One for the Team Ch. 07

Chapter Seven -- A Change of Management

May 1986

Detective Sergeant Archie Sanders and Detective Sandra Tingle ate breakfast together in the restaurant at the Holiday Inn. They had slept in their own rooms. It was a rule they had, regardless of how late they stayed up making love they always returned to their own rooms to sleep. It was as much about propriety as it was to establish an agreed boundary. If they just shared a bed now and then, then their relationship was just sex; if they slept together overnight it implied a commitment that neither of them wanted to acknowledge, certainly Sandra didn't.

"I spoke with Glenda this morning," Archie commented over bacon and eggs.

Archie was referring to Chief Superintendent Glenda Savage, their boss.

"She sent a notification team around to Charles Ward's parents, Reginald and Penelope Ward. They will conduct a formal identification this morning."

"Sarah Pheffington also advised me that the coroner conducted the autopsy on Charlotte Ward overnight; amazing the service you get when the deceased family comes from money and moves in the right social circles."

"I think we should divide and conquer today. You take the car and go down to London and interview Reginald and Penelope Ward and pick up the autopsy report and I'll continue to interview people here," he emphasised each point by pointing a sausage at Sandra.

Sandra was in her work clothes consisting of a brown skirt-suit, thick black tights and low heels. She wore only a little makeup and had her hair pulled back in a bun. Archie still thought she looked beautiful.

"Do you mind not pointing that sausage at me please Sergeant," Sandra stirred her tea.

"You didn't mind me pointing my sausage at you last night," he grinned at her.

Sandra kicked him under the table and gave him a stern look.

"Sarah ran me through some of her findings and a brief on the autopsy," Archie continued.

"Charlotte Ward had been sexually active right up until her death. She had motile semen in her anus and both fresh and stale semen on her underwear and on her skin. In fact she had so much semen on her and in her that Sarah thinks it's unlikely to be of any use forensically because of cross contamination," Archie read from his notebook.

"Christ Archie; how many men had she been with?" Sandra put down the slice of toast she was about to eat.

"It's hard to say; but a lot. Her anus was dilated and bruised but there was no tearing so the coroner is ruling out rape at this time; there were also no defensive wounds or cuts and contusions on her body other than the marks we saw on her neck. The good news is that scrapings from under her fingernails produced skin samples which are currently being examined to get a blood type. She had ejaculated into her underwear numerous times during the evening preceding her death. Cause of death was asphyxiation and there is evidence of strangulation but her larynx, hyoid and other bones in the neck were not damaged. In short, she was suffocated," Archie quoted from his notes.

"And there are fingerprints... lots of fingerprints in the cottage and around her body, especially on the bed. I'm going to take fingerprints from everyone we interview and I'm definitely taking them from Robert Fellows," Archie looked up from his notes.

"He said if we want to interview him again he's going have a solicitor with him," Sandra replied.

"As you know, provided we have 'reasonable suspicion' we can fingerprint him without a warrant and if he refuses I'll take him into custody and get them anyway. I'm sure his brief will advise him give us the prints," Archie drained his tea.

"OK. If you've finished you can drop me at the college and head off to London. Leave me the brick and the crime scene kit," Archie was referring to clunky mobile phone and the small case that contained evidence collection material.

At Chelmsford College Archie found Mrs Frobisher and gave her a list of people who he wanted to interview.

"I'd like to start with William Larkin," Archie tried hard not to stare at Mrs Frobisher's ample bosom while she sat at her desk rifling through timetables.

"William doesn't have any classes this morning. You will likely find him in his dorm," Mrs Frobisher looked up at Archie and smiled when he looked away guiltily.

She stood up and came around from behind her desk. She was once again wearing a tight skirt and jacketed business suit that drew attention to her long legs and buxom figure, as did her stiletto heels, red hair and milky-white skin. The skirt had a kick-pleat in the side that showed an expanse of silken-sheathed thigh.

She strode over to a wall map of the college and Archie followed. She stood uncomfortably close to him and he could smell her perfume. He remembered what Sandra had said about her being 'wank fodder' for the student body.

"Here," Mrs Frobisher pointed an elegant manicured red-painted fingernail at the map.

"William Larkin's dormitory. He moved into a single last term, he must have come into some money to be able to afford it," she tapped her fingernail on the map.

"Where can I leave this?" Archie pointed at the bulky cellular phone and his evidence collection case.

"How long are you and your pretty lady assistant going to be here?" Mrs Frobisher asked.

"My pretty lady assistant is Detective Constable Tingle of the Metropolitan Police and she would be a little miffed to be described as my assistant," Archie grinned.

"And does she?" Mrs Frobisher chewed a nail seductively.

"Does she what?" Archie asked.

"Does she tingle?" she sucked on her finger.

"We're going to be at the college today and tomorrow and possibly next week; as long as the investigation takes," Archie ignored the double entendre and stepped away from Mrs Frobisher a little.

"Through here is an anteroom you can use while you're here," Mrs Frobisher stopped flirting and led Archie over to a door leading into a small wood-panelled room.

Archie left his gear in the anteroom and made his way over to the dormitory and located William Larkin's room. He knocked on the door. Given the bizarre series of events that had occurred recently when a pretty young woman answered the door to William Larkin's room Archie was not really taken aback.

He held up his warrant card and introduced himself. The woman looked a little surprised but regained her composure and invited Archie into the room.

"I'm Wendy Larkin also known as William Larkin," she said.

Now it made sense to Archie, she was the girl that Robert Fellows had described as Bendy Wendy.

"Two things. One... you don't seem surprised to find me dressed enfemme and two... what do you want?" Wendy waved at a small armchair and indicated for Archie to sit.

Her room was not as opulent as Charlotte's or Robert Fellows', there was just enough room for the single bed, a wardrobe, a desk and chair and the armchair that Archie was sitting in. It did have an ensuite bathroom however.

Wendy sat herself on the chair next to the desk, her legs were open a little; very unladylike. She was wearing a denim miniskirt, red satin blouse, tan hosiery and black high heels. She was also wearing a blonde wig and heavy makeup, not exactly daywear.

"I'm not surprised to find you dressed enfemme, because you are the second transvestite I have seen on this campus in two days, although it seems a little early in the day to dressed as you are," Archie answered Wendy's first question.

"Really?" Wendy looked a little surprised.

"And to answer your second question, I am investigating the death of Charles Ward otherwise known as Charlotte Ward," Archie explained.

Wendy paled and she stated to tremble.

"Charlotte? You know about the cottage?" Wendy said shakily.

Archie thought it was a strange response.

"Oh my god! Charlotte! What happened to her?" Wendy began to cry.

"I can't tell you the details, but I can tell you that she was found dead early yesterday morning by the college's groundkeeper," Archie offered Wendy a cigarette and took one for himself; he'd noticed the overflowing ashtray on the desk.

"Quinn?" Wendy whispered.

Archie consulted his notebook.

"Douglas Quinn yes," he leaned forward to light Wendy's cigarette.

"So you and Charlotte were close?" Archie began questioning her.

Wendy gave Archie a potted history of their past, leaving out the details that she thought particularly unsavoury. When she came to the part about them acquiring use of the cottage they were interrupted by a knock at the door. Wendy checked her watch and blushed.

"Excuse me a minute," Wendy went to the door, had a hushed conversation and then closed the door.

"That was my ten o'clock," Wendy said demurely.

It took Archie a few seconds to realise what Wendy meant and then it dawned on him and it explained why Wendy was dressed as she was so early in the day.

"I thought you did business out of the cottage; that's what the evidence would suggest," Archie said.

"I was working out of this room until Charlotte took over. Then we moved to the cottage. We became organised, set up a roster, made up tart cards to advertise, we even opened a bar. Although it was a dump, we advertised it as a gentleman's club and called it 'One For The Team'. Charlotte thought the name was funny; it had significance for her," Wendy related.

"You said Charlotte took over?" Archie leaned forward a little, encouraging Wendy to speak.

"Charlotte needed money so she could undertake gender reassignment surgery. She knew her family was going to disown her when they found out her intent to live her life as a woman. She became fixated on the idea, especially after she and Robert broke up. You could say that I was being pimped out by Wayne Jenkins and Steven Belfour-Brown and then Charlotte came up with the idea for the cottage. She usurped them I suppose. They were not happy about it but like I said Charlotte needed the money."

"You say 'we' moved to the cottage and became organised; who is 'we'?" Archie asked.

"Charlotte, myself and two girls Charlotte had me recruit, Pamela and Janet," Wendy gave Archie the male names for Pamela and Janet Lowe so that he could interview them later.

"So Charlotte and Robert had more than just a casual relationship?"

"Ha! They were full on lovers, they practically lived together. They even took a holiday together," Wendy lit another cigarette.

"Charles and Robert took a holiday together?" Archie asked.

"No! You don't get it do you? I'm Wendy and she is Charlotte. When Charlotte and Wendy are present Charles and William no longer exist. The men who admire us never want to see us in our male persona and they have no interest in our male counterparts."

"Charlotte and Robert went on holiday together," Wendy slapped the table to emphasise the point.

"Let's go back to Charlotte taking over as you call it; tell me more about that," Archie settled into his seat.

May 1985

Peter and James Lowe were twins and scholarship students at Chelmsford Private College. They were both very artistic and were taking arts degrees and intended to specialise in fashion design. They were openly bisexual and presented as androgynous. They had been able to secure positions in the catering corps of the College's Army Cadet Corps during their first year as lower housemen in order to avoid all the squad drill and bivouacs. They produced delicacies from the 'camp kitchen' which delighted the Corps and saved them from ridicule and bullying.

They were slim and athletic and William Larkin had played alongside them in the soccer team. They became attracted to William and they had a casual sexual relationship which continued when William started to present as Wendy.

They were the perfect candidates for what Wendy and Charlotte had planned. William invited them both to his dorm where he met them presenting as Wendy and laid out a proposition.

"I've always wanted to dress enfemme; you know I'm a total bottom," Peter grinned.

"You look like a girl most of time anyway," James sniped at his brother.

"Look... we make no secret of our sexuality, being called a fag or bender just bounces off us. But this is a serious proposition. First off, it's illegal, second, if we get caught we will be expelled, and finally, I'm not sure I can pull off presenting as girl," James continued.

"Ok I'll be frank with you both. You're both pretty effeminate anyway and I'll teach you how to wear makeup. Also... you will only present yourselves in your female persona, no one is going to know who it is under the makeup and clothes and the reality is, the men don't want to know," Wendy countered.

"Charlotte has done some rough calculations and if her projections are correct, this is how much you will each be pulling in a week. Cash money, under the table, no one needs to know where you got it," Wendy slid a slip of paper across the desk.

Peter and James studied the slip of paper for a few seconds, looked at each other and nodded.

"I want to be Pamela," Peter grinned.

"And I want to be Janet. Where do we get our clothes, wigs and makeup?" James asked.

"Ok girls. Let's start here," Wendy opened her wardrobe door.

She had so many ensembles that she could have opened a ladies fashion boutique. Her male clothing was relegated to three clothes hangers and a single drawer.

"Now let's get you stripped and get started," Wendy smiled at the twins.

Charles had been busy cleaning out the cottage as best he could. He gave some money to Quinn to purchase bedding for the two bedrooms, purchase a TV, VCR and some pornographic video cassettes. Quinn wanted more than just money and Charlotte had to set aside her repugnance and christen one of the newly cleaned and freshly made up bedrooms by letting Quinn mount her.

Charlotte found that the more she distanced herself from Robert the more she hardened her heart. Sex became a commodity to be traded and although she could pretend to show affection and often obtained physical pleasure during the act, she felt no compassion or affection for those who used her body.

She and Wendy met Wayne Jenkins, Steven Belfour-Brown and Brian Nichol to secure a supply of beer and spirits for their 'gentleman's club'. After much deliberation Steven and Wayne were able to convince Brian to go along. The alcohol would be sold at a premium and the Bridge House welfare fund would benefit. Steven and Wayne had a vested interest; they imagined themselves as managers of the club-come-brothel and would be skimming the cream off the top.

When 'One For The Team' was nearly ready to open Charlotte invited Wendy, Steven and Wayne to come down to the cottage and inspect it.

"You've done wonders with the place Charlotte," Wendy cooed as she inspected the two bedrooms and the bathroom.

"It's still a shithole but let's face it, it's a knocking shop. The customers are only going to be here long enough for a quick drink or two before they are serviced and on their way," Steven Belfour-Brown patted the back of a battered lounge chair.

"Most of the money will be made in the bedrooms but we'll still make a tidy profit on the booze. With the four of us girls sharing the load and working in pairs from six to midnight during the week and afternoons and evenings on weekends we should turn a nice profit," Charlotte added.

"When do we get to see the other two girls?" Wayne asked, obviously keen to sample their wares.

"Pamela and Janet will be joining us later. I thought it might be nice for the original founders to inaugurate the bedrooms before we let the punters in," Charlotte gave the two men a seductive smile.

Steven had poured them all drinks and he and Wayne sat down in the two lounge chairs and patted their knees. Charlotte perched on Steven's knee and Wendy on Wayne's. Both women were dressed only in negligées, bras, panties, stockings and high heels. Wendy was wearing her favourite blonde wig but Charlotte had just styled her pixie-cut into a feminine do.

The men talked about House business while lazily petting the two women who soon became bored. Charlotte changed the tone by leaning into Steven and kissing him; she squeezed his burgeoning erection and slid her tongue into his mouth. Wendy followed suit, kissing Wayne passionately and rubbing him through his jeans.

Steven lifted Charlotte from his lap and put down his drink. He led her to the first of the bedrooms and closed the door. Wendy went with Wayne into the other bedroom.

Steve held Charlotte out at arm's length and studied her.

"You are beautiful. I really missed you when you stopped coming to the inner sanctum," he whispered.

"I was so jealous of Robert keeping you all to himself," he sighed.

"I so wanted to kiss you, to hold you against me, to feel your body, to fuck you," he leaned in and kissed her.

"We had those silly rules about kissing and fucking. I don't have a gay bone in my body but it doesn't matter anyway because I only think of you as a woman," he kissed her again and squeezed her buttocks through the layers of cool, sleek satin.

Charlotte remained silent and disengaged from him so he could get undressed. She helped him and when he went to the wardrobe to hang up his clothes she directed him to the chair in front of the dresser instead.

"Put them here. There are only enough hangers for the girls clothes in there, I'll get some more brought down," she helped him fold his jeans and shirt and put them over the chair.

"Can you get our drinks honey," Charlotte kissed him and ran her featherlight fingers along his shaft.

Charlotte lay on the bed enjoying the feel and smell of the fresh clean bedding. She lay on her side seductively sucking on a finger allowing her negligée to ride up to show off her stocking-tops.

Wayne put the drinks on the nightstand and joined her on the bed. The windows were covered with tarpaper to ensure privacy but the room was illuminated with two bedlamps. The girls figured the punters would want to see what they were doing and with whom they were doing it.

Charlotte took a long pull on her drink and then lay back on the bed. Wayne began by kissing her and exploring her with his hands. He stroked her knees, delighting in the sensuous feel of her stockings and slowly made his way up her legs. He spent some time stroking the bare skin at the top of her thighs while he explored her mouth with his tongue.

Charlotte softly stroked his hard cock and massaged his scrotum, delighting when he gasped in her mouth and began to dribble pre-ejaculate.

She broke the kiss and rolled him onto his back and straddled him, ensuring his penis nestled in her panty-clad buttocks as she leaned down and kissed him. She could feel his manhood pressing into the crevice between her buttocks but she was not yet ready for him to fuck her.

Charlotte worked her face down Steven's body using her tongue and her lips to excite him until she eventually arrived at his erect penis. She took him in her mouth and began to suckle his member, using her tongue, her teeth, and lips expertly on his phallus, backing off when she felt him getting close to extremis.

Steven pawed at her buttocks and thighs and she obligingly shifted so that she was straddling him head to toe so that she could fellate him while he caressed her buttocks and legs. She was hard in her knickers and dribbling pre-seminal fluid. Her panty-clad cock hovered inches from Steven's face.

She smiled when she felt him touch her cock through her knickers and growled with satisfaction as he began to stroke it. She lapped at his cock to encourage him and was delightfully surprised when he took her in his mouth.

"I always wondered what it would be like," Steven sniggered from between her legs.

Charlotte lowered her face back to his cock and began to earnestly suck on it.