In the end, it was Ed that came up with the solution (with a bit of help from @Remobrat).
He was really falling for Cordelia, as Jane; he would do anything for her. Literally anything…
Ed walked up to her. “Do you trust me?”
“Of course,”, she replied. “With my life.”
“I’m glad you put it that way”, he said, holding a scalpel…
Ed, as well as a qualified nurse, was also a trainee plastic surgeon, thinking about a future career move after the hospital.
Those skills were about to come in very useful, indeed. One time in a good way, one time not so much…
‘Jane’s’ new face was some of his best work. It also healed quite quickly. A week or so later, they were ready for the next part of the plan. After all, there was no rush. Everyone thought that Cordelia was out of the picture…
Now, the next part of the plan could be put into action…
Ed and ‘Jane’ came up behind Peter late one night, as he was in the restaurant car park heading home…
“Teach you to mess with me, bitch…”, came a quiet voice from behind him…
Peter’s eyes widened with shock. He knew that voice. “Cordelia…?”
The jab of a syringe in his neck came as even more of a shock…
He awoke in Cordelia’s cabinet and screamed as he saw what had been done to him in the mirror that Cordelia was holding.
His arms were completely missing; removed at the shoulder by Ed. He had also made other changes to Peter. The rest of his body was now an exact copy of Cordelia’s, right down to the muzzle and helmet that she had worn before…
He, now she, screamed again into his muzzle as the shutters on the cabinet slid down…
Ed had given Peter a massive dose of the drug that had been causing Cordelia’s amnesia. Peter’s memory would never return. He was now forever a permanently amnesiac version of Cordelia. He was also being fed the same food as she had, so when, days later, he was dumped in a ditch alongside the road into town, the agoraphobia paralysed him with fear.
An anonymous tip to the police made sure he was found; they eventually managed to get the helmet and muzzle off of him.
Enough evidence was then later found to show that Peter had done this to Cordelia; his mind had snapped because of the argument that they had had at the restaurant, as well as the way she had treated the staff. He had (supposedly) been especially angry with Cordelia for the way she had treated the floor manageress when she had found out about the affair Peter was having with her.
Following the ‘paper trail’, the police found a burned-out wreck of Peter’s car at the bottom of a cliff. There was enough DNA evidence in it (from Peter’s arms) to show that he had been driving whilst under the influence and lost control.
At the same time, a long-lost sister of Cordelia’s came to light. Cordelia and Ed, between them, had established a proper digital history for her, and they made sure it came to light when searches were carried out. The identity photos matched Cordelia’s new look…
Jane Hanson, once the original Cordelia Grey, had been left the restaurant. Peter, now forever Cordelia, had been declared incompetent and would spend the rest of ‘her’ life in an asylum, so she had no link to the restaurant anymore, and ‘Peter’ had supposedly died in the car crash. That left everything to Jane…
Jane walked into her restaurant, checking everything. She had made a few adjustments; she had recruited some new staff, as she wanted to make sure that nobody had too much work to do, or silly hours to work. The old boss had been a bit of a ‘slave driver’, she heard…
The manageress running front of house had had to be let go, though… She had supposedly some very strong ties to her former bosses partner, and she’d rather a clean start.
Smiling, she walked into the restaurant and clicked her fingers. Everyone looked up.
“Everyone, this is Ed Bailey, our new manager. You’ll find he’s quite fair and easy to get on with, but also firm. Any problems you have, talk to him. He’s got my full support.”
Ed’s cool mind in resolving her problems had made up her mind as to whether he would make a good manager or not. She was paying him more in a month than he would have made in a year as a nurse, not that he was doing it for the money.
In front of everyone, Jane then said, “Just in case any rumours start, I’ll squash them right now. We are ‘involved’. He’s my fiancée. That means he taken, Trixie…”
“Aww….!”, the diminutive waitress said, pouting, with a smile. The humour broke the ice straight away. Everyone had the feeling that Jane would be good to work for…
Her arm snaked around Ed’s waist. “I’ll see you after work”, she said, meaningfully, with a smile. “I might be a little late; I’m visiting my sister at the asylum…”