine. I know it besides, my reputation is at stake here,” she replied trying to make light of the problem.
“I hope so.”
“Have you thought about talking to the police and seeing a lawyer?”
“Yes, and yes”
“Yes, and yes? What sort of answer is that?”
“Yes, I have thought about talking to the police. Yes, I’ve thought about seeing a lawyer.”
“So? Are you?”
“Yes. I think so. This past week and a bit has been really great. I feel more like myself now. Apart from the hair, I could go back to what I looked like, you know before.”
“There is the wig that was delivered yesterday. Then everything would be as it was.”
Liam looked at Sophia.
“But it won’t be will it?”
“No. No it won’t but it is a big step.”
“And?” said Liam trying to get it out of her.
“I can’t go back to London.”
He held her hand.
“No one is asking you to go to London. I’m not anyway”, said Liam.
“But the Police?”
“They can come down here. Well, not exactly here but far enough out of London to make following them harder than it would be if we went to them.”
“Ok. I’ll do it. You have persuaded me.”
Liam smiled.
Then tomorrow, I’ll call the police and head up to London. I should get there at rush hour. Then there are a lot more people around.
“Have you decided on a name? One that is not part of your real name?”
“I think so. How about Sylvia”
“Sylvia. Is there any reason for that?”
Liam smiled.
“There was a pop song called ‘Sylvia’s Missing’. I heard it on the radio the other day and the tune just stuck in my mind.”
“Hello Sylvia. It is nice to meet you at last.”
“Hey, not yet.”
Liam chased Sophia around the kitchen. As he was wearing heels and she wasn’t, she let him catch her. Then they embraced for a long time.
That night, they had proper sex for the first time in quite some time.
“Time to get up Sylvia,” said Liam as he looked at the clock.
“Five more minutes.”
“No. Time to get up. I have a road to hit in case you have forgotten? You have a lot to do to make me look beautiful before I head up to London.”
“Ok. Ok.”
An hour later, Sophia began her work transforming Liam into Sylvia. She began with his eyebrows.
The transformation took over an hour. Eventually, Sophia announced that she was finished.
She removed the covering from the mirror allowing Sylvia to see herself for the first time.
“What do you think?”
“I think you have done a fantastic job. Not too much but enough to hide who I really am.”
Sophia grinned.
“Good. Now we need to get you dressed.”
Before long, the transformation was complete.
There standing before Sylvia was to all intents and purposes was an almost middle-aged woman complete with handbag.
“You are a wonder Sophia.”
“As long as you don’t have to speak to anyone then you will be fine.”
Sylvia went to kiss Sophia.
“Oh no you don’t. I’m not having you ruin your lippy.”
They both laughed.
“Right it is your turn” said Sylvia handing Sophia a mobile phone.
Reluctantly, she took the phone.
She dialled the number on the business card.
“DI Jarvis please.”
“Oh. Tell him its Trixie.”
There was silence for what seemed an eternity.
“Hello Inspector Jarvis. This is Trixie. I gather you wanted to speak to me.”
“I’m ok. I’m safe and trying to get my life together once more.”
“Yes. I’d be willing to meet you but I’m not coming to London.”
“Why? Frankly Inspector, I’m scared for my life. I’ve seen what those Russians do to people who cross them. You were lucky to find Delroy.”
“Yes. Tomorrow is fine.”
“I hope you don’t mind, I want to keep my whereabouts a secret.”
“I’d like you to get the 10:50 train from Paddington Tomorrow. Buy a return ticket to Bristol. I’ll call you when the train has left with further instructions.”
“Yes, that is fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Then she ended the call.
“Are you ok with this?” asked Sylvia.
“Yes. I need to get it over and done with. Besides, I’ll have my Sylvia with me”
“Eh?”
“I can’t turn up with Liam, now can I? That way he could find us, here couldn’t he?”
Sylvia waved her hand in submission.
“Ok. It is time I left.”
“Are you clear as to where everything is and what to get?”
“Yes. Yes. We have been over it a number of times.”
Sophia hugged Sylvia before the latter got in the car.
“I’ll phone you when I get to Kew.”
“Bye. Keep safe?”
Sylvia drove off into the afternoon.
The drive to London was pretty uneventful. She parked the car near Kew Gardens Underground station and after calling Sophia, she hailed a Taxi.
“The primary school in Addison Gardens please,” said Sylvia in as soft a voice as she could manage.
“Ok luv,” replied the driver.
Sylvia sat back and waited for the journey to end.
The Black Cab pulled up outside the school.
Sylvia paid the fare and said sweetly, “Keep the change.”
Then she was gone.
She walked along the road away from the cab and waited for it to drive off.
There were children playing in the school playground. Several people were out and about. Nothing seemed untoward.
She crossed the road and walked up to the front door of No 56.
She hesitated for a moment before pushing hard of the door and to her relief it swung open. With an air of assumed confidence, she entered the building and climbed to the upper floor.
Just before the top of the stairs, Sylvia stopped and bent down. She reached under the edge of the stair carpet and extracted a key. It was just where Sophia had told her it would be.
With a slight smile on her face, Sylvia went up to the front door of Sophia’s flat and opened the door.
Without pausing, Sylvia went inside and closed the door behind her.
She leaned back against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief.
The place smelt unlived in and musty. She walked into the sitting room. Three very dead potted plants sat on the floor. She turned around and saw one set of footprints in the dust on the wooded floor. The Police had been here as they said they had been.
Apparently, no one else had been here since Sophia left to go shopping several weeks earlier.
Sylvia spent the next twenty minutes collecting everything that Sophia had requested and putting most of it into her copious shoulder bag. What remained, she packed into a supermarket carrier bag.
With a little tinge of regret, Sylvia left the flat once more. The place was really nicely furnished and gave her a bit more insight into what had made Sophia tick when she was not ‘on the game’.
After stepping out into the early evening sunshine, she briefly looked around the road. She could detect nothing untoward on the street. She walked away from the house and headed for Holland Road and a Cab back to Chiswick.
She had however failed to notice the man in the house opposite with a long lens on a camera taking picture after picture of this ‘woman’ who had entered the apartment of a ‘Missing Woman’.
When Sylvia got back to her car, she phoned Sophia.
“Hey, It’s me. I’ve got everything. Yes, I’ll see you later.”
Before getting into the car, Sylvia tossed the phone into the hedge of the house outside of which her car was parked.
Three and a half hours later, the two women embraced once again.
*
Before 9am the following day, they left the cottage and headed north. At 10:50, Sylvia parked the car at Didcot Parkway station. They waited until 11:25 then Sophia called DI Jarvis.
“Hello Inspector Jarvis. Please get off the train at Didcot. Yes, that is the next stop. You should be here in a few minutes.
Right on time, the train pulled into the station.
Sophia got out of the car and walked across the road and called the DI once more.
Then she went into the Café and sat down to wait.
A minute or so later, DI Jarvis joined her in the Café. They talked for nearly an hour before he shook her hands and left. He made a brief phone call and went back into the station.
Sophia waited until the next Paddington train pulled away before paying the bill and walking over the road and getting into the car.
“That’s it. All done” said Sophia.
“Home?” asked Sylvia.
“Yes please”
They pulled away from the station not noticing that DI Jarvis was standing by the station entrance making a note of the car registration number on his pad. He had a small smile on his face as he turned on his heels and went back into the station.
They arrived home in late afternoon to find the veggie patch trampled.
“Oh shit,” exclaimed Sylvia as they inspected the damage.
“Who would do this?” asked Sophia.
“By the tacks, probably a Wild Boar or at least a large pig.”
“Boar? What are they?”
“The ancestors of domestic pigs. Not an animal you want to meet on a dark night.”
“Did you know about them?”
“Sort of. I knew there were some on the loose in Dorset but not around here.”
“What are we going to do?”
Sylvia smiled.
“Start again but only after we have built a fence.”
Sophia sighed.
“Is it worth it?”
Sylvia stepped back shaking her head.
“What do you mean?”
“All this?”
“What? I’ve wanted to do this for years. I thought you were not really interested in this as well?”
Sophia smiled.
“I was just wondering how determined you were in living the ‘Good Life’?”
“Did I give you the right answer?”
“I think so.”
Sylvia took a deep breath.
“What about you?”
Sophia smiled and said,
“I think we should start building the fence tomorrow.”
[continued in Part 2]
The couple didn’t get much done that afternoon other than clearing a bit of the seed beds as it came onto rain after about half an hour. After a while if got a lot heavier so they retreated into the house where Liam got the log fire going.
The previous owner had left a woodshed full of logs so making the place nice and warm was not that difficult if you knew how. Liam didn’t but, after a lot of swearing and frustration, the fire was burning brightly.
Liam went off the following morning in search of some stout fence posts, chicken netting and a host of other things that would allow them to build a fence that might deter the boars in future. It was soon painfully obvious that his car was not the right vehicle for life in that part of the world. Carrying rolls on Chicken wire in a saloon car was not going to work in the long run.
Over lunch he broached the idea of a new vehicle to Sophia.
“I think we need a different car if we are going to make a go of growing stuff and having chickens and the like.
Sophia just smiled back at him.
“Don’t look at me. I was born in Wandsworth and have lived all my life in London until now. I know sod all about this malarkey.
Liam chuckled.
Sophia added,
“I also don’t know how to drive. I’ve never had the need for a car or anything.”
“I guess that is another thing to add to our ever increasing, list of things to sort out then?”
Sophia nodded her head.
“Can we go into town this afternoon. I want to move my account here. That way the Russians can’t get at my money even if they have the account number. I’ll change banks at the same time.”
Liam smiled.
“I guess that is the afternoon taken care of. Perhaps we can drop by the store where I got the wire and that from so that we can get you some wellies?”
“And a pair of overalls? There is no way I’m going to ruin these new clothes.”
Liam smiled and nodded his head.
At the back of his mind, he was happy that he had someone here with him. He hoped that she’d be here for the summer at least but was afraid to mention that topic at the present time.
A few days later, a decent enough fence had been built around their vegetable plot. A local labourer had come up to the house and helped them out. George, had showed them how deep to bury the fence wire to keep the boars out. They’d met George at the local farmers merchants when they’d gone to buy the fencing.
“Them’s devious animals all right. They can barge their way through most wooden fences they are that strong,” he said as he ate some lunch.
At the end of the job, Liam thrust a £20 note thrust into his hand and George went off happy in that he had enough for a beer or three before he went home.
The following day, they had an unexpected visitor in the shape of Inspector Jarvis. He’d guessed that Trixie was staying with Liam when he saw her get into his car at Didcot when she’d made her statement.
“I didn’t recognise the driver,” he said as they sat down in the kitchen.
Sophia looked at Liam. He sighed.
“It was me.”
The Inspector looked at him earnestly for a few seconds. Then a smile appeared on his face. After digging into his briefcase, he retrieved a photo.
“I take it that this is you then?”
Liam looked at the image. It was of him going into Trixie’s old place.
“Yes, that’s me.”
The Inspector chuckled.
“That is a very good disguise. It had my men fooled.”
Then he looked at me sternly.
“Did you get what you wanted?”
Sophia intervened.
“That’s our business unless doing things on my behalf is suddenly a crime?”
The Inspector smiled. Sophia was far too sharp for him.
“I will keep this brief then. The purpose of my visit is to inform you that the Russians are very angry. They saw you as a prized asset and as such they won’t settle until you are back with them or pushing up daises somewhere where no one will find you.”
This didn’t faze Sophia at all.
“That is to be expected Inspector. I have to hope that you don’t have a leak in your department. You should know that those guys have an awful lot of influential people either on their payroll or being blackmailed by them.”
“I know and I was rather hoping for some leads. They are like an Octopus, with tentacles everywhere. If we can take down enough then they might decide to cut their losses?”
Sophia laughed.
“If you think for even one second that they’ll go back to Mother Russia then you are sadly mistaken. They have second, third and even tenth homes all over the world ready for them to bolt too.”
Sophia thought for several seconds before saying,
“I don’t know if I can trust you all the way Inspector so I’ll give you some names. You have to prove to me that you are willing to as you say cut a few tentacles off before I give you the rest. How does that sound?”
The Inspector smiled.
“That would do nicely.”
“Good. Give me an email address that I can use. One that only you have access to. I will send the details there. When you get them, call me and I will send you the key to decrypt the message. Then you have 72 hours to act on them and get it into the media. If you don’t, then I know you can’t be trusted. Oh, I’ll be gone from here tonight. I can’t risk dragging Liam into this even more. Do you understand Inspector?”
Her tone was one that said, ‘do not mess with me’.
“Perfectly.”
“As a freebie, I’ll give you one name. The person is very close to home so to speak.”
She reached over and took his notepad. On it, she wrote a name. Then she gave it back to him.
The Inspector read the name. The faint smile that was on his face disappeared in a flash.
“You can’t be serious?”
“She has a gambling problem. As far as I know, she is in for at least six figures. She frequents the Blue Haze Club on Soho Square at least twice a week. There is a back room where… well I am sure that you can guess what goes on there.”
“How… How do you know this?”
Sophia smiled.
“Lets’ just say that at least one of my Gentlemen Clients from when I worked for Delroy took me to the club on more than one occasion. I have eyes Inspector. Most of the time I was on the lookout for your mob but it was hard not to see what was going on.”
Sophia pushed a sheet of paper his way.
“The email address if you please?”
With a sigh, the Inspector wrote down an email address.
“Thank you. I will only use this once. The email it will come from will be a throw away one.”
She shook her head.
“No. I need to pack a few things and then can you take me to the nearest Station? I need to get away from here. I can’t risk you and this place any more than I have already.”
Liam thought for a moment or three before saying,
“Why don’t I come with you as Sylvia? As I said, we can get a new vehicle when we get off the train. That will make us harder to track.”
Sophia thought for a moment. Then she said,
“How would you buy a car or whatever? All your cards are in Liam’s name aren’t they?”
Liam smiled and shook his head.
“I have one credit card in my company name, Thyme Consulting.”
“Will it be accepted? Sometimes people are a bit… picky.”
“We can only try it and see. If the dealer has a machine, there should be no problem.”
Sophia thought again. She wanted Liam/Sylvia to be with her but she didn’t want to put anyone else in danger for no good reason.
Reluctantly she agreed.
“Very well but we have to go somewhere so that I can get some funds.”
“Where?”
“Jersey. I have a safe deposit box there. One of the things you retrieved from my flat was the key.”
A very surprised Liam looked at Sophia.
“You had planned for this sort of thing to happen, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did. When I teamed up with Delroy, he told me right away that he was planning to retire one day and go back to Barbados and that he was advising all his girls to prepare for that day. Some of my… Clients were like you in the Banking and Finance world. I got advice about how to stash my money so that only I could get at it. Delroy was aware of the Russians moving in on other pimps in London. We all got the message. Now I am thankful I took his advice.”
Sophia looked at Liam with sadness in her eyes.
“I’m really not bringing you much luck, am I?”
“Sophia, I am… I am so pleased to be able to help you in any way I can no matter how small it is.”
Then he added,
“You know that I want you to stay here with me but in this case, I think you are right and that you need to get away from here. However, I know from my dealing customers that there is a sizeable Russian community in the Channel Islands. If I were you, I’d get into Jersey, go to the bank and then get out ASAP. There are plenty of flights out of the airport and even a fast ferry to St Malo in France.”
Sophia smiled back at him before giving Liam a huge hug.
When they broke free Liam said,
“I think you should go in at least some form of disguise.”
Sophia thought for a moment before shaking her head.
“No. If there is anyone who can see me in Jersey then let them. Then when I get on a plane out of there, they will not think to look here. That in itself will keep you and this place safe.”
Liam could not argue with that logic.
Two days later, Liam took Sophia to the station in Dorchester. There after a tearful goodbye, she caught the London train intending to get off at Southampton Airport. She was booked on a flight to Jersey that afternoon.
That was the plan as far as Liam and the world at large was concerned. Sophia had other ideas that did not involve flying. Instead she was going to take the midday fast ferry from Poole to Jersey. For some reason she had a fear that her booking on the flight would be a risk whereas she’d found out that there was space on the ferry for ‘walk-up’ foot passengers.
The train journey from Dorchester to Poole does not take very long and neither did the Taxi ride to the Ferry port.
It was only when the ferry passed the Sandbanks chain ferry as it left Poole Harbour, did she begin to relax.
The previous time that Sophia had been in Jersey, she’d also stayed overnight. A quick phone call and she had a room in that very same hotel.
In order to get there, Sophia took a Taxi to the airport and then another to a Hotel on the northern side of the Island. The Hotel had been recommended to her by a client as it was not only quiet but very discrete. To the owners, discrete meant asking no questions or demanding to see ID from their guests. Payment by cash was the norm. Liam had given Sophia a good float for exactly times like this.
Sophia took the bus into St Hellier the following morning. Again, she was going for annominity in her movements. Years of being very discrete when it came to visiting clients was perfect training for how she needed to travel at the moment. Today, she was wearing one of Liam’s wigs as a disguise. With the obligatory large framed dark glasses, she looked very different to how she looked in London in her former life.
After a coffee in a Café close to the bank, she sauntered up the street some fifteen minutes after the bank opened. She didn’t want to appear too keen to anyone watching her. As she approached the bank, a black Range Rover drew up outside and two burly men got out. She froze for a second. One of them looked like one of the Russians who’d beaten her up more than once.
After a second glance, she breathed a sigh of relief. Not only was a very beautiful woman getting out of the back of the Range Rover but neither of the men had any of the very visible tattoos’ that the Russians she hated so much proudly wore.
As she approached the bank, one of the men even held the door open for her and gave her a small smile as she entered the building.
Once inside, she breathed a huge sigh of relief before preparing mentally to get her business done.
Less than twenty minutes later, Sophia emerged from the bank into the sunshine. The Range Rover had gone which pleased her no end. Trying to look unhurried, she wandered down to the Ferry Terminal and booked a seat on the midday sailing to France. This was her big worry. Would her ‘backup’ passport in the name of Lavinia Fletcher pass muster.
She need not have worried as border formalities consisted of waving her UK passport at the officer who let her through with a nod and a smile.
Sophia booked a ticket to Paris although once again, she had no intention of going all the way. This was all part of the plan that she’d worked out with Liam. She was carrying close on £200,000 in £50 notes in her overnight bag. The last thing she needed was to draw attention to herself.
The Paris train drew to a stop at Tours. From here to Paris, it would be non-stop. It was her last chance to get off before she reached the Capital and she took it. Sophia got off the train and left the station only to return a few minutes later whereupon, she purchased a ticket to Bordeaux.
While Sophia was waiting for the TGV south, Liam was getting worried about the apparent lack of things happening in London. It had been several days since the Police got the list of people who were connected to the Russians. She’d been rather busy in the interim to bother checking to see if anything had happened. It was too late to do anything now but she’d be back in the UK in the morning and she would catch up then.
Sophia found an Hotel close to the Railway Station. Once she was settled in her room, she went back to the station and booked a ticket to Paris for the following morning. The new TGV line had just opened so Paris was only three hours away. All this travel was taking its toll on the Euros that she’d obtained in Jersey but she knew that she’d be home the following evening.
She stopped herself almost in mid stride. She’d called Liam’s place ‘home’. Then she smiled at herself and carried on walking back to the Hotel. It wasn’t such a bad place after all and Liam was a nice person. Then she stopped again. Liam was more than a nice person. That was why she’d turned to him when she needed somewhere to hide. She’d knew that she would need to think carefully about the long-term implications of committing to him. She’d never committed to anyone in her life. That was why she’d been so good as a call girl.
Early the following morning, Sophia caught the early train to Paris. By anyone’s standards, 05:10 is early but the train was relatively busy even at that ungodly time. The coffee and fresh Croissants she had for breakfast was very welcome especially as the French countryside whizzed past at more than 150mph.
It was a little after 08:20 when the train arrived in Paris. She headed for the Gare du Nord and booked a ticket on the next Eurostar to London.
It was late that afternoon when Sophia called Liam as the train bound for Exeter left the stop at Salisbury.
“It’s me. I’ve just left Salisbury.”
“Yes, everything went fine.”
“See you soon. Oh, and drive carefully.”
Sophia hung up the call and thought, ‘so much for treading carefully with Liam’.
Liam was waiting for her at Gillingham Station. Once again, caution went out the door as she embraced Liam. He responded. Then he felt her relax into his arms.
“I was worried about you?”
“I guessed as much but I’m here now. Shall we head home?”
“Are you hungry?”
“Me? No, I had a pretty decent meal on the Eurostar.”
“Fair enough, home it is,” said Liam.
“Out with it?” asked Liam the following morning.
“I was thinking about those Russians. So far, we’ve heard nothing about any arrests. I’m not sure that we are safe here in the long term.”
“We?”
“Yes, ‘we’. I didn’t realise it until I watched two people obviously in love saying goodbye to each other as the train approached Woking. She didn’t want to go but had to. I felt the same about you.”
“I missed you too,” said Liam quietly.
Then he added,
“I think you are right. We can’t trust anyone in London. What do you suggest we do?”
“Go to France. My French is passable. France is a big place. There are many places we can drop out of sight.”
Liam smiled.
“Just when did this devious plan come to you?”
Sophia smiled.
“During my little side trip to Bordeaux. I realised just how big the place is compared to London. What are we? An hour and a half from the M25? That’s nothing for them. Then there is the little matter that the Police know where we are despite our best efforts. One leak and well, I don’t want to think of the consequences.”
Liam looked around his kitchen. He had so many plans for the place.
“I guess you should go. Go somewhere and not tell me then if they come here I can’t tell them anything.”
Sophia shook her head.
“You would be tortured and probably killed. I saw the way they work at first hand. It was not pretty. They did it to make sure that none of their girls spoke out of turn.”
“I can’t leave this place,” said Liam sadly.
Sophia took hold of his hand.
“I know it is hard but the risks are too great unless…”
“Unless what?”
“I gave the inspector just some of the client list. I have a lot more. If we leave and I send it to all the media at least one of them is sure to publish it. The names are just too juicy to ignore.”
Liam looked around his kitchen. He had so many plans for this place.
“You don’t want to go do you?” asked Sophia.
“I don’t. I’ve planned this move for years. This is where I want to grow old.”
That statement shocked Sophia. She knew that this was his dream but she had no real idea about how much the place meant to him.
“It is only for a short while.”
“I know but…”
Liam looked at Sophia.
“One month. Then I will come back and hang the consequences.”
There was a tear in his eyes.
“One month it is then. Then we will both come back.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Don’t you want me to come back?”
“Yes, I do. I want to be here with you.”
Then she looked at the floor.
“I didn’t at first but on the train from Paris, we passed through the Somme. So many people lost their lives for what? They didn’t get the chance to fulfil their dreams. The made the ultimate sacrifice. I’ve lost so much and you have given me the chance to live again. I want to be here with you and make this place something. Something that we can both be proud of.”
Liam sat there stunned for quite a while.
“Are you going to say something?”
“Sorry. I was a bit stunned by what you said.”
“Well? I’ve sort of laid all my cards on the table.”
“That’s what stunned me. Every day I wake up I am amazed that you are still here. Now you say that to me. Is it any wonder that I am a bit stunned, tongue tied and totally lost for words?”
Sophia stood up and smiled.
“While you are thinking, I’m going to use your computer. I need to put together what will be sent to the media. Don’t worry, I won’t send it from here. I know the risks.”
Liam didn’t answer. No refusal was enough for her to go off and use his computer.
An hour later, she’d put together a file with all the gory details of the people who were Delroy’s and then the Russians clients. She added what she knew about the blackmail threats that the Russians were using on some of the more influential clients to not only avoid prosecution but to get sensitive information. Once the file was complete, she uploaded it to a dozen different cloud sites. She saved the locations to a file. She copied the file to an ‘SD’ card in encrypted form. Sophia mentally thanked Delroy for making her aware of her personal data security. She then put the card into her ‘burner’ phone. She mentally thanked Liam for getting a phone that could accept a data card when they’d gone shopping for a phone.
With all that done, she erased all trace of her activities on the computer. Being in the ‘escort’ game for as long as she’d been, her client records were like gold dust to the right people. Delroy had made sure that she knew how to keep client records away from prying eyes.
Sylvia saw that Liam was troubled when she returned to the kitchen.
“What’s wrong?”
“I was listening to the news. It said that the body of a Police Detective had been recovered from the Welsh Harp Reservoir.”
The smile that was on her face disappeared in a flash.
“Fuck. You don’t think…?”
Liam nodded her head.
“Then we need to get out of here now.”
Liam shook his head.
“The report said that it appeared that he’d been dead for some days. If he had revealed everything then we’d probably be dead as well by now.”
“I don’t want to take any chances. Do you?”
“What if they are watching us now?”
Liam looked at her.
“If they are watching us, then we are doomed. There is no way we can lose them out here in the country. This isn’t London where there are back alleys all over the place. If you are going to leave then we do indeed need to do it now and together.”
Sophia hugged Liam until he cried out.
“Enough! I need to breathe”
Less than half an hour later the car was loaded with a few clothes. Liam locked up the house and got into the car. He was about to leave his dream behind. Nevertheless, he got into the car and drove away from his home hopefully not for the last time.
Liam headed for Shaftesbury where he filled the car with petrol. Not a lot had been said once they’d left Liam’s home.
Having paid for the fuel, Liam got back into the car and said,
“Which way?”
“Any way that does not mean going towards London,” said Sophia firmly.
“Portsmouth, Poole or Plymouth?”
“It makes no difference to me.”
“Ok, I’ll head towards Poole but you had better get searching for ferries and make a booking. You have my credit card.”
Sophia could not fault that argument.
She spent the next twenty minutes looking at the options for getting over to France.
“Everything seems to be full for tonight apart from the Plymouth to Roscoff sailing.”
“Make the booking and I’ll get us there,” said Liam as he turned the car around and headed west.
Liam was packing things up. They’d had a few hours sleep on the crossing.
“Why don’t you go and get us some coffee? We can pick up some croissants in Roscoff but some coffee would be nice.”
Sophia smiled and disappeared from the cabin. Liam breathed a sigh of relief. Things had been a little tense between them the previous evening. He looked out on the French Coastline and hoped that it would bring back some of the happiness that had been so much part of their life together.
Things had been made worse when they heard that the deceased Police Officer had been identified as Inspector Jarvis.
Liam joined Sophia in the Cafeteria. She’d bought two Coffees.
“Thanks, I need this.”
She smiled back at him and squeezed his hand.
“Darling, we will get through this. When we find somewhere to stay, I’ll send a few emails and make a few posts. That should set a few balls rolling. Delroy was a good man and so was the Inspector.”
Before Liam could respond, the announcement ‘Would all Car Passengers return to their Vehicles’ spurred everyone into action.
It wasn’t long before they were in Brittany and heading for the town of Morlaix where they soon found a large supermarket where Liam went shopping for some food and ‘stuff’. Sophia saw a mobile phone shop and went off in search of a French SIM card.
The pair met back at the car a little later. Liam had a road atlas for France and Sophia had a new SIM card for the Laptop ‘dongle’.
“Let me get the first of these emails sent and then we can head off,” she said as she opened the Laptop.
Liam sorted out the food and waited for Sophia.
She joined him at the rear of the car.
“Sorry for putting a downer on everything.”
“Don’t worry, events elsewhere conspired to spoil things. I wasn’t really sure how serious things were until… until we heard about the Inspector. If anyone tracks us, they will assume that we are hiding in Brittany. A lot of brits live here.”
Sophia managed a small smile.
“I sent links to all the data to six newspapers plus the Police and the BBC. Hopefully at least one of them will take some action against those bastards. A couple of former Government Ministers will have more than a bit of explaining to do.”
“Didn’t you say that you were going to post it all on Social Media?”
Sophia grinned.
“All of my emails said that if nothing was done, it all goes on Twitter and Facebook.”
“Did you name names? Of the Russians?”
She nodded.
“I expect that a lot of people in London would like to see the back of the Russians. Before they got going, there was a set of rules that stopped the different factions killing each other. I knew nothing of this when I was with Delroy but the Russians were rather loose with their tongues.”
“Ok, where to now?”
“How about the Cevennes?”
Liam looked blank.
“In the middle but a long way south. I went there as a child.”
Liam looked at the Atlas and shook his head.
“We won’t get there today.”
“Then I’d better get us a room for tonight and then somewhere to stay for a bit.”
“What about money?”
Sophia grinned.
“I have access to my money. It won’t be a problem.”
Liam breathed a visible sigh of relief.
“We should get going then. I think we should avoid the Autoroutes. It will take is longer but we would be more invisible to CCTV cameras.”
Sophia smiled.
Then she hugged Liam.
“We will get through this,” she said softly.
“I hope so,” said Liam.
That evening in an Hotel near Poitiers, they searched the Internet for any reports. To their dismay, there were none. Sophia checked her email accounts and none of them had even a delivery failure. It was as if the emails had just disappeared.
“Why?” she said with more than a hint of desperation in her voice.
Liam put his arm around her to comfort her.
“Give it time. They need to check their facts and given the high profile of some of the people you have named, the lawyers will need to be involved for sure.”
Then he added,
“How long did you give them before you post it all on Social Media?”
“The day after tomorrow.”
“Then we will stick to it. That is the least we can do.”
Sophia hugged Liam.
“Why are you so good to me?”
“Because we are both rather lost souls, aren’t we?”
She didn’t answer but a tear did run down her cheek.
Sophia did some searching on the Internet as Liam drove south. There was no news of any arrests or investigations. Once Liam had digested the bad news, he said,
“You had better book us a room for a few nights. Find a place with internet and we can start spreading the data.”
Sophia sat back and thought for a bit.
“How about we call the Inspector investigating the murder of Inspector Jarvis, and give him a final warning?”
“Sounds like a plan. Book a place for two nights. If the push comes to shove and we have to upload everything then we can make a clean exit and head somewhere else once we have done it.”
Sophia grunted her agreement and after a few minutes, she announced,
“I’ve booked an hotel in a place called Meyrueis for two nights.”
Sophia made the call to London but didn't get much information about what was happening other than the name and contact details of the lead detective on the murder case.
That evening Sophia sent an email to the Inspector using the same address that she’d used before to communicate with the Police. She warned them that unless things happened within the next 24 hours all the data she had would be made public.
The following morning there was bad news. The BBC was reporting that the body of a Police Inspector had been found in the River Mole near where it flows into the River Thames. Liam looked at Sophia. Neither of them needed to say anything. Liam tried to call the Inspector who had been investigating the death of Inspector Jarvis. The hesitancy that those answering the phone told them everything. They didn’t need any more hints.
After a few minutes of thought, Sophia said,
“Time to go public I think.”
Liam nodded.
Within an hour all the major newspapers and media organisations had all the data. They'd had a snapshot before. This time it was everything including dates and times. All of it had been posted on Facebook with a link to the reports of both Police Officers deaths.
The pair checked out of the Hotel and headed further south and into the Pyrenees.
From an Hotel in Andorra they watched the News. It was dominated by the arrests of literally dozens of people.
“I didn’t finger than many,” exclaimed Sophia.
“Does it matter?” Liam asked softly.
“I don’t know what to think,” she replied.
“It is all out in the open now. A lot of people are going to have to answer a lot of very embarrassing questions.”
Sophia thought for a while. Then a slight chuckle came from her.
“Delroy would have enjoyed what was going on. He was a good man. I sort of miss him. He always looked after us.”
“If those bastards are jailed or thrown out of the country then great.”
Liam took Sophia’s hand.
“You are a good man Liam. Too good for someone like me,” said Sophia quietly.
“That is bollocks Trixie and you know it.”
She didn’t answer so Liam carried on.
“Sophia nee Trixie, I like you. I like you a lot. I don’t know if I love you but the more time I spend with you, the more I want to be with you for the rest of my life.”
“I can’t,” she said through tearful eyes.
“Why not? Where else are you going to go?”
Sophia didn’t answer for some time.
“There you are, being good to me. I don’t deserve it.”
“Stop being silly. I want you with me and part of my life. Besides, who am I going to get who understands both Suzi and me?”
Sophia chuckled for half a second before the serious look returned to her face.
“But, what about my past? It isn’t exactly run of the mill now was it?”
“So? Does it matter? It does not to me. I always had a soft spot for you and these past days… well I really don’t want to lose you from my life again.”
In the end, Sophia had to accept the situation that Liam was going nowhere without her.
Those two shadow ministers resigned their position and also their seat in Parliament once the extent of their wrongdoing was exposed. Both of them had been Home Office Ministers before the previous election and had used their influence to obtain resident visas for the leaders of the Russian gang. They’d also received large sums of money in return which naturally had not been declared to the House nor to the Inland Revenue.
Many of the Russians were found to be in the country illegally and that Moscow was very keen to get their hands on them. The UK government needed to get back into the Kremlin’s good books after a recent spying case so the majority of the gang were extradited back to their homeland where an uncertain fate awaited them.
Once the heat had died down, they returned to Dorset. To their immense surprise, the herb garden was intact and things were actually growing. They both saw this as a sign that they were meant to be there.
[the end]