`Got to start somewhere,’ I said.
`OK, I’ll ask for it,’ she shrugged. `I’ll call Florida. Anything else?’
`I need a gun,’ I said.
She didn’t reply. I dropped a twenty on the laminate table top and we slid out and stood up. Walked out to the unmarked car.
`I need a gun,’ I said again. `This is a big deal,
right? So I’ll need a weapon. I can’t just go to the
store and buy one. No ID, no address.’
`OK,’ she said. `I’ll get you one.’
`I’ve got no permit,’ I said. `You’ll have to do it
on the quiet, OK?’
She nodded.
`That’s OK,’ she said. `There’s one nobody else knows about.’
We kissed a long hard kiss in the station house lot. Then we got out of the car and went in through the heavy glass door. More or less bumped into Finlay rounding the reception counter on his way out.
`Got to go back to the morgue,’ he said. `You guys come with me, OK? We need to talk. Lot to talk about.’
So we went back out into the dull morning. Got back into Roscoe’s Chevy. Same system as before. She drove. I sat across the back. Finlay sat in the front passenger seat, twisted around so he could look at the both of us at once. Roscoe started up and headed south.
`Long call from the Treasury Department,’ Finlay said. `Must have been twenty minutes, maybe a half-hour. I was nervous about Teale.’
`What did they say?’ I asked him.
`Nothing,’ he said. `They took a half-hour to tell me nothing.’
`Nothing?’ I said. `What the hell does that mean?’
`They wouldn’t tell me anything,’ he said. `They want a shitload of formal authorization from Teale before they say word one.’
`They confirmed Joe worked there, right?’ I said.
`Sure, they went that far,’ he said. `He came from Military Intelligence ten years ago. They headhunted him. Recruited him specially.’
`What for?’ I asked him.
Finlay just shrugged.
`They wouldn’t tell me,’ he said. `He started some new project exactly a year ago, but the whole thing is a total secret. He was some kind of a very big deal up there, Reacher, that’s for sure. You should have heard the way they were all talking about him. Like talking about God.’
I went quiet for a while. I had known nothing about Joe. Nothing at all.
`So that’s it?’ I said. `Is that all you got?’
`No,’ he said. `I kept pushing until I got a woman called Molly Beth Gordon. You ever heard that name?’
`No,’ I said. `Should I have?’
`Sounds like she was very close to Joe,’ Finlay said. `Sounds like they may have had a thing going. She was very upset. Floods of tears.’
`So what did she tell you?’ I asked him.
`Nothing,’ Finlay said. `Not authorized. But she promised to tell you what she can. She said she’ll step out of line for you, because you’re Joe’s little brother.’
I nodded.
`OK,’ I said. `That’s better. When do I speak to her?’
`Call her about one-thirty,’ he said. `Lunch break, when her office will be empty. She’s taking a big risk, but she’ll talk to you. That’s what she said.’
`OK,’ I said again. `She say anything else?’
`She let one little thing slip,’ Finlay said. `Joe had a big debrief meeting scheduled. For next Monday morning.’
`Monday?’ I said. `As in the day after Sunday?’
`Correct,’ he said. `Looks like Hubble was right. Something is due to happen on or before Sunday. Whatever the hell he was doing, it looks like Joe knew he would have won or lost by then. But she wouldn’t say anything more. She was out of line talking to me at all and she sounded like she was being overheard. So call her, but don’t pin your hopes on her, Reacher. She may not know anything. Left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing up there. Big-time secrecy, right?’
`Bureaucracy,’ I said. `Who the hell needs it? OK, we have to assume we’re on our own here. At least for a while. We’re going to need Picard again.’
Finlay nodded.