Page 52 of Exit Strategy
‘So the police wouldn’t connect her with the crime.’
‘Then why not just take the one sheet that mentioned her name? She didn’t need the whole file.’
‘Maybe she was worried that if the police investigated, someone would give her up.’
‘Who would? The only people who knew about her were Martin and Weaver. They’re both dead. And she knew that for a fact because she killed them.’
‘Two murders,’ Patten said. ‘You know, actually that’s been bothering me as well. Doesn’t it seem … disproportionate, if all she was trying to do was extricate herself from a scheme she’d been blackmailed into in the first place? If the robbery happened and she got arrested, she could claim extenuating circumstances. That’s what I was planning to do if the shit hit the fan.’
Gilmour said, ‘Kasselwood is more proactive than you, I guess. Or maybe she’s a sociopath. She was in therapy, after all.’
‘So were you. So was I. We’re not sociopaths. At least, I’m not.’ Patten breathed out slowly, then she said, ‘Here’s another thing. You figured she took the phone to send the bogus messages and stop the robbery from happening. If there was no robbery, there was no crime to connect her with. No harm, no foul.’
Gilmour slumped back down. ‘Maybe she was extra cautious. Maybe she wasn’t thinking straight. It’s easy for us to be wise here, now. Yesterday she was in the thick of it. Or maybe her plan evolved. She went to Weaver’s to get the file. She wouldn’t have known she was only mentioned on one page. She took it because that’s what she’d programmed herself to do. Then the opportunity to take the phone came up after that, like an afterthought. A bonus. She didn’t like the idea of a gang of thieves and blackmailers getting away with a bunch of loot, so she stopped them.’
Reacher said, ‘Taking the whole file still bothers me. Sodo the bogus messages. If she really wanted to stop the robbery, wouldn’t it be better if the robbers got caught, too? Wouldn’t she take the one page to keep herself out of trouble, because with Martin and Weaver out of the picture, nothing else could connect her, then leave the rest of the file? No. Draw attention to it. Leave it out on the desk. Stick it on the wall. Staple it to Weaver’s cold, dead forehead. Anything to make sure the police found it and acted on it.’
Gilmour rubbed his eyes. ‘So why do you think she took it?’
‘To make sure the police didn’t find out about the robbery. So they couldn’t stop it.’
‘You think she wants the robbery to go ahead?’
‘I do.’
‘Why?’
‘There’s only one shipment coming in, but who says there’s only one thief trying to steal it? Maybe it’s one shipment, two thieves?’
Patten said, ‘Kasselwood was workingagainstWeaver’s people? Notwiththem?’
Reacher nodded. ‘That’s what I’m thinking.’
Gilmour said, ‘Two thieves. Sounds like a big coincidence.’
‘Not at all. If word got out that you had a million dollars in cash under your mattress, burglars would be lined up around the block.’
‘If word got out. This is a CIA shipment we’re talking about.’
‘Other people are involved. You told me that. The agent who filed the special forms. CBP personnel.Dockworkers. There’s plenty of scope for cash to loosen someone’s tongue.’
Gilmour sat up. ‘So Weaver bought some information about the shipment and sold it to whoever he was texting my updates to. And he sold the same information to Kasselwood as well? I guess Dr Martin could have picked Kasselwood as a mark, based on stuff that came out in therapy. But how was Weaver communicating with Kasselwood? He’d need to send her updates, like he did with the other guy. There’d need to be another phone, and there wasn’t one. And there was no record of any messages from him to her, even in the online accounts.’
Reacher shook his head. ‘Not if it worked the other way around. If Kasselwood came up with the original plan. If she let it slip to Martin. If she fed it to Weaver. And if Weaver sold it to someone else.’
‘If you were planning a crime, would you really tell a shrink?’
‘You told her about your situation. Names. Numbers. Enough to get you dragged in over your head. And you only saw her twice.’
No one spoke for a moment, then Patten cleared her throat. ‘Personally, from my experience, I would say there’s nothing a person could keep secret from Dr Martin once she got a hint of it, however hard they tried. You wouldn’t believe what I confided in her. And what did you find in the files yesterday? Judges admitting they were pedophiles. Businessmen admitting they were perverts. Clearly people aren’t tight-lipped around her. And another thing. It could all depend on why she was seeing the doctor in the first place. What if the planned crimewas tangential? Like if she was in therapy because she went off the rails as a kid after she got abused or something. Then she’d have less reason to keep any future plans out of the discussion. Actually, scratchtangential. The plan could be central to whatever was going on with her. It could be her road to redemption.’
Gilmour stifled a yawn. ‘I guess.’
Reacher said, ‘Okay. Kasselwood could have let information slip to Dr Martin, or she could have bought it from Dr Martin. But either way, how can we find out if she had a job at the port?’
Patten said, ‘Wait here.’ She hopped out of the chair, left the room, and came back a minute later carrying a laptop. ‘I have remote access. Some of us still work from home occasionally, post Covid.’ She opened the computer and waited for it to connect. She typed and clicked and scrolled, then checked the screen. She shook her head. ‘Nope. No Kasselwoods on the payroll. Never have been.’
Reacher said, ‘Can you search by her address?’
