Macbeth

‘Listen. I’m showing my confidence in you by giving you this assignment. You can go to Estex or you can use this to report your brothers here in SWAT. I’m giving you the choice. Because I need to know that I can trust you.’

Angus shook his head, a sob escaped him. ‘You need to make me an accessory to know you can trust me!’

Macbeth shook his head. ‘You’re already an accessory. I only need to know that you’re strong enough to take and carry the guilt without those at home finding out the price we pay to defend them. Only then will I know if you’re a real man, Angus.’

‘You make it sound as if we, and not the child, are the victims. I can’t do it! I’d rather be shot.’

Macbeth looked at Angus. He didn’t feel any anger. Perhaps because he liked Angus. Perhaps because he knew Angus couldn’t hurt them. But mostly because he was sorry for him. Macbeth put the lid back on the shoebox and stood up.

‘Wait,’ Angus said. ‘H-how are you going to punish me?’

‘Oh, you’ll punish yourself,’ Macbeth said. ‘Read what it says on our flag. It’s not the child’s screaming you’ll hear when you wake up sweaty after a nightmare, but the words: Loyalty, fraternity, baptised in fire, united in blood.’

He took the shoebox and left.

There was still more than an hour to midnight when Macbeth let himself into the suite.

Lady was standing by the window with her back to him. The room was sparsely illuminated by a single wax candle, and she was dressed in a nightdress. He put the shoebox on the table under the mirror, went over to her and kissed her neck.

‘The electricity went when I arrived,’ he said. ‘Jack’s checking the fuse box. Hope none of the customers are using the opportunity to make off with the kitty.’

‘The electricity has gone in over half the town,’ she said, leaning back and resting her head on his shoulder. ‘I can see from here. What have you got in the shoebox?’

‘What do you normally have in a shoebox?’

‘You’re carrying it as if it were a bomb.’

At that moment a huge streak of lightning flashed like a white luminous vein across the sky, and they caught a glimpse of the town. Then it was dark again and thunder rolled in.

‘Isn’t it beautiful?’ he said, inhaling the scent of her hair.

‘I don’t know what it is, you know.’

‘I meant the town. And it will be more beautiful. When Duff’s no longer in it.’

‘It will still have a mayor who makes it ugly. Won’t you tell me what’s in the box?’ Her voice was thick, as though she had just woken up.

‘Just something I have to burn. I’ll ask Jack to take it up to the furnaces at Estex tomorrow.’

‘I want to be burned too, darling.’

Macbeth stiffened. What had she said? Was she sleepwalking? But sleepwalkers couldn’t hold conversations, could they?

‘So you haven’t found Duff yet?’ she said.

‘Not yet, but we’re looking everywhere.’

‘Poor man. Losing his children and now he’s all alone.’

‘Someone’s helping him. Otherwise we’d have found him. I don’t trust Lennox.’

‘Because you know he serves Hecate and brew?’

‘Because Lennox is basically weak. He might be getting soft and conspiratorial, the way Banquo became. Perhaps he’s hiding Duff. I should arrest him. Seyton tells me that under Kenneth they used to give arrestees an electric shock in the groin if they didn’t talk. And another one to stop them talking.’

‘No.’

‘No?’

‘No. Arresting one of your own unit commanders would look bad now. For the time being the general impression is that you’ve nabbed two rotten apples in Duff and Malcolm. Three would make it look like a purge. Purges raise questions not only about the unpurged but also the leader, and we don’t want to give Tourtell any reason to hesitate in appointing you. And as for electric shocks, right now there’s no electricity in this part of town.’

‘So what do I do?’

‘You wake the electrician and ask him to fix it.’

‘You’re difficult this evening, my love. This evening you should be uniting with me, acclaiming me as a hero.’

‘And you me as a heroine, Macbeth. Have you checked out Caithness?’

‘Caithness? What makes you think she’s involved?’

‘During the dinner that night Duff said he was staying with a cousin.’

‘Yes, he mentioned that.’

‘And you weren’t surprised that an orphanage boy had an uncle in town?’

‘Not all uncles can take on...’ Macbeth frowned as he stood behind her. ‘You mean Duff and Caithness...?’

‘Dear Macbeth, my hero, you are and will always be a simple man without a woman’s eye for how two secretly enamoured people look at each other.’

Macbeth blinked into the darkness. Then he put his arms around her, closed his eyes and pulled her to him. How would he have survived without her? ‘Only when we two stand in front of the mirror,’ he whispered in her ear. ‘Thank you, darling. Go to bed now and I’ll tell Lennox to go to Caithness’s at once.’

‘It’s back,’ she said.

‘What is?’

‘The electricity. Look. Our town is lit up again.’