Все цитаты из книги «"Этаж смерти" with W_cat»
“Is this a basic emergency?” she giggled.
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“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 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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Finlay gazed at me. Drummed his fingers on the desk. Kept quiet.
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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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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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“Teale wants you in the office,” he said.
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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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“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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“No,” he said. “They’re not going to make me chief.”
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“OK,” I said again. “She say anything else?”
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“No way,” he said. “Not without telling me first. Why?”
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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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He shrugged. Looked unhappy about it.
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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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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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“You up to speed?” I asked her. “Finlay give you the spread?”
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“I’d deal with this myself,” he said. “But I’m a busy man.”
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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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“Do you feel bitter?” he said. “Let down?”
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I heard her sniffing, and then her voice came back clear.
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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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“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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“But he’s been out of work for a while,” he said.
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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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“This morning,” he said. “After breakfast.”
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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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He looked at all three of us in turn. Waited. We looked back.
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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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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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For a moment I couldn’t speak. The world was spinning backward.
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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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“Teale runs it?” I said. “Teale’s the enemy.”
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“Paul Hubble,” a voice said. “How may I help you?”
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“So Pluribus means many?” she said. “Did Joe know Latin?”
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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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“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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“Did you specialize?” he asked. “In the service?”
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“What would you have done?” she said. “Killed four men?”
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“That’s my business, Mr. Reacher,” he said. “Answer my question.”
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“OK,” I said. “So the question is this: did you find his balls?”
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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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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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He was intrigued. He was losing the game.
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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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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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“How can you tell?” I said. “Because my eyes aren’t too close together?”
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“Right,” I said. “About two hundred pounds, maybe.”
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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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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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“It wasn’t you,” he said. “But maybe you had good reason.”
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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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“They came back too quickly for a negative result,” I said.
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“It will be soon,” I laughed, “if you don’t take that shirt off.”
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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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Hubble shook his head again. He was writhing around like my questions were tearing him up.
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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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He leaned forward and buzzed the intercom button on the rosewood desk. Called Baker back in.
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“Don’t know,” I said. “Last I heard he was working for the Treasury Department.”
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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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“Do you understand your rights?” he said again.
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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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“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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“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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He was rating his chances of staying alive like he would rate a credit application up at his office.
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She looked at me again. Pushed her hair back.
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“Who the hell is Charlie?” he asked.
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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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“Small caliber?” I said. “How small?”
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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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“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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“They’re not Picard’s,” he said. “He’d have told me.”
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“You’re a fool, Jack Reacher,” she said.
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I was in a minefield. I needed to find a clear lane through.
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The old guy was cackling away to himself.
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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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“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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“Too expensive,” he said. “Big overhead, small margin. It had to go.”
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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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“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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“Is there counterfeiting going on down here?” I asked her. “Is that what this could be all about?”
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“But why was he down here in Georgia?” I asked her.
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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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“I called Dwight Stevenson,” she said. “He had mentioned he had seen a fax from the Pentagon about your service as a military policeman. I asked him to find it and read it to me. I thought it was an …
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Finlay nodded gravely. He saw it. He understood.
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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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“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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“And he gave you no idea what the scam is all about?” he asked.
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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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Finlay glanced at me. I was smiling at him. He made a face.
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He came back smoothly. Not more than a tiny hesitation.
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“So long,” he said. “Don’t come back.”
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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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“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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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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“Give me the gun,” I whispered. “Before Teale is through with Finlay.”
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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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“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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“Who was it, Spivey?” I said. “Tell me now, or I’ll come back for you.”
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“Reacher?” the giant said. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Picard, FBI.”
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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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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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“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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“OK, Hubble,” I said. “No more questions.”
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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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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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Finlay looked at me and shook his head.
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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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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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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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“I’ve only been here six months,” he said. “I don’t know everybody.”
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“But I can’t stay in here,” he said. “I can’t stand it.”
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She thought about it for a quarter mile and then smiled across at me.
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There was no reply. I pointed at the guy in sunglasses.
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Finlay looked up at me from where he was sitting. Shook his head.
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“I know you’re not guilty of much,” she said.
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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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“But what sort of a thing?” I asked her. “What was his job?”
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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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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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“How did it make you feel, being let go?” he asked.
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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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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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“There’s never a reason,” he said. “I just do what I’m told.”
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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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“I’m not looking for a buddy down here,” I said.
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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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“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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“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 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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“They wore gloves, too,” he said. “There are rubbery smears in the blood on the walls.”
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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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“They cut his balls off, right?” I said.
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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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He shook his head as he filled my mug.
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“OK,” he said. “No hard feelings, right?”
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“Counterfeiting?” I said. “Counterfeit money?”
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“Christ,” he said. “You think the next chief will be in the scam?”
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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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“Hub’s gone,” she screamed. “He’s disappeared. I can’t find him.”
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I shrugged and nodded. Stood up and looked at them both.
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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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“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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“What is this about?” I asked him again. He sat back and steepled his fingers.
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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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He was a chatty guy, but that question shut him up. He stopped work and thought about it.
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“I wish we had been here,” I said. “We could have gotten a few answers.”
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I shook my head. Finished my coffee and pushed the mug over for a refill.
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“Nobody’s nobody,” he said. “We’ve all got a story. Tell me.”
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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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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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“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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“What can I tell you folks?” he said.
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“Ten people,” he said. “Not counting me.”
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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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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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Finlay nodded across to me. It was my theory, so I got to explain it.
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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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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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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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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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“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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“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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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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“What’s the story with this guy Teale?” I asked him.
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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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“What does Pluribus mean?” he asked.
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“And you closed that down?” I said. “Why?”
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“How did your brother write you?” he asked. “When you got no address?”
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“Sure,” I said. I understood. This guy was understaffed. Having problems because of a budget. While his friends collected unemployment. Tell me about it.
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Finlay came out of the office behind me. Touched my elbow and walked me over to Baker. Baker was holding three sets of handcuffs hooked over his thumb. They were painted bright orange. The paint was …
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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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“So throw what you need into a bag,” I said again.
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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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“I’m very sorry,” she said. “You’re not saying Hub betrayed your brother?”
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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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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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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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“Correct, Finlay,” I said. “But what had he done wrong?”
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“Is this going to ruin your authority?” I asked her. “To be seen kissing a vagrant who got arrested in here on Friday?”
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“Unzip me, white boy,” the big guy said again. “With your teeth.”
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I shrugged under the shroud of towels.
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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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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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“Don’t you get lonely?” he asked me. “Traveling on your own all the time?”
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“So why is his wife so scared?” I said.
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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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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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She followed what I was saying and nodded.
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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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Hubble looked up at him and nodded blankly. Didn’t speak.
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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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“Who was the guy with the shaved head?” he asked me.
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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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“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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“OK,” I said. “That’s better. When do I speak to her?”
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“Hello, Reacher,” she said. “Come to take me away from all this?”
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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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“I’m going to have to ask you a lot of questions, I’m afraid,” he said.
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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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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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“It’s deadly serious,” I said. “You need to get ready to leave right now.”
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“Thank you,” I said. “I mean it. You worked hard to help me out.”
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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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The guy called Finlay stared at me over his fingers for a long moment.
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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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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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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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“It might help, you know,” Finlay said. “We need to find out who saw him around, when and where.”
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The third guy waded in. He was a solid mountain of lard. Sheathed with heavy slabs of meat. Like armor. Nowhere to hit him. He was pounding me with short jabs to the arm and chest. I was jammed back …
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“See you later, Teale,” I called as I drove away.
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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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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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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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“Somewhere we can go to talk?” I said.
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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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“So you figure you’re just a token?” I said. “That’s why Teale won’t make you chief?”
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He looked around. Then he looked straight 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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“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Now you’ve got to do something.”
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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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“You’re assuming there were three assailants?” the doctor said.
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This lot was pretty good. Pond Life. They lived up to their ironic name. The bass and the drums were big messy guys, lots of hair all over, fat and dirty. The guitar player was a small dark guy, not …
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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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“Finlay told me everything,” she said.
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He leaned forward. Cupped his mouth and nose with his hands and sighed heavily into them.
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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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“No doubt about it,” the guy said. “Hypostasis is clear in both corpses.”
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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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“I need to go to the bathroom,” I said. “Unless I got to wait until I get up to the big house for that, too?”
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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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“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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“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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“OK,” she said. “You need anything?”
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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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“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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“What about the dead guy?” I said. “Did you run his prints again?”
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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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I DIDN’T EAT ANY BREAKFAST. NO APPETITE. I JUST LAY ON the bunk until I felt better. Hubble sat on his bed. He was rocking back and forward. He still hadn’t spoken. After a while I slid to the floor.…
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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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“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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“What was the reason?” I asked him.
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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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Another lapse into silence. He was struggling with his ethics problem.
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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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“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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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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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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“I want you to come home with me,” she said.
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Finlay checked his watch. Decided there was time before Teale got back.
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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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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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A southern accent. A confident manner. Accustomed to telephones.
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“Switched off,” he said. “Some automatic voice came on and told me.”
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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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On the other hand, I had no laws to worry about, no inhibitions, no distractions. I wouldn’t have to think about Miranda, probable cause, constitutional rights. I wouldn’t have to think about reasona…
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I watched him evaluating scenarios like a chess computer evaluates moves. Was Blind Blake my friend, my enemy, my accomplice, conspirator, mentor, creditor, debtor, my next victim?
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“It was horrible,” she said. Wouldn’t say any more.
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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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She went quiet. She saw where the conflict could lie.
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The band played on until pretty late. Must have been way past midnight. We were juiced up and sloppy. Couldn’t face the drive back. It was raining again, lightly. Didn’t want to drive an hour and a h…
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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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“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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“You think I used this on Morrison?” I said.
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“OK,” I said. “That’s what I needed to know.”
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“What ain’t you never seen, old man?” I asked him.
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“You should be thinking about Morrison,” I said to him.
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“Come back, white boy, don’t you like me?” the big guy called to Hubble.
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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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“Any idea where he’s working now?” I said.
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He leaned back in his chair. Blew a sigh at the ceiling and shook his head.
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Spivey looked around wildly. Saw the gate guard thirty yards away.
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She smiled at me. Hitched her chair in closer.
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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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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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“I panicked this morning,” she said. “That’s not really like me at all. I must have given you a very bad impression, I’m afraid. After you left, I calmed down and thought things out. I came to the sa…
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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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“I called Detroit,” she said. “It was a Pontiac. Delivered four months ago. Big fleet order for a rental company. DMV is tracing the registration. I told them to get back to Picard up in Atlanta. The…
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“So what was Joe doing down here?” I asked her.
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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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“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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I nodded. I was wondering if my brother had been there.
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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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“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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“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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I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Finlay gazed at me for a moment.
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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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“I’m not a firearms expert,” he said. “But I’d vote for a twenty-two. Looks that small to me. I’d say we’re looking at soft-nose twenty-two-gauge shells. Take the first guy’s head, for example. Two s…
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Finlay pushed off the statue and started walking back north.
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“They can tell all that from his fingerprints?” he said.
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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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“Must be working somewhere, right?” I said.
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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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“OK,” he said again. “When did you last see him?”
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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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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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“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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Finlay glared at me. A bit grudging.
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“Well, good for you, Finlay,” I said.
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“Go right in,” he said. “My partner will take care of you. But he’s a bit skittish this morning. Getting old.”
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She waved vaguely toward the back of the house.
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“Thanks,” he said. “It’s better that way.”
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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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“That would make him what, about six-six?” he asked.
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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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“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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“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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She ran over the gravel. Stood right in front of me.
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The woman unloaded the camera and put the film with the prints card on the table. She repacked the camera into the flight case. Baker rapped on the door. The lock clicked again. The woman picked up h…
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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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“Isn’t this the holding floor?” I asked him at the same time.
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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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I flicked the knife at his belly. Slit his greasy shirt.
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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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“Well, not just me,” he said. “My family as well.”
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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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I thought about it. Couldn’t see how I could say no to that.
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“Yes, Hubble,” I said again. “Go for it, it’s the best you can do.”
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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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“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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“Damn,” I said to myself. “Can you believe that?”
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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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“You recognize his address?” I asked Roscoe.
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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 don’t want one,” she said. “I like to do things myself.”
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“I don’t want names,” I said. “Is it a big deal?”
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“Why?” he said. “Who the hell’s after you?”
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Finlay and Baker looked at each other. Didn’t answer me.
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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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“Great,” I said. “So what can you tell me?”
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“Any physical evidence left behind?” I asked him.
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“SOMETHING I NEED TO CHECK WITH YOU,” I SAID.
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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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Finlay grunted and was heading back there, but I caught his arm.
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“That’s Kliner,” she said. “The old man himself.”
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“Who is any such message for?” he said. “The next guy in line, right?”
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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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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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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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“This is Ben,” Charlie said. “And this is Lucy.”
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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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“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 Boston banker. More like a Harvard guy.
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“I know that,” I said. “That’s pretty obvious.”
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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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“Seven years ago, right?” Finlay said.
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“It’s huge,” he said. “Biggest thing you ever heard of.”
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“Maybe he started going bald,” I said. “Maybe he was vain about it.”
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“Just tell me what happened,” I said.
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“Hello, Reacher,” she said, and smiled.
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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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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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“What about the guy you sent to meet with the investigator?” I said. “Is he one of the ten people?”
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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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“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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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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“His name was on his watch,” Finlay said.
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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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“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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Finlay stopped smiling. Went quiet. Just looked at me.
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“I’m right here at home,” said the voice.
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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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“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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“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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“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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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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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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I stared around the knot of men. They were busy reassessing my status.
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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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“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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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 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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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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“Sure,” I said. “Great. No cream, no sugar.”
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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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Finlay didn’t respond. He was looking very worried.
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I paused for a long moment. Tried to figure out how to explain it.
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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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“No, fool,” she laughed. “Because we haven’t heard from Washington yet.”
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“You sure about that?” he said. “Exactly the same?”
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“Wrong,” he said. “I don’t believe him. There were three guys involved here. You persuaded me of that yourself. So which one is Hubble claiming to be? I don’t think he’s the maniac. I can’t see enoug…
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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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“No more than you did in Boston,” I 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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“OK,” I said. “You can let me go now, right?”
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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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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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“Wrong, Spivey,” I said. “You do know. You’re going to tell me.”
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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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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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We left the wreck there. Drove back up to the station house. The desk sergeant was waiting for Finlay.
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Then as Joe and I got older, we got moved around more. The Vietnam thing meant the military started shuffling people around the world faster and faster. Life became just a blur of bases. We never own…
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I nodded. Four sounded right. About the minimum, I reckoned. Morrison and his wife would have been fighting for their lives. It would take four of them, at least. Four out of the ten Hubble had menti…
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“I’m not doing anything,” he said. Blankly.
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He glanced at Baker and then at Stevenson. Like he was expecting them to note what he was saying and when he was saying it.
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The old guy thought hard. Trawled back through his fading memories. He shook his grizzled head a couple of times. Then he took a wet towel from a hot box and put it over my face. Started cutting my h…
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I wanted to get away from Margrave for the evening. I wanted to get out of Georgia altogether. I found a map in a pocket on the back of the driver’s seat. I peered at it and figured if we went west f…
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“I could tell right away.” She smiled. “You got nice eyes.”
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He looked at me. Something burning in his eyes. I shrugged.
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Then I told him Hubble had been talking to an investigator. And I told him the investigator had been talking to Sherman Stoller, whoever he had been.
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“I’m here in engineering right now, sir,” he said. Also jocular. Just two regular guys battling technology. “Customer details are in a different department. I could access that data, but it would tak…
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He put the towel around my shoulders and started brushing on the lather.
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“Only three of us?” he said. “You’re a cautious guy, Reacher.”
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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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“Thanks,” I said. “Now make those calls, OK?”
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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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“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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But the street was empty. I walked into Hubble’s driveway. The taxi turned and drove back to town. Then it was silent. That heavy silence you get in a quiet street on a hot, quiet day. I rounded the …
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“OK, Teale,” I said. “But why do you assume I’m leaving?”
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“You’re a cautious guy?” I said. “That’s for damn sure.”
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There was silence again. I looked at him. This was a stubborn guy. Probably forty-five. You don’t get to be chief of detectives in a Georgia jurisdiction if you’re forty-five and black except if you’…
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“Where did you get on the bus?” he asked me.
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He went quiet and walked on. Revisiting in his mind the scene he’d found.
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“Where the hell are we going?” I said.
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The guy with the sunglasses spotted us. His look of surprise quickly changed to excitement. He alerted the group’s biggest guy by hitting his arm. The big man looked round. He looked blank. Then he g…
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“I appreciate your advice,” he said. “And your concern for my career.”
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“My name is Morrison,” he wheezed. As if I cared. “I am chief of the police department down here in Margrave. And you are a murdering outsider bastard. You’ve come down here to my town and you’ve mes…
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The guy looked at me like I was from another planet.
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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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I smiled at him. Tried to look amiable and ignorant. Didn’t take much effort, in a bank. I gave him my best receptive look. Guaranteed to set a chatty guy talking. It had worked for me plenty of time…
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“And now you’ve had four in four days,” I said. “And pretty soon you’ll find the fifth.”
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“Who would be his next of kin?” he asked.
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“Two, maybe,” he said. “Shooter could have tidied up afterward.”
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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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She wasn’t happy, but she went off to gather up some stuff. The game was starting. I didn’t know exactly who the other players were. I didn’t even know exactly what the game was. But I knew how to pl…
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I stared at him. I was getting mad.
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“Maybe,” I said. Closed the door behind her.
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