Dressed for Disaster: The Sequel

But then the insurance money would be gone, and they would have to live together in poverty. Pat's bus trip from New York to Chicago, and the three days it had taken her to land a job as a waitress, had been a rude enough shock, and she could not bring herself to subject her family to public humiliation and take away their financial security.

Pat got to the place a few minutes early, and brushed the light snow off a park bench before sitting down. Crossing her legs, she reached into her purse and removed a cigarette, a vice, which she had reacquired following her escape from Dr. Frankenwiener. As she inhaled and waited for the nicotine rush, she closed her eyes and thought back over the horror of the past three months: the agonizing recovery from castration and reconstructive surgery, the prolonged period of lethargy while her body adapted to the loss of testosterone and flood of female hormones, and the slow changes as the estrogen took hold, gradually weakening her muscles as it reshaped her body.

Weakened though she was, she had still had the strength to murder Dr. Frankenwiener, strangling her with a nylon stocking. Pat had managed to escape her restraints and surprise the doctor when she returned to the apartment from a shopping trip. A thorough search of the apartment had yielded slightly over one thousand dollars in cash, and the new identification documents, which the doctor had apparently intended to provide Patricia Summers at the conclusion of her experiment. All of the doctor's notes, and any trace of Patrick Summers, were now at the bottom of the East River.

Pat had scraped together a small wardrobe, replacing the sex kitten costumes and sissy maid outfits favored by the doctor, and bought a bus ticket for Chicago. By the time the police found Dr. Frankenwiener's body, Pat was long gone. With her remaining money, she had been able to rent a single room at a cheap hotel, and finally secure employment at a restaurant in Lincoln Park. It was going to be a dismal existence, but at least she was close to her wife and daughter, and would occasionally be able to see them from afar.