Dido returned to John Proudfoot’s home after a week away. Right away, she noticed that he was frowning even more than usual.

“What’s the matter, John? You look as if you are carrying the weight of the whole world on your shoulders.”

As soon as she’d said it, Dido regretted it. That was a phrase that her mother used when talking about her father.

“Not the world, Dido, just this case. I’ve been thinking about how to find the ‘Foxes Lair’.”

“So have I,” said Dido in a matter-of-fact way.

“Then you can prepare dinner while you work out how you are going to present your fiendishly cunning plan to me as if you are the SIO on the case.”

Dido didn’t react to his taunt. She had come up with all sorts of plans to find him in the past, and rightly so, John had shot them all down in flames as being unworkable.

“Ok, ok. I guess I deserve that.”

Dido went into the kitchen and found all the ingredients for dinner sitting on the worktop. She wasn’t surprised. This was his way of working.

She began to prepare the vegetables after switching on the small wall-mounted TV. She'd read a discarded copy of that morning's 'Metro' on the tube after she’d returned to the capital from Anglesey. Buried deep on page four was a brief piece about an attempted robbery from a shop on Bond St. She was hoping that the local TV news would shed some more light on it.

As she’d hoped, it was the lead item on the London news. She was so engrossed in it that she failed to notice John leaning against the door from the hallway into the kitchen.

“Did you have something to do with that?”

Dido almost jumped out of her skin.

“John… I didn’t see you there?”

“Well? Did you? I could not help noticing how you almost sliced a bit off your finger when the words ‘multiple arrests’ were said.”

Dido smiled.
“I might have told someone about the people who may have tried to commit this robbery.”

“Then I’m proud of you.”

John came into the kitchen and took the knife from Dido.
“Why don’t you tell Uncle John all about how you have gone away from the dark side?”

“Dark Side? Dipping is hardly the dark side, is it?”

“It is still a crime, isn’t it?”

“Hardly on the same scale as a jewellery heist armed with some serious weaponry, is it…?”

“Granted. What did you do?”

“I only used the skills that you taught me. Observing people and watching what they do.”

“That’s only part of it. What else did you do?”

Dido looked at the floor for several seconds. Then she said,
“Ok, I lifted a diary from one of the team leaders. It was written in Serbian and Bulgarian. I got it translated, and it outlined the plan. Plus, I took a video of one of them lifting a wallet inside Starbucks on Upper Regent Street. I put it all in a package and gave it to a DS.”

John finished chopping the veggies with a huge smile on his face.
“How did that feel?”

“Good. Is that wrong?”

“No, my dear, it is not wrong. What you experienced is what most police officers work for years and never get to experience. Being part of a team takes a lot of the personal adrenaline rush away.”

“You don’t mind me going behind your back like that?”

“Dido… Dido… You are becoming your own person. You have developed some contacts of your own inside the police. I guess that DS owes you a favour or three for the information you passed on to him. If so, then use it wisely. It isn’t a get out of jail free card.”

Dido didn’t answer because she was looking at the TV. She smiled when she saw the person from the Police speaking to the camera.

“Is that your DS?” asked John.

“Yes, but he’s now in line to be a DI.”

“I’m guessing that you had something to do with that?”

“And why not? He played ball with me in return for a few tips about some other crimes. He’s one of the good guys.”

“How do you know that? What if he is now in Fox’s clutches?”

“He knows nothing about my past. All he knows is that I’m a street dipper with a keen eye when it comes to observing people doing wrong.”

“With a South East Essex accent. I’m just saying, be careful who you trust when it comes to cops. You told me that you were made to sexually service several high-ranking officers of the Met Police. If they are that corrupt, then who knows who else they have their own sticky fingers into?”

“Message understood, but John, I just got that good feeling when dealing with him. He never even propositioned me.”

“I get that, but please, Dido, be careful.”

“I took precautions just like you told me to. I sent all the details to Crimestoppers, and he held off for them to pass it all on.”

“You are learning, but…?”

“Be careful.”

“Good. Now get the pasta on to boil while I make the sauce and grill the bacon.”

“Yes, Daddy.”

John's words about being careful did resonate with Dido. Going off mission as she had done seemed like a good idea at the time, but what John had said about being spotted was right. They could trust no one until they had so much evidence that even the most corrupt cop and CPS lawyer could not ignore it.

The days of walking around Anglesey seemed such a long time ago. She’d spent much of the time working out what she should do for the future. Going back into some form of education was a huge step for her and incredibly daunting. John had been dropping hints for a long time, and she’d ignored them, but a TV documentary about criminal re-offending rates had struck a note with her. The lack of education was cited as a major reason for the problem. It scared her witless. From just being able to survive on the streets to, if John had his way, getting a degree was hard to imagine.

School had not been a pleasant time for the old ‘him’. The lessons had been incredibly boring. Without really thinking about the work, he’d received top marks for all his homework. Because of the boring nature of the lessons, the old him had bunked off school, which had gotten him into trouble with the school and his parents. They’d even threatened to suspend him then… the shit hit the fan, and his old life ended. ‘He’ was no longer on this earth and had been replaced by Dido. Her life was as Dido, and while ‘he’ would always be there in the background, she could only afford to think about herself and her future.

The upside was that she’d proved to John that she was a good learner. She’d mastered picking front door locks in a matter of days. While that wasn’t anything like learning sums, science and everything else, it proved to her that if she was sufficiently interested in a topic, she would stick at it and learn it inside out, backwards and forwards. She’d done it with the sort of locks that people have on their front doors. Now, picking them was easy, and she’d even done it blindfolded. He’d raised the stakes and included combination locks similar to ones used in safes. She’d mastered the technique of listening for the tumblers to drop in less than a week.

The prospect of having to deal with fools and idiots at college did not appeal to Dido. Her intolerance of others was in her mind down to Fox and friends. They had demanded instant obedience when they came into the cellar. Any protestation or delay would result in punishment. Dido knew that she would have to learn to tolerate idiots and even those who didn’t want to learn if she was to get anywhere towards building a career for the time after Fox had been sent away for more years than he had left on the planet.

She had made the final decision to return to some form of education while she watched the vehicles cross over the famous tubular bridge that connected the island with the mainland. Dido wondered why Telford had chosen a square metal tube for a bridge. After a shudder when, she realised that it was a bit of her old male self coming to the surface. Thomas had been into building structures with Lego before…

Then she smiled and wondered if that wasn’t so bad after all. That clinched it. Dido was going back to school. His enquiring mind was right there in Dido.

Dido didn’t tell John about her decision to return to some form of education on that visit to his home. She had some more research to do first. Little things such as courses, venues and, importantly, the cost.

She even took a trip to Royston and spent a day going through the electoral register for the district for anyone named 'Fox'. There were three, but after cross-referencing their addresses to a map, they were discounted. At least that was one thing less to check in the future. It wasn't until she was on the train to Cambridge that she thought about the risk of being discovered. That was when she made the other decision: she needed to get her face fixed once and for all.

When she arrived at John’s home, he came out to greet her. He knew that something was up from the way that she purposely strode up the drive to the house.

“I wasn’t expecting you today, but I get the feeling that you have something to tell me?”

Dido shook her head. He could read her like a book.

“I do… Two things.”

“Good. Let’s go inside. I have a bottle of wine open.”

“John?”

He grinned.
“Your lack of awareness tells me that you forgot that it was your 18th birthday yesterday.”

For a moment, Dido wanted to kick something. She had been so focused on other things she had forgotten that she was now old enough to vote, get married without parental permission and buy a drink in a pub.

“I… I forgot.”

“Then let’s go inside out of this heat, and we can toast your coming of age.”

Once they’d toasted Dido’s birthday, John sat and waited for Dido to divulge what she had decided. After a bit of hesitation, she said,

“You win.”

“I didn’t think that we were at war,” replied John without even thinking.

“Not at war, but you were right about… well, everything.”

He shook his head.
“No, Dido. I’m never completely right about anything. I merely provide guidance and suggestions, as you well know. What suggestions of mine are you talking about?”

Dido shook her head and mentally kicked herself for starting their conversation in the way that she had done.

“I’m going to get my face fixed. I was silly… no, make that stupid. I went to Royston to look through the electoral roll without thinking.”

“That wasn’t advisable, but what’s done is done. Did you find them?”

She shook her head.
“Not a trace.”

“Then that indicates that the property they live in is owned by a company. Councils are less proactive about getting people on the electoral roll if a home is a company place where staff may come and go at regular intervals.”

“That’s something, isn’t it?”

“A small step but a step forward nevertheless.”

Dido didn’t say anything.

“I’ll give you the contact information of the plastic surgeon. Then, it is up to you to decide what you have done.”

“Only if I can afford it. The sort of things that I need cost lots of cash.”

“Just do what makes you safe from being recognised by Fox.”

“And?” asked John after a pause.

“I’m going to school. Not sure when or where yet, but I’m going to at least try to get enough learning so that I don’t appear like a total dork when applying for jobs and stuff.”

“That’s a good plan.”

Dido shook her head.
“Cut the crap, John. You have indicated more than once that you have a plan for me. Why not let me in on it, and we can evolve it from there?”

John sat back with a smile on his face. He poured them both another glass of wine.

“Not here, not today,” he said in a serious tone.

Dido didn’t look that happy,
“Meet me outside Surrey Keys Overground Station at midday tomorrow, and I’ll explain everything,” said John with a little smirk on his face.

She glared at John. Her grand plan of dealing with both issues in one visit had fallen flat on its face.

[the next day – Surrey Keys, SE London.]

John was waiting for Dido outside the London Overground station. Traffic zoomed past him as he waited. The smell of unburnt diesel fuel lingered in the air long after a very decrepit Transit van had disappeared towards New Cross. This was part of modern London that he didn’t miss.

He was so self-engrossed that he missed Dido arriving by bus. She tapped him on the shoulder. John nearly jumped out of his skin with surprise until he saw who it was.

“You were miles away,” said Dido.

“I was, but…?”

“I came by bus.”

“Oh. Then we had better get on with business, hadn’t we?”

“Business? What is there in this decrepit part of London?”

“It isn’t all like this. We are heading over towards the river. There are a lot of apartments there where once there were old warehouses. Greenland Dock, as its name implies, dealt with the Arctic Fur Trade decades ago.”

Dido followed John past the fairly decrepit shopping centre and supermarket into a much nicer area. The hum of traffic died away, only to be overtaken by the sound of a plane taking off from the nearby London City Airport.

"Here we are," said John as they reached the path that runs along the river. Several runners were pounding the pavement during their lunch break.

“The river bus stop is just there. It can take you to Westminster Pier in about half an hour,” he said, pointing at a floating jetty that stuck out into the river.

Dido had never been to this part of the city before. The towers of the docklands' financial area were just across the water.

“Come on, I have something to show you,” said John as he walked up to the door of a building.

He led Dido up to the 4th floor and opened a door to one of the apartments.
“Come on in and take a look around.”

The view down the river towards the Millennium Dome was magnificent.

“What is this place?”

“You need a place close to places of learning. Why not this one?”

“I could never afford a place like this.”

“Then don’t. Dorothy and I bought this place and the one next door as somewhere to rent out for a steady income during our retirement. We’d just completed on the purchase when she was diagnosed with cancer. Since then, I have not had the heart in me to rent them out. Too many memories.”

“I still could not afford the rent.”

John opened his briefcase, pulled out a document, and put it on the kitchen counter.

“This is a document that transfers the ownership of this apartment into a trust. In seven years, it will be yours free and clear.”

“John… Be honest with me for once. No one in their right mind gives away a place like this. What is it worth? Half a mil? There has to be a catch. Didn’t you tell me about things that seem too good to be true are probably full of shit?”

John chuckled.
“I did warn you off of gift horses. But Dido… you are, as I have said many times, the daughter I never had. I had this document drawn up more than a year ago, but my lawyer told me that you could not sign it until you were eighteen. You are now old enough, so have a read and tell me what you think.”

Dido shook her head but picked up the document. It was only two pages, and John had insisted that the legalese was kept to a minimum.

“Why seven years?”

“Tax. To give someone a gift of this size, the person giving it has to live for seven years after the gift for it to be considered free of Income Tax. By putting it into a trust, I can die, but the property is kept in my estate until the seven-year period runs out. You can’t sell the property until you obtain ownership of it, but the trust deed gives you free rent of the property for the entire seven years. This would be your base while you continue with your task of bringing Fox to heel.”

“But… seven years?”

“Think of it this way: year one, crash courses in English, Maths and Sociology and one science. Then, two years for A-Levels followed by a 3 or 4-year degree course. That plan does not preclude bringing Fox to justice in the intervening period should we get the evidence we need to call in the Police.”

“But it is farther from Royston than your place?”

John smiled.
“When the time comes to do detailed searching in that area, then my home will be a perfect base, but now you need to think about your education and how you can out-fox Fox when it is your turn to give evidence against him.”

“What if I fail those A-Levels?”

“You resit them and try again. I failed my Inspectors exam twice before passing. It wasn’t the end of the world. All the time you are studying, you are learning about people and interacting with them. You missed out on so much being locked up by him. I think that you know that you are pretty awkward when it comes to being sociable with people you don’t know and trust. Time will help you improve those skills.”

Dido went and looked out of the window at the river below them. For almost the first time since she escaped from her prison, she was crying. These were tears of joy.

“John…” muttered Dido.

“Why would you do all this for me?” she added, wiping away some tears from her cheek.

John resisted, sighing. Instead, he gave Dido one of his handkerchiefs.

“What else am I going to do with my money? I certainly don’t want to give it to my cousin Frank, who is a serial loser. Give him a hundred quid in the morning; he will have lost it all on the horses and slots within a couple of hours. He has no sense of the value of money. I’ve told you before that you are the daughter that Dorothy and I were unable to have.”

Dido managed a nod of the head.

“Besides, it is not as if I’m turning you loose the day after your eighteenth birthday with five hundred grand now, am I?”

Dido shook her head. She was still trying to come to terms with his generosity.

“Good. Then sign the document, and the clock will start ticking.”

John’s voice echoed around the empty apartment.

“There are two bedrooms. One can become the ‘War Room’ on our quest for Fox.”

“But… Won’t the next part of the search be up in Royston?”

“That’s only part of the story, isn’t it? You have your studies. If you look at the date on the document, you will see that I had it put together before we knew who had kept you prisoner for all those years. With the Overground, the Jubilee Line and the River Bus, isn’t this a good place to have a base?”

“I know, but…”

“Dido. Stop right there. You are not unclean. You are not a loser. You have shown a determination to bring the man who wronged you deeply to justice that would faze almost everyone else I have ever met. I did meet and get to know a lot of victims over the thirty-odd years that I was on the job. Dido, you show a determination that none of the other victims ever came close to. I am confident that you will get the redress that you so justly deserve.”

“Thank you, John. I… I just didn’t expect any of this.”

“Don’t thank me until you have a degree and Fox is sent down for the rest of his natural life.”

Dido smiled back at her mentor. They were cool.

She proved that by giving him a hug followed by a light kiss on the cheek.

John showed Dido the various facilities in the apartment. She just nodded her head. It was more than she had even hoped for at some point in the distant future.

“All of this comes with some strings,” he said when the tour was over.

“Ok, John, shoot!”

He chuckled at Dido’s use of language.

“I have set up an account that will pay the council tax and management fee automatically for the period of the trust deed. If… If you do have someone share it, you will need to inform the council. As a single person, you get a 25% reduction in council tax. There is enough money in the account to cater for the loss of that reduction. I have put enough extra cash in the account to cope with a 5% increase in the council tax every year. Are you with me so far?”

“I think so. This is all new to me.”

“That’s why I’m trying to make things easy for you.”

John handed over a set of keys.
“These are the keys to the place, plus there is a key to a storage unit in Deptford. Dorothy bought a lot of used but serviceable furniture at charity shops in preparation for us renting this out as a furnished flat. It has been there ever since. Choose what you want from it, and it is yours.”

“But… how will I get it here?”

John smiled.
“That’s the next string.”

He pulled out a flyer from his briefcase and handed it to Dido.

Her eyes bulged. The flyer described a ‘pass your driving test in a week’ course.

“Consider that your birthday present from me.”

Dido smiled.
“Does that mean I can drive the Cortina?”

“There is zero chance of that, my dear, but I’m buying a new car. You can drive that when it arrives.”

“But I don’t have a license?”

John nodded.
“That’s the final string. You have to go legit. Now that you are eighteen, you can legally change your name, get a bank account without a parent being a guarantor and…”

He grinned.
“Pay Income Tax.”

“Me? Pay Tax?”

“Ok, perhaps not at first, but there will come a time when you will. The sooner you become a legal person with an identity, the less hassle it will be later. Then comes the downside of being legally an adult. If you are arrested and convicted, you will not be sent to a young offenders’ institution. Having a criminal record as an adult can jeopardise any future employment prospects. More and more employers are performing criminal record checks… especially those in the legal profession.”

Dido shook her head.

“What’s wrong?”

“It is all a bit much.”

“That, my dear Dido, is what being an adult is all about. Things are harder when you are of age than when you had people making decisions, be they right or wrong on your behalf.”

She looked out of the window once more. A river bus was slowing down for the nearby stop. Three people were waiting to board. It all seemed a bit surreal to her.

“Thank you, John. I will try to live up to your expectations.”

“All I hope for Dido is that you do your best and don’t forget where I am, ok?”

She turned and stuck her tongue out at him.

John nodded his head and smiled. Dido was growing up fast. She had come a long way since the day that she had tried to steal his beloved Cortina.

[End of Book 1]
Book 2 will begin to be posted in the new year.

[Authors Note]
If you liked the seven parts that I have posted so far, please take the time to comment on the story so far and where you think it will go in Book 2.