and chubby. Sloop looked like a younger version of Bobby.
He heard the shower shut off and put the photograph back and closed the slider. Moved back to the sitting area. A moment later the bathroom door opened and Carmen came out in a cloud of steam. She was wrapped in two white towels, one around her body, the other bound like a turban around her hair. He looked at her and stayed quiet, unsure of what to say.
"Good morning," she said in the silence.
"To you, too," he said.
She unwrapped the turban and shook out her hair. It hung wet and straight.
"It isn't, though, is it?" she said. "A good morning? It's a bad morning."
"I guess," he said.
"He could be walking out the gate, this exact minute."
He checked his watch. It was almost seven.
"Any time now," he said.
"Use the shower if you want," she said. "I have to go and see to Ellie."
"O.K."
He stepped into the bathroom. It was huge, and made out of some kind of reconstituted marble with gold tones in it. It looked like a place he'd once stayed, in Vegas. He used the John and rinsed his mouth at the sink and stripped off his stale clothes and stepped into the shower stall. It was enclosed with bronze-tinted glass and it was enormous. There was a shower head the size of a hubcap above him, and tall pipes in each corner with additional water jets pointing directly at him. He turned the faucet and a huge roaring started up. Then a deluge of warm water hit him from all sides. It was like standing under Niagara Falls. The side jets started pulsing hot and cold and he couldn't hear himself think. He washed as quickly as he could and soaped his hair and rinsed off and shut it all down.
He took a fresh towel from a stack and dried off as well as he could in the humidity. Wrapped the towel around him and stepped back into the dressing area. Carmen was buttoning her shirt. It was white, and she had white pants on. Gold jewelry. Her skin looked dark against it and her hair was glossy and already curling in the heat.
"That was quick," she said.
"Hell of a shower," he said.
"Sloop chose it," she said. "I hate it. There's so much water, I can hardly breathe in there."
She slid her closet shut and twisted left and right to examine her reflection in the mirrored doors.
"You look good," he said.
"Do I look Mexican enough?" she asked. "With the white clothes?"
He said nothing.
"No jeans today," she said. "I'm sick of trying to look like I was born a cowgirl in Amarillo."
"You look good," he said again.
"Seven hours," she said. "Six and a half, if Hack drives fast."
He nodded. "I'm going to find Bobby."
She stretched tall and kissed him on the cheek.
"Thanks for staying," she said. "It helped me."
He said nothing.
"Join us for breakfast," she said. "Twenty minutes."
Then she walked slowly out of the room, on her way to wake her daughter.
Reacher dressed and found a different way back into the house. The whole place was a warren. He came out through a living room he hadn't seen before and into the foyer with the mirror and the rifles. He opened the front door and stepped out on the porch. It was already hot. The sun was coming from low on his right, and it was casting harsh early shadows. The shadows made the yard look pocked and lumpy.
He walked down to the barn and went in the door. The heat and the smell were as bad as ever, and the horses were awake and restless. But they were clean. They had water. Their feed troughs had been filled. He found Bobby asleep in an unoccupied stall, on a bed of clean straw.
"Rise and shine, little brother," he called.
Bobby stirred and sat up, confused as to where he was, and why. Then he remembered, and went tense with resentment. His clothes were dirty and hay stalks clung to him all over.
"Sleep well?" Reacher asked.
"They'll be back soon," Bobby said. "Then what do you think is going to happen?"
Reacher smiled. "You mean, am I going to tell them I made you clean out the barn and sleep in the straw?"
"You couldn't tell them."
"No, I guess I couldn't," Reacher said. "So are you going to tell them?"
Bobby said nothing. Reacher smiled again.
"No, I didn't think you would," he said. "So stay in here until noontime, then I'll let you in the