Reacher looked at her and nodded. “Yes, you are all wrong.” Then he turned to Blake. “We really need to talk about this guy’s motive.”
“Later,” Blake said.
“No, now. It’s important.”
“Later,” Blake said again. “You haven’t heard the really good news yet.”
“Which is what?”
“The other little matter you came up with.”
Silence inside the vehicle.
“Shit,” Reacher said. “One of the other women got a delivery, right?”
Blake shook his head.
“Wrong,” he said. “All seven of them got a delivery.”
tifcieetv
c
(__JO you’re going to Portland, Oregon,” Blake said. “You and Harper.”
“Why?” Readier asked.
“So you can visit with your old friend Rita Scimeca. The lady lieutenant you told us about? Got raped down in Georgia? She lives near Portland. Small village, east of the city. She’s one of the eleven on your list. You can get down there and check out her basement. She says there’s a brand-new washing machine in there. In a box.”
“Did she open it?” Reacher asked.
Blake shook his head. “No, Portland agents checked with her on the telephone. They told her not to touch it. Somebody’s on the way over right now.”
“If the guy’s still in the area, Portland could be his next call. It’s close enough.”
“Correct,” Blake said. “That’s why there’s somebody on the way over.”
Reacher nodded. “So now you’re guarding them? What’s that thing about barn doors and horses bolting?”
Blake shrugged. “Hey, only seven left alive, makes the manpower much more feasible.”
It was a cop’s sick humor in a car full of cops of one kind or another, but still it fell a little flat. Blake colored slightly and looked away.
“Losing Alison gets to me, much as anybody,” he said. “Like family, right?”
“Especially to her sister, I guess,” Reacher said.
186
l”&*
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172