Part 12 (1/2)

'I guess not.'

'We checked the bars. We found one with a very clean floor.'

'Where?'

'North. Where the prison guards drink.'

'Any cooperative witnesses?'

'No, but the bartender is missing. Lit out in his truck yesterday.'

'OK,' Reacher said.

'Thank you,' Peterson said. 'You're welcome.' Reacher speared half a slice of bacon and a half-circle of set egg yolk and ate it.

'Any other thoughts?' Peterson asked.

'I know how the guy you put in jail is communicating.'

'How?'

'He made a friend on the inside. Or coerced somebody. Your guy is briefing the second guy, and the second guy is briefing his own lawyer. Like a parallel track. You're bugging the wrong room.'

'There are dozens of lawyer visits every day.'

'Then you better start sifting through them.'

Peterson was quiet for a beat. 'Anything else?'

Reacher nodded. 'I need to find a clothing store. I more or less promised your wife. Cheap, and nothing fancy. You know somewhere like that?'

The clothing store that Peterson recommended was a long block west of the public square. It carried st.u.r.dy garments for st.u.r.dy farmers. There were summer and winter sections, without many obvious differences between the two. Some of the items were off-brand makes, and others had recognizable labels but visible defects. There was a limited choice of dull colours. Prices were low, even for footwear. Reacher started from the ground up with a pair of black waterproof boots. Then he started in on the garments. His rule when confronted with a choice was to take either olive green or blue. Olive green, because he had been in the army. Blue, because a girl had once told him it picked out his eyes. He went with olive green, because it almost matched his borrowed coat, which was tan. He chose pants with a flannel lining, a T-s.h.i.+rt, a flannel s.h.i.+rt, and a sweater made of thick cotton. He added white underwear and a pair of black gloves and a khaki watch cap. Total damage was a hundred and thirty bucks. The store owner took a hundred and twenty for cash. Four days of wear, probably, at the rate of thirty dollars a day. Which added up to more than ten grand a year, just for clothes. Insane, some would say. But Reacher liked the deal. He knew that most folks spent much less than ten grand a year on clothes. They had a small number of good items that they kept in closets and laundered in bas.e.m.e.nts. But the closets and bas.e.m.e.nts were surrounded by houses, and houses cost a whole lot more than ten grand a year, to buy or to rent, and to maintain and repair and insure.

So who was really nuts?

He dressed in a changing cubicle and dumped his old stuff in a trash barrel behind the counter. He jammed the hat on his head and tugged it down over his ears. He covered it with the borrowed parka's hood. He zipped up. He put on the gloves. He stepped out to the sidewalk.

And was still cold.

The air was meat-locker chilled. He felt it in his gut, his ribs, his legs, his a.s.s, his eyes, his face, his lungs. Like the worst of Korea, but in Korea he had been younger, and he had been there under orders, and he had been getting paid. This was different. The snow danced and swirled all around him. A freshening wind pushed at him. His nose started running. His vision blurred. He took breaks in doorways. He turned a ten-minute walk to the police station into a twenty-minute winter odyssey.

When he arrived, he found full-on mayhem.

Five minutes before noon.

Forty hours to go.

It sounded like half the phones in the place were ringing. The old guy behind the reception counter had one in each hand and was talking into both of them. Peterson was alone in the squad room, on his feet behind a desk, a phone trapped between his ear and his shoulder, the cord bucking and swaying as he moved. He was gesticulating with both hands, short, sharp, decisive motions, like a general moving troops, as if the town of Bolton was laid out in front of him on the desk top, like a map.

Reacher watched and listened. The situation made itself clear. No rocket science was involved. A major crime against a person had been committed and Peterson was moving people out to deal with it while making sure his existing obligations were adequately covered. The crime scene seemed to be on the right hand edge of the desk, which was presumably Bolton's eastern limit. The existing obligations seemed to be slightly south and west of downtown, which was presumably where Janet Salter lived. The vulnerable witness. Peterson was putting more resources around her than at the scene, which indicated either proper caution or that the victim at the scene was already beyond help.

Or both.

A minute later Peterson stopped talking and hung up. He looked worried. Expert in a casual way with all the local stuff, a little out of his depth with anything else Expert in a casual way with all the local stuff, a little out of his depth with anything else. He said, 'We've got a guy shot to death in a car.'

Reacher said, 'Who?'

'The plates come back to a lawyer from the next county. He's had five client conferences up at the jail. All of them since we busted the biker. Like you said. He's their parallel track. And now their plan is made. So they're cleaning house and breaking the chain.'

'Worse than that,' Reacher said.

Peterson nodded. 'I know. Their guy isn't on his way. We missed him. He's already here.'

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

TWICE P PETERSON TRIED TO GET OUT OF THE SQUAD ROOM AND twice he had to duck back to answer a phone. Eventually he made it to the corridor. He looked back at Reacher and said, 'You want to ride along with me?' twice he had to duck back to answer a phone. Eventually he made it to the corridor. He looked back at Reacher and said, 'You want to ride along with me?'

Reacher asked, 'You want me there?'

'If you like.'

'I really need to be somewhere else.'

'Where?'

'I should go introduce myself to Mrs Salter.'

'What for?'

'I want to know the lie of the land. Just in case.'

Peterson said, 'Mrs Salter is covered. I made sure of that. Don't worry about it.' Then he paused and said, 'What? You think they're going to move on her today? You think this dead lawyer is a diversion?'

'No, I think they're breaking the chain. But it looks like I'm going to be here a couple of days. Because of the snow. If that escape siren goes off any time soon, then I'm all you've got. But I should introduce myself to the lady first.'

Peterson said nothing.

Reacher said, 'I'm trying to be helpful, that's all. To repay your hospitality.'

Peterson said nothing.