The Transvestite’s Apprentice
1 - The House Party The little cottage sat on the very edge of suburban Blackwood Hill, birch trees and thick undergrowth shielded it from the modern office blocks and retail units a mile or so along road. David and Emily had stumbled upon it by accident during a leisure drive, in the way you stumble upon a de-nested baby bird during a country walk. They hadn’t been looking for anything; at least, that was what they told themselves. But the moment they’d seen the cottage - stone walls, ivy creeping like little fingers up to the roof - they’d been sold. David had gone quiet for a moment, as he often did, his brown eyes roaming over the unkempt garden and the chipped stone steps leading up to the front door. Emily knew him well enough to see the hint of excitement he tried to hide. The more he cared about something, the less he said. It took him two hours to admit he wanted to live there, by which point Emily had already sent a message to the sales agent. Emily was their drivin...