Part Five   "Lori"

 
Friday 17th April

"I still don't get this maths, Tammy."

"Do you want to do another past paper?"

"No, absolutely not, I'm not even sure I want to do the real thing."

"Angela, we've been through this before, you have the ability."

"But not the confidence."

"I bet you'll be fine when you walk into the hall?"

Angela shivered. "No, it scares me. I hate it."

"You must have gone through this two years ago for your O levels? How did you manage then?"

"My father threatened me, told me he would lose his job if I didn't do well."

"You believed him?"

"No, but it was the lesser of two evils to take the exams and do them as well as I could."

Tammy didn't know how to answer that so did the only thing that came to mind, she hugged a near-tearful Angela for a minute.

"Look, you can do it."

"I can't."

"You can, Angela, you can."

"That's easy for you to say, you don't know what it's like."

"You're wrong, I've had self-doubts galore, I 've been scared, I didn't trust a whole bunch of people and I didn't have a mother to comfort me, I still don't. You have a loving mother available twenty four hours a day. You have a loving family who will help you in every way. You have friends, good friends, who will offer a kind word or a hug when it's necessary. I know things don't always go as you'd wish but that's how life works."

"Hmmmm."

"Exams are a necessary evil, and they don't go away just because we want them to. If you don't put the effort in this time, do you know what will happen?"

"No."

"You'll kick yourself, be angry with yourself, and have to go through the whole process again in the autumn when you resit them. It's ten times worst."

"How would you know?"

"Not everyone in the upper sixth passed all their O levels first time around. I'm not naming names but a few were very scared, petrified of failing a second time. I did what I could to help them, so did John."

"I never knew that."

"You weren't in the school evenings or weekends, that's why you didn't know."

"Did they pass?"

"Yes, by believing in themselves."

"I'll try that."

"Good, I mean well done."

"Am I a mess?"

"Only because your mascara has run. You're fine otherwise, Angela, you're just fine."

"Can we do some revision together?"

"If you give your face a clean, I'll get us a jug of iced water."

"Okay."

The pair worked on their maths revision together, tackling another past paper until midday. They'd just started dissecting the answers when there was a knock on Tammy's door.

"Excuse me Tammy, but there's a call for you in the office."

"Thanks, Pru. Angela, why don't we continue after lunch?"

Tammy walked downstairs, locking herself in the office.

"Hello?"

"Hi Tammy, it's Dave Brown."

"Hi Dave, what can I do for you?"

"Jenny has passed me your report and I've now obtained DC Franklin's report from Monday's incident, as well as the police statements. When you mentioned your conversation with Angela Small I was rather concerned."

"So was I, either someone is being very sloppy or we have a serious security problem?"

"I'm afraid it may be the latter as other operations have come very close to failure for no good reason."

"Okay, what can I do?"

"For now, nothing overt. Please listen out for anything that sounds unusual that might impinge on our operations, log anything that seems relevant - regardless how tenuous it might be."

"Okay, how much does DC Franklin know?"

"We've passed a general message back to Caithness Police asking them to be vigilant but nothing personal to DC Franklin."

"I take it I can't disclose my concerns directly to him?"

"Actually, you could chat to him, he might have information that he wouldn't submit through normal channels, but be careful."

"I will. Do I call you or Jenny?"

"Call me, I'm at Abigail Adams House for a few days. Heather is also due here so don't call her or Sophie directly."

"Okay, you know I'm heading into exam season, don't you?"

"Yes, and you have a play to perform before then."

"I do."

"I have tickets so I might see you in a couple of weeks."

"Okay Dave, bye for now?"

"Yes, bye Tammy."

Tammy was now very concerned, Thomas Young's claim that Tammy knew Danielle Jones' location was worrisome. Tammy had worked out that Chris Jones' mother had boarded a helicopter heading South after Chris' death and had mentioned this to Ben Franklin but not to anyone else. Had he reported it and had that report ended up in Jenny's team? There were too many vagaries to make sense out of it.

Tammy's name had, however, been raised several times before Chris's attack and immediately after.

There was a knock on the office door, Tammy unlocked it.

"Yes, Mum?"

"We've been invited to dinner with Elsie tonight, along with the Smiths and the Hibberts."

"Oh."

"I suggest you have some lunch, the three of us then have an appointment with Sandy. Do you have a suitable dress?"

"Probably not, do we co-ordinate?"

"Yes, let's."

***

"Did you see Elsie's face when we walked in?"

"Yes Tammy, it was a joy to surprise her."

"What are you wearing for the party, Mum?"

"We might be in the marquee so something a little warmer than that dress!"

"I bought a few when I was in Glasgow, oh!"

"What is it?"

"I have Tanya's dress."

"Didn't she say anything tonight?"

"No, but she was hardly capable of rational thought, was she?!"

"That's cruel, but accurate."

"I'm going to bed, it's going to be a long day tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Tammy."

"Night, Mum.

Tammy thought about sending Tanya a message, but tomorrow would be soon enough.

 
Saturday 18th April

"What's so important, Tammy, that you have to drag me away from my beloved?"

"You asked me to get you a dress when I was in Glasgow a week ago."

"I did?"

"Yes, you did. I've brought three down and put them in Sarah's store room for you to choose one."

"Mum and I went frock shopping in the week."

"When? You were with John every day."

"Wednesday afternoon."

"Well you didn't say anything at rehearsal on Wednesday night?"

"No, I was occupied."

Tammy laughed. "The rehearsal was rather intense, Iain only shouted at you a few times."

"That's cruel, it was only once."

"For not paying attention."

"I needed to ask John something."

"So urgent it had to be in the middle of the play?"

"Yes."

"Anyway, I'll take the frocks back with me after the rehearsal. Want a ride round there?"

"No, it's a nice day so we'll walk."

"Okay, I'll see you there."

Lori was waiting by Tammy's car. "Can I have a lift?"

"Sure, we didn't get to talk after the dress rehearsal, how are you doing?"

"I don't think I can back to school, not as I planned."

"By that, I guess you don't want to go back as Tony?"

"Yes, but that frightens me."

"Lori, I did it and Angela did it, sure there were obstacles but so far as the school is concerned they have been moved out of the way. You're seeing Jill, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Are you due to see her soon?"

"On Wednesday morning."

"Okay, we've been told to attend on Monday and Tuesday. Let's see what we can do before Monday?"

"Before Monday?"

"Yep, we've got five minutes to sort it out for Lori to go to school on Monday."

"Really?"

Tammy took her phone out, looking for the doctor's personal number, she put it on speaker as soon as it was answered.

"Hello Tammy."

"Hi Jill, I have Lori with me."

"I can't discuss other clients with you, Tammy."

"I know that, Lori wants to go to school as Lori on Monday morning, can you call her after rehearsal please."

"Can Lori hear this?"

"Yes I can, Jill."

"Right, I'll draft something for you and we'll speak later."

"Thanks, Jill."

"Bye."

Tammy put her phone back in her bag.

"What's Jill going to do, Tammy?"

"My guess is she'll write a letter to the Head stating that it is in your best interests that you not switch back to being Tony just to do your exams. She'll say that your mental health and therefore your exam performance would suffer if you did not attend as Lori."

"She'll do that?"

"Yes, didn't she offer to do something like this?"

"Not exactly, she sounded surprised when I said I would be Tony for two months when I was in school."

"Switching every day? No way, you'd go fruit within a few days."

"So how do I collect the letter for Monday?"

"Welcome to the twenty-first century, Lori. She'll email it to the Head and at least one Governor."

"Which one?"

"Her father, Harry Davison, plus probably my father and Elsie McPherson."

"Oh, how long will that take?"

"It's ten to ten now, I'd assume she'll have it done by two. Oh, shit, we're late!"

Tammy tried not to drive dangerously but did frighten Lori by cornering rather quickly.

"Don't worry, I had some very good driving instruction recently."

"I'd like to see how you would cope on a skid pad like they use on Top Gear sometimes."

"I did one a couple of times, on an RAF base. It was part of my driving lessons."

"Not the sort of driving lessons I've seen advertised!"

They went through the stage door, the director was not happy.

"Where have you two been?"

"We had to sort a medical problem out, Iain."

"Couldn't it wait?"

"It couldn't, so apologies but we need to get into the dressing room."

Tammy was certain he heard "bloody women" as Iain walked back to the stage. "Come on Lori!"

Despite Iain's obvious disdain for the late start the rehearsal went well. Sandy Franklin came into the girls' dressing room when they were done.

"Tammy, you shouldn't wind up Iain like that, he's under alot of stress right now."

"We needed to do something and it meant calling Jill."

"Jill Davison?"

"Yes."

"A professional call?"

"Yes."

"I see, is the matter dealt with?"

"It is so far as I'm concerned and shouldn't cause any more problems."

"Good, are you coming to see the Norsk art today? The exhibition closes at five and it's the last day."

"I'll try. I thought about seeing it on Monday when I found out about the exhibition but events overtook me."

"My husband said he'd seen you."

"Yes, we caught up with a few things."

Sandy went to speak to Tanya so Tammy could finish doing her day make-up.

"Thanks Tammy, thanks for covering for me."

"It's okay Lori, you don't need tons of attention right now."

"There's times when I just want to hide, but I really wanted to be on the stage here."

"That was very similar to my own experience, being asked to play Anita in West Side Story."

Tanya walked over. "Tammy, if you're done gassing, could you run us back?"

"Sure."

"And can I have a look at those dresses?"

"Of course."

***

Tammy left Tanya and John looking at the dresses while Tammy herself went into the art exhibition. Yusuf had been at the rehearsal but was now in the library entrance selling programmes.

"You must have been quick?"

"No Tammy, you took ages! Programme?"

"Yes please, how much?"

"Two pounds, the profits go towards a children's arts foundation."

"I'll take two programmes, keep the change." She handed over a fiver.

Tammy was actually impressed with the art as it exceeded the standard low quality of a municipal exhibition.

"Interesting, isn't it Miss Smart?"

"Yes, Sir, Headmaster. I'm impressed."

"I had a phone call a short while ago from Harry Davison."

"About Lori Jenkins, perhaps?"

"Yes, I guessed you may have been involved somewhere."

"Helping a fellow sixth former, Sir."

"The number of fellows in the sixth form is dropping rapidly, Miss Smart."

"Replaced by three lassies?"

"Exactly. Could you please be at school for breakfast on Monday?"

"Certainly, Sir."

"Good day, Miss Smart, and we'll see you this evening." Tammy could see Mrs McIntosh waving from near the entrance as Dr McIntosh walked away.

Tammy was finished in the exhibition a few minutes later so walked over to Sarah's shop, Tanya and John were just about to leave.

"This one's better than the one mum chose for me."

"I thought you said you went shopping?"

"We had something better to do!"

"Okay, it will need pressing and don't ask your mum to do that." Tammy also glared at John, who she knew could operate an iron.

"Iron my own dress?"

"Yes, especially if you are going to be moving out."

"I don't have the job yet."

"And John has nowhere to live from the end of June."

"What about the flat?" She pointed upwards.

"Offices, I've just signed the contract."

"Oh, that was my plan B."

"Sorry, too late." Tammy didn't add that it would have been a bad idea. "I'd best see if Sarah needs a hand."

"Angela's in the storeroom." Apart from the trio by the door, Tammy could see there was just Sarah and one customer in the shop, so it wasn't busy in any sense.

"Oh, Tammy, Mum asked if you want your hair done?"

"I need a shower after that rehearsal so there's no point."

"Okay, we'll see you later." As they left, John was carrying one of Sarah's large carrier bags, more money spent on his fiancée. Tammy knew John would simply wear the same suit he'd worn the previous evening with a different tie and, obviously, a clean shirt.

Now, what was she going to wear?