In the morning I put-on a light summer dress and as promised went round to Sally’s to babysit baby Jane. Sally was all ready to head off to talk to the police and just had time to give me a quick run down of where everything was, and Jane’s feeding times, although she expected to be back before that was needed. It was a quiet morning, Jane slept most of it, and even when she was awake she just lay there gurgling.

Later on I picked her up, cradled her in my arms and held her close. I then felt her mouth pushing against my breast, obviously it was time for her feed and Sally had still not returned. Sally had left a bottle of expressed milk on the counter which I warmed up a little before letting Jane enjoy her drink. As I held her in my arms, I felt a strange sensation and dampness in my chest, where her head had been nestling

I quickly laid her in her cot and dropped the top of my dress down to my waist and took off my bra to find a trickle of what looked like milk seeping out from under my breast forms. I couldn’t believe this was happening, men do not have breasts and do not produce milk, or so I thought. I was getting worried, but would have to leave it until I got home and could remove the forms. Sally had a baby-bag and I had a rummage around in it to find a pack of breast pads intended to deal with leaks for nursing mothers. I put one in each bra cup before putting it back on and hoped that they would be enough to soak up any discharge and prevent stains showing through the thin fabric of my dress.

Sally was soon home and the police were happy with the new information, it was one more nail in the coffin for Ridgeley and Hargreaves. I left her after a bit of polite small talk about Jane, promised to come back again if her and Harry wanted a ‘date-night’ out, and hurried home, via a pharmacy, to get some breast pads, to try to find out what was happening to me.

When I removed the forms there was a lot of puffiness of the flesh around my nipples, which were erect and a bit swollen, they had indeed been leaking milk, particularly the one where I had been holding Jane. Obviously I realised that none of this was normal and decided that I needed to urgently see our doctor. Before I phoned to arrange an appointment, I sat at my computer and googled around the sites for a while and found that men can express milk spontaneously when nursing young babies, it is known as Galactorrhea and is usually only a short term response. It is sometimes associated with gynaecomastia, the occasional swelling of a boys breasts during puberty, but for someone my age, it should not be happening.

I checked my dress for any stains from the milk, before putting it back on, This time I did not fix the forms, just inserting them in the bra cups, with the absorbent pads beneath to catch any leaks, as I wanted to show Jenny later. I was so concerned about what had found that I almost forgot that I had promised to look in on Angie at Cartwright’s. As it happened I needn’t have rushed back into check on her, she had everything under control. Most of the time I was there I chatting with the other women, who now seemed happy to talk to me again, mainly about young Jane, what she looked like and whether my baby-sitting was a sign that I was getting a bit broody, to which I insisted that I definitely wasn’t, dealing with swollen breasts and lactation was more than enough to worry about.

I couldn’t wait for Jenny to get home to talk through my problems with her.

“I’ve had a strange experience today and am worried that there is something seriously wrong with me, but it’s so embarrassing.”

“After all the stuff the girls were saying last night, I would have thought that there was nothing left for you to be coy about.”

“The problem is that I think that I’m developing breasts, and today, when I was bottle-feeding Jane, I noticed that I was producing milk, only a little weep but it has got me worried.”

“I think that I have read about something like that, so I don’t think you are unique, strip off and let’s have a look.”

“You’re right, it looks just like I did when I started developing. That’s more than just a little flabby puffiness, you look like you are starting to grow beasts. I think you need to go and get a doctor’s examination.”

“I’ve already arranged one for tomorrow morning. I hope you don’t mind but I made the appointment in your name, I thought it would be less embarrassing for me with the receptionists and other patients.”

“That sounds sensible I can just imagine their faces if they called out your name and you went in looking as you do. Do you want me to come with you?”

“Thanks, I’d like that if you can manage it, you being with me will help to keep me calm.”

The following morning we sat in the waiting area at the doctors’ surgery until the receptionist called out “Miss Jennifer Carter, please go in now, consulting room #2.” I was surprised, I don’t know why as it is quite common now, to see an attractive young women on the other side of the desk. I was glad to see a woman, I would feel much more comfortable being examined by her, and discussing my problems with her than I would have been with a man

“Hello Jenny, I haven’t seen you for a while, what can I do for you today?”

“Well Dr. Stewart, It’s not really about me, it’s about my brother.”

“Get him to come in to see me, you know the rules about patient confidentiality. I can’t really discuss him with you.”

“It’s all right, actually this is my brother Jack.” She said pointing at me.

“If this is about gender dysphoria , it is not really my field, I’ll have to refer you to someone else.” She said without any noticeable look of shock, horror, or embarrassment.

“No doctor, it’s not that, what you see is a disguise for something I have been working on.” I told her my story, leaving out the names of those under investigation. “But that is not really why I needed to see you. I think that I am starting to develop breasts, and yesterday, when I was cuddling and bottle-feeding a new baby, I weeped a little bit of milk from my nipples.” That did cause raised eyebrows and a questioning frown.

“Take off your top and let me have a look around. Are you ok with Jenny staying in the room, or would you prefer her to go?”

“She’s already seen me, so it’s not a problem, in fact I think that I would prefer her to stay.”

Dr. Stewart closely examined me and plodded the fleshy tissue, and took several blood samples before telling me to get dressed again.

“Right Mr Carter, oh that sounds silly looking as you do, what name are you going by while you are living as a woman?”

“Jane Harrison, that was my mother’s family name.”

“Ok Jane, I think that you are probably right, but I don’t know why. Breast development in males sometimes happens but usually in early teens when they are going through puberty, at your age it is very rare. As regards the milk. I’ve seen this before in new fathers who have been helping their wives by sharing night feeds, that is not too much of a problem and will probably go away by itself. I’ll send off your samples for analysis and we’ll see what shows up, make an appointment for three days time. I will list you as a temporary visitor in the name of Jane Harrison to save any awkwardness. Don’t worry too much about all this, I’m sure that we can sort it all out, and that there is nothing too serious going on.”

After popping in to see Angie again I headed off to The Post to catch up on what was now my full-time job again, and updated the corruption story with what was already in the public domain or that I could reveal without it being obvious where the information came from.

After work I went to see Sally again, and found her looking extremely tired.

“You’ve obviously not recovered fully from the birth, and you’ve probably had a busy day, go and have a lie down, I’ll look after Jane for you until Tom gets home.”

While I was cuddling Jane she snuggled into my breast looking for a feed. Unsure whether it would work or not, I slipped the top my dress down took out the form and held her to my nipple and felt her suckling. Obviously I was producing only a trickle, not nearly enough for a decent feed but it seemed to keep her content, and I swapped over to the other breast to try and squeeze a bit more for her. I wiped her mouth and my nipples to dry things off before getting dressed again just before Tom came through the door.

“Hi Jane, she seems to have taken to you, she never seems that settled with me.”

“Sally’s having a lie down she looked shattered when I came in and I made her go to have a rest, so we didn’t really have a chance to chat. Well I’d better be off, you’re on duty now, and Jane seems settled and content, so let Sally rest until she wakes up herself.”

I had another restless night, the endless possibilities of what was going on in the accounts department preying on my mind, as well as worries about my medical problems. There had been no further revelations from Mike Bradley’s source at police headquarters, apparently Hargreaves and Ridgeley were being totally uncooperative and the investigation team were having to do it all the hard way, ploughing through endless streams of phone records, emails, bank accounts, including half-buried ones, meetings that were on the records, and it was a long hard slog, not something that would quickly fall into place.

The following morning, I received a text from Carl asking for an urgent meeting and arranged to meet him in the café again. I could hardly believe it when he finally arrived and sat down opposite me. He was wearing a women’s skirt suit, blouse, wedge heels, a long dark wig and huge tinted glasses, trying to be in disguise, but he would have been less noticeable in his ordinary clothes. I didn’t recognise him at first and wondered who the strange woman was who had just sat at my table until she lifted her sunglasses and I suddenly realised who it was.

“What on earth are you doing Carl, you couldn’t be more memorable than if you came in naked.” I whispered to him.

“I might be very noticeable but nobody will recognise who I really am, there’s no way that I want to be seen as Carl talking to you. I’ve found something important for you,” He said as he handed me a memory card. “John Chisholm has been swindling the company of tens of thousands of pounds for years. I’m giving you this, it contains some records and some notes I’ve made, but I do not want them traceable back to me. You go through them yourself to check what I am suggesting, tell James Cartwright and get him to ask me to investigate what you have as if I know nothing about this.That way it is not linked back to me if I am wrong.”

“What if he wants to ask Maggie instead of you?”

“ He won’t, you’ll agree once you have read what’s on the card. She may be involved too.”

“Ok, I’ll contact you if I need help understanding it all, I am not an accountant and will probably need some guidance. If I call you I’ll use the name Janet Taylor, she’s someone I knew at university. Thank you for your help Carl-a.” I smiled as I changed the name by adding the extra ‘a’ “If you don’t mind me saying, if you use that outfit a lot, or anything else like that, you need some serious lessons in presenting yourself as a woman, otherwise you will get into a lot of trouble, you really stand out as a man in a skirt. Despite what you say, if you ask your sister to help I think that you could pass as a woman, if you want to do that sort of thing.“

“I needed a disguise so that I wouldn’t be recognised, other than that I don’t really care.This was all that was in the house that I share with my sister that fits me, it’s not a common thing for me, honest.”

“Don’t worry, I can keep a secret, but I definitely trust you now, if you are messing me about, your cross-dressing disguise has given me some dirt on you that I can share.”

I watched him leave, hoping that he would get back home safely without being exposed, attacked, or arrested, before I left to go back to The Post to look at what was on the memory card he had given me.

Some hours later my mind was buzzing from the information he had provided. Carl had done a thorough job, he had gone all the way back to when Chisholm joined the company ten years ago. He had picked out that, virtually from day one, there were suspect invoices that he had signed off even though they bore no relation to the charges that were contractually due. I was astonished that the names of some of the companies on the list were a match for those that had complained about being subject to corruption from Ridgeley. It seemed a complicated web of deceit involving most of the major players in the construction industry in our area.

Whilst I would have preferred to get to the bottom this myself, it was beyond my understanding of the world of finance and contract law. At lunchtime I needed a break so went home had a shower, and dressed casually in leggings and a loose top before attacking the information again. Once it was a bit clearer in my mind, I phoned Mike to arrange to meet to get his opinion on what to do with some information I had found, without telling him what it was and how I had obtained it.

Most of the girls and women in the office, normally wore jeans, trousers or leggings, I was one of the few that usually dressed in a skirt, so nobody was surprised when I turned up casually dressed and made my way to Mike’s office.

“Mike, the corruption that we already knew about is only a small part of the story. Cartwright’s have been getting ripped off for years and it involves all of the major players in the construction industry in this area. I’m sure that if anyone digs deeper that they will find an awful lot more. I have copies on this memory card of extracts from Cartwright’s accounts, to back this up but is beyond my skills to fully understand it, What do you think we should do?”

“Take it and give it to the police, they have experts in the fraud squad who can deal with it a lot better than we can, they can access company account and personal bank account records that would be much more difficult for us to do. Besides, they are still not very happy with us for running the original story and this might help pour oil on troubled waters. Don’t forget to make a copy for us before you do, it could be useful for us to have, if anyone tries to bury this story.”

After leaving him, I went for a coffee to collect my thoughts before giving Cartwright's a call.

“James, I know that it is getting late in the day, but I need to talk to you, and it would be useful if you could get ACC Riley there at the same time, it will save me going through it all twice.”

James was glad to see me, but the reception from Joe Riley was very frosty, he obviously had not forgiven me for deceiving him at the start of all this.

“You had better not be wasting my time, you’ve caused us enough trouble already.” He snapped as I entered James’ office.

“Please let me speak Mr Riley. This is really a discussion for James, but I’m sure that it will be useful for you in investigating the widespread frauds going on in this town.”

I handed James two copies of the memory card with all the information on. “There’s one for each of you, but you James may not want to release the second one to the police, it could be embarrassing for your company. “

“Just get on with it Jane, you asked to get Joe to come here, I’m not going to freeze him out now.”

“Because of the reaction of John Chisholm when I came out as a reporter, I decided to look more closely at the way your accounts were managed. It appears that for many years he has been passing and paying grossly exaggerated invoices from contracting companies working on your developments, and robbing your company of hundreds of thousands of pounds, in some instances with the possible connivance of Maggie Stuart.”

I paused for a while as they digested what I had just said.

“If Mr Riley’s team check Chisholm’s bank accounts I’m sure that they will find some correlation with payments to him personally around the same dates. I don’t know the law about whether what has been done is a criminal case or just a civil offence and nothing to do with the police, but I am sure that it will at least encourage Chisholm to talk and tell you what he knows about Ridgeley. This may only be the tip of the iceberg, I suggest that you get Carl to bring in a specialist team of accountants to go through your records with a fine-tooth comb to find out exactly how much has been swindled from you. I assure you that for the moment The Post will not publish any of this because it is not directly relevant to our story about corruption at the council, but I must tell you that if, when you have had time to digest it all, you do not proceed with any actions, that we are prepared to do so.”

With that, I left them looking extremely confused, and walked through the office, giving Carl a quick thumbs up as I passed him.

In the morning Angie called me and asked me if I could go back to see James again, and a half-hour later I entered his office not knowing what to expect.It could be either glowing praise for discovering that he was being robbed, or a major dressing down for what he would see as hacking into their confidential files.At least I was treated with a warm welcome and a big friendly smile from Angie, which was a good sign.

“Jane, I have got a lot to thank you for.” James started, “I had a review of the information you passed to me, followed up with a detailed discussion with Carl and we are investigating how we can recover some of the money that was swindled from us, but I am not hopeful that we will see much of it again. Maggie is adamant that she has never received any backhanders from either Chisholm or from any of the contractors. She says that she never really scrutinised the invoices in question, but just had a quick overview of them with Chisholm who told her there was no reason to doubt them. I’ve given her a warning that if anything more comes to light, she can pack up and go, and with the contacts I have, she has got very little chance of getting another similar job in the industry. I’ve also told her that until she proves herself loyal to the company, that she is now answerable to Carl and has to work to his instructions on the fraud investigations.”

“I’m sorry that I have caused so much disruption to your business, but it shows that you are getting too remote from what your staff are doing. I suggest that you need a deputy who is more hands on, probably Darren, but if you think he is not ready yet, bring somebody else in.”

“You’re probably right, without changing any titles, I am have already decided to put more responsibility on his shoulders and see how he gets on. In a way, all this has made me think about whether it is time to step back and let someone else have all the pressure. When things settle down a bit and we know financially how we stand, be assured that a nice bonus will be coming your way.”

“I hope that you and your company are totally clean on all of this, I wouldn’t want to cause you to get caught up in it all.”

“As far as I am aware other than a bit of creative accounting to minimise tax, we have done nothing wrong, so have no worries on that front. Joe Riley is confident that your latest information is strong enough to be used to break down John Chisholm, and he is fairly sure that they will get him to tell more on the dealings of Hargreaves and Ridgeley. Things are beginning to look more positive“

The rest of the day was spent writing up new articles hinting that the web of corruption was now a lot greater than previously thought and that several more companies and individuals in the area were being investigated by the police. At this stage no names were mentioned as nothing was yet proven to the satisfaction of the police or our lawyers, but the principles of what had been going on were described in detail.

On the way home I called in at the at the doctors’ surgery for my appointment with Dr. Stewart regarding the results of my blood tests, and was soon sat down in front of her desk where she was studying her computer screen intently, with a puzzled look on her face.

“ What’s the problem doctor, have you found something.”

“ Yes we have Jane but I’m not sure what it all means. As you probably know all of us have in our systems lots of hormones which determine our gender and appearance. All males, as well as the predominant testosterone , also have a smaller portion of female hormones, and vice-versa. It seems that in your case there is not a lot of differences in the levels of the two. This explains to a degree why you are physically smaller and softer-featured than most men, and have so easily been able to convincingly change your appearance. If you were someone that wanted to transition we would prescribe drugs to block the production of testosterone and flood your body with oestrogen and progesterone, but it seems that somehow your body is managing to do this itself without medical intervention. To put it bluntly your body can’t make its mind up whether you are male or female. Why this is happening is beyond my expertise so I want to refer you to the hospital, to an endocrinologist, a specialist in hormone imbalances and their causes and correction.”

“ I’m shocked, are you saying that my body is changing sex?”

“No, not at all, you are a long way from that, but you may find that your breast development continues and your fat redistributes from your waist to your hips and backside, and if this continues, you may find it difficult to get an erection.”

“ What can we do to stop this?”

“Until you get to see the specialist, which will probably be a few weeks, it’s best to leave things as they are and see how it progresses. You obviously need time to take this all in, then if you need to talk please give me a call, or come in to see me again.”

I left the surgery totally bewildered and confused. Was I going to, for all intents and purposes, appear more and more feminine? How soon would any effects be noticeable? How did I feel about it.? After all, I had been dressing and acting as a woman for weeks, did I want to continue as Jane? Had something I had done, tucking myself and hiding my testicles triggered the low testosterone level? What was I going to do about it? I wandered the streets and walked around the lake in the park trying to get my head around it all for a couple of hours before going home.

“Where have you been Jane, I was beginning to get worried.” Jenny asked With a look of concern.

“ I’ve been to see Dr. Stewart again and needed to have a long think about what she has told me.”

“ And….., you can’t stop there, what has she found.?”

“It’s difficult, I don’t really understand it myself, but it appears that my body system is somewhere between male and female, and probably always has been, which is why I haven’t grown as much as other boys and am almost the same size as you and the other girls. She’s referring me to a specialist for further investigations.”

What’s going to happen to you, are your breasts going to keep growing?”

“I’m not sure, I think probably, but she said just wait and see, until I have been properly examined, she is a bit lost with it all.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure that they can sort you out, meanwhile you will just have to continue as you are, you seem to have adjusted to living as a woman anyway.”

“Apart from that, I need to stay as Jane until the corruption case comes to court, and Sir Charles has asked me to research his family history and record it all in a book, so I am committed to stays Jane for a while anyway.”

“It’s easy for me to say, but just continue as you are, you are accepted by everyone as Jane, you are attractive, you have a much better personality now, much more sociable, confident. and outgoing. What harm can it do to just go on as you have been doing, and see what happens.”

As I got ready for bed later I examined myself closely in my wardrobe full-length mirror. My breasts seemed to be still growing. Partly due to the effects of wearing the cincher to fit into my dress for the dinner-dance, and partly due, I now thought, to the effects of my hormones, my waist definitely seemed narrower and my hips and bum a lot fleshier. Overall, I was definitely getting a much curvier girlish figure. That night I slept fitfully, having dreams about waking up in the morning to find that somehow overnight my body had fully changed into a female’s, but when I woke up nothing had altered.

I decided to go with what my body decided and left my bra and forms off, my breasts although small were still obviously there. On the way to the office I stopped off to get some new smaller bras, just A-cup, but when I put one on it served to push up and emphasise what little tissue there was, and gave me enough of a bust to look natural. Instead of my normal light thin tops and blouses, I had put on a cotton scoop-neck gipsy top with frills around the neckline which made me look bigger than I actually was and hid the drastic overnight change from a B down to an A. Nobody seemed to notice, or were too polite to comment and by the end of the day, it just felt like I had always been this size. If I was developing breasts I would just have to learn to live with whatever size they ended up, like most women do.

To be continued