them, but I’d seen them around before, here and there. They
were brothers, I think. Real hard kids, you know, delinquents,
bullies from out of town, the sort of kids you always stayed well
away from. They took a swing at the box and my dad jumped
out at them and there was an argument. They were sneering at
him, threatening him, saying bad things about my mother.
They said, bring her on out and we’ll show her a good time with
this bat, better than you can show her. You can imagine the
gestures that went with it. So then there was a fight, and
my dad got lucky. It was just one of those things, two lucky
punches and he won. Or maybe it was his military training. The
bat had bust in half, maybe against the box. I thought that
would be the end of it, but he dragged the kids into the yard
and got some logging chain and some padlocks and got them
chained up to a tree. They were kneeling down, facing each
other around the trunk. My dad’s mind was gone. His temper
had kicked in. He was hitting them with the broken bat. I was
trying to stop him, but it was impossible. Then he said he
was going to show them a good time with the bat, with the
broken end, unless they begged him not to. So they begged.
They begged long and loud.’
He went quiet again.
‘I was there all the time,’ he said. ‘I was trying to calm my
father down, that’s all. But these guys were looking at me like I
was participating. There was this thing in their eyes, like I was a
witness to their worst moment. Like I was seeing them being
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totally humiliated, which I guess is the worst thing you can do
to a bully. There was absolute hatred in their eyes. Against me. Like they were saying, you’ve seen this, so now you have to die.
It was literally as bad as that.’
‘What happened?’ Neagley asked.
‘My father kept them there. He said he was going to leave
them there all night and start up again in the morning. We went
inside and he went to bed and I snuck out again an hour later. I
was going to let them go. But they were already gone. They’d
gotten out of the chains somehow. Escaped. They never came
back. I never saw them again. I went off to college, never really
came home again except for visits.’
‘And your father died.’
Armstrong nodded. ‘He had blood pressure problems, which
was understandable, I guess, given his personality. I kind of
forgot about the two kids. It was just an episode that had
happened in the past. But I didn’t really forget about them. I
always remembered the look in their eyes. I can see it right now. It was stone-cold hatred. It was like two cocky thugs who
couldn’t stand to be seen any other way than how they chose to
be seen. Like I was committing a mortal sin just for happening
to see them losing. Like I was doing something to them. Like I
was their enemy. They stared at me. I,gave up trying to understand
it. I’m no kind of a psychologist. But I never forgot that
look. When that package came I wasn’t puzzled for a second
who had sent it, even though it’s been nearly thirty years.’
‘Did you know their names?’ Reacher asked.
Armstrong shook his head. ‘I didn’t know much about them,
except I guess they lived in some nearby town. What are you
going to do?’
‘I know what I’d like to do.’
‘what’s that?’
‘I like to break both your arms and never see you again as
long as I live. Because if you’d spoken up on election day
Froelich would still be alive.’
‘why the hell didn’t you?’ Neagley asked.
Armstrong shook his head. There were tears in his eyes.
‘Because I had no idea it was serious,’ he said. ‘I really
didn’t, I promise you, on my daughter’s life. Don’t you see? I
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just thought it was supposed to remind me or unsettle me. I