She was asleep when Matt visited; they told her when she woke. It was probably best, she thought, as she had too many things to say and nowhere near the focus to say them yet.
Frankie takes in her flowers again, the sunlight glowing through their bright tropical petals, and beyond them summertime London, sprawling in heat haze, and she feels at home. For the first time in a long time, Frankie feels held by other people.
There is a knock at the door.
A woman with a bruised face tentatively looks in, her posture tall, proud, her hair cut unevenly.
“Hi,” she says, her voice clear and unbroken, her eyes full of love.
Frankie shifts up in bed, the pain sharp but unimportant. “Hi,”Frankie croaks, the lining of her throat stripped from the tubing and medication.
“Can I come in?” the woman asks.
Frankie acquiesces, words momentarily failing her as emotion surges up inside her fast and strong; she fumbles back her hospital sheets, the other woman already moving to meet her.
The two of them wordlessly rush to each other, their bare feet on the cool hospital flooring. They embrace, silently, tightly, shuddering relief and effervescent joy bubbling between them.
What they feel is beyond the words they currently have, as they hold each other, safely encased in a tangle of hospital wires, in a maze of corridors, in a city of people.
Chapter 54
The Williams Case
From Wikipedia, the Free encyclopedia
TheWilliams Casewas brought to light in 2025, when an unnamed neighbor of London GPSimon Williamssubmitted footage to the police believed to show a hidden bunker beneath Williams’s garden, where Williams had been holding a woman captive between July 22, 2024, and July 14, 2025. Williams was convicted and sentenced (May 22, 2026) for multiple crimes, including the rape, imprisonment, and assault of Anna Derwent as well as the murders of Derwent’s mother,Cynthia Derwent, and the 2005 missing schoolgirlMelissa Craig,whose remains were discovered in 2023 in Knoydart, on the west coast of Scotland.
The woman in the basement[Edit]
Upon arrest, the former NHS doctor Simon Williams was discovered to have been holding a woman, Anna Derwent, a former partner of Williams, captive in a purpose-built bunker beneath his home. Williams had planned to murder and dismember Derwent’s body using implements police found in a room on the property.
Whilst the neighbor’s pet camera footage that initially alerted the police to a potential issue at the property was later declared inadmissible in court, it did lead investigators to raid the Williams residence and to the rescue of Ms. Derwent.
The extended basement of the property, on Lockheath Road,did not appear on structural plans, or surveys, when bought by Williams in 2020.
Around 2021, Williams, according to his own testimony, began uncovering and extending the existing underground space. By 2023 he began converting the modified space into a self-contained unit, installing a toilet, rudimentary wash facilities, a bed, table, chair, and storage for dry and tinned food.
The room contained no television or radio, with the only connection to the outside world being a thin, partially obscured window. Both the window and the property’s large garden had been obscured from external view by tree and plant coverage, contributing to the late detection of the bunker.
Anna Derwent, the key witness in the trial, gave harrowing testimony of daily life during her yearlong imprisonment: kept in solitary confinement, Ms. Derwent would be visited by Williams multiple times a week. During these visits he would bring food, and often gifts, in an attempt to uphold the illusion of a consensual relationship.
When the property was finally raided by the police, on July 14, 2025, Ms. Derwent was found, injured, over the unconscious body of Williams, after a near-successful attempt at escape.
Williams, having sustained severe injuries at the hands of Derwent in her bid for freedom, was rushed to hospital and, after a period of recovery, was subsequently able to stand trial for his crimes.
After her liberation, Ms. Derwent disappeared from public life, reappearing only briefly for the trial. It is believed she now lives in a different part of the UK, under another name.
The Murder of Melissa Craig[Edit]
During the investigation of the Williams residence and after statements given by Anna Derwent, police discovered personal items belonging to the 2005 missing sixth formerMelissa Craig,linking Williams directly to her murder.[24]
Melissa Craig (born June 4, 1987), had met fellow student Williams whilst both were sixth-form students at Leewood High School. The relationship soured shortly after Craig’s acceptance into university.
Melissa went missing in early 2005, at age eighteen, less than three months after starting a relationship with Williams, and was never seen again.[25]
Her disappearance was initially believed to have taken place sometime between leaving school and returning home, the alarm being raised by Melissa’s mother after she failed to return home after scheduled music practice.[26]
No leads in the investigation into Melissa’s disappearance were found at the time, though an ongoing appeal, spearheaded by Melissa’s parents, Philip and Nicola Craig, eventually brought to light new information five years after Melissa’s disappearance.
