First thing I had a meeting with James to discuss how to deal with the possibility of Alistair Ridgeley being involved in the leak and how to go forward.

“Actually, that is a strange coincidence, he will also be at the dinner-dance tonight. We’ll see how it goes but if you have the opportunity to talk to him, see what you make of him. The same applies to me too, but if I ask too many questions he will clam up, he will probably be a bit more open with you, he will not see you as a threat.”

“I’ll see what I can do, if I get a chance to talk with him. By the way I’ll need to leave early this afternoon I’ve got a lot that needs done to get ready for tonight.”

I had work to clear before I left for the day and it was a bit of a rush to get to Susie’s on time, so when I arrived I was already a bit stressed up when I walked in and made myself known to her receptionist.. As it was a Friday the salon was full with other women getting ready for whatever they were going to do to enjoy their weekend, but Susie had booked in slots for me for all my treatments and so it was just a matter of changing from my day clothes into a smock and settling down with a coffee while I waited for my turn.

“As you can see we are a bit busy, so while you calm yourself down, we’ll clean off your face apply a moisturising mask and do your nails. Jenny said that your dress is coral and your accessories cerise, so I suggest we do your nails in cerise too. I’ll get Claire to look after you and she’ll follow up with a shampoo and condition for your hair, your colouring is a bit vivid for a formal do, we’ll tone it down a bit from ginger to more like a dark copper. I’ll see you later to start on your hair.” Claire applied the mask first, which meant that as she chatted away about various tv celebrities while doing my nails I wasn’t able to really reply much and just sat there getting more and more relaxed.

After my hair had been washed and coloured, Susie took over to do the styling. “What look are you after? We can do the slightly wild look that I first did for you, which will come across as a bubbly personality, or go for a more formal look, a but like the bob you wear for work, but a bit fuller and bouncy. Unfortunately your hair is to yet long enough for a more formal style unless we add a hairpiece, what do you think?”

“ Unless you think it will not work I quite like the idea of a formal style, a bit like that one, pointing to a picture in a magazine of a chignon updo, I think it will look sophisticated, and you have already suggested that the colour is toned down. Do you think that you can manage that?"

She worked quickly using all sorts of tools, tongs, styling brushes, asking me about Darren’s Uncle James and the various people at work and what I expected that evening.

“One thing we have never really talked about with you is that other women will show an interest in you, and after initial chat about your looks and clothes, it is not unusual for us to start talking about health issues, diets, skin care and things like that. It then often drifts onto medical problems and very soon we know virtually the other ones medical history from childhood, through puberty, period problems, childbirth, and menopause. Have you got a background sorted out yet, or do you want to use my story as if you had gone through it all yourself.”

“Is that really necessary, I hadn’t even thought about it, and if asked would have just clammed up and changed the conversation.”

“Not good enough. Along with other girls I would never discuss things like that with Jack or other boys, but us girls share our experiences much more than they do, so listen while I set up your life story based on mine.”

As she worked she told me all about the worries of teenage girls like her, getting fitted for their first bra and the embarrassment of being one of the last in her class to have to wear one; the shock pain and horror when she had her first period, nothing she had been told in classes at school really prepared her for the actual event; the mixture of worry discomfort and the delight of her first sexual experience; the benefits and drawbacks of the various sanitary products; the worry several times when she thought she was pregnant when she was not ready to start a family, and the joy when she eventually was, at the right time.

As well as all the physical issues she gave me her take on the emotional ones too. She led me through the pains of lost first love, the bitterness of being dropped by a boyfriend she had high hopes for; the joy of finally meeting her fiancé and planning their future together; dealing with the patronising attitude of male bankers when she needed a loan to help start up her business; the frustration of not being able to go out with friends without some, usually half-drunk, man trying to pick her up, and the break up of her short marriage.

In the time I was under her care, hair styled, makeup expertly applied, much better than I could have managed myself even with Jenny’s help, I had learned more about her life, which was now to be the basis of my life if I was asked any personal matters, more than I would ever have imagined coming out in a discussion with her as a boy.

Eventually she was finished and I was amazed the results. “ All done Jane, you look gorgeous, you will wow them all tonight, the men will be all over you, the women will be looking at you with jealous eyes trying to find some fault in you. Go home, get yourself all dressed up, and don’t forget to send me a photo I want to see the complete finished product.

Back at home I had a really thorough body-wash, I didn’t dare risk the shower or bath, I didn’t want to ruin Susie’s work on my hair and makeup.

The cincher had done it’s work, my dress fitted me much better, even though it was not too fitted at the waist it was obvious that I now had a slim feminine waistline which emphasised what little hips and bottom I actually had, Even those areas had improved a little with the relocation of the fat that had previously been around my waist and overall I had an acceptable figure.

Jenny was astounded when she caught sight of me and I noticed tears of delight in her eyes.

“ You are really amazing Jane, at the start I never expected you to turn out so beautiful, I know what I said the other night, but you are really wasted as a boy. James will be proud to walk into the dinner dance with you tonight. Just some finishing touches, for my 21st Mum gave me a gorgeous set of diamond drop earrings and matching necklace that had belonged to her mum, I’ve not had the chance to wear them yet, but I’ll be delighted for you to borrow them for tonight.”

“There you are Jane, they look stunning on you, take care of them, I wouldn’t like them to get damaged or lost. Enjoy your night out, and above all just be yourself, as Jane.”

Jenny insisted on taking lots of photos of me in all my finery and had me in all sorts of poses. “Those are just for you and me Jen, don’t even circulate them around the girls. I did promise Susie one so she could see the finished effect of all her hard work. Pick out the best and send them to her, but label them as Jane Harrison and put a lock on them so that they cant be passed on or copied. Don’t forget that copies of photos when we were kids are what led to all this.”

As arranged, James came to collect me, opened the Jaguar passenger door for me to slide in and waited for me to rearrange the skirt of my dress before closing me in.

“You look stunning Jane, I’ll be proud to walk you in tonight. As I told you, as President I have a few formal duties and there are some people I need to chat to, so you will have to mix and look after yourself a little bit, but I will keep an eye on you and if you look a bit at sea I will soon join you again.”

“To give him an excuse to leave me for a while, I made off to the cloakroom to do a final fix on my hair and check my makeup and in there I chatted to a few of the other wives, girlfriends or partners, and they seemed a friendly enough bunch. As Sally had told me it would be, I was not overdressed but was definitely one of the more glamorous and elegant of the Ladies and noticed lots of envious glances at my clothes and appearance. As I left I couldn’t see James and looked around the room for him.

“Hi dear, you look a bit lost, this must be your first time here. I’m Caroline and I’m an old hand at this game, my husband is the Past President and we will be sitting next to you on top table. The men invite us along for what is supposed to be a special night for their Ladies, but they always end up in groups plotting and scheming, leaving us to talk amongst ourselves. Let me introduce you to a few of the others, then you will be a bit more settled.”

“Hello, I'd welcome that thank you for caring about me, I’m Jane Harrison, I work with James Cartwright.”

“That’s what I assumed when you came in with him. You must be his new PA, he has brought Sally to the last few events, she was always immaculately dressed like you, I think James employs girls for their looks as well as for their talent. Nice girl Sally, I hear she is about to have her baby.”

“ Yes, any time now, she seemed quite excited, but I think she is dreading the actual birth.”

“We’re all the same dear, the first six months are not too bad apart from the early morning sickness, the next three months you waddle around like a bloated duck, the actual birth can be excruciatingly painful, but when they put the baby in your arms all that is forgotten and you are on top of the world. You probably have all that still to come, but don’t be put off by an old curmudgeon like me, we all have to suffer for our pleasures.” She made me laugh, I liked Caroline, hopefully anyone else I met would be just as friendly.

As she introduced me around, I met someone who at first sight I thought was Liz from the office, but it turned out that she was her sister, Judy. At least that gave me something to talk to her about. Apparently she was there with her boyfriend Alistair who worked for one of the rivals of Cartwright’s. I had something buzzing in the back of my brain, and it all fell into place when Alistair walked over, put his arm around Judy and introduced himself to me, this was not only Alistair Ridgeley who had tried to outbid James, but he was also the man in the photo that had fallen out of Sally’s purse. Connections seemed to be going in all directions. As Alistair went off again I was about to try to pump more information out of Judy when James came over, took me by the elbow and led me from the room.

Worried that something was amiss I waited for him to tell me what he wanted, and he saw the look of concern on my face.

“Don’t worry, nothing is wrong, It’s time to sit down for our meal, but as President I have to formally process in, along with my lady, when I am introduced.”

When he heard his name called we linked arms and formally walked to our table, all eyes were upon us, most of the mens’ particularly focused on me. I felt like a bride must feel walking down the aisle to be given away by her father, everyone waited for us to get to the top table and take our seats before sitting down themselves.

I felt a blush of embarrassment, but luckily Caroline and her husband Martin had swapped seats so she was next to me and I felt her squeeze my hand and whisper ‘Just relax and smile, most of the Ladies here have been sitting where you are now and we know how we all felt, a mixture of pride, excitement, embarrassment and fear.”

Her friendly manner and constant chat helped me to relax, enjoy a delicious meal, and even look interested through the few formal speeches and votes of thanks, but it was soon time for the socialising while the tables were cleared to the side of the room to make space for the dancing.

As both Sally and Caroline had told me would happen James started touring around mixing with other members and their guests. I meandered around making small talk, but when I spotted her, I made a beeline for Judy who rushed into the cloakroom where she burst into tears.

“What’s up Judy.” I asked as I put a consoling arm around her shoulder.

“He’s dumped me. After all the months we have been together, he brings me to a do like this and then tells me that it is all over, my time is up. That is actually what he said, “ your time is up, you’ve served your purpose, it’s time to move on.”

“ What are you going to do now, go back in there and make a scene which he will wriggle out of as all his friends will look on you as a possessive neurotic woman, or get yourself tidied up and we’ll walk out of here together giggling, with your head held high,? We’ll find you a taxi and send you home. I have some things to clear up here, tell me your address and I will be there as soon as I can get away.”

“ Thanks Jane you're right. It is really good of you to be concerned, you’ve only just met me.”

“Come on Judy, we girls have to stick together, I know what it feels like to be dumped, but I got over it and found someone better, and so will you.” I said as I remembered some of the stories Susie had told me in the Salon, “Fix your makeup and hair and we’ll walk out of here together.”

Caroline saw leaving and started to come over, but I gave a slight shake of my head, silently mouthed ‘Later’ and walked Judy from the building, hailed a taxi and sent her home.

Caroline was waiting as I went back in. “What was all that about is the poor girl not well?”

“It’s just the same old story Caroline, girl meets boy, girl falls for boy, boy loses interest, boy dumps girl, girl falls to pieces, boy goes on with his life as if nothing has happened.”

“Men can be scumbags, my Martin is one of the few good ones, but there are not many others in here that I would trust with my daughter, some of them are so full of themselves and treat their womenfolk appallingly. A word of advice, when you find the man you want to spend the rest of your life with, take things slowly, let him make the pace with just a gentle subtle nudge when it is needed, don’t throw yourself at him.”

“I’ve no immediate plans on the horizon, but I’ll remember your wise words, thanks Caroline.”

We made our way back into the function room but there was no indication that anyone had noticed the little drama that had just happened.

“Have either of you seen Judy lately?” Alistair rudely interrupted our chat.

“ I’ve just seen her into a taxi home, she was not feeling too well.” I replied trying to keep the disgust out of my voice.

“That’s a shame, the dancing is about to start, I don’t suppose you would like to join me on the floor would you Jane, and maybe we could have a drink together sometime.”

“Alistair it’s hardly ten minutes since you callously dumped your long-term girlfriend and you have the gall to already be lining up another bit of skirt to show off to your friends. You are an insensitive selfish… oh words fail me that a Lady would use. I’d dance with every other man in the room before I would give you that pleasure. Please go before I say something I’ll regret.”

He glared at me and raised his arm as if he was about to hit me, when there was a hand on his shoulder and James and Martin edged him away. “You don’t really want to do that do you Alistair, hitting a young lady would not go down very well with most of the senior members.”

“You bitch, mouthy women like you make me sick. I hope that James treats you better than he treated Sally.” he roared as he stormed off.

“ Are you ok Jane?” Martin touched me gently on the arm .

“I’ll be fine, thanks for asking Martin, I don’t know how you allow trash like him to be in your organisation. James we need to talk, Caroline and Martin please excuse us for a few minutes.”

“ I thought that you were supposed to try to get information from him not start a fight, what on earth possessed you,?” James asked when we were alone.

“Alistair, who tried do the dirty on you over The Bolton Centre just dumped his girlfriend Judy, who happens to be the sister of Liz in your office, don’t you think there might be a connection there. Not only that, and you are not going to like this, but Sally your wonderful ex PA carries a photo of Alistair around in her purse. Strange coincidence yes?”

“My God, you have been busy. What do you have in mind now.?’

“ If it’s not inappropriate for me to leave, I promised to go round to Judy’s to let her cry on my shoulder a bit. Sorry if it’s ruined what should have been a proud night for you.”

“Not at all, you go and see what you can do for her, and this might sound callous, see what information you can get out of her.”

“Make my apologies to anyone who asks, just say ‘women’s problems’, the men will ask no more, the women will nod sympathetically. I’ll just say goodbye to Caroline, she has been like a mother hen for me tonight, I like her, and I hope to see her again.”

I found Caroline, told her where I was going and she asked if I wanted her to come with me, as Martin would be chatting with his friends most of the night anyway.

“Thanks for asking Caroline, but I’ll be ok on my own. If you want to help, occasionally loiter near Alistair and let me know if, while he is still in a bit of a rage, he makes any indiscreet comments about a development project up at Bolton Manor. I’ll give you a call tomorrow and arrange to meet up.” Even though we had only met a few hours earlier I felt close enough to her to give her a big goodbye hug before I left.

When I arrived at Judy’s, I was surprised to see her sister Liz sitting next to her, both of them in tears.

“What’s up, this is more than getting cast aside by that sleaze-bag Alistair isn’t it?”

They looked at each other and nodded before Liz started to speak through her tears.

“You’re right, it’s not as simple as that. He has been using Judy to get information from me about what projects we had on the go at work. At first it was just casual chats between him and Judy and between Judy and me, passing on office gossip, but then he started to get more pushy, asking for copies of correspondence and documents. When I refused he started to blackmail me, either I did what he wanted or he would ‘accidentally’ drop hints to James at their Rotary meetings and I would lose my job. We are struggling as it is and if I lost my wages we would be in deep trouble.”

“James knows that someone had passed on details of the Bolton development to Acumen, was that you?”

“Not really, when all this started he already knew about it, but he wanted eyes and ears on the ground to keep him up to date with details. Am I going to get the sack or get in trouble with the police over this?”

“I wouldn’t worry about the police, I am fairly certain that you have done nothing illegal. However, how Mr Cartwright will react is anybody’s guess, it depends what else we find out.”

“You seem to know more than you are letting on, have you been spying on us all?”

“ Not really, I knew that somehow information had got to Acumen, as Mr Cartwright told me to be careful about what I said about the project and to tell him if I heard any office gossip that might be relevant, but until tonight I had no reason to doubt anyone in the office, He thought it was someone in the Council Planning Office, but I have become involved now haven’t I?”

I paused to gather my thoughts before continuing.

“Tell me something, Judy, how did you become involved with Alistair anyway?”

“Just over four months ago, Liz and I were at the shopping mall, we bumped into Sally and she joined us for coffee. A while later Alistair came over, he recognised Sally from the Rotary dances as he was passing and started to chat to us. He can be quite charming when he wants to be, he asked me out for a meal and drink and it just went from there.

“So Judy, it looks like you were set up by Sally to meet him so he could then use you to get the office gossip from Liz, do you agree? By then Sally would have known she was pregnant and was looking for a replacement to feed information to Alistair.”

“We’ve been idiots Jane, he manipulated us. Will you put in a good word for Liz with Mr Cartwright to try and save her job.”

“I’ll have a word with Sally tomorrow and see what she has to say for herself. It all depends on her side of the story. I’ll let you know over the weekend whether to come to work on Monday.”

“Hi Cinderella, how was the ball,” Jenny jokingly greeted me as I got home.

“It was super until it all went pear-shaped and I had to leave early.” We went through a whole bottle of wine as I gave her the complete story from when I was first approached by Darren.

“Wow, that is some story, you’re turning into a right Miss Marple, only 40 something years younger of course.”

“I don’t think we have the full story yet, I feel that there is a lot more behind this. We’ll see where my chat tomorrow with Sally leads me to. Anyway it’s now time to put away this gorgeous dress, it’s a shame that I didn’t even get a full night out in it, a bit of a waste really.”

“Oh, I’m sure that there will be another opportunity for you to get it out again.”

To be continued.