Chapter 13 Inspector Rothchild
Inspector Rothchild told Eric that it would be better if he were to come back to the police station under guard because as the outcome had been in his favour, he thought that his life might be in danger. Eric definitely agreed that maybe he would be safer under lock and key. The Judge on hearing this said, ‘Not another of your hair-brained schemes Inspector?’
‘Yes, I’m afraid so Judge.’
Judge Ronald Williams was an astute scholar and a dedicated law judge and if there was anything that was out of the ordinary, he wanted to know about it. He asked what the Inspector was up to.
‘I have a theory that if Mr. Todd walked out of this building he would be killed before he reached home. There’s a killer out there, just waiting for the right moment. I believe that Mr. Todd has been a victim of circumstances beyond his control and I need to know who is pulling the strings.’ Eric Todd, handcuffed, left the court under police guard with Inspector Rothchild. They all got into one car and drove off towards the Police Station. After about a mile one of the constables remarked ‘Sir! I think we are being followed!’ ‘Good.’ replied the Inspector. ‘That proves I was right in my assumptions.’
The Inspector decided it might be a good idea if Eric stayed in a cell for at least a couple nights. That way it would make whoever was after him believe that the hearing had gone the way this certain person had planned for Eric. He would have to think of a way to get Eric home after that time without anyone seeing and also get a stooge to take his place in the cell. Eric was chaffing at the bit, he needed to contact the hospital to see if Barbara had come out of her coma. Inspector Rothchild allowed this before placing Eric in a unlocked cell. There was no change in Barbara’s condition. Eric slept reasonably well considering all the problems he had faced and apparently by all accounts he was going to face if that certain person got their way. The Inspector went window shopping the next day and managed to obtain a dummy, which was escorted in a Black Maria and off-loaded at the rear of the police station, fully clothed between two burly policemen. Anyone witnessing would not suspect anything amiss, as this was the usual procedure for a prisoner arriving for the first time to be locked away.
Eric said ‘We’ll never get away with this.’
‘We will Mr. Todd, you’re going out tomorrow dressed as a woman. I managed to get you a very nice outfit. The dummy will take your place here and I can tell you that dummy put up a hell of a fight when we bought it in, so anybody out there would have seen that. Eric looked up at the ceiling with a resigned look on his face. As a passing remark the inspector said. ‘Mr. Todd, better try to get to bed early tonight. You must get your beauty sleep as you have to look your best tomorrow.’
As Eric laid on his bunk trying to get comfortable, he mulled over in his mind thoughts about everything that had happened to him and Barbara. Eric suddenly felt very tired and weary, yawned and turned over and fell asleep.
* * *
Eric felt utterly ridiculous as he stood in front of the mirror in the Ladies toilet trying to put lipstick on. He stepped back and looked hard into the mirror and said to himself ‘I look more like Coco the clown, all I need is a red nose.’ just at that point one of the policewomen came into the toilet with a chair and asked Eric to sit, went over to the washbasin and rinsed out a cloth and applied some soap and washed Eric’s face, drying with a towel she began to apply make-up. After a while – ‘There!’ said the PCW ‘You look absolutely ravishing’
‘I’ll have to take your word for that’
‘Just look in the mirror.’
Eric got off the chair and looked in the mirror and what he saw was someone quite different looking back at him. ‘Gosh! I do look different, don’t I? If only Barbara could see me now!’
‘If you walk like a woman, you’ll be able to fool anybody’ said the PCW.
Eric started to move backwards and forwards in front of the washbasins in an action he thought was the way women walked. The PCW remarked that if he walked like that he would be picked up for soliciting to incite male customers. She showed him how to walk like a woman. After about half an hour she allowed Eric to leave the ladies toilet. A few wolf whistles ensued and Eric winked back and walked straight into the Gents toilet. ‘You’re in the wrong room luv!’ said one of the policeman who happened to be in there. Eric lifted his wig slightly and the policeman said ‘undercover operations are we then?’. ‘No!’ said Eric ‘under wig!’ as he closed the cubicle door behind him. The PC looked puzzled for a moment or two then carried on with his business. The PC eventually went out exclaiming it was not safe to go into the gents as there was a transvestite lurking within. Eric came out and went straight to the cell he had spent the night in. The PC followed him and was looking more puzzled than ever until Inspector Rothchild arrived at the station and put everyone in the picture regarding Eric Todd’s appearance. This seemed to quell the anxious looks from the staff and policemen and women who had come on duty that morning.
‘Operation “Round-up” ‘ said Inspector Rothchild ‘will begin at 10:00pm. All officers are to report to the incident room by 8:30pm. Our operation consists of a crack-down on ladies of the night, to put it politely.’
Eric didn’t know what to do with himself, it as going to be a long day and felt that he looked ridiculous as he sat in the police station canteen in his posh frock de-wigged eating another late breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns and the rest of the trimmings that go with it. He must have drunk five mugs of coffee this morning and was feeling slightly overfilled. He went straight to the Gents before returning to the cell where he replaced his wig just in case someone new came along. He locked his cell from the inside and placed the key under the pillow. He read a newspaper and some women’s magazines and promptly fell asleep.
* * *
There seemed a bit of disturbance in the police station while Eric was asleep. Someone managed to gain entrance to the rear of the station where the cells were situated and fired a gun into the cell where Eric’s stand in dummy was residing and the bullet went through the head of the dummy shattering the plastic outer film covering. The intruder managed to get away. Inspector Rothchild was not pleased that this was allowed to happen and was sure that whoever it was had inside help and probably from someone who had come on duty at mid-day. No one saw the face of the intruder because of the hood that was covering his head.
He changed his mind about the shooting and thought it was the best thing that could have happened because it meant whoever perpetrated the daring daylight raid thought he had accomplished his contract and had slain the target. When Inspector Rothchild informed Eric of the shooting, he felt nauseas and unsafe.
Eric sat in the interview room as the Inspector explained to him that he must remain in character as a woman because his life might still be in danger should he make the wrong move. He must stay in the cell and it must be locked by the police officer on duty.
The PC who was still on duty from the early morning shift opened the door of the interview room, the Inspector remarked ‘She’s not going to tell us anything, take her back to her cell Thompson’
‘Yes sir! Come on missy, you’ve had your chance.’ Thompson shoved the lady back into the cell, winked unseen by anyone else and the door clanged shut. Thompson took the key and with another key unlocked a cupboard where he hung up the cell key and relocked the cupboard and clipped this bunch of keys on his belt and left the area. Eric thought he had better rehearse his woman’s voice, but very quietly.
Inspector Rothchild having gathered all the PC’s in the incident room stated ‘Despite what happened earlier today – ‘Operation Round-Up will still go on as planned for 10:00pm tonight.’
