The Affair_ A Reacher Novel - Lee Child [102]
Then I stuck out my hand and said, “Jack Reacher.”
He took it and said, “Duncan Munro.”
I asked, “What brings you here?”
He said, “Let’s sit in the truck a spell.”
A Humvee is equally wide inside, but most of the space is taken up by a gigantic transmission tunnel. The front seats are small and far apart. It was like sitting in adjacent traffic lanes. I think the separation suited both our moods.
Munro said, “The situation is changing.”
I said, “The situation is always changing. Get used to it.”
“The officer in question has been relieved of his command.”
“Reed Riley?”
“We’re not supposed to use that name.”
“Who’s going to know? You think this truck is wired for sound?”
“I’m just trying to maintain protocol.”
“Was that him in the Blackhawk?”
Munro nodded. “He’s on his way back to Benning. Then they’re going to move him on and hide him away somewhere.”
“Why?”
“There was some big panic two hours ago. The phone lines were burning up. I don’t know why.”
“Kelham just lost its quarantine force, that’s why.”
“That again? There never was a quarantine force. I told you that.”
“I just met them. Bunch of civilian yahoos.”
“Like Ruby Ridge?”
“But less professional.”
“Why do people do stupid shit like that?”
“They envy our glamorous lives.”
“What happened to them?”
“I chased them away.”
“So then someone felt he had to withdraw Riley. You’re not going to be popular.”
“I don’t want to be popular. I want to get the job done. This is the army, not high school.”
“He’s a senator’s son. He’s making his name. Did you know the Marine Corps employs lobbyists?”
I said, “I heard that.”
“This was our version.”
I looked out my window at the McClatchy place, at its low roof, its mud-stained siding, its mean windows, its spreading tree. I asked, “Why did you come here?”
“Same reason you chased the yahoos away,” Munro said. “I’m trying to get the job done.”
“In what way?”
“I checked out the other two women you mentioned. There were FYI memos in the XO’s files. Then I cross-referenced bits and pieces of information I picked up along the way. It seems like Captain Riley is something of a ladies’ man. Since he got here he’s had a string of girlfriends longer than my dick. It’s likely both Janice Chapman and Shawna Lindsay were on the list. I want to see if Rosemary McClatchy will make it three for three.”
“That’s why I’m here, too.”
“Great minds think alike,” Munro said. “Or fools never differ.”
“Did you bring his picture?”
He unbuttoned his right breast pocket, just below his name. He pulled out a slim black notebook and opened it and slid a photograph from between its pages. He handed it to me, arm’s length across the transmission tunnel.
Captain Reed Riley. The first time I had seen his face. The photograph was in color, possibly taken for a passport or some other civilian document that prohibited headgear or other visual obstructions. He looked to be in his late twenties. He was broad but chiseled, somewhere halfway between bulky and slender. He was tan and had very white teeth, some of which were on display behind an easy grin. He had brown hair buzzed short, and wise empty eyes creased at the corners with webs of fine lines. He looked steady, competent, hard, and full of shit. He looked exactly like every infantry captain I had ever seen.
I handed the picture back, arm’s length across the transmission tunnel.
I said, “We’ll be lucky to get a definitive ID. I bet all Rangers look the same to old Mrs. McClatchy.”
“Only one way to find out,” Munro said, and opened his door. I got out on my side and waited while he looped around the stubby hood. He said, “I’ll tell you something else that came up with the cross-referencing. Something you might like to know. Sheriff Deveraux is not a lesbian. She’s a notch on Riley’s bedpost too. Apparently they were