Epilogue

It was just as well it was summer and schools were out. As it was, Zoe was well behind with her studies.

Brigadier Walker’s people sucked our kingpin dry, and he ‘disappeared’. I don’t know – don’t want to know – the details. All she said was, “He got drunk and fell overboard from the ferry to Holland.” Over the next few weeks there seemed to be a rash of fatalities; a Government Minister had a fatal heart attack, as did several senior officers from East Anglian constabularies – Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire were all affected. There were several ‘hit and run’ ‘accidents’, and at least one ‘mugging went wrong’. Apart from the fatalities, there were several unexpected resignations from significant positions. Strangely, no one was ever prosecuted.

I didn’t think we’d really affected the sex-slave trade, but at least we’d shut down the group we knew about.

Serendipity returned, and nine girls came together for the last time in our home. Five girls from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine would be returning to their families; it was relatively easy to get them appropriate documents. Nadiya, Valda, Liina and Klavdiya all wanted to stay. That was more difficult, but by dint of more – let’s be honest, illegal – activities, they became citizens of the United Kingdom. Nadiya, who had started the business by running away and stowing away on Serendipity, was adopted by the Hendersons. Klavdiya, to my surprise, was taken in by the Brigadier. Valda, as I say, stayed with us. Only one presented us with something of a problem – Liina. She was probably the worst affected by the business. A devout Russian Orthodox from a very strict Orthodox family, the treatment she’d received was devastating. What was even worse was that her family rejected her, something I still cannot understand.