Chapter 4

Monday morning, I packed a bag and took the train to Nottingham. I found ‘The Kings’ and knocked on the door. Jake, himself, opened it and beckoned me in. It had the usual set-up with cameras and screens, but nothing was turned on at the moment, so there was no record of me arriving.

He gave me an unexpected hug and then led me to some stairs. On the upper floor it looked like the place had once been a hotel, and he showed me into a room that would put the hotel rooms I had been in to shame. It was, I suppose you could say, over the top. Much of what I could see was bright pink and the rest was rich red.

“This is a whores’ room.”

He laughed. “That’s exactly what it normally was but, for madam, it is your home for the next week or so. I promise you that you will not need to use any of your excellent skills while you are here, with me.”

He showed me the ensuite which had a big tub as well as a shower. It was fully equipped with anything a girl would need to feel and smell good. There was a walk-in robe with a range of clothing for all occasions. Well, if the occasion called for seduction and not much else. He told me that he had made sure all of it was in my size and that there may be an occasion where I would need to wear some of it ‘to uphold the dignity of the establishment’ and I just had to giggle at that.

I put my bag on the bed to unpack later and took my coat off. To my surprise he came up to me and held me in his arms and kissed me, I mean, really kissed me. I put my arms around his neck and kissed him back and we played pitty-patty with our tongues.

When he pulled back, he looked me in the eyes.

“Betty, no – Elizabeth, I know that you have been, and in some ways are, still a boy. However, the night I saw you in ‘The Queens’ gaming room I thought that you were the sexiest girl I had seen, and I have seen my fair share. You gave me the best blow job I have had in many a year, and it did not look as if you didn’t enjoy it. If you don’t like this room to sleep in, let me show you somewhere else you may like to lay your pretty head.”

He went to a connecting door and opened it to reveal a very normal bedroom with an enormous bed.

“I can’t wait to try that out.”

He pulled me towards it, saying that waiting is not an option. By the time lunch came around he had come three times, once in my mouth and twice in me, and I had experienced the most staggering dry orgasm that I had ever had.

In the end I had to kiss him and wriggle out of the bed.

“Now that we’ve explored each other, perhaps I should shower and you can show me the rest of the place.”

I heard his muffled voice. “I suppose you’re right.”

I picked up my clothes and walked naked, back into the pink room.

I had a long shower and put on fresh underwear. Looking at the wardrobe I saw an outfit that would be ideal for a croupier and put it on, finding a pair of heels that went with it. I did a little bit of make-up to accentuate my eyes and knocked on the connecting door, calling “Are you there Jake?”

He called me to come in and he was just zipping up his suit pants.

“Oh, good,” he said, “You’re dressed perfectly for this afternoon as there may not be much time for you to change before the evening session.”

He put on his suit coat, and I straightened his tie for him, and he smiled.

“That’s nice; you act like a wife I never had, but rut like every whore I have ever known. In fact, you are almost the perfect woman.”

I laughed and kissed his cheek.

“Yes boss, anything you say boss. I can take that kind of talk any day you like.”

He took my hand, and we left the upper floor to go down to the business area. There was a huge gambling area with all the usual items, a luxurious lounge area, bar and a proper dining room where some girls were laying tables. We sat at one and were given lunch.

As we were eating, he asked me about my time in ‘The Queens’. I told him that indoctrination was a bit of a surprise, but it had been worth it. I said that Gloria was a good boss but surely a lady as good looking as she would have a husband somewhere. He told me that she did, indeed, have a husband but that he was recently deceased. I said I was sorry to hear that, and that the poor woman must have been devastated.

He looked serious.

“Elizabeth, you need to keep this between us as too many questions about her husband can lead to unfortunate outcomes for you. Just let it be said that he was a nasty piece of shit, a womaniser and, I believe, much worse. His death made us all breathe a sigh of relief and I think that Gloria has come out of her shell since he left us. He was the overall owner of our clubs, but it has been us managers who made them work. All he did was spend time at his little film studio; ‘Tens’, he called it. We now refer to it as ‘Past Tens’ and we may look to make better use of the space later. That’s all you need to know and that is more than anyone outside our little group does know so, like I say, keep your thoughts to yourself and you can’t go wrong.”

After our meal he needed to go and sort some stuff out in his office, leaving me to explore the gaming area by myself. Of course, I needed to mull over what he had told me, and it came down to a couple of glaring facts. The first was now I had the fifth card of the Flush Limited but did not have a location, yet. Secondly, I wondered, did he cause the high turn-over of staff? Things that had been said like “some went down there never to be seen again” made me wonder. There were no records of lots of missing girls but, by the same token, he could have been picking on girls that wouldn’t be missed. I stopped when I thought, girls like me. The next thought I had that stopped me in my tracks was the notion that he had been making snuff movies and that the last one may well have been the one he starred in.

The last thing that crossed my mind was that everyone left benefited from his death and I may well have been sucking a killers’ cock this morning. His file did have his nickname as ‘Mac the Knife’ from his early days as an enforcer for a big city mob. Gloria did not have a nickname on file, but now I thought the term ‘Black Widow’ would fit.

I continued to look around the place, noting the very well-appointed toilets and the staff relaxation area. I was just coming out of that room when Gloria came in and she asked me where Jake was. I told her that he said he would be in his office. She told me that a couple of cars were pulling up as she was coming in and would I do the honours of welcoming the guests and take them to the dining room.

I went to the front door where a doorman now stood with all the screens on. At the threshold I welcomed the group to ‘The Kings’ asked them to follow me and took them through to the dining room where the staff there took over and got them seated with drinks. I went back to the front door and the doorman gave me an earbud so that he could let me know when others arrived. I had only just put it in when another car pulled up and more guests stepped out. For the next half an hour I acted as if I owned the place, chatted with several very well-known Nottingham dignitaries, smiled nicely at the Assistant Commissioner and more than a few Chief Inspectors.

I was just greeting the Mayor when Jake joined me.

The Mayor smiled, “I was just saying to your lovely wife how good it was for you to host the charity function,” and Jake put his arm around me as he replied.

“It would not be as good as it will be without my Elizabeth.”

As we walked him and his party towards the dining room, I put my hand to my ear and then laid it on Jakes’ arm, saying “Jake, darling, could you look after the Mayor? I have just heard that the Sherriff has just pulled up.”

Once we had the guests seated, I was looking over the assembled throng when Gloria joined me. “You seem to have landed on your feet here,” she said, nastily.

“Gloria, I was just looking around, and people started to arrive. I just did my job as a hostess, isn’t that what I am here for? I may be needed to relieve some of these people of their money, but I was at the door on my own for quite a while. If it looked like I was an important person, it may have just been the image they wanted to see. No person in a powerful job would want to be greeted by a flunky.”

Her face softened and she finally smiled.

“For a guy you think like a woman, act like a woman, and talk like a woman. From what has been said you can also make love like a woman. I think that Jake may have eyes for you and that would be good for him. Despite his past he is a good guy at heart and, if I wasn’t already taken, I may have loved him myself.”

As she spoke Morrie Young, from ‘The Aces’ came up to her, “Hello, darling, sorry I’m late,” before he kissed her deeply.

After he let her go, he looked at me, “Well, well, well, who do we have here?”

Gloria introduced me and he looked me up and down.

“Who would ever have thought it? I’ve seen some good shemales in my time but you, dear, take the cake. If I wasn’t so much in love with Gloria, I would throw you over my shoulder and take you upstairs,”

I smiled nicely. “I don’t think Jake would appreciate that happening, especially not this week.”

We then went to take our seats. When I looked, I saw Jake waving for me to go and sit beside him, so I did so, much to the look of astonishment and then anger on Morries’ face. I was going to have to watch that one. I wondered if he and Gloria were the ones to kill Charley.

The meal went well. Several people stood and spoke about the need for the charity to get the maximum return during the week. I found that the club was putting up half of its profit and it would be up to us croupiers to make that a good figure.

After the meal we all went into the gaming area where the gaming staff had arrived and set up and they started gambling. I was on a roulette table with the Mayor and most of the council playing. They lost consistently until the Mayor started to look angry and then they, or more he, began to win a bit back. I needed to keep up a chat with them to take their minds off their losses. After a break I was on a poker table for a while. Near eleven, Jake stood up and announced a figure that the charity had gained that night and there was a cheer. I had a quick tot up in my mind and realised that, instead of half the profit, it was nearer a third.

As the guests looked like leaving, Jake took me to the front door to farewell them and thank them for being such good sports. Gloria and Morrie were there as well and we were all smiles as we saw everyone off, Gloria and Morrie leaving last.

With just Jake and I and the house staff we closed the doors and began the clean-up. I helped the kitchen staff tidy up the dining room while Jake supervised gathering up the money and covering the tables. Only when the money was secure in the safe did the six ‘overseers’ come downstairs from the control room and go home.

It was an odd feeling as, when the last of the staff went, most of the lights were out, the alarms were set, and it was just me and Jake left.

He took me in his arms. “Thank you, you were magnificent.” He then took me into the bar and poured us both a stiff drink, raising his in a toast while saying “To us.”

I replied in kind, and we downed our drinks and went up to bed, putting the lights out behind us. That night he made love to me - not just sex - and it was wonderful. That’s the time I started to feel that he was a very special person and that he just couldn’t be a murderer.

The rest of the week flew by as if in a dream. I was, to all intents and purposes, his wife and we made glorious love every night and every morning. I never slept in the pink bed but did use the bath several times.

We took in a goodly amount for the charity, in spite of them being short-changed, and I met up with quite a few more of Nottingham society, with Jake and I getting invites to several civic events and a few parties.

On Friday night we had just made love and he was on his back with my head snuggled on his shoulder.

“You know, I’ve been running this place for about ten years now and not one of those bastards would invite me to a party. They considered me as mad, bad and dangerous to know. How come you spend a week here and we have so many social engagements I will need a secretary to keep track of them.”

“Don’t worry, my darling, I have them all written down in a diary, you may be able to miss a few but there are some civic events that you will need to attend if you want to maintain your new-found status.”

Then he turned his head to me and kissed me.

“Not just me, Elizabeth, it has to be both of us - or else they will slam the door in my face. It’s you that makes us a socially acceptable couple. They all love you, almost as much as I do. I could order you to stay but I will ask you nicely. Will you stay here, with me, and continue to be my partner in life?”

Of course, I said yes, who wouldn’t.

We worked through the rest of the charity event, and, on the Sunday evening, we had a dinner laid on by the Mayor at the Town Hall where a cheque was given to the charity. Jake surprised me by giving me the envelope and telling me to do the honours.

After a moment of hesitation I went up, with the envelope, and gave a little speech saying how wonderful the charity was and that I hoped this modest amount would go a long way in helping them do their fine work. Their representative gave me a hug and a kiss right there on the stage and there was applause.

The Mayor thanked Mister and Misses Monahan for their wonderful support, and it was difficult to get away as so many wanted to speak to us. In the end we had to plead that the casino needed us to be there to close up at the end of the night and we finally were back in his car and heading home. Did I just say ‘home’? It felt like it right at that moment in time.

Of course, we came down to earth on Monday morning. Gloria had expected me back in Leicester and was quite upset when Jake rang her to say that he wanted me to stay in Nottingham. Not long after that he had a call from Morrie, and they had a bit of an argument.

Morrie was adamant that I belonged to Gloria and Jake countered that ‘these days’ no-one ‘belongs’ to anyone. The staff were free agents and that if Gloria wanted to run ‘The Queens’ like a feudal empress; that was her problem.

“Trouble, darling?” I asked.

He sat back and said that Charley had run the ‘Queens’ like a slave ship in the early days and it looked like Gloria had kept it going that way and he really didn’t know why she did it.

I took a punt. “When I was on the tables, we had set nights where people came in to be paid off. There were several police and local council members, and they got about a thousand a month, that is, if they could keep it and not gamble it away.”

His face went white, and I knew then that he was not part of the problems.

“Then why does she employ the goons?” he gasped.

I told him that most of the security men were normal guys the same as we had here but that there was a small group of heavies that were all serving police. I then had to get him a glass of water to help him settle.

I told him that I thought that they may have been a group that assisted Charley Kraft with his movies, and that they may all be responsible for several deaths of young girls. I told him that I thought that Gloria and Morrie were the ones who killed Charley but, without proof, they got away totally free.

Then came the big question.

“How do you know all this, and why are you telling me now?”

I had to give him some of the truth.

“Darling Jake. I’ve not been happy keeping things from you, but I was put into ‘Queens’ as a way to get information to try and solve Charley Krafts’ murder. It has not been easy, and I had to endure a lot of indignities to be sitting here with you, the man I love and a person who could not have been part of the illegal activities that Gloria excels in. I now sit here, dependant on your love and mercy, to bring this episode to an end. It’s your choice – send for Morrie to come and get me or despatch me yourself. I am not sure that I could report any of what I know as the force is so rotten, especially around Leicester and Loughborough. Tell me to stay quiet and I will stay with you as your wife, and we will then have to wait and see what Morrie does next. I don’t think he likes me very much.”

He got up and held me in his arms, tears in his eyes.

“Oh sweetheart,” he sobbed, “I want you with me for ever. You are the most loving woman I have ever met, and we make a great team. Let me think about things for a while, I will never turn you over to Morrie.”

We clung together like a pair of castaways meeting on a deserted isle. Then he took my hand and led me upstairs to the big bed.

Our Monday evening was not so busy, and I made an excuse to go upstairs by myself. I had to know the truth and found it when I looked in all of the other bedrooms to find stripped beds and an air of disuse. It may have been a whorehouse once, but it was not one now. I redid my make-up and went back down to take my place at a poker table, happier than I had been for a while.

That night he was extra loving, and we lay and talked for a while, wondering what we could do about things. We did not have to wait long as Tuesday I was taken off the street by Woodsy and one of his pals at gunpoint while I was having a morning constitutional.

Marianne Gregory © 2025