Killing Floor

Reacher thinks the air conditioners Sherman Stoller hauled for Kliner were part of a cover: the trucks brought units to Floridian ports and returned with counterfeit bills, so the cargo was never empty boxes. Reacher and Roscoe drive out of town to a motel. Reacher asks if she thinks Gray really killed himself, or if he was killed for what he knew. In the morning, they visit the medical examiner to review Gray’s autopsy results. Gray’s cause of death was hanging, but he reeked of alcohol and, according to Morrison, Teale and Morrison had taken him out drinking to blow off steam about a failed case. Roscoe calls the story “bullshit,” because she remembers Gray’s sober lifestyle and his intense dislike of Morrison and Teale. She and Reacher agree that Morrison, Teale, and likely a third man murdered Gray and made it look like a suicide. Afterwards, Morrison kept the exam results quiet and had Gray cremated immediately. Roscoe wonders why Morrison hired Finlay, since Finlay is even smarter than Gray. Reacher shares what Finlay said about failing his interview; they hired Finlay because they thought he was an idiot. At the stationhouse, Finlay says Picard wants Roscoe to join Charlene and the kids at the safe house, since he risks losing his job the longer he is with them. Roscoe agrees, and Picard soon comes by to pick her up.

Reacher drives to Atlanta to buy camouflage clothing and supplies for staking out the warehouse. He also drops Hubble’s Bentley off to get the windows tinted and takes a loaner from the lot so he can be more anonymous in Margrave. Reacher finds a secluded spot overlooking the warehouse and sings quietly to himself to pass the time. When he finishes “Rambling on My Mind,” a song for wanderers, someone applauds him. Reacher sees a man emerge from the brush. He is dirty and skittish, and Reacher sees the man’s duffel bag has a faded military rank printed on it. Reacher apologizes for being in the man’s spot, but the man says he has been there a month already and plans to move on. Reacher asks the man if he saw what happened the night Joe and Sherman Stoller were murdered. The stranger claims two men in a black truck parked just before two other men in a white car arrived. The men from the truck shot the men from the car, one of whom crawled up the hill. The stranger tried to help him, but he died. Reacher thinks over the stranger’s story and realizes the men in the white car must have been Joe and Sherman Stoller, since Stoller’s body was found on the hillside. Reacher gives the stranger some food and a few $100 bills, and he wanders away. An hour later, Reacher sees two trucks come into the compound, load up at the warehouse, and drive north. When the next truck arrives, Reacher decides to follow it. Eight hours later, the truck stops for the night. Kliner’s son is the driver. While Kliner’s son is asleep in the motel, Reacher climbs on top of the truck and uses Morrison’s switchblade to cut the fiberglass roof panel. He looks inside—the truck is empty.

Reacher speeds back to Margrave to see Finlay. At the stationhouse, Reacher and Teale exchange harsh words, but nothing comes of their confrontation. Finlay says Roscoe will stay at Picard’s safe house another day, which slightly disappoints Reacher. Finlay relays news that Sherman Stoller’s ex, Judy, left Atlanta after Reacher and Roscoe visited, and the house was completely burned down earlier that evening. The Princeton professor whose initials were on Joe’s notes was also killed outside his house in New Jersey. His research assistant said the professor discovered something, but he did not share what. Reacher and Finlay agree that since the truck he followed was empty, they may have to reconsider their original theory. They now think Kliner’s trucks are bringing bills to the warehouse to build the stockpile, rather than shipping bills out to clients in the states. The air conditioner boxes were full of counterfeit money delivered to the port in Florida and shipped out of the country. When news broke about the Coast Guard’s impending blockade, Kliner built a stockpile in his warehouse. Rather than the last bit of the stockpile being in there until Sunday, the entire amount is.

Reacher calls the Columbia University professor listed in Joe’s notes. The assistant who answers says the professor, Kevin Kelstein, cannot come to the phone because he is supposed to meet with two detectives from Atlanta. She says the detectives are Hispanic men, and Reacher realizes they are likely the same assassins he already encountered. He tells the assistant to get Professor Kelstein to the campus security office by any means necessary and avoid the phony detectives at all costs. Reacher confers with Finlay, and they realize the assassins somehow got Kelstein’s name from Joe’s list. Finlay recalls Baker copying the list for him, and Reacher realizes Baker is part of Kliner’s scam.