In the early I morning was awoken from a deep sleep by Megan, bringing me a cup of coffee and some buttered toast.

“Good morning, sleepyhead, I am off to work to try to get something organised about doing a deal with you. As I said last night, I am trusting you, don’t let me down. Keep a low profile, stay away from the windows and do not, under any circumstances, go out or answer the door. If it is discovered that you are here it will be obvious that you have been talking to me and not only will your life be in danger, but mine will be too. I suggest that, after washing your hair last night, that you give it a good brush, it looks a bit tangled, and that shampoo you used last night was conditioning and has given it a lot of body, you need to tidy it up. Since you have been living rough your clothes have got dirty and smelly so I’ve put them in the washer. There are some of my brother’s clothes in the wardrobe in your room, he sometimes stays here overnight if he is in town, feel free to see if anything fits, if you fancy a change from your t-shirt and boxers.”

I drank the coffee to wake me up properly, put on the dressing gown over my t-shirt and pants, and mooched around the house for an hour or so, trying to get my thoughts together. Megan was right my hair was a mess and needed a good brush, but no matter how hard I tried it still looked really full and hung down to my shoulder falling onto my face. I had a search around in her bathroom and found an elasticated hair band and brushed my hair back and tied it in a ponytail. Being so full it almost looked like a woman’s hairstyle, but at least it was practical and off my face.

I had a look at her brother’s stuff but he was at least a couple of sizes too big, he must be at least well over 6ft, and obviously quite stocky too, everything was floppy on me and was uncomfortable. Megan was right, my own clothes were filthy and well overdue to be cleaned, but I needed something, I couldn’t walk around in the dressing gown all day, so I had a look in her wardrobe and drawers to see if there was anything suitable. I ended up wearing a pair of stretch leggings and a heavy wool jumper which were reasonably unisex, fair enough they were women’s styles but they fitted and were comfortable.

I spent the rest of the day just mooching around thinking about the situation I had got myself into while I tidied the house and washed the dishes from last night’s meal

When Megan returned in the evening, she did a double-take at how I looked. “Wow I never expected that, with those clothes and you hair tied back like that I can understand why they dressed you as a girl for some of the drugs runs, you look quite feminine. Actually, thinking about it, while you are here, that will be a good disguise for you. If I tidy your hair up a bit, and with a bit of makeup you will be quite convincing and unrecognisable, and if anyone sees you all they will see is a woman. What do you think, could you live with that or will it be too much for you to handle?”

“I think that it is a silly idea, it’s one thing wearing these clothes but anything further sounds a bit weird. I might have got away with it when I was a bit younger, but I’ve changed a bit since then. I’ll be ok as I am until you can get something sorted. How did things go at work, how long before something happens?”

“As you suggested I went a few rungs up the letter and spoke to the head of the Major Crimes team at county headquarters. It will be a few days before I get a decision, as once they decide to go along with it they will have to get agreement with the Crown Prosecution Service before they can guarantee you immunity from any charges and provide a change of identity. So it will be best if you stay here until then, word on the street is that the gang are desperate to find you to make sure you do not talk. Think seriously about what I said about disguising yourself as a woman, I know you reacted strongly when I suggested it but it could be for the best, you wouldn’t have to sit with the curtains closed all day.”

At bedtime, Megan told me that she had left some pyjamas on the bed for me, as a change from my dirty t-shirt and pants. They were pyjamas alright and looked about my size but were definitely some of hers, light cotton top with short puffed sleeves and a scooped neck, along with knee-length pants, all in a flowered forget-me-not motive, but they were clean and fresh and would be better than sleeping nude.

Maybe it was sleeping in her pyjama set, maybe it was a dream I had about seeing myself years earlier helping mum dressed as Andrea, maybe it was wearing some of Megan’s clothes the day before, but when I woke the following morning I had calmed down about her suggestion that I looked quite feminine and that dressing as a woman could actually work as a disguise.

I heard Megan moving about getting ready to go to work in the morning and went out to the kitchen, brewed up coffee and toast and put out a bowl of cereal for her to save her time.

“Hey you look dead cute Andy, those pyjamas sit well on you, keep them while you are here.” she said with a cheeky grin before finishing her breakfast and leaving for work.

I had a good look at myself in her full-length mirror and saw that she was right, with a little bit of work, I could convincingly pass as a woman. I decided that if this was going to be a success that I would have to put in a lot of effort, just putting on a dress would not be enough. First I went to the bathroom and had a close shave everywhere, and I mean everywhere, arms, legs, armpits, and chest, everywhere I could reach, and was soon totally hairless on my body, as far as I could make out. To give some relief as I felt a bit tingly from shaving areas that had never in my life felt a razor, I followed up by smoothing moisturiser all over. Unfortunately everything I could find was floral scented, but it would all help with the illusion that I was a woman.

I had another rummage in her wardrobe and drawers deciding that while I was in the house by myself that I would try the full look and ended up in a skirt and top along with a bra, suitably padded with socks, panties and tights, but shoes were a bit of a problem. Although my body was roughly the same size as hers, her feet were at least two shoe sizes smaller, but a pair of open-toed sling-back sandals were flexible enough to fit me, and the tights I was wearing helped my feet slide into them a lot easier. I had no experience with makeup, but at least put on a bit of lipstick to finish the look. Looking in the mirror, with my hair brushed out hanging loose down to my collar, I saw a young woman staring back at me, not too good-looking but at least female.

I was just sitting down for an hour of daytime TV, actually listening to the makeup tips in one of the programmes trying to pick up some ideas to try later, when the doorbell rang. I looked out of the window and saw an Amazon van, and despite what Megan had said, I answered the door to the courier.

“Good morning darling, parcel for Megan Jones, is that you?”

“No, but I am her cousin Rhiannon, I’ll take it for her.” I managed to squeak out the first Welsh name that came into my head, in a bit breathy and husky-voiced reply, which he seemed to accept.

“Great, have a good day darling.” he chirped as he left.

I was quite pleased that I had passed the first small test of my new identity and could hardly wait for Megan to return to see what she thought of my new look. Trying to remember what I had seen on the TV, I had a go at putting on makeup. I looked ghastly, it was all too heavy, patchy and the colours did not really suit me, so I wiped it all off and started again, toning it all down. At the fourth attempt it looked quite acceptable, even if not as good as it should have been. Despite a slightly shaky nervous hand I even managed to apply liner and mascara without putting my eyes out with the wands.

I had a good look at myself in the full-length mirror in the wardrobe, and decided that this was going to work. With a bit more practice and getting used to the feel of the clothes and the makeup, I felt that I could be comfortable adjusting to life as a woman for a while. It may not have been my choice of lifestyle, but at least it was keeping me alive.

To pass the rest of the day, I raided the freezer and kitchen cupboards, found some chicken breasts, carrots, parsnip, onions and a leek , mixed them all in a casserole dish, added a stock cube and some herbs and put it in the oven to slow-cook, throwing some pearl potatoes in about half an hour before Megan was due home. It make me think sadly about my poor mother and how I had helped her in the kitchen, often dressed as Andrea.

When Megan arrived home she just stood and gazed at me for a while before snapping back into her normal manner. “Won’t you just look at you, you’ve obviously been busy today. That’s a good choice of outfit, it sits well on you, and it means that you don’t have to hide away. You’ve done a fairly good job with the makeup too, I wasn’t expecting you to go so far, and for it to turn out so well, but it works, you are quite believable. That’s a welcoming smell coming from the kitchen, I hope that it tastes just as good.”

The casserole was warming and delicious, and when we had finished and cleared up we decided to have another a glass off wine to relax.

“Before you sit down Andy, let me have a good look at you. Anyone would easily take you for a woman, there’s not much that I would’ve done differently if you had asked me to help, although a little bit less eye-liner and mascara would make you even more natural looking.”

“Even before I put on the makeup, just wearing these clothes and with my hair loose, I had no problem when a courier called either, he was a bit flirty and kept calling me darling.”

“I told you not to answer the door, it could have been anyone.”

“I'm not daft, I did check who it was beforehand. By the way, he asked who I was and I told him that I was your cousin Rhiannon, does that sound ok.”

“Actually I do have a cousin Rhiannon, so that will be easy to remember and from now I will have to get used to calling you that. There is still no progress on taking the case forward, so you will be here with me for a few more days Rhiannon. If you are happy with your new identity, we better have a session teaching you how to make yourself up a bit better, you’ll be even more believable.”

For the rest of the evening until bedtime she introduced me to what makeup I should use, which colours worked best for me and how to apply it, making me do it several times, cleaning it off and reapplying it until I got it almost perfect. Later I got changed into my pyjamas, cleaned off the makeup and went to say goodnight.

‘Oh Rhiannon, I see that you have done your legs and arms too, I was going to suggest it but you are ahead of me, you really have a decent pair of legs, a lot of girls would be jealous.”

“You have nothing to worry about though Megan, You outshine me every way.”

“That’s mainly because I have had the right genes to start with, but I’ve also had a lot more practice making the best of myself.”

In the morning after Megan had left I sat at her dresser and made myself up, just lightly, she had said that as I had quite a smooth complexion and no whiskers to speak of I didn’t need too much, added a bit of eye liner, mascara, blusher and lipstick and I thought that I looked quite presentable. I just dressed in the clothes I had found yesterday, it didn’t seem right to keep taking stuff out of her wardrobe, particularly her underclothes. I suddenly had the thought that as I would be staying as Rhiannon for a few days that I it would be sensible to get some stuff of my own and decided to brave a trip to the shops. Besides, I had used up all the vegetables in yesterday’s casserole and needed to replace them, as well as getting a few more groceries to keep us going.

I found a casual coat that fitted me, borrowed a small shoulder bag for my wallet, keys and stuff and taking a deep breath closed the door behind me and took my first steps in the world as Rhiannon.

I was just leaving the house when I was approached by a late-middle-aged woman, who turned out to be Megan’s neighbour. The last thing I wanted was getting into a deep conversation with a nosey neighbour asking me questions, I was trying to keep as low a profile as possible.

“Hello, I’m Lucy I live next door, are you staying with Megan?”

Not wanting to get too deep into a conversation, I quickly replied. “Yes I’m staying for a few days, I’m Rhiannon her cousin. I’m just off to the shops to get a few things.”

“That’s good I’m off there myself, I’ll walk down with you. Where do you want to go?”

“I came here to stay with Megan in a bit of a hurry and didn’t bring much with me, so I need to top up with some underwear, and a couple of skirts and tops for around the house, nothing fancy or special, and then I’m off to the supermarket for a few groceries.”

“If you’re not looking for anything special you may as well just get everything at the supermarket, they have a decent selection of styles and are not too pricey, I’ll look with you and let you know what I think.”

With Lucy helping me choose things, I ended up with a couple of bras, some packs of panties and tights, two skirts and a pack of tops, and even a pair of shoes, spending a lot more than I had expected, but Lucy’s enthusiasm carried me along. I got the groceries I wanted and quite heavily laden with all the bags we made our way home.

“That was a change, shopping is always pleasanter when you are with somebody to chat to as you walk around. Would you like to come in for a coffee or tea and have a natter?”

“I’d love to Lucy, but another time if you don’t mind, I need to get all this stuff put away and I have a few things that I need to do.”

“Ok dear, I understand, but call round anytime, I’m usually in.”

Although Lucy was nice enough and was obviously lonely and wanting someone to chat to, I didn’t want to get drawn into long conversations and questions from her about my life.

I changed into some of my new clothes, washed out those I had borrowed from Megan, and thought that there had been no problems facing the world. Lucy had just accepted me as Rhiannon and it did make me more comfortable being with someone when I was picking the underwear. Men are never at ease picking women’s clothes, and athough I looked like any other young woman, my years of living as a boy and man had imprinted my attitudes deep in my mind. I thought that once I got my brain in gear and my story straight that I would pop round see her as she was obviously looking for company.

The rest of the day soon passed, putting the clothes away, tidying up the house, and preparing dinner, until it was soon time for Megan to return home.

“Have you been out shopping Rhiannon, I don’t recognise that outfit as any of mine?”

“Yes, it isn’t fair to keep using your stuff so I got a few things my own to keep me going and have washed all the stuff you loaned me. I had hoped to just go quietly down to the shops to get a few things, but I got hijacked by your neighbour Lucy, and she helped me pick out some things.”

“Good choice, I quite like that skirt, and the whole outfit goes well together, maybe we’ll have to do a shop together on my days off.”

‘To be honest, Lucy was a big help telling me what would go together and what would suit me.”

“She can be a bit over keen like that sometimes. Her husband died last year and she is a bit lonely, but she is kindhearted. I sometimes go over and have a coffee with her, why not invite her round one night to join us for a meal, apart from being a friendly thing to do, it will help build up your story if anyone comes around asking if they have seen any strangers recently. Talking about meals, something smells nice.”

“Just a simple fish pie, cod and haddock in a cream cheese sauce, topped with buttered mashed potatoes.”

“This is absolutely delicious, I could get used to this, usually it’s a microwave meal when I get in after a hard day’s work. Where did you learn to cook, where you were brought up it is very much women’s work and men keep well out of the kitchen.”

“When I was growing up, my Dad was already disabled and couldn’t do much to help and my brothers were too young to do anything useful, so I was often roped in to help Mam when things got a bit hectic. I actually found that cooking and baking, all the while chatting away with her, were soothing after the pressure and worries of working for the drugs gang. It never really entered my head that this should be women’s work, it was something I enjoyed and it took from her some of the stress off her looking after everyone.”

“All I can say is that she did good job teaching you to cook even if she could not stop you drifting into a life of crime, she must have been a really strong woman, coping with all the pressures and worries in her life.”

“She was, she didn’t deserve to die like that.” I replied brushing away tears from my eyes.

“Lets get this all tidied away, then you and I need to have a serious talk.” Megan wrapped her arm around my shoulder and pulled me close realising that I was upset.

To be continued.

After I had composed myself from thinking about the horrible way my family had been murdered, and the tears had stopped flowing, , Megan released me from her comforting hug.

“Anyway, if you are now ok, we have something important to discuss.Progress has actually been made at work, I have been tasked with setting up a team, as Senior Investigating Officer, liaising with the regional Drug Squad to investigate Chapman and his gang. This may shock you, I want you on my team working at the station with us.”

“What on earth am I supposed to do, I have no police training, in fact the total opposite, what can I contribute and how am I going to keep a low profile walking into your station everyday.”

“If you agree, you will be working as Rhiannon, not as Andrew. No-one, and I mean no-one, at the station including my bosses, will know your real identity, so being spotted going into the station should not be a problem. Your role officially is as the contact to keep in touch with our informant that has led to this investigation. As far as anyone is concerned, you met Andrew in a pub one night when he was drunk and he poured his heart out about the death of his family, you convinced him that he needed to make the drugs gang pay for their crimes and you got in touch with me, your cousin. I take it that you can use a computer and keyboard, everyone can nowadays. You will start off typing a statement, as if you have been told it by Andrew, telling all the details of his involvement with Chapman from day one, to bring everyone on the team up to date, then the others will investigate the claims and try to gather evidence with your help. Obviously you will be on the payroll as a civilian consultant after we amend your CV history to reproduce that of my real cousin, just in case anyone is nosey and goes to HR to look you up.”

“Is it realistic for me to work closely with a team of naturally suspicious police officers, who are used to dealing with liars and fraudsters, how long will it take them to find a chink in my story, or in my appearance and manner.”

“Your story will stand up to any serous investigation, I will fill you in with as much detail as I can get about Rhiannon, who is conveniently up in the Highlands for a few weeks and well out of the way. As for your appearance, by the time we finish with you, you won’t even recognise yourself. For the next few days spend as much time as you can with Lucy, listen to how she talks, watch how she moves and the gestures she makes, and copy everything as much as you can, you need to not only look like a woman, but behave like one too.”

“Isn’t there an easier way of doing this?”

“We could put you in what is known as a safe house, however historically they are anything but, one tiny slip and the whole house of cards comes tumbling down. This way you will be, as the saying goes, ‘hiding in plain sight’, the investigating squad room is the last place anyone will be looking for you.”

“Ok, I committed to helping you, let’s do this if it is the best thing for me. What did you mean when you said that by the time you finished with me I wouldn’t recognise myself.”

“Just a few little enhancements to make you more obviously female. I had anticipated having to twist your arm to dress as a woman, and wasn’t sure that I could get you to agree, I didn’t think it would be so easy for me and that you would make the decision yourself. In the morning you have an appointment at a beauty parlour the other side of the county for laser treatment on what little facial hair you have, and hair extensions to give you a more feminine style. In the afternoon it’s a visit to a cosmetic surgery for breast augmentation, effectively two small bladders go under the skin and are pumped up with silicone to give you breasts that look as natural as any woman’s, but the procedure is totally reversible. They’ll finish of with liposuction on your waist and transferring the fat onto your hips and buttocks, which will all give you a more realistic feminine shape, allowing you to wear much more figure-hugging clothes, so there will be no doubt at all that you are a real woman.”

“That all sounds a bit drastic, why not go the whole way and remove my penis while you are at it?” I snapped back at her.

“That was actually suggested, half-jokingly, but I don’t think we need to go that far, unless you propose to let a man into your panties.”

“I think I’ll give that a miss, thank you very much.”

The following day was hectic, I arrived early at the salon for the beauty treatments, stripped off my clothes, dressed in a loose knee-length gown and put myself in the hands of the technicians. The laser treatment and the extensions were relatively painless and didn’t worry me too much.Those were followed by hair-colouring to a honey-blonde, streaking and restyling, nail extensions and colouring, and a full facial exfoliation and makeover. By the time they had finished and I got dressed, I hardly recognised myself, looking back at me was a young attractive woman, Andy was nowhere to be seen.

The afternoon session at the surgery was a lot less pleasant, Even though I was given local anaesthetics to minimise the pain, I was still totally conscious during the processes and fully aware of what they were doing to me, every time anyone approached me with a scalpel I had visions of Joe Chapmen attacking me with a knife. The breast augmentation, liposuction and the buttock filling left me bruised sore and tender, I was glad Megan had advised me to wear loose-fitting clothes that would not rub or press on my sensitive skin. I was ever so glad when it was all over and couldn’t wait to get home, into comfortable clothes, and lie on my bed to recover.

“Stand up and let me have a look at what they have done to you.” Megan demanded when she returned. “Now you should know why us women are always looking at our profiles in a new dress asking ‘Does my bum look big in this’, and your breasts look amazing, a lot better than they would be with forms or ‘chicken fillet’ enhancers. I’m told that although you will have a bit of bruising for a few days, it should not be too painful and that you should be ok for light duties around the house. If you feel up to it, tomorrow go and spend a lot of time with Lucy and start learning to act like you now look.”

Still a bit sore but manageable I walked round to Lucy’s, or rather staggered in an ungainly manner as I hadn’t fully got used to my new weight distribution from from my breasts and buttocks.

“Hi Lucy, I told you I would come round when I could, is it convenient to come in?”

She didn’t need to be asked twice, she appeared glad of the company.

“I like the new look Rhiannon, it’s a lot brighter and more for your age, I’m getting a bit old for a lot of these new fashions, but I still try to look my best. You’l have to tell me where you had your hair done, I’m not too happy with my current hairdressers now that they have changed their stylist, and have been looking for someone new.”

I spent almost the whole day with her, gossiping about the beauty treatments I had, but obviously not what had been done to me at the surgery, her complimenting me on my new hairdo, although she was either to polite to mention the changes to my figure or didn’t even notice. She was a one-woman neighbourhood-watch knowing everything about the neighbours and what was going on with them all, who was having affairs or marital problems, who were the people that it was best to avoid and who were friendly and helpful.

“If you don’t mind me asking, you seem to have arrived in a bit of a rush, are you running away from someone?”

“You could say that.” It was obvious that she wasn’t going to let it drop and I needed to come up with a story. She saw that I was hesitating to reply and followed it up herself.

“Man trouble is it?”

“Isn’t it always?”

“Men are only good for two things dear, all the heavy stuff in the house and garden, and sex, and most of them are not as good at that as they think.” she offered with a twinkle in her eyes

“You’re right, most of the time that is more hassle than it is worth, sometimes I think that we would be better of without them. Let’s not get too bitter Lucy, I’m sure that you had a lot of good times with your partner in all the time you were together.” She went a bit weepy-eyed at that and I felt she wanted a bit of time with her memories and left to go back to Megan’s house.

I had only just got in when Megan arrived back home.

“Between recovering from yesterday and listening to Lucy most of the day, I haven’t had the time to prepare dinner Megan, do you fancy a takeaway or fish and chips.”

“Fish and chips sounds good, will you go down and get them while I have a shower?”

“I was hoping to sit down and have a rest, I am still tired from all the prodding and poking yesterday, but I should be able to manage the Chippy.”

On the way back with our meal, I was followed home by three youths making lewd and suggestive comments about my bum and my boobs, I was worried that they were going to go beyond words and attack me so I quickened my pace to try to get away from them. Unfortunately between my stiffness and soreness from the medical procedures and the heels I was wearing, I couldn’t really run, and didn’t have the confidence to face up to them.

As I approached the house, one of them rushed forward and grabbed my arm from behind. “You know what darling, pretty girls like you shouldn’t be on their own on the streets at night, let me see you back to my place, we can have a good time there.” I panicked, hit back with my elbow, causing him to let go of me, but making me drop the bag of fish and chips, and rushed up the steps to our door, leaving them laughing and walking off with our meal. I was never so grateful to get through a door and back into the safety of the house.

“What’s up Rhiannon, you are all flushed and sweaty.” Megan looked concerned at me shaking and about to burst into tears.

“I was followed home by a bunch of stupid sexist young lads making lewd comments and I thought that they were going to attack me, I just rushed past them, unfortunately dropping our meal as they grabbed at me, not saying a word as I knew that it would only provoke them to continue. I was frightened and left in a hurry before it got physical, leaving everything behind.”

“Welcome to the world of womanhood Rhiannon, we all get that from time to time. Thankfully it very rarely goes beyond that, but we all get scared, come here and get a hug, you look about to burst into tears.”

When I calmed down, not wanting to go out again in case the lads were still there, we ordered a takeaway which arrived not long afterwards. We had our meal and then sat down with a glass of wine to unwind.

“What happened to you earlier is just the sharp end of it all, when you start in the office next week you will find some of the lads giving you an undisguised good looking-over and you will probably get some mild innuendo or comments about our roles in the office. Just ignore it all rather than getting into arguments with them. Don’t let them turn you into their gopher or tea lady, stand up to them but do it with a ‘don’t be stupid’ smile on your face.”

“Surely they are not as bad as all that.”

Men can be such patronising pigs, I have lost track of the number of times I heard it said that I only got my promotion so as to meet the diversity quota requirements for senior female officers, despite the fact that I have a Masters degree in Criminal Law and have already passed my exams for promotion to the next level of Superintendent. You will have to deal with things like that in the squad room.That is what I meant about spending time with Lucy and learning how us women react to things. We don’t usually let men know how we feel about some of their comments, as we have grown up we have learned to ignore them or bite our tongues in frustration. Men can be such insensitive idiots at times, and I have reacted a few times, usually getting the comment thrown back at me, ‘My, we are a bit tetchy today, are you on?’, as if that is the only reason to be irritable.”

“Hey, come down off your soapbox, remember who you are talking to.”

“Not you of course, you are different to most men,”

“Too true I am Megan, particularly after yesterday, they are not that many around like me.”

“That’s not what I meant, you helped out your mother when you were younger, you have been happy to cook meals for me, you have got the place looking cleaner, tidier, and more organised than it has been for ages. You were sensitive enough to Lucy’s feelings to spend some time with her, despite your hard-man image you are really quite a softie, I wish there were more like you. Over the weekend we need to go shopping to get you some office wear. Trousers, which most of us wear, will now sit a lot better on you since the work on your figure, if you prefer, but I suggest that you wear a skirt or dress to stress your femininity.”

“I’ll bow to your knowledge and experience, you know a lot better than I do.”

We went to the local mall on Saturday morning and it was a totally different experience for me. Usually, as Andy, I went into a shop, looked through the racks, found something half-decent at a reasonable price, paid for it and left. However this was not good enough for Megan. We went into at least six shops, tried things on, rejected most of them for various reasons, usually by Megan on grounds of taste or fit.

I had bought a few pairs of trousers that fitted me snuggly, showing off my now female figure and some plain black or navy blue A-line skirts which Megan felt appropriate for office wear, along with several pairs of shoes and handbags. At Megan’s insistence I had my ears pierced and bought some costume jewellery, earrings, bangles and locket chains before we finally went home after one of the most varied and expensive shopping trips I had ever had.

By the time we left the shopping centre I was completely fatigued, physically and mentally.
Although I had prepared meals for the freezer during the week, we both felt that we would prefer a takeaway, and I offered to go down for fish and chips again.

“Are you sure that you feel ok about it after what happened last time, do you want me to go?”asked a concerned Megan.

“I can’t let those little idiots control my life, I will have to go out sometime, tonight’s as good a time as any. If those lads are there again I will just have to face up to them, but at least I will be prepared this time, with that deterrent spray you got for me. As it happened, the lads were not about and I made it to the fish shop and back without any bother, giving me a bit more confidence again. As Andy I would have squared up to them, giving them a load of verbals, but for some reason as Rhiannon I didn’t have that same bravado and thought that any threats from me would just be laughed off.

Sunday was all taken up with preparation for me starting work with Megan the next day, updating me on the state of their investigations, what my role would be and what would be expected of me. For a change there were no discussions of improving my presentation as a woman, Megan told me that I looked and acted just as naturally female as most of the other women at the station, in fact even more so than many of them.

To try to get myself in the best condition for what I was about to face, I had an early night in bed, but it was a waste of time, my mind was buzzing with lots of thoughts about what I was getting into and how I would be received by the rest of Megan’s team.

To be continued.

I was up early, I wanted to make sure that my disguise was flawless. If this was going to work, I not only had to make myself look convincing as a woman, but had to adjust my mindset so that I believed myself to be a woman in order to fit in with the others. I took extra care with my hair and makeup, because Megan had advised me not to look like I had just stepped out of a beauty parlour. She had told me that most of the woman at work had busy lives juggling their job with their personal lives and just did the bare minimum to make themselves presentable. As Megan had suggested, rather than wearing slacks like most of the working women, I put on a plain navy skirt and white cotton top, I wanted to leave no doubt that I was a woman to cover over any slight mistakes I might make in my actions or mannerisms.

Going into the police headquarters I was particularly wary and nervous, as I was starting a new job and living a new lifestyle. It didn’t help that on previous occasions when I had been there I was usually in custody for questioning about one crime or another. As we passed through the main entrance door past the security desk I had shivers down my spine, but took a deep breath straightened up and confidently followed Megan into her office. After a few minutes where it looked like she was giving me a quick induction lecture, which I had already received back at the house, we went out to face the team.

“Good morning folks let’s get you all briefed and up to date. I know that this is a new squad but most of you already know each other and have worked together in the past. Alongside me is Rhiannon Davies, who happens to be my cousin, but that is irrelevant. She is here as she is the initial contact with Andrew Carmichael, the informant who has provided all the information in the briefing notes which she has prepared for you and will update as more details become available. She is the only one Carmichael will talk to or meet, he does not feel that he can trust us to protect his whereabouts or identity. She had no previous contact with or knowledge of Carmichael, but by chance came across him one night when he was drunk and he poured out all his troubles to her about how he was looking for a way out without getting executed by his former gang. I stress that because of the sensitive nature of this investigation and potential danger to the informant that Rhiannon is the only contact with him. If your investigations raise questions for him, pass them to her to get responses.

As Megan had warned me, there were a few half-hearted attempts by the men in the squad to chat me up, get me to make tea or go and get sandwiches. I dealt with that by just looking at them, raising an eyebrow, and sweetly replying, “Really, that’s not what I’m here for, I’ve got work to get on with, but if you are going to get something for yourself can you get me something as well?”

At the end of the day I was glad to get home, kick off my heels and change into leggings and a sloppy jumper. The days before I started work I had prepared lots of soup, stews, bolognese sauce, lasagne, and chilli con carne in single-portion trays to save having to cook after a tiring day at the station, so we were able to get in and relax without the bother of having to make something.

“How are you getting on with the lads in the office Rhiannon? Are they as bad as the picture I painted for you?”

“I’m ashamed to say that they are, possibly even worse, it’s a bit of a boys’ club with all the banter and stupid childish nicknames. Some of the guys are OK, but a few are patronising sexist pigs: there was a lot of staring at me, eyeing me up and a couple of inappropriate and unnecessary touching of my arm or a hand across my shoulder. I know that I haven’t lived a blameless life, but I hope that I was never as bad as that. Today has really opened my eyes to the subtle patronising put-downs that women have to put up with, in the office I’ll stick with you and Amanda.” referring to one of the junior detectives recently drafted in from uniform.

The first few days there was not a lot of progress, I expanded the briefing notes with more details ‘provided by Andrew’ and settled into working with the team. Other than Megan, Amanda, and me it was very much a boys’ club, with laddish jokes and going down to the pub at the end of the shift, but the three of us girls tended to stick together, soon being referred to as ‘The Coven.’ Amanda was very much guarded when talking with Megan, in respect of her rank, but was much more open and friendly with me and we backed each other up when the guys’ behaviour got a bit over the top.

After a week while we were still trying to collect evidence, to back up ‘Andrew’s’ statement, Chief Superintendent Harrison, Megan’s immediate boss, who had been the one to approve this investigation, came to see her.

“DCI Jones, you came to me with a big story about how you were going to smash a drug cartel, from what I see there has been little progress, Can we trust your informant and believe that he is not playing games with us?”

“I have no qualms on that score Sir, we know a lot of the events that we have been told about actually occurred and the informant has given us names of the people involved. We are trying to collect evidence, and are awaiting DNA results on some of the incidents.”

“Well I am worried that we are not making progress, can we get Carmichael to come in for a formal interview and put a bit more pressure on him?”

“With respect Sir, he is fearful for his life and if we try to bring him in, he will do a runner and we will lose whatever chance we have of a successful outcome. He is seriously worried that there are people in the station, hopefully not including any of my team, who are on the payroll of the drugs gang, or somehow under their influence, and his safety would be greatly at risk.”

“Ok, but on your head be it, however if there is no progress soon and this turns into a disaster you can kiss goodbye to any chance of promotion for a long time.”

Later that day all of a sudden we had a lucky break. Harry, one of the gang’s enforcer thugs who I knew quite well, was pulled in for beating someone up in a drunken street fight including attacking the police officer who went to arrest him and was required to give a DNA sample. It turned out to be a match for some found on Spider Abbott, a street dealer that they had beaten to death some years before which I had witnessed. Whilst I had named him in my briefing notes, at last we had some evidence to link him to the murder.

I wasn’t allowed in for the interview conducted by Megan and one of the team sergeants, but I watched the CCTV feed in the adjacent monitoring room, remembering the many times I had been sitting whereTate now was, accompanied by a solicitor who I knew carried out a lot of work for Joe Chapman to ensure that he appeared to keep just the right side of the law.

“Harry Tate, we have a witness who is prepared to testify that you beat to death James Abbott, known to you as Spider, and we now also have DNA evidence matching you to skin found under the fingernails of Mr Abbott at the time of his murder. Would you like to tell us more?”

He looked at his lawyer who shook his head. Harry then just sat there mostly in silence, refusing to answer questions, merely responding ‘no comment’ with a smug smirk on his face. Looking at things from the police side of the table, I could understand why, in the old days before CCTV and recorded interviews, the police became frustrated and many suspects in for questioning later appeared to have fallen down the stairs or had bumped into doors. Unfortunately such actions were no longer allowed and any confessions under duress or as a result of violence were no longer admissible as evidence.

“You need to know that we are interviewing your associate Fred Lyle, and he is singing like a canary.” Megan lied to see what reaction it would get. “He is swearing that although he was present at the scene, his involvement was merely to be there as a backup to you and you carried out the beatings. This has been confirmed in a statement from our witness, so it looks like almost all the blame is going to be on you, you will be sent down for a long time, and then we will see how you get on with the other thugs in the prison.”

“Who’s your bloody witness, that Carmichael kid? He was the only other one around at the time. When he is found he’s dead meat, it looks like he never learned his lesson when Fred and me torched his family home.” He was losing control and raging, with the solicitor unable to keep control of what he was saying.

“Now you mention it, we also found some DNA from you and Lyle on the bottle you dropped on the ground after you poured the petrol though the Carmichaels’ letterbox. You will be lucky if you see the outside of a prison ever again. Harry Tate, you are charged with five counts of murder, Spider Abbott, and the Carmichael family, we remind you that anything you say will be recorded and may be used in evidence against you, you had the formal caution prior to the start of the interview. You will be held in a police cell until you appear before a magistrate in the morning, and will be remanded to prison until your trial, which will be some months away as this is part of a larger investigation which will all probably be tried in court together.”

When his associate Fred Lyle was informed that Tate had admitted killing the Carmichael family while he was there as backup, he totally broke down, he was always going to be the weaker link of the two. Lots of names, dates, details of deliveries and payments were soon on the desks of the investigating team who were trawling through CCTV images and phone records to try to confirm what they had been told. All of it backed up my evidence in the briefing notes but the case was now much stronger.

With us all now feeling a lot more positive the team went for a drink after work, and for the first time the girls and I were invited too. Although the lads were a bit raucous they were happy to include us, I had provided the initial information, Megan had broken Harry Tate and Fred Lyle, Amanda had come up trumps with some of the phone call and text records linking Joe Chapman to his two thugs.

After a few drinks some of the lads were getting a bit touchy-feely, nothing too intimate, just putting their arms around our shoulders and being a bit over-friendly. Not wanting to sour the mood of the of the celebrations by the lads on the team, the three of us made a diplomatic exit, the last thing any of us wanted was for it to go too far, leading to allegations of harassment.

“Are you off then girls, going home for your beauty sleep, not that any of you need it.” was one of the friendlier comments shouted at us as we left.”

As we had all been drinking we called a cab, dropped Amanda off at her home, saw her safely inside, and arrived back at Megan’s.

I was happy to get in, and kick off my shoes, glad that Megan had told me to wear a comfortable low-heeled pair, then quickly changed out of my office clothes into a comforting loungewear set and sat down with Megan to unwind after a challenging but successful day.

“That was a good result, the lads are a lot more confident now in the information you are feeding through, and have accepted you as a useful member of the team. They tolerate me as the senior officer, overcoming their laddish distrust and lack of respect for women, but you and Amanda have earned their respect on your own merits for the contribution you have made to the case.

It is always easier to get to grips with and break the lower levels in gangs, like Harry and Fred, most of them are not the brightest examples of humanity and think with their fists not their head. The harder job is still ahead of us. Although we have lots of information on Joe Chapman from you and from his thugs, there is still no hard evidence directly linking him to any crimes, he is too smart and never gets his hands dirty himself. If we can somehow get him, it will be a lot easier to uncover those further up the tree.”

“I grew up around Joe, I know him really well, where he goes and what interests him, use me as bait, I can get inside his circle of acquaintances and maybe find out more.”

“I can’t let you do that Rhiannon, I can’t put one of my officers, particularly a female officer, in danger.”

“I’m not one of your officers, nor am I female don’t forget. I am just an ordinary member of the public helping with your inquiries and I am not subject to all your health and safety restrictions or rules of engagement. I have a lot of making up to do to the local community for my actions over the years, and if I have to take a few risks to take down that piece of scum for what he did to my family, that is my decision.”

Megan tried to talk me out of it, but I was determined to go ahead, wheedle my way into his company and get him to talk. Finally we agreed a plan for me to try to get close to him and get information from him.

A few days later, after she considered the options, I was back at the cosmetic surgery clinic. Megan was determined that if I was to go-ahead I needed to be as convincing as possible, leaving no room for any chance of discovery. When I woke up a couple of hours later, I felt a bit of discomfort in my groin, which was not surprising as the doctors had totally rearranged the area, and has fixed me up so that without too much of an investigation I appeared female between my legs, everything had been pushed away inside me and stitched together to form a normal looking vulva, leaving only an opening for me to wee. Without major surgery, along with the all-but-real breasts I already had, I was as near to being a woman as physically possible. They added some little extras too, inserting a small tracking device under the skin of my armpit so that Megan always knew where I was, and a long-life microphone so she could listen in. I was also given a new set of id documents in the name of Charlotte Rees, driving licence, credit and bank cards and even a pack of prescription birth control pills with my new name on.

Joe Chapman was a gambler and often frequented The Dolce Vita, an illegal and discreet casino and cabaret club in town. A watch was kept on the club to confirm when Joe had arrived and I took a deep breath preparing myself to try to get him into a honey-trap. Dressed in a short revealing cocktail dress, sitting just above the knee but with slits up the sides of my thighs, my breasts trying to escape from the revealing neckline assisted by a push-up bra, I opened my coat so that it was obvious how I was dressed and went through the door into the club,

“Excuse me Miss, this is a private club, are you a member,?” asked the bouncer, barring my way, eyeing me up and down.

“That’s a shame,” I purred, “My friend Annabel has told me so much about the club and that I would be more than welcome. You must be Dave, she told me that you are usually quite willing to bend the rules for a pretty girl.”

He smiled at me, standing aside “You go on in Miss, treat this as a trial visit, but if you want to come again you will have to become a member or accompany a member.”

I had expected the club to be a bit seedy, but it was far from it, it was well decorated, with fancy lighting and subdued background music, the men were all in business suits and the women dressed to the nines. The main area was a large open space with a roulette table, craps table and several stands for poker players, a well stocked bar along the wall by the entrance, and a stage and dance floor at the far end.

Joe Chapman was at one of the poker tables, but after getting a Mojito from the bar I went over to the craps table instead, sitting where I could keep an eye on him and what’s more, where he couldn’t fail to notice me. It looked like beginners luck when I made quite a profit with the dice before moving over to the roulette wheel. In my youth I had been invited along to poker games at the club with Joe and some of his acquaintances getting quite adept at determining the odds and covering my bets for all of the gaming tables.

Leaning over the roulette table to place my bets, I made sure that Joe had a good view of my breasts, almost falling out of my dress, knowing his taste for flighty big-breasted women it would only be a matter of time before I caught his attention and interest.

Eventually I moved again to stand next to the dealer at the poker table, apparently watching the way the cards were running before deciding to join the game. It wasn’t long before Joe had a word with the person next to him, who I vaguely recognised as one of his suppliers that I had made a delivery to a few times whose name I couldn’t remember, who immediately left his seat.

“Do you want to play darling,” Joe called over at me, “or are you just here to watch?”

I walked around the table and slid onto the seat next to him, putting my chips and my clutch onto the table in front of me.

After a few games, I was doing quite well, my winnings so far would pay for all my expenses in getting ready for tonight, but that was not my main aim, I was using the time to get more friendly with Joe.

“I know this is a corny line, but I’ve not seen you here before, although you obviously know your way around the gaming tables. I’m Joe, Joe Chapman.”

“Nice to meet you Joe, Charlotte Rees, and it’s not such a corny line, this is my first visit here.” I replied with a sweet smile. We played a few more hands at the poker table before Joe suggested we call it a day and retire to the lounge area for a drink.

Despite his reputation as a hard man, and what I knew was capable of to both men and women that crossed him, he was charming pleasant company and we got on well together. It was soon time for me to leave before he got the idea that I wanted to spend the night with him, and with a light cheek kiss he saw me to the door to collect my coat.

“Dave, get a taxi for the lady and anytime she wants to come back let her in as my guest?”

“Ok, Mr Chapman, my pleasure.”

“Well goodnight Charlotte, I’ve enjoyed the evening and hope to see you again, I’m usually here on Wednesdays.”

Before heading home, I made a detour to a room booked for me in a big hotel where Megan was waiting for me in case Joe had put a tail on me. I was glad to get in, kick of my shoes which were straining my calves, as I wasn’t used to such high heels, and slip out of the tight revealing dress into something more comfortable, before heading back to the house to sit down and review the evening with Megan.

“The microphone worked perfectly, we could hear every word you said, although there was nothing incriminating. My god, you are just an instinctive flirt, the men around here would not be safe if you were a natural woman, you had him eating out of your hand.” giggled Megan. “I couldn’t believe how well you played him.”

“Don’t forget I’ve known him for years, I know how he likes his women to behave, which is why I left so early, I didn’t want get into the situation of being invited back to his place.”

“Leave him a while so you don’t seem too pushy, but go along again next week, he might be a little less guarded now he knows you.”

“Just make sure that you are listening in, recording him, and tracking exactly where I am Megan, I will try to get him to open up a bit more. He might come across as a smooth charmer, but I know what Joe Chapman is capable of.”

To be continued.

Joe Chapman was left alone for the rest of the week. The team were kept busy trawling through phone and email messages from Harry Tate and Fred Lyle to him, and from him to his supplier contacts to try to find anything to tie him to anything illegal. However, frustratingly, he was very shrewd and always spoke in ambiguous statements, which although the inferences were obvious they were always vague enough for a smooth-tongued lawyer to talk his way out of. We needed a breakthrough and it was set up for another visit by me to The Dolce Vita.

Rather than go on a day when we knew Joe would be there I went in on the Tuesday instead.

“Good evening Dave.” I smiled at the doorman as he let me in, “Is Joe here tonight?”

“No Miss, he’s not, but I believe that you met one of his colleagues Jeremy Scott when you were here last week, Jeremy is here, over at the poker table.”

I went over to the bar, grabbed a Mojito, which was now becoming a favourite of mine, and sashayed over to stand across the table from Jeremy watching the game play out.

“Hi Charlotte, I’m Jeremy I was here last week with Joe Chapman. You did well here last week, do you want to join the game tonight?” He asked with a charming, disarming, friendly smile.

Not wishing to appear too eager to get to know him I smiled back. “Thanks Jeremy, I’ll just watch for a while to see how the cards are running.”

“Well at least come and stand next to me, maybe some of your luck will rub off onto me.”

After a few hands I joined the game, which again paid for my night out, mainly at Jeremy’s expense. He soon got fed up with losing to me and decided to leave the game. He and I retired to the bar for a chat and a drink, with him being very touchy-feely as we walked over, with his arm over my shoulder.

After a couple more drinks and general chat, with him making a lot more contact, putting his hand on my knee or my arm, his tongue loosened a bit and I started to push him.

“You were bit unlucky at the table tonight Jeremy, I almost feel guilty about taking some of your money from you.”

“You certainly know how to play the cards Charlotte, you are obviously not a beginner.”

“Put it all down to a misspent youth in the less salubrious areas of Cardiff, before I moved up here to put it all behind me.”

“We all have skeletons in our cupboards, it’s best just to leave them there and keep them secret.”

“And what secrets could you possibly be hiding Jeremy.” I gave him a gentle playful tap on his arm.

“I’m a businessman darling, a bit of this a bit of that, but you don’t make money by playing by the rules all the time.”

“That’s true, some of the people I knew back in Wales sailed a bit close to the wind and I had to get out before I was too involved. What part of town are you from, from the cut of your suit I guess it must be one of the more expensive areas.” I asked just to confirm to myself that he was who I thought him to be.

“ Wow,” I said when he told me, “You must be good at what you do to live there.”

“Even in these frugal times, there are ways to make money if you know the right people.”

“You mean like Joe Chapman?”

“Don’t ask and you will get told no lies. Let’s just say that him and I go back a long way to the benefit of both of us.”

I decided that I was asking too many questions and needed to back off, so just went back to general chat for a while before leaving the club and going back to the hotel where Megan was waiting for me.

“Jeremy Scott is definitely one of the people that I dealt with for Joe Chapman, he was included in my briefing notes but I never had a full name for him, I just knew him as Jez.”, Megan was delighted to have another nail to put in the coffin.

“Now we know he is definitely involved we’ll give his background a good going over, bank accounts, phone records, social media, if there is anything to be found we will find it. You did well tonight, but be careful how much you drink in future, you could get as loose-tongued as he did.”

“I’m not that daft, the potted palm on the table next to me will have a hangover and droopy leaves in the morning.” I gave a smug self-satisfied grin.

Within a few days Scott’s accounts had been unravelled to the extent that he was brought in for questioning on charges of fraud and tax evasion, jointly with investigations by HMRC, the tax authorities. To try to keep a distance between me and him, there was no mention of Joe Chapman or drug dealing, it was treated as a purely financial investigation. However it gave the opportunity to ask for explanations as to the source of his wealth. He had several legitimate companies that were shown to be fronts for laundering cash transactions that he could not explain, their official accounts and trading figures did not stand up to detailed scrutiny by the financial experts. The first link in the chain connecting him and Joe Chapman came when a lot of coincidences were found between payments in and out of fictional bank accounts linkable to him and Chapman, which gave the team more paths to follow up on.

The following Wednesday I was back at The Dolce Vita, got my drink, walked up to where Joe was playing at the table and joined in the game.

“I was here last Tuesday and met your friend Jeremy, he seemed quite a cute guy.” I told him as we sat in the lounge afterwards.”

“Jez is not as sweet as you think he is, be careful around him. I don’t know what he has been up to but he’s been in with the police for a few days now.”

“Oh dear, he did tell me that he did a lot of wheeling and dealing that sailed a bit close to the wind. You are not involved in any of his businesses are you Joe, you don’t strike me as someone like that?”

“Anyway, we are not here to talk about him, tell me a bit more about yourself Charlotte.” he quickly changed the subject.

“Since moving up here from Cardiff, I have been leading a quiet simple life, working at a boring job in an accounts office, and have just started to come here for a bit of light relief, but when I was younger I got in with a bad crowd and it was best to leave the area.”

“Well if ever you want to do anything a bit more exciting just ask, I am sure that I could find something useful for you to do.”

Back at home later with Megan she had a worried look.

“Be careful Rhiannon, you are asking too many questions, he’s not stupid, he’ll get suspicious of you.”

Unfortunately her warning was proven to be justified. The next Wednesday as I was approaching the Dolce Vita, a large black saloon pulled up alongside me and I was bundled into it by a couple of heavies and felt the prick of a needle in my arm before blacking out. When I came round it was pitch black and after my brain had slipped into gear, it was obvious that I had a hood over my head, my wrists and ankles were tie-wrapped to the chair I was on, and it felt like I had already been stripped down to my bra and panties. After a while I heard the rattle of a door handle and felt a presence of someone in the room.

“Right darling, we need to have a talk.” A male voice with a Cardiff accent quietly whispered to me. “Who are you and what are you up to?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean, who are you and why am I here.”

“Well, we’ll start of with who you are. I’ve asked around my patch in Cardiff docklands and nobody has heard of Charlotte Rees, especially those involved in questionable activities, no records of someone your age ever living in the area. So I’ll ask again who are you and what are you up to.

“Look in my bag, my driving licence and bank cards are in there, they’ll confirm who I am.”

“Come on darling, do you think we are stupid,? I can get a new false driving licence and bank account anytime I want one. We can play this the easy way where you tell me what I want to know or we can play it hard, but sooner or later you will talk.”

“Why are you doing this to me, I am just a secretary going out for an evening of fun, I’m not up to anything.”

“Ok have it your way, come on over boys, strip her completely, there was no obvious hidden mic under her dress but check under her bra and panties.” It had seemed a bit extreme when Megan had suggested that I needed breasts and a female looking groin, but I was now thankful for that. If they had found that I was really male, it would have confirmed that I was not who I said I was and that is when the real violence would start. I was soon sitting almost naked, they at least had the decency to replace my panties after checking for concealed microphones, shivering with cold and with fear while they were deciding what to do next. The door opened again and someone entered, the next voice I heard was Joe Chapman’s.

“OK Charlotte or whoever you are, you have been asking too many questions about me, and one-by-one my underlings or my associates are being called in by the police. That may be a coincidence but I think that it may be something to do with you.”

“Is that you Joe? When we have been talking at the club I have just been making conversation trying to get to know you, I enjoy your company, and I like to get to know people, that’s all, As for any involvement with your friends being held by the police that is nothing to do with me.”

“My contacts in the police have told me that there is someone new in the squad, a Welsh woman who from their description bears a remarkable likeness to you, Rhiannon Davies, does the name ring a bell? Apparently she has a direct link to someone I would like to talk to, Andrew Carmichael, again does that name sound familiar?”

“I’ve never heard of either of them, I don’t know how I can help you, please let me go.”

“Sorry I can’t do that, I’ll leave you to the tender touch of my friends here from one of the drug gangs I am linked with in Cardiff, and when I come back I hope for your sake that you have the common sense to talk before they do any serious damage to you. I’m not too interested in you, what I really want is that scumbag Carmichael, what the lads did to his family for me is nothing compared to how he is going to suffer when we catch up with him. He will regret getting some of my crew charged with the murder of that low-life Abbott for me, and for one of my main suppliers being investigated for tax fraud linked to illegal activities.”

They started off reasonably mildly, a few slaps and mild punches but the more I refused to talk the angrier they got and the punches became more violent. Despite that I couldn’t really give them what they wanted, once they found out that I was Rhiannon Davies, an undercover police officer, or even worse Andrew Carmichael, that would be it. If I was lucky it would be a quick bullet to the brain, if I was unlucky it would be a long drawn-out session of violent torture.

I was about to pass out from the beatings when I heard the door burst open, there was lots of shouting and the hood was pulled from my head. When I got my eyes in focus and attuned to the light I saw the room full of armed police followed by Megan. She quickly came over and covered me with a blanket and led me out of the building to her car.

“Sorry that it took us so long to come in to rescue you, when the tracker showed that you had not gone to the Dolce Vita, we followed you here but needed to wait until we had enough information to bring charges against Chapman and the Welsh crew. Let’s get you to the hospital to get you checked over. I’ll take you to the clinic that did the transformation work on you, it’ll save a lot of explanations.”

After a check up which showed nothing more than superficial bruising and swelling, along with a lot of pain and discomfort, I was discharged and returned to the house with Megan.

“We had people watching the Dolce Vita looking for Chapman and they saw you being snatched. We tracked you to the warehouse on the edge of town and watched as Chapman drove up and went in, all the time listening in to what was going on, your microphone implant worked wonderfully. Although we knew what was going on and that you were suffering we had to wait until Chapman confessed to his involvement with the deaths of your family and ‘Spider’ Abbott. Everything was being recorded and the armed squad’s body-cams filmed the state you were in when they burst into the room. At the moment Chapman, his associates that were with him, and the crew from Cardiff are all being held charged with kidnap, false imprisonment and grievous bodily harm, which is cut and dried, while investigations are continuing to gather evidence to corroborate his confessions regarding his activities in general and the murders in particular. You did a wonderful job, if you were formally with the police you would be getting a commendation and an award, but that will have to wait for the moment.”

“What happens now?”

“Take a few days off to fully recover then we would all love to see you back in the office, and I can assure you that there will be no more patronising sexist comments from any of your colleagues, you’re a bit of a heroine now. Obviously until this is all cleared up, you will need to continue as Rhiannon, as long as you are happy to do that. We will obviously need formal statements from you detailing what was said and done to you.”

A week later I was back at the squad room, being congratulated by the rest of the team, when I was called in to see Chief Superintendent Harrison.

“Welcome back Rhiannon, I hope that your aches and pains have eased and that you are feeling fine again. I would like to personally thank you for how you have helped to bring Chapman to justice, he has been a pain in our backsides for a long time, but until now we have never been able to directly connect him to any particular crime. The team are building up a case against him and his known associates using the information you have provided. Unfortunately the way these things operate we will never be able to totally eradicate drug dealing and the associated criminal activities in the town, but at least we are now more in control. You may have noticed that two of your colleagues are not in the office, we were able to identify them as the sources of information being passed to Chapman and some of his suppliers, they are now on remand charged with various corruption offences. We owe you our sincere thanks.”

“Thank you Sir, but if the truth be known what I have done has been more in revenge for what happened to my family rather than public duty.”

“That brings me to the main reason for why I want to speak to you. During your time here you have fitted in well and have proven yourself more than capable, have you considered a career in the police? Obviously you will have to go through basic training like everyone else, but after that you are too useful to be be a foot soldier pounding the streets and would be fast-tracked up the career ladder straight in as a detective constable. If you keep your nose clean it would not be too long before a promotion comes your way. We need more successful women like Megan to fill the ranks and there is an unwritten policy of positive discrimination to meet that goal.”

“It’s complicated Sir, I have some personal issues that need to be sorted, and if I do go ahead, I don’t think that it would be sensible and safe for me to be stationed here, it’s a small town and sooner or later I would be identified as the one who brought down Joe Chapman.”

“I see your point, but after your training I was going to suggest that you relocate out of the area, I am sure that I can get you a posting somewhere you are not known. Think about it and have a discussion with your cousin Superintendent Jones. She may not have mentioned it, but the way she has driven this investigation has earned her a promotion. Let me know what you decide and I will see what strings I can pull to smooth the path for you.”

Back home that evening Megan was keen to know why the Chief Superintendent had called me in to see him, and if that was the reason that I had been in a quiet thoughtful mood all day.

“He really complimented me on the way I had worked with you, and suggested that I join the police officially, promising that after the initial training that I could have a successful career as a detective.”

“That sounds wonderful, and well deserved, what’s the problem?”

“The conversation was all on the basis that I am Rhiannon and the opportunities for women to progress. You have never told him about my life as Andrew have you?”

“To be honest I was not certain whether or not he was corrupt and tied in with Joe Chapman, and although he seems to be in the clear, I am still not 100% sure, so as far as he and everyone else in the drug squad and this station are concerned you are Rhiannon, and always have been. Your identity change and associated records were carried out under a witness protection scheme and there is extremely limited access to your records.”

“All day I have been giving this a lot of thought and have almost decided that Andrew is in the past and that my future will be as Rhiannon. Two reasons, firstly that I don’t think that I will ever be totally safe as Andrew even under a false identity, and secondly I have adjusted to living as Rhiannon for the last few weeks, and the way I have been treated by you, Amanda and Lucy has been an eye-opener for me. All my life it has been stressful, living on the poverty line as a boy, and my involvement with the drugs gang. But in my time as Rhiannon, apart from the incident with those boys and the kidnapping and assault, I have been much more relaxed and comfortable with my life and have the prospect of a long-term professional career. Does it sound weird that I would want to become a woman?”

“It’s not weird at all, I have seen you grow into the woman you obviously are now, and it really suits you, if that’s what you want to do, go for it, and I’m sure that the witness protection scheme will assist you in your transition. Anyway, there is no rush to decide immediately, there is still a lot of work to be done on the case against Chapman and his associates, we will need Rhiannon around the office for a long time yet for you to decide if it is really what you want to do.”

Over the following months I settled in as Rhiannon and made my decision to transition, and was started on hormones which gradually slowly began to make adjustments to my body and to how I behaved. I also decided that I wanted a career in the police, but before I signed up for entry to the training programme I underwent surgery at the clinic to finally make me physically completely female.

While all this was happening in my personal life, the details of the case against Joe Chapman was finally wrapped up after an enormous amount of detailed investigation and after a drawn-out court hearing he was convicted on multiple charges. He was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for the murders, along with many of his associates on drugs-related and money-laundering charges.

Finally, after a very emotional farewell, it was time to leave Megan all my friends and colleagues behind and go off to restart my life as Rhiannon at the police training college in West Yorkshire and Andrew was left to disappear into who knows where. The tragedy of the deaths of my family had led me to change sides from a drug-dealing criminal to an honest officer of the law, and from a wayward youth with only bad future prospects into a respectable attractive young woman with a career ahead of her. It was time for a new chapter in my life story.

The end

( Until the sequel next year )