Gone Tomorrow

TWENTY-NINE

Right there in the Precinct lobby Jacob Mark talked for about five straight minutes, with the kind of rambling fluency that is typical of the truly anxious. He said that the USC football people had waited four hours and then called Peter’s father, who had called him. He said that for a star senior on a full scholarship to miss practice was completely unthinkable. In fact to make practice no matter what else was going on was a major part of the culture. Earthquakes, riots, wars, deaths in the family, mortal disease, everyone showed up. It emphasized to the world how important football was, and by implication how important the players were to the university. Because jocks were respected by most, but disrespected by some. And there was an unspoken mandate to live up to the majority’s ideals and change the minority’s minds. Then there were the straightforward machismo issues. To miss practice was like a firefighter declining a turn-out, like a hit-by-pitch batter rubbing his arm, like a gunslinger staying inside the saloon. Unthinkable. Unheard of. Doesn’t happen. Hangovers, broken bones, torn muscles, it didn’t matter. You showed up. Plus Peter was going to the NFL, and increasingly pro teams look for character. They’ve been burned too many times. So missing practice was the same thing as trashing his meal ticket. Inexplicable. Incomprehensible.

I listened without paying close attention. I was counting hours instead. Close to forty-eight since Susan Mark had missed her deadline. Why hadn’t Peter’s body been found?

Then Theresa Lee showed up with news.

But first Lee had to deal with Jacob Mark’s situation. She took us up to the second floor squad room and heard him out and asked, ‘Has Peter been officially reported missing?’

Jake said, ‘I want to do that right now.’

‘You can’t,’ Lee said. ‘At least, not to me. He’s missing in LA, not in New York.’

‘Susan was killed here.’

‘She committed suicide here.’

‘The USC people don’t take missing persons reports. And the LAPD won’t take it seriously. They don’t understand.’

‘Peter’s twenty-two years old. It’s not like he’s a child.’

‘He’s been missing more than five days.’

‘Duration isn’t significant. He doesn’t live at home. And who is to say he’s missing? Who is to say what his normal pattern might be? Presumably he goes for long periods without contact with his family.’

‘This is different.’

‘What’s your policy over there in Jersey?’

Jake didn’t answer.

Lee said, ‘He’s an independent adult. It’s like he got on a plane and went on vacation. It’s like his friends were at the airport and watched him go. I can see where the LAPD is coming from on this.’

‘But he missed football practice. That doesn’t happen.’

‘It just did, apparently.’

‘Susan was being threatened,’ Jake said.

‘By who?’

Jake looked at me. ‘Tell her, Reacher.’

I said, ‘Something to do with her job. There was a lot of leverage. Had to be. I think a threat against her son would be consistent.’

‘OK,’ Lee said. She looked around the squad room and found her partner, Docherty. He was working at one of a pair of twinned desks at the far end of the space. She looked back at Jake and said, ‘Go make a full report. Everything you know, and everything you think you know.’

Jake nodded gratefully and headed towards Docherty. I waited until he was gone and asked, ‘Are you reopening the file now?’

Lee said, ‘No. The file is closed and it’s staying closed. Because as it happens there’s nothing to worry about. But the guy’s a cop and we have to be courteous. And I want him out of the way for an hour.’

‘Why is there nothing to worry about?’

So she told me her news.

She said, ‘We know why Susan Mark came up here.’

‘How?’

‘We got a missing persons report,’ she said. ‘Apparently Susan was helping someone with an inquiry, and when she didn’t show, the individual concerned got worried and came in to report her missing.’

‘What kind of inquiry?’

‘Something personal, I think. I wasn’t here. The day guys said it all sounded innocent enough. And it must have been, really, or why else come to the police station?’

‘And Jacob Mark shouldn’t know this why?’

‘We need a lot more detail. And getting it will be easier without him there. He’s too involved. He’s a family member. He’ll scream and yell. I’ve seen it before.’

‘Who was the individual concerned?’

‘A foreign national briefly here in town for the purpose of conducting the research that Susan was helping with.’

‘Wait,’ I said. ‘Briefly here in town? Staying in a hotel?’

‘Yes,’ Lee said.

‘The Four Seasons?’

‘Yes,’ Lee said.

‘What’s his name?’

‘It’s a her, not a him,’ Lee said. ‘Her name is Lila Hoth.’