left to the Scottish National Trust.
Every morning over his rainbow banquet of vitamins and heart medication Ang us forced his mind back to Carrymuir, so that he would not wake up one morn ing and find that he could not remember it any longer. He pictured the stro ng stone house, the fireplace in the great hall, the sheep that spilled abo ut the old crofters' huts like a current. He did not let himself dwell on t he fact that Carrymuir, which had never been taken by Campbells or English or anyone else, was now overrun with tourists.
But he did not have time for that now. Angus pulled his bathrobe on over hi s clothes, and at just after three in the morning, began to walk in his sli ppers the mile from his small home to the Wheelock police station, where on ce again he would be his great-nephew's conscience.
INVESTIGATION REPORT
Wheelock Township Police Dept.
Case # 95-9050
STATE vs. MacDONALD, James Reid White male, age 36, D.O.B. 3/14/59. Pla ce of birth: Boston MA Ht. 6'4", wt. 200 lbs. green eyes, auburn hair CHARGES: Murder One
PLACE: Wheelock Inn, Main St., Wheelock MA
DATE:
MERCY
47
September 19, 1995
EVIDENCE: 1.Pillowcase2.Rug samples3.Shoes worn by suspect4.Samples of hai r (victim)5.Samples of hair (suspect)6.Autopsy report7.Photographs of crim e scene andvictim8.Voluntary statement fromsuspectA Hie brewed her own tea
. It was a very English thing to do, and Cam sometimes laughed at her, say ing she'd better keep quiet about it or all the good Scots would run her o ut of town. At first she did it because she was a stickler for detail. In the same way she could sense a stray frond of grass ruining an arrangement
, she could taste the commonplace seeping from a bag of Lipton's as strong and as bitter as arsenic. But she'd learned to tolerate it and now she br ewed her own tea only because Cam usually made a comment about it. Allie did at least a hundred things each day simply because of their effect on Cam. They bound him to her: she'd drop his shirts off at the cleaners wit hout being asked, or lay out a bowl of cereal for him before she went to bed so it was there in the morning, or, as in the case of the tea, open herself to teasing just to guarantee an exchange of conversation. She made his life run so smoothly that he never had to wonder about those little details that plague everyone else--like turning the clocks back in the fall, or always h aving enough milk in the refrigerator, or keeping handy the right size batte ries for whatever piece of electronic equipment he was fixing. She told hers elf this was something she wanted to do, a silent promise she'd made on her wedding day to the handsome, magnificent man standing beside her. If every d ay flowed seamlessly into the next for Cam, he'd never have reason to wonder
, What if?
It never occurred to Allie that this was very similar to behav-iorally drugging Cam. Or that every selfless errand she ran for her husband was another silken strand that wrapped him tight, like a spider trapping her prey with guilt. Or that Cam was strong enough, and sure enough, to break o ut of any hold or system Allie could ever create.
Then again, maybe this had occurred to her, and that was the reason she con tinued.
Sometimes, when Cam was working the midnight-to-eight shift, and Allie was lying in bed, she let her hands move restlessly over her own body. She pret ended that Cam would notice something ridiculously simple--like the fact th at all his socks were neatly paired and folded in his underwear drawer--and would turn to her with the same look on his face that Allie often gave to him. Allie, he'd say, his eyes burning with wonder and worship, have you do ne all this for me?
Cam had gone back to the station in the middle of the night to relieve Zand y, who was watching over Jamie MacDonald. When Allie heard the car pull int o the driveway, she slid the egg from the bowl where it had been waiting to the sizzling pan. By the time Cam had kicked the dirt off his
Every morning over his rainbow banquet of vitamins and heart medication Ang us forced his mind back to Carrymuir, so that he would not wake up one morn ing and find that he could not remember it any longer. He pictured the stro ng stone house, the fireplace in the great hall, the sheep that spilled abo ut the old crofters' huts like a current. He did not let himself dwell on t he fact that Carrymuir, which had never been taken by Campbells or English or anyone else, was now overrun with tourists.
But he did not have time for that now. Angus pulled his bathrobe on over hi s clothes, and at just after three in the morning, began to walk in his sli ppers the mile from his small home to the Wheelock police station, where on ce again he would be his great-nephew's conscience.
INVESTIGATION REPORT
Wheelock Township Police Dept.
Case # 95-9050
STATE vs. MacDONALD, James Reid White male, age 36, D.O.B. 3/14/59. Pla ce of birth: Boston MA Ht. 6'4", wt. 200 lbs. green eyes, auburn hair CHARGES: Murder One
PLACE: Wheelock Inn, Main St., Wheelock MA
DATE:
MERCY
47
September 19, 1995
EVIDENCE: 1.Pillowcase2.Rug samples3.Shoes worn by suspect4.Samples of hai r (victim)5.Samples of hair (suspect)6.Autopsy report7.Photographs of crim e scene andvictim8.Voluntary statement fromsuspectA Hie brewed her own tea
. It was a very English thing to do, and Cam sometimes laughed at her, say ing she'd better keep quiet about it or all the good Scots would run her o ut of town. At first she did it because she was a stickler for detail. In the same way she could sense a stray frond of grass ruining an arrangement
, she could taste the commonplace seeping from a bag of Lipton's as strong and as bitter as arsenic. But she'd learned to tolerate it and now she br ewed her own tea only because Cam usually made a comment about it. Allie did at least a hundred things each day simply because of their effect on Cam. They bound him to her: she'd drop his shirts off at the cleaners wit hout being asked, or lay out a bowl of cereal for him before she went to bed so it was there in the morning, or, as in the case of the tea, open herself to teasing just to guarantee an exchange of conversation. She made his life run so smoothly that he never had to wonder about those little details that plague everyone else--like turning the clocks back in the fall, or always h aving enough milk in the refrigerator, or keeping handy the right size batte ries for whatever piece of electronic equipment he was fixing. She told hers elf this was something she wanted to do, a silent promise she'd made on her wedding day to the handsome, magnificent man standing beside her. If every d ay flowed seamlessly into the next for Cam, he'd never have reason to wonder
, What if?
It never occurred to Allie that this was very similar to behav-iorally drugging Cam. Or that every selfless errand she ran for her husband was another silken strand that wrapped him tight, like a spider trapping her prey with guilt. Or that Cam was strong enough, and sure enough, to break o ut of any hold or system Allie could ever create.
Then again, maybe this had occurred to her, and that was the reason she con tinued.
Sometimes, when Cam was working the midnight-to-eight shift, and Allie was lying in bed, she let her hands move restlessly over her own body. She pret ended that Cam would notice something ridiculously simple--like the fact th at all his socks were neatly paired and folded in his underwear drawer--and would turn to her with the same look on his face that Allie often gave to him. Allie, he'd say, his eyes burning with wonder and worship, have you do ne all this for me?
Cam had gone back to the station in the middle of the night to relieve Zand y, who was watching over Jamie MacDonald. When Allie heard the car pull int o the driveway, she slid the egg from the bowl where it had been waiting to the sizzling pan. By the time Cam had kicked the dirt off his
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