The Affair_ A Reacher Novel - Lee Child [103]
And then he walked on ahead of me, to Emmeline McClatchy’s door.
Emmeline McClatchy opened up after Munro’s second knock. She greeted us with polite reserve. She remembered me from before. She paid close attention as Munro introduced himself, and then she invited us inside, to a small room that had two wooden wheelback chairs either side of a fireplace, and a rag rug on the floor. The ceiling was low and the dimensions were cramped and the air smelled of cooked food. There were three framed photographs on the wall. One was Martin Luther King, and one was President Clinton, and the third was Rosemary McClatchy, from the same series as the picture I had seen in the Sheriff’s Department’s file, but possibly even more spectacular. A friend with a camera, one roll of film, a sunny afternoon, a frame, a hammer, and a nail, and that was all that was left of a life.
Emmeline and I took the chairs by the fireplace and left Munro standing on the rug. In the tiny room he looked as big as I felt, and just as awkward, and just as clumsy, and just as alien. He took the photograph from his pocket again and held it face down against his chest. He said, “Mrs. McClatchy, we need to ask you about your daughter Rosemary’s friends.”
Emmeline McClatchy said, “My daughter Rosemary had lots of friends.”
Munro said, “In particular one young man from the base she might have been seeing.”
“Seeing?”
“Stepping out with. Dating, in other words.”
“Let me see the picture.”
Munro bent down and handed it over. She held it this way and that in the light from the window. She studied it. She asked, “Is this man suspected of killing the white girl?”
Munro said, “We’re not sure. We can’t rule him out.”
“Nobody brought pictures to me when Rosemary was killed. Nobody brought pictures to Mrs. Lindsay when Shawna was killed. Why is that?”
Munro said, “Because the army made a bad mistake. There’s no excuse for it. All I can say is it would have been different if I had been involved back then. Or Major Reacher here. Beyond that, all I can do is apologize.”
She looked at him, and so did I. Then she looked at the picture again and said, “This man’s name is Reed Riley. He’s a captain in the 75th Ranger Regiment. Rosemary said he commanded Bravo Company, whatever that is.”
“So they were dating?”
“Almost four months. She was talking about a life together.”
“Was he?”
“Men will say anything to get what they want.”
“When did it end?”
“Two weeks before she was killed.”
“Why did it end?”
“She didn’t tell me.”
“Did you have an opinion?”
Emmeline McClatchy said, “I think she got pregnant.”
Chapter
59
There was silence in the small room for a moment, and then Emmeline McClatchy said, “A mother can always tell. She looked different. She acted different. She even smelled different. At first she was happy, and then later she was miserable. I didn’t ask her anything. I thought she would come to me on her own. You know, in her own good time. But she didn’t get the chance.”
Munro was quiet for a beat, like a mark of respect, and then he asked, “Did you ever see Captain Riley again after that?”
Emmeline McClatchy nodded. “He came by to offer his condolences, a week after her body was found.”
“Do you think he killed her?”
“You’re the policeman, young man, not me.”
“I think a mother can always tell.”
“Rosemary said his father was an important man. She wasn’t sure where or how. Politics, perhaps. Something where image matters. I think a black girlfriend was a good thing for Captain Riley, but a pregnant girlfriend wasn’t.”
Emmeline McClatchy wouldn’t be pushed any further. We said our goodbyes and walked back to the Humvee. Munro said, “This is looking real bad.”
I asked him, “Did you speak to Shawna Lindsay’s mother too?”
“She wouldn’t say a word to me. She chased me away with a stick.”
“How solid is the information about Sheriff Deveraux?”
“Rock solid. They dated, he ended it, she wasn’t happy. Then Rosemary McClatchy was next up, as far as I can piece it together.”
“Was it his car that got wrecked on the track?