AN: So the whole Lydia thing is wrapped up in 2 chapters and I think I'm almost done with just a few more chapters more to a HEA. Thanks for staying with this one and for all of your lovely comments. So encouraging! It's been an interesting exercise trying to keep the tense and the POV consistent. Not sure how technically well I have done that. Hopefully the ending will not disappoint, despite how tired I feel in the process...
Chapter 20
It is early the next morning. I've just heard from Dan who got through to his contact at Special Crimes, but her hands are tied as the information we've amassed is mostly not admissible in court so she can't get the green light to pursue. Fearing such an outcome, I had contacted my pilot last night and asked him to log a flight to Adelaide for as soon as possible. I was planning on taking Dan and a few of his select security team to Adelaide and hoping we could get everything squared away legally enroute, so I could talk to either the AFP or local SA coppers when we arrived and get him properly charged. I don't want him slipping away, while Special Crimes in WA works on tracking and following up the leads we gave them.
Lydia was now halfway to Adelaide. Interstate tickets require names and ID, so we were able to confirm she bought a ticket for the 10am train to Adelaide. She turned up at school with the friend she had stayed with, got ticked as present, then between periods told her friend to cover for her and say she was sick but had to go to her aunt's place instead of home. 15-year-old girls can be trusted to stick together, but she came clean that night when Lydia didn't make it to her aunt's that night. Georgie got all the details from Elizabeth when she rang to check in on her. She didn't tell her about our involvement, but Elizabeth had said that someone from Special Crimes had been in touch confirming particulars and said they had concerns about online predators targeting children. Kitty freaked out when she heard that and showed them Lydia's socials and the conversations she'd been having with "Flexer01" online. They shared all of this with Monique from Special Crimes.
Wickham had landed and Dan had people monitoring his movements, insisting that they were the best of the business in Adelaide – both of them retired coppers who had worked the Special Crimes Unit in Adelaide and had a special interest in men with interests like Wickham. I wanted to be on the ground in Adelaide only to make sure whatever grease was needed to get the wheels moving would be immediately provided. I wanted to stay out of the headlines as much as possible, though I realise turning up in a private jet was a rather showy way to stay behind the scenes. If I couldn't use my wealth to protect the people I loved, what was it good for? Even if I could never have her in my life, I wanted to do this for her, to make it right. To make up for ever thinking she was capable of betrayal.
We are taxiing for take-off, and I send Georgie and Richard a quick message on our family chat to say we are on our way. I remind them both that our involvement is to be kept on the downlow for everyone and that officially I am going to South Australia to check on our recent investments in the Barossa Valley. All of this will check out and if all goes well, I will head to the Barossa in a day or two to keep a few recently scheduled appointments. I'm hoping there will be no need for an alibi, but knowing George, the likelihood is I'm going to have to explain something about my coincidental arrival in South Australia around the time of his arrest. If the truth will out, so be it. I am no longer going to hide the truth of who I am, and what I have done to keep my legacy and my family as intact as it can be.
A few hours later, I am drumming my fingers in a dingy cubicle waiting for a supervisor to finish getting the last of her ducks in a row so the requested assets and resources can be reassigned for what has now turned into a baited sting operation, only the bait doesn't know she's bait. In order to make any allegations stick, he needs to be caught with her. It doesn't matter that she's a willing victim because she's a minor and she can't legally give consent. We've been told it's unlikely to give him jail time, but if convicted, it will go on his permanent record, and depending on the prosecution's case, he might end up on the national register for sex offenders, which is something at least. And if he's been using his work accounts or social media for any of his interactions, then we can go after his employer, and turn the heat up there.
I've had to come clean about what happened at RISDe two years ago to explain my involvement. I'm trying to keep Elizabeth's name out of it as much as possible, but I know his main motivation would have been blackmail. Targeting another young woman in close proximity to me, knowing me as well as he does, he would have inferred the strength of my attachment just from that one photo of us in the paper. It's still a lot to risk though.
Dan has his people watching Wickham and we still have a night to wait before the train gets into the station at 7am tomorrow morning. I have no way of knowing if Lydia is ok on that train, if she's had cold feet or what his plan is. Sergeant De Silva finally comes back in, and we are given the green light. It's time for me to disappear into my real job and leave the police work to the men and women in blue. Dan will remain off the record as an independent contact, providing back up and intelligence through his assets, who were willing to go on record as witnesses for the prosecution and were already in position watching Wickham. The rest of the team would focus on keeping eyes on Lydia and making the arrest at the right time.
I am grateful this has all been pulled together so quickly. There was no guarantee they would believe us, even with the evidence we amassed, but I think it was my willingness to come clean about my sister's experience that cemented it. Dan's thorough reporting and evidence for that, though not enough to guarantee conviction in court, was enough to convince the police he had motive and opportunity, as well as a predilection for young girls. I could not be associated with the operation any further if I wanted to keep my name out of it, so I headed to Hotel Indigo, charging Dan to keep me posted if he could do so discreetly. I focused on keeping up appearances for the rest of my stay, dining with one of Richard's old school friends that night, and then spending the next 2 days in the Barossa, eating great food, drinking beautiful wine, and talking expansion and upgrades and capital reinvestment.
All of it buoyed by the one-word text I received from Dan late Saturday afternoon.
Success.
