Ю Несбё - Macbeth

The sergeant looked at his watch again. A quarter to seven.

Sweno had needed a little time to make the decision, but the sergeant had the feeling that was more for reasons of caution than doubt. And that was confirmed when the three cousins from the south had drawn up in front of the club gate, a Harley Davidson chopper with high handlebars, a Harley FL 1200 Electra Glide and a Russian Ural with a sidecar and mounted machine gun. The guy on the Electra Glide had a sword with him, not curved like Sweno’s sabre, but it would do the job.

Fourteen minutes to seven.

‘Fleance...’

Something in his father’s voice made Fleance glance across. His father was always calm, but when something was wrong he had this voice that was even calmer. Like the time Fleance was seven and his father came home from the hospital after visiting Mum and said his name in that same eerily calm way.

‘Change of plans for this evening.’ His father shifted lane, tucked in behind a Ford Galaxy. ‘And the next few days.’

‘Really?’

‘You’re going to Capitol. Tonight.’

‘Capitol?’

‘Something’s happened. You’ll have lots of questions, my lad, but you won’t get any answers just yet. Drop me off at the Inverness, then you drive on at once. Pop home, take only what you need with you and go to Capitol. Drive steadily, not too fast, and you’ll get there late tomorrow. Got that?’

‘Yes, but what—’

‘No questions. You should stay there a few days, maybe weeks. As you know, your mother inherited a little flat. Take the notepad from the glove compartment.’

‘The one-room flat she called the rat hole?’

‘Yes. No wonder we never managed to sell it. Fortunately, I have to say now. The address is 66 Tannery Street, District 6. Right next to the Dolphin Nightclub. Second floor on the right. You’re safe there. Have you written that down?’

‘Yes.’ Fleance tore out the page and put the notepad back in the glove compartment. ‘But I’ll need a key, won’t I? I mean, who’ll let me in if it’s empty?’

‘It’s not empty.’

‘Tenants?’

‘Not exactly; I’ve let poor old cousin Alfie stay there. He’s so old and deaf he might not open up when you ring the bell, so you’ll have to improvise.’

‘Dad?’

‘Yes?’

‘Has this got anything to do with what Duff was after? He seemed very... intense.’

‘Yes, but no more questions, Fleance. You’ll just have to stay there, study some school books you take with you, get bored, but no phone calls, no letters, don’t say a peep to anyone about where you are. Just do as I say, and I’ll send for you when it’s safe to return.’

‘Are you safe then?’

‘You heard what I said.’

Fleance nodded.

They drove in silence, the worn rubbers of the windscreen wipers squeaking and sounding as if they wanted to tell them something.

‘Yes,’ Banquo said, ‘I’m safe. But take no notice of the news from now on, probably just lies. There’s someone else staying there as well at the moment. I think he’s got a mattress on the floor, so you take the sofa. If the rats haven’t eaten it.’

‘Funny guy. Do you promise me you’re safe?’

‘Don’t you worry...’

‘The lights are red!’

Banquo jumped on the brakes and almost ended up on the rear bumper of the Galaxy, which obviously hadn’t seen the lights change either.

‘Here,’ Banquo said, passing his son a thick worn wallet. ‘Take the money, then you’ve got enough to make ends meet for a while.’

Fleance took out the notes

‘Bloody long time on red...’ he heard his father mutter.

Fleance glanced in the side mirror. There was already a long queue behind them. On the outside of the queue a line of motorbikes was coming towards them.

‘Strange,’ his father said. Again his much-too-calm voice. ‘Looks like the road ahead is on red too. And has been for a while.’

‘Dad, there are some motorbikes coming.’

Fleance saw his father glance in the rear-view mirror for a second. Then he put his foot down on the accelerator, wrenched the steering wheel to the right and let go of the clutch. The old car spun on the wet, oily tarmac, but squeezed out to the right of the queue. The hubcaps hit the high kerb, and both cars screamed as if hurt when the Volvo scraped alongside the Galaxy and knocked off its side mirror as they passed.

A huge roar came from the street ahead. The lights had changed to green.

‘Dad! Stop!’

But his father didn’t stop; on the contrary, he slammed his foot down. They raced into the junction on a collision course with a lorry from the left and a bus from the right. And heard two horns blaring, one from either side, roaring a jarring chord as they emerged from between them. Fleance stared in the mirror as they shot down from Gallows Hill towards the centre, and the painful music sank in pitch behind them. He saw the traffic lights had changed back to green and the motorbikes were already across the junction.

Macbeth stood with both feet firmly planted on the solid tiles at the entrance to Inverness Casino yet still felt he was at sea. In front of him an overweight man in a black suit struggled to get out of the rear seat of a limousine. The Inverness’s red-clad doorman held the car door open and an umbrella in his hand as he hesitated between offering to pull him up or letting him retain his dignity. After the man had finally managed to complete the job without help but with some panting, Lady rushed forward.

‘Our very own... my very own mayor!’ She laughed and embraced him. Which was no mean feat, Macbeth thought, hearing himself let slip a silly snigger as he watched Lady’s slender hands grasp Tourtell’s well padded turtle shell.

‘You become more handsome and more virile every time we meet,’ she twittered.

‘And you, Lady, more beautiful and more mendacious. Macbeth...’

Macbeth shook hands, fascinated by how the flesh on the mayor’s hand oozed away from under his thumb.

‘And who’s this young man?’ Lady asked.

A brown-eyed, smooth-skinned boy with girlish good looks, so young he must have been in his teens, scurried around the limousine from the rear door on the opposite side. He smiled tentatively at Tourtell as if for help.

‘This, Lady, is my son,’ Tourtell said.

‘Silly billy, you don’t have any children,’ Lady said, smacking the mayor on the lapel of his jacket.

‘My extra-marital son,’ Tourtell amended, stroking the base of the boy’s spine and winking at Macbeth with a chuckle. ‘I’ve only just found out about him, you know. You can see the likeness though, can’t you, Lady?’

‘You are and always will be a sly fox, dear Tourtell. Shall we give him a name?’

‘What about Kasi Tourtell Junior?’ said the mayor, stroking his Salvador Dalí moustache and emitting a booming laugh when Lady rolled her eyes.

‘Get yourselves some refreshment in the warm,’ Lady said.

The two of them went through the door as she came to stand next to Macbeth.

‘How dare he, the perverted pig,’ Macbeth said. ‘I thought Tourtell was one of the respectable guys.’

‘He’s one of the respected guys, and that’s all that counts, dear. Power gives you the freedom to do what you want without people losing their respect for you. At least now you’re smiling.’

‘Am I?’

‘Like an unhinged clown.’ Lady was already beaming at the taxi drawing up to the entrance. ‘Don’t overdo the grin, darling. This is Janovic, a property investor from Capitol.’

‘Another scavenger buying up our factory sites for a song?’

‘He looks at the casinos. Be nice and say hello, and at some point let drop a comment assuring him that street crime is already on its way down.’