The Sentinel (Jack Reacher #25) - Lee Child Page 0,43

in cars. He wasn’t sure about dogs. But the risks Reacher was worried about were different ones, anyway. He wasn’t concerned about overheating or dehydration or the vehicle getting stolen with Rutherford strapped inside it. He was thinking about the odds of a guy like Marty passing by. Spotting Rutherford. Pulling out a burner phone. Summoning the cavalry. Or of Detective Goodyear recognizing his friend’s car and starting in with questions that Reacher wasn’t ready to answer. Not yet. Which was the whole point of his being there. Risk versus reward. The opportunity to test a theory. To join some vital dots. Or to find out he was wrong.

Either way, just as valuable.

Either way, better to hurry.

Officer Rule was still behind the counter when Reacher got to the basement. She looked up from a form she was working on and Reacher swore he saw her eyes brighten when she spotted him. Or perhaps he just hoped they did.

‘Mr Reacher,’ she said. ‘Any luck finding Rusty Rutherford?’

‘False alarm,’ Reacher said. ‘Turns out he’s fine. I could use your help with something else, though.’

Officer Rule folded her arms. ‘Who’s missing this time?’

‘No one. It’s about a recent case. A murder. A journalist who was found cut into pieces. I read about it in the paper. I need to know one thing. When the parts of her body were dumped, were they stuffed into suitcases?’

All traces of good humour disappeared from Officer Rule’s face. ‘That’s an awful case. I can’t discuss it. You know that. Detective Goodyear’s handling it. You can ask him. But he won’t tell you either.’

‘Is he here?’

‘Not right now.’

‘I only have the one question. It’s a yes or no answer. Please?’

‘You know I can’t.’

‘Would you if you could?’

‘Maybe.’

‘Then how about a trade? I scratch your back. You scratch mine.’

Officer Rule paused. ‘What have you got?’

‘There’s a woman who works at the diner opposite Rutherford’s building. Holly. She has a boyfriend—’

‘Who’s an air thief she’s so embarrassed about she won’t even admit he exists to her co-workers?’ Officer Rule shook her head. ‘They know anyway, of course. Makeup can only cover so many bruises. But if you’re trying to tempt me with a domestic violence beef, you can forget it. I’ve been down that road with Holly before. It goes nowhere. She won’t cooperate.’

‘What if you could put an end to the domestic violence without needing Holly’s help? And put a major feather in your cap at the same time.’

‘How could I do that?’

‘How long has the boyfriend been on the scene?’

‘A couple of years, at least.’ Officer Rule frowned. ‘I don’t know exactly when he showed up. I’m just going by when I first saw bruises and started asking questions.’

‘Did you run the guy’s name through the computer?’

‘Of course. He came back clean.’

‘Are you sure it was his real name?’

Officer Rule shrugged.

‘Did you run his prints?’ Reacher said.

‘No. I couldn’t arrest him. Holly wouldn’t press charges and there was no other evidence it was him who hit her.’

‘Has he been arrested for anything else in the last couple of weeks? Since the computers have been locked down?’

‘I don’t know. Without the computers it’s not as easy to keep up with who’s doing what as it normally is. Why?’

‘I think you should check,’ Reacher said. ‘I think you’ll find he was arrested recently. And I think there’s another reason Holly keeps him secret.’

‘Like what?’

‘Could you do some digging and find out if he gave you his real name? And if he has any aliases?’

‘Maybe. If I had a good reason to.’

‘Do you have any friends you could call in other police departments? Ones with working computers who could run whatever names you find?’

‘Maybe. If you tell me why.’

‘The guy who gave me a ride into town yesterday is an insurance agent. He’s here to negotiate the ransom that needs to be paid so that you can get your computers back up. Holly saw me get out of his car. Then she eavesdropped on my conversation with Rutherford at the diner and got the wrong end of the stick. She thought I worked for the insurance company too, which is why she called in those goons to tell me to back off. The question is, why would she do that? Who could benefit from keeping the computers offline?’

Officer Rule frowned. Then blinked. Then her smile returned brighter than ever. ‘Someone who’s wanted in another jurisdiction.’

‘I’d go one further,’ Reacher said. ‘I’d guess someone wanted in another jurisdiction for something serious. Something