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Chapter 1
Jack Reacher and Michelle Chang spent three days in Milwaukee On the fourth one Reacher came back to the room with coffee and found a note on his pillow He had seen such notes before They all said the sa’s note was indirect And ant than most Not in terms of presentation It was a ballpoint scrawl on ant in terms of expression She had used a siize all at once She had written, “You’re like New York City I love to visit, but I could never live there”
He did what he always did He let her go He understood No apology required He couldn’t live anywhere His whole life was a visit Who could put up with that? He drank his coffee, and then hers, and took his toothbrush froh a knot of streets, left and right, toward the bus depot She would be in a taxi, he guessed To the airport She had a gold card and a cell phone
At the depot he did what he always did He bought a ticket for the first bus out, noWhich turned out to be an end-of-the-line place way north and west, on the shore of Lake Superior Funda direction Colder, not warmer But rules were rules, so he climbed aboard He sat and watched out theWisconsin flashed by, its hayfields baled and stubbly, its pastures worn, its trees dark and heavy It was the end of summer
It was the end of several things She had asked the usual questions Which were really stateuise She could understand a year Absolutely A kid who grew up on bases overseas, and was then deployed to bases overseas, with nothing in between except four years at West Point, which wasn’t exactly known as a leisure-heavy institution, then obviously such a guy was going to take a year to travel and see the sights before he settled down Maybe two years But not y
All said with concern, and no judg deal Just a two-e was clear As clear as suchabout denial He asked, denial of what? He didn’t secretly think his life was a problem
That proves it, she said
So he got on the bus to the end-of-the-line place, and he would have ridden it all the way, because rules were rules, except he took a stroll at the second co in a pawn shop
The second comfort stop came late in the day, and it was on the sad side of a sovernment Or some minor part of it Maybe the county police department was headquartered there There was a jail in town That was clear Reacher could see bail bond offices, and a pawn shop Full service, right there, side by side on a run-down street beyond the restroom block
He was stiff fro He scanned the street beyond the restroo toward it No real reason Just strolling Just loosening up As he got closer he counted the guitars in the pawn shopSeven Sad stories, all of thes on country radio Drealass shelves loaded with s class rings All kinds of high schools Except one of them wasn’t One of them was West Point 2005
It was a handso It was a conventional shape, and a conventional style, with intricate gold filigree, and a black stone, lass, surrounded by an oval hoop that had West Point around the top, and 2005 around the bottom Old-style letters A classic approach Either respect for bygone days, or a lack of is Whatever they wanted An old tradition Or an old entitles had been the first class rings of all
It was a very s
Reacher wouldn’t have gotten it on any of his fingers Not even his left-hand pinky, not even past the nail Certainly not past the first knuckle It was tiny It was a woirlfriend or a fiancée That happened Like a tribute or a souvenir
But possibly not
Reacher opened the pawn shop door He stepped inside A guy at the register looked up He was a big bear of a man, scruffy and unkempt Maybe in hisfra in his eyes Certainly enough to perfect his response to his sudden six-five two-fifty visitor Driven purely by instinct The guy wasn’t afraid He had a loaded gun under the counter Unless he was an idiot Which he didn’t look All the saressive But he didn’t want to sound obsequious, either A matter of pride
So he said, “How’s it going?”
Not well, Reacher thought To be honest Chang would be back in Seattle by then Back in her life
But he said, “Can’t complain”
“Can I help you?”
“Show s”
The guy threaded the tray backward off the shelf He put it on the counter The West Point ring had rolled over, like a tiny golf ball Reacher picked it up It was engraved inside Which irlfriend Replicas were never engraved An old tradition No one knehy
Not a tribute, not a souvenir It was the real deal A cadet’s own ring, earned over four hard years Worn with pride Obviously If you weren’t proud of the place, you didn’t buy a ring It wasn’t compulsory
The engraving said SRS 2005
The bus blew its horn three tier short Reacher put the ring down and said, “Thank you,” and walked out of the store He hustled back past the restroom block and leaned in the door of the bus and said to the driver, “I’ here”
“No refunds”
“Not looking for one”
“You got a bag in the hold?”
“No bag”
“Have a nice day”
The guy pulled a lever and the door sucked shut in Reacher’s face The engine roared and the bus moved off without him He turned away from the diesel smoke and walked back toward the pawn shop
Chapter 2
The guy in the pawn shop was a little disgruntled to have to get the ring tray out again so soon after he had put it away But he did, and he placed it in the saain Reacher picked it up
He said, “Do you remember the woman who pawned this?”
“Hoould I?” the guy said “I got a s in here”
“You got records?”
“You a cop?”
“No,” Reacher said
“Everything in here is legal”
“I don’t care All I want is the na”
“Why?”
“We went to the same school”
“Where is that? Upstate?”
“East of here,” Reacher said
“You can’t be a classmate Not from 2005 No offense”
“None taken I was froeSo now I’ive it up”
The guy said, “What kind of a school was it?”
“They teach you practical things”
“Like a trade school?”
“More or less”
“Maybe she died in an accident”
“Maybe she did,” Reacher said Or not in an accident, he thought There had been Iraq, and there had been Afghanistan:2005 had been a tough year to graduate He said, “But I would like to know for sure”
“Why?” the guy said again
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“I can’t tell you exactly”
“Is it an honor thing?”
“I guess it could be”
“Trade schools have that?”
“Some of them”
“There was no wo With a lot of other stuff”
“When?”
“About a o”