Lee Child - The Midnight Line

He took the ring out of his pocket. He balanced it on his palm. He held out his hand. Bramall took the ring from him. He looked at it. He took out a pair of tortoiseshell reading glasses from an inside pocket. He read the engraving on the inner face.

S.R.S. 2005 .

He said, “Now we really need to talk.”

—

Reacher told him the story. The bus out of Milwaukee, and the comfort stop, and the pawn shop, and Jimmy Rat in the biker bar, and Arthur Scorpio in the Rapid City laundromat, and the tale about how a guy named Porterfield brought him the ring, which had proved to be a lie, because of the big sensation with either the bear or the mountain lion, or both.

Bramall said, “That was a year and a half ago?”

Reacher nodded. “The start of spring last year.”

“Which was when my client got worried.”

“If you say so.”

“And you’re here in his house because you think Billy replaced Porterfield in the ring-transportation business?”

“I think it’s likely.”

“Why?”

“I’ll show you,” Reacher said. He checked the view again, both ways, and saw no one coming. He led Bramall into the house, and up the stairs, and to Billy’s bedroom. To the closet. He showed him the shoeboxes, one crammed with cash, the other rattling and tinkling with cheap gold jewelry.

“Drug dealers,” Bramall said. “Don’t you think? Small time. Home-cooked meth or cheap heroin up from Mexico. Twenty bucks sees you right, and if you can’t pay you trade your rings and your necklaces. Or you steal someone else’s.”

“I thought it was all pain pills now,” Reacher said.

“That boom is over,” Bramall said. “Now it’s back to how it used to be. Scorpio is the wholesaler, employing first Porterfield and now Billy as his local retailer, using the first guy as a decoy and secretly telling the second guy to get rid of you. He doesn’t like scrutiny.”

“Possible,” Reacher said.

“You got another coherent explanation?”

“Who’s your client?”

“A woman in Lake Forest named Tiffany Jane Mackenzie. Serena Rose Sanderson’s twin sister. Married, hence the different name. They were close as children, but pretty soon went their separate ways. Mackenzie’s living the dream. Big house, rich husband. She didn’t altogether approve of her sister’s career choice. But blood is thicker than water. There was occasional contact. Until the start of spring last year. How thorough was the investigation about the bear and the mountain lion?”

“Very,” Reacher said. “By rural standards, anyway. The sheriff looks solid. There was only one body, and it was all Porterfield. They knew from his dental records and the keys in his pocket.”

“So you think Sanderson is still alive?”

“Probably. The ring showed up in Rapid City about six weeks ago, and in Wisconsin about two weeks later. I’m guessing they move stuff along pretty quickly. The sheriff said Porterfield’s car had a lot of miles. He was probably running back and forth pretty regularly. I imagine Billy is, too. What we’ve got here in the shoebox is probably just a few weeks’ worth. The sheriff said Porterfield had cash in his closet, too. A similar amount. Small time, maybe, but it seems to add up.”

“So where is Billy now?”

Reacher stepped to the window and checked the view. No one coming, either east or west. He said, “I have no idea where Billy is. There are dishes in the sink. Feels like he stepped out for a minute.”

“Show me the phone.”

Reacher led Bramall down the stairs, to the small parlor in back. To the phone on the desk. Bramall stabbed at buttons and played the message again. He’s like the Incredible Hulk. Don’t even let him see you. But get on it, OK? He’s got to go, because he’s a random loose end .

Bramall said, “You took a risk coming here.”

“Getting up in the morning is a risk. Anything could happen.”

“Did you know Sanderson?”

“No,” Reacher said. “I was already out eight years before 2005.”

“Then what’s your interest?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Why not?”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“Try me.”

“I felt sad when I saw the ring. Simple as that. It wasn’t right.”

“You a West Pointer, too?”

“Long time ago.”

“Where’s your ring?”

“I didn’t buy one.”

Bramall pressed more buttons. Checked the call log, looked for old voicemails. Didn’t find any. He went to another menu and chose a keep-as-new option. The screen went back to announcing one new message, the way it was when Reacher found it. Deniability. Score one for the Bureau.

Bramall said, “Leaving dishes in his sink doesn’t mean much. Maybe he’s just a slob. Leaving the phone at home doesn’t necessarily mean much either. Probably doesn’t work in the hills. No signal. Right here he’s got a direct line of sight to the tower in Laramie. Maybe he never carries a phone with him.”

Reacher said, “Scorpio seems to have expected some kind of an instant response.”

“Do you believe the story about the bears and the mountain lions?”

“The sheriff has his doubts. He thinks maybe Porterfield was stabbed or gut shot and dumped in the woods to let nature take its course.”

“Maybe Billy did it. Maybe he took over from Porterfield by force. Like an armed coup. Now maybe someone else has done the same thing to Billy. Live by the sword, die by the sword. What goes around comes around.”

“I don’t care,” Reacher said. “I’m here to find Sanderson. That’s all.”

“Might not be a happy ending. Not if she traded her ring to a two-bit dope dealer. You might not like what you find.”

“Someone else might have stolen it. You said so yourself.”

“I sure hope so,” Bramall said. “Because sooner or later I’ll have to give the sister the news. And then give her my invoice. Sometimes that doesn’t go down so well.”

“How big of an invoice?”

“She has a house on the lake. She can afford it.”

“You worth it?”

“Usually.”

“So what’s your next move?”

“I think she’s close by. This feels like the end of the line. I think Billy is the final interface with the public. We’re down to one degree of separation. Either she gave the ring to him herself or a neighbor stole it and gave it to him.”

“Not bad for the FBI,” Reacher said. “Plus Billy drives the snowplow. He knows all the local roads. Ideal cover for getting around and supplying his customers. Never held up by the weather, either. But his retail territory must be huge. Like you said, two blocks is seventy miles out here. All the way to Sanderson’s childhood home, as a matter of fact. I assume you’ve already looked there?”

“The assumption is Sanderson won’t go back. Her sister was sure of it.”

“Why?”

“She didn’t explain. So knowing that, where would you start?”

“I could tell you, but then I’d have to bill you.”

Bramall said, “Did you park your car in the barn?”

Reacher said, “I don’t have a car.”

“Then how did you get all the way out here?”

“Hitchhiked and walked.”

“Suppose I let you ride in my truck?”

“That would be nice.”

“Suppose you shut up about a bill?”

“Deal,” Reacher said.

“So where?”

“What other information did the sister give you? Any names or places?”

“She says Sanderson was always very cagey. Maybe embarrassed, maybe upset. She never mentioned locations. She never said what she was doing. They could go three months without talking.”

“Is that usual for twins?”

“Twins are siblings, same as anyone else.”