In late May, Dido and John Proudfoot were having one of their regular reviews of their quest to bring Thomas Fox to justice.

Neither one was in the best of moods, mostly because very little real progress had been made since their last review. Their quarry was proving as wily as a dog fox is when it is being chased by the hounds. When it came to finding the house where he had kept Dido and probably many more young women prisoners over the years, almost zero progress was being made. It was driving Dido mad. John was by now able to read her moods, and this was one of those that needed to run its course.

Dido hadn't wanted these meetings to begin with. She had got most of the way to where the investigation was on her own and didn’t want to let John run the show. To counter her objections, John gave her a rundown on how a large-scale serious crime investigation was run, especially the role of the SIO, Senior Investigative Officer. He concentrated on how the SIO ran a case and brought in specialists like SOCO when needed. Once he'd done that, Dido was much more open with him about how she was planning to move forward once he’d given her the role of SIO with him as her assistant. She was running the show and not him.

The whereabouts of 'his' London pied-a-terre was well known to both of them. Dido had tailed him from the University in the first week of their joint investigation. His London home was a fifth-floor apartment in the Barbican Centre; it was not a place where he would be keeping another child or where Dido had been held for all those years. While finding it was a step forward, Dido knew that the place where she’d been held was in the countryside.

That small bit of information allowed them to develop a pattern of behaviour for Fox. During term time, or for most of it, he taught from Monday afternoon to Thursday afternoon. He spent three nights at his London home before heading to the country for the weekend. Dido was able to confirm his absence from the house where she had been held for around half the week.

The exception to that was when he appeared in Court as the Barrister defending some of the nastiest and most well-connected criminals in the country. His modus operandii was to try to get the trials where he was lead Barrister scheduled for the periods between terms. Dido was able to confirm that there were periods when he would abuse her just one day a week instead of the usual four days.

John tried hard to get Dido to accept that the slow and very painstaking methods of gathering information were exactly what happened in real life. Dido ignored him and spent many a Sunday watching re-runs of the Columbo TV series. John just sat back and smiled. The way Columbo went about his investigations was a million miles away from how the UK Police did their work, he would pick up on small things, both visual and verbal and would weave that into how he solved the crime. Once Dido picked up that skill, it would help the investigation a lot. John knew that it was often the small things that gave the game away, much like a poker player and their ‘tell’.

Just before Easter, Dido, John and a couple of his friends had tried to follow him, but none of their attempts were successful. All they knew was that he lived somewhere to the north and east of the capital. Once that fact had been established, all subsequent attempts at tracking him had fallen flat on their respective faces.

Every week, he would leave the University around 14:00 on Fridays and would always vary his route of exit from the capital. They had found no less than eight different paths he had used since the start of March. Every attempt to follow him to his destination had so far been unsuccessful. Much of that was down to a lack of manpower and an almost paranoid fear of being discovered. To both of them, the investigation needed to remain very much in the shadows until the time came to go public. John didn't show it, but he was worried about Dido's safety should their investigation get exposed before the right time. That was why he'd suggested to Dido very early on that she should change her appearance. So far, she'd resisted his attempts, but he was hopeful that one day she'd relent.

Both of them were clear that they were in this for the long haul, the lack of progress was troubling but not insurmountable.

One area where progress was being made was with Dido and the prospect of going back to school. It terrified her, but she knew that John was right as usual and that one day, she would have to think about what her life would be like once he had been dealt with.

The thorny issue of finding the place or places where 'he' had held Dido was one that would not go away. Dido had a large-scale map on the wall of her bedroom in the annexe that showed all the paths that he'd taken to leave London for the country. None of them went anywhere much outside the northern ring that was the North London railway line. A plethora of bus, tube and railway lines spread out beyond that ring. If you put all the tube, conventional railway and bus routes together, you have a huge web of possible interconnections.

As much as Dido hated Fox, she had to admire his ingenuity. He was certainly living up to his animal namesake.

While Dido had escaped his confines, it was of little use in the present investigation. Once she was free, she fled for her life and avoided all human contact for almost six weeks. She'd lived off of her wits and by giving the odd 'blow job' for a bit of money that was used on fast food. It was only when she had tried to steal some eggs from a suburban garden coop that she had any formal contact with officialdom. She was treated as a vulnerable young woman under eighteen. She'd been put into care with a family in the nearest town, Leighton Buzzard. Apart from that, she had little knowledge of where she'd gone since her escape.

The Police did not know about her period of captivity. She had also refused to be examined for sexual encounters.

Dido had remained with the Foster Parents for just six days. Then she walked out and took her chances on the road. It was all down to her hearing one of her social workers telling the foster father that they were going to try to find her parents or any other relatives. That had put the fear of God into her. All sorts of 'what ifs’ rampaged through her mind. She had this vision of her parents washing their hands with her all those years ago, but the spectre of 'him' coming forward as posing as her legal guardian… That was too much to risk, so she had gone on the streets. That was where she had remained until her encounter with John Proudfoot. For her, never had the apparent foolishness of appearing to try to steal a car had such a profound effect on a young life. Since that encounter, her life had changed beyond even her wildest dreams. All that remained was to get justice, and that started with the man responsible for imprisoning her for years and, in that time, made her perform horrible sex acts with him and his cabal of friends.

The words ‘All that remained’ were so easy to say but so hard to achieve. Progress was slow.

The report that John had shown her about her old life in Southend very much confirmed that vision of abandonment. Until she came of age, she was determined not to become dependent on any man and that included John Proudfoot. She trusted him… to a point. When she was legally an adult, she would review the situation.

Dido left the meeting at John’s with a lot on her mind.

It wasn’t until two days after that meeting that Dido realised that there was a solution that had been staring her right in the face all along. Her 'team' of pickpockets were masters of blending into the scenes around them. Many also had an encyclopaedic understanding of London streets that would make 'the Knowledge' that Taxi Drivers in London have to know seem like a lesson that a child would learn. One of them, who was only known as 'Janus', knew the sewer map just as well as the London A-Z road maps.

Dido made the call to John, feeling excited at finding a solution to what might have been an insurmountable problem.
“John, I know how we can follow him and not be detected.”

“It was staring me right in the face all the time. My old team of dips.”

“Yes. Their skills are perfect for this. They can blend into the background at will.”

“I have no idea where they are right now. I’ll set up a meet and put out the word.”

“I have an idea, but the meeting will not be in London.”

“I don’t want to alert the law to what we might be planning. I think that with a sizeable carrot, they will go for it.”

Dido listened to John’s thoughts on the idea.

“All they need to know is that he is a person of interest and that he is to be observed and nothing more.”

“Will they follow your orders?”

Dido chuckled to herself.
“I have more than enough dirt on them to put them away for a long time. How else do you think that I was able to keep them in line for so long? After a bit, two of the old team began to take liberties, so I made a call, and the ringleader found himself on a plane to Nigeria and an interview with a prince. They had robbed a Nigerian VIP right outside Claridge’s Hotel in broad daylight. After that… they all played ball and earned a lot of money from our little enterprise.”

“I think that they’ll play by my rules if I make it worthwhile.”

“That won’t be a problem.”

“Yes, John. I will be careful.”

Dido hung up the phone and made a mental note to get a new phone and sim ASAP. She’d had that one for three months, which was far longer than normal.

[Ten Days Later, Darling Gap Car Park, Sussex Coast.]

Dido’s motley crew of pickpockets had gathered for a meeting with her. She’d chosen the place because of a TV programme about the chalk downs. She’d never been south of London in her life. In her mind, it was far enough away to be well away from people who might recognise her or her ‘crew’. All she’d said to them was ‘get here and £500.00 will be yours’. They’d all come and hadn’t raised a question or objection. Despite their varied criminal backgrounds, they all owed Dido a lot. For well over a year, they had made a very good living from their ‘dipping’. They’d all gone off on their summer vacation with bulging pockets and zero convictions against their name. Her request for a meeting, even with a sizeable carrot, was not going to be ignored.

Dido had packed a picnic, and the group was sitting on the grass well away from where the rest of the visitors were walking, taking selfies and eating ice cream.

“Ok, Team,” said Dido.
“I want to get something straight, and what I am about to propose is optional. If you don’t want to take part, then I won’t hold it against you. You can leave with the money that I promised. You came as I asked, and I always keep my promises.”

A couple of them looked a little disappointed.
“What I want you to do is follow someone. We need to know where he goes, what he does and all without him having even the slightest idea that they are being tailed. If you do that, then each of you will get another two grand each. Are you in? If you aren’t, then as I said, I’ll give you your £500, and if I am right, there will be a bus going to Eastbourne along in twenty or so minutes. There is a direct train service from there to London Victoria every hour.”

No one moved. Dido smiled.

“Good. This person is very cunning. He should be, his name is Fox. I have a map for each of you showing the various routes he has taken to get out of London before we called off the tail. Now, with seven of you, you should be able to rotate the one following him. I have prepared some resources that will help you tail him. They are in the lockup in Kensal Rise.”

The lockup was where they held various sets of disguises and props that they used in their criminal enterprise.

Dido passed out the small package of information that she had prepared. The group was silent for several minutes as they studied them.

“Boss,” said the one woman on the team, Marsha.
“Why? Why are we following him?”

“He is a suspected rapist… of Children.”

No one argued with that. It was true, as Dido knew only too well.

“How long have we got Boss?” asked another of the group, Felix.

“He is a University Professor. The term ends in three weeks. He spends two or three nights during the week at an apartment in the Barbican, which is near the university. The starting point will be after his last tutorial, which ends at 14:00. In the meantime, I have arranged four rooms for you at two different hotels near Kings Cross. Look at the routes on the maps and work out a plan to follow him should he use them. The resources of the lockup are there for you to use.”

They were all studying the maps.
“In the lockup, there is a mobile phone for each of you. The PAYG SIM in them has two hundred minutes on it. The SIM cards were all bought from vending machines at Heathrow, so they are almost untraceable. I have loaded up the phones with all the relevant numbers. One of those new numbers is mine.”

“Except for you being on CCTV using the machines?” quipped Janus.

Dido laughed.
“Except that they were all bought by someone who looked like a Muslim woman and who was wearing a hijab. Besides, I was miles away at the time. I was panhandling outside Tower Hill Tube.”

“Janus… Do you think that the boss would make a simple mistake like that?”

“Sorry, boss.”

“No need to be sorry Janus. Mistakes are easy to make when you are working outside your comfort zone. I have learned a lot of tricks in the past couple of years, and this is just one of them.

The group enjoyed the picnic and the sea air. Dido let them travel back to London on their own. They’d agreed to meet at the lockup the next day to look over the resources and plan their course of action. I went home, hoping that this plan would work.

“I take it that no news is good news?” asked John the next Friday when he and Dido met late in the afternoon. He was in town for a Chief Superintendent’s Association Dinner.

“I’m not expecting anything until this time next week. I would hope that this week, the team has been doing reconnaissance of the routes we know that he has taken and working on a plan for how to move around dynamically. The three electric bikes that I bought from the Transport for London Lost Property auctions should help them do that.”

John looked at me curiously.
Then he shook his head.
“I won’t ask where the money came from… but…?”

Dido smiled.
“Then don’t, and you will be told no lies?”

He smiled. They were cool, but the old habits for a lifelong copper die hard, especially when Dido and money were mentioned in the same breath.

[2 weeks later]

Dido met Janus near the iconic Glasshouse in Kew Gardens. After greeting her friend, she bought lunch for them both; they found a spot to sit down where they could talk and eat at the same time. To any casual observer, they looked like friends meeting for an afternoon in the gardens.

“Ok, Janus, what is so important that you texted me in the middle of the night?”

“Boss… It is like this… We are doing it all wrong. We are following the wrong person.”

Dido smiled, but internally, she was seething with anger. She did not like being told that her plans were wrong.

“Ok, shoot. Who should we be following?”

Janus opened up his phone and showed her a photo.

Dido recognised the man. His name was Marcus. He was the son of Fox and was who ‘looked’ after those being held captive by the Professor while ‘he’ was lecturing to his students.

“This is Marcus Fox… but you know that, don’t you?”

“How… how did you get onto him? As far as I know, he does not come into the city.”

“He was at the target’s flat yesterday, taking a lot of things from it and putting them into a Volvo SUV. It was a rental if the stickers on the front windscreen are anything to go by.”

“That makes sense. He won’t be back in the city other than for a few days until September unless he is appearing for some scumbag at the Old Bailey,” remarked Dido.

“Thanks to the bikes, we were able to follow the SUV until it took the M11 at the start in Leytonstone.”

“He could have gone anywhere after that?”

“That is true, but I took the liberty of asking a neighbour of the Professor at the Barbican about the dude. She said that he had a place just south of Royston. I went up to the flat after they’d gone and knocked on his door. I made out that I was a student who had just graduated and wanted to thank him personally.”

“That was a great move, Janus, even if it was slightly risky. You are probably all over the CCTV now. If he finds out, his friends in the cops could identify you.”

“I was willing to take that risk. I saw from your body language that this was ultra important to you.”
Janus held up her hand.
“Please don’t tell me why it is so important. I don’t want to know.”

Dido smiled and nodded her head.
“This old biddy who lived next door heard me knocking. She told me that he was not expected back until late August.”

“Janus, there will be an extra bonus in this for you. At least we know where to concentrate our resources.”

“Don’t even think of it, boss. Our task is to find him. We haven’t done it yet.”

That was news to Dido and made perfect sense. Her brain was working overtime.

After leaving Janus to take the tube back into the city, Dido headed in the other direction towards the public library in Richmond.

Once in the library, she pulled out some maps of the small town of Royston. She gleaned that it was far enough out of London for his base but close enough to commute into when needed. The A1(M), A10 and M11 were within ten to fifteen minutes away by car. The town had a railway station with direct services into the heart of the city. Both the Barbican and Farringdon Stations were only a few minutes brisk walk away from the university. Suddenly, a lot of things began to make sense. She remembered nearly being run over by a car when she crossed the A1 to the west of Baldock a few days after she had escaped from his house. Those days were all about surviving and had not really penetrated her memory.

Dido left the library after an hour, feeling a lot better. Progress had been made at last.

Two days later, she met up with Janus once more. This time in Highgate Cemetery near the grave of Karl Marx.

“Janus, please tell the guys that they have done a brilliant job finding the Royston clue. I think that you all should head off to wherever for the summer. I’ll arrange for payment through the normal channels.”

“Are you sure? The boys were just starting to enjoy themselves. This makes a nice change from… well, other things.”

“But Boss? You want to take down this scumbag, don’t you?”

“I do, but by legal means.”
She stopped herself from adding, ‘ plus being locked up and abused every day like I was’.

“As I said,” said Dido in a desperate attempt to get the conversation back on track.
“I’m doing this by legal means. He needs to go to jail, and they don’t like rapists and child abusers in there.”

“What happens when you find out where he lives?”

“I investigate the property and everything. Even if I can’t get him for rape but can for something like tax evasion, then I’ll do it. I’ll just make sure that the evidence is rock solid and one million per cent legal. Whatever he goes down for is my business, ok? How I do that is with the help of a very good friend who has contacts in all sorts of pies.”

“Gotcha, boss, but just remember, we are all here for you should you need us… ok?”

“Thanks Janus. It is good to know that.”

“All our reports of how we tracked him will be in your email in the morning. Dove is collating them as we speak.”

“That’s Dove all over. Tell everyone that I’m very thankful for what you have done, and whoever thought of tracking Marcus… well, it was inspired. Thanks.”

As they said goodbye, Dido said,
“I will put envelopes in the lockup for each of you in a few days. I’m relying on you not to let anyone get clever and take more than one.”

Janus smiled.
“Gotcha Boss. You always played fair with us, and it is only fair that we do the same with you.”

Dido walked around the cemetery for over an hour after saying goodbye to Janus. While it was a strangely beautiful place, her mind was on what to do next.

Dido had not only been a pickpocket but had kept her ear open for years, even while she was being held captive. She would spend hours with her ear glued to the door of her cell, listening to ‘him’ and his friends discussing investments. She now knew that many of those discussions involved crimes. She was certain that no one knew about her eavesdropping. It would only become public knowledge when ‘he’ was in the dock or, as she knew now, shortly before it.

After she'd escaped from his prison and had gone on the streets, Dido had headed for the City of London. All she knew from hearing those conversations was that was where the big money was made. Once again, she had kept her ears open and had picked up all sorts of financial titbits, both good and bad. She had made the acquaintance of a journalist quite by chance when he'd fallen over her after a particularly drunken lunch. She began to feed him little snippets of information in return for payment.

Always uppermost on her mind was finding 'him'. Where she had been held was very much out of the city and to the north. She would travel out of central London every weekend and hope that she could catch a glimpse of him at places where people come together. Supermarkets became a favourite spot for a bit of panhandling. It was one of those trips that changed her life for the better when she met John Proudfoot.

Dipping was all well and good and could provide a steady but mostly small stream of income, whereas the big money was made in the city by people who gambled other people’s money for a living.

After a big row with John about her criminal activities, they had settled on Dido using her skills as a pickpocket to survive with one proviso: if she was arrested and later charged, then he didn’t know her and she didn’t know him. Dido had agreed with that.

While panhandling outside Tower Hill Tube at the start of her quest to identify her captor, she found a broker who would invest her cash with no questions asked other than a blowjob or two. That proved to be a very profitable partnership for both of them. The profits from those investments were in an offshore bank and were earmarked for after, hopefully, 'he' was locked up for the rest of his life or to pay for university. John’s quest to get her to come around to his way of thinking was working.

It looked like that would have to wait until after the summer. In the meantime, Dido needed to get well away from London once she had taken care of a bit of unfinished business.