Sentence The Sixhundredandtwentysecond

Well, what happened next was that Larry 'Knickers' Lauderdale, after giving the Time Travellers directions to a house where they would be made welcome, and sheltered from the Police, had made his way back to Hill House and arrived, saying that he had heard the sirens and wanted to help in any way he could be of service; he was sent off to make enquiries among the neighbours, but was naturally anxious about what had happened to Christiane, for he was concerned lest she would implicate him in the events which had preceded the arrival of DI Gordon Brevity and the squad from Galashiels; but Christiane had disappeared and he had to admit that she was his partner, especially once he learned that the two Auld Biddies living opposite and monitoring the comings and goings at Hill House, had already apprised Sam Smiles of the Scottish Secret Service of his and Christiane's arrival that morning and her coat, with her purse and identification had been left hanging in the hallway; "yes, we came here this morning, Christiane does some cleaning and housework for Ranulph, he can be a cantankerous sod, cos he's getting on a bit and not so able as he likes to think, but I left soon after and have no idea where she can have gone, I'm shocked that you think someone here would have done anything to harm her, she always got on very well with Ranulph, she lost her own father when she was wee, and I think she treats him as a sort of surrogate, and between you, me and the wall, he loves it really, though he'd never admit it, but I've no idea of any other house guests or visitors he might have had today," was all he would say; Smiles was less restrained than the DI and

pressed Lauderdale to admit to, at the very least, having concerns and reservations about Ranulph Ochan'toshan and his activities; Smiles and Jasmine Juniper-Green were not at all impressed by his forced admissions and were of a mind to have him suspended and put in custody in the basement of their unremarkable cottage in Darnick where Sam was convinced, he could extort more from him than he had already given to DI Brevity: "look, Gordon," said DCI Bruce Bruse, "both the missing woman and Lauderdale were in the group that holed up near Eildon Village after the last raid, and Deputy Chief Constable Doubleday has taken himself off to Largs for the weekend, to some kind of retreat and cannot be contacted, so ACC Archibald has rubber-stamped it – Sam Smiles is in overall charge of this case for now, but if forensic evidence implicates Lauderdale in the disappearance of his wife, we will be back in, and Smiles won't be able to keep us out, his target is this Ring of Gold and it's involvement in sex trafficking and child abuse - I don't like that any more than you, Gordon, I'd like to see a rocket or something equally igneous shoved up Lauderdale's arse, but if everyone's suspicions are proved correct, he'll be going down with the others for a very long time, and hopefully some strings can be pulled to ensure they get damn hard cell-mates who'll give them a taste of what hundreds of poor kids have suffered at their hands, but for now, we can only assist, final decisions are up to the ACC, and having Lauderdale in a secret location means there's a cut-out in The Ring, and they won't have any way of knowing what tales he might be telling, so you have your team keep their eyes and ears alert for any ripples, and let me know as soon as any of the other creeps who were in that room turn up, preferably in cuffs," and he had turned on his heel and walked away, leaving both the Brevitys silently fuming – until Goldy spoke: "at least Doubleday has hidden himself away, so it's not going to get squashed like the last time, and Sam and Jasmine have amassed a shed-full of evidence already, at least give them the weekend before you go in and see what they have, it isn't your responsibility now," to which he had to agree, although it still irked, but he made arrangements for Lauderdale to be taken to Darnick, with no further cunctation – he could cool his heels there, Professor Moonbeam already had his own shoes in evidence bags on their way to the lab and, with Sam's reluctant agreement, sent a couple of uniforms to keep an eye on the suspended Detective Sergeant – and report back to him!