A note to the readers: this is a rather ambitious undertaking for me as a new writer, but I have been a mystery fan all of my life. Once I started thinking about writing, this is one of the first stories that came to mind. I will warn the reader now- it is a whodunit, and as a fan of Ellery Queen, I will warn the reader before the last chapter, when I will reveal the killer. Please let me know what you think.

  

Murder in Pink

Tanya Lynn

  

I opened the door to my office and walked in. I said hi to my secretary Carol and went to my private office with my messages. I needed to get ready to see a client who wanted to see my partner. This wasn't as simple as it seemed. I went to the bookshelf of my office and pulled out my signed copy of Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt Revealed and flicked the hidden switch and pulled the bookcase out as the whole wall swung away. I went into the hidden room between my "partner" and I's office and started to peel off my clothes. After stripping down, I stripped down and checked for stray hairs and took out my artificial vagina and put it on. I applied the adhesive to my chest and applied my breastforms. After putting on my waste nipper and padded panties and then put on a lacy bra. It was already helping me to get into female mode. I put on a camisole and half-slip and then a business jacket and skirt with suntan pantyhose. I had hair that was fashionably long for a guy and short for a girl. It could be brushed one way to be a guy, and the other to be a girl. I went to the wall opposite the one to my office and opened another panel. I entered the other office, a noticeably feminine one. I closed the panel and called Carol on the intercom and told her I was ready to see the client when she arrived.

At this point, I suppose you are wondering about me. My name is David Scott Lamm, and I have lived as both a man and a woman since childhood. My parents loved to both dress up and encouraged my twin sister and I to do so as well. I never wanted to be fully one or the other- I just loved having the best of both of worlds. Yes, we were known to switch with each other, and while our parents could always tell, no one else could. They were fairly well off, and there was no question about college. A few close friends there knew about my cross-dressing, and somehow it got out to a government agency that I won't name. Along with some of my other talents, I had a talent for disguise. Of course, thanks to Mom and Dad's belief in being able to protect yourself, both my sister and I were black belts in Karate and crack shots with pistols and rifles. She opted for a more peaceful occupation by going to law school, but I studied Criminology and became an investigator and agent for the agency. At age 23, I was already embarking on a career that would take me all over the world. But, as I soon found out, I wasn't doing much to help other people. One particularly brutal assignment that got a lot of people killed in the name of changing one worthless government in the third world for another, I decided to walk away. I was now 30 and with my background managed to get a job with the Albuquerque police department as a detective. Again, the bureaucracy did me in. They also had no use for my cross-dressing, although I figured it would be great in vice. That also practically got me run out of town. So, I decided to hang out a shingle as a private eye. With my sister the lawyer's help, I decided to create a fictional cousin as a partner so I could operate as a man and woman. My past connections with the agency also helped. Tanya Lynn Lamm was born. If I needed an actual person for a meeting for both of us with a client, my sister would always fill in.

So, that's how I got to this point. Carol called and said that the client was here. I rose and took her hand when she arrived and then had her sit in one of my client chairs. She said that although she knew that both my cousin and I would work the case, she preferred talking to me. She was about 25 and dressed very conservatively. She wore no makeup, so it was hard to tell, but I imagined she would be quite pretty if she tried. I told her that all communications were confidential, since our office worked under the auspices of my sister's law firm. She said that she was actually here on behalf of her grandmother, who was the one that wanted to hire me. She would only hire a woman, and all work by my cousin had to be kept outside of the house. I said that was fine. I said that we charged three hundred a day plus expenses. She asked that I come to the house the next day for lunch at two and meet her grandmother, and I agreed. After escorting her out to Carol where she gave her a check for $3000 as a retainer, I went back to my office.

I changed out of the suit into a more casual blouse and skirt. I didn't feel like changing and decided to stay as Tanya until tomorrow. I kept separate apartments for both in the same building and went to her place. I guess it sounds like I have a lot of money for a private eye, but you have to understand that I put a lot of money away when I was an agent. Now, I was able to do what I wanted, but to be very comfortable doing it. I walked the short distance from the office building where my office was to my apartment building, getting a lot of stares from guys as I walked. I went to my girl's apartment and checked my mail and then called my girlfriend Susan. You see, she knew about my dual identity and acted as my best friend when I was being Tanya Lynn. We had planned on dinner that night, and I told her I was staying as a girl for the evening. When I was in character, I stayed there no matter what. I had found this is why I never got caught. We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant and had dinner. We went home and said goodnight. I slipped on my favorite babydoll nightie and watched TV for a while and went to bed. I got up in the morning and after making breakfast, dressed in a business casual blouse and skirt, went to the office to take care of paper work. When the time came, I went to my bookcase in the girl's office and moved my copy of JA Jance's "Partners in Crime" and flicked the switch to go into the middle room. There, I put on another business suit and skirt and adjusted my makeup.

I then went down to the parking garage and picked up my Camaro and headed out of downtown to the north valley. I knew the address was in the richer part of town, but I had never seen this particular place. It was a huge estate, and the house set up on a hill. You could have fit my office and apartment buildings there. I was let in by a guard at the gate and drove past what looked like a guest house that was under construction. As I arrived at the main house, a servant came out and took my car and parked it. a butler let me in and there I saw Diane, the girl who had come to my office. She smiled and shook my hand and escorted me to a parlor where an old woman of 85 or so sat in a wheelchair. She told me that the only one she could trust was Diane. She said that she knew that someone was trying to kill her and she had hired me to find out who. She gave me a complete report that detailed all of the members of her family and said I could read it later. I told her that I had a friend with a great security company that could provide security, but she said she felt hers was adequate. I said I would read the report and return in the morning. We made casual conversation as we had lunch and I left and returned to my office. There was nothing pressing, so I took the report home and put on a tank top and a pair of shorts and sat at my desk to read it. but, I started feeling feverish. Soon, I was in bed with a terrible stomach ache and a fever of 102. I decided to wait until the morning to call a doctor. In the morning, the fever went down, but I still felt weak. I sat down to read the report. I had just started when te phone rang. It was Steve Romeros, a friend of mine, one of the few I had on the cops, and one of the few people who knew my dual identity. He was a homicide detective, and much as I hoped it was a friendly call, I suspected differently. I was right. He was calling me from the estate I had been at yesterday and wanted me there pronto. He wanted to know if I knew how my client had wound up literally frozen solid since I had seen her yesterday. Especially since she was found in a locked room with no possible way for anyone to have gotten in or out.

End of part one

  

  

  

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