Sentence The Fourhundredandthirtyeight 

The indispensable WPC Isa Urquhart watched it all on a monitor in the Police Scotland Command Post, an anonymous van parked near the entrance to the drive leading to Hill House in Bowden: squeezed in with Sam Smiles and Jasmine Juniper-Green, both representing MI5 and still very anxious about Tavish and the girls; the images came from from the helmet cameras of the Armed Response Team as they stormed the building – she saw the astonished face of the middle-aged man who opened the door wearing a poncey, ponceau poncho – Ranulph Ochan'toshan then tumbled back

inside as the first officers barged their way in; the panic on the faces of the other men, in varying states of undress as they tried and failed to hide the children they were with; the burning fury on the face of the man she recognised as DCC Duncan Doubleday, caught in flagrante in a retro bentwood bed with a young boy; the confusion on the face of a man she later learned was the 16^th Century Sir

Parlane MacFarlane, still in bed with an attenuated young Romanian girl who after first giving her name as Lolly, later confirmed that she was actually Licinda Antonescu and had been bought from her father and then trafficked into Scotland to be used as a prostitute and the finely-tuned sensitivities of the emotional WPC wanted to wrap her in a blanket and feed her back to a healthy size and shape, for she knew this was the girl whose testimony had resulted in this Bust; she saw the bitter defiance of Detective Sergeant Larry 'Knickers' Lauderdale and his paramour, Christiane; and later heard the

pleading voices of the parents of the seven other children who had been found in the house, desperately failing to convince anyone that they had never dreamt, could never believe, that their children were being sexually abused by their Uncle Ralphy and his friends: “such a dear old man,” they kept repeating, “so devoted, so generous, so kind,” and “he'd do anything for the kids, give them treats, take them to the sea-side, just like a proper Uncle,” and of his associates: “oh Larry and Christiane, such a devoted couple, always happy to baby-sit, at the drop of a hat, we have every confidence in them, there must be a mistake, they were probably just helping with the children at Uncle Ralphy's party, the kids adore them,” and of the various parties Ochan'toshan hosted: “yes, Ranulph's parties are famous for the celebrities he brings to the village, everyone has a great time and they always make sure there is something special for the children,” and “say what you like about Larry and Christiane, they are supererogatory – they always go Above and Beyond for those kids – they deserve Medals, not dragging off in Black Marias, you should be ashamed of yourselves, treating good Christian souls like that!”