The guy held it under a desk lamp and put a loupe in his eye.
"Color, clarity, cut and carat," he said. "The four Cs. That's what we look for. "
He turned the stone left and right. It flashed in the light. He picked up a slip of stiff card that had circular holes punched through it. They started small and got bigger. He fitted the stone in the holes until he found one that fit exactly.
"Two and a quarter carats," he said. "Cut is real handsome. Color is good, maybe just on the yellow side of truly excellent. Clarity isn't flawless, but it's not very far off. This stone ain't bad. Not bad at all. How much do you want for it?"
"Whatever it's worth," Alice said.
"I could give you twenty," the guy said.
"Twenty what?"
"Thousand dollars," the guy said.
"Twenty thousand dollars?"
The guy put up his hands, palms out, defensively.
"I know, I know," he said. "Someone probably told you it's worth more. And maybe it is, retail, some big fancy store, Dallas or somewhere. But this is Pecos, and you're selling, not buying. And I have to make my profit. "
"I'll think about it," Alice said.
"Twenty-five?" the guy said.
"Twenty-five thousand dollars?"
The guy nodded. "That's about as high as I can go, being fair to myself. I got to eat, after all. "
"Let me think about it," Alice said.
"Well, don't think too long," the guy said. "The market might change. And I'm the only game in town. Piece like this, it'll scare anybody else. "
They stopped together on the sidewalk right outside the store. Alice was holding the ring like it was red hot. Then she opened her pocketbook and put it in a zippered compartment. Used her fingertips to push it all the way down.
"Guy like that says twenty-five, it's got to be worth sixty," Reacher said. "Maybe more. Maybe a lot more. My guess is he's not the Better Business Bureaus poster boy. "
"A lot more than thirty dollars, anyway," Alice said. "A fake? Cubic zirconium? She's playing us for fools. "
He nodded, vaguely. He knew sh
e meant playing you for a fool. He knew she was too polite to say it.
"Let's go," he said.
They walked west through the heat, back to the cheap part of town, beyond the courthouse, next to the railroad tracks. It was about a mile, and they spent thirty minutes on it. It was too hot to hurry. He didn't speak the whole way. Just fought his usual interior battle about exactly when to give up on a lost cause.
He stopped her again at the door to the mission.
"I want to try one last thing," he said.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because I'm from the army," he said. "First we double-check, then we triple-check. "
She sighed. A little impatience there. "What do you want to do?"
"You need to drive me. "
"Where?"
"There's an eyewitness we can talk to. "
"An eyewitness? Where?"
"In school, down in Echo. "
"The kid?"
He nodded. "Ellie. She's sharp as a tack. "
"She's six years old. "
"If it was happening, I'll bet she knows. "
Alice stood completely still for a second. Then she glanced in through the windows. The place was crowded with customers. They looked listless from the heat and beaten down by life.
"It's not fair to them," she said. "I need to move on. "
"Just this one last thing. "
"I'll lend you the car again. You can go alone. "
He shook his head. "I need your opinion. You're the lawyer. And I won't get in the schoolhouse without you. You've got status. I haven't. "
"I can't do it. It'll take all day. "
"How long would it have taken to get the money from the rancher? How many billable hours?"
"We don't bill. "
"You know what I mean. "
She was quiet for a moment.
"O. K. ," she said. "A deal's a deal, I guess. "
"This is the last thing, I promise. "
"Why, exactly?" she asked.
* * *
They were in the yellow VW, heading south on the empty road out of Pecos. He recognized none of the landmarks. It had been dark when he came the other way in the back of the police cruiser.
"Because I was an investigator," he said.
"O. K. ," she said. "Investigators investigate. That, I can follow. But don't they stop investigating? I mean, ever? When they know already?"
"Investigators never know," he said. "They feel, and they guess. "
"I thought they dealt in facts. "
"Not really," he said. "I mean, eventually they do, I suppose. But ninety-nine percent of the time it's ninety-nine percent about what you feel. About people. A good investigator is a person with a feel for people. "
"Feeling doesn't change black into white. "
He nodded. "No, it doesn't. "
"Weren't you ever wrong before?"
"Of course I was. Lots of times. "
"But?"
"But I don't think I'm wrong now. "
"So why, exactly?" she asked again.
"Because I know things about people, Alice. "
"So do I," she said. "Like, I know Carmen Greer suckered you, too. "
He said nothing more. Just watched her drive, and locked at the view ahead. He could see mountains in the distance, where Carmen had chased the school bus. He had the FedEx packet on his knees. He fanned himself with it. Balanced it on his fingers. Turned it over and over, aimlessly. Stared down at the front and the back, at the orange and purple logo, at the label, at the meaningless little words all over it, sender, addressee, extremely urgent, commodity description, dimensions in inches, twelve-by-nine, weight in pounds, two-point-six, payment, recipient's contact information, overnight, no post office box number, shipper must check: this shipment does not contain dangerous goods. He shook his head and pitched it behind him, onto the backseat.
"She had no money with her," he said.
Alice said nothing back. Just drove on, piloting the tiny car fast and economically. He could feel her pitying him. It was suddenly coming off her in waves.
"What?" he said.
"We should turn around," she said. "This is a complete waste of time. "
"Why?"
"Because exactly what is Ellie going to tell us? I mean, I can follow your thinking. If Carmen really did get a broken arm, then she must have been wearing a plaster cast for six weeks. And Ellie's a smart kid, so she'll recall it. Same for the jaw thing. Broken jaw, you're all wired up for a spell. Certainly a kid would remember that. If any of this really happened, and if it happened recently enough that she can remember anything at all. "
"But?"
"But we know she was never in a cast. We know she never had her jaw wired. We've got her medical records, remember? They're right here in the car with us. Everything she ever went to the hospital for. Or do you think setting bones is a do-it-yourself activity? You think the blacksmith did it in the barn? So the very best Ellie can do is confirm what we already know. And most likely she won't remember anything anyway, because she's just a kid. So this trip is a double waste of time. "
"Let's do it anyway," he said. "We're halfway there already. She might recall something useful. And I want to see her again. She's a great kid. "
"I'm sure she is," Alice said. "But spare yourself, O. K. ? Because what are you going to do? Adopt her? She's the one with the raw end of this deal, so you might as well accept it and forget all about her. "
They didn't speak again until they arrived at the crossroads with the diner and the school and the gas station. Alice parked exactly where Carmen had and they got out together into the heat.
"I better come with you," Reacher said. "She knows me. We can bring her out and talk in the car. "
They went through the wire gate into the yard. Then through the main door into the schoolhouse itself, into the school smell. They were out again a minute later. Ellie Greer wasn't there, and she hadn't been there die day before, either.
"Understandable, I guess," Alice said. "Traumatic time for her. "
Reacher nodded. "So let's go. It's only another hour south. "
"Great," Alice said.
They got back in the VW and drove the next sixty miles of parched emptiness without talking. It took a little less than an hour, because Alice drove faster than Carmen had wanted to. Reacher recognized the landmarks. He saw the old oil field, on the distant horizon off to the left. Greer Three.
"It's coming up," he said.
Alice slowed. The red-painted picket fence replaced the wire and the gate swam into view through the haze. Alice braked and turned in under it. The small car bounced uncomfortably across the yard. She stopped it close to the bottom of the familiar porch steps and turned off the motor. The whole place was silent. No activity. But people were home, because all the cars were lined up in the vehicle barn. The white Cadillac was there, and the Jeep Cherokee, and the new pick-up, and the old pick-up. They were all crouched there in the shadows.
They got out of the car and stood for a second behind the open doors, like they offered protection from something. The air was very still, and hotter than ever. Easily a hundred and ten degrees, maybe more. He led her up the porch steps into the shadow of the roof and knocked on the door. It opened almost immediately. Rusty Greer was standing there. She was holding a . 22 rifle, one-handed. She stayed silent for a long moment, just looking him over. Then she spoke.
"It's you," she said. "I thought it might be Bobby. "
"You lost him?" Reacher said.