The Nationalist by Campbell Hart Read Free Book Online

job in Scotland and as such was Norrie Smith’s greatest rival. The fact that the country was gripped by a real terror threat meant that the powers that be were looking to make a speedy appointment. Rosalind had received a call and was asked to fly over to meet Graeme Donald to discuss her ‘options’. This had caused a rift between John and Rose, who had been arguing more frequently in recent months. The engagement had been intended to draw a line under their problems. They both thought greater commitment was what they needed but when Rose said ‘yes’ to his proposal it wasn’t long before both of them felt they may have made a mistake, although neither were prepared to admit it. Arbogast knew Rose was being lined up to be DCI under Graeme Donald, a state of affairs which was royally pissing him off. Not only would that make Rose one of the country’s highest profile police officers, she would significantly outrank him, while his great champion, Norrie Smith, would be forced out into early retirement. When she left, it had been hot on the heels of another a raging argument. Arbogast had called her a traitor. She said she hated him, that she’d made a mistake. Later on he thought he might have overstated things, but it was too late to take it back.
    Five miles out from Glasgow, the traffic had ground to a halt. Traffic measures in the city centre meant the motorway had been reduced to two lanes each way, with cameras trained from overhead gantries recording the movement of every car. It took Arbogast two hours to get back to Pitt Street.
     
     
    St Andrew’s House, Edinburgh
     
    “I’m not sure this man Smith is the kind of figurehead we need right now.”
    Craig McAlmont knew the First Minister was getting worried. With less than a year to the Referendum it was important that everything that could be done to keep the country on an even keel was done without question.
    “You may be right, but do you think this is really the time to make a change?”
    “It would be decisive.”
    “But what if the replacement gets it wrong?”
    “We can’t allow that to happen. He’ll have our full support.”
    “Do I need to make this happen?”
    “I think so. We can wait until tomorrow morning but if we don’t do it now it’s going to look odd. Norrie was good for Strathclyde but I’m not sure he’s what we need for Scotland. He was at the scene of the blast. He’s been physically and mentally compromised. People will understand why he can’t lead this investigation.”
    Craig nodded, “OK, well let’s sleep on it but I’ll start working on a Q&A to explain the departure. He won’t like this.”
    “No, but we can go easy on him. We can give him the option of presenting the move in the right way. He’ll get his full pension and there will be no suggestion of incompetence.”
    “I’ll get on it now. I agree with your logic. I just worry about how this will be portrayed by the media. They might not get it.”
    “It’s best to do it early on, rather than wait.”
    “I thought we were sleeping on it.”
    “So did I.”
     

 
    Glasgow
     
    “I always thought he was kidding,” James Wright was wringing his hands, staring at the thick brown shag pile carpet.
    “Did you know about this?” PC Karen Ludlow hadn’t expected any major revelations. As far as she was concerned this was a routine enquiry.
    “You described him as my friend. He was hardly that. We shared a bond; we were both at Monte Cassino – you know, in the war,” The PC’s nodded. Gregor Collins was taking notes. “We didn’t actually meet at the time. We were in different divisions. But the men that went through that were close. It was like trench warfare, appalling. We met much later at the Legion. I started going more after my wife died; a load of us went. Over the years it whittled down to just me and Jock,” His voice was frail and brittle; his vocal chords stretched thin from a lifetime of self explanation. “He was mad, you