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You have recent, relevant experience which we can use. I’ll fill you in on the details when you get here. DCI Ying from Motherwell will be taking the lead. The team are meeting at Pitt Street. I want you to sit in on the press conference. The timing’s not great but we can’t pick the cases – you’re on the team.”
    “Well I’m not sure how I’ll look. I...eh...fell in the snow last night and I’m not looking too pretty.”
    “Too bad Arbogast”
    After a heavy intake of breath Arbogast managed a “right” in reply
    “Oh and Arbogast,”
    “Yes sir?”
    “Welcome to Major Crime.”
     

 
    5
     
     
     
     
    Arbogast looked out over the assembled press pack and wished he was in a better frame of mind. The conference room was an oddly proportioned space framed by a stage at the front with stairs leading up from either side. It had been digested into the bowels of the Pitt Street headquarters and was best known to the public as the backdrop to many a night of misery on television news bulletins. It reminded Arbogast of church mainly due to the countless sermons he’d heard here, that and its size. The room stretched back about 40 feet but was easily the same in height.  Halfway up pale cedar panelling gave way to expansive windows which in turn flooded the room with light. He entered the room from a narrow corridor to the right of the podium. For these occasions the stage was always redundant, replaced by a more intimate Strathclyde Police stall which was made up of two long tables sat side by side in front of a triptych of branded boarding, which made it feel like a post match football interview. For the first time today it was Arbogast who was sitting up front as part of the top team. Three of them sat at tables laden with radio and TV mics along with the dictaphones of the press corps. Chief Constable, Norrie Smith, sat centre stage with Rosalind Ying at his right hand. Arbogast sat uncomfortably on the left trying to make himself invisible. This was a big story. The press release had gone out first thing.
     

Missing persons Shotts
    Detectives in Motherwell are appealing for witnesses after two people went missing overnight.
    They had been travelling on a bus which became stranded in heavy snow when they appear to have left the vehicle.
    One other person was found on board. This third person is presently being treated for exposure in hospital.
    A press conference will be held today (Monday morning) at 10am.
    Interview opportunities will be available.
    For further information please contact Media Services on 0141 332 4789
     
     

 
    The information was vaguely sensational and had attracted a full house. There were four TV crews, several radio stations and all the major local papers, as well as staff from selected UK agencies. Of all the snow stories doing the rounds this was the only one that was actual news. Rosalind Ying had insisted Arbogast obscure the cuts and bruises from his nocturnal adventure with makeup. He had protested but when she showed him his face in the mirror and asked whether that was what he wanted to show the national press for his first assignment in Major Crime he had given in. He still didn’t look particularly healthy but he was as ready as he could be. Arbogast didn’t expect to say much if anything at this stage in the investigation given he knew exactly nothing about it. His heart was racing and he was gripped by a fear he might be found out on day one. ‘Stay focused,’ he chanted to himself as Norrie Smith got the conference underway.
    “Ladies and gentlemen thank you very much for taking the time to be here today. It’s encouraging that we seem to have a full house and I can assure you that your help is needed. Last night a coach became stuck in a ten foot snow drift near to the Kirk o’ Shotts on the old A8. On board we found a woman in her thirties suffering from the effects of hypothermia. She is currently being treated for this at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. From