Episode 4

An Edinburgh landlady reports that her lodger - 22-year-old international student Santra - has not been seen or in touch for ten days. Police initially hope that she may have simply left without telling anyone, but when searching Santra’s accommodation, officers unearth a troubling note. This triggers a high-risk missing persons investigation as police race against time to track her down.

The note is not signed or dated, and police can’t be completely sure that it is in Santra’s handwriting, but they have to treat the case as urgent. The problem police face is that no-one seems to know very much about Santra. Originally from India, she has been studying for a master’s in the city but appears to have kept herself to herself. Police must instead turn to CCTV, which enables them to track her, first leaving the house and then at her university on the day she goes missing. A trace on Santra’s phone gives police a new lead, taking them to the town of Livingston, west of Edinburgh. But the phone mast covers a vast area, and officers still need to work out what Santra was doing there. They receive a tip-off suggesting she may have been in conflict with a former landlady in the town, and further CCTV footage reveals her onward movements after collecting belongings from the landlady’s house.

The mystery only deepens when Santra is seen on CCTV entering an underpass, before disappearing from view. The search intensifies to pick up any trace of Santra after she left the underpass, and to follow up a number of sightings from members of the public following an appeal, but Santra remains missing for a further week before police can find out what has happened to her.

Howdenhall Police Station in Edinburgh deals with more missing persons cases than anywhere else in Scotland. Sergeant David Tainsh is on duty at the station when he is alerted to the disappearance of a 52-year-old woman, Laura, by a housing officer who has been unable to reach her for the past two weeks. The officer is convinced that she is not in control of her decision-making and is sleeping outside in dangerously low temperatures. Officers head to check Laura’s flat, but while the window has been left open, there is no sign of her. There is no food put out for the cats that Laura shares care for with a neighbour, and their litter has not been emptied. Photographic evidence confirms that nothing has moved in the flat since the housing officer’s visit. None of Laura's neighbours have seen her, and with fears for her safety on the streets, patrols spread out across the city. The search is hampered by police being unable to find anyone who might have any information about her. In spite of their best endeavours, Sgt Tainsh has to face the possibility that they may not be able to find Laura in time.