landmark, with a big lot, busy in the daytime but deserted at
night. They think it was a two-car rendezvous. Brubaker gets
there first, the second car pulls up alongside, at least two guys
get out of it, they get into Brubaker’s car, one in the front and
one in the back, they sit a spell, maybe they talk a little, then
the guy in the back pulls a gun and shoots. Which by the way is
how they figure Brubaker’s watch got busted. They figure he
had his left wrist up on the top of the wheel, the way guys do
when they’re sitting in their cars. But whatever, he goes down
and they drag him out and they put him in the trunk of the
other car and they drive him down to Columbia and they leave
him there.’
‘With dope and money in his pocket.’
‘They don’t know where that came from yet.’
‘Why didn’t the bad guys move his car?’ I said. ‘Seems kind of
dumb to take the body to South Carolina and leave the car
where it was.’
‘Nobody knows why. Maybe because it’s conspicuous to drive
a car full of blood with a blown windshield. Or maybe because
bad guys are dumb sometimes.’
‘You got notes about what Mrs Brubaker said about the
phone calls he took?’
‘After dinner on the fourth?’
‘No, earlier,’ I said. ‘On New Year’s Eve. About half an hour
after they all held hands and sang “Auld Lang Syne”.’
‘Maybe. I took some pretty good notes. I could go look.’
‘Be quick,’ I said. ‘I’m on a pay phone here.’
I heard the receiver go down on his desk. Heard faint
scratchy movement far away in his office. I waited. Put another
pair of quarters in the slot. We were already down two bucks on
toll calls. Plus twelve for eating and fifteen for the room. We had
eighteen dollars left. Out of which I knew for sure I was going
to be spending another ten, hopefully pretty soon. I began to
wish the army didn’t buy Caprices with big V-8s in them. A little
342
four-cylinder thing like Kramer had rented would have gotten
us further, on eight bucks’ worth of gas.
I heard Sanchez pick up the phone again.
‘OK, New Year’s Eve,’ he said. ‘She told me he was dragged
out of a dinner dance around twelve thirty in the morning. She
told me she was a little bit aggrieved about it.’
‘Did he tell her anything about the call?’
‘No. But she said he danced better after it. Like he was
all fired up. Like he was on the trail of something. He was all
excited.’
‘She could tell that from the way he danced?’
‘They were married a long time, Reacher. You get to know a
person.’
‘OK,’ I said. ‘Thanks, Sanchez. I got to go.’
‘Be careful.’
‘Always am.’
I hung up and walked back to our table.
Where now?’ Summer said.
‘Now we’re going to go see girls take their clothes off,’ I said.
It was a short walk across the lot from the greasy spoon to
the lounge bar. There were a few cars around, but not many.
It was still early. It would be another couple of hours before
the crowds really built up. The locals were still home, eating
dinner, watching the sports news. Guys from Fort Bird were
finishing chow time in the mess, showering, getting changed,
hooking up in twos and threes, finding car keys, picking out
designated drivers. But I still kept my eye out. I didn’t want to
bump into a crowd of Delta people. Not outside in the dark.
Time was too precious to waste.
We pulled the door and stepped inside. There was a new face
behind the register. Maybe a friend or a relative of the fat guy. I
didn’t know him. He didn’t know me. And we were in BDUs. No
unit designations. No indication that we were MPs. So the new
face was happy enough to see us. He figured us for a nice little
upward tick in his first-hour cash flow. We walked right past
him.
The place was less than one-tenth full. It felt very different