Все цитаты из книги «"Этаж смерти" with W_cat»
“Something sharp, obviously,” he said. A slight grin. “Straight, maybe five inches long.”
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“What’s your name, son?” he asked me.
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The office was silent. Silent as a tomb. Roscoe looked at me. Stared at me for a while. Then she looked back at the doctor.
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He looked at me. An expressionless gaze. Eye to eye, but he wasn’t really tall enough. He’d get a crick in his scrawny old neck. And if he kept on staring at me like that, he’d get his scrawny old ne…
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“They cut his balls off, right?” I said.
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“No way,” he said. “Not without telling me first. Why?”
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She went quiet. She saw where the conflict could lie.
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He waved left with the shotgun. There was a red line painted on the wall at waist height. It was a fire lane guide. I guessed it must lead outside, but we were going in the wrong direction. Into the …
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I paused for a long moment. Tried to figure out how to explain it.
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“Front door was standing open,” he said. “Maybe a half inch. It had a bad feel. I went in, found them upstairs in the master bedroom. It was like a butcher’s shop. Blood everywhere. He was nailed to …
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“It’s part of the United States’ motto, right?” I said. “E Pluribus Unum. It means out of many, one. One nation built out of many former colonies.”
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“He was an investigator,” he said. “I brought him down here because I want this whole thing stopped. I don’t want to be involved anymore. I’m not a criminal. I’m scared to death and I want out. He wa…
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My brother, Joe. Two years older than me. He was born on a base in the Far East right at the end of the Eisenhowerera. Then I had been born on a base in Europe, right at the start of the Kennedy era.…
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“Hello, Reacher,” she said, and smiled.
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I gave him Hubble’s address and he made a wide, slow turn, shoulder to shoulder across the county road. Headed back to town. We passed the firehouse and the police headquarters. The lot was empty. Ro…
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“I did that once,” he said. “On our honeymoon. We went to Europe. We stopped off in New York and I spent half a day looking for the Dakota building, you know, where John Lennon was shot. Then we spen…
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“I was your last customer?” I said. “That was Sunday. Today is Tuesday. Business always that bad?”
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“It’s deadly serious,” I said. “You need to get ready to leave right now.”
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“Is this a basic emergency?” she giggled.
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For a moment there was silence. Just a faint hum, the air, the lights, or the computer. Or the recorder whirring slowly. I could hear the slow tick of the old clock. It made a patient sound, like it …
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“Any physical evidence left behind?” I asked him.
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Finlay gazed at me. Drummed his fingers on the desk. Kept quiet.
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We dozed through the afternoon. I called the Hubble place at seven in the evening. He still wasn’t back. I left Roscoe’s number with Charlie and told her to have Hubble call me as soon as he got in. …
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“Do you feel bitter?” he said. “Let down?”
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“That’s my business, Mr. Reacher,” he said. “Answer my question.”
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He fell back into silence. He was running it through his head again. Probably for the thousandth time. Trying to figure out if his decision had been the right one.
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Roscoe looked great. Her silky shirt was damp. She wasn’t wearing anything underneath it. I could see that because of the way the damp silk stuck to her skin. I was in heaven. I was in a plain old ba…
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“The government guy was my brother,” I told her. “Just a crazy coincidence, I know, but I’m stuck with it.”
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She followed what I was saying and nodded.
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“Looks like the same gun,” he said. “Small-caliber, soft-nose shells. Looks like maybe the first shot only wounded him and he was able to run. He got hit a couple more times but made it to cover unde…
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The drive to town was short. The car hissed over the smooth soaked tarmac. After maybe a half mile I saw two neat buildings, both new, both with tidy landscaping. The police station and the firehouse…
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“No problem,” I said. “Where is he?”
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“What happens next?” I said. “You stay here until Monday morning, and then you go back to Margrave. Then I guess they’ll let you go.”
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“But I just saw her,” I said. “Twenty minutes ago. She’s OK. Nothing happened to her.”
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We all fell quiet. I was thinking about the second guy’s desperate sprint across the road. Trying to reach cover while the bullets smashed into his flesh. Hurling himself under the highway ramp and d…
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“Nothing,” Finlay said. “Not authorized. But she promised to tell you what she can. She said she’ll step out of line for you, because you’re Joe’s little brother.”
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He leaned back in his chair. Blew a sigh at the ceiling and shook his head.
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“Teale runs it?” I said. “Teale’s the enemy.”
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“Teale wants you in the office,” he said.
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He cracked a grin. Grudging, but a grin. He had a gold tooth way back. Gave him a rakish air. A bit more human. He shouted something to the desk guy. Probably a code for a procedure. He took out his …
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The diner was small, but bright and clean. Brand-new, built to resemble a converted railroad car. Narrow, with a long lunch counter on one side and a kitchen bumped out back. Booths lining the opposi…
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“No,” he said. “They’re not going to make me chief.”
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“Can’t help you with that inquiry, that’s for sure,” he said. “That’s a subject we prefer not to discuss in here. Best if you ask me about somebody else altogether.”
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“So Pluribus means many?” she said. “Did Joe know Latin?”
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“I haven’t been in touch for a long time,” I said. “I didn’t know. I didn’t even really know what he did here.”
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“Reacher?” the giant said. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Picard, FBI.”
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“Hub’s gone,” she screamed. “He’s disappeared. I can’t find him.”
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He shook his head as he filled my mug.
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“OK,” I said again. “She say anything else?”
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“Bureaucracy,” I said. “Who the hell needs it? OK, we have to assume we’re on our own here. At least for a while. We’re going to need Picard again.”
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“In the meantime, I’m a cautious man,” he said. “On the face of it, you look bad. A drifter. A vagrant. No address, no history. Your story may be bullshit. You may be a fugitive. You may have been mu…
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“But he’s been out of work for a while,” he said.
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I heard her sniffing, and then her voice came back clear.
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“They can tell all that from his fingerprints?” he said.
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He was rating his chances of staying alive like he would rate a credit application up at his office.
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“There’s never a reason,” he said. “I just do what I’m told.”
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“And you closed that down?” I said. “Why?”
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“Just tell me what happened,” I said.
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“OK,” she said. “You need anything?”
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I flashed the blade up real quick and nicked his chin. He froze in shock. A moment later a fat worm of dark blood welled out of the cut.
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I shook my head again. If something very big was going on around people who used threats like that, then he was never going to stop it. He was on board, and he was going to stay on board. I smiled a …
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“Pluribus means nothing at all to you?” Roscoe asked. “You guys never knew anything about some Pluribus thing? When you were kids?”
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“You up to speed?” I asked her. “Finlay give you the spread?”
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He looked at all three of us in turn. Waited. We looked back.
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“Come back, white boy, don’t you like me?” the big guy called to Hubble.
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“Kliner Foundation,” he whispered. “The community program. It’s a business grant. All the merchants get it. Been getting it five years.”
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“No more than you did in Boston,” I said.
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I FIGURED THEY WOULD LEAVE ME ISOLATED FOR A WHILE. It usually happens that way. Isolation causes an urge to talk. An urge to talk can become an urge to confess. A brutal arrest followed by an hour’s…
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“Paul Hubble,” a voice said. “How may I help you?”
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“And it’s a hell of a blind alley,” Roscoe said. “We’ve got to trawl through twenty years of old files and cross-check every name in every file against parole records from across the entire country. …
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“I wish we had been here,” I said. “We could have gotten a few answers.”
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“Who the hell is Charlie?” he asked.
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Finlay sat back. Folded his hands behind his head. Looked a question at me. Hubble as the shooter? I didn’t believe it. Because of his agitation. Guys who shoot somebody with an old pistol, in a figh…
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“Now we get the hell out of here,” I said. “We can’t stay around like sitting targets. So throw what you need into a bag.”
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“Lots of reasons,” I said. “But mainly because she worked hard to get me out of Warburton. Morrison wanted me in there as a fall guy for Thursday night, right? So if Roscoe was inside the scam, she’d…
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“What about the dead guy?” I said. “Did you run his prints again?”
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“Never saw them before,” the old guy said. “Little guys, brown car, fancy shirts. Been all over, asking for Jack Reacher. We told them we never heard of no Jack Reacher.”
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“I need to know,” I said. “Maybe you approached the guy for help. Maybe you talked to him. Maybe that’s why he got killed. Maybe it looks like now you’ll start talking to me. Which could get me kille…
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“OK,” he said. “You don’t understand my question, so let me try to make it quite clear. What I mean is, where were you born, or where have you lived for that majority period of your life which you in…
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“They came back too quickly for a negative result,” I said.
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“How did your brother write you?” he asked. “When you got no address?”
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Finlay looked up at me from where he was sitting. Shook his head.
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“I’d deal with this myself,” he said. “But I’m a busy man.”
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“Sounds like she was very close to Joe,” Finlay said. “Sounds like they may have had a thing going. She was very upset. Floods of tears.”
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He put the towel around my shoulders and started brushing on the lather.
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“What would you have done?” she said. “Killed four men?”
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“Correct, Finlay,” I said again. “He was told to cover up what went down at the warehouse Thursday night. That was his task for the day. He was up there at midnight, you know.”
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IN YELLOW SPRINGS WE SLIPPED INTO THE HOSPITAL ENTRANCE lane and slowed over the speed bumps. Nosed around to the lot in back. Parked near the morgue door. I didn’t want to go inside. Joe was still i…
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“His name is Sherman,” he said. “Apart from that, no idea.”
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He nodded to himself and sat up. I picked up my coat and we stood together outside the cell, waiting. The guard was back within five minutes. He walked us along a corridor and through two sets of loc…
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I stepped over to the Lincoln and tried the door. Unlocked. Inside, there was a strong new-car smell and not much else. This was a chief’s car. It wasn’t going to be full of cheeseburger wrappings an…
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“Counterfeiting?” I said. “Counterfeit money?”
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“So you figure you’re just a token?” I said. “That’s why Teale won’t make you chief?”
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Finlay glanced at me. I was smiling at him. He made a face.
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“Well, good for you, Finlay,” I said.
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Finlay stopped smiling. Went quiet. Just looked at me.
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“I heard about the Morrisons,” she said at last. “Is my husband involved in all of this?”
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“Finlay told me everything,” she said.
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“Tell him we need it kept very quiet,” I said. “We don’t want his agents down here until we’re ready.”
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“This is Ben,” Charlie said. “And this is Lucy.”
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I sat listening to their old radio for a while. Then I gave them a twenty off my roll of bills and hurried out onto Main Street. Strode out north. It was nearly noon and the sun was baking. Hot for S…
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“Finlay, what the hell are you talking about?” I said. “I haven’t got a phone. Don’t you listen? I don’t live anywhere.”
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“So what was Joe doing down here?” I asked her.
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Hubble looked up at him and nodded blankly. Didn’t speak.
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“You bet your ass I’m a cautious guy, Finlay,” I said. “People are getting killed here. One of them was my only brother.”
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Finlay glared at me. A bit grudging.
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He glared at me again and left the room. Banged the heavy door. Baker reached over and stopped the recording machine. Walked me out of the office. Back to the cell. I went in. He followed and removed…
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“Damn,” I said to myself. “Can you believe that?”
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Roscoe slowed at a white mailbox and turned left into the drive of number twenty-five. About a mile from town, on the left, its back to the afternoon sun. It was the last house on the road. Up ahead,…
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I zipped up and came back into the lobby. Baker was waiting. We walked back to the cell area. I stepped inside my cell. Leaned up in my corner. Baker pulled the heavy gate shut. Operated the electric…
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“And most of that cash isn’t in banks,” he said. “It’s in Vegas or at the racetrack. It’s concentrated in what we call cash-intensive areas of the economy. So a good currency manager, and Mr. Hubble …
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“Correct, Finlay,” I said. “But what had he done wrong?”
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We all three filed out quickly. We needed to be well clear before Teale got back and started asking questions. Baker watched us go. Called out after us.
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I stared around the knot of men. They were busy reassessing my status.
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“I don’t know,” she said. “I really don’t. What I aim to do is find out for you. I can copy his files. I know his computer password.”
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“Can’t figure it that way,” I said. “Joe was a reasonably smart guy. He wouldn’t let a fat idiot like Morrison shoot him. The shooter must have been somebody else. I can’t figure Morrison for the man…
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“His name was on his watch,” Finlay said.
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I HEARD RAISED VOICES IN THE ROSEWOOD OFFICE IN BACK. The tenor of argument. The slap of a palm on a desk. The door opened and Stevenson walked out with Chief Morrison. Stevenson looked mad. He strod…
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“And if you weren’t there to do it?” I asked him. “Would they have to recruit someone else?”
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She looked at me again. Pushed her hair back.
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“Must be working somewhere, right?” I said.
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There was a mirror opposite me behind the counter. I looked exactly like a guy who’d been on an all-night bus and then spent two days in jail. I figured I needed to get cleaned up before I took Rosco…
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“For sure,” he said. “Get your ass up to Beckman. Right now. Stay there. I’ll organize Picard. You don’t leave until he shows up, OK?”
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There was silence for the next twenty minutes. Baker worked at a desk. So did Roscoe. The desk sergeant sat up on his stool. Finlay was in the big office with Hubble. There was a modern clock over th…
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“What does Pluribus mean?” he asked.
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He took it pretty well. His dark face flushed darker. He sat quietly for a long time. I took a deep breath and glared at him. My glare subsided to a gaze as my temper cooled. Back under control. His …
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“General duties, initially,” I said. “That’s the system. Then I handled secrets security for five years. Then the last six years, I handled something else.”
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“Don’t know,” I said. “Last I heard he was working for the Treasury Department.”
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The buzzer on the desk went off. Stevenson’s voice came over the intercom asking for Roscoe. They had files to check. I opened the door for her. But she stopped. She’d just thought of something.
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“OK,” she said, slowly. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
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“You picked this place out?” Finlay said. “Don’t give me that shit. How could you pick this place out? It’s just a name. It’s just a dot on the map. You must have had a reason.”
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“Who was it, Spivey?” I said. “Tell me now, or I’ll come back for you.”
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“Thank you,” I said. “I mean it. You worked hard to help me out.”
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I could hear the grinding as the other inmates swung back their gates and latched them open. I could hear movement and shouted conversation as they strolled out to start another pointless day. I wait…
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“How can you tell?” I said. “Because my eyes aren’t too close together?”
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“We’ve got a new witness,” Finlay said. “He saw you at the warehouse facility. Last night. Hanging around. At midnight.”
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“How did it make you feel, being let go?” he asked.
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“I was winding him up,” he said. “He asked what we’d been doing, looking at a car. I said we weren’t. Said we’d told Baker we weren’t going far, but he’d misheard it as we’re looking at a car.”
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“OK,” she said. She shrugged and smiled. “Let’s go.”
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“Don’t mess with me, Reacher,” he said. “Until I get hold of Hubble, I’m going to keep hold of you and sweat your ass for what he told you. And don’t make out he kept his mouth shut all weekend, beca…
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We drove the hundred yards to the next fence. There was another vehicle cage. The bus went in, waited and drove on out. We drove right into the heart of the prison. We stopped opposite a concrete bun…
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“Didn’t make me feel like anything,” I said. “Made me feel like I was in the army, and now I’m not in the army.”
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“OK,” he said. “No hard feelings, right?”
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“No, I don’t need a lawyer,” I said.
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“It wasn’t you,” he said. “But maybe you had good reason.”
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“But I can’t stay in here,” he said. “I can’t stand it.”
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“No, fool,” she laughed. “Because we haven’t heard from Washington yet.”
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I brushed past Teale and headed for the door. Kliner was standing in the lot, next to the black pickup. Waiting for me. He smiled. Wolf’s teeth showing.
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“There’s a couple of guys watching this place,” I said. “Got here about ten minutes ago. Plain brown sedan. They were at Hubble’s yesterday and around town this morning, asking after me.”
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“So why is his wife so scared?” I said.
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“What can I tell you folks?” he said.
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“You recognize his address?” I asked Roscoe.
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A clang of fear hit me. They figured me for an assassin. A weird rootless mercenary with a mobile phone who went from place to place killing people. Kicking their dead bodies to pieces. Checking in w…
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The big dark Bentley was parked up on the gravel. I walked past it on my way to the house. The front door crashed open. Charlie Hubble ran out. She was screaming. She was hysterical. But she was aliv…
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Hubble nodded and rocked back and forth on his bed. Took a deep breath. Looked straight at me.
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She stood there, her head cocked like she was waiting for an answer. She was maybe thirty, similar age to Roscoe. But she had a rich woman’s ways. A hundred and fifty years ago, she’d have been the m…
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“Unzip me, white boy,” the big guy said again. “With your teeth.”
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“I don’t want one,” she said. “I like to do things myself.”
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“Thanks,” he said. “It’s better that way.”
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“It’s huge,” he said. “Biggest thing you ever heard of.”
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“Do you understand your rights?” he said again.
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I turned on the stool and looked straight at him.
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“Finlay,” she said. “He was up there this morning, poking around, looking for something to help us with the first one. Some help, right? All he finds is another one.”
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“Right,” I said. “About two hundred pounds, maybe.”
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“Mr. Hubble?” Finlay said. He was looking at the desk, writing down the name. “Good afternoon. This is the phone company, mobile division. Engineering manager. We’ve had a fault reported on your numb…
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I parked her car at her door and rang her bell. The children dashed around from somewhere as Charlie opened up and let me in. She was looking pretty tired and strained. The children looked happy enou…
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I gazed back at him. Six o’clock. Bus time.
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Time to intervene. Not for Hubble. I felt nothing for him. But I had to intervene for myself. Hubble’s abject performance would taint me. We would be seen as a pair. Hubble’s surrender would disquali…
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Finlay checked his watch. Decided there was time before Teale got back.
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“OK,” I said. “That’s what I needed to know.”
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“You’re a fool, Jack Reacher,” she said.
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“He wrote my old unit,” I said. “They forward my mail to my bank, where I put my severance pay. They send it on when I wire them for cash.”
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“What’s the story with this guy Teale?” I asked him.
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She passed the cup in through the bars. Up close she looked good. Smelled good. I didn’t recall that from earlier. I remembered thinking of her like a dentist’s nurse. If dentist’s nurses all looked …
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“What about Spivey?” she said. “Over at Warburton? He was ordered to arrange the attack on Hubble, right? So he must know who gave him the order. You should go ask him. Might lead somewhere.”
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Slowly we woke up. We crossed the state line back into Georgia. Crossed the river in Franklin. Settled into a fast cruise through the empty farming country. The fields were hidden under a floating qu…
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“But what happened with this dead guy?” I said. “The body was found at eight o’clock, so the prints went in when? Eight thirty, earliest. But Baker was already telling me there was no match on file w…
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“I wasn’t leaving a homicide scene,” I said. “I was walking down a damn road. There’s a difference, right? People leaving homicide scenes run and hide. They don’t walk straight down the road. What’s …
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“Thanks,” I said. “Now make those calls, OK?”
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“OK,” I said. “Your plan is as good as you’re going to get. Go for it.”
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He was intrigued. He was losing the game.
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“Normally, at this point, I’d ask you how you were enjoying your visit with us here in Margrave,” she said, looking at me, strained, smiling.
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He was bouncing on the balls of his feet, scanning the area. I pivoted slowly and twisted out of the car. The handcuffs didn’t help. Even hotter now. I stepped forward and waited. The backup fell in …
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Hubble sat quietly on the lower bed. I used the john and rinsed my face at the sink. Pulled myself up into bed. Took off my shoes. Left them on the foot of the bed. I wanted to know where they were. …
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Я старался соотнести по смыслу английский текст с его переводом, ведь переводчик никогда не следует точно разбивке исходного текста. Но отсутствие «разжеванных» ответов, как мне кажется, будет лучше…
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“OK,” I said. “So the question is this: did you find his balls?”
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“Thing is, you see,” he said, “Mr. Hubble doesn’t work here anymore. We had to let him go, I’m afraid, about eighteen months ago.”
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“On your knees, white boy,” said the big guy.
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He shrugged. Looked unhappy about it.
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“Don’t you get lonely?” he asked me. “Traveling on your own all the time?”
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I walked down to the entrance and levered the heavy glass door open with my back. Carried the box over to the Bentley. I set the box on the roof of the car and unlocked the door. Dumped the box on th…
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“Where’s the gun you’ve got for me?” I asked her.
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“This is the way Chief Morrison wants it,” he said. “He’s calling it a done deal. Closing us down for the weekend. And he’s the boss man, right?”
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“Did you specialize?” he asked. “In the service?”
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The guy called Finlay stared at me over his fingers for a long moment.
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He was screaming as loud as he could. Blowing off his tension and trying to scare me. Textbook moves. Plenty of sound and fury to soften the target. I raised my hands. The guy with the revolver start…
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I couldn’t think of a reply to that. I just shrugged. It was clear Charlie didn’t know anything. She thought her husband had been arrested because of some kind of a mistake. Not because he was grabbe…
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“But why was he down here in Georgia?” I asked her.
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We were hit by bar noise and jukebox music and a blast of beery air. We pushed through to the back and found a wide ring of booths around a dance floor with a stage beyond. The stage was really just …
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“I already know more than I should,” I said. “Finlay asked about the dead guy and Pluribus and you flipped. So I know there’s a link between you and the dead guy and whatever Pluribus is.”
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Finlay looked at me and shook his head.
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Two things happened. The end two bikers grabbed Hubble and ran him to the door. And the boss man swung a big fist at my face. I saw it late. Dodged left and it caught me on the shoulder. I was spun a…
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She ran over the gravel. Stood right in front of me.
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“Ten people,” he said. “Not counting me.”
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“This morning,” he said. “After breakfast.”
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“No,” he said. “For another reason altogether. It’s like a window of vulnerability is wide open right now. An exposure. It’s been very risky, getting worse all the time. But now it could go either wa…
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He saw where I was going. Like we were colleagues on a knotty case. He flashed me a brief grin.
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“I’ve got to talk to somebody,” he said. “I’ve got to get out of this. I mean it, I’ve got to get out. I’ve got to talk to somebody.”
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“I’m very sorry,” she said. “You’re not saying Hub betrayed your brother?”
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“Unidentified white male,” he said. “Same deal as the first one, no ID, no wallet, no distinguishing marks. But this one had a gold wristwatch, engraved on the back: to Sherman, love Judy. He was may…
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I patted my face dry and leaned up close to the steel mirror to check out the damage. Not bad. I combed my hair with my fingers. As I leaned against the sink I could feel the sunglasses in my pocket.…
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She didn’t reply. I just heard a worried silence. Footsteps and closet doors banging. I sat in her kitchen with the rest of the coffee for most of an hour. Then I heard a car horn blow and the crunch…
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“Why can’t you tell anybody?” I asked him.
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“Hub’s Bentley is green,” she said. “It’s still in the garage. I checked. You’ve got to help us. You’ve got to find him. Mr. Reacher, please. I’m asking you to help us. Hub’s in trouble, I know it. H…
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“What about him?” he said. “He’s dead, right?”
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He was a chatty guy, but that question shut him up. He stopped work and thought about it.
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He started stomping around, chuckling like a demon. He filled the sink and dabbed off the spare lather. Patted my face down with a hot wet cloth. Then he whipped the towel off my shoulders like a con…
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Finlay and Baker looked at each other. Didn’t answer me.
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“I’m not looking for a buddy down here,” I said.
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“Sure,” I said. “Great. No cream, no sugar.”
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“OK, Finlay, let’s get it done,” I said. “I don’t have an address because I don’t live anywhere. Maybe one day I’ll live somewhere and then I’ll have an address and I’ll send you a picture postcard a…
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“But how many people are there?” he asked me. “Nearly three hundred million. That’s only about four hundred and fifty actual cash dollars per head of population. That’s the problem a retail bank has …
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“You weren’t even there,” I said again. “They know that. They might want to know why you confessed, when you didn’t do anything. And they’ll want to know why the guy had your phone number.”
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“Seven years ago, right?” Finlay said.
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“Right,” I said. “Now I’ll tell you some more links. But first of all, you got to understand something, right? I was just passing through here. On Friday and Saturday and Sunday right up to the time …
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“OK,” I said. “That’s better. When do I speak to her?”
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“No,” I said. What else could I say? My parents were both dead. I had a brother whom I never saw. So I had no family. No idea whether I wanted one, either. Maybe, maybe not.
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There was another pause. Now I knew something about Molly Beth Gordon. I’d spent a lot of time on computer passwords. Any military cop does. I’d studied the pyschology. Most users make bad choices. A…
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We stepped out of the file room and walked over toward the rosewood office. The squad room was quiet. The two backup guys from Friday were paging through computer records. Neat stacks of files were e…
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It was about ten thirty. A mile and a quarter up to Eno’s place. A gentle half hour stroll in the sun. It was already very hot. Well into the eighties. Glorious fall weather in the South. I walked th…
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I told Hubble about the long hop through the endless plains and deltas all the way down from Chicago to New Orleans. Sliding around the Gulf Coast as far as Tampa. Then the Greyhound blasting north t…
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He came back in with Finlay at his side. Finlay walked straight back toward the rosewood office where Hubble waited for him. Ignored me as he crossed the squad room. Opened the office door and went i…
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Finlay grunted and was heading back there, but I caught his arm.
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FINLAY LEANED RIGHT BACK IN HIS CHAIR. HIS LONG ARMS were folded behind his head. He was a tall, elegant man. Educated in Boston. Civilized. Experienced. And he was sending me to jail for something I…
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So we stumbled out of the bar with ringing ears and got into the Bentley. We rolled the big old car cautiously and slowly down the streaming road for a mile. Saw the motel up ahead. A long, low old p…
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The bullets in the box were all soft-nose. OK with me. I checked the weapon over. Brutal, but in fine condition. Everything worked. The grip was engraved with a name. Gray. Same as the file box. The …
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I SAT IN SILENCE FOR A LONG TIME. I WAS WORRIED. I FELT like somebody in a kid’s book who falls down a hole. Finds himself in a strange world where everything is different and weird. Like Alice in Wo…
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They were nice-looking kids. The girl still had that little-girl chubbiness. No front teeth. Fine sandy hair in pigtails. The boy wasn’t much bigger than his little sister. He had a slight frame and …
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They were the first words I had heard him say since his assured banter on Finlay’s speakerphone. His voice was low, but his statement was definite. Not a whine or a complaint, but a statement of fact…
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EVALUATE. LONG EXPERIENCE HAD TAUGHT ME TO EVALUATE and assess. When the unexpected gets dumped on you, don’t waste time. Don’t figure out how or why it happened. Don’t recriminate. Don’t figure out …
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The old guys mixed up soapy lather in a bowl, stropped a straight razor, rinsed a shaving brush. They shrouded me with towels and got to work. One guy shaved me with the old straight razor. The other…
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“They’re getting back to me,” he said. “Just hope Teale doesn’t grab the phone before I can.”
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“Not a bad idea,” he said. “I’ll have to go off the record. I can’t ask Teale to make a formal request, right? I’ll call from home, tonight. Guy called Picard. Nice guy, you’ll like him. He’s from th…
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All of a sudden I was glad I had jumped off that damn bus. Glad I made that crazy last-minute decision. I suddenly relaxed. Felt better. The tiny voice in my head quieted down. Right then there was n…
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Baker told me to sit down. Then they all left the room. Stevenson carried the bag with my stuff in it. They went out and closed the door and I heard the lock turning. It had a heavy, well-greased sou…
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FINLAY WAS ON THE SIDEWALK. I WAS IN THE ROAD, STAYING clear of the low awnings in front of every store. There was no traffic on the street to worry about. Monday, two o’clock in the afternoon, and t…
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They’d called Tampa and Atlanta and by midnight they’d gotten hold of a passenger from my bus and the ticket clerk at the Tampa depot. Both of them remembered me. Then they got the bus driver as well…
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We looked it over very carefully. Wasn’t much left to see. It was totally burned out. Everything that wasn’t steel had gone. We couldn’t even tell what make it had been. By the shape, Finlay thought …
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“They’re not Picard’s,” he said. “He’d have told me.”
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Unfortunately the other part was pretty shaky. They couldn’t get to him in here? He had to be joking. No better place in the world to ace a guy than prison. You know where he is, you’ve got all the t…
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Not a Boston banker. More like a Harvard guy.
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“Maybe he started going bald,” I said. “Maybe he was vain about it.”
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We were a couple of hundred yards south of where Main Street had petered out. We turned west up a gravel driveway which must have been just about parallel with Beckman Drive. At the end of the drivew…
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Hubble stopped his rocking and looked at me. Opened his mouth and closed it again. Opened it for a second time.
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“Somewhere we can go to talk?” I said.
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“Interesting,” Finlay said. “The guy’s three hundred miles from home, it’s midnight, and he gets lawyered up within twenty minutes? With a partner from a respected firm? Stoller was some kind of a tr…
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“That’s Kliner,” she said. “The old man himself.”
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“I know you’re not guilty of much,” she said.
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“I travel by road,” I said. “Always by road. Walk a bit, and ride the buses. Sometimes trains. Always pay cash. That way there’s never a paper trail. No credit card transactions, no passenger manifes…
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“Major,” I said. “They give you severance pay when they kick you out. Still got most of it. Trying to make it last, you know?”
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“I know that,” I said. “That’s pretty obvious.”
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“I’ve got no permit,” I said. “You’ll have to do it on the quiet, OK?”
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“OK, Hubble,” I said. “No more questions.”
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“SOMETHING I NEED TO CHECK WITH YOU,” I SAID.
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He leaned forward and buzzed the intercom button on the rosewood desk. Called Baker back in.
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“If I’m wrong, I’ll buy you lunch on Monday,” he said. “At Eno’s place, to make up for today.”
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“You are under arrest for murder,” he said. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say may be used as evidence against you. You have the right to representation by an attorney. Should you…
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“Blind Blake was a guitar player,” I said. “Died sixty years ago, maybe murdered. My brother bought a record, sleeve note said it happened in Margrave. He wrote me about it. Said he was through here …
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“He didn’t tell me diddly,” I said. “Like I told you, we hardly spoke.”
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“My chief’s coming on down,” he said. “You’re going to have to talk to him. We got a situation here. Got to be cleared up.”
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“You think I used this on Morrison?” I said.
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Finlay nodded gravely. He saw it. He understood.
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“Yes, Hubble,” I said again. “Go for it, it’s the best you can do.”
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“They were after both of us,” I said. “They figure Hubble talked to me in prison. They figure I’ve told you all about it. So they think you and I know whatever it was Hubble knew.”
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“Is there counterfeiting going on down here?” I asked her. “Is that what this could be all about?”
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“It was horrible,” she said. Wouldn’t say any more.
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I said it with total certainty. Total conviction. Like absolutely no other possibility existed. She looked at me. I wanted her to see this huge guy. A soldier for thirteen long years. A bare-knuckle …
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For a moment I couldn’t speak. The world was spinning backward.
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That was the longest speech I had made for six months. Finlay sat and gazed at me. I watched him struggling with any detective’s basic dilemma. His gut told him I might not be his man. But I was sitt…
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“Right,” she said. “I sent your prints in about twelve thirty at lunchtime and they were matched at two thirty in the morning.”
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“You should be thinking about Morrison,” I said to him.
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Hubble shook his head again. He was writhing around like my questions were tearing him up.
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The pathologist pushed the two Morrison files to one side and opened up the third. Glanced through it and looked across at me. The third file was thicker than the first two.
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“So throw what you need into a bag,” I said again.
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Outside in the gravel lot the heat was up. It must have rained all night and most of the morning. Now the sun was blasting away and the ground was steaming. Normally this would be a dusty hot place. …
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So I spent a while wandering around looking at the town, doing the things I should have been doing on Friday afternoon. There wasn’t really much to the place. The old county road ran straight through…
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Afterward we lay in an exhausted tangle and talked. About who we were, about what we’d done. About who we wanted to be and what we wanted to do. She told me about her family. It was a bad-luck story …
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So I talked for a while, lying on my bed, running through the last six months. He lay on his bed, looking at the concrete ceiling, listening, keeping his mind off his problems. I told him about leavi…
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“You’re sorry?” I said. “You’re sending two guys who couldn’t have done it to jail and you’re sorry?”
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“I’m just hoping for the best,” Hubble said. “I sort of felt if they wanted to get me, they might cool off after a while. I’m very useful to them. I hope they’ll think about that. Right now it’s a ve…
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I took a long silent breath. Swung my feet over the side of the bunk and landed lightly in front of the big man. He stared at me. I stared back, calmly.
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THE CELL BLOCK WAS REALLY JUST A WIDE ALCOVE OFF THE main open-plan squad room. It was divided into three separate cells with vertical bars. The front wall was all bars. A gate section hinged into ea…
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“I can’t explain it,” he said. “I can’t say anything about it. I just need to know what happens next.”
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“I’m going to bring Hubble in, when I find him,” Finlay said. “He knows stuff he should be telling us. Until then, not a lot I can do, right?”
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I GOT HER TO DUCK IN AT THE STATION HOUSE AND BRING me out the property bag with my money in it. Then we drove on and she dropped me in the center of Margrave and I arranged to meet her up at the sta…
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“Well, there’s hired help,” he said. “They’re around when they’re needed. I mean a core of ten people around here. Ten people in the know, not counting me. It’s a very tight situation, but believe me…
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“He didn’t have a name,” Hubble said. “Just a contact code. He said it was safer that way. I can’t believe they got him. He seemed like a capable guy to me. Tell the truth, you remind me of him. You …
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“No way,” he replied. “You’ll be moved to the state facility later. Bus comes by at six. Bus brings you back Monday.”
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“You’re assuming there were three assailants?” the doctor said.
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She thought about it for a quarter mile and then smiled across at me.
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“I’m not surprised,” she said. “That whole family has been scum for two hundred years. I know all about them. His family and my family go way back together. Why should he be any different? But, God, …
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“So what was his exact role?” I asked him.
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We hauled ourselves out of our seat and shuffled down the bus. My left arm was pulled back by Hubble. The driver stopped us at the front. He removed all three sets of handcuffs and dropped them in a …
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I walked north in the sun and the pickup moved slowly alongside, keeping pace. The guy was still hunched forward, staring sideways. I stretched out a couple of steps and the truck sped up to keep sta…
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I nodded and headed for the staircase. Went up and found the master bedroom. Stopped at the door and peered in. There was nothing to see except the ragged outline of the nail holes in the wall and th…
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“Sure,” the guy said. “You heard about the Foundation?”
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“I haven’t got two buddies,” I said. “Or a car. So the very best you can do is to say the victim walked there, and I walked there. I met him, and I very carefully shot him, like a pro, then recovered…
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“Two or three days, maybe,” she said. “Finlay says it could have been a double homicide on Thursday night.”
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“How did you meet the guy?” Finlay asked.
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“He wasn’t even there at midnight,” he said. “He was at some old couple’s anniversary party. A family thing. Not far from where he lives. Got there around eight last night. He’d walked down with his …
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The bed was too short for me, but most beds are. I lay there in the dark and listened to the restless prison. Then I closed my eyes and floated back to Jamaica with Roscoe. I must have fallen asleep …
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“See you later, Teale,” I called as I drove away.
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Spivey looked around wildly. Saw the gate guard thirty yards away.
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He looked at me. Something burning in his eyes. I shrugged.
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“Stepson,” he said. “Kliner’s kid by his first wife. Mrs. Kliner’s his second. I’ve heard she don’t get along so good with the kid.”
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“Nobody’s nobody,” he said. “We’ve all got a story. Tell me.”
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“You got things to do,” I said. “You need to get Roscoe on one side and fill her in with the details, OK? Tell her to take a lot of care. Then you need to make some calls and find out from Washington…
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“He ran for it,” the doctor said. “He was hit close up in the back with the first shot, but it didn’t drop him, and he ran. He took two more on the way. One in the neck, and the fatal shot in the thi…
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Finlay said nothing. His prime suspect was discussing the case with him like a colleague. As the investigator, he shouldn’t allow that. He should cut me down. But he wanted to hear me out. I could se…
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My assumptions had been all wrong. I had seen Hubble as a banker, doing a straight job. Maybe turning a blind eye to some peripheral con, maybe with half a finger in some dirty pie. Maybe signing off…
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“He should start tracing Joe,” I said. “Joe must have used a car. Probably flew down from Washington, into Atlanta, got a hotel room, rented a car, right? We should look for the car. He must have dri…
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“Where did you get on the bus?” he asked me.
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“OK,” I said. “I’ll do that, Charlie. But like I say, don’t expect miracles. I think we’re looking at something very bad here.”
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Finlay nodded across to me. It was my theory, so I got to explain it.
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She rooted in her bag and pulled out a big bunch of keys. Handed them to me. The car key had a big letter B embossed on it. She nodded vaguely and stayed where she was. I stepped over to the Bentley …
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She nodded. Winked back. We were OK. We went out the front door and left it slightly open, just like we’d found it.
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“No idea what Hubble knows,” I said. “You’re the one claims he fell apart.”
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“Got to go back to the morgue,” he said. “You guys come with me, OK? We need to talk. Lot to talk about.”
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“So why are you here?” I asked him. “What are you doing?”
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“I understood you were just passing through,” he said. “We have no hotel here in Margrave and I imagined you would find no opportunity to stay.”
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I nodded. I was wondering if my brother had been there.
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“Paul Hubble?” Baker said. “Sure. He lives here, like you say, always has. Family man. Stevenson knows him, some kind of an in-law or something. They’re friendly, I think. Go bowling together. Hubble…
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I looked at him. He didn’t look to me much like the sort of a guy who could cause the biggest sensation I ever heard of.
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I led him through to the kitchen. He loped beside me and covered the distance in a couple of strides. Glanced around and poured himself the dregs of the stewed coffee. Then he stepped over next to me…
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“Also a message,” I said. “So think about it.”
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We ate. Fish and rice. Friday food. Coffee in the Thermos. Hubble didn’t speak. He left most of the coffee for me. Score one for Hubble. I put the debris on the tray and the tray on the floor. Anothe…
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“That would make him what, about six-six?” he asked.
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“Tell me about it,” I said. I was asking out of habit. Finlay thought for a moment. I saw him decide to answer. Like we were partners.
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“You tell me,” I said. “I wasn’t there. I was in Tampa at midnight.”
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I was in a minefield. I needed to find a clear lane through.
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“Who was he, Reacher?” Finlay said again.
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“I’m not a vagrant, Finlay,” I said. “I’m a hobo. Big difference.”
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“Where the hell are we going?” I said.
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“What are you going to do about Teale?” Roscoe asked me. “He works for the guys who killed your brother.”
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I stood still. Paralyzed. He’d been dragged out of there by force and killed. Charlie sagged in front of me. Then she started whispering to me. The whispering was worse than the screaming.
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Finlay stopped again. This time for effect. He looked at me.
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She nodded, vaguely. Then she moved away and leaned up near her back door. Looking out at her neat evergreen garden. I saw her go pale. She shuddered. The defenses crashed down. She pressed herself i…
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A good question. One I couldn’t answer. Finlay didn’t know what I knew about Hubble. I’d kept quiet about it. So Finlay didn’t see why Hubble was so important to me.
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IT TOOK ME A FEW MINUTES IN THE HEAT TO GET UP TO THE station house. I walked across its springy lawn past another bronze statue and pulled open the heavy glass entrance door. Stepped into the chill …
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“Might not have been his watch,” I said. “The guy could have stolen it. Could have inherited it, bought it from a pawnshop, found it in the street.”
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“You sure about that?” he said. “Exactly the same?”
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“Finlay, call your buddy Picard right now,” I said. “We need his help. We’ve got to put Charlie Hubble somewhere safe. And her kids. Right now.”
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“It will be soon,” I laughed, “if you don’t take that shirt off.”
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They both shrugged and shook their heads. I heard the glass door suck open. Looked up. Kliner was on his way out. Teale was starting in toward us.
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“OK,” she said. “Are we going to fix my door first?”
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“Because all that evidence is old,” the doctor said. “Looks to me like he was driving a lot for a long period, but then he stopped. I think he’s done very little driving for nine months, maybe a year…
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I’d asked Roscoe which was our waitress. And how had she answered? She hadn’t said the smaller one, or the one with the long hair, or the blonder one, or the slimmer one, or the prettier one or the y…
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“It might help, you know,” Finlay said. “We need to find out who saw him around, when and where.”
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“Run them again, OK?” I said. “Will you do that?”
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“She’s a sick woman,” he said. “Very sick. Very pale, right? A very sick woman. Could be tuberculosis. I seen tuberculosis do that to folks. She used to be a fine-looking woman, but now she looks lik…
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“So how long is this exposure going to last?” I asked him.
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“It’s a mobile phone number,” he said. “That we know. Operated by an Atlanta airtime supplier. But we can’t trace the number until Monday. So we’re asking you. You should cooperate, Reacher.”
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“I’ve only been here six months,” he said. “I don’t know everybody.”
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She jinked the right turn onto the county road and accelerated south toward Margrave. Drove past Eno’s shiny new place and headed down to town.
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“Fresh meat for everybody,” the big guy said.
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He was thinking hard. I could see what Finlay had meant. I had never seen anybody think so visibly. His mouth was working soundlessly and he was fiddling with his fingers. Like he was checking off po…
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“You’re welcome,” she said, and she smiled, with her eyes too. I smiled back. Her eyes were like a welcome blast of sunshine on a rotten afternoon.
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“OK,” he said into the phone. “Just print it out and fax it to us here, will you?”
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He waddled out from behind his desk. I was standing there between his desk and the door. As he crabbed by, he stopped. His fat nose was about level with the middle button on my coat. He was still loo…
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“Yes,” she said. “He was head of the department. Ran the whole show. He was an amazing guy, Jack.”
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He beamed at me and grasped his embroidered lapel.
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“But what sort of a thing?” I asked her. “What was his job?”
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“State guys are calling back,” he said. “They may have something for us.”
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They knew I wasn’t their guy. They weren’t taking care. No care at all. Out there in the lobby I could have decked Baker and taken his revolver. No problem at all. I could have had his weapon off his…
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“He grew up abroad,” I said. “He had his teeth fixed wherever he was living. He broke his right arm when he was eight and had it set in Germany. He had his tonsils out in the hospital in Seoul.”
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“So tell me more about these Kliner people,” I said.
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“The one with the glasses,” she said.
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“It’s you, me and Roscoe,” I said. “Right now, the only safe thing is to assume everybody else is involved.”
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“I’m going to have to ask you a lot of questions, I’m afraid,” he said.
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“Hello, Reacher,” she said. “Come to take me away from all this?”
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“Probably about fifty dollars,” he said. “About fifty dollars in a leather billfold which cost him a hundred and fifty dollars.”
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“Small caliber?” I said. “How small?”
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He started scraping my chin. His hand was shaking like old people do.
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There was a long silence in the kitchen. I sat there at the table, nursing the coffee she’d made for me.
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“I don’t know,” he said. “I swear it, grave of my mother.”
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Said she hadn’t realized I had medical qualifications. I told her we’d been taught enough for basic emergencies.
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Finlay wrote it all down. Then there was a long silence. I knew for sure what the next question was going to be.
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I gave her the station house number and told her to speak to nobody except me or Roscoe or Finlay. Then she hung up in a hurry like somebody had just walked in on her. I sat for a moment and tried to…
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I could understand his fear. But he also looked defeated. Like he’d just rolled the dice and lost. Like he’d been counting on something to happen, and it hadn’t happened, so now he was back in despai…
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“I don’t want names,” I said. “Is it a big deal?”
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“He looked like me, I guess,” I said. “Maybe an inch taller, maybe ten pounds lighter.”
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“Shit,” he said. “He was the only link we had to exactly what the hell is going on here. You should have hit on him while you had the chance, Reacher.”
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“Can’t rightly say,” he said. “He came back and forth on the road, time to time. I remember that pretty well. Three, four years later he was gone. I was up in Atlanta for a spell, wasn’t here to know…
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“Is Finlay that black detective?” he said.
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“She’s got the damn mobile switched off,” I said.
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She walked out of the diner. I was aware of her leaning into her car, using the phone. Then she was gesturing to me from the parking lot. Miming urgency. Miming that she had to get back. Miming that …
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“You know what this is about,” he said. “Homicide. With some very disturbing features. Victim was found this morning up at the Kliner warehouse. North end of the county road, up at the highway clover…
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I walked away and stood in the dust on the edge of the blacktop. It was a battle of nerves. I was betting Spivey would come on out. I’d know in five minutes. I waited. I could smell rain coming out o…
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Silence again. His turn to look at me. I could see him thinking about whether to answer, and how.
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Then I sat for a moment and watched the two guys in their car. They were still watching me. We looked at each other from seventy-five yards away. They were relaxed and comfortable. But they were watc…
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I slid slowly out of the booth and extended my wrists to the officer with the revolver. I wasn’t going to lie on the floor. Not for these country boys. Not if they brought along their whole police de…
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“Too expensive,” he said. “Big overhead, small margin. It had to go.”
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“Hello?” the voice said. “Are you still there?”
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I flicked the knife at his belly. Slit his greasy shirt.
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“And the smoking thing is easy,” I said. “You were just stressed out and you were patting your pockets, looking for cigarettes. That means you quit fairly recently. Easy guess is you quit in April, y…
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“Who was the guy with the shaved head?” he asked me.
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“What’s Hubble got to do with this?” he said.
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“I want you to come home with me,” she said.
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“Bullshit, Hubble,” I said. “You weren’t even there. You were at a party. The guy who drove you home is a policeman, for God’s sake. You didn’t do it, you know that, everybody knows that. Don’t give …
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“Sure,” I said. “But not here. In Alabama.”
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“I’m going to have a talk with this guy,” I said. “He keeps looking at me.”
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We all went back into the rosewood office. Spread the Sherman Stoller stuff out on the desk and bent over it together. It was an arrest report from the police department in Jacksonville, Florida.
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“I suppose you’re going to say you never heard of this guy?” he asked me.
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“Yes indeed,” he said. Now he had the chuckling under control. “I’ve been in this joint since God’s dog was a puppy, yes sir. Since Adam was a young boy. But here’s something I ain’t never seen. No s…
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“Is it a code for something?” I said.
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“No,” he said. “Certainly something as sharp as a razor, but rigid, not folding, and double-edged.”
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“So long,” he said. “Don’t come back.”
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He looked around. Then he looked straight at me.
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“I wasn’t there at midnight,” I said again. “I was getting on the bus in Tampa. Nothing too weird about that.”
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We got into Roscoe’s car. Finlay opened the big envelope and pulled out the stuff on Sherman Stoller. Folded it into his pocket.
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It was working. I was convincing her. I needed her to be bright, tough, self-confident. I was willing her to pick it up. It was working. Her amazing eyes were filling with spirit.
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“OK,” I said. “But you can’t identify who it belongs to because you have no reverse directories for mobiles and their office won’t tell you, right?”
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Maybe Finlay had sent her out to keep track of me, but I wasn’t about to put up a whole lot of objections to that. She was standing there in the sun looking great. I realized I liked her more every t…
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Finlay looked blank. Baker knocked and entered to say the prison bus had arrived. Finlay got up and walked around the desk. Told Baker he would bring me out himself. Baker went back to fetch Hubble.
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His smile widened. Reached his eyes.
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“So right now I’m just enjoying myself,” I said. “Maybe eventually I’ll find something to do, maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll settle somewhere, maybe I won’t. But right now, I’m not looking to.”
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He came back smoothly. Not more than a tiny hesitation.
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“I’m out of work,” I said. “I haven’t got any business anywhere.”
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“He’s an old friend,” I said. “I remembered him saying he works here, so I thought I’d look him up while I’m passing through.”
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“Close range shot into the left temple,” I said. “Could be the victim was in a car. Shooter is talking to him through the window and raises his gun. Bang. He leans in and fires the second shot. Then …
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“Give me the gun,” I whispered. “Before Teale is through with Finlay.”
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“Come here, white boy,” the big guy repeated. Quietly.
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“Nothing,” he said. “Nothing at all. I haven’t told her anything. Not a thing. I couldn’t. It’s all my secret. Nobody else knows a thing.”
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“They’re always in there,” he said. “Never exactly closed. Never exactly open, either.”
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“Isn’t this the holding floor?” I asked him at the same time.
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“OK,” Finlay said. “So we’re safe to assume the two victims were together. The shooter is in a group of three, he surprises them, shoots the first guy in the head twice, mean-while the second guy tak…
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My shoulders were hunched and I was pumping up my neck to resist the strangler. He was wrenching hard. I was losing it. I reached up and broke his little fingers. I heard the knuckles splinter over t…
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“Last I heard, he worked for the Treasury Department,” I said. “Doing what, I’m not sure.”
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“What was the reason?” I asked him.
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I shrugged under the shroud of towels.
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“Well, not just me,” he said. “My family as well.”
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“For you,” he said. Finlay crouched forward on his stool and took the call. Listened for a moment.
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“About twenty minutes ago,” I said. “In the morgue.”
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“Why?” he said. “Who the hell’s after you?”
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“Right,” Hubble said. “And it proves it was who I thought it was. So I was really scared. I was thinking, are they looking for me too? Or aren’t they? I just didn’t know.
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She said it with a lot of ice in her voice. Not aimed at me. Aimed at whatever circumstance it was forcing her to use the words “husband” and “prison” in the same sentence.
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She waved vaguely toward the back of the house.
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“He’s just a southern asshole,” he said. “Old Georgia family, probably a long line of southern assholes. They’ve been the mayors around here since the beginning. I dare say this one’s no worse than t…
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“Maybe fourteen miles, I guess,” he said.
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The old guy was cackling away to himself.
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The file was too thick for just the shooting and running and bleeding to death bits. This guy clearly had more to tell us. I saw him put his fingers on the pages and press lightly. Like he was trying…
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“They’re broken, fat boy,” I said. “Give me yours.”
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The old guy paused a beat. Lifted his broom and crabbed back out of sight. Quickly as he could. Shouting incredulously as he went.
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Another lapse into silence. He was struggling with his ethics problem.
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“And he gave you no idea what the scam is all about?” he asked.
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Hubble gave a gasp of fear and revulsion and jumped back. He scuttled backward to the rear of the cell. Tried to hide behind the john. He was practically hugging the pan.
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He didn’t reply. We were just standing there by the road. A battle of nerves. His nerves were shot to hell. So he was losing. His little eyes were darting about. They always came back to the blade.
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“Morrison,” he said. “Morrison told me what to do.”
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Finlay nodded gently. “Before that?”
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Baker knocked and entered. Finlay told him to escort me to the cells. Then he nodded to me. It was a nod which said: if you turn out not to be the guy, remember I was just doing my job. I nodded back…
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The cell stayed locked all day. The floor was silent. We lay on our beds and drifted through the rest of the afternoon. No more talking. We were all talked out. I was bored and wished I had brought t…
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The cell was very dark. I could just about see a bunk bed, a sink and a john. Not much floor space. I took off my coat and lobbed it onto the top bunk. Reached up and remade the bed with the pillow a…
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“Gives Teale a lot of power,” I said. “And what’s the story with the Kliner boy? He tried to warn me off you. Made out he had a prior claim.”
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His lips were clamped. I was getting him bad-tempered, too. But he stayed patient. Laced the patience with an icy sarcasm.
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“By the code,” he said. “Instead of an area code, they have a prefix which accesses the mobile network.”
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The elevator took us down to a lobby and then we stepped outside into a hot concrete yard. The prison door sucked shut and clicked behind us. I stood face up to the sun and breathed in the outside ai…
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“Can I get you a cup of coffee?” she asked me.
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“Christ,” he said. “You think the next chief will be in the scam?”
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I shrugged and nodded. Stood up and looked at them both.
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“It’s not a thousand dollars a year,” he whispered. Then he bent close to my ear. “It’s a thousand dollars a week.”
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I shook my head. Finished my coffee and pushed the mug over for a refill.
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Roscoe shrugged and moved over to the fax machine. Finlay was still talking to the state police. I saw Baker hanging around on the fringe of the triangle the three of us were making. I got up and wen…
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“OK,” he said again. “When did you last see him?”
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“Great,” I said. “So what can you tell me?”
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“Two things,” I said. “The guy is shot in the head close up with a silenced automatic weapon. First shot drops him. Second shot is insurance. The shell cases are missing. What does that say to you? P…
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“Sure do,” he said. “You were our last customer. Nobody in between to muddle me up.”
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“Victim is unidentified,” Baker said. “No ID. No wallet. No distinguishing marks. White male, maybe forty, very tall, shaved head. Body was found up there at eight this morning on the ground against …
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“Could be the one,” I said. “Say he rented it Thursday evening up at the airport in Atlanta, full tank of gas. Drove it to the warehouses at the Margrave cloverleaf, then somebody drove it on down he…
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“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Now you’ve got to do something.”
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“Only three of us?” he said. “You’re a cautious guy, Reacher.”
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It was true. I wasn’t feeling much of anything. Maybe it was some kind of a weird reaction, but that was how I felt. No point in denying it.
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“Then I ask him if he knows a tall guy with a shaved head,” he said. “And I ask him about Pluribus. Well, my God! It’s like I stuck a poker up his ass. He went rigid. Like with shock. Totally rigid. …
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“This is Red Boy territory, man,” the big guy said. Explaining the bandannas. “What’s whitey doing in Red Boy territory?”
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“Nobody,” I said. “It’s just a bit of fun. I like anonymity. I feel like I’m beating the system. And right now, I’m truly pissed at the system.”
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He leaned forward. Cupped his mouth and nose with his hands and sighed heavily into them.
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“OK, Teale,” I said. “But why do you assume I’m leaving?”
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“His sister-in-law’s brother-in-law?” he said. “Drove him home, in the rain, two o’clock in the morning? Officer Stevenson.”
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“What about the guy you sent to meet with the investigator?” I said. “Is he one of the ten people?”
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“No,” I said. “He didn’t see me up there. That part was the bullshit story. But he was up there himself. He saw Joe.”
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Finlay pushed off the statue and started walking back north.
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“Any idea where he’s working now?” I said.
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I thought about it. Couldn’t see how I could say no to that.
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“The United States motto?” I said. “E Pluribus Unum? Adopted in 1776 by the Second Continental Congress, right?”
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“FBI?” she said. She went paler still. “This is really serious, isn’t it?”
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“What is this about?” I asked him again. He sat back and steepled his fingers.
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“Wrong, Spivey,” I said. “You do know. You’re going to tell me.”
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“No doubt about it,” the guy said. “Hypostasis is clear in both corpses.”
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There was no reply. I pointed at the guy in sunglasses.
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Then I tried to finish reading the borrowed newspaper. It was full of shit about the president and his campaign to get himself elected again for a second term. The old guy was down in Pensacola on th…
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Her door was open. Not wide open, but an inch or two ajar. It was ajar because the lock was smashed. Someone had used a crowbar on it. The tangle of broken lock and splinters wouldn’t allow the door …
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