The piece took up half an inside page. Tony had no choice but to put his glasses back on again to read the report. It detailed the recent attempts by the Kelly family to find Martin’s remains. The story mentioned the disappointment of the lead technician on the recovery team, that they’d once again found nothing. They’d been searching in bogland about two hours north of Glasgow, based on an anonymous tip-off. Two pictures accompanied the story. The first was a grainy colour image of a digger being loaded on to the back of a transporter, its job complete. It was the smaller second picture towards the bottom of the story that caught Tony’s eye: Martin Kelly’s sister.

She shared his soft features, though she was older now than he had been then. Her hair was pulled back from her face, evidently being interviewed at the site of the latest dig.

Tony scanned down through the piece. It offered scant details of Martin’s disappearance, only that he had vanished while living in Scotland and his family, despite frequent appeals for information, had never even had it confirmed to them why he died. ‘Martin was a good fella,’ his sister was quoted as saying. ‘He wasn’t perfect, but he was a good lad. No one deserves to be disposed of the way he must have been. What we’ve been put through is just cruelty.’

Chapter Nine

‘All cruelty springs from weakness,’ Tony said. ‘According to Seneca, anyway.’

His sixth-form class sat in front of him. They’d been discussing Macbeth and what might drive him to try to kill not only Banquo and his son, but also Macduff’s wife and children.

‘Who’s he?’ Shauna Laird asked. She was one of the chattier girls in the class, though her comments weren’t always relevant to the work being discussed.

‘He was a Roman playwright. The play, Macbeth, is heavily influenced by his style of tragedies. He claimed that all acts of cruelty are motivated primarily by fear. Do you think that’s the case with Macbeth?’

Several of the pupils pantomimed consideration of the question, enough to show they were listening but not willing to risk answering.

‘S’pose,’ Shauna said.

‘How?’

‘He was afraid he wasn’t secure in position, so he killed people to make himself feel more secure.’

‘But he only ends up making things worse for himself.’

Shauna angled her head a little. ‘I guess.’

‘Which is his tragedy. He causes a reversal of his own fortunes through his behaviour, then finds out too late to do anything to change it. Aristotle called it perepetia.’

Shauna raised her hand, despite the discussion having only involved the two of them anyway.

‘Do we need to know this for the exam?’

‘It won’t hurt,’ Tony said. ‘Besides, you should know it.’

‘In case I ever reverse my own fortunes and realise I did it?’ she asked, smiling.

Tony joined in the general laughter. ‘Exactly.’

‘And does either of them give any advice for what to do in that situation?’