Chapter 8

There was knock on the door and the Chief was there with the team, all in civvies. I gave him the key and pointed out the four doors it opened and Gwen and I went into my bedroom to shower and dress while they changed in my lounge.

We both had showers and I loaned Gwen some clean underwear and a proper dress to wear. She commented that she normally didn’t wear a dress as the pants kept the guys away. We both took extra care on our hair and make-up and, when we looked at ourselves in the mirror, we looked like a couple of sisters as well as a couple of supermodels. When we walked out to the lounge there was a noticeable intake of breath from the forensic team. The Chief said that we had better stay clear for a while and, right on cue, my phone rang. When I answered it was the modelling agency who wanted me to come in for an urgent shoot. I said I could and the girl on the other end said “do you have any tall friends as we need another one like you.” I said “Funny about that, we will see you as soon as we can get there.”

Turning to Gwen I asked “Do you have an alter-ego that you can channel for the rest of the day?” She said that she had gone undercover once and had been called Wendy. I said “Right Wendy, it is time for you to see life from the other side of the lens.” We took my car to the address I had been given and, on the way there; I asked how they had latched on to me with the modelling. She said that it was the artist who had been looking through magazines waiting to see his doctor. He had taken the magazine into the office and had rummaged through my old desk until he found his sketch of me. He had taken it to Gwen and her DI and then the spotlight had been turned on me and my activities. “I have to agree with the Chief; though” she said “you are much more beautiful in the flesh as well as being the most wonderful person I have met in a long time.”

When we arrived we got out of the car and I told her that she was now Wendy, the model, and to carry herself as if the world owed her a living. “Just follow my lead” I said “these folk just love being part of our world but it is us who provide the means.” We walked into the building and straight into the studio where Jack, an old friend now, looked up and did a double take. “Beth, darling, how on earth did you manage to clone yourself? This is wonderful; the customer is going to be very happy today.” He told me that Jenny had everything ready to go and, with the two of us here, we would be finishing a bit earlier than he thought.

When we walked into the dressing room, Jenny came over and gave me an air kiss, then she went to Wendy and gave her one each side, saying “Welcome, I am Jenny and I make you beautiful. In this case though, you both make my job much easier. “I introduced Wendy as a friend from way back and mentioned that we had played volleyball together in college. Jenny told us that today we were modelling the next seasons evening wear so she would work on me first and then Wendy while I was being photographed. She did not need to take a lot of time with me and I was soon heading out the door in a glittering sheath and high heels. Jack got to work and we had nearly finished when Wendy made her appearance in a short, red dress and a blonde wig on. She looked stunning. Jack clapped his hands and said he wanted us to do a set together. Once that was over with I went off to get changed, leaving Wendy to face the lens alone.

When I got back she was just finishing a shot where she was half-crouched and showing plenty of cleavage. I could see that she was enjoying herself. We carried on through the morning and only stopped for a light lunch. Jack asked her where she had modelled before and he was startled when she told him she had never been in front of the camera before. “But you are a natural, like Beth here, the camera loves you” he cried. In the afternoon we did a set of daywear shots and Wendy was surprised when she was told to pick an outfit to take with her. We both put our own dresses in a bag and wore a couple of outfits that would take the next season by storm to go back to the flat in. Wendy said “I think that we are likely to give the team a heart attack when we get back.”

The team was changing back to civvies as we arrived. There were a few murmurs of ‘hubba hubba’ as we let ourselves in. The Chief was almost afraid to speak so we sat ourselves down and Gwen asked them how it had gone on while we were busy working. We were told that there had been good prints and hair samples from the two empty rooms and quite a bit of good traces from Ritchie’s. He had been killed with a nine millimetre round, possibly from a silenced gun and had been dead since yesterday. He had obviously really pissed someone off with his half-baked criminal activities. The fact that Julia had been told to get away, proved that the girls were worth more than the hired help.

After the team had left, the chief told us that they had erased any traces that they were there and that I should ring emergency services and report finding Ritchie’s body this evening, so that he could be taken away in the usual fashion. He suggested I call the DC that had spoken to me yesterday morning so he could get some credit. Gwen told him that we thought there was a future scenario where I was to be drawn back into the system and that it could be as a model, rather than a secretary. I had been left alone and, if the Yard doesn’t need me for anything more, I would still be seen as clean. We still needed to find the top players in the gang and it wasn’t going to happen without more groundwork. I suggested that he reactivate Gwen as Wendy and that she should stay here with me and we could do modelling together. I told him that I was certain the agency would be in touch when they saw the pictures from today.

He hummed and harred but finally agreed to our plan. He said he would notify our DCI that we were both under cover and not to contact us. Gwen said she would need to get some of her clothes from home and I told her that I had plenty of contacts in the trade and that we would outfit her in a style suitable for the model she is going to play. ‘Tomorrow” I said “we go shopping.”

The chief left and the two of us went out for dinner, being well looked after in my favourite pub where they thought that two of us was far better than one. When we got back to the flat I opened the door to the other flat and let out an ear-piercing scream, Gwen joining me a few seconds after. That setting the scene, I rang the number that I had been given by the DC at the yard and told him that I had just found Ritchie in his kitchen and that he was dead. I sobbed realistically and it was only ten minutes later we heard the sirens approaching. When he came up the stairs I pointed to the open door. Within a half an hour the place was alive with SOCO guys and I was questioned why I didn’t tell him before where Ritchie lived and I answered because of two reasons – he had not asked me and he had also told me that Ritchie was in custody. Gwen stayed in her room until everyone left, coming out to say “Well, that put the cat among the pigeons.”

I had given her some more night and day wear to go along with and suggested that we both get a good night of sleep as we would never know when things got busy again. We kissed and I almost gave in to my desires but we went to our separate rooms for the night. In the morning we were both showered and dressed before breakfast and, after we had tidied up, we took the DLR into the city. We went to a big department store where I had been on both their catwalk and their catalogue. When we got up to the fashion floor the floor manager saw us and hurried over. “Beth, darling, it is so wonderful to see you, how can we be of service?” I explained that Wendy needed a full wardrobe of current clothing suitable for a model and that she may well be in their next catalogue as well. We got the full treatment and, when we walked out of there, she had been fully outfitted from top to bottom with the latest styles. They would deliver the packages to the flat and I put it all on my account.

After lunch we went to the salon that looked after me and my beautician was in seventh heaven to work on us both, making sure that Wendy had the full treatment. When we walked out she was stunning. My phone had rung while we were in the salon and it had been my agency, they wanted to see us both as soon as we could get there. Wendy was a bit on edge when we got there and said “What if they don’t want me?” I told her that they would have to be blind and certifiable if they didn’t sign her on the spot. As we went into the office there was a smattering of applause from the girls there and Wendy was signed up at a base salary that was twice that of a DS. We gave my address as hers and told them that Wendy was just up from the country and would let them know her bank when she had an account.

As we rode the DLS back to Limehouse she said that she still could not believe that she was good looking enough to work as a model and I told her that she already had a head start compared to me. That made her laugh. When we got back to the flat there was a pile of boxes outside my door and we took them in, emptied them and Wendy hung away her new look. There was a knock on the door and a uniformed courier had a package for Wendy. She signed for it and, on opening it, found a full set of paperwork for her character. She told me that she had always used her lesbianism as a shield against the world but now realised she could be an ‘out there’ woman and not have to hide any more. I told her that she had always been beautiful to me and kissed her. It was a couple of hours later when two, freshly showered and dressed, girls went out for dinner. We were hit on by a couple of guys and I took the lead to keep them at bay while allowing them a good evening with a couple of gorgeous girls. Back at the flat I told Wendy that it never harms to have some friends around who think you are wonderful company.

Over the next few weeks we worked hard in our profession and became known as the ‘Sporty Twins’ in the trade. We did a few catalogue shoots and even one swimwear shoot. We were a knockout in bikinis and this led to another shoot in the South of France where we were able to spend some time putting the swimwear to its proper use.

It was here where Julia came back into my life.

Marianne G 2020