Rebus: Long Shadows

Act Two

Rebus’s Arden Street flat/dream

REBUS puts a record on, ‘Take the Weather’ by Crowded House. He stands looking out the window, listening to it. ANGELA steps out of the shadows, dancing, laughing.

ANGELA  You can’t dance to this!

She’s not talking to REBUS but he answers her.

REBUS  No.

ANGELA is looking at someone else. MORDAUNT steps out of the dark, smiling at ANGELA. Like the young woman he’s not really there.

MORDAUNT  You can. Not many girls with the confidence to dance on their own like that. You know you look good eh?

ANGELA stops dancing.

MORDAUNT  Don’t stop. Aw I’ve put you off. Sorry. Didny mean to stare. It’s just you’re a really good dancer. Are you a professional?

ANGELA  (laughing) What? No!

MORDAUNT  Not many girls with the confidence to dance on their own like that. You know you look good eh?

ANGELA  It’s just boring sitting drinking. I’d rather dance.

MORDAUNT  I can’t. Bad leg. My sister does though. She’s training to be a dancer. You could get on a course like hers. She started out here and now she’s dancing in London.

ANGELA  For real?

MORDAUNT  Aye, come and meet her, she’s just outside having a fag.

ANGELA hesitates.

ANGELA  I can’t leave my friends...

MORDAUNT  Aye come on. She clocked you earlier. She thinks you’re a great dancer too. Just come outside for a quick word.

MORDAUNT is leading ANGELA into the shadows. REBUS moves to stop them. But MORDAUNT is suddenly gone and ANGELA turns on him, attacking.

ANGELA  What are you going to do John? Stop him? Save me?

REBUS  I can’t.

ANGELA  No. You can’t. He already did his worst. It was horrible John. So horrible. I was so frightened, he hurt me so much, and I just prayed and prayed and begged to live... But I didn’t. He killed me. It wasn’t quick and I knew I was dying.

REBUS  He won’t get away with it. I won’t let it happen.

ANGELA  If he does, it’s on you John. Your fault!

Rebus’s Arden Street flat/dawn

REBUS wakes abruptly in an armchair. ANGELA is gone. A young woman DETECTIVE is sitting opposite him, taking his statement.

DETECTIVE  Are we keeping you up, Mr Rebus?

REBUS  Sorry, just... long night.

DETECTIVE  Sun’s coming up now.

REBUS  (looking) So it is.

DETECTIVE  So... you believe the deceased, Andrew Lamont to have been dealing drugs...

REBUS  Just low key I think, wee packets of skunk to get him better drinking money, maybe pills for the weekend ravers but...

DETECTIVE  (cutting in) And you didn’t report this?

REBUS  No. I dealt with it.

DETECTIVE  Dealt with it?

REBUS  I’d moved him on. (as she stares at him accusingly) Look, I don’t know what success rate the drugs squad are getting from busting wee dope heids these days, but when you want to catch the big fish, in my day, you...

DETECTIVE  (cutting him off) Aye I’m guessing there’s a lot different from your day.

REBUS  Look, you don’t want to believe all the stories you hear about me, I...

DETECTIVE  (cutting him off again) What stories? I’ve not heard any stories. I didn’t know you’d ever been a policeman till you told me Mr Rebus.

REBUS  When did you join the force?

DETECTIVE  Five years ago.

REBUS  You don’t look old enough.

DETECTIVE  And you don’t know anything else about the other witness, Heather Ross?

REBUS  She’s Maggie Towler’s daughter.

DETECTIVE  Who?

REBUS  A murder. Before your time. Everyone’s forgotten except me. And wee Heather.

The DETECTIVE is on the move.

DETECTIVE  Well if you see ‘wee Heather’ again, tell her we’re needing a word. Were you planning on going anywhere this morning sir?

REBUS  Don’t know yet.

DETECTIVE  Well can I ask you to wait in for a few hours. My boss might want another word.

REBUS  Who’s your boss?

DETECTIVE  D.I. Mackie.

REBUS  Don’t know him.

DETECTIVE  Her. No she didn’t know you either.

The DETECTIVE leaves. ANGELA is back in the room watching REBUS.

ANGELA  You think Cafferty had that boy gutted on your doorstep. A calling card. A wee reminder of all he is. Why didn’t you tell the nice police lady that John?

She follows REBUS as he moves restlessly.

ANGELA  I know why. You’re a man with dangerous secrets. Have to save yourself eh John? But what about me? And Maggie? And Heather? Canny save all of us, Rebus.

REBUS  The fuck I can’t.

He snatches up car keys, quick transition into—

Forensic lab, Fettes Police H.Q.

REBUS is facing a wall of bagged evidence. A lab TECHNICIAN is bustling past, busy with his work.

TECHNICIAN  You can’t be in here.

REBUS  I get that a lot.

The TECHNICIAN moves off as MAGGIE and ANGELA are on. They are reciting the contents of the evidence bags.

MAGGIE  Bloostained shirt. 1978.

ANGELA  Gerald Moore. Stabbed. Unsolved murder.

MAGGIE  2009. An adjustable spanner, brain matter and partial finger prints.

ANGELA  Susan Hickman. Coshed and left for dead. Assailant unknown.

MAGGIE  A pair of tights...

ANGELA  My tights...

MAGGIE  Trace DNA inside the knots, a tiny record of the fingers that pulled the knots tight... tight...

ANGELA  A indian silk scarf...

MAGGIE  My scarf...

ANGELA  Trace DNA on the folds, a tiny record of the fingers that pulled it tight... tight...

MAGGIE  A piece of building timber...

ANGELA  Morris Gerald Cafferty’s blood...

MAGGIE  And a tiny record of the hands that lifted that cosh and swung it... hard...

ANGELA  What would you do, even if they let you see it John?

MAGGIE  Steal it?

ANGELA  If he can just break the seal on the bag it’ll be useless in court.

MAGGIE  Is that the plan?

ANGELA  Christ that’s a useless plan. He’ll get caught.

REBUS moves restlessly.

REBUS  (to himself) Fuck’s sake hold it together.

MAGGIE and ANGELA are gone. The TECHNICIAN is back.

TECHNICIAN  I said you can’t be in here.

REBUS  Is Josie about?

TECHNICIAN  Who?

REBUS  Josie Cassidy? Technician here?

TECHNICIAN  Took maternity leave two years ago and never came back.

REBUS  How could she give all this up?

TECHNICIAN  Like I said, you need a visitor’s pass to be in here.

REBUS  Sorry son, we’ve not met before have we? D.I. Rebus.

TECHNICIAN  I’d need to see some ID.

REBUS  Retired.

TECHNICIAN  Then you have to leave.

REBUS  Aye, course, just one quick question...

TECHNICIAN  No, you really have to leave...

REBUS  How is Josie?

TECHNICIAN  (thrown) Eh...

REBUS  What did she have? Boy, girl?

TECHNICIAN  I think it was twins actually.

REBUS  Jeezo... she couldny have been more than four foot high.

TECHNICIAN  I know...

REBUS  God, must have been like a weeble wobble woman the last month. Did she work to the end? ’Cause she never liked the busy days anyway did she?

TECHNICIAN  No...

REBUS  Days like today with half the town’s lawyers and polis in keeping an eye on where the evidence is going. Have they been in to pick up the Mordaunt evidence yet?

TECHNICIAN  Eh... (he’s flustered checking paperwork) That went down last week I think...

REBUS  No. Different case. Not the rape/murder. The defence wants to look at the evidence from the assault Mordaunt was convicted of in 1992. Has that gone down yet?

SIOBHAN enters. Not pleased to see REBUS.

SIOBHAN  What’re you doing here? You can’t be in here.

TECHNICIAN  I told him.

REBUS  Just catching up on news of Josie and the kids.

SIOBHAN  Who?

REBUS  (to TECHNICIAN) See? No-one has time for the personal stuff any more.

SIOBHAN  What are you doing here John?

REBUS  What’re you doing here?

SIOBHAN  I work here.

REBUS  In forensic storage?

A beat.

SIOBHAN  Tom, can you tell me if anyone’s picked up the evidence to be tested for court 9? An assault on Morris Gerald Cafferty in 1992.

TECHNICIAN  That’s just what he was asking.

SIOBHAN  Is that so? Well, has it been picked up?

TECHNICIAN  (checking) Yup. That went on its way this morning.

SIOBHAN  Good. Glad to hear it. No-one else had a look at it before it went did they?

TECHNICIAN  No.

SIOBHAN  Just checking. Sorry to bother you. Got time for a word John?

REBUS  I’m glad you’re here D.I. Clarke. Tell him.

SIOBHAN  Tell him what?

REBUS  We need to check the evidence for Maggie Towler’s murder.

SIOBHAN is just staring at him.

REBUS  March, 2001. Building site between Granton and Newhaven. Lead detective D.I. Morris. (as no-one moves) Case number 4568/NM/ Morris.

SIOBHAN  (to TECHNICIAN) Can you look please?

TECHNICIAN  What am I checking?

REBUS  That it’s still there, safe, sealed and fit for court.

The TECHNICIAN moves off.

REBUS  And once we’ve done that we need to get the name of the property company that developed those flats...

SIOBHAN  We’re not doing anything John. I’ve been over this.

REBUS  Right. Fine. I’ll get it all together myself. Hand it over to you with a big bow tied round the case...

SIOBHAN  What case!?

REBUS  Maggie Towler. I told you. She’s the unsolved from seventeen years ago? I met her daughter, Heather, night before last. She was on my stair.

SIOBHAN  What was she doing there?

REBUS  Don’t know. She vanished on me.

SIOBHAN  You can have that effect on people.

REBUS  But I remembered we let mother her down.

SIOBHAN  And that’s why you’re here?

REBUS  Of course that’s why I’m here. Why else would I be here?

SIOBHAN  So why were you asking about the Mordaunt evidence?

REBUS  Just making conversation. It’s on my mind Siobhan. What can I tell you? Why were you here? Just checking no-one had tried tampering with the Mordaunt evidence?

SIOBHAN  Yes.

REBUS  Well there you go. Nothing to worry about.

SIOBHAN  You have to stop John...

REBUS  Stop what?

SIOBHAN  Poking into cold cases.

REBUS  Oh so Maggie Towler doesny deserve justice?

SIOBHAN  Will she get it if you steam in trampling all over the evidence...?

She’s cut off as the TECHNICIAN is back.

TECHNICIAN  Still there. Sealed, safe and ready for court.

SIOBHAN  Thank you.

TECHNICIAN  No problem. (indicating REBUS) But he shouldn’t be in here.

SIOBHAN  I’ll walk him out.

The TECHNICIAN leaves as SIOBHAN walks REBUS into—

Stairwell Police H.Q.

SIOBHAN  Have you slept?

REBUS  Have you?

He puts something in his mouth.

SIOBHAN  What’s that? You trying the nicotine lozenges?

REBUS  Had to try something.

SIOBHAN  What do they taste like?

REBUS  Well I’ve never actually licked an ashtray full of cat’s piss but...

SIOBHAN  We’ve got a family liason officer visiting Angela’s father. But I promised him I’d keep him informed personally. I took his hand and looked him in the eye and promised him I’d convict the man that destroyed his daughter twenty five years ago... Destroyed him too. He’s just a husk of a man, a living container of unbearable grief.

REBUS  No mother?

SIOBHAN  Cancer. Five years ago. They’d split up by then.

REBUS  Sorrow too heavy for two to carry. See it all the time.

SIOBHAN  We have to get Mordaunt convicted John. We have to.

REBUS  I know.

SIOBHAN  And there’s something you’re not telling me.

REBUS  Right.

SIOBHAN  Isn’t there?

REBUS  Mebbe.

SIOBHAN  Something to do with the attack on Big Ger. Who are you protecting John?

REBUS  You.

SIOBHAN  From what?

REBUS  A mess. A mess that you don’t need to worry about.

SIOBHAN  Oh dear god... (she slumps) You rang him didn’t you?

REBUS  He came round the flat.

SIOBHAN  I know. We’ve got a tail on him.

REBUS  (genuine) Smart girl...

SIOBHAN  Oh don’t even start with that! Don’t you...!

REBUS  What? It was the right thing to do.

SIOBHAN  Yes John, I know, because I’m a really good detective.

REBUS  You want to know what we talked about.

SIOBHAN  Are you going to tell me?

REBUS  He’s got nothing Shiv. It’s all a bluff. He’s just messing with your head. Last night? He just fancied tormenting me.

SIOBHAN  Is he going in the witness box?

REBUS  Not unless he wants to look like a clown. Big Ger will not mess up your case against Mordaunt. You can keep staring at me Siobhan but you’re either going to trust me on this or you’re not.

SIOBHAN  If I couldn’t trust you on something like this I wouldn’t trust this job, I wouldn’t trust myself, I wouldn’t trust any seeming solid thing in the whole world.

A beat.

REBUS  No pressure then.

SIOBHAN  Something I’ve always wanted to ask you: why does Cafferty call you ‘Strawman’?

REBUS  I was giving evidence against him in a case in Glasgow, the lawyer got me mixed up with another witness called ‘Stroman’. Cafferty loves that.

SIOBHAN  He thinks you’re a man of straw.

REBUS  He wishes I was.

SIOBHAN  And you think you’re a lone wolf. The last gunslinger in High Noon, taking down the bad guys as he goes.

REBUS  What do you think I am?

SIOBHAN  Retired. And good police work is team work John.

REBUS  You think? I think a result’s a result.

SIOBHAN  John...

REBUS  (cutting in) I hear you Siobhan. I do.

SIOBHAN  I see her you know. In my head.

REBUS  Who?

SIOBHAN  Angela. Just watching me. Never had that before on a murder, not even my first. I see her. Staring at me. Asking if I’m going to get her the only thing worth anything to her now. A bit of justice, for that little life snapped short...

MAGGIE and ANGELA are on.

REBUS  I know. I see her too. I remember watching Sam going out for a night with her pals at that age.

SIOBHAN  How is she?

REBUS  Good, pestering me to come and see the granddaughter before she’s taller than Sam is.

SIOBHAN  Well you’ve the time now.

REBUS  That’s what she says. In a few years that toddler will be a teenager. Then Sam will understand what it was like, looking at her, so fresh and full of life, beautiful... and fragile as a moth. She didn’t understand why I shouted at her for pulling her top down and making up her face like she was something glossy and available. She didn’t see what I saw... what the predatory monsters out there would see. Christ. The way young lassies dress themselves up Shiv...

SIOBHAN  A young woman’s got every right...

REBUS  (cutting her off) Aye I know I know.

SIOBHAN  Attacks like the one on Angela, on Maggie Towler are rare. Still. Women risk more in their own homes. Young women can’t be prisoners of their father’s fears...

REBUS  It is just a fact that a strong man can grab a woman and do whatever he likes. It’s just a fact that young women will always need protection, as long as that’s true. And we’re the protection, or we should be. We need to get them locked up.

SIOBHAN  Maybe the answer is to keep trying to make a world where no man ever would hurt a young woman.

REBUS is surrendering something, realising he can’t fix this, struggling with that.

REBUS  Aye. Alright. Alright.

SIOBHAN  What?

REBUS  I can’t see a way through...

SIOBHAN  What is it?

REBUS  Shiv... There’s maybe is something I do need to talk to you about...

She waits. He can’t find a way to go on.

SIOBHAN  Well what is it?

REBUS  Nothing. No it’s nothing. I’ll fix it myself. Just... Look... I might need your help, tonight...

SIOBHAN  (cutting him off) Oh I can’t tonight.

REBUS  (thrown) Oh. Right. Sorry.

SIOBHAN  No I’m going out. I have to... I mean I want to eh... (she’s floundering) It’s just this thing...

REBUS  (cutting in) Hot date?

SIOBHAN  Hardly. Important. Important date.

REBUS  Anyone I know?

SIOBHAN  It’s work. I can’t shift it so...

REBUS  No, no, fine. Work on the Mordaunt trial?

She says nothing.

REBUS  ’Course it is. And nothing you can tell me...

SIOBHAN  Sorry, it’s just...

REBUS  I’m no even asking. It’s fine. Really.

SIOBHAN  I could come and see you after? How late will you be up? Stupid question...

REBUS  (cutting her off) No, I’ll be out. I thought maybe you could come with but...

SIOBHAN  How about I buy you breakfast?

REBUS  Aye... aye that might work.

SIOBHAN  You can tell me all about it then.

REBUS  Yeah. Alright. I’ll tell you all about it then.

SIOBHAN  It’s a date.

She’s on the move, going back upstairs.

REBUS  So you know about the murder on my stair then?

She pauses.

REBUS  If you had eyes on me and Cafferty then you’ll have heard about the murder on my stair? (as she doesn’t reply) Why didn’t you say?

SIOBHAN  I was waiting to see when you’d tell me. You fancy Cafferty for that?

REBUS  Don’t you?

SIOBHAN  So why didn’t you tell that very competent police officer who interviewed you?

REBUS  I’ll tell you at breakfast.

SIOBHAN  You better.

SIOBHAN goes back upstairs. REBUS walks slowly down the stairs. ANGELA and MAGGIE are with him.

MAGGIE  You couldn’t tell her.

ANGELA  Couldn’t face it.

MAGGIE  Well that’s just weak!

REBUS  Fucking shut it!

Transition into—

Rebus’s Arden Street flat

REBUS is searching through paperwork, not even sure what he’s looking for. MAGGIE and ANGELA are still with him, still talking. REBUS has put music on, we barely hear it, it’s HEATHER and MAGGIE’S song ‘Show Me the Way’.

ANGELA  Look at him, did you really think he cared about us? It’s all about her.

MAGGIE  Siobhan... We’re dead.

ANGELA  No sense worrying about the dead.

MAGGIE  But if Siobhan Clarke finds out you lied to her...

ANGELA  Messed with her...

MAGGIE  Let her down...

REBUS shouts at them, at the world.

REBUS  Cafferty’s got nothing!

MAGGIE  But you know that’s not true.

ANGELA  Better go and find out.

MAGGIE  Under the dusk dark cherry trees on Middle Meadow walk, go and climb up the stairs of the old Infirmary, polished new and caged in with des res glass...

REBUS  (paperwork) Why did no fucker write down the name of the property company that owned the building site? I’m going to get the fucker that killed you Maggie I...

MAGGIE  (cutting him off) Too late for that John. I’ll still be dead.

ANGELA  And what about me?

MAGGIE  What about my baby girl, Heather?

Now we hear the music, MAGGIE’S song. REBUS goes and takes it off.

ANGELA  Maggie and Heather, Angela and Siobhan.

MAGGIE  And you.

ANGELA  And ex — detective John Rebus.

MAGGIE  Canny save all of us John.

REBUS  (quiet) The fuck I can’t.

MAGGIE  It’s too late.

REBUS  There’s a way through this... There must be...

MAGGIE  There’s not.

REBUS  There is. There’s a way...

ANGELA  Time you were on your way John.

Transition into—

Quartermile penthouse, stairwell/flat

MAGGIE and ANGELA are gone. Laboriously, REBUS climbs up to CAFFERTY’S penthouse and rings the bell. CAFFERTY lets him in.

CAFFERTY  What’s wrong with the lift?

REBUS  Someone’s getting a Waitrose delivery.

CAFFERTY  They’re supposed to use the service life for that. Come in, come in, take a seat, admire the view. Christ, state of you man. You can have a wee lie down if you like. What are you drinking?

REBUS has semi collapsed.

REBUS  Just give me some water.

CAFFERTY  Bit late to crawl back on the wagon isn’t it?

REBUS  (weary) Stick some whisky in it then.

CAFFERTY  I’ve got something better. Going to expand your mind John, wait till you taste this. (fixing the drink, wine) This is the best move I ever made, never get tired of that view. You can see half of Edinburgh from up here. 360 degrees of lights and life.

REBUS  And all the world can see you, up here in your glass tower.

CAFFERTY  What does that tell you? I’m at the top of the world John, nothing to hide, no-one to fear now, monarch of all I survey. Is that how it goes? I can see you of an evening John, down there, having a wee wander in the Meadows in the middle of the night. Didny know anyone was watching did you?

REBUS  Nothing better on the telly Ger? Thought you’d have all the sports channels.

CAFFERTY hands REBUS a glass of wine.

CAFFERTY  Taste that.

REBUS  I’m no a wine drinker.

CAFFERTY  No. No more was I. But try that.

REBUS does so.

CAFFERTY  That’s something eh?

REBUS  Is it?

CAFFERTY  Six hundred and fifty pounds a bottle. You just sipped twenty quid’s worth.

Laughs at REBUS’S expression.

CAFFERTY  I know! It’s an education John. If you’ve got that, if you’ve got the knowledge, you can declare a bottle of second hand plonk is worth a grand or more and no-one will argue with you. That’s what it’ll be worth.

REBUS  Just get me a water.

CAFFERTY  You’re no going to waste that are you? Knowledge. Information. That’s always the most valuable commodity there is.

REBUS is getting his own drink.

CAFFERTY  Tell you the other thing that makes a wine? Timing. It’s worth six hundred today, next year it’s tipped over into vinegar. Worthless. But this one is at its best. This is the moment.

REBUS  Why now?

CAFFERTY  The wine?

REBUS  No. Not the wine. Not the fucking wine Cafferty!

CAFFERTY  Not following you.

REBUS  How long have you known I hit you that night?

CAFFERTY  Is that a confession?

REBUS  How long!?

CAFFERTY  From the second I saw those shoes. Twenty-five years.

REBUS  And why now? Why are you doing this...?

CAFFERTY  (cutting him off) What am I doing?

REBUS  Why now!

CAFFERTY  Expert knowledge. You have to know the perfect moment, to savour when it’s ready.

REBUS  A memory of an ex-squaddies’ toe caps? You think a jury’ll buy that as an identification?

CAFFERTY  Oh I’ll say I saw your face on the way down. Of course I will, need to make it water tight. But the DNA’ll back that up eh?

REBUS  You’ll lie in the witness box.

CAFFERTY  Of course. Honesty can only get you so far, eh John? Sometimes, to get what you want, you have to do things your own way. Isn’t that your philosophy too?

REBUS  You’d let Mordaunt walk free, just so you can get me arrested?

CAFFERTY  Will they bother? Sweeping an old has-been cop into the bin in his final years? Aye they might, you’ve no made many friends in the force, have you John? And you’ve outlived most of those. Yeah they’ll probably arrest you. That would be a result.

REBUS  What do you want?

CAFFERTY  Nothing. Nothing from you. You’re about as much use now as a condom machine on a geriatric ward. My world gets larger every day and yours gets smaller.

SIOBHAN is on, coming to CAFFERTY’S door.

CAFFERTY  Sure you won’t try more of this wine? I think it just needed to breathe, it’s tasting better and better.

SIOBHAN rings the bell. CAFFERTY goes to answer.

CAFFERTY  ’Scuse me. Need to get that.

CAFFERTY opens the door.

CAFFERTY  D.I. Clarke. Glad you could make it.

SIOBHAN comes in and stops dead as she sees REBUS.

CAFFERTY  Sorry. Should have told you, you’re not the only guest tonight.

SIOBHAN  (to REBUS) What are you doing here?

REBUS  You tell me.

CAFFERTY  D.I. Clarke doesn’t know a thing. I thought it’d be better if she heard the story from you.

SIOBHAN  What story?

CAFFERTY  Glass of wine D.I. Clarke? White’s your poison eh? But I think you’ll like this one.

SIOBHAN  What the fuck’s going on John?

REBUS  What did he tell you, to get you here?

SIOBHAN doesn’t answer, trying to work out what’s going on.

REBUS  Siobhan?

CAFFERTY  I told D.I. Clarke I had important information about the defence lawyer’s investigation of the attack on me. I told her, if she came here alone, if she could just hold back that impulse to play it by the book, inform her superiors, blah blah... If we could just have a private meeting, I’d tell her all about it.

REBUS  And you came? On your own?

CAFFERTY  She learned to bend the rules from the best, eh John.

SIOBHAN  That’s what I’m doing here. What about you?

REBUS says nothing.

CAFFERTY  Tell her.

Still nothing.

CAFFERTY  I’m happy to give her my version, just thought you might like to put it in your own words John.

REBUS  I was going to tell you Shiv. It’s why I asked you to come with me tonight.

SIOBHAN  Tell me what?

REBUS  Let’s go, I’m no talking about it in front of this prick. He’s had his fun...

CAFFERTY  Christ no! Show’s just getting started. I’m the witness for the defence Siobhan. I’m the proof that the police were perfectly prepared to frame Mordaunt back in 1992. I’m the wee hand grenade of truth that’s going to blow up twenty-five years of work, trying to put the bastard away. I’ll send Mordaunt off singing to a wee retirement home where he’ll end his days drinking soup and trying to touch up the carers. But I might not. It depends. There’s a deal on the table. Something we should talk about when you know what’s going on. Tell her the story Strawman.

REBUS  What deal?! What are you playing at?

CAFFERTY  Tell her now or I tell her.

REBUS  I hit him.

SIOBHAN  What?

REBUS  In 1992. It was me. I hit him across the back of the head with a length of two by two. Wish I’d killed him.

SIOBHAN  But... you told me. You swore... You said none of the officers back then had done any cover up...

REBUS  They didn’t. It was all me. I’m sorry Siobhan. I am.

SIOBHAN  Tell me. Tell me what happened.

REBUS  (to CAFFERTY) Do you remember what you did that night?

CAFFERTY  It’s all a blur John, concussion’ll do that to a man.

REBUS  We had him. We had him for possession and supply. Five witnesses ready to testify he was the banker, the profiteer, the man making slick money off junky sweat... Five witnesses that went to court and magically changed their story under questioning. Even the jury knew they were lying but there was no evidence, every shred of it threatened and intimidated out of existence and he sits there, grinning like a toad full of worms...

CAFFERTY  Always the abuse. Enjoy it Strawman, clock’s ticking.

REBUS  He walks out of court. It was the day after Mordaunt walked out of another court. I wasn’t the lead on Mordaunt or anything like, but I felt that, like every cop in Edinburgh. And then Cafferty walks too.

CAFFERTY  (cutting in) Oh that was personal eh Strawman?

REBUS  One wee lassie, we’d spent days coaching her, reassuring her, promising her we’d keep her safe...

CAFFERTY  He’s always promising more than he delivers. Have you noticed that?

REBUS  She was shaking so hard in the witness box I thought she’d fall over, and all the while he’s staring at her... do you even remember her Cafferty? Moira Spibey. Where’s she now?

CAFFERTY  Thought it was a police job to keep track of all the lost souls.

REBUS  Dead. 1996. Overdose.

CAFFERTY  Well, some folk just kill themselves, and you canny help them. But have a wee bit more of my booze Strawman. If you need it.

REBUS  And this fucker... he’s just walking about a bar...

CAFFERTY  My bar. My bar Strawman, and why were you in there if you weren’t looking for me?

REBUS  The night after the trial, grinning, teflon coated, all the shite’s slid right off him and he’s grinning like he just ate it all with a spoon. Walking about the place, shaking hands, patting backs, soaking up the fake worship of his dark kingdom of fear...

CAFFERTY  Oh fucking poetry now is it?... You should have seen this one Siobhan, he was barely standing, swaying and glowering like a drunken prize fighter who doesny know the count’s finished.

REBUS  He has a word with the barman... And he’s gone. And there’s a drink in front of me...

CAFFERTY  I bought him a drink. And this is what happened, because I bought him a drink...

REBUS  ‘Mr Cafferty’s compliments, in appreciation of all you do to protect the citizens of Edinburgh...’

CAFFERTY  What was wrong with that?

REBUS  So aye, I followed him into the car park... There’s the fucker, no minders for once... He’s just standing there, having a smoke.

CAFFERTY  See if I’d only quit sooner in life...

REBUS  There’s the building timber. Aye. I picked it up. I swung at him... Walked two streets over. Dumped the two by two. Walked back. First officer at the scene. And there it was. Like a last chance. Like a neon sign flashing ‘Get them both John’ I saw Mordaunt’s van still parked up in the car park...

CAFFERTY  If I’d only known then how much whisky he could sink and keep walking...

REBUS  And a bar full of witnesses had seen Mordaunt nip through the back when Cafferty came in the front.

CAFFERTY  Only way I can figure it is the wee bastard saw this clown roll up and was feart to get done for drink driving so he just ran home and left the van. Ironic, eh?

REBUS  Cafferty went down. Mordaunt went down for it. Fucking result!

SIOBHAN  What have you done?

REBUS  It was done twenty-five years ago, what do you want?

SIOBHAN  Steve Cant was lack lustre in court? I bet he bloody was! He knew didn’t he? The whole squad knew what you’d done...

REBUS  Cheering me on.

SIOBHAN  Were they? All of them? Are you sure there weren’t more than your boss worried about the day a miscarriage of justice might come back and bite us all? Mordaunt’s going to walk John!

REBUS  I’m sorry.

SIOBHAN  What do you want me to tell Angela’s father? That you’re sorry!? Jesus.

CAFFERTY  So. Here’s the deal. He was first officer at the scene. He did inspect the evidence once it was located. A little cross contamination, not totally unbelievable eh? Without my sworn evidence of a clear view of his ugly mug it’s a bit of mud in the water at worst. I’ll withdraw that statement. Concussion, twenty-five years, failing memory, now I think about it I can’t be sure, no, I am sure, sure it couldn’t have been John Rebus, no, it was a much taller man, thinner, fitter, better looking, nothing like this wreck of an old police officer at all, can’t believe I ever made such a stupid mistake. They won’t even put me on the stand. Probably give up on the idea of even bringing the assault evidence into it. Police corruption? No. We’ll just forget about that. Let justice be done. Let Mordaunt burn. That sound like a good deal D.I. Clarke?

SIOBHAN  What do you want Cafferty?

CAFFERTY  Just... information.

SIOBHAN  What kind of information?

CAFFERTY  Things I need to know. As and when. The sort of thing a bright D.I. poised for promotion might happen to be able to pass on. I’ll be no bother at all, the odd phone call, the odd favour...

SIOBHAN  And if I tell you to take a running jump off your patio there?

CAFFERTY  Mordaunt walks and Rebus is up on charges of perverting justice and assault. So. Time to decide what’s most important to you Shiv.

SIOBHAN  Don’t call me that!

REBUS is on the move.

REBUS  (to SIOBHAN) Come on. We’re out of here.

SIOBHAN  No...

REBUS  Tell him to fuck off and let’s get out of here. What? You’re seriously thinking about this!?

SIOBHAN  (quiet) I have to... don’t I?

REBUS  No. No. Not happening. You’re not going to be his puppet. You’re not going to jump when he pulls your strings...

SIOBHAN  Mordaunt’s going to walk free because you...! (she can’t go on) Don’t talk to me John. Don’t even... (she can’t speak for another moment. To CAFFERTY) Can I have a moment? I need to think.

CAFFERTY  You can have a moment. No more.

REBUS  What the fuck is there to think about! Tell him to do his worst! It doesny matter what happens to me now!

SIOBHAN  And what happens to justice for Angela?! What happens to twenty-five years of work and hope and trying... I don’t give a fuck what happens to you now John. I seriously don’t give a fuck! (to CAFFERTY) I’m going outside. I’m going to walk round the Meadows. I’ll come back.

CAFFERTY  Twenty minutes then. Don’t go wandering off.

SIOBHAN  I won’t.

She’s leaving.

REBUS  I’ll come with you.

SIOBHAN  You’ll leave me alone!

She’s gone.

REBUS looks at CAFFERTY.

CAFFERTY  That was worth waiting for. That was almost as good as I ever imagined.

REBUS moves.

CAFFERTY  Don’t even try Strawman. There’s not enough breath left in you to hurt me.

REBUS hurls the bottle of wine at him. CAFFERTY lets it fly past.

CAFFERTY  Fuck it. I’d rather drink vodka anyway.

REBUS has no attack left. Cafferty is getting a drink.

CAFFERTY  Twenty-five years. Fucking flown by eh? You and me, head to head, think we’ve finally got a winner eh? Sweet, but kind of an easy win in the end. Not a contest of equals, but it’s been years since you could really give me a fight, eh Strawman? You let yourself go. No the will power to lay off the fags and booze. No the backbone to keep yourself in shape. It’s a basic thing see? Staying fit, staying ready. Bottom fucking line. There are still places in the world right now, hunners of them, where staying at the top means keeping the power to batter another man to pulp. The first time you do it, it’s terrifying, but after that, well you realise you’re just doing what the whole world does to get rich, only difference is you’re doing it with your own hands. History. Look at history. The guys with power were the ones who could win a battle with a fucking four-foot blade. I’d’ve been a king. Bottom. Line. Aye well, no those days is it? Need to move with the times. I’m a dancer Rebus. I’ve got the fucking moves. You’ve no even got the music. Shall we put on some music? While we’re waiting?

REBUS  If you put on Sheena Easton I’m going over that balcony rail and I’m taking you with me.

CAFFERTY  Stop blackening that woman’s name. Just ’cause you canny appreciate proper music.

REBUS  Christ you’re a real fan.

CAFFERTY  Always. Named my company after her. One of my companies. One of the many many wee cubby holes for cash you’ve never found yet John. Pick some music. I’ve got anything you like. Pick a soundtrack for your mood.

REBUS  You won’t have it.

CAFFERTY  I’ve got everything.

REBUS  You won’t have this.

CAFFERTY  Do you even know what Spotify is you fucking dinosaur?

REBUS  Frampton, ‘Lines on My Face’.

CAFFERTY is typing it into his phone. Music starts.

CAFFERTY  Straight through the surround system. All state of the art. Automatic recording of any noise in here too, just in case you were hoping there’d be no record of that conversation we just had. Fucking digital eh? Things you can do. And you lot still struggle away with audio tapes like it’s 1976.

REBUS  We use audio tapes because you can’t doctor an audio tape without leaving a trace.

CAFFERTY  It’s you that’s been leaving traces though. Eh John? (the music) What the fuck’s this shite?

He stabs at his phone, fast forwarding.

REBUS  Leave it!

CAFFERTY  A last request? Go on then. You want a soundtrack for defeat? I’ll indulge you.

He starts the track again, closer to the end of the song.

CAFFERTY  Winners and losers. What it all comes down to. See, when I was a young man, fighting my way up, this was the prize, the view from the top of Edinburgh. Wankers born to their green acres or banking millions can walk into this. The likes of you and me, we need to fight for it, inch by bloody inch.

REBUS  Aye, you’re a social revolutionary Cafferty.

CAFFERTY  But see when a man like me gets it? Gets it all? Fucking unstoppable. ’Cause I’ve got the millions and I can look any of those soft bastards in the eye and let them see I could punch right through them and it wouldny bother me. I’m terrifying Rebus. I’m ancient power. The original stuff.

REBUS  Original shite.

CAFFERTY  Aw change the record Strawman. We’re done. You’re finished. Admit it.

REBUS  And you really think, the whole purpose of my life was fighting you? Strictly supporting cast. Struggle to remember you most days.

CAFFERTY  Aye you’ve a wheen o’ regrets right enough but no getting me behind bars was the big one. Fucking ironic if I put you there. But I’d rather have your girl on my keyring. That’ll be the real victory, the one that’ll sting you the most.

REBUS  She’ll finish you in five seconds if you call her a girl to her face.

CAFFERTY  We’ll see.

The music’s changed to the next track. It is HEATHER’S song ‘Show Me the Way’.

REBUS  You can turn that up.

CAFFERTY  Turn it off more like. Hate that one.

REBUS  You know it?

CAFFERTY names it.

REBUS  How do you know that one?

CAFFERTY  I’m a complicated man Rebus. You never gave me credit for that.

CAFFERTY has stopped the music.

REBUS  You want another track? ‘Sympathy for the Devil’?

CAFFERTY  Tell me. Admit it, is there anything I could have done to you that would have hurt you worse than this? Turning Siobhan Clarke against you? Making her my snitch?

REBUS  We don’t know what she’s going to decide.

CAFFERTY  Aye we do. She won’t see Mordaunt walk. And she won’t see you go down.

REBUS  No. You hit the bullseye. You win. Only thing worse would be if you’d gone after my daughter.

CAFFERTY  Aye well, I wouldny do that.

REBUS  You’ll bring the smell of blood to my doorstep though. Careless. They’ll get you for that Cafferty.

CAFFERTY  What are we on about now?

REBUS  The boy, up the stairs from me?

CAFFERTY  Now that was a piece of pure cheek. If they knew I was in the building it was.

REBUS  That wasny you?

CAFFERTY  No it wasny me! Fucking amateurs. Come on John. Give me some credit.

REBUS  So who was it?

CAFFERTY  What do you care?

REBUS  There’s a girl I need to find. She’s in trouble.

CAFFERTY  Then she’s likely another lost wee thing John Rebus can’t save.

REBUS seems to slump.

CAFFERTY  (sings, mocking) ‘Regrets, I’ve had a few’. More than a few eh John?

No answer.

CAFFERTY  How is your daughter by the way? See, you’ve still got something as well as that sack of regrets. You’ve still got her.

REBUS  Biggest regret of the lot. All the ways I’ve failed her.

CAFFERTY  I’ve no regrets at all. None. Seriously. Except maybe that. No kids. A waster son that died and didny know me...

REBUS  No-one to inherit the royal house of Cafferty.

CAFFERTY  No.

REBUS  Nothing makes you vulnerable like a child does. Maybe that’s the secret of your success. They could never really get to you.

CAFFERTY  Maybe. We’re drinking now eh?

REBUS  Aye.

CAFFERTY  Good.

Gets them both another.

CAFFERTY  You nearly got me Strawman, I can say it now. I did have to scramble to stay ahead of you a few times.

REBUS  Good.

CAFFERTY toasts him.

CAFFERTY  To a fucking good fight and the best man won.

REBUS  Who says it’s over?

CAFFERTY  Ah come on. Maybe I could adopt. What do you think?

REBUS  I’m no sure you’d match the adoption agency profile of the ideal parent.

CAFFERTY  Buy a Chinese one. Na. Fuck that. Needs to look like me.

REBUS  Sam doesny look much like me.

CAFFERTY  Sure she’s yours?

REBUS  Fuck you.

CAFFERTY  She’ll have her mother’s looks. Way it goes eh? DNA. All the mysteries it solves, ’cause you canny tell by looking can you?

REBUS  So maybe there’s a few monster mini Cafferties running around like the wee bastards they are.

CAFFERTY  I’d know.

REBUS  But...

CAFFERTY  I’d fucking know!

REBUS  Christ. Sore point?

CAFFERTY  Ach. Alright, since we’re talking. You never got me put away for the heroin dealing you said I was doing.

REBUS  That you were doing.

CAFFERTY  That you never caught anyone for doing. And how many junkie deaths are we talking about?

REBUS  Conscience troubling you?

CAFFERTY  No. Not one bit. But yours is eh? Every death another reason to sook on your wee bottle. All those poor dead junkie wasters, and then there’s all the friends and colleagues, all drowned in the endless sea of John Rebus’s mistakes. Your fault. Every one. That’s what you think, eh Strawman, that’s what you see in the 3 a.m. dark. Regrets. Me? If I’ve killed anyone...

REBUS  If!?

CAFFERTY  Casualties of war, every one. Victims of the battle they brought to me. I sleep like a well-fed bairn. Only kind of death I’d ever regret... the kind that didn’t have to happen. That’s why I’d never drink like you. Responsibility of power. You can never lose control. Too dangerous.

REBUS  Sounds like maybe you did then? Just the once.

CAFFERTY  You make mistakes and you learn.

REBUS  What mistakes?

CAFFERTY  One woman. But I learned. Taught me how to behave. You’ve got another woman on the go I hear. Fuck did you pull that off? How’d you find yet another head case who hates herself so much she’ll lie down under a man that regurgitates his own lungs every time he coughs?

REBUS  Trick is to let them go on top.

CAFFERTY  Trick is to buy the best you can afford, someone smart enough no even to need to fake admiration for the size of your wallet. Big money buys you real respect from an intelligent woman.

REBUS  Aye dream on.

CAFFERTY  It’s a weird power relationship you see, men and women. If we’ve got the physical power what does that leave them with? Emotional manipulation. Fucking dangerous weapon to turn on a powerful man, do you not think?

REBUS  You don’t like that?

CAFFERTY  Do you?

REBUS  So what’re you saying?

CAFFERTY  Nothing. Just there’s very little I regret.

REBUS  Except beating up on ‘manipulative’ women?

CAFFERTY  Come on. Worst I’ve ever done is hand out a wee slap to some lassie too cheeky to take a telling.

REBUS  Christ you’re a feminist icon Big Ger.

CAFFERTY  (looking at his watch) She better be back soon. Want to text her Rebus?

REBUS  I tell you, I would like to hear that song again.

CAFFERTY  No.

REBUS  Bad memories?

CAFFERTY  What?

REBUS  Why do you hate it? Has it got anything to do with a woman. One particular woman?

CAFFERTY  Still the fucking detective.

REBUS  Your only regret?

CAFFERTY  Right. We’re done talking about this. Time’s up. I’m calling D.I. Clarke back.

REBUS  Easton property development. Not Weston. Something that begins with an ‘E’. That the name of your company? Easton property?

CAFFERTY  What about it?

REBUS  You built all those big flats down in Newhaven then.

CAFFERTY  Some of them. That company’s sold now. You’ll not get anything digging in that mud. My name wasny ever near the paperwork anyway.

REBUS  No you’d have been a bit scary sitting in your best suit eyeballing the ladies and gents of the planning application committee. I heard you were a bit scary altogether, no-one wants to talk about it even now.

CAFFERTY  Talk about what?

REBUS  Maggie Towler.

A beat.

CAFFERTY  What?

REBUS  Thought she could take on the world... Till she took on a man she couldny handle.

CAFFERTY  Not following, Strawman.

REBUS  Aye you are. (sees he’s got him) You are eh?

He snatches up CAFFERTY’S phone, keying up the music.

CAFFERTY  Give me that.

REBUS  How have you even heard of this one?

‘Show Me the Way’ is playing again.

CAFFERTY  Switch that off!

REBUS is turning up the volume.

REBUS  Maggie Towler’s favourite song. Was it ‘your tune’ Big Ger? Did you wander along the the Granton seafront to this one, swinging your hands and plotting which foundations to drop the bodies in...

CAFFERTY  (snatching for phone, REBUS evading) Give it!

REBUS  But she’d no have liked all that carry on eh? Is that what happened? She got a wee fright when she saw plain what kind of murdering scum she was shagging? Maybe she had the idea of letting a few other people know about the mess she was in? The police mebbe?

CAFFERTY has got the phone. He cuts the music, breathing heavily.

CAFFERTY  I had nothing to do with Maggie Towler after 1999. A year or more before she got herself killed.

REBUS  Interesting turn of phrase.

CAFFERTY  Wasn’t even questioned about her.

REBUS  That was careless of someone. Right enough though, I bet precious few folk knew about that wee romance. Not your usual type was she?

CAFFERTY says nothing.

REBUS  Leaving her taste in men aside I heard she was a nice enough lassie?

CAFFERTY  She was a lying wee hoor.

REBUS  Didn’t see her after 1999 you say?

Nothing from CAFFERTY.

REBUS  About the time she fell pregnant?

CAFFERTY  I’m ringing Clarke. I’ve given her long enough.

REBUS  So all that regret about the Cafferty legacy? A pile of keech eh? You left her high and dry didn’t you? Kicked her to the side and never looked back...

CAFFERTY  I’d’ve looked after her!

REBUS  So why didn’t you?

CAFFERTY  Bairn wasn’t mine. Alright?

REBUS  When did you find that out?

CAFFERTY  Doesny matter...

REBUS  Aye it does. Last night she was seen she ducked home early. Way I heard it she saw someone she didn’t expect to and it scared her. You had eyes and ears everywhere didn’t you, even then.

CAFFERTY  Give it up Strawman. We’re no talking about this.

REBUS  You caught her taking the back way home didn’t you?

CAFFERTY  I never knew she was pregnant, alright?

REBUS  Canny always be shooting blanks Ger.

CAFFERTY  The bairn was not mine!

REBUS  Is that what she told you? Is that what she said? To your face? You wouldny have liked that would you? So you get the news, she’s back on the town, first night out after having the kid... I bet that was the first you knew of the kid eh?

CAFFERTY  You sound like a fucking women’s magazine, you know that?

REBUS  You catch her going home alone, you ask her what she’s playing at? Keeping your daughter from you...

CAFFERTY  Chattering on like a cleaning wifie...

REBUS  She says, ‘Fuck you, fuck you Big Ger, think I’d ever have settled for the limp excuse for a cock you’ve got?’

CAFFERTY  Oh you better zip it right now!

REBUS  (cutting over him) ‘Fuck you, I was never with you even when you thought I was. Fuck you, it’s no even your kid!’

CAFFERTY lays him out. Walks away. Breathing hard. REBUS picks himself up. Recovers.

REBUS  And that’s what you did. Well no, nothing like that. You choked the life out of her eh? With her own scarf.

CAFFERTY  What do you think’s going to happen now Strawman? Think I’m going to break down and confess?

REBUS  No need for that. DNA evidence will put you in the frame. No doubt.

CAFFERTY  Fuck you talking about?

REBUS  Canny twist a piece of cloth that tight without losing a wee bit of skin. Teeny tiny bits of Cafferty dust. They couldny get a DNA identification at the time, science wasny good enough. It is now. Good thing they kept the evidence safe eh?

A beat.

CAFFERTY  Aye right.

REBUS  They really did Big Ger. We checked. Yesterday. I was thinking of reopening the case.

CAFFERTY  You’re no even a policeman. Who’s going to listen to you?

REBUS  You think I couldny get that done? I knew she looked familiar. Should have guessed, right then. Take away the ugly and I can see her, right there, on your face...

SIOBHAN is climbing back up, she comes in. CAFFERTY is just frozen.

SIOBHAN  Alright. Here’s what’s going to happen...

REBUS  (cutting her off) Cafferty’s changed his mind. The deal’s off.

SIOBHAN  What?

CAFFERTY’S still frozen.

REBUS  We had a wee talk. He’s had a change of heart.

SIOBHAN  Cafferty?

CAFFERTY  What?

SIOBHAN  The deal’s off?

REBUS  He’s no longer a witness for the defence. He’s withdrawing his statement. He’s denying he saw any bit of the bastard that mugged him.

CAFFERTY still doesn’t speak.

SIOBHAN  What’s going on?

REBUS  A Cold War. Mutually assured destruction. It’s a 60’s thing Shiv. Before your time.

SIOBHAN  (to CAFFERTY) Is that right? I need to hear you say it.

CAFFERTY  Get him out of here.

SIOBHAN  Are you withdrawing your statement?

CAFFERTY  YES! Now get him out of here before I... Just get out.

They start to leave. SIOBHAN is out and on the stair, recovering. She can’t hear the following dialogue.

CAFFERTY  John...

REBUS stops.

CAFFERTY  What do you mean... you recognised her?

REBUS  People can say anything Big Ger. Especially when they want to get rid of you. Maggie lied to you. But DNA canny lie.

CAFFERTY  Where is she? Where’s my daughter?

REBUS  I wouldny tell you if I knew.

Transition into—

Stairwell, Quartermile

SIOBHAN and REBUS on the stair. We see the stairwell but if the penthouse remains visible CAFFERTY does not move.

REBUS  Panic over. See? I told you. You just had to trust me. It’s fixed. I fixed it.

SIOBHAN  Do you know where I’ve just been, in the dark?

REBUS  Round the Meadows?

SIOBHAN  Don’t talk to me.

REBUS  Hey. You’ve seen me bend the rules before. You’ve helped me a few times.

SIOBHAN  The price of losing was never this high.

REBUS  We didn’t lose. We won.

SIOBHAN  Yes. I suppose you did.

She’s gone into darkness. ANGELA is in front of him.

ANGELA  But I’m still dead.

MAGGIE is there.

MAGGIE  And I’m still waiting.

ANGELA  Nothing solves murder. The dead stay dead.

MAGGIE  You promised me justice. You promised!

ANGELA  We’re lost in the dark.

MAGGIE  Always.

We see MORDAUNT. He walks forward. MAGGIE and ANGELA watch.

Outside court

SIOBHAN is making a press statement. We still see MORDAUNT.

SIOBHAN  I have a statement from Angela’s father which I’ll read to you now. (takes it out, reads) ‘Peter Mordaunt has been found guilty and today our daughter has finally received the justice she deserves. Nothing can fill the dark hole she has left in the lives of those who loved her. Nothing can replace her spirit or compensate for its loss, but there is some comfort in knowing that her killer has finally been identified and punished. All her surviving family would like to thank the police for their persistence and dedication over twenty-five years.’

Lights are going down on MORDAUNT. ANGELA fades away. MAGGIE is still with REBUS, watching.

SIOBHAN  In return I’d like to thank Angela’s family for their faith in the police over those twenty-five years. A conviction like the one we saw today would not have been possible in 1992. It is possible today because of advances in science, modern police techniques. It was not the work of one but of many, a team, working together to painstakingly preserve and examine evidence. No one person could have won justice for Angela. Good police work is team work and I’m grateful to each and every person who built this case. Thank you.

A flash of press cameras. SIOBHAN is moving away as we still see REBUS and MAGGIE.

MAGGIE  What about me?

REBUS  (quiet) I’m sorry. I’m sorry Maggie.

MAGGIE  What good’s that to me? You let me down John.

MAGGIE is gone. REBUS steps into—

Stairwell, Police H.Q.

SIOBHAN is coming downstairs. REBUS is waiting for her.

REBUS  I owe you breakfast.

SIOBHAN says nothing.

REBUS  Saw you on the box. Good stuff. You’re taking the promotion then? Sounded like a Chief Inspector to me.

SIOBHAN  What do you want John?

REBUS  Just... wanted to say congratulations. You got him.

SIOBHAN  Yes. We got him.

REBUS  Well done.

SIOBHAN  Thanks.

REBUS  Got to be worth a cappuccino, come on...

SIOBHAN  What have you got on Cafferty?

A beat.

REBUS  I can’t tell you that Shiv.

Another beat. Then SIOBHAN’S moving.

SIOBHAN  ’Course not.

REBUS  Siobhan...

SIOBHAN  (cutting him off) But it’s something big, something that could put him away for good, something that scares him. And the thing is John, the thing I’ve worked out is, that if we didn’t have to keep him quiet about your drunken, stupid violence, we could turn that weapon on Big Ger. We could use it. We could put him away. But hey, Mordaunt’s finally locked up eh? That what they called a win? In your day?

SIOBHAN is gone. REBUS waits a moment then moves into—

Stairwell, Arden Street

Slowly REBUS starts to walk up the stairs. HEATHER is sitting on the stairs.

REBUS  Where did you go to?

HEATHER  Och... around and about. You know.

REBUS is taking his phone out.

REBUS  I need to call this in...

HEATHER  (urgent) Don’t! Wait till I’m gone. I just wanted to know if you’d found anything. About my Mum.

A beat..

HEATHER  It’s lost history isn’t it? Didn’t realise I was hopeful but... That’s stupid eh? The way you can keep hoping. Like still believing in Santa... or life after death. Look it’s ok. As long as you tried.

REBUS  You have to talk to the police, Heather, about the night Andy was killed.

HEATHER  No!

REBUS  Why not?

HEATHER  Don’t call them.

REBUS  Well I have to...

He stops as HEATHER takes out a gun and points it at him.

HEATHER  Stupid fucker didn’t think I’d use a knife so he came at me. That’s when I knew I needed a gun. Should have realised: if you don’t look like you’re big enough to give them a doing they will try eh? And that’s just messy. And upsetting. I need folk to stand still when I’m talking to them.

REBUS  Right.

HEATHER  If I’d had a gun that night I probably wouldny have had to use it. But he thought he could take me. Stupid fuck.

REBUS  You were supplying Andy. You were his boss.

HEATHER  And he was a fucking idiot. All he had to do was take the business off the stair. Like you said. You noticed. You knew exactly what he was doing. Can’t have folk working for me that are that kind of stupid. I wouldny have killed him but... Like I said, he tried to take me. (breaks off) What are you looking at me like that for?

REBUS  That’s the business plan is it Heather? This is how you’re going to make your fortune?

HEATHER  This is just how I’ll get started. Then I’ll diversify.

REBUS  Thing is, when you’ve got a toe in one world, it’s awfy hard to pull it loose and jump into another.

HEATHER  Richard Branson kick started his millions by fiddling his VAT.

REBUS  Is that a fact? Och you’ll be fine then.

HEATHER  All I’m doing is what the whole world does to get rich.

REBUS  Only difference is you’re doing it with your own hands.

HEATHER  That’s right.

REBUS  Must be in your blood.

HEATHER  What do you mean?

REBUS  Remember your mum Heather. She’d want you to do that.

HEATHER  Sometimes I kid on she’s watching me. Think she’d be proud John?

REBUS  I think she’d be worried for you. There’s sharks out there Heather. Seriously sharp teeth.

HEATHER  I can look after myself. Better than she could. Maybe I take after my Dad eh? What do you think?

REBUS  Careful what you wish for.

HEATHER’S on the move.

HEATHER  You can make your phone call now. I’m going. See you around John.

She’s leaving.

REBUS  I won’t do that. I won’t call it in.

HEATHER  (stopped) Why not?

REBUS  (offering her a card) Because one day, if you ever meet the biggest shark out there, you should phone me.

HEATHER  Why?

REBUS  Because if you meet him, you’ll really need my help.

HEATHER  And what’s in it for you?

REBUS  Maybe something we called a win... back in my day.

HEATHER  Alright. I’ll do that.

She takes the card and leaves. After a moment REBUS follows her down the stairs. The song, HEATHER and MAGGIE’S song starts and swells in volume.

We see CAFFERTY lit up in his penthouse, staring out over the city.

REBUS is in the Meadows, staring up towards CAFFERTY’S penthouse. They can’t see each other but each knows the other is there.

Music hits a crescendo.

BLACKOUT.