Echo Burning

working.”
    “Your wife?”
    “She’s in Houston, visiting.”
    “So it’s just you and the maid today?”
    “Why do you ask?” He was impatient and puzzled, but polite, like people are when you’re about to give them a million dollars.
    “I’m a banker,” Reacher said. “I have to ask.”
    “Tell me about the stock,” Brewer said.
    “There is no stock. I lied about that.”
    Brewer looked surprised. Then disappointed. Then irritated.
    “Then why are you here?” he asked.
    “It’s a technique we use,” Reacher said. “I’m really a loan officer. A person needs to borrow money, maybe he doesn’t want his domestic staff to know.”
    “But I don’t need to borrow money, Mr. Hayes.”
    “You sure about that?”
    “Very.”
    “That’s not what we heard.”
    “I’m a rich man. I lend. I don’t borrow.”
    “Really? We heard you had problems meeting your obligations.”
    Brewer made the connection slowly. Shock traveled through his body to his face. He stiffened and grew redder and glanced down at the shape of the gun in Reacher’s pocket, like he was seeing it for the first time. Then he put his hand down to the table and came back with a small silver bell. He shook it hard and it made a small tinkling sound.
    “Maria!” he called, shaking the bell. “Maria!”
    The maid came out of the same door Reacher had used. She walked soundlessly along the boards of the balcony.
    “Call the police,” Brewer ordered. “Dial 911. I want this man arrested.”
    She hesitated.
    “Go ahead,” Reacher said. “Make the call.”
    She ducked past them and into the room directly behind Brewer’s chair. It was some kind of a private study, dark and masculine. Reacher heard the sound of a phone being picked up. Then the sound of rapid clicking, as she tried to make it work.
    “The phones are out,” she called.
    “Go wait downstairs,” Reacher called back.
    “What do you want?” Brewer asked.
    “I want you to meet your legal obligation.”
    “You’re not a banker.”
    “That’s a triumph of deduction.”
    “So what are you?”
    “A guy who wants a check,” Reacher said. “For twenty thousand dollars.”
    “You represent those . . . people?”
    He started to stand up. Reacher put his arm out straight and shoved him back in his chair, hard enough to hurt.
    “Sit still,” he said.
    “Why are you doing this?”
    “Because I’m a compassionate guy,” Reacher said. “That’s why. There’s a family in trouble here. They’re going to be upset and worried all winter long. Disaster staring them in the face. Never knowing which day is going to bring everythingcrashing down around them. I don’t like to see people living that way, whoever they are.”
    “They don’t like it, they should get back to Mexico, where they belong.”
    Reacher glanced at him, surprised.
    “I’m not talking about them,” he said. “I’m talking about you . Your family.”
    “My family?”
    Reacher nodded. “I stay mad at you, they’ll all suffer. A car wreck here, a mugging there. You might fall down the stairs, break your leg. Or your wife might. The house might catch on fire. Lots of accidents, one after the other. You’ll never know when the next one is coming. It’ll drive you crazy.”
    “You couldn’t get away with it.”
    “I’m getting away with it right now. I could start today. With you.”
    Brewer said nothing.
    “Give me that pitcher,” Reacher said.
    Brewer hesitated a moment. Then he picked it up and held it out, like an automaton. Reacher took it. It was fancy crystal with a cut pattern, maybe Waterford, maybe imported all the way from Ireland. It held a quart and probably cost a thousand bucks. He balanced it on his palm and sniffed its contents. Lemonade. Then he tossed it over the edge of the balcony. Yellow liquid arced out through the air and a second later there was a loud crash from the patio below.
    “Oops,” he said.
    “I’ll have you arrested,” Brewer said. “That’s criminal damage.”
    “Maybe I’ll start with one of your sons,” Reacher said. “Pick one out at random and throw him off the balcony, just like that.”
    “I’ll have you arrested,” Brewer said again.
    “Why? According to you, what the legal system says doesn’t matter. Or does that only apply to you? Maybe you think you’re something special.”
    Brewer said nothing. Reacher stood up and picked up his chair and threw it over the rail. It crashed and splintered on the stone