Second Son_ A Reacher Story - Lee Child [11]
“Is there enough in the code book to make sense to anyone?”
“Easily. Real names plus code equivalents for two separate cities, plus squads and divisions. A smart analyst could piece together where we’re going, what we’re going to do, and how many of us are coming.”
“How big of a book is it?”
“It’s a regular three-ring binder.”
“Who had it last?” Reacher asked.
“Some planner,” his father said. “But it’s my responsibility.”
“When did you know it was lost?”
“Last night. The call this morning was a negative result for the search I ordered.”
“Not good,” Reacher said. “But why is Joe involved?”
“He isn’t. That’s a separate issue. That was the other call this morning. Another three-ring binder, unbelievably. The test answers are missing. Up at the school. And Joe went there yesterday.”
“I didn’t even see the answer book,” Joe said. “I certainly didn’t take it away with me.”
Reacher asked, “So what exactly did you do up there?”
“Nothing, in the end. I got as far as the principal’s office and I told the secretary I wanted to talk to the guy about the test. Then I thought better of it and left.”
“Where was the answer book?”
“On the principal’s desk, apparently. But I never got that far.”
“You were gone a long time.”
“I took a walk.”
“Around the school?”
“Partly. And other places.”
“Were you in the building across the lunch hour?”
Joe nodded.
“And that’s the problem,” he said. “That’s when they think I took it.”
“What’s going to happen?”
“It’s an honor violation, obviously. I could be excluded for a semester. Maybe the whole year. And then they’ll hold me back a grade, which will be two grades by then. You and I could end up in the same class.”
“You could do my homework,” Reacher said.
“This is not funny.”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll have moved on by the end of the semester anyway.”
“Maybe not,” their father said. “Not if I’m in the brig or busted back to private and painting curbstones for the rest of my career. We all could be stuck on Okinawa forever.”
And at that point the phone rang again. Their father answered. It was their mother on the line, from Paris, France. Their father forced a bright tone into his voice, and he talked and listened, and then he hung up and relayed the news that their mother had arrived safely, and that old man Moutier wasn’t expected to live more than a couple of days, and that their mother was sad about it.
Reacher said, “I’m going to the beach.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Reacher stepped out through the door and glanced toward the sea. The street was empty. No kids. He took a snap decision and detoured to the other side and knocked on Helen’s door. The girl he had met the day before. She opened up and saw who it was and crowded out next to him on the stoop and pulled the door all the way closed behind her. Like she was keeping him secret. Like she was embarrassed by him. She picked up on his feeling and shook her head.
“My dad is sleeping,” she said. “That’s all. He sat up and worked all night. And now he’s not feeling so hot. He just flaked, an hour ago.”
Reacher said, “You want to go swimming?”
She glanced down the street, saw no one was there, and said, “Sure. Give me five minutes, OK?” She crept back inside and Reacher turned and watched the street, half hoping that the kid with the boil would come out, and half hoping he wouldn’t. He didn’t. Then Helen came out again, in a bathing suit under a sundress. She had a towel. They walked down the street together, keeping pace, a foot apart, talking about where they’d lived and the places they’d seen. Helen had moved a lot, but not as much as Reacher. Her dad was a rear echelon guy, not a combat Marine, and his postings tended to be longer and more stable.
The morning water was colder than it had been the afternoon before, so they got out after ten minutes or so. Helen let Reacher use her towel, and then they lay on it together in the sun, now just inches apart. She asked him, “Have you ever kissed a girl?”
“Yes,” he said. “Twice.”
“The same girl two times or two girls