John’s depression was down to the failure of AC Morgan to act on the information given to her by John, Dido and Chrissy. She’d gone silent, and so far, she had not returned any calls from John. His contacts in the Met were also very quiet.

As an alternative, John was trying all sorts of avenues to get enough support for a search warrant, but every time, the path led towards the AC and a glass wall that no one wanted to break.

“She is on the take,” said Dido calmly the following weekend.
Dido and Trish were at John’s for a planning session. Chrissie was working in the kitchen at the pub three lunchtimes a week.

“I guessed that, but how and where?” remarked John as he put the last of the plates from lunch away.

“Do you want the dirt on the AC?” asked Dido.
“I mean, the type of dirt that will get her fired in a flash?”

John looked at Dido. He knew the look in her eyes.
“I can see that you have at least something on her, don’t you?”

Dido grinned.
“Lawyers’ questions,” she replied.

John shook his head.
“You do. How bad is it?”

“Ask yourself how she, as a lowly superintendent, not a chief super…, could afford to pay cash for her penthouse apartment on the river in ‘Chelsea Reach’? They go for upwards of one million, and there is no mortgage on the property. Ask yourself, did she have an inheritance or a rich husband who suddenly popped his clogs? If the answer is no, where the hell did she get the cash from? The cookie monster?”

John sat back and closed his eyes. Dido knew that was his thinking mode, so she carried on.

“According to my sources, she owns it outright without a mortgage. She still owns and pays the mortgage on her old place in Cheam, but her main place of residence is Chelsea. She claims the single-person discount for the Council Tax on that property, and the Cheam place is currently empty, so she pays the full amount on it. How can she do all that on a Super’s salary and currently drives a Porsche 911 GT-3 that she bought when she was promoted to Commander? Again, according to my sources, she paid cash for it, and I don’t mean a bank transfer. The sums simply don’t add up.”

“And you just happened to have all this information at your fingertips, didn’t you?” asked John slightly sarcastically.

“I did. I paid for someone to do some research. Don’t worry; it can’t be traced back to me. I paid for it in Bitcoin.”

John shook his head.

“I take it that there is more?”

“Lots and lots. There is even the hint of a link to Fox via a common third party.”

It was rare for John Proudfoot to swear, but this was one of those days.
“Fuck.”
“Will she tip him off?”

“I doubt it. At the moment, she and the PPS are the only people who know who the target is. For her to tip Fox off would be career-ending for her, and she has publicly stated that she wants to be the next Commissioner.”

“What do you propose?”

Dido grinned.
“I’m not going to do a thing. The people who dug up all this data do not like corrupt cops any more than the rest of us. I would guestimate that she has less than a week in the job left.”

“But… Dido, what did you do?”

“Moi?”

“Yes, you!” demanded John

“I dropped them some bitcoin and a name. They did the rest. The Dark Web is a dirty place, and I have only touched the surface and have kept well away from that swamp. What I did see scared me shitless.”

John looked at Dido. As usual, he knew when she was holding things back.

“And?” he asked.

“It is dirty, really dirty. Here.”

Dido showed John the picture of herself with a man doing his thing.

“How did you get this?”

“I paid a little bit of digital currency to ‘BrerRabbit’.”

“That’s Fox, isn’t it?” asked John.

“That’s him. The photo was taken by his son. The BrerRabbit site has images of me, Chrissy, the two that we saw in the cells and two other captives that we don’t know about for sale. It was horrific to see myself and Chrissy, then everyone else being abused. The newer ones are ten times more expensive than mine. I think that these more recent ones are of the two that are being held right now. They all cost over a hundred quid each at the current exchange rate of bitcoin to the pound.”

“Fuck. I didn’t think he’d go that far, but…?” remarked John.

“He is evil. We’ve known that for years, but this is a new low even for Fox.”

“This photo is between the three of us, ok?” asked Dido, who looked at Trish when she said it.
Trish nodded. She was just sitting back and watching Dido and John work as a team. They were able to connect in ways that made her envious.

John nodded, so she continued.
“If it comes down to it, I will get this entered as evidence. This will destroy his case, but that is for another day. AC Morgan is the immediate problem,” said Dido as she put the photo away.

John sat looking at Dido for several minutes before saying,
“Let them loose on her. We are done playing passive. Get her out of the loop ASAP.”

Dido grinned.
“Thanks, John.”

She fiddled with her phone for several minutes. The frown lines on her forehead deepened as every minute went by. Eventually, her phone pinged, she looked at the message and smiled.

“It is all done. If they are as good as they say they are, then she is toast. Information about her finances will be sent to all the major UK media outlets before 22:00 tonight. I hope the editors still know how to command, ‘hold the front page’.”

“I’m so glad that you are on our side,” said John.

After a brief smile, John asked,
“Out of interest, just how much did all this cost you? In real money, I mean?”

“Around ten grand, give or take a grand.”

Dido saw the consternation on John’s face.
“Don’t worry, I have done very well out of Bitcoin since I bought some with my dipping proceeds after you talked to me about diversification of funds. Like you taught me then and many times since, I make some gains on my investments, and I cash some of it out. I have built up a nice little nest egg over the years. Using a little of it to get at Fox and friends is a small price to pay.”

“What did I say before about you becoming a master crim?”

“Doing evil against the bad guys is very satisfying. It is hardly criminal to come out fighting them with their weapons, and it is enjoyable, and for that, I have you to thank.”

“Me?” exclaimed John.

“Yes, Dad. Your gentle persuasion has made me do things the right way, but this episode has taught me that sometimes, you have to stoop to their level to beat them into the dust.”
Dido smiled.
“Just like putting an undercover officer into a crime gang. They often have to prove themselves to gain credibility. That is stooping to their level in my book.”

John just shook his head… smiling.

Trish had sat silently while this exchange was going on. The data that Dido had gleaned via the Dark Web was astounding. She had been aware of its existence, but this was opening up a whole new can of worms for all of them.

“How can you prove the authenticity of those financial figures?” asked Trish more out of desperation than anything else.

Dido responded.
“The purchase price of her Chelsea Harbour home is public record via the Land Registry. A slightly bent lawyer knows how to check to see if there is a lien on the property. A lien can include a mortgage. There isn’t one. Then, the council has the electoral roll online. Unless you know how to, your details are there for all to see. I’m surprised that as an AC, she has not gotten her details removed, but they are still there in the public record,” explained Dido.

She added,
“Just Google her name, and you will see for yourself. Yes, some of the data is hidden, but the people I paid to do the work get results. They sent me a report with only the publicly available data, but with markers to tell me a lot more was available. For a little more money, I’d get the full thing, but once I saw the first report, I knew that I didn’t need to see any more. That said, what they send to the media is out of my control, and I don’t want to be involved in that. The Dark Web people do not give out their hidden sources unless you pay lots and lots for them. The normal deal is that they only pass on publicly verifiable information. That’s what I asked for, and that’s what I got.”

The media, just as Dido had hoped, went into overdrive when the full extent of AC Bartholomew’s wrongdoing was exposed. It did not matter that Christmas was just a few weeks away; there was an establishment target to be taken down, and they were like a pack of hungry wolves.

The people releasing the dirt spread it out over three days for maximum effect. On the 4th day, it was reported that AC Bartholomew tendered her resignation. She was nowhere to be seen at her apartment in Chelsea, nor her old home in Cheam. One report had her boarding a Eurostar service to Lille and Brussels early on the morning of the first day of exposure, but no one could confirm that.

The final exposé of data showed that she also owned a villa near Annecy in the French Alps. That property had been left to her by her father on his death. The Media raced to the location only to find that she’d left a few hours before their arrival. She was in the wind. It did not matter; her career was over.

Now that her ability to block or delay the application for a search warrant was gone, the CPS wasted no time and called John Proudfoot and Dido into a meeting at the CPS HQ.

After two hours of what can only be called an interrogation of Dido, where John sat back and watched his protégé repel all boarders or in this case, three very experienced barristers with ease, the CPS team were satisfied about the viability of Dido’s evidence. The head of the CPS, one of the other Assistant Commissioners, plus John and Dido and the newly arrived Chief Constable of Hertfordshire, headed for the High Court in ‘The Aldwych’ where representations were made before three distinguished Court of Appeal Judges for a search warrant of Fox’s home in Hertfordshire.

John and the Chief had known each other from before he retired. She sat at the back of the room and let the other players do their thing. At the end of the meeting, she smiled and nodded at John.

To the surprise of John and Dido, the three judges had already read the application. They spent almost an hour questioning the CPS and Dido. John was worried about this. This was now public and Dido’s first experience of being part of a court proceeding rather than an observer.

“Ms Pleasance, you are admitting that you broke into a private residence,” asked one of the judges.

“I am. As I have said, I was held captive in that house for several years. I consider that it is my civic duty to make every effort to ensure that no one else is taken. If I am arrested and charged, I do not think that a jury would convict me when they hear about my reasons for going inside.”

“What you say are allegations,” said a second member of the panel.

“Sir,” said Dido.
“They are most certainly not allegations. Here… look at this.”

To John’s silent annoyance, Dido produced the image of her being sodomised in a cell.
“This is a picture of me being abused. It clearly shows this scar on my arm.”

She pulled up the sleeve of her top to show the court.

“Where did you obtain this?” asked the third member of the panel.

“From the Dark Web. It and many more, just like it, of me and other captives, are for sale by ‘suspect 1’ under an alias, naturally. The cost of that one image was approximately £300 in Bitcoin. Newer ones of his current captives are considerably more expensive. I know it is probably illegal for me to have that image even though it is of me, but if you wanted evidence, then here it is. I can also show you what they did to me physically, should you want verification. The Tulip tattoo shown in the photo is still there today.”

The three judges looked at the image. There was a lot of head shaking. Then, they conferred with each other before the first and clear leader addressed the court.

“Given this piece of evidence, we are prepared to grant the application for a search warrant of the house and grounds where ‘suspect 1’ and ‘suspect 2’ are residents.”

That was it. The hearing was over, and a signed search warrant was issued. The lead judge made a point of returning the photo to Dido. From the look on their faces, they didn’t want to be tainted by this sort of damming evidence…

When the warrant had been issued, Dido thought that her involvement may have been over, but that was 100% wrong.

As they walked out of the court, Trish arrived looking worried.
“You were missed at Fox’s tutorial this afternoon. He gave you a ‘D’ for your last assignment.”

Dido took a deep breath.
“Trish, calm down. Things are moving. This is the Chief Constable of Hertfordshire.”

Trish stepped back.
“Sorry, Ma’am. DC Trish Long, Durham Constabulary.”

The Chief smiled.
“Glad to have you on board. I have heard a lot about you from John Proudfoot. All good I might add.”

Trish let out the breath that she had been holding. That was the sign for the A/C Chapple to talk to Dido.

“Ms Pleasance, we need you to help out on the raid itself.”

“Me? How?”

The Chief Constable answered.

“Since I was alerted by the CPS about the case and the location, I have had a small team planning the arrest of the prime suspect and the subsequent crime scene investigation at the site. The planning team have made it clear to me that the element of surprise is key to the successful arrest and the safety of the two captives. I concur with that point of view.”

She directly addressed Dido before continuing.
“Ms Pleasance, from your statements to the court and the CPS, it is clear to all of us that you know how to enter the property quickly and silently. I know that this is slightly irregular, but we’d like you to lead the team to breach the property. Then I get the feeling that someone like you could play an important part in calming the two girls because of who you are and what you have been through. Then there is the distinct probability that the sight of burly men in black could set them screaming, and we could lose the element of surprise. You can directly relate to their plight, can you not?”

“I can, but won’t the Met team, who are going to take part in the raid, feel that I’m an unwelcome interloper?”

AC Chapple smiled.

“Given the information we have about the house, we think that it is prudent that neither the MET nor the NCA will be involved at the crime scene until it has been fully processed. The Commissioner and the Home Secretary agree, given the recent revelations about a former colleague of ours, that this is a good move.”

No one said a word, so he continued.
“Thanks to a suggestion from John here, I did some arm-twisting earlier in the day, and the Chief Constable of Hertfordshire Constabulary herself will be leading the operation, which is why she is here now. It is her patch after all…”

He swallowed hard before carrying on.
”We think that this raid is so important that the mere presence of the local Chief Constable at the crime scene will keep everyone on top of their game. It also means that fewer people in the Met and NCA can spill the beans to Fox before the raid, given your testimony that you suspect that some of the visitors are serving Police Officers. While that testimony is at the moment unproven, we are not going to take any chances.”

Then he added,
“The Chief Constable can also approve the use of firearms should the need arise. We hope that it does not, but we need to cover all possibilities. This raid has to be done by the book. We all know Suspect 1’s ability to get accused people off on technicalities. He will go into overdrive when he is the accused and facing life in jail for his crimes.”

Dido was, for one, lost for words. She’d never imagined that she would see this sort of operation come together with little old her playing a key role in the arrest of him.

The Chief Constable added,
“We also think that your friends, Trish and Chrissy, will have a role as well, dealing with the victims once they have been extracted to a place of safety. Having people who can understand the plight of those poor girls with them for at least a few hours will be key to their long-term prognosis.”

Dido wasn’t sure. Her body language reeked of doubt.

“It won’t be for long. Just two friendly faces who have been through the same or know all about it are in our minds essential in reassuring the victims that their ordeal by Fox is over. Once they have calmed down and had a full medical so that the docs can see what cocktail of drugs they have been fed, they will be taken to a place of safety where specialist treatment can begin, but we know from past cases the initial contact and reassurance to the victims can reap huge dividends down the line.”

Dido knew how much both she and Chrissy had come to depend on John for support, but these victims were a lot younger and, therefore, far more volatile emotionally. It was going to be a tall order, but she knew that the softly, softly approach right from the start would help start their long and difficult healing process.

“Ok… but Trish and I have classes to attend. The university will be in chaos once news of Fox’s arrest gets out. We have to be seen to be there. Neither of us wants the fingers pointed at us until the trial, if we can help it. I’m sure that you can understand that point of view. We have to be there for the first lecture on Wednesday. It is normally given by Fox himself.”

She let the implications of that sink in.

There was no disagreement with her proposal. The current plan was for the raid to take place on the following Sunday night. Fox would probably not be missed until Wednesday, when Trish and Dido were due to attend a lecture given by Fox himself.

If they were asked, Dido and Trish would have to lie through their back teeth about the reasons why Professor Fox failed to appear for his lecture. It was just as well that he wasn’t coming, as neither of them had done any of the preparatory work they’d normally do for his lectures. Fox was always springing questions on the class about things that he hadn’t yet covered in his talk just to see who and, more importantly, who had not prepared for his class.

Dido sat down and closed her eyes. Redress was oh so close but still so far.