wondered whether maybe in their minds they still thought
I was in the wrong back then, and it was supposed to be a
threat of political embarrassment or exposure or something.
Obviously I wasn’t worried about that because I wasn’t in the
wrong back then. Everybody would understand that. And I
couldn’t see any other logical reason for sending it. I was thirty
years older, so were they. I’m a rational adult, I assumed they
were. So I thought it was maybe just an unpleasant joke. I didn’t
conceive of any danger in it. I absolutely promise you that. I
mean, why would I? So it unsettled me for an hour, and then
I dropped it. Maybe I half expected some kind of lame follow
up, but I figured I’d deal with that when it happened. But there was no follow-up. It didn’t happen. Not as far as I knew. Because
nobody told me. Until now. Until you told me. And according to
Stuyvesant you shouldn’t be telling me even now. And people
have suffered and died. Christ, why did he keep me out of
the loop? I could have given him the whole story if he’d just asked.’
Nobody spoke.
‘So you’re right and you’re wrong,’ he said. ‘I knew who and
why, but I didn’t know all along. I didn’t know the middle. I
knew the beginning, and I knew the end. I knew as soon as the
shooting started, believe me. I mean, I just knew. It was an
unbelievable shock, out of the blue. Like, this is the follow-up? It
was an insane development. It was like half expecting a rotten
tomato to be thrown at me one day and getting a nuclear
missile instead. I thought the world had gone mad. You want to blame me for not speaking out, OK, go ahead and blame me,
but how could I have known? How could I have predicted this
kind of insanity?’
Silence for a beat.
‘So that’s my guilty secret,’ Armstrong said. ‘Not that I did
anhing wrong thirty years ago. But that I didn’t have the right
kind of imagination to see the implications of the package three
weeks ago.’
Nobody spoke.
‘Should I tell Stuyvesant now?’ Armstrong asked.
‘Your choice,’ Reacher said.
343
There was a long pause. Armstrong the man faded away
again, and Armstrong the politician came back to replace him.
‘I don’t want to tell him,’ he said. ‘Bad for him, bad for me.
People have suffered and died. It’ll be seen as a serious misjudgement
on both our parts. He should have asked, I should
have told.’
Reacher nodded. ‘So leave it to us. You’ll know our secret and
we’ll know yours.’
‘And we’ll all live happily ever after.’
‘Well, we’ll all live,’ Reacher said.
‘Descriptions?’ Neagley asked.
‘Just kids,’ Armstrong said. ‘Maybe my age. I only remember
their eyes.’
‘What’s the name of the town?’
‘Underwood, Oregon,’ Armstrong said. ‘Where my mother
still lives. Where I’m going in an hour.’
‘And these kids were from the area?’
Armstrong glanced at Reacher. ‘And you predicted they’ll go
home to wait.’
‘Yes,’ Reacher said. ‘I did.’
‘And I’m heading right there.’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ Reacher said. if’hat theory is way out of
date now. I assume they expected you’d remember them, and I
assume they didn’t anticipate the communication breakdown
between yourself and the Secret Service. And they wouldn’t
want you to be able to lead them right to their door. Therefore
their door has changed. They don’t live in Oregon any more.
That’s one thing we can be absolutely sure of.’
‘So how are you going to find them?’
Reacher shook his head. ‘We can’t find them. Not now. Not in
time. They’ll have to find us. In Wyoming. At the memorial
service.’
‘I’m going there too. With minimal cover.’
‘So just hope it’s all over before you arrive.’
‘Should I tell Stuyvesant?’ Armstrong asked again.
‘Your choice,’ Reacher said again.
‘I can’t cancel the appearance. That wouldn’t be right.’
‘No,’ Reacher said. ‘I guess it wouldn’t.’
‘I can’t tell Stuyvesant now.’
344
‘No,’ Reacher said. ‘I guess you can’t.’
Armstrong said nothing. Reacher stood up to leave, and