geography was right. Using a sleepy nowhere place like Margrave as the distribution centre would be smart. And they would have a huge amount of available cash. That was for sure. Forged cash, but it would spend just the same. And there was a lot of it. They were shipping a ton a week. It was an industrial-scale operation. Huge. It would explain the Kliner Foundation’s massive spending. If they ever ran short, they could just print some more. But Finlay still wasn’t convinced.
`What about the last twelve months?’ he said. `There’s been no import flow at all. Look at Gray’s list. The incoming deliveries didn’t happen. They stopped exactly a year ago. Sherman Stoller got laid off, right? There’s been nothing coming up for a year. But they’re still distributing something. There were still six trucks a day going out. Nothing coming in, but six trucks a day going out? What does that mean? What kind of an import flow is that?’
Roscoe just grinned at him and picked up the newspaper.
`The answer’s in here,’ she said. `It’s been in the papers since Friday. The Coast Guard. Last September, they started their big operation against smuggling, right? There was a lot of advance publicity. Kliner must have known it was coming. So he built up a stockpile ahead of time. See Gray’s list? For the six months before last September, he doubled the incoming deliveries. He was building up a stockpile in the warehouse. He’s kept on distributing it all year. That’s why they’ve been panicking about exposure. They’ve been sitting there on top of a massive stockpile of counterfeit money for a year. Now the Coast Guard is going to abandon its operation, right? So they can start
importing again as usual. That’s what’s going to happen on Sunday. That’s what poor Molly meant when she said we have to get in before Sunday. We have to get in the warehouse while the last of the stockpile is still in there.’
TWENTY-TWO
Finlay nodded. He was convinced. Then he smiled. He stood up from the bench in the barbershop window and took Roscoe’s hand. Shook it very formally.
`Good work,’ he said to her. `A perfect analysis. I always said you were smart, Roscoe. Right, Reacher? Didn’t I tell you she’s the best we got?’
I nodded and smiled and Roscoe blushed. Finlay held on to her hand and kept on smiling. But I could see him combing backward and forward through her theory, looking for loose ends. He only found two.
`What about Hubble?’ he asked. Where did he fit in? They wouldn’t recruit a bank executive just to load trucks, would they?’
I shook my head.
`Hubble used to be a currency manager,’ I said. `He was there to get rid of the fake money. He was feeding it into the system. He knew where it could be slipped in. Where it was needed. Like his old job, but in reverse.’
He nodded.
`What about the air conditioners?’ he asked. `Sherman Stoller was hauling them to Florida. That woman told you. We know that’s for real because you saw two old cartons in her garage. And his truck was full of them when the Jacksonville PD searched it. What was that all about?’
`Legitimate business, I guess,’ I said. `Like a decoy. It concealed the illegal part. Like camouflage. It explained the truck movements up and down to Florida. They would have had to run south empty otherwise.’
Finlay nodded.
`Smart move, I guess,’ he said. `No empty run. Makes sense. Sell a few air conditioners, it makes money both ways, right?’
He nodded again and let go of Roscoe’s hand. `We need samples of the money,’ he said.
I smiled at him. I had suddenly realized something.
`I’ve got samples,’ I said. I put my hand in my pocket and pulled out my thick roll of hundreds. Pulled one off the back of the roll and one off the front. Gave the two banknotes to Finlay.
`These are their counterfeits?’ he said.
`Got to be,’ I said. `Charlie Hubble gave me a wad of hundreds for expense money. She probably got them from Hubble. Then I took another wad from those guys who were out looking for me Tuesday.’