Page 29 of The Secret

“And?”

“And what? That’s everyone.”

“No. You’re missing one.”

“I’m not.”

“You are. Come on. Complete the set.”

“There’s no one else. I should know. I was there from the start.”

“Owen Buck told us there was.”

“Buck was crazy. He was paranoid. He was always going on about secrets and running to the authorities. But he never did. You know why? Because there was nothing to tell.”

“There was plenty to tell. He told us. We believed him. So now we want the name.”

“I don’t know any other name.”

“Last chance.”

“There’s no one else!”

“OK. If that’s how you want to play it.”

Veronica pushed Charlie’s legs higher until he slithered down and his hands touched the ground. Roberta stood and wrapped her arms around his knees. Veronica vaulted over the railing and tookhis right leg. Roberta kept hold of his left. She looked at her sister and mouthed,One, two, three. Then they heaved his legs forward, toward the ocean. The momentum carried him over the little ledge Roberta had been lying on and out, away from the cliff. He plunged down, cartwheeling and picking up speed and bouncing off the rocks until he hit the beach. He landed headfirst, drilling a couple of inches into the sand and snapping his neck clean in half.

—

Christopher Baglin openedthe meeting with the news of Michael Rymer’s drowning.

No one spoke after he had finished. The air in the room felt heavy. Gary Walsh stared out of the window. Amber Smith looked like she was angry. Kent Neilsen looked like he’d slept in a hedge and wasn’t sure how he came to be inside.

Baglin said, “The fact that another man was killed despite being kept under close observation shows the kind of threat we’re up against. So, I need names. Reacher, you first. What have you got?”

Reacher slid a piece of paper across the giant table. It had five names on it. Four of them came from the lists he had correlated in his office along the corridor. He had expected more, but that was all the data would support. There had been 3,798 officers and men in the Chemical Corps in 1969. Of those, 157 had kids who followed them into the army. And only one of those kids had been AWOL at the time of the murders, plus another three who had left the service.

Baglin said, “Confidence level?”

“Low to very low.”

Baglin nodded. “Smith?”

Smith handed over a page, folded in half. Baglin straightened itout and Reacher saw six names laid out in an orderly column. They were scrawled in the same jagged script he’d read at the hotel.

Smith said, “Due respect to the other people here, sir, but I believe their approach is wrong. My investigation suggests that we’re not dealing with one individual who has committed multiple murders. We’re dealing with a number of killers who work for the same organization. Same head, different hands. This explains the inconsistent MOs that are reflected in the crimes.”

Baglin sat a little straighter. “Interesting theory. And the organization?”

“These men are KGB lifers. Same game, different name.”

“Confidence level?”

“High to extremely high.”

“Good. They will be checked first. Now, Walsh?”

Walsh dragged his eyes away from the window and said, “Nothing from me.”

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