Ю Несбё - Macbeth

‘We have to get rid of him, boss.’

‘Death?’

‘You said yourself we’re at war, sir. In war traitors and cowards are punished with death. We’ll do what we did with Duff: we’ll leak that he’s corrupt and make it look like he resisted arrest.’

‘Let me chew on it. Right now we’re in the spotlight and we need to show loyalty and unity. Cawdor, Malcolm, Duff and now Angus. It’s too many. The town likes dead criminals better than duplicitous policemen. Where is he?’

‘He’s sitting alone moping in the basement. He won’t talk to anyone.’

‘OK. Let me have a chat with him before we make a move.’

Macbeth found Angus in the SWAT common room. He was sitting with his head in his hands and barely reacted when Macbeth put a large shoebox before him on the table and sat down in the chair directly opposite.

‘I heard what happened. How are you?’

No answer.

‘You’re a principled lad, Angus. That’s part of what I like about you. Principles are important to you, aren’t they?’

Angus raised his head and looked at Macbeth with bloodshot eyes.

‘I can see them burning in your eyes right now,’ Macbeth said. ‘Righteous indignation, it warms your heart, doesn’t it? Makes you feel like the person you want to be. But when the brotherhood demands a real sacrifice it’s sometimes exactly that that we want, Angus. Your principles. For you to renounce the cosy warmth of a good conscience, for you to be wakened by the same nightmares as us, for you to give up what is most valuable to you, the way your former god demanded that Abraham give up his son.’

Angus cleared his throat, but his voice was still hoarse. ‘I can give. But for what?’

‘For the long-term goal. For the community’s good. For the town, Angus.’

Angus snorted. ‘Can you explain to me how killing innocent people is for the community’s good?’

‘Twenty-five years ago an American president dropped the atom bomb on two Japanese towns populated by children, civilians and innocents. It stopped a war. That’s the kind of paradox God torments us with.’

‘That’s easy to say. You weren’t there.’

‘I know what it costs, Angus. Recently I cut the throat of an innocent person for the good of the community. I don’t sleep well at night. The doubt, the shame, the sense of guilt, they’re part of the price we have to pay if we really want to do something good and not just bathe in the cosy, safe warmth of self-righteousness.’

‘God doesn’t exist and I’m no president.’

‘That’s correct,’ Macbeth said, taking the lid off the shoebox. ‘But as I’m both in this building I’ll give you a chance to make up for the mistake you made in Fife.’

Angus peeped into the box. And recoiled in his chair in shock.

‘Take this and burn it in the furnace at Estex tonight.’

Angus swallowed, as pale as death. ‘That’s the b-b-baby from the club house...’

‘Front-line soldiers, like you and me, know that innocent lives have to be lost in war, but they don’t know that at home — the people we fight for. That’s why we keep such things hidden from them, so they don’t get hysterical. Do you get hysterical, Angus?’

‘I–I...’

‘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?’