"I got you these," she said. "From the linen closet in the bathroom. You're going to need them. I didn't know if you would realize where they were. "
He stopped at the head of the stairs, one foot inside the room, the other foot still on the last tread.
"Carmen, this is crazy," he said. "You should get out, right now. They're going to realize I'm a phony. I'm not going to last a day. I might not even be here on Monday. "
"I've been thinking," she said. "All the way through supper. "
"About what?"
"About Al Eugene. Suppose it's about whoever Sloop is going to rat out? Suppose they woke up and took some action? Suppose they grabbed Al to stop the deal?"
"Can't be. Why would they wait? They'd have done it a month ago. "
"Yes, but suppose everybody thought it was. "
He stepped all the way into the room.
"I don't follow," he said, although he did.
"Suppose you made Sloop disappear," she said. "The exact same way somebody made Al disappear. They'd think it was all connected somehow. They wouldn't suspect you. You'd be totally in the clear. "
He shook his head. "We've been through this. I'm not an assassin. "
She went quiet. Looked down at the sheets in her lap and began picking at a seam. The sheets were frayed and old. Cast-offs from the big house, Reacher thought. Maybe Rusty and her dead husband had slept under those same sheets. Maybe Bobby had. Maybe Sloop had. Maybe Sloop and Carmen, together.
"You should just get out, right now," he said again.
"I can't. "
"You should stay somewhere inside of Texas, just temporarily. Fight it, legally. You'd get custody, in the circumstances. "
"I don't have any money. It could cost a hundred thousand dollars. "
"Carmen, you have to do something. "
She nodded.
"I know what I'm going to do," she said. "I'm going to take a beating, Monday night. Then Tuesday morning, I'm going to come find you, wherever you are. Then you'll see, and maybe you'll change your mind. "
He said nothing. She angled her face up into the fading light from the high windows. Her hair tumbled back on her shoulders.
"Take a good look," she said. "Come close. "
He stepped nearer.
"I'll be all bruised," she said. "Maybe my nose will be broken. Maybe my lips will be split. Maybe I'll have teeth missing. "
He said nothing.
"Touch my skin," she said. "Feel it. "
He put the back of his forefinger on her cheek. Her skin was soft and smooth, like warm silk. He traced the wide arch of her cheekbone.
"Remember this," she said. "Compare it to what you feel Tuesday morning. Maybe it'll change your mind. "
He took his finger away. Maybe it would change his mind. That was what she was counting on, and that was what he was afraid of. The difference between cold blood and hot blood. It was a big difference. For him, a crucial difference.
"Hold me," she said. "I can't remember how it feels to be held. " He sat down next to her and took her in his arms. She slid hers around his waist and buried her head in his chest. "I'm scared," she said.
They sat like that for twenty minutes. Maybe thirty. Reacher lost all track of time. She was warm and fragrant, breathing steadily. Then she pulled away and stood up, with a bleak expression on her face.
"I have to go find Ellie," she said. "It's her bedtime. "
"She's in the barn. She showed me how to put all that crap on the horse. "
She nodded. "She's a good kid. "
"That's for sure," he said. "Saved my bacon. "
She handed the sheets to him.
"You want to come riding tomorrow?" she asked.
"I don't know how. "
"I'll teach you. "
"Could be a long process. "
"It can't be. We have to get up on the mesa. "
"Why?"
She looked away.
"Something you have to teach me," she said. "In case Tuesday doesn't change your mind. I need to know how to work my gun properly. "
He said nothing.
"You can't deny me the right to defend myself," she said. He said nothing. She went quietly down the stairs, leaving him sitting on the bed holding the folded sheets on his knees, exactly like he had found her.
He made up his bed. The old sheets were thin and worn, which he figured was O. K. , in the circumstances. The temperature was still somewhere in the high nineties. Middle of the night, it might cool off to eighty-five. He wasn't going to be looking for a lot of warmth.
He went back down the stairs and stepped outside. Looking east, there was a black horizon. He stepped around the bunkhouse corner and faced the sunset in the west. It flamed against the red buildings. He stood still and watched it happen. This far south, the sun would drop away pretty quickly. Like a giant red ball. It flared briefly against the rim of the mesa and then disappeared and the sky lit up red above it.
He heard the sound of footsteps in the dust ahead of him. Squinted into the sunset glare and saw Ellie walking down toward him. Little short steps, stiff arms, the blue halter dress specked with pieces of straw. Her hair was lit from behind and glowed red and gold like an angel.
"I came to say good night," she said.
He remembered times in the past, being entertained in family quarters on a base somewhere, the melancholy notes of taps sounding faintly in the distance, polite army kids saying a formal farewell to their fathers' brother officers. He remembered it well. You shook their little hands, and off they went. He smiled at her.
"O. K. , good night, Ellie," he said.
"I like you," she said.
"Well, I like you, too," he said.
"Are you hot?"
"Very. "
"There'll be a storm soon. "
"Everybody tells me that. "
"I'm glad you're my mommy's friend. "
He said nothing. Just put out his hand. She looked at it.
"You're supposed to give me a good-night kiss," she said.
"Am I?"
"Of course you are. "
"O. K. ," he said.
Her face was about level with his thigh. He started to bend down.
"No, pick me up," she said.
She held up her arms, more or less vertical. He paused a beat and then swung her in the air and settled her in the crook of his elbow. Kissed her cheek, gently.
"Good night," he said again.
"Carry me," she said. "I'm tired. "
He carried her past the corrals, past the horse barn, across the yard to the house. Carmen was waiting on the porch, leaning on a column, watching them approach.
"There you are," she said.
"Mommy, I want Mr. Reacher to come in and say good night," Ellie said.
"Well, I don't know if he can. "
"I only work here," Reacher said. "I don't live here. "
"Nobody will know," Ellie said. "Come in through the kitchen. There's only the maid in there. She works here, too. And she's allowed in the house. "
Carmen stood there, unsure.
"Mommy, please," Ellie said.
"Maybe if we al
l go in together," Carmen said.
"Through the kitchen," Ellie said. Then she changed her voice to a fierce whisper that was probably louder than talking. "We don't want the Greers to see us. "
Then she giggled, and rocked in Reacher's arms, and ducked her face down into his neck. Carmen glanced at him, a question in her face. He shrugged back. What's the worst thing can happen? He lowered Ellie to the ground and she took her mother's hand. They walked together to the kitchen door and Carmen pushed it open.
* * *