Macbeth

Macbeth looked at Priscilla’s desperate expression.

‘It’s your wife.’

‘What?’ came his astonished response. He did up the lowest button on his uniform and went into his office.

She was standing behind his desk examining the painting on the wall. ‘Darling! You really have to do something about the art in here.’

Macbeth stared at Lady in disbelief. She was wearing a plain, elegant outfit under a fur coat; she had obviously come straight from the hairdresser’s and looked relaxed and energetic. He approached her with caution. ‘How... are you, darling?’

‘Excellent,’ she said. ‘I can see this picture is propaganda, but what’s it trying to say actually?’

Macbeth couldn’t take his eyes off her. Where was the crazy woman he had seen yesterday? Gone.

‘My love?’

Macbeth gazed at the painting. Saw the workers’ coarse features. ‘It was put there by someone else. I’ll get it changed. I’m so glad you feel better. Have you... taken your medicine?’

She shook her head. ‘No medicine. I’ve stopped my medicine. All of it.’

‘Because there’s none left?’

She smiled fleetingly. ‘I saw the drawer was empty. You’ve stopped too.’ She sat in his chair. ‘This is a bit... cramped, isn’t it?’

‘Maybe.’ Macbeth sat down on one of the visitor’s chairs. Perhaps her madness had just been a labyrinth and she had found her way out.

‘Glad you agree. I had a chat with Jack this morning. About the plan you made regarding the mayoral elections.’

‘Yes. Well, what do you think?’

She pouted and waggled her head. ‘You’ve done the best you can do, but you’ve forgotten one thing.’

‘What’s that?’

‘Your thinking is that we should leak information about Tourtell’s relationship with this boy just before the elections. And then you, the Sweno-killer, will quickly fill the vacuum before people go to the ballot box.’

‘Yes?’ said Macbeth, full of enthusiasm.

‘The problem is that the vacuum was filled when Zimmerman announced that he was standing.’

‘That bore? No one cares about him.’

‘Zimmerman doesn’t have great appeal, it’s true, but people know him and know what they can expect. So they feel safe with him. And it’s important for people to feel safe in these dramatic times. That’s why Tourtell will be re-elected.’

‘Do you really think Zimmerman could beat me?’

‘Yes,’ Lady said. ‘Unless you’re officially supported by a Tourtell who has not been damaged by scandal and you’ve also dealt with Hecate. Get those two things organised and you’re unbeatable.’

Macbeth felt a wearied relief. She was out of the labyrinth. She was here, back with him.

‘Fine, but how?’

‘By giving Tourtell an ultimatum. He can either voluntarily withdraw, giving advancing age and poor health as reasons, and lend you his unreserved, official support. Or we can force him to withdraw by threatening to unmask him as the perverted pig he is, after which he’ll be arrested and thrown into jail, where he knows what happens to pederasts. Shouldn’t be the most difficult decision to make.’

‘Hm.’ Macbeth scratched his beard. ‘We’ll have made an enemy.’

‘Tourtell? On the contrary. He understands power struggles and will be grateful we gave him a merciful alternative.’

‘Let me think about it.’

‘No need, darling. There’s nothing to consider. Then there’s the puppeteer, Hecate. It’s time he was got rid of.’

‘I’m not so sure that’s wise, darling. Remember he’s our guarantor and will support us if we come up against opponents.’

‘Hecate still hasn’t demanded his pound of flesh for making you chief commissioner,’ Lady said. ‘But soon the day of reckoning will come. And then you’ll do this.’ She raised an elbow as though it were attached to a string. ‘And this.’ A foot shot out. ‘Do you want to be Hecate’s puppet, my love? Curtailing the campaign against him won’t be enough; he’ll want more and more, and in the end everything — that’s what people such as him are like. So the question is whether you want to let Hecate control the town through you? Or—’ she placed her elbows on the desk ‘—do you want to be the puppeteer yourself? Be the hero who caught Hecate and became mayor?’

Macbeth fixed her with his eyes. Then he nodded slowly.

‘I’ll invite Tourtell to a private game of blackjack,’ Lady said, getting up. ‘And you send a message to Hecate telling him you wish to meet him face to face.’

‘And why do you think he’ll say yes?’

‘Because you’ll hand him a suitcase full of gold as thanks for him getting us the chief commissioner’s job.’

‘And he’ll swallow the bait, do you think?’

‘Some people are blinded by power, others by money. Hecate belongs to the latter group. You’ll get the details later.’

Macbeth accompanied her to the door. ‘Darling,’ he said, laying a hand on her back, stroking the thick fur, ‘it’s good to have you back.’

‘Likewise,’ she said, letting him kiss her on the cheek. ‘Be strong. Let’s make each other strong.’

He watched her as she sailed through the anteroom, wondering if he would ever fully understand who she was. Or if he wanted to. Wasn’t it that which made her so irresistible to him?