Fiona Freeman is a twenty-three-year-old porn actress, working under the name Fyola Fay, who knew Danny ‘Dick’ de Lion.
As he leaves the office one day, Strike notices ‘a well-built young woman with white-blonde hair extensions’ standing on the corner of Denmark Street. He notices her ‘false eyelashes, plumped-up lips’ and a figure that ‘showed evidence of cosmetic enhancements’ (Chapter 25).
On his return to Denmark Street, Strike notes that the woman had left, but finds on the doorstep an envelope containing two lines of pigpen cipher. He translates the message which says ‘the man in the safe was dangerous dick delion’ (Chapter 26).
Having discovered that Dick De Lion is a porn star, Strike finally identifies the woman he spotted on Denmark Street as ‘Fyola Fay’ through watching porn videos whilst at Lucy’s party on Christmas Eve (Chapter 40). He learns her real name is Fiona Freeman, and that she lives on Wycliffe Road in Wimbledon, through a ‘website dedicated to outing female porn stars’ (Chapter 43).
In order to interview Fiona, Barclay and Robin watch the maisonette where she lives with ‘her boyfriend, a very large, muscled and entirely bald porn director called Craig Wheaton’. When Craig leaves the house, Barclay follows him, allowing Robin to attempt to speak to Fiona (Chapter 69).
When Freeman opens the door, Robin sees a woman ‘literally every visible inch of whom had been embellished or enhanced to send one loud, crude signal: long platinum hair and a deep artificial tan; thick eyelash extensions and pointed, neon pink false nails; fake breasts, filler in her lips and cheekbones – even her toes were adorned with rings and nail varnish, and there was a chain tattooed around her right ankle’ (Chapter 69).
Initially Fiona refuses to speak to Robin, but eventually relents and lets Robin inside. They talk in Fiona’s kitchen, whilst Fiona smokes Marlboro Lights through the open French windows.
Fiona tells Robin that she has worked with Danny De Lion, and why she suspects that it is his body that was found in the silver vault. She suspects he was killed ‘by a rich guy’ who is ‘on the telly sometimes’, but she doesn’t know his name (Chapter 69). She decided to tip off Strike by leaving the coded note as her boyfriend Craig monitors her emails and texts.
Fiona gives Robin more details about Danny, and then Robin leaves when Barclay texts to say that Craig is on his way home. Robin promises to let Fiona know the outcome of the case (Chapter 69).