`You’re going to take that with you,’ he said to me. `You’re going to take it to wherever you’ve hidden Hubble and you’re going to play it to him.’
Finlay and I looked at each other. Just stared at each other in blank astonishment. Then I snapped back and stared at Kliner.
`You killed Hubble already,’ I said. Kliner hesitated for a second.
`Don’t try that shit,’ he said. `We were going to, but you got him out of the way. You’re hiding him. Charlie told us.’
`Charlie told you?’ I said.
`We asked her where he was,’ he said. `She promised us you’d be able to find him. She was most insistent about it. We had a knife between her little girl’s legs at the time. She became very anxious to convince us that her husband was not beyond our reach. She said you’d given him all sorts of advice and guidance. She said you’d given him all sorts of help. She said you’d be able to find him. I hope for everybody’s sake she wasn’t lying.’
`You killed him,’ I said again. `I don’t know anything about it.’
Kliner nodded and sighed. His voice was low. `Let’s cut the crap,’ he said. `You’re hiding him, and we need him back. We need him back right
away. It’s a matter of urgency to us. We’ve got a business to run. So we’ve got a number of options. We could beat it out of you. We discussed that. It’s a tactical problem, right? But we figured you might send us off in the wrong direction, because time is tight right now. You might figure that was your best option, right?’
He waited for some kind of a comment from me. He didn’t get one.
`So what we’re going to do is this,’ he said. `Picard is going to go with you to pick him up. When you get wherever he is, Picard is going to call me. On my mobile. He knows the number. Then you all three come on back here. OK?’
I didn’t respond.
Where is he?’ Kliner asked suddenly.
I started to speak, but he held up his hand and stopped me.
`Like I told you, let’s cut the crap,’ he said. `For instance, you’ve been sitting there thinking as hard as you can. No doubt you were trying to figure some way you might be able to take Picard out. But you won’t be able to do that.’
I shrugged. Said nothing.
`Two problems,’ Kliner said. `I doubt if you could take Picard out. I doubt if anybody could. Nobody ever has. And my mobile number isn’t written down. It’s in Picard’s head.’
I shrugged again. Kliner was a smart guy. The worst sort.
`Let me add a couple of factors,’ he said. `We don’t know exactly how far away Hubble is. And you’re not going to tell us the truth about that. So I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. We’re going to give you a time limit.’
He stopped talking and walked around to where
Finlay was sitting. He raised the .22 and put the tip of the silencer in Finlay’s ear. Pushed it in hard until Finlay was tilting over in his chair.
`The detective here is going in a cell,’ he said. `He’s going to be handcuffed to the bars. If Picard hasn’t called me by one hour before dawn tomorrow, I’m going to aim my shotgun into the detective’s cell and blow him apart. Then I’m going to make the delightful Officer Roscoe clean his guts off the back wall with a sponge. Then I’m going to give you another hour. If Picard hasn’t called me by the time the sun comes up, I’m going to start in on the delightful Officer Roscoe herself. She’ll end up in a lot of pain, Reacher. But first there will be a great deal of sexual interference. A great deal. You have my word on that, Reacher. It’ll be very messy. Very messy indeed. Mayor Teale and I have spent a pleasant hour discussing just exactly what we’re going to do to her.’
Kliner was forcing Finlay practically out of the chair with the pressure of the automatic in his ear. Finlay’s lips were clamped. Kliner was sneering at me. I smiled at him. Kliner was a dead man. He was as dead as a man who has just jumped off a high building. He hadn’t hit the ground yet. But he’d jumped.