The Housekeeper - Chapter 56 Part 2 of 3

The Housekeeper

By Karen Singer

Chapter 56 Part 2 of 3

“Hi Janice, it’s Susan.”

Janice appreciated the pleasant greeting, even though she knew exactly who was calling.  What she didn’t appreciate was that she absolutely had to find more burner phones later.  The one she was talking on then was the last one she had.  “Hi Susan,” she replied.  “What’s happening?  Any word on that job for your father’s client?”  That wasn’t what Janice was mostly interested in, but she felt it would be better to ask about that first than her own business.

“Evidently, the client is still considering it,” Susan replied.  “We’ll have to let you know about it if it happens.”

“That’s fine,” Janice said.  “And how about… my problem?”

“That’s what I’m calling about.  Father and I talked about it quite a bit.  He was most interested in the situation.  He is recommending that we remove part of the drugs and part of the money.  He sees no sense in having so much of both left for the authorities to simply seize when they do find what’s buried there.”

“I want no part of the drugs!” Janice told her flatly.  “I’ve never handled them, and I don’t intend to!”

“That’s perfectly fine,” Susan replied.  “I’ll take care of the drugs myself.  You can take back some of that money you left there.  I’m sure you can find better uses for it.”

“Yes, I’m absolutely sure that I can,” Janice replied.  “It was difficult to part with that much money to begin with.  I simply felt that the amount was necessary.”

“It was good thinking,” Susan told her.  “And we debated that fact for a long time.  But Father finally decided that there was no real need for quite that much.  And he assured me that once that little stash is taken care of, that he will make sure that the rumors about Agent Jacobs get spread to the right people.  He even thinks he can get Jacobs’ girlfriend involved.  He feels as you do that it would support your case much more safely.”

“That would be excellent if he can arrange it,” Janice exclaimed.  “So you want me to go back and get the money and the drugs?”

“Yes, but I’ll go with you.  I’ll need to test the drugs anyway.  We’ll do it together.”

That surprised Janice.  “Isn’t this something that your… people would do instead?  Forgive me for saying this, but from what I’ve noticed, they go out of their way to keep you well protected.”

“You’re absolutely right,” Susan replied.  “But sometimes… I find it necessary to do some things myself.  Don’t worry, I’m well trained for this kind of work, and yes, my guards will still be close by.  Even when I do handle something personally, they still watch my back and help me when I need them.”

Janice figured she had the picture pretty well.  “So when do you want to do this?”

“Friday night if you can make it.”

“I see no problem with that,” Janice replied.  “Where do you want to meet?”

“We’ll pick you up at your house.”

Roger’s final class of the morning was about to end.  He had collected all the tests, having the students drop them off on his desk themselves so he wouldn’t have to get up.  As he had been doing all morning, he would grade them while his next class was taking their exam.  But for the tests from this class, that wouldn’t be until after lunch… if Carol remembered to bring him anything to eat. 

He was hungry, he wanted something to drink too, but he was more than willing to forego drinking anything so he wouldn’t wet his diapers… more than he suspected he would be wetting them fairly soon.  He had been battling with it for a good part of the morning now.  He suspected that his tight corset was probably not helping that little problem any. 

He had to pee and the urge was getting worse!  He had no doubt that he would soon be forced to sit there and let it happen.  He wasn’t looking forward to it at all.  He really wanted to be able to get up and walk about for a bit to try to fight off his aching need to pee.  Not that it would do him any good.  He knew he was doomed as to that little problem before he started.  But stretching his legs would still be really nice since his backside was becoming totally numb from barely moving all morning. 

The bell rang and chaos was launched as the students all got up and headed out.  Roger had been in a state of mild fright since he had arrived that morning.  The kids leaving only lessened that fright a little bit.  He knew all too well that his classroom would be full again very soon. 

But now it was lunchtime.  He expected that Carol would be in soon to bring him something to eat.  That thought frightened him more than a bit.  Since she was being creative today… as Janice had put it, he was more than a bit frightened by what else she might “burden” him with. 

He sat there and watched his open classroom door.  If it had been closed and he wasn’t expecting anyone to enter, he might chance standing up for a few seconds.  But as things were, that option was pretty much out of the question.  He was too… chicken.  A few minutes after the bell had rung for the next class session, Carol entered his room – and didn’t bother to close the door behind her.  He said nothing as she simply approached with her backpack slung over her arm.

“Having fun today?” she asked brightly.

“Not exactly,” Roger replied.

Carol put a mock look of surprise on her face.  “And why is that?  I would imagine you’d be having nothing but fun today… secretly dressed like a girl from the waist down… right here, not only in public but in school!  I can’t imagine that someone like you wouldn’t be totally thrilled by it.”

“Someone like me?” Roger asked.

“You know… a sissy!”  She burst out in a laugh. 

Roger did his best to ignore the dumb remark.  “Any chance you brought me something to eat?” he asked.

“That depends,” she replied.

“On what?”

“Have you wet those diapers you’re wearing yet?”

Roger stared at her, trying to control the annoyance he felt.  “No!”

“Not yet anyway,” she replied, suppressing another laugh.  “Well, maybe what I have for your lunch today will help.”  She started pulling things out of her backpack.  “Momma made this just for you,” she exclaimed as she pulled out a large thermos.  She pulled out a large plastic bowl and a spoon from her backpack as well.  She opened the thermos and dumped the entire contents into the bowl… chicken soup! 

Roger noted that it was a lot of soup, even for him.  And it was an especially large amount given the way his corset squeezed his stomach so he couldn’t eat as much. 

“Momma said you love her chicken soup, so she made some just for you today.”

Roger could smell the soup she had just poured into the bowl.  It smelled great… but it was ninety percent liquid!  And more liquid in his system just then wasn’t what he needed.  He could feel the urge to pee getting worse just looking at all that soup!

“Oh… and here,” Carol added as she quickly reached back into her bag.  She pulled out a can of coke to go with the soup.  “You might need something to drink with your lunch as well,” she said as she set the coke down on his desk for him.

Roger almost lost the battle with his bladder right then at the sight of the coke being set in front of him.  And the only thing that he could think, was that it wasn’t likely he was going to need that coke at all.  Especially not with that much soup.

“Now don’t make Momma angry and not eat it all,” Carol said teasingly.  “I’ll be back a few minutes before class starts to pick up your bowl for you, so make sure you finish it all!” She looked at him with a stern expression on her face.  “And that goes for the drink too!  All of it!  Before I get back!”

Roger only nodded… unhappily. 

Laughingly, Carol hurried out to get her own lunch… once again leaving the door wide open. 

Roger stared at the soup.  It smelled great!  And he was hungry.  It was just an awful lot of liquid that he would have to put into his system.  He knew that Carol had brought the soup purposely… just to force him to wet himself during the afternoon.  The drink she had set on his desk wasn’t going to help matters much either. 

Already fighting desperately against the urge to pee, he sighed deeply and did his best to relax his muscles, letting his body relieve his need into the thick diapers he was wearing.  It was all he could do to keep himself from breaking out in another crying spell right then and there.  The smell of the soup was great… as his body cringed against the miserable feel of his pee spreading out all over his bottom.  Ugh!  He shivered a bit from the awful feel of it.  He absolutely hated having to do that!  But he knew there would be no winning at all.  And he figured he might as well get that part over with now so he could enjoy the soup.  And Janice did make great chicken soup! 

Cringing at the miserable feel of his now wet diapers, he picked up his spoon and took a sip.  Mmmm!  Horrible wet feeling on his bottom, great wet taste in his mouth!

He was nearly done with his soup when an unexpected guest entered his room.  “Hi Roger,” Jennifer said as she walked in.  “You didn’t come to the teacher’s lounge for lunch, so I thought I’d see what you’re up to.”

“Mm!” Roger replied with his mouth full of soup before he had a chance to swallow.  “I’m trying to get some work done,” he replied a moment later as he motioned with his spoon at all the student tests in front of him. Was he pushed into his desk far enough to make sure she wouldn’t notice the skirt he was wearing?  He pulled his feet up closer to his chair to make sure she wouldn’t notice his heels either. 

Jennifer looked over the edge of his desk at what was in the bowl.  “Chicken soup?  Oh God that smells good!  No wonder you didn’t come to the teacher’s lounge.  You wanted to hog it all to yourself!” she laughed.

“Um… something like that,” he replied, trying to smile.

“How’s the exams going?” she asked.

“So far, so good,” Roger replied with a shrug.  “Nobody has completely failed yet, and I’ve got all but last period’s exams already graded.”

Jennifer shook her head. “I don’t know why you insist on doing them all in one day.  You’ve got a week.  You could break the work up over a couple of days.”

He shook his head.  “But this way, I get it all over with quicker.”

“Whatever you like,” she replied.  She stared at his face for a moment.  “Um… is it me, or do you look a bit… different lately?”

Roger started to panic.  Could she tell what he was wearing under the desk?  “Different?” he asked.

“Yeah.  “Like your skin looks… different.”

Roger relaxed a bit.  “Yeah, I noticed,” he said.  “I think the hormones are starting to work already.”

“Hormones!  Are you taking them already?”

Roger felt himself blushing a bit.  “Yeah.  Not quite two weeks now.”

Jennifer shook her head.  She still didn’t want to believe that he was doing it… turning himself into a woman.  Why would any man want to do that?  But it was an old argument in her mind now.  “So how long do you think it will take?” she asked.

“How long for what?”

“Before you develop… breasts?”

“I don’t know,” he replied.  “From what I’ve read, it’s different with everyone.  Some get them fairly quick, others take a very long time and even then they don’t develop much at all.”

“And which kind do you expect to be?”

“I have no idea.  I’m just… waiting to see.”  That was only partially accurate.  He was really dreading finding out if he might be one of the ones who developed quickly… and a lot.  He just hoped he wouldn’t be – one of those!  He had no desire to have major breasts hanging off of his chest.  Woman or not!

“Have you developed any soreness there yet?” she asked.

Roger was a bit bothered by the question.  “Not… really,” he replied.

“But it sounds like you might be feeling something.”

Roger thought about it.  “Maybe,” he replied slowly.  “But most likely, I’m not.  What I am noticing instead I think, is that my skin seems to feel a bit softer to me lately.”

“Can I feel?” she asked.  Roger held out his arm and let her run her hand over the shaved surface.  She shrugged.  “It’s a bit hard for me to really compare since it’s been a while since we… really touched.  But it feels nice and soft to me.  Are you experiencing any other changes yet?”

Roger stared at her for a moment before nodding his head.  Every once in a while… I seem to just want to… cry.  It’s almost like I need a good cry.  I can’t tell you how weird that feels.”

Jennifer laughed.  “Welcome to woman 101.”

Roger did his best to smile.  The truth was, he had been fighting the urge to cry all day because of what Carol was making him endure.  He had no doubt that later tonight he would indulge himself in the privacy of his room.  Or better yet, maybe while he was taking a bath.  The thought of wanting a nice warm relaxing bath instead of a shower suddenly struck him as something strange.  Was that another sudden change?  His reasons for needing a good cry just grew by another notch.

FBI Agent Phil Goodman, the head of the Atlanta Robbery division walked out of his office and into the main room where most of his agents had their desks.  As he looked around, his eyes fell on the only two agents currently in the room… Sid Forsyth and Ted Jacobs.  Well, since they were the only two in the room, they were the only two to be unlucky enough.  “Sid… Ted,” he called as he headed toward them.

“What’s up?” Sid asked.

“I need both of you to head upstairs to Missing Person’s and give them a hand checking videos.”

“Oh for crying…”

“Stow it!” Phil said quickly, stopping the complaining that had started out of Jacob’s mouth.

“Why us?” Jacobs asked.

“Because you two are the only ones here.  Now get your asses upstairs.  Check with Hannah, she’ll let you know what’s going on.”

As soon as his boss’s back was turned, Jacobs rolled his eyes.  “Damn missing persons work again!”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Sid replied as he got up from his seat.

“Why can’t they hire more of their own people to do this kind of stuff?” Jacobs asked as they headed for the door.

“Budget cuts!” Sid replied.

Jacobs only grunted.

Agent Hannah Montrose was well known in the building.  If she wasn’t married and so committed to her family, Jacobs would have tried dating her.  But she was totally committed to her husband and everyone knew it.  “Phil sent us up to help out,” Jacobs said as they walked into the large room full of desks and tables in the Missing Person’s section. 

“Great!” Hannah replied.  “We need all the help we can get.  Pick a computer and get comfortable,” she told them. “We need help checking the traffic exiting the airport.”

There were several computers set up on a table along one side of the wall and several seats in front of them.  Jacobs and Forsyth both sat next to each other. 

“Who we looking for?” Sid asked.

“His name is Joseph Halifax,” Hannah told them.  She set an eight by ten photo of the man down between them so they could refer to it.  “He was supposed to be on a cruise ship vacation, and then he was going to spend some time hanging out in Miami, but he not only wasn’t on the boat, there was no reservation for him either.  And he was supposed to fly to Miami to get on the ship, but he had no plane reservation that we could find.  But he did go to the airport!” she told them.

“So… maybe the guy just wanted to get away for a while.”

“Huh!” Hannah grunted.  “We can only hope.”  She moved over to Jacob’s computer and pulled up a video.  “Here’s the footage of him at the airport.  We found his car is in long-term parking by the way.  He showed up at the airport just as if he was actually going to take a flight to Miami.”

Sid and Ted waited until the video loaded.  It showed a guy walking along the outside of the Atlanta terminal. 

“You’ll notice that he doesn’t have any luggage,” Hannah mentioned.  “And yet, he was supposed to be away for two weeks.”  A minute later she added, “Now here’s the interesting part.”

Jacobs and Forsyth watched as Halifax met up with a woman.  It was hard to tell anything at all about her due to her large hat and sunglasses.  It was impossible to identify her at all.  But there was something about her build and her manner that had Ted Jacobs stunned.  Could it be?  Was it possible?  He was sure he was wrong.  He had to be wrong!  There wasn’t one piece of evidence to suggest that he was right!  But he couldn’t get it out of his head that he was looking at Janice Stokley meeting with the missing man – Joseph Halifax!

It couldn’t be!