Part   Eleven   "Negotiations"

 
This is the seventh book in the Tamara's Tales (formerly Tommy & Tamara) series. For the whole saga visit Tamara's Tales
 

 
Boxing Day 2015 (Continued)
 

"Hey, you two, the swimming pool is the other side of a frozen yard, put your clothes back on then wait for me downstairs, I'll be a few minutes." Tammy was digging through a drawer and pulled out a black swimsuit for herself.

Finlay pulled his tights, skirt and top back on whilst it was leggings and a top for Daisy. Tammy shooed them out of the door before stripping. There was a knock.

"I'm changing, hang on!"

"Tammy, it's Suzie, can I come in?"

Tammy sighed, "okay."

Tammy continued her clothing acrobatics regardless of Suzie's presence. "And?"

"What did he say?"

"There's a private recording studio, not at the house, and the recording of his parents' murder is stored there. That's the short version."

"Wow, where's the studio?"

"He won't say unless he's there. It's owned by a company and he says he's the only director, Finlay's been running the studio from his dorm room!"

"Why hasn't he said anything before?"

"The recordings, and much more, were in a password protected folder and he's only just cracked it."

"Right, have you heard any of it yet?"

"No."

"Does Dave know?"

"No, I only just found out myself. I need to speak to him some more before I can fully update anyone."

Tammy was dressed again, she dived into her bathroom for a towel.

"I'm due at the pool, fancy a swim?"

"Sure."

Tammy insisted they took care going across the yard, even though they were using a covered walkway. She entered the code to open the pool door, the lights came on automatically.

"Give me a hand to pull the covers off."

Tammy wouldn't let them in, firstly she checked the temperature and then she checked the chlorine level. "Okay, the water's fine."

The two O'Shaughnessy-McPherson children were already stripped so were in the water before Tammy had a chance to give any safety advice.

"Can you both swim?"

Daisy answered for both. "Since we were small."

Finlay took exception. "You're still small!"

"No I'm not!"

Tammy smiled, Finlay and Daisy were relaxed and playful, even if Finlay was in a girl's one piece black swimsuit that looked identical to his sister's. His breasts were prominent, albeit dwarfed by Tammy's own. She finally climbed into the water.

"Are there any games, Aunt Tammy?"

"There's a net if you want to play water polo, or volleyball. I'm not sure what else has arrived in recent months."

Daisy was out of the water exploring a store cupboard that Tammy had indicated. She returned with a large beach ball, just as Suzie arrived.

"Great, there's four of us!"

The pool occupied them for an hour, Tammy insisted that they use the poolside shower first, but neither of the kids had brought a change of clothes to the pool. Tammy sent them ahead, suggesting they used her shower.

"You never said Finlay was in a girl's swimsuit? Or that he has boobs?"

"I didn't know either until this morning either, Suzie, so there's some unanswered questions. However, Finlay doesn't see himself as a girl just because he's in a skirt or a swimsuit, they're just clothes."

"So what's the thing with Florence?"

"That's when he's made up and wants to be regarded as a girl."

"He needs a shrink."

"No he doesn't, not yet anyway. He's expressing himself here because we don't mind, there's also the amount of interaction between the pair, he's clearly a big sister as well as a big brother."

"So is he transgendered?"

"Probably not, just gender fluid. Finlay is Finlay, except when she's Florence. Understood?"

"Yeah."

"Anyway, I'm told Florence will be around later."

"Okay, is there anything else I should know?"

"Not right now, but don't report to Jenny yet, there's plenty more to learn.

"Fair enough, Tammy."

By the time Tammy reached her room, the pair had showered and were getting dressed. In place of their swimsuits, both now had knickers and vests. Tammy decided to dive into her shower and worry about everything else afterwards.

They gathered in the kitchen, it was around eleven and a warming mug of tea, coffee or hot chocolate was called for. Joan wandered in, "oh hello, are you free for a chat, Daisy?"

"Sure, Mrs Smart."

They went off to the lounge and closed the door. Zara had seemingly gone but had left a lunch spread of cold meats, seafood and cheeses ready, six jacket potatoes were in the warming oven, as well as a tray of bread rolls.

Angela arrived, looked around, made a drink then left, all without a word. Finlay watched this happen, hugging his drink. He seemed contented.

"Can we continue our chat in the study?"

"Sure, Tammy."

"Not aunt?"

"That's for Daisy's sake, she wasn't at school with you."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, you were a sixth former until last summer, if you weren't an aunt then then you couldn't have become one in six months!"

"But Daisy?"

"She's younger and needs a family, even if it's not a real one."

"Woah, Finlay O'Shaughnessy-McPherson, you are most certainly a part of this family, we were adopted by Elsie as well. I didn't know until a year ago that Elsie had been keeping an eye on me all the years I was at St Andrews, my father worked with her late husband.

"I didn't know."

"No, and there's no reason why you would have known, but don't dismiss us. When all of this is sorted out you will have a real family."

"We're not being sent to a foster family?"

"I sincerely hope not, Elsie is going to pay for both of you to remain at the school until you are both eighteen, if that's what you want."

"My parents sent me here to get the best possible education, I wouldn't be honouring them if I threw that away."

"Good, how does Daisy feel?"

"She still thinks this is temporary and would have gone to the foster family over Christmas if I hadn't blocked it."

"Now, what really happened with Martina?"

"She said I wouldn't be safe, anywhere."

"Did she say anything to Daisy?"

"No."

"Why did she speak to you, then?"

"I'm not sure."

"You must have an idea, you hadn't got into the files when she last spoke to you?"

"No, that persuaded me to work harder to crack mum's password."

"So why do you think she wanted to say that?"

"I still don't know, but I dropped a bug in her bag."

"You did? I'm not sure mine's still .... bugger!"

Finlay laughed.

"Yep, a spy! And yes, I did, it's all being recorded onto the server. I changed mum's password, by the way, just in case. Now, can you tell me the connection with Martina?"

"Her parents were in the same hotel as your parents at the time of the murders."

"No they weren't."

"I'm told they were."

"They had checked out that morning, there's a recording of them in the lobby checking out, video too."

"Oh."

"I suppose you'd like to access the server?"

"Yes."

"Well, sorry, but no. I'll make copies of the relevant files and let you have them. If you want access to the server to verify the file's integrity then that means a trip south - with me."

"What's your interest?"

"It's my business, I now own the lot."

"Surely that's up to the solicitor to sort out?"

"No, mum may have been good technically but dad was a whizz with all things legal. He and mum were one person companies, under aliases, along with myself. The company rules were that the assets transferred in the case of death to either the surviving partner's company or to my company. There's no way a solicitor would be able to change that."

"You're a ward of court, so the solicitor now runs the company."

"But you don't know where it is and you can't get in. It really is very secure and very private. You'll struggle to prove a connection, you didn't have a clue about it before you found me in your own studio, did you?"

"No, very true. So what's your real reason for wanting to go?"

Finlay blushed.

"Well, I left the company bank card in the studio safe."

"I'm sure you would have managed to get another card issued?"

"Yeah, the online banking thing is with it, so I can't change the address online."

"Okay, so what else do you need to do with the bank account?"

"I need to produce statements for the accountant."

"Let the solicitor do it?"

"And charge ten percent for the privilege, no way!"

"Okay, what's the other reason?"

"There isn't one." He blushed a bit more.

"Right, as soon as the doctor's surgery is open we'll get you down there for a blood test. That will tell us what you've been taking, then it's a referral to a shrink."

"You can't?"

"My betting is that my mother, Mrs Smart, has the full legal authority to do just that. I can hand this over to her, of course if your mental judgement is impaired then you lose access to everything. No discussion, no argument."

"Damn."

"You're not sixteen yet, that would give you a little protection, but until you're eighteen others can run your life for you."

"Is that run or ruin?"

"Depends on your point of view."

"Look, if I tell you, will you think I'm mad?"

"Not necessarily."

"Okay, these," he cupped his breasts, "are the result of me taking my mum's birth control pills. My supply has run out and I need to get some more."

"The house will probably have been cleared."

"Not at the house."

"In the studio?"

"Yes."

"Well, the short answer is no, definitely not."

"Thought so."

"It's not clever to self medicate, in fact it's dammed stupid. Why did you do it?"

"It was getting harder to become Florence. Dad had had a vasectomy and mum had a new six month supply that she wasn't going to use. I brought three months with me to Thurso, intending to go back home at Christmas to collect the other pills."

"Why not bring all in one go?"

"In case they were discovered and confiscated."

"So you wanted boobs?"

"And all the other things, nice skin, hair etc"

"It could have made you infertile."

"That's a risk."

"Didn't you work out why Elsie wants you as a McPherson? Apart from making sure you're safe"

"No."

"Her only son is gay and her daughter is a widow. If Elsie, or more likely Cathy, adopts you then you will become the heir to the Clan, and can continue the name of the clan."

Tammy decided against mentioning John McPherson who was currently residing at Her Majesty's pleasure and had been disinherited. Cathy would inherit the title and the estate. Tammy wondered if Helen had made any assumptions,, but definitely kept these unsaid.

"By having children of my own?"

"Yes."

"But I'm fifteen!"

"I'm sure Cathy intends to stay around for a while yet, you'll have time to complete your education, get a career and maybe a family of your own."

"And if I'm infertile?"

"Then you're as much use as a chocolate teapot."

"Oh."

"So, I suggest you forget the pills."

"What about my breasts?"

"They'll probably reduce over time."

"What if I store some of my sperm?"

"Hold on, young man, what is your aim here?

He giggled, Tammy hadn't realised the double-entendre.

"Oh, heck, Finlay, do you want to be a girl, all of the time?"

"No, I just like the choice."

"Well, taking those pills might have removed a choice, you will have to have a blood test."

"I won't!"

"Then you won't be going South with us."

"S'not fair!"

"Life's not fair, that's lesson one."

"But?"

Tammy ignored his pleas and continued her questioning.

"So how did Florence happen?"

"It started about eight years ago and it was just clothes, mum and I played dress-up. We'd go to a shopping centre in disguise, mum said it was a game to see if anyone would see that I was a boy. Simply putting a different shirt didn't change my appearance, mum said. She suggested I joined the drama club at primary school and that was fun, but I didn't need to dress as a girl more than once or twice."

"The studio was finished about the time I started at St Andrews. I had longer holidays than Daisy, or maybe she was staying with our mad aunt, before she got really mad? Anyway, mum suggested I wore a disguise any time I went over to the studio. Mum didn't use her real name there, so it was obvious I would have to use a different name."

"But as a girl?"

"It was just an extension of our dress up sessions."

"So did Daisy ever see Florence?"

"I didn't think so, we kept Florence a secret in case Daisy whispered to a friend, so that an hour later the whole school knew."

"Judging by her comments two days ago, she did know. How come you had matching dresses?"

"That was mum's work, I found it in the bottom of my case when I arrived, probably so I could travel home at Christmas as Florence. I had to hide it quickly, along with the underwear, as I was told I had to share again."

"That's only until the new year, you should get your own room."

"Can't I stay here, or at Grandma Elsie's?"

"Maybe at weekends, so you and Daisy can be together?"

"That's just it, no-one can replace our mum, but I can be her big brother or the big sister Daisy never had, at weekends at least."

"That sounds good, but do it without the pills."

"Okay, but won't I grow hair, and a beard?"

"Have a chat with Joanne at the hair salon."

"Oh?"

"She's the best hair removal specialist in town."

"Okay."

"Right, thank you for being honest with me. What we need to do now is work out how much to say to everyone else?"

"Everyone?"

"I was talking figuratively, what does my mum, Mrs Smart, need to know, versus what does Mr Brown need to know."

"I see."

"I'd also like copies of everything from your parents' latest trip."

"There's more than that, they planted a few bugs and some are still operational."