Jack Reacher 01 - Killing Floor

bullshit story.”
    “No,” I said. “He didn’t see me up there. That part was the bullshit story. But he was up there himself. He saw Joe.”
    “He did?” Finlay said. “How do you know that?”
    “First time he saw me was Friday, right?” I said. “In the office? He was staring at me like he’d seen me before, but he couldn’t place where. That was because he’d seen Joe. He noticed a resemblance. Hubble said the same thing. He said I reminded him of his investigator.”
    “So Morrison was there?” Finlay said. “Was he the shooter?”
    “Can’t figure it that way,” I said. “Joe was a reasonably smart guy. He wouldn’t let a fat idiot like Morrison shoot him. The shooter must have been somebody else. I can’t figure Morrison for the maniac, either. That much physical exertion would have dropped him with a heart attack. I think he was the third guy. The clean-up guy. But he didn’t search Joe’s shoes. And because of that, Hubble got hauled in. That got somebody mad. It meant they had to waste Hubble, so Morrison was wasted as a punishment.”
    “Some punishment,” Finlay said.
    “Also a message,” I said. “So think about it.”
    “Think about what?” he said. “Wasn’t a message for me.”
    “So who was it a message for?” I said.
    “Who is any such message for?” he said. “The next guy in line, right?”
    I nodded.
    “See why I was worried who was going to be the next chief?” I said.
    Finlay dropped his head again and stared at the sidewalk.
    “Christ,” he said. “You think the next chief will be in the scam?”
    “Got to be,” I said. “Why would they have Morrison inside? Not for his wonderful personality, right? They had him inside because they need the chief on board. Because that’s useful to them in some particular way. So they wouldn’t waste Morrison unless they had a replacement ready. And whoever it is, we’re looking at a very dangerous guy. He’ll be going in there with Morrison’s example staring him in the face. Somebody will have just whispered to him: see what we did to Morrison? That’s what we’ll do to you if you screw up the way he did.”
    “So who is it?” Finlay said. “Who’s going to be the new chief?”
    “That’s what I was asking you,” I said.

    WE SAT QUIET ON THE BENCH OUTSIDE THE BARBERSHOP FOR a moment. Enjoyed the sun creeping in under the edge of the striped awning.
    “It’s you, me and Roscoe,” I said. “Right now, the only safe thing is to assume everybody else is involved.”
    “Why Roscoe?” he said.
    “Lots of reasons,” I said. “But mainly because she worked hard to get me out of Warburton. Morrison wanted me in there as a fall guy for Thursday night, right? So if Roscoe was inside the scam, she’d have left me in there. But she got me out. She pulled in the exact opposite direction from Morrison. So if he was bent, she isn’t.”
    He looked at me. Grunted.
    “Only three of us?” he said. “You’re a cautious guy, Reacher.”
    “You bet your ass I’m a cautious guy, Finlay,” I said. “People are getting killed here. One of them was my only brother.”
    We stood up from the bench on the sidewalk. Across the street, the Kliner kid killed his motor and got out of the pickup. Started walking slowly over. Finlay rubbed his face with his hands, like he was washing without water.
    “So what now?” he said.
    “You got things to do,” I said. “You need to get Roscoe on one side and fill her in with the details, OK? Tell her to take a lot of care. Then you need to make some calls and find out from Washington what Joe was doing down here.”
    “OK,” Finlay said. “What about you?”
    I nodded across at the Kliner kid.
    “I’m going to have a talk with this guy,” I said. “He keeps looking at me.”
    Two things happened as the Kliner kid came near. First, Finlay left in a hurry. He just strode off north without another word. Second, I heard the barbershop blinds coming down in the window behind me. I glanced around. There could have been nobody else on the planet except for me and the Kliner kid.
    Up close, the kid was an interesting study. He was no lightweight. Probably six-two, maybe one ninety, shot through with some kind of a restless energy. There was a lot of intelligence in his eyes, but there was also some kind of an eerie light burning in there. His eyes told me this probably wasn’t the most rational character I was ever going to meet in my whole life. He came close and