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The Hard Way

"Maybe she arranged a delivery," Gregory said.

"She could have done that on-line. No need to drag me out in the car."

"So maybe she was just browsing," Gregory said.

"Weird place to browse," Reacher said. "Who does that?"

"School is back soon," Groom said. "Maybe Jade needed stuff."

"In which case she’d have gone along," Reacher said. "Don’t you think? And she’d have bought something."

"Did she take something in?" Gregory asked. "Maybe she was returning something."

"She had her tote," Groom said. "It’s possible." Then he looked up, beyond Reacher’s shoulder. Edward Lane was back in the room. He was carrying a large leather duffel, and struggling with its bulk. Five million dollars, Reacher thought. So that’s what it looks like. Lane dropped the bag on the floor at the entrance to the foyer. It thumped down on the hardwood and settled like the carcass of a small fat animal.

"I need to see a picture of Jade," Reacher said.

"Why?" Lane asked.

"Because you want me to pretend I’m a cop. And pictures are the first things cops want to see."

"Bedroom," Lane said.

So Reacher fell in behind him and followed him to a bedroom. It was another tall square space, painted a chalky off-white, as serene as a monastery and as quiet as a tomb. There was a cherrywood king-sized bed with pencil posts at the corners. Matching tables at each side. A matching armoire that might have held a television set. A matching desk, with a chair standing in front of it and a framed photograph sitting on it. The photograph was a ten-by-eight, rectangular, set horizontal, not vertical, on the axis that photographers call landscape, not portrait. But it was a portrait. That was for sure. It was a portrait of two people. On the right was Kate Lane. It was the same shot as in the living room print. The same pose, the same eyes, the same developing smile. But the living room print had been cropped to exclude the object of her affection, which was her daughter Jade. Jade was on the left of the bedroom picture. Her pose was a mirror-image of her mother’s. They were about to look at each other, love in their eyes, smiles about to break out on their faces like they were sharing a private joke. In the picture Jade was maybe seven years old. She had long dark hair, slightly wavy, as fine as silk. She had green eyes and porcelain skin. She was a beautiful kid. It was a beautiful photograph.

"May I?" Reacher asked.

Lane nodded. Said nothing. Reacher picked the picture up and looked closer. The photographer had caught the bond between mother and child perfectly and completely. Quite apart from the similarity in appearance there was no doubt about their relationship. No doubt at all. They were mother and daughter. But they were also friends. They looked like they shared a lot. It was a great picture.

"Who took this?" Reacher asked.

"I found a guy downtown," Lane said. "Quite famous. Very expensive."

Reacher nodded. Whoever the guy was, he was worth his fee. Although the print quality wasn’t quite as good as the living room copy. The colors were a little less subtle and the contours of the faces were a little plastic. Maybe it was a machine print. Maybe Lane’s budget hadn’t run to a custom hand-print where his stepdaughter was concerned.

"Very nice," Reacher said. He put the photograph back on the desk, quietly. The room was totally silent. Reacher had once read that the Dakota was the most soundproof building in New York City. It had been built at the same time that Central Park was landscaped. The builder had packed three feet of excavated Central Park clay and mud between the floors and the ceilings. The walls were thick, too. All that mass made the building feel like it was carved from solid rock. Which must have been a good thing, Reacher figured, back when John Lennon lived here.

"OK?" Lane said. "Seen enough?"

"You mind if I check the desk?"

"Why?"

"It’s Kate’s, right?"

"Yes, it is."

"So it’s what the cops would do."

Lane shrugged and Reacher started with the bottom drawers. The left-hand drawer held boxes of stationery and notepaper and cards engraved simply with the name Kate Lane. The right-hand drawer was fitted with file hangers and the contents related exclusively to Jade’s education. She was enrolled at a private school nine blocks north of the apartment. It was an expensive school, judging by the bills and the canceled checks. The checks were all drawn on Kate Lane’s personal account. The upper drawers held pens and pencils, envelopes, stamps, self-stick return address labels, a checkbook. And credit card receipts. But nothing very significant. Nothing recent. Nothing from Staples, for instance.

The center drawer at the top held nothing but two American passports, one for Kate and one for Jade.

"Who is Jade’s father?" Reacher asked.

"Does it matter?"

"It might. If this was a straightforward abduction, we’d definitely have to look at him. Estranged parents are who usually snatch kids."

"But this is a kidnap for ransom. And it’s Kate they’re talking about. Jade was just there by chance."

"Abductions can be disguised. And her father would need to clothe and feed her. And send her to school. He might want money."

"He’s dead," Lane said. "He died of stomach cancer when Jade was three."

"Who was he?"

"He owned a jewelry store. Kate ran it for a year, afterward. Not very well. She had been a model. But that’s where I met her. In the store. I was buying a watch."

"Any other relatives? Possessive grandparents, aunts, uncles?"

"Nobody that I ever met. Therefore nobody that saw Jade in the last several years. Therefore nobody you could really describe as possessive."

Reacher closed the center drawer. Straightened the photograph and turned around.

"Closet?" he said.

Lane pointed at one of a pair of narrow white doors. Behind it was a closet, large for a New York City apartment, small for anyplace else. It had a pull chain for a light. Inside were racks of women’s clothes and shoes. Fragrance in the air. There was a jacket neatly folded on the floor. Ready for the dry cleaner, Reacher thought. He picked it up. There was a Bloomingdale’s label in it. He checked the pockets. Nothing in them.

"What was she wearing when she went out?" he asked.

"I’m not sure," Lane said.

"Who would know?"

"We all left before her," Lane said. "I don’t think anyone was still here. Except Taylor."

Reacher closed the closet door and stepped away to the armoire. It had double doors at the top and drawers below. One of the drawers held jewelry. One was full of miscellaneous junk like paper packets of spare buttons from new garments and discarded pocket change. One was full of lacy underwear. Bras, panties, all of them either white or black.

"May I see Jade’s room?" Reacher asked.

Lane led him through a short interior hallway. Jade’s room was all pale pastels and kid stuff. Furry bears, china dolls, toys, games. A low bed. Pajamas folded on the pillow. A nightlight still burning. A low desk covered in drawings done with wax crayons on butcher paper. A small chair, neatly tucked in.

Nothing that meant anything to a military cop.

"I’m done," Reacher said. "I’m very sorry to intrude."

He followed Lane back to the living room. The leather bag was still there on the floor, near the foyer. Gregory and the five other soldiers were still in their places, still quiet and pensive.

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