'How many times has Seth hit you?'
'A thousand, maybe.'
'That's good. Not from your point of view, of course.'
'But good from the point of view of your own clear conscience?'
'Something like that.'
She said, 'Have at Seth all you like. All day, every day. Beat him to a pulp. Break every bone in his body. Be my guest. I mean it.'
'Why do you stay?'
'I don't know,' she said. 'Whole books have been written on that subject. I've read most of them. Ultimately, where else would I go?'
'Anywhere else.'
'It's not that simple. It never is.'
'Why not?'
'Trust me, OK?'
'So what happened?'
She said, 'Four days ago two men showed up here. They had East Coast accents. They were kind of Italian. They were wearing expensive suits and cashmere overcoats. Seth took them into his den. I didn't hear any of the discussion. But I knew we were in trouble. There was a real animal stink in the house. After twenty minutes they all trooped out. Seth was looking sheepish. One of the men said their instructions were to hurt Seth, but Seth had bargained it down to hurting me. At first I thought I was going to be raped in front of my husband. That was what the atmosphere was like. The animal stink. But, no. Seth held me in front of him and they took turns hitting me. Once each. Nose, and then mouth. Then yesterday evening they came back and did all the same things over again. Then Seth went out for a steak. That's what happened.'
'I'm very sorry,' Reacher said.
'So am I.'
'Seth didn't tell you who they were? Or what they wanted?'
'No. Seth tells me nothing.'
'Any ideas?'
'They were investors,' she said. 'I mean, they were here on behalf of investors. That's the only sense I can make out of it.'
'Duncan Transportation has investors?'
'I suppose so. I imagine it's not a wonderfully profitable business. Gas is very expensive right now, isn't it? Or diesel, or whatever it is they use. And it's wintertime, which must hurt their cash flow. There's nothing to haul. Although, really, what do I know? Except that they're always complaining about something. And I see on the news that apparently ordinary banks are difficult right now, for small businesses. So maybe they had to find a loan through unconventional sources.'
'Very unconventional,' Reacher said. 'But if this is all about some financial issue with Duncan Transportation, why are those guys looking for me?'
'Are they looking for you?'
'Yes,' the doctor said. 'They are. They were at my house this morning. They hit me four times and threatened to do much worse to my wife. And all they ever asked was where Reacher was. It was the same at the motel, apparently. Mr Vincent was visited. And Dorothy, the woman who works for him. His housekeeper.'
'That's awful,' Eleanor said. 'Is she OK?'
'She survived.'
'Is your wife OK?'
'A little shaken.'
'I can't explain it,' Eleanor said. 'I know nothing about Seth's business.'
Reacher asked, 'Do you know anything about Seth himself?'
'Like what?'
'Like who he is, and where he came from.'
'Do you guys want a drink?'
'No, thank you,' Reacher said. 'Tell me where Seth came from.'
'That old question? He's adopted, like a lot of people.'
'Where from?'
'He doesn't know, and I don't think his father knows for sure, either. It was some kind of charity network. There was a degree of anonymity involved.'
'No stories at all?'
'None.'
'Doesn't Seth remember anything? People say he was ready for kindergarten when he got here. He should have some memories of where he was before.'
'He won't talk about it.'
'What about the missing girl?'
'That other old question? Lord knows I'm not blind to Seth's faults, or his family's, but as I understand it they were cleared after an investigation by a federal agency. Isn't that good enough for people?'
'You weren't here at the time?'
'No, I grew up in Illinois. Just outside of Chicago. Seth was twenty-two when I met him. I was trying to be a journalist. The only job I could find was at a paper out of Lincoln. I was doing a story about corn prices, of course. That's all that was in that paper, that and college sports. Seth was the new CEO of Duncan Transportation. I interviewed him for the story. Then we had a cocktail. At first, I was bowled over. Later, not so much.'
'Are you going to be OK?'
'Are you? With two tough guys looking for you?'
'I'm leaving,' Reacher said. 'Heading south and then east, to Virginia. You want to ride along? You could hit the Interstate and never come back.'
Eleanor Duncan said, 'No.'
'You sure?'
'I am.'
'Then I can't help you.'
'You helped me already. More than I can say. You broke his nose. I was so happy.'
Reacher said, 'You should come with me. You should get the hell out. It's crazy to stay, talking like that. Feeling like that.'
'I'll outlast him,' the woman said. 'That's my mission, I think, to outlast them all.'
Reacher said nothing more. He just looked around the kitchen, at the stuff she would inherit if she succeeded in outlasting them all. There was a lot of stuff, all of it expensive and high quality, a lot of it Italian, some of it German, some of it American. Including a Cadillac key in a glass bowl.
'Is that Seth's key?' Reacher asked.
Eleanor said, 'Yes, it is.'
'Does he keep his car gassed up?'
'Usually. Why?'
'I'm going to steal it,' Reacher said.
TWENTY-SIX
REACHER SAID, 'I'VE GOT AT LEAST AN HOUR'S DRIVE AHEAD OF ME. I could use something more comfortable than a truck. And the doctor should keep the truck, anyway. He might need it around here. For his job.'
Eleanor Duncan said, 'You won't get away with it. You'll be driving a stolen car straight through where the county police are based.'
'They won't know it's stolen. Not if Seth doesn't tell them.'
'But he will.'
'Tell him not to. Tell him if he does, I'll come back here and break his arms. Tell him to keep quiet and pick it up tomorrow. I'll leave it somewhere along the way.'
'He won't listen.'
'He will.'
'He doesn't listen to anyone.'
'He listens to those two out-of-towners.'
'Because he's scared of them.'
'He's scared of me, too. He's scared of everybody. Believe me, that's how Seth is.'
Nobody spoke. Reacher took the Cadillac key from the bowl, and gave the pick-up key to the doctor, and headed for the door.
Seth Duncan was at his father's kitchen table, opposite the old man himself, elbow to elbow with his uncle Jonas on one side and his uncle Jasper on the other. The four men were still and subdued, because they weren't alone in the room. Roberto Cassano was there, leaning on the sink, and Angelo Mancini was there, leaning on the door. Cassano had made a point of smoothing his shirt into the waistband of his pants, even though it was already immaculate, and Mancini had opened his coat and pressed the heels of his hands into the small of his back, as if it was aching from driving, but really both men's gestures had been designed to show off their pistols in their shoulder holsters. The pistols were Colt Double Eagles. Stainless steel semi-automatics. A matched pair. The Duncans had seen the weapons and gotten the point, and so they were sitting quiet and saying nothing.
Cassano said, 'Tell me again. Explain it to me. Convince me. How is this stranger disrupting the shipment?'
Jacob Duncan said, 'Do I tell your boss how to run his business?'
'I guess not.'
'Because it's his business. Presumably it has a thousand subtleties that I don't fully understand. So I stay well out of it.'
'And Mr Rossi stays well out of your business. Until he gets inconvenienced.'
'He's welcome to find an alternative source.'
'I'm sure he will. But right now there's a live contract.'