Never Go Back

you.’
    ‘Because you never saw me before? We’re talking a number of years here, maybe back before you were born.’
    ‘How well are you supposed to have known her?’
    ‘Well enough that we might recognize each other.’
    ‘Then you didn’t know her.’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘Why do you think I always eat in here?’
    ‘Because you like it?’
    ‘Because I get it for free. Because my mom works here. She’s right over there. She’s the blonde. You walked past her two times already and you didn’t bat an eye. And neither did she. You two never knew each other.’

SIXTY-TWO
    REACHER SLID ALONG the bench and craned around and took a look. The blonde waitress was busy, moving left, moving right, blowing an errant strand of hair out of an eye, wiping a palm on a hip, smiling, taking an order.
    He didn’t know her.
    He said, ‘Has she ever been to Korea?’
    The kid said, ‘That’s another weird question.’
    ‘How is it weird?’
    ‘It is if you know her.’
    ‘How so?’
    ‘Her whole stressed-out martyr shtick is based around how she’s never been out of Los Angeles County but one time in her life, when a boyfriend took her to Vegas but couldn’t pay for the hotel. She doesn’t even have a passport.’
    ‘Are you certain about that?’
    ‘That’s why she dyes her hair. This is Southern California. She has no papers.’
    ‘She doesn’t need papers.’
    ‘She’s an undocumented citizen. It takes a long time to explain.’
    ‘Is she doing OK?’
    ‘This isn’t the life she planned.’
    ‘Are you doing OK?’
    ‘I’m fine,’ the kid said. ‘Don’t worry about me.’
    Reacher said nothing, and Arthur came out of the blind spot behind his shoulder, and bent down and whispered in the kid’s ear, quietly, but his hard consonants made it clear what he was saying, which was: This lady and gentleman need to have a conference with another gentleman . Whereupon the kid jumped up, all aglow, perfectly happy to be displaced by a yet-more-senior agent even closer to the heart of the drama. Arthur moved back out of sight, and the kid hustled after him, and smooth as silk her vacated spot on the bench was immediately filled by a small solid figure sliding into place, neatly, elbows already on the table, and triumph in his face.
    Warrant Officer Pete Espin.
    Reacher looked at Turner, and Turner shook her head, which meant Espin had men in the coach, at least two, probably armed, and probably close by. Espin got comfortable on the bench, and then he cupped his hands, like he was reassembling a shuffled deck, and he said, ‘You’re not her daddy.’
    Reacher said, ‘Apparently.’
    ‘I checked, just for the fun of it. The State Department said Ms Dayton never had a passport. The DoD said she never entered Korea on any other kind of document. So I checked some more, and it turns out the lawyer is selling stuff on the internet. Any kind of document, saying anything you want it to say. At one of two price levels, either paper only, or plausible. In this type of case plausible means real women, real children, and a real Xerox of a real birth certificate. And this guy is not the only one. This is a thriving business. There’s a lot of inventory. You want a kid born on a certain date, you can take your pick.’
    ‘Who bought the affidavit?’
    ‘He gave his name as Romeo, but his money was good. Out of the Cayman Islands.’
    ‘When did Romeo buy it?’
    ‘The same morning Major Turner was arrested. It’s an instant service. You tell them the names and the places and the dates and they doctor the boilerplate. You can even upload text, if you want. The documents are done in a computer and they come by e-mail, and they look like photocopies. Candice Dayton was chosen because of her kid’s birthdate. The lawyer knew her as a waitress, from eating in here. She got a hundred bucks for signing her name. But the birthdate was dumb. Did you notice that? It was exactly halfway through your time at Red Cloud. As in, exactly. Which sounds like a guy looking at a calendar, not natural biology.’
    ‘Good point,’ Reacher said.
    ‘So you’re off the hook.’
    ‘But why was I ever on the hook? That’s the big question. You got an answer for me? Why did Romeo buy that affidavit?’
    Espin said nothing.
    ‘And who is Romeo really?’ Reacher asked.
    No answer.
    Turner said, ‘What happens next?’
    Espin said, ‘You’re under arrest.’
    ‘Is Reacher too?’
    ‘Affirmative.’
    ‘You need to