The Marriage Act(80)
62
Roxi
Roxi pointed her watch towards the secured metal box of medicines stored inside the kitchen cupboard. When it opened, she scanned the barcode attached to a bottle of paracetamol before her Audite spoke.
‘Is this medicine for you, Roxi?’ it asked.
‘Yes.’
‘The most common use of paracetamol is for the treatment of a headache. Are you suffering from a headache, Roxi?’
‘Yes, I am,’ she replied.
‘This is the sixth day in a row you have requested this medicine, Roxi. Would you like me to use your wearable tech to run a full body scan and find the root cause of your pain?’
‘No.’
‘Would you like me to send a report to your General Practitioner, Roxi?’
‘No, I just want the fucking tablets.’
‘Have a good day, Roxi.’
The war on prescription drugs, now more critical than illegal street narcotics, meant anything potentially habit-forming was strictly regulated, monitored and recorded before it was dispensed. But Roxi was in no mood to be questioned as to the cause of her recent headaches. She knew the reason. Antoinette Cooper. Roxi swallowed the tablets quickly before the cupboard changed its mind and, with a coffee in her hand, made her way out into the garden.
She didn’t register the dampening of her soles following last night’s drizzle. She just needed enough fresh air to erase the stench of death that had been clinging to her since her ill-fated visit to Cooper’s house.
Roxi had made sure to delete all search history relating to Cooper on each of her devices then erased the hard drives twice. Several times a day, she scanned social media and local news feeds for reports of the woman’s demise, but without inputting anything that might register her interest in Cooper specifically. She must leave no digital footprint. Roxi had yet to find anything. She also searched images and studies of the human skeleton to gain an understanding of how Cooper had died so suddenly, and learned hitting the exact spot that could sever a spine was an incredible, unfortunate, fluke.
For the first time in as long as she could remember, Roxi craved the comforting clasp of Owen’s arms around her body. Today more than ever, she needed to hear his reassurance that everything was going to be all right, like he had after Phoebe’s murder when Roxi had fallen into a deep depression. It was Owen who had pulled her out of it, something she conveniently forgot when her ambition belittled his importance in her life. Instead, she had never felt more alone.
63
Anthony
‘You look as if you’ve had better days,’ a woman’s voice began.
Anthony turned sharply and saw Eleanor Harrison. He had been too wrapped up in his own world to notice her arriving or taking a seat next to him at the station platform. She wasn’t facing him. Instead, her attention was affixed to a digital billboard poster advertising a new autonomous motorbike. A stocky man in a dark-blue suit stood a few feet away from her. Anthony’s fingers eased their grip of the bench and he lowered himself back down.
‘Your visit to Westminster was naive,’ Harrison continued.
‘I didn’t know where else to go. Hyde is ignoring my calls and you’re my only link to him.’
‘Lucky old me then,’ she replied. ‘So what do you want?’
Anthony paused as carriages rattled along the tracks. Commuters entered and exited before it pulled away again.
‘Why is Hyde targeting my wife and our marriage?’
‘Why do you think?’
‘I resigned from my job, not the Act.’
‘It doesn’t matter. He can do as he wants. And it’s not as if anyone will listen if you complain. And you know what, Mr Alexander? I’m afraid I really don’t care, as callous as it sounds. Your nearest and dearest will pay for your conscience. But as long as you believe you’ve done the right thing, then I suppose that’s all that matters, isn’t it? And I’m sure when he’s older, your son will look back fondly at his time spent in a Young Citizen Camp.’
Anthony’s blood ran cold. ‘The camps they’re proposing, they’re just wrong, you must know that?’
‘Just because I turn a blind eye does not mean I cannot see, Mr Alexander.’
‘Then why aren’t you doing something to stop them? You have a voice.’
‘For the same reason you have always done as you were told. Because you and I have a quality of life that we prefer to maintain. And there is no place in your world or mine for morality.’
‘So I have no choice?’
‘You have a child, don’t you?’ she asked.
Anthony nodded.
‘We all have choices,’ she continued. ‘You have to ensure you’re making the right ones for him.’
‘Once this project is finished will Hyde let me leave?’
Another set of carriages appeared at the station. Harrison rose to her feet and patted out a crease in her skirt. ‘I shall inform him that you’ll be back at your desk in the morning. In the meantime, go home and tell your wife this has all been a misunderstanding.’
She didn’t wait for his response. Instead, flanked by her security detail, Harrison left as she arrived, quickly and without making eye contact.