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[ 1921] “Any idea where he’s working now?” I said.

He shook his head.

“I’m afraid not,” he said.

“Must be working somewhere, right?” I said.

The guy shook his head again.

[ 1922] “Professionally, he’s dropped out of sight,” he said. “He’s not working in banking, I’m sure of that. His institute membership lapsed immediately, and we’ve never had an inquiry for a recommendation. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you. If he was working anywhere in banking, I’d know it, I can assure you of that. He must be in something else now.”

[ 1923] I shrugged. Hubble’s trail was stone cold. And the discussion with this guy was over. His body language indicated it. He was shifting forward, ready to get up and get on. I stood up with him. Thanked him for his time. Shook his hand. Stepped through the antique gloom to the elevator. Hit the button for the street and walked out into the dull gray weather.

[ 1924] My assumptions had been all wrong. I had seen Hubble as a banker, doing a straight job. Maybe turning a blind eye to some peripheral con, maybe with half a finger in some dirty pie. Maybe signing off on a few bogus figures. With his arm twisted way up his back. Involved, useful, tainted, but somehow not central. But he hadn’t been a banker. Not for a year and a half. He had been a criminal. Full time. Right inside the scam. Right at the center. Not peripheral at all.

[ 1925] I DROVE STRAIGHT BACK TO THE MARGRAVE STATION house. Parked up and went looking for Roscoe. Teale was stalking around in the open area, but the desk guy winked and nodded me back to a file room. Roscoe was in there. She looked weary. She had an armful of old files. She smiled.

[ 1926] “Hello, Reacher,” she said. “Come to take me away from all this?”

“What’s new?” I said.

[ 1927] She dumped the stack of paper onto a cabinet top. Dusted herself off and flicked her hair back. Glanced at the door.

[ 1928] “Couple of things,” she said. “Teale’s got a Foundation board meeting in ten minutes. I’m getting the fax from Florida soon as he’s out of here. And we’re due a call from the state police about abandoned cars.”

[ 1929] “Where’s the gun you’ve got for me?” I asked her.

[ 1930] She paused. Bit her lip. She was remembering why I needed one.

[ 1931] “It’s in a box,” she said. “In my desk. We’ll have to wait until Teale is gone. And don’t open it here, OK? Nobody knows about it.”

[ 1932] We stepped out of the file room and walked over toward the rosewood office. The squad room was quiet. The two backup guys from Friday were paging through computer records. Neat stacks of files were everywhere. The bogus hunt was on for the chief’s killer. I saw a big new bulletin board on the wall. It was marked Morrison. It was empty. Not much progress was being made.

[ 1933] We waited in the rosewood office with Finlay. Five minutes. Ten. Then we heard a knock and Baker ducked his head around the door. He grinned in at us. I saw his gold tooth again.

“Teale’s gone,” he said.

[ 1934] We went out into the open area. Roscoe turned on the fax machine and picked up the phone to call Florida. Finlay dialed the state police for news on abandoned rental cars. I sat down at the desk next to Roscoe’s and called Charlie Hubble. I dialed the mobile number that Joe had printed out and hidden in his shoe. I got no answer. Just an electronic sound and a recorded voice telling me the phone I was calling was switched off.

[ 1935] I looked across at Roscoe.

“She’s got the damn mobile switched off,” I said.

[ 1936] Roscoe shrugged and moved over to the fax machine. Finlay was still talking to the state police. I saw Baker hanging around on the fringe of the triangle the three of us were making. I got up and went to join Roscoe.

[ 1937] “Does Baker want in on this?” I asked her.

[ 1938] “He seems to,” she said. “Finlay’s got him acting as a kind of a lookout. Should we get him involved?”

[ 1939] I thought about it for a second, but shook my head.

[ 1940] “No,” I said. “Smaller the better, a thing like this, right?”

[ 1941] I sat down again at the desk I was borrowing and tried the mobile number again. Same result. Same patient electronic voice telling me it was switched off.

[ 1942] “Damn,” I said to myself. “Can you believe that?”

[ 1943] I needed to know where Hubble had spent his time for the last year and a half. Charlie might have given me some idea. The time he left home in the morning, the time he got home at night, toll receipts, restaurant bills, things like that. And she might have remembered something about Sunday or something about Pluribus. It was possible she might have come up with something useful. And I needed something useful. I needed it very badly. And she’d switched the damn phone off.

[ 1944] “Reacher?” Roscoe said. “I got the stuff on Sherman Stoller.”

[ 1945] She was holding a couple of fax pages. Densely typed.

[ 1946] “Great,” I said. “Let’s take a look.”

[ 1947] Finlay got off the phone and stepped over.

[ 1948] “State guys are calling back,” he said. “They may have something for us.”

[ 1949] “Great,” I said again. “Maybe we’re getting somewhere.”

[ 1950] We all went back into the rosewood office. Spread the Sherman Stoller stuff out on the desk and bent over it together. It was an arrest report from the police department in Jacksonville, Florida.

[ 1951] “Blind Blake was born in Jacksonville,” I said. “Did you know that?”

[ 1952] “Who’s Blind Blake?” Roscoe asked.

[ 1953] “Singer,” Finlay said.

[ 1954] “Guitar player, Finlay,” I said.

[ 1955] Sherman Stoller had been flagged down by a sector car for exceeding the speed limit on the river bridge between Jacksonville and Jacksonville Beach at a quarter to midnight on a September night, two years ago. He had been driving a small panel truck eleven miles an hour too fast. He had become extremely agitated and abusive toward the sector car crew. This had caused them to arrest him for suspected DUI. He had been printed and photographed at Jacksonville Central and both he and his vehicle had been searched. He had given an Atlanta address and stated his occupation as truck driver.

[ 1956] The search of his person produced a negative result. His truck was searched by hand and with dogs and produced a negative result. The truck contained nothing but a cargo of twenty new air conditioners boxed for export from Jacksonville Beach. The boxes were sealed and marked with the manufacturer’s logo, and each box was marked with a serial number.

[ 1957] After being Mirandized, Stoller had made one phone call. Within twenty minutes of the call, a lawyer named Perez from the respected Jacksonville firm of Zacarias Perez was in attendance, and within a further ten minutes Stoller had been released. From being flagged down to walking out with the lawyer, fifty-five minutes had elapsed.

[ 1958] “Interesting,” Finlay said. “The guy’s three hundred miles from home, it’s midnight, and he gets lawyered up within twenty minutes? With a partner from a respected firm? Stoller was some kind of a truck driver, that’s for sure.”

[ 1959] “You recognize his address?” I asked Roscoe.

[ 1960] She shook her head.

[ 1961] “Not really,” she said. “But I could find it.”

[ 1962] The door cracked open and Baker stuck his head in again.

[ 1963] “State police on the line,” he said. “Sounds like they got a car for you.”

[ 1964] Finlay checked his watch. Decided there was time before Teale got back.

[ 1965] “OK,” he said. “Punch it through here, Baker.”

[ 1966] Finlay picked up the phone on the big desk and listened. Scribbled some notes and grunted a thank-you. Hung the phone up and got out of his chair.