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?