Forty-Six
Solving the riddle of the Merlin m******e and destroying the Zeitz drug operation turned DI Reid into a front page media sensation, at the expense of his superiors. The arrest of the Trimmers in London and their subsequent extradition to Australia was news fodder for weeks.
During her trial, Susie Morte briefly enjoyed heroine status for having seduced Ron Zeitz to get access to his bank accounts. When the media finally grasped the meaning of what she and her brothers were doing at the instigation of their mother, she was vilified as a scheming slut.
When the details of the Zeitz operation came out at the trial of Simon Flaherty and his associates, especially the bit about how the operation had gone undetected for more than twenty years, there was wild speculation in the media
