Page 19 of In Too Deep

“OK. Sounds good. Let me have that again.”

Hannah May stepped away and was back a minute later with a mug of coffee. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep them coming.”

The food arrived after another ten minutes. Reacher picked up his fork, then said, “Tell me about this place. I heard a bunch of crazy houses were built somewhere nearby in the seventies.”

Hannah May shrugged. “Guess so. Some fancy architect trying to lure people away from New York and places like that back when crime in the cities was out of control.”

“Did it work?”

“I couldn’t say. I don’t know much about real estate. I know that there are people living in one of them.”

“What kind of people?”

“I don’t know. But when you drive past the place, sometimes there are SUVs parked outside. Pickup trucks. Box vans, a couple of times.”

“And the other houses? Anyone living in those?”

“You thinking of buying?”

Reacher smiled. “Absolutely not. Just interested.”

“Well, they were all vacant for a few years but I heard a couple have been bought. Maybe more. I don’t pay too much attention.”

“When did they get bought?”

Hannah May glanced up at the ceiling for a second. “I’m going to say, maybe January twenty-one. Around then. After the worst of the COVID madness, anyway.”

“Ever see the people who live in them?”

“I don’t know if people even do live in them. The lights are alwaysoff. No vehicles to be seen. They’re some kind of investment, I heard. Someone else said it’s to do with money laundering, but I don’t know about that. Is there anything else I can get you?”

“Not right now. But I’ll be back for breakfast.”

—

Vidic was waitingfor five minutes before Paris’s Land Rover pulled up alongside his Jeep. He had picked the meeting spot carefully. It was ten minutes from the place they had been summoned to by Fletcher—the cave—so it was convenient. And it was hidden from the road by a screen of dense trees, so it was discreet. If Fletcher had a helicopter Vidic would have worried. Or a drone. But as things were, he was confident they wouldn’t be seen.

Paris climbed down from her Defender and got into the Jeep’s passenger seat. She said, “What’s going on? Why does Fletcher want to see us?”

Vidic said, “Guess we’ll find out.”

“Why so late? And why at the cave? This doesn’t feel good.”

“Two possibilities, as I see it. One, Fletcher has found out about us and Bowery and he’s going to shoot us in the head.”

“Don’t joke about that.”

“Who’s joking? Or two, he’s cooking up something else.”

“Like what?”

“No idea. That’s why I wanted to talk before we see him.”

Paris was silent for a moment, then said, “What if there’s a third option? What if he’s found out about the report and he wants a piece of it? What would we do?”

“Shoot him in the head.”

“Ivan, this is serious. We’re looking at a fortune. We could easily give him a chunk and not even notice the difference.”

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