by P R Ellis
‘What is it?’ Angela asked.
‘Um,’ Jasmine hesitated, ‘I lost it when Marilyn kicked me. It fell out.’
‘Oh!’ Angela giggled, ‘Is it a false testicle?’
‘Yes,’ Jasmine said, feeling the colour rise up her cheeks.
‘Well, you can keep it as a spare or as a souvenir,’ Angela said grinning. Jasmine felt her cheeks burning.
‘I hope I won’t need a spare and I don’t think I will need much reminding of this case.’ She closed her hand around the hard plastic sphere, hiding it from view. Her other hand rested on the mound in the bedclothes covering her padded groin.
‘I’ll see if I can get some breakfast for you. You must be hungry.’ Angela said, rising from her seat.
Jasmine was barely aware of Angela leaving the room as she was absorbed in her thoughts. She rolled the ball around in her hand. It was certainly a memento of what she’d been through - not that she wanted any more reminders. Perhaps she wouldn’t have to keep the inanimate objects between her legs for long. How she wished she could complete her gender reassignment and fulfil her wish to be a woman at last. That was what Xristal had wanted and what Marilyn had succeeded in achieving - except that in her case it had not turned out to be all that she had hoped for.
Jasmine lay on her bed, idly flicking the pages of a magazine Angela had bought her. She had only been awake a few hours but she was already bored. At least she was wearing a proper nightie now - another purchase by Angela – and her dressing had been redone so that she could go for a pee herself. She still felt unsteady on her feet and walked like a penguin with the thick padding between her legs, but she felt much better. The excitement of breakfast and lunch had passed and Angela had gone home for a while so she was left to entertain herself, which was something she had never been good at if there was no work to do.
The sound of the door opening drew her eyes from a not very informative article about female sexuality.
‘Hello, Jasmine,’ DC Patel said, pausing in the doorway
‘Oh, hi.’ Jasmine said, tossing the magazine to the side of the bed. ‘Come and have a seat. Are you here to take my statement?’ She felt a burst of excitement. Relating her part in the investigation would be far more interesting than any magazine article.
‘Yes, but I’m going to get a coffee first. Would you like one?’
‘Yes, please. Black no sugar.’
‘Right. Oh, there’s someone else here to see you.’ Patel backed through the door. Jasmine wondered who else could possibly wish to see her. She gasped and giggled when she got the answer. Honey Potts bustled in wearing the same outfit she had been in the previous morning. Her denim skirt and blue silk blouse looked creased and stained as she minced in on her stiletto heels, but at least she looked cool and calm today. Jasmine winced when she saw the shoes as they were the same red colour and similar style to those worn by Marilyn Taylor.
‘Hello, Honey. This is a surprise. Come and have a seat.’
Honey wobbled across the room and sat down heavily on the chair beside the bed, her large breasts bouncing up and down independently.
‘Are you OK?’ Honey asked. There seemed to be genuine concern on her face.
‘Yes, I’m fine,’ Jasmine replied.
‘Really. And your tackle? They told me you ruptured and lost a lot of blood.’
‘Yeah. They’ve stitched me back up and now they’re making sure I don’t do anything to tear them again.’
‘Good. So you’re OK for your vaginoplasty?’
‘The doctor says I’m OK. I’ve still got to wait till my number comes up.’ Doctor Armitage had indeed reassured Jasmine when she had called in during the afternoon, but an appointment for the surgery to provide her with a vagina was still a distant dream.
‘Good. The police officer, what’s her name, Patel, told me what had happened to you.’
‘When did they release you?’
‘A half hour ago. I’ve been sitting in a cell since yesterday evening waiting for them to let me go. At least they loaned me a razor so I didn’t have to leave with a day’s growth.’
‘Did they question you?’
‘Oh yes. After you dropped me off at the station. That other detective, Hopkins, gave me a grilling first. I don’t think he likes people like me – or you.’
Jasmine recalled the frosty, almost phobic, response she had had from DC Hopkins. ‘I don’t think his diversity training took that well.’
Honey chortled ‘Perhaps he needs to meet a few more of us. Anyway, after a while they all got called away. When they came back their mood was different, as if I was just filling in a few gaps for them.’
‘That would have been after we found out that Marilyn Taylor was responsible for the deaths.’
‘Xristal and Tilly?’
‘Yes.’ Jasmine told Honey what Marilyn had said.
‘So, Marilyn Taylor had been like me and Xristal?’
‘Yes, except that she took to domination as her way of getting her kicks and making a living.’
‘Don’t fancy it myself, though they do a bit at the club.’
‘I saw.’
‘But she had the full change done like Xristal wanted. Like you want?’
‘Yes, but then discovered it wasn’t what she wanted after all. Perhaps because the surgery didn’t work properly so she couldn’t have an orgasm.’
‘I don’t have any sympathy for her because of what she did to Xristal, but I can imagine her frustration.’
‘It was no excuse.’ Jasmine said. But she may still be alive if I’d let the police know where she was, she thought.
‘She sounds like a mad bitch. I’m just so angry and sorry that Xristal got mixed up with her.’ Honey’s eyes blazed. ‘If only I’d kept more of an eye on her clients. If only I’d understood what she wanted.’
‘You’ve got a couple of “if onlys” to go with a few of my own.’
Honey gave Jasmine a questioning look. ‘I know. But it’s too late to have regrets.’
‘So what are you going to do now?’ Jasmine asked.
Honey was thoughtful for a moment. ‘Head back to London, I suppose. On with the show, as they say.’
‘I expect that’s what Xristal would have wanted you to do.’
‘Yeah. I’m sorry she won’t be there. We could have been a great double act… stupid me. There I go again. Thinking everyone wants to be like me. It wasn’t what she wanted in the end. She wanted to be woman, like you.’
‘Apparently. Be yourself. Isn’t that what everyone says?’
‘Yeah.’ Honey smiled.
‘So, do you have any plans for yourself?
‘Plans?’
‘Cosmetic.’
‘Oh, I see what you mean. There’s always a list; a nip and a tuck here and there. I have to watch the ageing now. I need to keep my good looks, don’t I?’ Honey sat up straight, thrusting out her breasts, tousling her long blonde hair and fluttering her long false eyelashes.
Jasmine laughed so hard that she felt a twinge in her groin. ‘Stop or they’ll have to take me into surgery again!’ she cried.
‘What’s so funny?’ Honey grinned. ‘Don’t you have plans for yourself, too?’
That made Jasmine think. She was one more step along her path to womanhood but there were many more to come.
‘Well, I hope that now my body will react to the hormones and make me more feminine, but most of all I hope I don’t have to wait too long for the gender reassignment. But I might still need electrolysis, breast augmentation, larynx surgery.’
‘Sounds like quite a list.’
Perhaps it was. Were they all necessary to give her the female body she desired? Maybe.
‘I just want to be me.’
‘Don’t we all,’ Honey said nodding, ‘but some of us have to work extra hard to get the body we have designs on.’
The End.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Jasmine Frame was introduced in my first crime novel, Painted
Ladies. In that story she was at an early stage in her transition from male to female. It is a difficult process that can take many years. Bodies By Design picks up Jasmine’s story a little later and there are other novels in the pipeline that follow Jasmine through the later stages of the change. There are also prequels revealing Jasmine’s formative years both as a transsexual and a detective.
For the background to these stories I would like to thank the many trans-people I know or have heard or read about that have gone through the process and who each contribute a little to Jasmine and the other trans men and women who appear in the stories. While I have some idea of what they have gone through I have not experienced it all myself.
In the production of this book I would first like to thank my agent, Sara Keane for knocking my draft into shape; Peter and Alison at Alnpete PrePress for their work in preparing the manuscript for printing, including answering my many no doubt naïve questions; Scott Wood for the cover design and Barbara Addyman for the final proofreading.
Finally, as ever I would like to thank Lou for her support, not least in encouraging the expenditure on getting BBD into print and online, but for being my first and best critic.
To everyone who purchased Painted Ladies and this novel – thank you. I hope you enjoy this volume just as much and that you look forward to acquiring the other Jasmine Frame stories. To those of you discovering Jasmine for the first time I hope you too will go on to read the other novels and novellas in the series.
P R Ellis
LOOK OUT FOR
The Brides’ Club Murder
The 3rd Jasmine Frame novel
It is November, a few months after the events of Bodies by Design. DS Tom Shepherd, Jasmine Frame’s former buddy and colleague, has been called to an incident at the Ashmore Lodge Hotel on the outskirts of Kintbridge, where the participants are assembling for a convention.
… Tom arrived at the suite at a gallop, panting just a little having ascended the stairs three steps at a time. He scudded to a halt as he entered the lounge. DC Patel and Sarah Winslade were standing in the middle of the room dominated by the grey-suited bulk of DCI Sloane.
‘Ah, Shepherd. There you are,’ Sloane said as soon as Tom entered the room. ‘Dr Winslade tells me we have a murder rather clumsily disguised as suicide.’
‘That’s my suggestion,’ Sarah Winslade said gently, ‘I’ll be more certain when I’ve got the body back to the lab.’
‘I gather that there is some kind of convention going on here of which the victim was a member,’ Sloane continued.
‘Yes, Sir,’ Tom answered. ‘It’s a weekend for transgender people.’
Sloane appeared mystified, then his top lip curled. ‘You mean it’s a gathering of transvestites? People like Frame?’
‘Well, I think some are transsexual like Jasmine, Sir, but most of them are men who like to dress up as women.’
‘Some have their wives or partners with them,’ DC Patel added.
‘But I gather this Vokins fellow belonged to a group called the Wedding Belles. Is that right, Shepherd?’
‘So I’m told, Sir.’
‘Are they part of the entertainment or something?’
‘No, Sir, they are men who wear wedding dresses.’ Tom observed Sloane’s neck take on a shade of pink. ‘I don’t fully understand it, Sir,’ Tom added quickly.
‘Hmph. Well I suggest you do so very quickly if you’re going to solve this crime, Shepherd. How do you propose to organise the investigation?’
‘Me, Sir.’
‘Yes, you, Shepherd. You’re the investigating officer. I have other tasks to attend to. So let me have your plan. I presume you are going to lock down the hotel.’
Tom felt a quiver of nervousness pass through him. ‘Actually Sir, I think it would be best to let the convention go ahead so that we keep all the potential suspects and witnesses close. We’ll let them think we are just investigating the suicide while we question them.’
Sloane nodded slowly. ‘I understand Shepherd. You are hoping the killer is going to hide amongst the crowd thinking that his or her subterfuge has been successful and at some point will drop his guard and reveal himself.’
‘Er, something like that Sir.’ Sloane’s agreement gave Tom some confidence.
‘A suicide investigation will require a lower key style of interrogation,’ Sloane continued.
‘Yes, Sir.’
‘And fewer officers.’
‘Yes Sir.’
‘But you have limited time. I presume this “weekend” you refer to is just that.’
‘Yes, Sir.’
‘You need someone on the inside, a person who will talk to these transvestites as one of themselves and so perhaps overhear a clue to the perpetrator’s identity.’
Tom wondered where the DCI was headed. ‘Umm, I think I follow, Sir.’
‘Get on to Frame,’ Sloane said firmly. ‘Get her here as one of the participants, a Wedding Belle. She can get to know the people closest to the victim.’
Read the first novel in the Jasmine Frame series.
Painted Ladies
A Jasmine Frame Story
Jasmine Frame was scared of knives when she was a policeman. Now she finds herself on the trail of a knife killer, but it’s not just her skin that is in danger. Her identity as a woman is under threat.
Praise for Painted Ladies
…Jasmine is a very engaging character, well written and believable. Her emotions and feelings are central to the book and, I hope, will shed light on a situation that cannot be easy to accept and live with in face of everyday prejudice. However, this is a crime novel and stands on its own as such. I found it a page-turner and really enjoyed reading it…
Susan White, Eurocrime
…Painted Ladies is the first literary examination, that we have seen, of the trans community in the role of both detective and victim, a rare and exquisite treat…
Jake Basford, So So Gay Magazine
Purchase Painted Ladies paperback for £8.99 inc. postage and packing by ordering from:
[email protected]
Painted Ladies is also available as an e-book.
Find out more about Jasmine Frame at:
www.ellifont.wordpress.com
Discovering Jasmine
A Jasmine Frame story
James Frame is seventeen and enjoying his last summer holiday while at school. That means using the absence of his parents and his older sister, Holly, to dress up as girl and call himself Jasmine. He is discovering the power of his urge to be female and wondering whether it is just dressing up or whether he is transsexual. But discovery comes in other forms and venturing out he finds himself drawn into a case that tests his character as well as his need to be Jasmine.
Discovering Jasmine is available as an e-book on kindle and other platforms, or in pdf to download for free from ellifont:
www.ellifont.wordpress.com
or order from:
[email protected]
Read more Jasmine Frame stories at:
www.ellifont.wordpress.com
Each week there is a new episode in the current Jasmine Frame prequel (all the action takes place before the events of Painted Ladies).
Stories serialised so far:
Blueprint
James Frame has just begun working for DCI Sloane in the Violent and Serious Crime Unit based at Kintbridge Police Station in Berkshire and spends his spare time dressed as Jasmine. When James is called to investigate a suicide he suspects there is more to the death than is immediately apparent. He finds that Jasmine is needed to investigate the case, which means he must reveal his double life to his colleague DC Tom Shepherd and DCI Sloane. The trail leads from Kintbridge to Manchester and James/Jasmine faces decisions about his future as a man or woman.
Self-portraits
Jasmine Frame is on leave from the police service as she starts her transition to full time life as a woman. While out jogging she comes across a teena
ge boy being attacked by a gang. Befriending the boy draws her into a murder mystery that means she must disobey her boss DCI Sloane and antagonise her colleagues in the Violent and Serious Crime Unit.
Discovering Jasmine
James Frame is seventeen and enjoying his last summer holiday while at school. That means using the absence of his parents and his older sister, Holly, to dress up as girl and call himself Jasmine. He is discovering the power of his urge to be female and wondering whether it is just dressing up or whether he is transsexual. But discovery comes in other forms and venturing out he finds himself drawn into a case that tests his character as well as his need to be Jasmine.
Discovering Jasmine is now available as an e-book and pdf.
Close-up
Jasmine is back on duty having started her transition and finding that her colleagues in the Violent and Serious Crime Unit are sidelining her for the interesting jobs. Nevertheless when a child is snatched in Kintbridge High Street Jasmine’s investigations show that the case is not as straightforward as it appears. She comes up against DS Denise Palmerston, DCI Sloane’s new deputy, who does not want Jasmine working on the case. Nevertheless Jasmine makes some startling discoveries.