Getting to see her ladyship proved easier said than done. The estate manager took an immediate dislike to Josie. Thankfully, his boss was at her office desk when he called her. A few words from her to the manager were enough to let her pass.

Then at the 'big house', a maid/household servant said,
“Her Ladyship is not receiving visitors today. She is expecting an important visitor.”

“And what if I’m that visitor?” retorted Josie, hoping that it was true.

The servant looked Josie up and down before shaking her head. Then she tried to show Josie the door.

Josie shrugged her shoulders and was about to leave when a voice from upstairs said,
“Amy, is that Josie Hayes?”

Josie nodded.
“Yes, your grace.”

“Amy, show her into the library. I’ll be down in a minute.”

Josie resisted smirking but followed Amy into a ‘library’.

While she waited, Josie looked at some of the books on the shelves. Some were secured by chains, which she found rather strange. They were all in locked cabinets, which was also very strange. To her, a library was a place where you accessed books, not locked them away.

A voice from behind her said,
“Back in the seventeenth century, books were expensive, so they were locked up. Some of the texts that you see there are almost priceless. There is a first edition of Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels that is signed by the author. Next to it is an early copy of ‘The Canterbury Tales’.”

Josie turned to see a very pretty woman who was probably in her late fifties. She was dressed pretty simply in a cream-coloured linen suit and a turquoise blouse. Her blonde hair was unusually long for a woman of her age, but Josie knew in an instant that it suited her.

Josie smiled.

“I’m Elenora, by the way. None of this Lady stuff, ok? I’m sorry about Amy. She likes to think that it is her job to protect me from all strangers. She won’t bother you in future; you are on her list of people whom I want to see.”

“Pleased to meet you, Elenora. Thank you for that. I was a bit worried for a moment, the way that she looked me up and down.”

Elenora laughed.
“Amy likes to think that she can judge someone solely by the clothes that a person wears. Some of the biggest con men come in Saville Row Suits and driving Bentleys.”

Josie smiled at that. It seemed to her that the ‘lady’ of the house was quite down to earth. That was quite unlike those portrayed in TV series like Downton Abbey.

“Come, let’s sit by the window until lunch is ready.”

Josie followed her to a small table that was by a large window. Two chairs were positioned by the table such that they looked out onto the extensive grounds.

“I’m a bit baffled as to why you want me here unless it is to tell me to stay away from your son. Believe me, I told him to get lost last Sunday night, that I’m not interested,” said a puzzled but very cautious Josie.

“I know. He told me about his visit yesterday morning. Almost immediately, I knew that I wanted to meet the woman who told my son to sling his hook. That took guts, my dear. You don’t mind me calling you ‘dear’, do you?” asked Elenora.

“No… No, I don’t. But... If he told you all about me, then why am I here? It can’t be because I told him that I’m not interested in him.”

“Partially. As I said, very few women would have the guts to do that, but that isn’t the real reason. Your story interested me, so I did some very superficial digging. Your family background and everything. It rang a lot of bells. Not long after I was married, my husband and I were posted to the Embassy in Tehran. Not long after that, the Shah fell, so we have some idea about how life was then. It was scary for us to have hundreds of men outside our apartment shouting ‘Death to Infidels’. Once the hardliners took over and had stabilised the situation, we were declared persona non grata and left.”

“I was born here, and as I told your son, I ran away from my parents and family when I was about to be married to someone that I’d never really met, just to keep the honour of my family intact. How could I marry a woman when I was going against everything that the Imam taught us in Religious School, because my mind kept telling me that I should have been born a woman?”

“Charles told me about the threat of an honour killing. That is just horrible,” said Elenora.

“If it happens, then it happens. If they find me, they will come in numbers. Two families have had their honour besmirched. According to the Imam who taught me the Koran, I am a blasphemer and people like me are stoned to death. Yes, it is medieval, but the religion that was once the forerunner of scientific advances is regressing to the time of its founding.”

“That is a damming point of view,” remarked Elenora.

“It is, but look at what is going on in Afghanistan. Women are being denied almost all forms of education. That is regressing to the norms of the seventh or eighth century. I’d be stoned to death if I went to Afghanistan.”

Elenora smiled.
“From what my son told me, I got the impression that you were an intelligent woman. Now I know that you are that and more.”

Somewhere in the depths of the house, a bell tinkled.

Elenora stood up.
“It is time for lunch. It is a nice day, so I thought that we might eat on the terrace.”

Josie walked by her side out of the library through a sitting room and onto a large terrace at the back of the house. A table for two was set up under a shade.

“I hope that you like what we have. I wasn’t sure if you still followed your religion’s dietary rules, so we are having some poached salmon.”

“Thanks for that,” said Josie as she sat down.
“I gave all that up when I changed my name. I had some counselling, and it soon became clear to me that I’d have to distance myself from before as far as possible if I wanted to truly break free of my past.”

“I take it that you are from East London? Your accent is noticeable.”

Josie felt a little cornered, but her answer was delayed by the arrival of their lunch. Poached Salmon and a salad.

When they were alone again, Josie asked,
“How did you know?”

Elenora smiled.
“I’m originally from Deptford, born and bred. I met my late husband and Charles’s father when he and his mates from university had a reunion on one of those riverboats that serve you dinner on the trip down to Greenwich and then party on the way back. I was working as a waitress on the boat and was assigned to look after his table. One of his buddies was very rude to me, and he came looking for me to apologise. I, being a bit of a chancer, told him that he could take me to a Michelin-starred restaurant for lunch and then and only then would I consider accepting his apology.”

She grinned.
“As you can see, I did accept it, and like Charles, he knew that I was, as the police say, ‘a person of interest’. “

Her words did a lot to make Josie feel a lot more at ease.

Towards the end of the meal, Elenora asked,
“Have you ever thought about going and facing your parents?”

Her question momentarily stunned Josie.
“Never in a million years. Certainly not on my own. My father is a sort of elder in the Mosque. Not quite an Imam, but he leads the teaching of the Koran to the children. He has a position to uphold. I have no idea how he explained my sudden disappearance, but… I just don’t want to go there. I have three older brothers who would do anything my father tells them to do, almost without question, and that includes murdering me. They… In their mind, they would just be carrying out God's work because I caused the family to lose face in the community.”

“I think that is the right attitude to take at the moment.”

“Elenora, what do you mean by moment? I told Charles to get lost, and I am only here because I don’t want to get fired. I can just about get by month to month. Losing that job would probably lead to my becoming homeless. You have no idea how many companies all have nice PR statements about welcoming everyone regardless of sex or gender, but that all goes out the door when I tell them about myself.”

“You said that you had transitioned? Is that not the case?” asked Elenora.

Josie hesitated for a second before answering.
“I have lived as a woman for nearly four years and had one failed breast operation due to a leaky implant. Other than that, I take hormones to counter the testosterone, but down below, I’m still male, but it is next to useless.”

Then Josie wiped her lips with the perfect white napkin and stood up.
“Thank you for your time and the lunch, Elenora. I need to go home and start looking for another job.”

“Josie, please sit down. I do apologise for being so clumsy just now. I was hoping that we could talk frankly, woman to woman.”

“But, I’m not a woman. I’ll never be a real one.”

“Au contraire, Josie, you are a strong-willed woman who has a brain. Many women of your age could not make a decision even if it was going to save their lives. That is because of the mollycoddling that many parents give their sons and especially their daughters. You have overcome so much adversity. What you said goes a long way to explain why you told my son to get lost.”

Josie sat down and waited for Elenora to continue.

“Look, Josie, I’ll tell you no lies. I have grown to like you in the short time that you have been here. You remind me so much of a younger me. I think that you would be the perfect partner for Charles.”

“He told me that you’d try to marry me off to him. He wasn’t wrong.”

“He’s right, I’m afraid. That is just my mothering thing, wanting the best for my son. That said, I think that the two of you could be a great team, a team to take this estate forward.”

“A team that could not give you an heir?”

Elenora laughed.
“What I said earlier is right. You are a very sharp cookie. Charles is not my only child. His older brother is married and has two children.”

“So, Charles is not ‘Lord of the Manor’ in waiting?”

She shook her head.
“No, and I hope he never misled you into thinking that way?”

“He didn’t. It was one of my friends from the night at the pub who told me that he was Lord Crowley.”

“George, his brother, is a diplomat just like his father was. Currently, he and his family are in Japan, where they have been residing for over two years. With him out of the picture, it is only natural for people to assume that he’s the Lord. Charles plays it safe and does not deny or confirm it when people say that he is. He is very careful not to use the title himself.”

“He didn’t correct me when I accused him…”

“Josie, I made a deal with your boss to pay your wages for a week. As it is almost the middle of the week, how about we say that you work for me until a week on Friday. What I want you to do for me will take at least a couple of weeks. I’ll pay you each Friday in cash if that is ok with you. I get the feeling that money is tight, so some cash in hand would be very useful. Correct?”

“Yes, it would. What do you want me to do? I’m not exactly qualified for anything.”

“Your job is as an accounts clerk. Am I right?”

“Yes. I was always good with numbers.”

She smiled.
“Then… Charles’s business could do with some help. Their books are in a mess, and it is almost their year-end time. Just spend the week looking at how they run the shop, and let me know what you think on Friday. A fresh set of eyes and all that.”

“Shop? What sort of shop is it?”

“Sorry. I should have said workshop. The business is converting old Land Rovers and the like to run on Electric power. A company in Wales supplies the kits, and Charles, plus Stephen and Trevor Henshaw, do the work. They have a couple of part-timers who come in and run the spray booth. You met them at the Pub, didn’t you?”

“I remember them. But… I’d have to work with Charles?”

“Just tell him that you are working for me, and he’ll not interfere. They have been at it for a couple of years and have yet to make a profit, or that’s what I can ascertain from the mess that is their accounts.”

“But Elenora, I’m not qualified in business or accountancy?”

“You can understand profit and loss accounts, and you have some common sense, don’t you?”

“I do, but…”

“Charles won’t bite… Tell us over dinner on Friday what you think. Just be honest.”

Josie didn’t respond. Her gaze went towards the house and grounds. Places like this were the stuff of dreams. This life was not for her. The sound of a Peacock brought her back to reality.

“Ok, I’ll do it. Just for the week and a half.”

“Good,” said a smiling Elenora.

“I’ll show you where the shop is located on the estate map. Do you think that you can find your way there?”

She smiled.
“I can but try.”

“Why don’t we go into the Estate Office, and I’ll show you where it is on the map.”

Half an hour later, Josie pulled up at what she assumed was the ‘workshop’. To her uneducated eye, it looked little more than a cluster of old farm buildings. As soon as she stepped out of the car, she heard signs of machinery coming from behind a large set of double doors. Inset in one of them was a more normal-sized door.

After locking her car, she went to the small door and opened it. Inside was a workshop. She was in the right place. At first glance, she could not see anyone working, but the sounds led her towards the rear of the shop.

She breathed a small sigh of relief when she saw one of the Henshaw twins working some steel backwards and forwards through some sort of machine. He saw her out of the corner of his eye and stopped work.

“Charles is expecting you. He’s in the office.”
He pointed to a small room over to her right.

“Thanks… Steve?”

He smiled.
“I’m Trev. Steve is the ugly one who’s out delivering a car to the customer.”

Josie smiled at his joke. Then she saw a ‘T’ letter on his overalls.

"Hello, Josie," said Charles as she stuck her head around the door to the office. Two desks, a large drawing board and three filing cabinets occupied most of the floor space. Almost every inch of space was covered in piles of paper. Inwardly, she groaned. If this were their books, then there was little hope for her getting anything done.

“Sorry about the mess. Books and stuff are not high on my priority list,” said Charles.

That was, in Josie’s mind, the understatement of the year.

“Do you have a day-to-day ledger? You know, a place where you record all the income and expenditure as it happens?” asked Josie.

“Not really. We use that binder for orders, bills and delivery notes,” said Charlie, pointing to a large lever arch box folder that was full to bursting.

Josie shook her head. There was no way that she’d get this mess even half sorted out in the eight and a quarter days that she had left.

“Ok, let me make a start, and at the end of the day, I’ll let you know what I find.”

He smiled. His body language told her, ‘Good luck, you are going to need it.’

Just before 5 pm, Josie had done a first pass over the mess of papers. Instead of paper covering every surface, there were four large piles on the floor and an even larger one on the desk.

“How is it coming?” asked Charlie as the work day ended.

“Very slowly,” said Josie.
“These accounts are a shambles, and that is the polite version. This will not be a quick job.
At that moment, she wished that she were up in Burnley and working in the sweatshop sewing fast fashion clothes.

“That bad, eh?”

She shook her head.
“Worse. There are bills dating back over a year.”

“About that. We sort of got into only paying those that send us a final demand, apart from the company that supplies the conversion kits and a few other key suppliers.”

“Is that how you manage your cash flow?”

“It seems to work.”

“What about payment from customers? I’ve found a load of quotes but only a couple of signed contracts.”

“Most of them are on the computer.”

“Er? What computer?”

“Isn’t that here?”

“Look for yourself? What do you see?”

“It must be at home. I’ll bring it in tomorrow.”

Under her breath, Josie said, 'If you can find it'.

“There is a lot of work here. You can tell your mother that getting this place and the accounts straight is going to take more than five days. There are bills and invoices here dating from three years ago that have no record in the books.”

“I… I’m sorry.”

Josie smiled.
“From what I have seen, you are more interested in doing a good job. How long did you spend rubbing down that panel? You were working on it when I arrived, and here you are still doing something to it.”

“About three hours. Why?”
“Is the customer going to pay for that? Perfection does not come cheap, but if the customer is going to use the converted car for its proper purposes, why strive to get a perfect finish? If the end use is going to be a working vehicle, then don’t give it a perfect finish. If, on the other hand, it is going to be a Chelsea Tractor, and if the customer will pay for the grade 1 finish, then and only then do it. It is a matter of basic economics and giving the customer what they will pay for and only that.”

“Ouch!” muttered Charlie.

“Isn’t the purpose to make a profit as well as to keep some older vehicles on the road?”

He shook his head and then smiled.
“It is.”

“Then you need someone to run the office side of the place sooner rather than later.”

“I’m going home and taking a long bath. The dust in this place is awful,” said Josie as she picked up her bag and defiantly strode out of the office and workshop.

Charlie watched her go and admired her chutzpah. Most people would not talk to him like that.

The following morning, Josie returned to the workshop. She was surprised to find Elenora there with Charlie.

“Good morning, Josie. Last night, Charles told me what you said about the books, so I came to see for myself. I knew that it was bad, but not like this. I am not happy with the situation. Who knows how much VAT has not been paid, and no one likes the taxman swooping on a business. Then he showed me this!”

Elenora handed Josie a sheet of paper. It was a quote for a professional company to come in and do the same job that Josie was doing. Her eyes bulged when she saw the total price.

“That is a lot of money,” said Josie as she handed back the quote to Elenora.

“And my dear son concocted a whole story to get you here under false pretences. I’m sorry that I fell for it.”

Josie felt a lot of pressure lifted from her.

“The problem of the books remains. Josie, how about I pay you what this quote says, and you sort this place out once and for all? Part of this deal is to tell my dear son to get lost and that you are not going to fall for his tricks. While you are here, you are the boss. No new work will come in unless you give the go-ahead.”

Before Josie could answer, Elenora added,
“It would mean giving up that old job, but the vibe that you have been giving off leads me to think that it will not be a great loss?”

Josie just smiled. Elenora was a smart person and not one to get on the wrong side of.

Elenora turned to Charlie.
“Charles Crowley! If no one sorts these books out, then I'm going to pull the plug on that new paint shop that you want. Do you understand these conditions?”

“Yes, mother,” replied a red-faced Charlie.

Josie’s opinion of Elenora went up at least 10 notches.

“Well, Josie, how about it?”

“I’m going to have to think about this. I don’t like being led up the garden path.”

Josie turned to Charlie.
“As for you, Charles Crowley, I don’t like being lied to. If I do accept this offer, then one more trick and I’m gone… understand?”

“I do,” replied Charlie in a very subdued voice.

“Good. I’m going to think about this, and I’ll let you know, Elenora.”

Josie left them alone and returned to her car. She found that she was shaking, but she had to get away from the workshop.

Josie had calmed down a lot by the time she returned home. She could still have put a knee in Charlie’s private parts, but would stop short of throttling the life out of him.

Even doing the washing up and then the ironing failed to calm her down entirely. Charles Crowley was not her favourite person in the world that day.

One restless night later, Josie began to look at her options. She had no reason to believe that Lady Crowley would stiff her for her lost wages, so at least she could breathe a little bit while she looked for a new job. She’d know one way or the other about that on Friday. Cash in her pocket would go a long way towards making her want to stay.

Then, there was Elenora’s offer. For six or eight weeks of work, she could pocket more money than her current job would pay her in a year. From what she’d seen, most of the work would be little more than getting the business records in place before the end of the financial year. Josie knew she had to look out for herself. She’d trusted people before, and it had always ended in a total disaster. No more.

That night, she slept very well now that her mind was made up. She had a plan. Her fund for a new set of implants should come out of this with a considerable bonus.

[to be continued]