The Midnight Line (Jack Reacher #22)

Which was technically non-responsive, but Reacher let it go. Bramall and Mackenzie stepped up on the porch. The kid looked at them. Still puzzled. Reacher looked at the keyhole. There was a bead of glue in it. The Boy Detective had changed one lock, maybe at the back, and glued all the others. Efficiency. Saving taxpayer money.

The kid said, ‘Who are you?’

Reacher said, ‘I asked first.’

‘I’m doing nothing wrong.’

‘Just tell me your first name.’

‘It’s Mason.’

‘OK, Mason, it’s good to meet you. Why are you here?’

‘I came by to get something.’

‘For who?’

‘For me. Billy said I could have it.’

‘Who is Billy?’

The kid said, ‘He’s my brother.’

‘Is he?’

‘Well, half.’

‘Where is he now?’

‘I don’t know. He ran off again.’

‘Has he done that before?’

‘Two times that I can remember. This time he called me and told me where he left his truck. He said I could have it. And something in his house, too.’

‘Where was the truck?’

‘Up near Casper.’

Reacher nodded. Nearer Mule Crossing than Billings, Montana. The other guy had driven more miles than Billy. Why? Must have been their agreed-upon vector. They were planning to head southeast. Through Nebraska, and away.

He said, ‘What kind of something did he leave in the house?’

‘I’m not sure I should tell you.’

‘Was it money in a box?’

The kid looked surprised.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘In a shoebox.’

‘Did he want you to bring it to him?’

‘No sir, it’s for me. He said he’s already with a guy who has plenty.’

‘Where?’

‘He didn’t tell me. He wouldn’t. No way. He used to say to me, Mason, if you ever have to run, you tell no one where you’re going, not even me.’

‘You completely sure he didn’t tell you?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘What does Billy do for a living?’

‘He works the snowplough.’

‘What about the summer?’

‘I think he buys and sells things.’

‘What kind of things does he sell?’

‘Just things. Like flea-market things.’

‘Where does he sell them?’

‘I think all around. Wherever people are who want to buy them.’

‘Do you know any of his customers?’

‘No.’

‘Have you ever seen a woman who looks like my friend here?’

‘No.’

‘Do you know what an accessory is?’

‘Something you put on your truck.’

‘Also a legal word,’ Reacher said. ‘It means if you know a secret, and you don’t tell, then you go to jail too. Billy has strayed far from the narrow path of righteousness, I’m afraid. He has made some poor choices in his life. The government seized this house yesterday. A federal agent put glue in the lock. That’s what they do now. So this is our last chance to help you, Mason. If you know where Billy is, you better tell us, right now.’

‘I don’t know where Billy is,’ the brother said, kind of happily. ‘But don’t worry. He’ll be back in a year or two. That’s what happened the last two times.’

Reacher looked at Bramall, who shrugged. Then at Mackenzie, who nodded. She believed the kid.

Who said, ‘How do I get in the house?’

‘You don’t,’ Reacher said. ‘No point. The money is long gone. It was in a federal evidence locker before you woke up this morning. But you can keep the truck. Get a blade for the plough, and you could set up in business.’

They watched the kid drive away. Mackenzie stayed on the porch and looked at the view. The wide empty plains on the right. The old post office, and the firework store. The pronghorns, about a mile away. The red road, still neatly scraped, still nicely cambered. On the left, the low jagged peaks, like miniature mountain ranges.

She said, ‘Logically we should keep on going. She’s not here. She’s not at Porterfield’s place, which is next. She’s not at the pie lady’s place, which comes after that. So logically we could just keep on going, and then stop before the fourth place. We’d be closer. Nothing could happen behind us. It would still all be ahead of us.’

‘If Reacher is right,’ Bramall said. ‘Which he might not be.’

‘Then why has no one seen her?’

Bramall didn’t answer.

Reacher said, ‘I guess the gift of the truck was a cowboy kind of thing. Billy was making sure someone looked after his best horse, so to speak, come what may. All that kind of good stuff. But ten grand in a box is different. That’s a lot of money to give away. I don’t think he wanted to. I think he was out on the road when he got the call from Montana. Too far from home to come back and get it. The pact meant he had no time. He had to go to Casper immediately. And given the direction the other guy was driving from Billings, we have to assume they carried on east through Nebraska. And if we time it from Scorpio’s first voice mail, this all was at least forty-eight hours ago. They’re in Chicago by now. Except I don’t think they went to Chicago. I don’t think they would have felt at home there. My guess is they turned south for Oklahoma. They could make some kind of living there. Or the same kind of living.’

‘Possible,’ Bramall said.

Mackenzie said, ‘But Special Agent Noble will never be able to figure that out, because he’ll never know where the truck was found, because of our decision to give it to the brother.’

Bramall said, ‘Our?’

‘Nothing to be ashamed of. I’m sure it was done with the best of intentions. Job creation is a wonderful thing. But I want Special Agent Noble to have a shot at finding Billy. Because I think he would tell us if he does. Why wouldn’t he? I think we should call him. I think we should tell him about Oklahoma.’

‘It was only a guess,’ Bramall said.

‘Based on a fact,’ she said. ‘Which Noble hasn’t got.’

‘He might guess different.’

‘At least he’ll get a chance to.’

‘You really want me to call him?’

‘I think we should.’

Bramall looked at Reacher.

Reacher said, ‘He cooked, after all. Normally we would send a note of some kind.’

Bramall took out his tortoiseshell reading glasses, and a small notebook. He opened it with his thumb.

Reacher said, ‘You have Noble’s number in there?’

Bramall said, ‘Just the western division’s switchboard.’

He dialled and played phone tag for a long minute, saying the name over and over again, with variations, Special Agent Kirk Noble, Special Agent Noble, Kirk Noble. Eventually the guy himself must have come on the line, because Bramall reminded him who he was, in terms of the bacon-and-egg dinner, and then he said now there was very strong reason to believe the fugitives had gone to Oklahoma.

Evidently Noble asked to speak to Reacher.

Bramall passed the phone.

Noble said, ‘There’s a problem with Porterfield.’





TWENTY-SIX


NOBLE SAID, ‘I typed it up, word for word based on what you told me, and then I ran it through some software we have, which automatically checks against our existing databases, to see if we know the names already, for other reasons. And Seymour Porterfield came up blocked. I dug around and found three separate files on the guy, all locked, all needing high-level passwords.’

Reacher said, ‘What kind of a guy would get a file like that?’

‘A source of information,’ Noble said. ‘It’s a security measure.’

‘Interesting.’

‘I need to know who Porterfield was.’

‘He had an expensive kitchen.’