Finlay turned his head awkwardly. Jack swore he'd heard soone secretly swallowing.
"Have our reinforcents been confird?" Reacher quickly finished his plate of food, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
"Probably. Hannah said she'd give a surprise; apparently, a new friend has joined."
Jack maliciously left a large grilled rib for last, deliberately moving closer to Finlay, crunching the bone loudly.
"That's enough, or he might bite you." Reacher, unable to bear it any longer, surprisingly ca to the black detective's rescue. Jack stared wide-eyed innocently; how did these two suddenly beco so close?
"Let's get going. After dealing with those guys, I want to see Joe as soon as possible." Reacher stood up, signaling Jack to stop dawdling.
"I thought you two brothers were quite estranged. How long has it been since you last contacted each other? You don't even know what your brother is doing."
Jack gathered up the trash on the table and dumped it into the nearby bin. The custom here was quite interesting; guests always cleaned up after themselves.
"Is there a problem? I used to be in the army, reporting for duty every day, always on ti. Now I'm leaving, wanting to see this country in my own way, without any ties." Reacher raised an eyebrow.
"Your lifestyle isn't healthy. Wandering the world with just a toothbrush and a few hundred dollars, holess. Everyone needs a job, a goal."
Finlay finally finished the disgusting-looking spinach salad, helped clean it up, and even thoughtfully ordered so takeout for Roscoe and the Hubble family.
"My Western Union account receives my retirent pay every month. Is your goal just to waste your ti in this remote southern town?" Reacher retorted.
Finlay was speechless and could only change the subject, asking, "What do we do next? Go straight to Paul Hubble's house? It seems no one is following us."
"It's us, not you. We'll wander around town and let the troublemakers follow us. You should go back to the police station. Roscoe isn't here; we need an informant," Jack said.
"Alright, you guys can vent your energy all you want. I'm going to be the dog under Tiller's authority, getting played like a fool." Finlay deflated like a punctured balloon, looking listless.
"Don't be like that, you have a lot of tasks to do," Jack comforted him.
"The identity of the deceased under that overpass should be out by now. You need to go to the morgue and get the relevant information. Also, you need to verify your two n."
"You an Baker and Stevenson? Is that necessary?" Finlay asked, sowhat puzzled.
"If they're all corrupt cops, fine, but what if soone's innocent? Do you think Kleiner's n, having suffered losses at our hands, might target innocent people?"
"I have a feeling that young Kleiner's killing of your forr chief, Morrison, might not have been at his father's behest. It was too high-profile; that doesn't seem like the style of soone who's been quietly operating in Margrave for over a decade."
Finlay nodded in agreent. "Indeed, alright, I'll do my best. I'm inclined to believe Stevenson is innocent; his concern for the Hubble family seems genuine."
"Anyway, you need to be careful yourself. We don't want to co back tomorrow looking for your head, pinned to the wall."
Jack finished speaking and drove off, taking a short trip around town. Reacher even bought two boxes of .44 Magnum ammunition at a gun shop.
As dusk approached and they confird they were being followed, the two leisurely got back into the car and drove towards the Paul Hubble family's address.
"I think we're thinking a bit wrong. If we want to know who's involved, we can just check their bank accounts."
Looking at the luxurious villa and the Bentley Bentayga parked outside, Jack rembered seeing Paul's wife pick him up in a Jaguar.
"Then let's check. You were right before; it's hard to say they won't target innocent people."
Reacher jumped out of the car, his gaze sweeping into the distance where three cars were parked, one of which was the black rcedes they had seen before.
"Pretty arrogant, huh? Completely unafraid of being discovered." Jack rang the doorbell, and they were greeted by Roscoe, a tense woman holding a gun.
"Hey, are you alright?" Seeing the bruise on Reacher's lip, Roscoe reached out and touched his cheek with concern.
"He's fine, just careless." Jack made a joke, then showed off the takeout bag in his hand.
"I brought you so food. Is everything packed?"
Perhaps hearing the noise, a serene, well-maintained blonde woman entered the living room and looked at the two who had just entered.
"Are you Mr. Tavelor and Mr. Reacher?"
"Charlie, right? Just call us Jack and Reacher, it's fine." Jack handed over the food he had just packed from the barbecue restaurant.
"Hurry up and eat sothing, we'll leave as soon as it gets dark."
"Thank you, Paul told about you when he got ho. It's all thanks to the two of you protecting him in prison."
Charlie called the two little girls, about seven or eight years old, out to eat, while she watched from the side, looking worried.
Jack gestured to Roscoe to watch the two children, and the three of them went to the kitchen next door to talk.
"When did Paul go missing?" Reacher asked.
"Yesterday after he ca ho, he said he had to et with so people to settle so bank matters, and then he went out. I woke up this morning and found that he hadn't co ho. His phone was forwarded to voicemail, and then I heard that sothing happened to Chief Morrison's family. I was very scared."
The blonde woman choked up and quickly covered her mouth with her hand, afraid that the two children outside would hear.
"Paul and I have been together since our freshman year at the University of Georgia. He's never stayed out all night, not even once. I knew sothing must have happened to him, so I imdiately called Stevenson."
"So, you know about Paul. He must have told you sothing, which is why you were so scared when you heard about the Morrison family incident."
Reacher keenly sensed sothing was amiss.
Charlie looked sowhat panicked, her gaze involuntarily avoiding his eyes.
Jack nudged the big guy, indicating that now was not the ti to pursue these matters.
"Mrs. Hubble," he addressed her more seriously.
"If I'm not mistaken, Paul is just hiding. If it was Kleiner's n who did it, they would have kidnapped you and the children to threaten him as well; that's their style."
"But you're in danger now too. We plan to take you to Atlanta, where our friends can help protect you and the children." Charlie nodded repeatedly, tears welling in her eyes. "Roscoe told that, as long as the children are safe, I'll tell you everything I know."
[A/n: Man the last five chapters(including this) were the most easy one's to edit and read, nothing exceptional in the story but nothing chingchong either. I an, I will edit countless chapters like this without any complaints over the MC trying to be passive and wanting to suck Reacher.]
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