The Affair_ A Reacher Novel - Lee Child [51]
We both went quiet for a second, and then I asked, “What else do you know for sure?”
“I can’t tell you. Orders are to keep this thing tighter than a fish’s butt.”
“Let’s play Twenty Questions.”
“Let’s not.”
“The short version. Three questions. Yes or no answers.”
“Don’t put me on the spot, OK?”
“We’re both on the spot already. Don’t you see that? We’ve got a real mess here. And either it’s in there with you or it’s out here with me. So sooner or later one of us is going to have to help the other. We might as well start now.”
Silence. Then: “OK, Jesus, three questions.”
“Did they tell you about the car?”
“Yes.”
“Did anyone mention money from Kosovo as a possible motive?”
“Yes.”
“Did they tell you about two other dead women?”
“No. What other dead women?”
“Last year. Local. Same MO. Cut throats.”
“Connected?”
“Probably.”
“Jesus. No, nobody said a word.”
“Do you have written records of Bravo Company’s movements? June and November last year?”
“That’s your fourth question.”
“We’re just chatting now. Two officers, equal rank, just shooting the shit. The game is over.”
“There are no records of Bravo Company’s movements here. They’re operating under special ops protocols. Therefore everything is filed at Fort Bragg. It would take the biggest subpoena you ever saw just to get a look at the outside of the file cabinet.”
I asked, “You making any general progress there?”
No answer.
I asked, “How long does it normally take for your secret weapon to work?”
He said, “It’s usually much faster than this.”
I didn’t answer, and there was more dead air, and some quiet breathing, and then Munro said, “Listen, Reacher, I guess this is hardly worth talking about, because you’re just going to think, well, what else would I say, because we both know I was sent here to cover someone’s ass. But I’m not like that. Never have been.”
“And?”
“From what I know so far, none of our guys killed any women. Not this month, or November, or June. That’s how it looks right now.”
Chapter
29
I put the phone down on Munro, and Deveraux came back into the office immediately. Maybe she had been watching a light on the switchboard. She said, “Well?”
“No quarantine patrols. No one has left Kelham since Munro arrived.”
“He would say that, though, wouldn’t he?”
“And he’s not smelling anything. He thinks the perp is not on the base.”
“Ditto.”
I nodded. Smoke and mirrors. Politics and the real world. Utter confusion. I said, “You want to get lunch?”
She said, “After.”
“After what?”
“You have a problem to deal with. The McKinney cousins are out on the street. They’re waiting for you. And they’ve brought reinforcements.”
Deveraux led me across the corridor to a dim corner room with windows in two walls. The view across Main Street was empty. Nothing happening. But the view north toward the T-junction showed four figures. My two old friends, plus two more similar guys. Dirt, hair, fur, and ink. They were standing around in the wide area where the two roads met, hands in pockets, kicking the dirt, doing nothing at all.
My first reaction was a kind of dumbfounded admiration. A head butt is a serious blow, especially one of mine. To be walking and talking just a few hours later was impressive. My second reaction was annoyance. With myself. I had been too gentle. Too new in town, too reluctant, too proper, too ready to see mitigating circumstances in sheer animal stupidity. I looked at Deveraux and asked, “What do you want me to do?”
She said, “You could apologize and make them go away.”
“What’s my second choice?”
“You could let them hit you first. Then I could arrest them for unprovoked assault. I’d love to get the chance to do that.”
“They won’t hit me at all if you’re there.”
“I’ll stay out of sight.”
“I’m not sure I want to do either thing.”
“One or the other, Reacher. Your choice.”
I stepped out to Main Street like some guy in an old movie. There should have been music playing. I turned right and faced north. I stood still. The four guys saw me. They showed a moment of