Reacher (2022) s01e01 Episode Script
Welcome to Margrave
1
- [INSECTS CHIRRING.]
- [OWL HOOTING.]
- [TWO SILENCED GUNSHOTS.]
- [BODY THUDS.]
- [SILENCED GUNSHOT.]
- [MAN GRUNTS.]
[BODY THUDS.]
[MAN GRUNTING.]
[THUNDER CRACKS.]
[HOWLIN' WOLF: "SMOKESTACK LIGHTNING".]
Ah-oh, smokestack lightnin' Shinin' just like gold Why don't you hear me cryin'? Whoo-hoo Whoo-hoo Whoo Whoa-oh, tell me, baby What's the matter with you - [ENTRY BELL JINGLES.]
- I'm sorry.
- I'm not good at math.
- That was like a 40% tip! [WOMAN.]
I messed up, okay? How am I supposed to get ahead when you're wasting my goddamn money? Just get your ass in the van.
The hell you want, asshole? I'm talking to you, stupid.
Whoa-oh, tell me, baby Why did you stay last night? Why don't you hear me cryin' Listen, man, I'm just having a bad day.
Whoo-hoo Won't happen again.
Whoo [WAITRESS.]
Coffee black and peach pie.
Best you're gonna find in Georgia.
- [BELL DINGS.]
- [NEWSCAST PLAYING QUIETLY.]
- [DISHES CLINKING.]
- [CASH REGISTER PRINTING.]
is canceling their enhanced drug enforcement efforts off the Eastern Seaboard.
Sources say the program, which began a year ago Whoa-oh, stop your train - [SIRENS WAILING.]
- Let a poor boy ride Why don't you hear me cryin'? Whoo-hoo Whoo-hoo - [LAUGHS.]
- Whoo [PLAYFUL CHATTER.]
Whoa-oh, fare you well [DOOR OPENS.]
- Police! - [DISHES CRASH.]
Police! Don't move! [BAKER.]
Don't move, don't move, don't move! Why don't you hear me cryin' Now, you're gonna slide out from behind that booth, nice and slow.
Do it now! Slow! Hands.
Whoa-oh Hands behind your head.
Hands behind your head! Interlock your fingers! Interlock your fingers! Turn around.
Face the window! Dessert's gonna have to wait.
You're under arrest for murder.
- [SONG FADES.]
- [VEHICLE PASSES.]
Come on.
You can move faster than that.
[ROSCOE.]
Sir? If you step over here, I can process you.
I'm not asking, sir.
I'm telling.
But don't worry, I won't kick your ass unless you make me.
Thank you.
All right, I'll be doing your intake.
So, first things first, what is your name? Sasquatch don't talk.
Had a passport on him, though.
Jack Reacher.
- No middle name.
- Zip ties? Cuffs didn't fit him.
No stamps.
Newer than January 1st.
You planning on leaving the country? Everything else he was carrying.
- What's that about, 200? - Two-twelve.
This looks like some kind of foreign deal.
[ROSCOE.]
World War II medal.
French.
[MORRISON.]
No one moves around holding just this.
Where you keeping the rest of your shit? You got a friend in town? Girl? What the hell are you doing in my town? Don't want to talk? Maybe we put you in the holding cell, get you to change your mind.
And how exactly would you do that? Explain to him his constitutional rights under the Fifth and 14th Amendments, then hope he waives them of his own free will? Yep.
No need.
I've got it from here.
Take him to the conference room.
I'll be in in a moment.
- [QUIETLY.]
Beantown bitch.
- [DOOR CLOSES.]
Mr.
Reacher, I'm Chief Detective Oscar Finlay.
I'll be asking you some questions.
I was informed you were read your rights, so you know you don't have to answer.
Hmm.
Body was found by the highway embankment, near an overpass, partially covered by flattened-out cardboard boxes.
Two nine-millimeter, 95-grain, close-range shots to the back of the head.
No casings found.
Victim was male, 30s, big guy.
He was beaten badly postmortem.
No I.
D.
yet.
Problem getting prints off the body's swollen fingertips.
You know who this man was? How he wound up dead? Anything you want to share besides your riveting company? Okay, then.
Well, I'm not about to waste the rest of my afternoon.
Maybe your court-appointed attorney will get you to open up.
I don't need a lawyer.
He speaks.
When he wants to.
And why don't you need a lawyer? Because I didn't kill anybody.
At least not recently.
And not in this town.
[SIGHS.]
This is kind of impossible.
- What's that? - This Reacher fella.
So far, run on his prints has been clean, but something can still turn up.
But there's no Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram.
No driver's license, mortgage, insurance claims.
No online profile at all.
The only proof Jack Reacher exists is the fact that he's sitting in that room.
[FINLAY.]
Jack Reacher.
Parents deceased.
One brother, Joe, older by two years.
Retired Army.
Commanded the 110th Special Investigations Unit of the Military Police.
Took out a few men in the course of your duties.
All ruled good kills.
What if I'm thinking I'm sitting across from a man who doesn't mind killing and who has the knowledge and training to murder someone and cover it up? You'd be right.
But not this murder.
Three men dropped this body.
Enlighten me.
Shooter was someone who knows firearms well.
Bullets were small caliber nine-millimeter, 95-grain.
That's subsonic.
A silencer was used.
He also knew enough to pick up his brass.
This wasn't a first-timer.
This was someone who knew how to conduct a quiet, effective kill.
- Okay, go on.
- You're also looking for a psycho who'd beat up a body postmortem, someone completely unhinged.
Totally different profile from your professional shooter.
Something wrong? No.
You said there were three.
Your psycho isn't suddenly gonna be rational enough to know he has to hide the body.
And your meticulous shooter isn't gonna do a sloppy job with roadside cardboard.
No, the third guy is so worried about getting out of there, he grabs some nearby debris and just lays it across the corpse.
You said the victim was big, so most likely his feet were sticking out and that's how he got spotted.
Tall people never have enough room for their feet.
Interesting theory.
But you still match the description of someone seen walking the highway, earlier today, near where the body was found.
Well, that's 'cause it was me.
I got off the bus from Tampa and walked to town.
Greyhound doesn't have a stop in Margrave.
I never said it did.
You just said you got off in Margrave.
I asked the driver to do me a favor.
- Why? - On account of Blind Blake.
- Okay.
Who's that? - Blues singer.
Legend has it he died in Margrave a long time ago.
I figured I'd learn a bit about him.
I like music.
So you have no home, no phone.
You get on a bus in Tampa with $212, a toothbrush and a French war medal and travel over 500 miles to read up on a dead blues musician? That sum up your past 24 hours? No.
I also went to a diner, ordered peach pie and never got to eat it 'cause I was arrested for murder.
[SIGHS.]
Okay.
Medical examiner puts the victim's time of death at around midnight last night.
This morning.
It's last night until 11:59 and 59 seconds, and then it becomes this morning.
In an investigation, details matter.
12:00 a.
m.
this morning is the time of death.
If I can confirm you were on a Greyhound bus at that time, you're cleared.
Until then, you're in the holding cell.
We're running down a phone number found in the dead guy's shoe.
It was on a scrap of paper with the word "Pluribus" written on it.
Want to clear that up, too, before we let you go? Know anything about that? Means I'm gonna be here for a while.
Phone companies are slow responding to warrants.
Too bad.
Law says we need a warrant.
Come on, you're in the hold.
[JOSEPHINE.]
Reacher, why does trouble always seem to find you? Mon dieu, Reacher! The whole moving truck could've burned down.
What were you thinking? You cannot pack fireworks.
[SIGHS.]
But they're from the Fourth of July.
- [SIGHS.]
- They're still good.
[GRUNTS.]
This is the last of it.
Okay, next transfer, I want half of the boxes.
I don't know how four people accumulate all of this.
Ma'am, yes, ma'am.
Okay.
Father and I will unpack.
You two, go and meet the base kids.
This is home now, hopefully for a while.
Go make friends.
[YOUNG REACHER.]
Think we'll like it here? School lessons will be the same.
Army-issued furniture will be the same.
It'll be just like Cameroon, Belgium and Spain.
You the new guys that just moved in today? Yeah.
This the way to the beach? Yeah.
But it's five bucks.
What's five bucks? From the looks of it, your jacket.
[LAUGHS.]
Yeah.
I'm big for my age.
Just like you're ugly for your age.
Let's just go home.
[GRUNTS.]
[PANTING.]
Okay.
[SIGHS.]
You don't have to do this.
It's my fight.
It's never just your fight.
You know, Mom was right.
Trouble does kind of seem to find you.
[INDISTINCT POLICE RADIO CHATTER.]
Thanks.
Been in here a while now.
Figured you could use a pick-me-up.
Not my fault.
Trouble just kind of seems to find me.
What I could really use is getting these ties off.
[ROSCOE.]
Chief Morrison says they stay on.
Assumed you liked it black.
How'd you figure? Seem like a no-nonsense guy.
Cream and sugar are nonsense.
So you know I'm innocent.
How do you figure? I doubt it's procedure to bring coffee to the guilty.
Well, if you are guilty of something, can't be much.
Preliminary run on your prints turned up nothing.
Bad guys set off bells and whistles right away.
Roscoe, we're taking a ride.
Got a hit on the phone number.
Sorry.
Ceramic.
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES.]
Thank you.
Sorry, Baker.
[FINLAY.]
So, Paul, when I called, I informed you your cell number was found at the situs of a crime.
You invited me over to chat but never asked what crime.
Found that strange.
Well, you scared the shit out of me.
- Hmm.
- [CHUCKLES.]
I wasn't thinking.
I just wanted to get you over here so we could talk.
- About what? - You tell me.
Murder.
You know anything about that? Unidentified male shot to death.
He was found with your number written on a paper scrap in his shoe.
I did it.
[CLEARS THROAT.]
I killed the guy.
It was me.
[ROSCOE.]
Mr.
Hubble, for your protection and ours, I'm going to record you getting your rights.
No, I-I know my rights.
I understand I don't have to talk or anything and that I get a lawyer and all that, but I did it, okay? I killed the guy, by the highway.
I was the one.
Okay, so this man you killed what was his name? I-I don't know.
You killed a man you don't know? Yeah, that's right.
It was, uh self-defense.
Okay, you said it took place by the highway.
Where exactly along the highway? I-I told you I did it, okay? I'm not about to rehash all the details.
You are my second annoying interrogation today.
So you expect me to believe that you, a man with no criminal record, that you just blew a man away? A double-barrel shotgun blast right to the face? And then burnt the body? Yes, I did.
And-and that's all I'm gonna say about it.
Your life's about to get very complicated, Mr.
Hubble.
[LOCK BEEPS, CELL DOOR OPENS.]
Get in.
Reacher, come with me.
No.
Excuse me? Not until you let these zip ties come off.
We both know I didn't kill anybody, and they're uncomfortable.
Get the box cutter.
[REACHER.]
That's okay.
I got it.
[SIGHS.]
[CLEARS THROAT.]
You guys recycle? Outside.
Uncuffed.
Treating me like a person instead of a perp.
I've done the same thing a million times when I want a suspect to trust me even when they shouldn't.
I have no ulterior motives, just information.
That other guy, Paul Hubble, banker.
Lives in Margrave, works in Atlanta.
No priors.
He just confessed to the murder.
Oh.
How nice.
- Thanks for the hospitality.
- Not so fast.
You want to run? Go for it.
But I doubt you're that fast or that bulletproof.
I was just cleared.
One guy lied about killing another guy.
- That doesn't clear you.
- Good town to murder in.
Even when you confess, nothing happens to you.
Oh, you saw Hubble.
He's a citizen.
He can't shoot pool let alone shoot a person.
He admitted to things that didn't even happen.
He just wants me to think he did it and not look into the matter any further.
You think I'm working with him.
Now that he's implicated himself, I'm worried he might implicate me.
So maybe I'll cut a deal and talk.
Maybe I'm just thinking the guy who was seen near the murder site, guilty or not, might still have information to share.
I don't.
But Stevenson does.
He and Hubble were looking at each other.
They looked at each other? They held eye contact for a full two Mississippis.
Stevenson and Hubble have cousins that married each other.
He's just worried about family.
It's more than that.
You always so confident in your theories? As confident as I am that you went to Harvard, you're recently divorced, and you quit smoking in the last six months.
How'd you come up with that? My friend back there, Baker, he called you a Beantown bitch.
And from all appearances, you're well-educated, but you took a job in the middle of nowhere with people that look nothing like you.
You're stubborn.
You have a chip on your shoulder.
You don't care if your coworkers like you.
A guy like that doesn't go to B.
U.
He goes to Harvard.
To show those blue-blood assholes what he's capable of.
Am I right? About going to Harvard? Yes.
You're also about 40, which means you did your 20 at Boston P.
D.
to get your pension, so you can afford a proper Southern suit, but you still look like Black Sherlock Holmes.
Means no woman in your life making sure you dress right.
Death or divorce.
At your age, divorce is a higher probability.
But you still wear the ring.
By the wear on it, you play with it, obsess over it.
Like I said, you're stubborn.
Still hoping to reconcile with the old lady.
- Her name's Sharon.
- As for the smoking, when I broke down the three murderers back there, you started to think you had the wrong guy.
Stressed you out.
The water in your glass moved a bit.
We're not on any major fault lines.
That means your leg was bouncing under the table.
That combined with the slight aroma of cigarettes in your suit 'cause it's hard to get out of tweed and I assume nicotine withdrawal.
Most studies show it takes four to six months to fully break a habit.
You keep up the good work, though.
Those things are killers.
[SIGHS.]
Back inside.
[PHONE RINGING.]
Follow me.
Stevenson, my office.
[INDISTINCT POLICE RADIO CHATTER.]
This man seems to think you know something about Hubble that you aren't sharing with me.
That true? Answer isn't on your shoes.
Uh, sir, there was a-a family party last night.
My, uh, grandparents, their anniversary, their 50th I don't care.
Right.
Well, Hubble and Charlie were there.
- Who's Charlie? - Charlene.
His wife.
We stayed late.
We danced with our wives.
Way past 2:00.
I drove them home.
[SCOFFS.]
I don't know why his number was in that guy's shoe, and I don't know why he confessed.
All I know is that at midnight, he was nowhere near that highway.
- Hubble into drugs? - No.
- He cheat on his wife? - No.
He's a family man.
Don't answer his questions.
He's not your boss.
- [STEVENSON.]
Right.
Sorry.
- Does he having money problems? I don't know what to do.
Just answer the question.
No.
He's rich.
Okay.
Get out of here.
[DOOR OPENS.]
Drugs, money, infidelity.
If Stevenson's right, we've eliminated the big three, which means the only way you'll know why Hubble confessed is if he tells you.
Yeah, well, maybe a weekend in lockup will motivate him.
Let me know what he says.
What the hell does that mean? You figured out I quit smoking but can't figure out what's happening right now? This is bullshit.
You have a confession.
I helped with the investigation.
You helped me? You seem to be confused about your role in this situation.
You are my detainee and suspect, not my partner or my equal.
And you're certainly not, by employment, appearance or lifestyle choice, a cop anymore.
Now, Chief Morrison wants you in custody till we know for sure that all six-foot-four of you was on that bus from Tampa.
Six-foot-five.
In an investigation, details matter.
Here's a detail for you.
We keep extra-large cuffs in our lockbox.
Inventory his watch and ring.
They'll steal them first five minutes he's in there.
It was nice talking to you.
Thanks.
For the watch thing.
Shut up.
You ruined my trip here.
[BRAKES SQUEAK, HISS.]
Jesus.
- My name's Officer Spivey.
- [THUNDER RUMBLING.]
Time to follow the yellow brick road, inmates.
Y'all be housed far away from the animal factory, till they can line up a weekend arraignment for you.
[THUNDER RUMBLING.]
All the fixings.
[INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER.]
Ain't no jumper gonna fit you, big boy.
But a Samoan fella come through here last year meth dealer had scrubs made up special.
Might be a little tight in the shoulders.
[SPITS.]
Whoa! Not so fast.
Drop them drawers, bend over and spread.
No.
Blanket strip search policies are unconstitutional unless there's clear articulable suspicion of criminal activity.
The victim I'm suspected of murdering was shot by a handgun that would measure four inches by six.
That weapon's not fitting inside me or any other human being without sending them to a hospital.
Since that's the only contraband related to this crime, your request is unlawful.
It's not like I want to do this.
Regulations say The only thing up my ass right now is you.
So if you think you can perform the inspection without getting seriously injured, go for it.
Otherwise, check the box on your clipboard.
[CELL DOOR BUZZES.]
Go on.
Mm-hmm.
Really sorry I got you into this.
- It wasn't my intention - Remember when I said "shut up" on the bus? Same rule goes for jail.
[BIRDS CHIRPING.]
[CELL DOOR BUZZES.]
[DOORS OPENING IN DISTANCE.]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER IN DISTANCE.]
[RAP MUSIC PLAYING IN DISTANCE.]
[RAP MUSIC CONTINUES IN DISTANCE.]
[RAP MUSIC AND CHATTER CONTINUE.]
- Well, that's not good.
- What's going on? We're not with guys awaiting arraignment.
- We're with the lifers.
- What do you mean, lifers? I mean people sentenced for life.
[RAP MUSIC AND CHATTER CONTINUE.]
[WHISTLING.]
If I were you, I'd be less worried about their sentences and more concerned with their swaps.
Swaps? Guys swapping smokes, desserts, TV time, all for first crack at you.
You're not a human in here.
You're currency.
So stop stressing and save your strength.
[SIGHS.]
Gonna need it.
There she is.
Whoo.
She pretty.
Look, she even got pretty little shoes on.
Give me them shoes, baby.
Come on, now.
You heard me.
Give me my shoes like a good little bitch.
I said give them to me.
Good girl.
I like them glasses, too.
Give me my glasses.
[HAWKS.]
Now there's just one more thing I want from you.
[BED CREAKING.]
[LAUGHS.]
Look at this redwood motherfucker.
What you want? [REACHER.]
To give you a choice.
See, you're in my house, fatso, and you didn't ask permission.
So you and your friends can leave now, or they can carry your fat ass out in a bucket.
Now I'll count to three.
Bitch, do you know who you talking to? One.
Two.
You owe us a pair of glasses.
Now get out of my cell.
[LOWPASS LUSHES FEATURING1 -STCLSS: "LINE 'EM UP".]
Line 'em up, line 'em up, your time is up Time is up, time is up, so line 'em up Line 'em up, line 'em up, your time is up Time is up, time is up, so line 'em up - Line 'em up - [INMATES CHATTERING.]
I'm not a ventriloquist.
Get off my lap.
I won't let anybody touch you.
[HUBBLE.]
Thank you.
You're the only thing keeping me alive in here.
[EXHALES SHARPLY.]
I'm in big trouble.
- No shit.
- I'm not a criminal.
A fucking currency manager.
They gave me no choice.
These guys, they forced me to help them with their financial scheme, okay? And I know everyone who's ever caught says they were forced into it, but I really was.
And the people I'm working for made it clear - if I jam them up - Then you'd be killed.
I wish that were all.
My bosses promised, if I disrupt their operation in any way, they'd [CHUCKLES.]
They'd nail me to a wall.
Literally.
In front of my family.
They'd cut my balls off and make me eat 'em.
Then they'd bleed me and my wife out slow so we'd die knowing our kids were left with those psychos, not knowing what would be done to them.
I'm gonna hit the head.
I'll go with you.
Figured as much.
[SHOWERS RUNNING.]
Him.
If you boys knew what's about to happen to you, you'd leave now.
So I'll give you to the count of three.
One.
[YELLS.]
[SCREAMS.]
[MAN OVER P.
A.
.]
Security team to gen pop shower four.
- Against the wall! Move! - [ALARM BUZZING.]
[GRUNTING.]
[GROANS.]
[SCREAMS.]
[YELLS.]
[SCREAMS.]
[ALARM CONTINUES BUZZING.]
What the hell are you two doing down here? Come on.
Let's go, before the warden sees.
Let's go! Let's go! [CELL DOOR BUZZES.]
My report says you were placed upstairs.
Why are you in gen pop? - That's where the guy put us.
- [DOOR BUZZES.]
Anyone asks, you've been here the whole time.
Understand? [DOOR CLOSES.]
[SIGHS.]
[HOWARD TATE: "GET IT WHILE YOU CAN".]
[SIGHS.]
In this world Where people Are fighting with each other Nobody to count on Not even your own brother So if someone comes along Who gives you genuine affection - Get it while you can - [LINE RINGING.]
Get it while you can [SHARON.]
Hi.
This is Sharon Finlay.
Leave a message, and I'll get you back.
- [BEEP.]
- Hey.
It's me.
Um I'm just, uh [SIGHS.]
I'm just dealing with a tough case alone in the middle of Georgia, and I just wish you would call me back.
Baby We may not be here tomorrow [KNOCK ON DOOR.]
- [FINLAY CLEARS THROAT.]
- [SONG STOPS.]
Uh, come in.
Boss.
Got Reacher's military record from D.
C.
You want to hear the back of his baseball card? I do.
West Point graduate.
Silver Star.
Defense Superior Service Medal.
Legion of Merit, Soldier's Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Bronze Star, a second Silver Star and a Purple Heart for wounds sustained in the bombing of a Marines barracks in Kandahar.
"Major Reacher ran into the inferno, carrying soldiers out two at a time.
Witnesses report six separate trips, confirming 12 were saved.
Major Reacher suffered severe smoke inhalation, but returned to active duty 32 hours later despite having shrapnel remains of a jawbone removed from his abdomen.
" - Want to hear his MP numbers? - No.
Over 150 closed cases, all successful prosecutions, more than 20 fugitives captured.
What in God's name is a guy like that doing in Margrave? What's a guy like that doing in jail? Hate to be the one who put him in there.
Get out of my office.
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES.]
[SIGHS.]
[OVER SPEAKERS.]
Wake up [JORDAN MAX: "LET ME DO MY THING".]
Wake up Get up Get up Wake up [HUBBLE.]
I been hoping a Beatles song would come on.
They soothe me.
Ever since Mama'd sing me "Rocky Raccoon" when I had a cold.
Let me do my thing Let me do my thing Yes, I felt Sorry if I woke you.
- It's okay.
- [MUSIC VOLUME DECREASES.]
[BIRDS CHIRPING.]
[HUBBLE.]
Came a while ago.
You-you can have mine.
I don't have an appetite.
Yes, I felt my pain Hmm, yeah [REACHER CLEARS THROAT.]
As I'm falling to sleep In hope that someone listens Pray the Lord hears me, innocent people going missing On the journey to the riches While we're standing, taking pictures You should eat.
You look like hell.
That's 'cause I saw you gouge a man's eyes out.
He started it.
Finding you a new replacement, nothing's wrong with me They might try to kill me as soon as I'm bailed out.
You important to their operation? Let me do my thing Yes, I felt my pain Real important.
Then you're probably okay.
But bodies are falling.
Means someone's getting nervous.
When that happens, things can change fast.
I'm more curious why whoever you work for wants me dead.
- What do you mean? - That guard from last night, Spivey, he set us up in gen pop.
He'd play it off like it was some kind of innocent mistake, but it was intentional.
Guys in the shower I.
D.
'd me as a person to take out.
Once I'm out of here, I'm gone, Something bad's going down in Margrave, and I don't need to be a part of it.
[GATE BUZZES.]
My wife should be here soon.
I don't give a shit.
Figured a guy with no money, I.
D.
or car could use a lift.
[ENGINE REVVING.]
- [REACHER.]
That's me.
- [ROSCOE.]
Greyhound confirmed that's their Tampa station two nights ago.
No way you could've been in Margrave in time to kill anyone.
Common carriers are notoriously difficult.
N-Nothing without a warrant.
How'd you get them to cooperate? Lied.
Said that we suspected one of their employees of using their buses to transport coke.
If they didn't cooperate, promised to pull a civil forfeiture on everything with wheels until our investigation was over.
Got that video within the hour.
So you cleared me, but how does the guy who confessed walk away? [SCOFFS.]
Well, everybody knows that Hubble's lying, so we're holding off on charges, hoping that a nervous guy like him just does something dumb that leads us to the truth or just cracks and spills what really went down.
Smart approach, Officer Roscoe.
Roscoe's actually my first name.
Never met a woman named Roscoe before.
Yeah, you did.
A day ago.
So what's your last name? Conklin.
Caught a love tap inside? I got set up.
- By who? - Some guard.
Just the errand boy.
But whoever he took orders from wanted me gone, and they're gonna get what they want.
I'm on the next bus out of here.
That's a shame.
[SCOFFS.]
I feel bad about the Margrave welcome wagon running you over.
I was gonna apologize with an early dinner, but if you're not sticking around Okay.
Great.
But I'm gonna need some new clothes first.
Lockup's made me a bit gamey.
Oh, we got a Merl's Men's Shop in town.
I don't need anything that fancy.
Just T-shirt and jeans.
I travel light.
[ROSCOE.]
You sure you don't want to get new threads? [REACHER.]
They'll be new to me.
[ROSCOE.]
I don't get it.
Don't you want a home base or something? Had a home base my whole life.
Grew up in the military, worked in the military.
Always told where to go, when to be there.
Now I see my country on my own terms.
What about money? Pension's wired to a Western Union each month.
Don't you miss your family? I guess so.
They're all dead.
Except for my brother Joe.
- He's a good guy.
- Where's he? No idea.
[ENTRY BELL JINGLES.]
[ROSCOE.]
So what really brought you to Margrave? Can't be some blues singer.
I don't lie to people who get me out of jail.
I'm here because of Blind Blake, but actually it's on account of Chauncey.
Who's Chauncey? A couple days ago, I go to Chauncey's Bar & Grill in Tampa.
Guy there was playing "Police Dog Blues" by Blind Blake.
I remembered a conversation I had with my brother Joe a while back.
Read some article about Blake, said he played his last show in Margrave, and that's where he died.
So I got on a bus.
So you just go wherever you want, whenever you want? Everyone's always jealous.
Well, yeah, that's, um an interesting approach to life.
Works for me.
So I'll check out the town for a while - and see you in a bit.
- Sounds good.
Now, don't go getting yourself arrested for murder again.
[MISSISSIPPI FRED MCDOWELL: "SHAKE 'EM ON DOWN".]
If you see my baby, Lordy, stand around You know we somewhere, baby, Lord, mama Shake 'em on down, Lordy, must I low If you come to my house, you don't find me around You know we somewhere, baby, Lord, mama Shake 'em on down Lordy, must I low [SONG CONTINUES QUIETLY OVER SPEAKERS.]
[MOSLEY.]
If you want a trim, you got to wait.
It's Mosley's meal time.
I was thinking a shave, Mr.
Mosley.
Blind alley cat can shave and eat.
Heard Mississippi Fred McDowell coming from your shop.
Thought a blues fan might be able to tell me a bit about Blind Blake's time in Margrave.
Huh.
Surprised a white man your age knows Fred McDowell.
More surprised you know Blind Blake, Mr.
Reacher.
Small town.
When a giant stranger gets arrested for murder, word gets around.
Course, Ms.
Roscoe cleared you, so I ain't scared of you none.
My age, I ain't scared of nothing much.
Yeah, me neither.
And everyone just calls me Reacher.
Even my mother did.
Well, back you go.
You know, my sister sang with Blake a few times back in the day.
He'd come through town each year, play the church or some barn in the sticks.
[CHUCKLES.]
- I heard he died here.
- That's the rumor.
People would come from all over town to hear it, even white folks.
[REACHER.]
One hell of a town it is.
Freshly painted gazebo.
Manicured flower beds.
Statue recently polished.
Got to think it's more than civic pride.
[CHUCKLES.]
That it is.
The Kliner Foundation takes care of Margrave.
Ever since Mr.
Kliner came to town about five years back from St.
Louis to set up his company right here.
What kind of company is that? [SCOFFS.]
You name it, Kliner do it.
Real estate, trucking, chemicals, machine parts.
That statue out there? Casper Teale? His grandson's our mayor.
He gave Kliner a sweetheart land deal for his factory.
And in return, Kliner pours money into the town.
Win-win.
[MOSLEY.]
That there is Kliner Jr.
and his bughouse cousin Dawson.
Everyone calls Junior KJ.
I call him trouble.
Keep my seat warm, would you? You looking for a dance partner? 'Cause the last person who eyeballed me like that was a woman down in Panama when I was stationed at Fort Sherman, and she wanted to dance the tamborito with me.
Do you want to dance the tamborito with me? - Hell, I'll dance.
- Not talking to you, peewee.
I was talking to the guy in pricier boots, better haircut and expensive truck he lets you sit shotgun in.
[CHUCKLES.]
So you want me to lead or ? I'm not much of a dancer.
More of an academic and a reader.
Fact, I was reading something interesting just this morning about some charges brought against a Major Jack Reacher in a small village outside of Baghdad.
Charges of a very serious nature, but charges that somehow disappeared, like grains of sand in an unforgiving desert.
Somehow, the desert ended up forgiving you, didn't it? We don't forgive as easily in Margrave.
Watch your back, Mr.
Reacher.
[SNIFFS.]
[ENGINE STARTS.]
[DOOR OPENS.]
[FOOTSTEPS RUNNING.]
[ENGINE STARTS.]
- [SIREN WAILING.]
- [TIRES SQUEALING.]
Hey.
Sorry, dinner's not gonna happen.
- What's going on? - Another body was found.
In the brush, 40 yards from the first one.
Same caliber bullet.
Got to go to the morgue.
Can't say I'm not disappointed.
I was looking forward to spending time with you - before leaving.
- [SIREN WAILING.]
Well, I don't know if you're going anywhere just yet.
[FINLAY.]
Reacher! Did Hubble talk when you two were locked up? - [REACHER.]
No.
- Baloney.
Easy, Finlay.
Watch your language.
You think this is funny? I got a town of 1,700 people and two homicides.
He didn't talk to me the whole time we were in there.
- I don't believe you.
- I don't care.
- Dinner would've been nice.
- You're not going anywhere.
My alibi cleared.
Just 'cause we know you weren't here when these bodies dropped doesn't mean you might not have something to do with them.
So I'm wondering if maybe it was some other six-foot-five gorilla on that grainy Greyhound tape.
Maybe I need to bring in a forensic expert to confirm it was you.
And maybe you need to cool your heels back in Warburton while we get that done over the next two or three weeks.
Or you get in the car, we go to the morgue.
Perhaps the medical examiner will say something that jars your memory about Hubble and you can share it with me.
First you make it clear I'm not a cop anymore.
Now you want my help? I want you to do what I say.
Now.
[JASPER.]
Sometimes you're dead and you don't even know it.
This second guy, he was shot in the back of the head while running away, but his legs kept pumping for a few more feet before his brain told him, "Hey, buddy, you're dead," so he fell over into the weeds.
At least that's what the blood spatters at the scene said.
He was shot from far enough away and it was so dark he couldn't be found, so the killer just left him there.
No I.
D.
on him.
Killers.
In an investigation, details matter.
Most likely more than one doer.
Well, these are my first murders, so please tell me you know who did this.
[CHUCKLES.]
[ROSCOE.]
Mm-mm.
[FINLAY.]
What about our first John Doe? - Any luck? - [JASPER.]
Nope.
He's been harder to crack than a steel walnut.
Dental work was inconsistent.
Some of it was done in the U.
S.
, and the rest was foreign.
And his fingertips were compromised by a dermatitis reaction.
So swollen, prints wouldn't come out clean until I drained some of the fluid.
We're waiting for the results.
Whoa.
No, do not Um, is he new on the force or ? No.
Well, kind of.
[REACHER.]
First victim was allergic to latex.
Killers must've worn some kind of polyvinyl protective suit to keep blood DNA off themselves.
The victim grabbed it in the struggle, causing his fingertips to swell in a histaminic reaction.
His dental work's off 'cause he had his teeth fixed wherever he was living at the time.
Broke his right arm when he was eight, had it set in Berlin.
Had his tonsils taken out at ten in Seoul.
[REACHER.]
We were wrestling.
I pinned him against the stove.
Didn't know my mother had just turned it off.
That's how my brother got this scar.
[FINLAY.]
You tell me right now what's going on.
What was your brother doing in Margrave? - I don't know.
- So it's just a coincidence you and he are passing through the exact same Podunk town at the exact same moment in time? - I don't know.
- When's the last time you saw Joe? A minute ago in the morgue.
- You being smart with me? - I'm being straight with you.
Hell, no wonder Sharon left you.
You keep my wife's name out of your mouth.
[ROSCOE.]
No.
Enough.
Reacher, you crossed a line.
Finlay, let it rest.
This man just lost his brother.
[FINLAY.]
One question, and I want the truth.
What are you doing here in Margrave? Blind Blake! You're messing with the wrong man.
I'll tell you that right now.
I swear, I'm gonna find any reason I can to lock you up again.
Oh, you won't even get the cuffs on me.
Okay, this isn't gonna happen.
Reacher, sit in the back.
Hey.
I know you're not the kind of guy to beat up on somebody half your size without good reason.
- He's giving me a reason.
- Yeah? Well, I know people.
And you've got kind eyes.
Do what I say, Reacher.
Please.
You okay, Reacher? Just thinking maybe my brother told me about Blind Blake, for a reason.
Thinking about him lying in that morgue.
Thinking I'm supposed to do something about it.
Like what? I guess I'll find everybody responsible.
And kill every last one of them.
[THE ROLLING STONES: "CAN' YOU HEAR ME KNOCKING".]
Yeah Yeah, you got satin shoes Yeah, you got plastic boots Y'all got cocaine eyes Yeah, you got speed-freak jive, now Can't you hear me knockin' on your window? Can't you hear me knockin' on your door? Can't you hear me knockin' down your dirty street? Yeah Help me, baby Ain't no stranger Help me, baby Ain't no stranger Help me, baby Ain't no stranger Can't you hear me knockin'? Ah, are you safe asleep? Can't you hear me knockin'? Yeah, down the gas light street, now Can't you hear me knockin'? Yeah, throw me down the keys All right, now
- [OWL HOOTING.]
- [TWO SILENCED GUNSHOTS.]
- [BODY THUDS.]
- [SILENCED GUNSHOT.]
- [MAN GRUNTS.]
[BODY THUDS.]
[MAN GRUNTING.]
[THUNDER CRACKS.]
[HOWLIN' WOLF: "SMOKESTACK LIGHTNING".]
Ah-oh, smokestack lightnin' Shinin' just like gold Why don't you hear me cryin'? Whoo-hoo Whoo-hoo Whoo Whoa-oh, tell me, baby What's the matter with you - [ENTRY BELL JINGLES.]
- I'm sorry.
- I'm not good at math.
- That was like a 40% tip! [WOMAN.]
I messed up, okay? How am I supposed to get ahead when you're wasting my goddamn money? Just get your ass in the van.
The hell you want, asshole? I'm talking to you, stupid.
Whoa-oh, tell me, baby Why did you stay last night? Why don't you hear me cryin' Listen, man, I'm just having a bad day.
Whoo-hoo Won't happen again.
Whoo [WAITRESS.]
Coffee black and peach pie.
Best you're gonna find in Georgia.
- [BELL DINGS.]
- [NEWSCAST PLAYING QUIETLY.]
- [DISHES CLINKING.]
- [CASH REGISTER PRINTING.]
is canceling their enhanced drug enforcement efforts off the Eastern Seaboard.
Sources say the program, which began a year ago Whoa-oh, stop your train - [SIRENS WAILING.]
- Let a poor boy ride Why don't you hear me cryin'? Whoo-hoo Whoo-hoo - [LAUGHS.]
- Whoo [PLAYFUL CHATTER.]
Whoa-oh, fare you well [DOOR OPENS.]
- Police! - [DISHES CRASH.]
Police! Don't move! [BAKER.]
Don't move, don't move, don't move! Why don't you hear me cryin' Now, you're gonna slide out from behind that booth, nice and slow.
Do it now! Slow! Hands.
Whoa-oh Hands behind your head.
Hands behind your head! Interlock your fingers! Interlock your fingers! Turn around.
Face the window! Dessert's gonna have to wait.
You're under arrest for murder.
- [SONG FADES.]
- [VEHICLE PASSES.]
Come on.
You can move faster than that.
[ROSCOE.]
Sir? If you step over here, I can process you.
I'm not asking, sir.
I'm telling.
But don't worry, I won't kick your ass unless you make me.
Thank you.
All right, I'll be doing your intake.
So, first things first, what is your name? Sasquatch don't talk.
Had a passport on him, though.
Jack Reacher.
- No middle name.
- Zip ties? Cuffs didn't fit him.
No stamps.
Newer than January 1st.
You planning on leaving the country? Everything else he was carrying.
- What's that about, 200? - Two-twelve.
This looks like some kind of foreign deal.
[ROSCOE.]
World War II medal.
French.
[MORRISON.]
No one moves around holding just this.
Where you keeping the rest of your shit? You got a friend in town? Girl? What the hell are you doing in my town? Don't want to talk? Maybe we put you in the holding cell, get you to change your mind.
And how exactly would you do that? Explain to him his constitutional rights under the Fifth and 14th Amendments, then hope he waives them of his own free will? Yep.
No need.
I've got it from here.
Take him to the conference room.
I'll be in in a moment.
- [QUIETLY.]
Beantown bitch.
- [DOOR CLOSES.]
Mr.
Reacher, I'm Chief Detective Oscar Finlay.
I'll be asking you some questions.
I was informed you were read your rights, so you know you don't have to answer.
Hmm.
Body was found by the highway embankment, near an overpass, partially covered by flattened-out cardboard boxes.
Two nine-millimeter, 95-grain, close-range shots to the back of the head.
No casings found.
Victim was male, 30s, big guy.
He was beaten badly postmortem.
No I.
D.
yet.
Problem getting prints off the body's swollen fingertips.
You know who this man was? How he wound up dead? Anything you want to share besides your riveting company? Okay, then.
Well, I'm not about to waste the rest of my afternoon.
Maybe your court-appointed attorney will get you to open up.
I don't need a lawyer.
He speaks.
When he wants to.
And why don't you need a lawyer? Because I didn't kill anybody.
At least not recently.
And not in this town.
[SIGHS.]
This is kind of impossible.
- What's that? - This Reacher fella.
So far, run on his prints has been clean, but something can still turn up.
But there's no Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram.
No driver's license, mortgage, insurance claims.
No online profile at all.
The only proof Jack Reacher exists is the fact that he's sitting in that room.
[FINLAY.]
Jack Reacher.
Parents deceased.
One brother, Joe, older by two years.
Retired Army.
Commanded the 110th Special Investigations Unit of the Military Police.
Took out a few men in the course of your duties.
All ruled good kills.
What if I'm thinking I'm sitting across from a man who doesn't mind killing and who has the knowledge and training to murder someone and cover it up? You'd be right.
But not this murder.
Three men dropped this body.
Enlighten me.
Shooter was someone who knows firearms well.
Bullets were small caliber nine-millimeter, 95-grain.
That's subsonic.
A silencer was used.
He also knew enough to pick up his brass.
This wasn't a first-timer.
This was someone who knew how to conduct a quiet, effective kill.
- Okay, go on.
- You're also looking for a psycho who'd beat up a body postmortem, someone completely unhinged.
Totally different profile from your professional shooter.
Something wrong? No.
You said there were three.
Your psycho isn't suddenly gonna be rational enough to know he has to hide the body.
And your meticulous shooter isn't gonna do a sloppy job with roadside cardboard.
No, the third guy is so worried about getting out of there, he grabs some nearby debris and just lays it across the corpse.
You said the victim was big, so most likely his feet were sticking out and that's how he got spotted.
Tall people never have enough room for their feet.
Interesting theory.
But you still match the description of someone seen walking the highway, earlier today, near where the body was found.
Well, that's 'cause it was me.
I got off the bus from Tampa and walked to town.
Greyhound doesn't have a stop in Margrave.
I never said it did.
You just said you got off in Margrave.
I asked the driver to do me a favor.
- Why? - On account of Blind Blake.
- Okay.
Who's that? - Blues singer.
Legend has it he died in Margrave a long time ago.
I figured I'd learn a bit about him.
I like music.
So you have no home, no phone.
You get on a bus in Tampa with $212, a toothbrush and a French war medal and travel over 500 miles to read up on a dead blues musician? That sum up your past 24 hours? No.
I also went to a diner, ordered peach pie and never got to eat it 'cause I was arrested for murder.
[SIGHS.]
Okay.
Medical examiner puts the victim's time of death at around midnight last night.
This morning.
It's last night until 11:59 and 59 seconds, and then it becomes this morning.
In an investigation, details matter.
12:00 a.
m.
this morning is the time of death.
If I can confirm you were on a Greyhound bus at that time, you're cleared.
Until then, you're in the holding cell.
We're running down a phone number found in the dead guy's shoe.
It was on a scrap of paper with the word "Pluribus" written on it.
Want to clear that up, too, before we let you go? Know anything about that? Means I'm gonna be here for a while.
Phone companies are slow responding to warrants.
Too bad.
Law says we need a warrant.
Come on, you're in the hold.
[JOSEPHINE.]
Reacher, why does trouble always seem to find you? Mon dieu, Reacher! The whole moving truck could've burned down.
What were you thinking? You cannot pack fireworks.
[SIGHS.]
But they're from the Fourth of July.
- [SIGHS.]
- They're still good.
[GRUNTS.]
This is the last of it.
Okay, next transfer, I want half of the boxes.
I don't know how four people accumulate all of this.
Ma'am, yes, ma'am.
Okay.
Father and I will unpack.
You two, go and meet the base kids.
This is home now, hopefully for a while.
Go make friends.
[YOUNG REACHER.]
Think we'll like it here? School lessons will be the same.
Army-issued furniture will be the same.
It'll be just like Cameroon, Belgium and Spain.
You the new guys that just moved in today? Yeah.
This the way to the beach? Yeah.
But it's five bucks.
What's five bucks? From the looks of it, your jacket.
[LAUGHS.]
Yeah.
I'm big for my age.
Just like you're ugly for your age.
Let's just go home.
[GRUNTS.]
[PANTING.]
Okay.
[SIGHS.]
You don't have to do this.
It's my fight.
It's never just your fight.
You know, Mom was right.
Trouble does kind of seem to find you.
[INDISTINCT POLICE RADIO CHATTER.]
Thanks.
Been in here a while now.
Figured you could use a pick-me-up.
Not my fault.
Trouble just kind of seems to find me.
What I could really use is getting these ties off.
[ROSCOE.]
Chief Morrison says they stay on.
Assumed you liked it black.
How'd you figure? Seem like a no-nonsense guy.
Cream and sugar are nonsense.
So you know I'm innocent.
How do you figure? I doubt it's procedure to bring coffee to the guilty.
Well, if you are guilty of something, can't be much.
Preliminary run on your prints turned up nothing.
Bad guys set off bells and whistles right away.
Roscoe, we're taking a ride.
Got a hit on the phone number.
Sorry.
Ceramic.
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES.]
Thank you.
Sorry, Baker.
[FINLAY.]
So, Paul, when I called, I informed you your cell number was found at the situs of a crime.
You invited me over to chat but never asked what crime.
Found that strange.
Well, you scared the shit out of me.
- Hmm.
- [CHUCKLES.]
I wasn't thinking.
I just wanted to get you over here so we could talk.
- About what? - You tell me.
Murder.
You know anything about that? Unidentified male shot to death.
He was found with your number written on a paper scrap in his shoe.
I did it.
[CLEARS THROAT.]
I killed the guy.
It was me.
[ROSCOE.]
Mr.
Hubble, for your protection and ours, I'm going to record you getting your rights.
No, I-I know my rights.
I understand I don't have to talk or anything and that I get a lawyer and all that, but I did it, okay? I killed the guy, by the highway.
I was the one.
Okay, so this man you killed what was his name? I-I don't know.
You killed a man you don't know? Yeah, that's right.
It was, uh self-defense.
Okay, you said it took place by the highway.
Where exactly along the highway? I-I told you I did it, okay? I'm not about to rehash all the details.
You are my second annoying interrogation today.
So you expect me to believe that you, a man with no criminal record, that you just blew a man away? A double-barrel shotgun blast right to the face? And then burnt the body? Yes, I did.
And-and that's all I'm gonna say about it.
Your life's about to get very complicated, Mr.
Hubble.
[LOCK BEEPS, CELL DOOR OPENS.]
Get in.
Reacher, come with me.
No.
Excuse me? Not until you let these zip ties come off.
We both know I didn't kill anybody, and they're uncomfortable.
Get the box cutter.
[REACHER.]
That's okay.
I got it.
[SIGHS.]
[CLEARS THROAT.]
You guys recycle? Outside.
Uncuffed.
Treating me like a person instead of a perp.
I've done the same thing a million times when I want a suspect to trust me even when they shouldn't.
I have no ulterior motives, just information.
That other guy, Paul Hubble, banker.
Lives in Margrave, works in Atlanta.
No priors.
He just confessed to the murder.
Oh.
How nice.
- Thanks for the hospitality.
- Not so fast.
You want to run? Go for it.
But I doubt you're that fast or that bulletproof.
I was just cleared.
One guy lied about killing another guy.
- That doesn't clear you.
- Good town to murder in.
Even when you confess, nothing happens to you.
Oh, you saw Hubble.
He's a citizen.
He can't shoot pool let alone shoot a person.
He admitted to things that didn't even happen.
He just wants me to think he did it and not look into the matter any further.
You think I'm working with him.
Now that he's implicated himself, I'm worried he might implicate me.
So maybe I'll cut a deal and talk.
Maybe I'm just thinking the guy who was seen near the murder site, guilty or not, might still have information to share.
I don't.
But Stevenson does.
He and Hubble were looking at each other.
They looked at each other? They held eye contact for a full two Mississippis.
Stevenson and Hubble have cousins that married each other.
He's just worried about family.
It's more than that.
You always so confident in your theories? As confident as I am that you went to Harvard, you're recently divorced, and you quit smoking in the last six months.
How'd you come up with that? My friend back there, Baker, he called you a Beantown bitch.
And from all appearances, you're well-educated, but you took a job in the middle of nowhere with people that look nothing like you.
You're stubborn.
You have a chip on your shoulder.
You don't care if your coworkers like you.
A guy like that doesn't go to B.
U.
He goes to Harvard.
To show those blue-blood assholes what he's capable of.
Am I right? About going to Harvard? Yes.
You're also about 40, which means you did your 20 at Boston P.
D.
to get your pension, so you can afford a proper Southern suit, but you still look like Black Sherlock Holmes.
Means no woman in your life making sure you dress right.
Death or divorce.
At your age, divorce is a higher probability.
But you still wear the ring.
By the wear on it, you play with it, obsess over it.
Like I said, you're stubborn.
Still hoping to reconcile with the old lady.
- Her name's Sharon.
- As for the smoking, when I broke down the three murderers back there, you started to think you had the wrong guy.
Stressed you out.
The water in your glass moved a bit.
We're not on any major fault lines.
That means your leg was bouncing under the table.
That combined with the slight aroma of cigarettes in your suit 'cause it's hard to get out of tweed and I assume nicotine withdrawal.
Most studies show it takes four to six months to fully break a habit.
You keep up the good work, though.
Those things are killers.
[SIGHS.]
Back inside.
[PHONE RINGING.]
Follow me.
Stevenson, my office.
[INDISTINCT POLICE RADIO CHATTER.]
This man seems to think you know something about Hubble that you aren't sharing with me.
That true? Answer isn't on your shoes.
Uh, sir, there was a-a family party last night.
My, uh, grandparents, their anniversary, their 50th I don't care.
Right.
Well, Hubble and Charlie were there.
- Who's Charlie? - Charlene.
His wife.
We stayed late.
We danced with our wives.
Way past 2:00.
I drove them home.
[SCOFFS.]
I don't know why his number was in that guy's shoe, and I don't know why he confessed.
All I know is that at midnight, he was nowhere near that highway.
- Hubble into drugs? - No.
- He cheat on his wife? - No.
He's a family man.
Don't answer his questions.
He's not your boss.
- [STEVENSON.]
Right.
Sorry.
- Does he having money problems? I don't know what to do.
Just answer the question.
No.
He's rich.
Okay.
Get out of here.
[DOOR OPENS.]
Drugs, money, infidelity.
If Stevenson's right, we've eliminated the big three, which means the only way you'll know why Hubble confessed is if he tells you.
Yeah, well, maybe a weekend in lockup will motivate him.
Let me know what he says.
What the hell does that mean? You figured out I quit smoking but can't figure out what's happening right now? This is bullshit.
You have a confession.
I helped with the investigation.
You helped me? You seem to be confused about your role in this situation.
You are my detainee and suspect, not my partner or my equal.
And you're certainly not, by employment, appearance or lifestyle choice, a cop anymore.
Now, Chief Morrison wants you in custody till we know for sure that all six-foot-four of you was on that bus from Tampa.
Six-foot-five.
In an investigation, details matter.
Here's a detail for you.
We keep extra-large cuffs in our lockbox.
Inventory his watch and ring.
They'll steal them first five minutes he's in there.
It was nice talking to you.
Thanks.
For the watch thing.
Shut up.
You ruined my trip here.
[BRAKES SQUEAK, HISS.]
Jesus.
- My name's Officer Spivey.
- [THUNDER RUMBLING.]
Time to follow the yellow brick road, inmates.
Y'all be housed far away from the animal factory, till they can line up a weekend arraignment for you.
[THUNDER RUMBLING.]
All the fixings.
[INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER.]
Ain't no jumper gonna fit you, big boy.
But a Samoan fella come through here last year meth dealer had scrubs made up special.
Might be a little tight in the shoulders.
[SPITS.]
Whoa! Not so fast.
Drop them drawers, bend over and spread.
No.
Blanket strip search policies are unconstitutional unless there's clear articulable suspicion of criminal activity.
The victim I'm suspected of murdering was shot by a handgun that would measure four inches by six.
That weapon's not fitting inside me or any other human being without sending them to a hospital.
Since that's the only contraband related to this crime, your request is unlawful.
It's not like I want to do this.
Regulations say The only thing up my ass right now is you.
So if you think you can perform the inspection without getting seriously injured, go for it.
Otherwise, check the box on your clipboard.
[CELL DOOR BUZZES.]
Go on.
Mm-hmm.
Really sorry I got you into this.
- It wasn't my intention - Remember when I said "shut up" on the bus? Same rule goes for jail.
[BIRDS CHIRPING.]
[CELL DOOR BUZZES.]
[DOORS OPENING IN DISTANCE.]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER IN DISTANCE.]
[RAP MUSIC PLAYING IN DISTANCE.]
[RAP MUSIC CONTINUES IN DISTANCE.]
[RAP MUSIC AND CHATTER CONTINUE.]
- Well, that's not good.
- What's going on? We're not with guys awaiting arraignment.
- We're with the lifers.
- What do you mean, lifers? I mean people sentenced for life.
[RAP MUSIC AND CHATTER CONTINUE.]
[WHISTLING.]
If I were you, I'd be less worried about their sentences and more concerned with their swaps.
Swaps? Guys swapping smokes, desserts, TV time, all for first crack at you.
You're not a human in here.
You're currency.
So stop stressing and save your strength.
[SIGHS.]
Gonna need it.
There she is.
Whoo.
She pretty.
Look, she even got pretty little shoes on.
Give me them shoes, baby.
Come on, now.
You heard me.
Give me my shoes like a good little bitch.
I said give them to me.
Good girl.
I like them glasses, too.
Give me my glasses.
[HAWKS.]
Now there's just one more thing I want from you.
[BED CREAKING.]
[LAUGHS.]
Look at this redwood motherfucker.
What you want? [REACHER.]
To give you a choice.
See, you're in my house, fatso, and you didn't ask permission.
So you and your friends can leave now, or they can carry your fat ass out in a bucket.
Now I'll count to three.
Bitch, do you know who you talking to? One.
Two.
You owe us a pair of glasses.
Now get out of my cell.
[LOWPASS LUSHES FEATURING1 -STCLSS: "LINE 'EM UP".]
Line 'em up, line 'em up, your time is up Time is up, time is up, so line 'em up Line 'em up, line 'em up, your time is up Time is up, time is up, so line 'em up - Line 'em up - [INMATES CHATTERING.]
I'm not a ventriloquist.
Get off my lap.
I won't let anybody touch you.
[HUBBLE.]
Thank you.
You're the only thing keeping me alive in here.
[EXHALES SHARPLY.]
I'm in big trouble.
- No shit.
- I'm not a criminal.
A fucking currency manager.
They gave me no choice.
These guys, they forced me to help them with their financial scheme, okay? And I know everyone who's ever caught says they were forced into it, but I really was.
And the people I'm working for made it clear - if I jam them up - Then you'd be killed.
I wish that were all.
My bosses promised, if I disrupt their operation in any way, they'd [CHUCKLES.]
They'd nail me to a wall.
Literally.
In front of my family.
They'd cut my balls off and make me eat 'em.
Then they'd bleed me and my wife out slow so we'd die knowing our kids were left with those psychos, not knowing what would be done to them.
I'm gonna hit the head.
I'll go with you.
Figured as much.
[SHOWERS RUNNING.]
Him.
If you boys knew what's about to happen to you, you'd leave now.
So I'll give you to the count of three.
One.
[YELLS.]
[SCREAMS.]
[MAN OVER P.
A.
.]
Security team to gen pop shower four.
- Against the wall! Move! - [ALARM BUZZING.]
[GRUNTING.]
[GROANS.]
[SCREAMS.]
[YELLS.]
[SCREAMS.]
[ALARM CONTINUES BUZZING.]
What the hell are you two doing down here? Come on.
Let's go, before the warden sees.
Let's go! Let's go! [CELL DOOR BUZZES.]
My report says you were placed upstairs.
Why are you in gen pop? - That's where the guy put us.
- [DOOR BUZZES.]
Anyone asks, you've been here the whole time.
Understand? [DOOR CLOSES.]
[SIGHS.]
[HOWARD TATE: "GET IT WHILE YOU CAN".]
[SIGHS.]
In this world Where people Are fighting with each other Nobody to count on Not even your own brother So if someone comes along Who gives you genuine affection - Get it while you can - [LINE RINGING.]
Get it while you can [SHARON.]
Hi.
This is Sharon Finlay.
Leave a message, and I'll get you back.
- [BEEP.]
- Hey.
It's me.
Um I'm just, uh [SIGHS.]
I'm just dealing with a tough case alone in the middle of Georgia, and I just wish you would call me back.
Baby We may not be here tomorrow [KNOCK ON DOOR.]
- [FINLAY CLEARS THROAT.]
- [SONG STOPS.]
Uh, come in.
Boss.
Got Reacher's military record from D.
C.
You want to hear the back of his baseball card? I do.
West Point graduate.
Silver Star.
Defense Superior Service Medal.
Legion of Merit, Soldier's Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Bronze Star, a second Silver Star and a Purple Heart for wounds sustained in the bombing of a Marines barracks in Kandahar.
"Major Reacher ran into the inferno, carrying soldiers out two at a time.
Witnesses report six separate trips, confirming 12 were saved.
Major Reacher suffered severe smoke inhalation, but returned to active duty 32 hours later despite having shrapnel remains of a jawbone removed from his abdomen.
" - Want to hear his MP numbers? - No.
Over 150 closed cases, all successful prosecutions, more than 20 fugitives captured.
What in God's name is a guy like that doing in Margrave? What's a guy like that doing in jail? Hate to be the one who put him in there.
Get out of my office.
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES.]
[SIGHS.]
[OVER SPEAKERS.]
Wake up [JORDAN MAX: "LET ME DO MY THING".]
Wake up Get up Get up Wake up [HUBBLE.]
I been hoping a Beatles song would come on.
They soothe me.
Ever since Mama'd sing me "Rocky Raccoon" when I had a cold.
Let me do my thing Let me do my thing Yes, I felt Sorry if I woke you.
- It's okay.
- [MUSIC VOLUME DECREASES.]
[BIRDS CHIRPING.]
[HUBBLE.]
Came a while ago.
You-you can have mine.
I don't have an appetite.
Yes, I felt my pain Hmm, yeah [REACHER CLEARS THROAT.]
As I'm falling to sleep In hope that someone listens Pray the Lord hears me, innocent people going missing On the journey to the riches While we're standing, taking pictures You should eat.
You look like hell.
That's 'cause I saw you gouge a man's eyes out.
He started it.
Finding you a new replacement, nothing's wrong with me They might try to kill me as soon as I'm bailed out.
You important to their operation? Let me do my thing Yes, I felt my pain Real important.
Then you're probably okay.
But bodies are falling.
Means someone's getting nervous.
When that happens, things can change fast.
I'm more curious why whoever you work for wants me dead.
- What do you mean? - That guard from last night, Spivey, he set us up in gen pop.
He'd play it off like it was some kind of innocent mistake, but it was intentional.
Guys in the shower I.
D.
'd me as a person to take out.
Once I'm out of here, I'm gone, Something bad's going down in Margrave, and I don't need to be a part of it.
[GATE BUZZES.]
My wife should be here soon.
I don't give a shit.
Figured a guy with no money, I.
D.
or car could use a lift.
[ENGINE REVVING.]
- [REACHER.]
That's me.
- [ROSCOE.]
Greyhound confirmed that's their Tampa station two nights ago.
No way you could've been in Margrave in time to kill anyone.
Common carriers are notoriously difficult.
N-Nothing without a warrant.
How'd you get them to cooperate? Lied.
Said that we suspected one of their employees of using their buses to transport coke.
If they didn't cooperate, promised to pull a civil forfeiture on everything with wheels until our investigation was over.
Got that video within the hour.
So you cleared me, but how does the guy who confessed walk away? [SCOFFS.]
Well, everybody knows that Hubble's lying, so we're holding off on charges, hoping that a nervous guy like him just does something dumb that leads us to the truth or just cracks and spills what really went down.
Smart approach, Officer Roscoe.
Roscoe's actually my first name.
Never met a woman named Roscoe before.
Yeah, you did.
A day ago.
So what's your last name? Conklin.
Caught a love tap inside? I got set up.
- By who? - Some guard.
Just the errand boy.
But whoever he took orders from wanted me gone, and they're gonna get what they want.
I'm on the next bus out of here.
That's a shame.
[SCOFFS.]
I feel bad about the Margrave welcome wagon running you over.
I was gonna apologize with an early dinner, but if you're not sticking around Okay.
Great.
But I'm gonna need some new clothes first.
Lockup's made me a bit gamey.
Oh, we got a Merl's Men's Shop in town.
I don't need anything that fancy.
Just T-shirt and jeans.
I travel light.
[ROSCOE.]
You sure you don't want to get new threads? [REACHER.]
They'll be new to me.
[ROSCOE.]
I don't get it.
Don't you want a home base or something? Had a home base my whole life.
Grew up in the military, worked in the military.
Always told where to go, when to be there.
Now I see my country on my own terms.
What about money? Pension's wired to a Western Union each month.
Don't you miss your family? I guess so.
They're all dead.
Except for my brother Joe.
- He's a good guy.
- Where's he? No idea.
[ENTRY BELL JINGLES.]
[ROSCOE.]
So what really brought you to Margrave? Can't be some blues singer.
I don't lie to people who get me out of jail.
I'm here because of Blind Blake, but actually it's on account of Chauncey.
Who's Chauncey? A couple days ago, I go to Chauncey's Bar & Grill in Tampa.
Guy there was playing "Police Dog Blues" by Blind Blake.
I remembered a conversation I had with my brother Joe a while back.
Read some article about Blake, said he played his last show in Margrave, and that's where he died.
So I got on a bus.
So you just go wherever you want, whenever you want? Everyone's always jealous.
Well, yeah, that's, um an interesting approach to life.
Works for me.
So I'll check out the town for a while - and see you in a bit.
- Sounds good.
Now, don't go getting yourself arrested for murder again.
[MISSISSIPPI FRED MCDOWELL: "SHAKE 'EM ON DOWN".]
If you see my baby, Lordy, stand around You know we somewhere, baby, Lord, mama Shake 'em on down, Lordy, must I low If you come to my house, you don't find me around You know we somewhere, baby, Lord, mama Shake 'em on down Lordy, must I low [SONG CONTINUES QUIETLY OVER SPEAKERS.]
[MOSLEY.]
If you want a trim, you got to wait.
It's Mosley's meal time.
I was thinking a shave, Mr.
Mosley.
Blind alley cat can shave and eat.
Heard Mississippi Fred McDowell coming from your shop.
Thought a blues fan might be able to tell me a bit about Blind Blake's time in Margrave.
Huh.
Surprised a white man your age knows Fred McDowell.
More surprised you know Blind Blake, Mr.
Reacher.
Small town.
When a giant stranger gets arrested for murder, word gets around.
Course, Ms.
Roscoe cleared you, so I ain't scared of you none.
My age, I ain't scared of nothing much.
Yeah, me neither.
And everyone just calls me Reacher.
Even my mother did.
Well, back you go.
You know, my sister sang with Blake a few times back in the day.
He'd come through town each year, play the church or some barn in the sticks.
[CHUCKLES.]
- I heard he died here.
- That's the rumor.
People would come from all over town to hear it, even white folks.
[REACHER.]
One hell of a town it is.
Freshly painted gazebo.
Manicured flower beds.
Statue recently polished.
Got to think it's more than civic pride.
[CHUCKLES.]
That it is.
The Kliner Foundation takes care of Margrave.
Ever since Mr.
Kliner came to town about five years back from St.
Louis to set up his company right here.
What kind of company is that? [SCOFFS.]
You name it, Kliner do it.
Real estate, trucking, chemicals, machine parts.
That statue out there? Casper Teale? His grandson's our mayor.
He gave Kliner a sweetheart land deal for his factory.
And in return, Kliner pours money into the town.
Win-win.
[MOSLEY.]
That there is Kliner Jr.
and his bughouse cousin Dawson.
Everyone calls Junior KJ.
I call him trouble.
Keep my seat warm, would you? You looking for a dance partner? 'Cause the last person who eyeballed me like that was a woman down in Panama when I was stationed at Fort Sherman, and she wanted to dance the tamborito with me.
Do you want to dance the tamborito with me? - Hell, I'll dance.
- Not talking to you, peewee.
I was talking to the guy in pricier boots, better haircut and expensive truck he lets you sit shotgun in.
[CHUCKLES.]
So you want me to lead or ? I'm not much of a dancer.
More of an academic and a reader.
Fact, I was reading something interesting just this morning about some charges brought against a Major Jack Reacher in a small village outside of Baghdad.
Charges of a very serious nature, but charges that somehow disappeared, like grains of sand in an unforgiving desert.
Somehow, the desert ended up forgiving you, didn't it? We don't forgive as easily in Margrave.
Watch your back, Mr.
Reacher.
[SNIFFS.]
[ENGINE STARTS.]
[DOOR OPENS.]
[FOOTSTEPS RUNNING.]
[ENGINE STARTS.]
- [SIREN WAILING.]
- [TIRES SQUEALING.]
Hey.
Sorry, dinner's not gonna happen.
- What's going on? - Another body was found.
In the brush, 40 yards from the first one.
Same caliber bullet.
Got to go to the morgue.
Can't say I'm not disappointed.
I was looking forward to spending time with you - before leaving.
- [SIREN WAILING.]
Well, I don't know if you're going anywhere just yet.
[FINLAY.]
Reacher! Did Hubble talk when you two were locked up? - [REACHER.]
No.
- Baloney.
Easy, Finlay.
Watch your language.
You think this is funny? I got a town of 1,700 people and two homicides.
He didn't talk to me the whole time we were in there.
- I don't believe you.
- I don't care.
- Dinner would've been nice.
- You're not going anywhere.
My alibi cleared.
Just 'cause we know you weren't here when these bodies dropped doesn't mean you might not have something to do with them.
So I'm wondering if maybe it was some other six-foot-five gorilla on that grainy Greyhound tape.
Maybe I need to bring in a forensic expert to confirm it was you.
And maybe you need to cool your heels back in Warburton while we get that done over the next two or three weeks.
Or you get in the car, we go to the morgue.
Perhaps the medical examiner will say something that jars your memory about Hubble and you can share it with me.
First you make it clear I'm not a cop anymore.
Now you want my help? I want you to do what I say.
Now.
[JASPER.]
Sometimes you're dead and you don't even know it.
This second guy, he was shot in the back of the head while running away, but his legs kept pumping for a few more feet before his brain told him, "Hey, buddy, you're dead," so he fell over into the weeds.
At least that's what the blood spatters at the scene said.
He was shot from far enough away and it was so dark he couldn't be found, so the killer just left him there.
No I.
D.
on him.
Killers.
In an investigation, details matter.
Most likely more than one doer.
Well, these are my first murders, so please tell me you know who did this.
[CHUCKLES.]
[ROSCOE.]
Mm-mm.
[FINLAY.]
What about our first John Doe? - Any luck? - [JASPER.]
Nope.
He's been harder to crack than a steel walnut.
Dental work was inconsistent.
Some of it was done in the U.
S.
, and the rest was foreign.
And his fingertips were compromised by a dermatitis reaction.
So swollen, prints wouldn't come out clean until I drained some of the fluid.
We're waiting for the results.
Whoa.
No, do not Um, is he new on the force or ? No.
Well, kind of.
[REACHER.]
First victim was allergic to latex.
Killers must've worn some kind of polyvinyl protective suit to keep blood DNA off themselves.
The victim grabbed it in the struggle, causing his fingertips to swell in a histaminic reaction.
His dental work's off 'cause he had his teeth fixed wherever he was living at the time.
Broke his right arm when he was eight, had it set in Berlin.
Had his tonsils taken out at ten in Seoul.
[REACHER.]
We were wrestling.
I pinned him against the stove.
Didn't know my mother had just turned it off.
That's how my brother got this scar.
[FINLAY.]
You tell me right now what's going on.
What was your brother doing in Margrave? - I don't know.
- So it's just a coincidence you and he are passing through the exact same Podunk town at the exact same moment in time? - I don't know.
- When's the last time you saw Joe? A minute ago in the morgue.
- You being smart with me? - I'm being straight with you.
Hell, no wonder Sharon left you.
You keep my wife's name out of your mouth.
[ROSCOE.]
No.
Enough.
Reacher, you crossed a line.
Finlay, let it rest.
This man just lost his brother.
[FINLAY.]
One question, and I want the truth.
What are you doing here in Margrave? Blind Blake! You're messing with the wrong man.
I'll tell you that right now.
I swear, I'm gonna find any reason I can to lock you up again.
Oh, you won't even get the cuffs on me.
Okay, this isn't gonna happen.
Reacher, sit in the back.
Hey.
I know you're not the kind of guy to beat up on somebody half your size without good reason.
- He's giving me a reason.
- Yeah? Well, I know people.
And you've got kind eyes.
Do what I say, Reacher.
Please.
You okay, Reacher? Just thinking maybe my brother told me about Blind Blake, for a reason.
Thinking about him lying in that morgue.
Thinking I'm supposed to do something about it.
Like what? I guess I'll find everybody responsible.
And kill every last one of them.
[THE ROLLING STONES: "CAN' YOU HEAR ME KNOCKING".]
Yeah Yeah, you got satin shoes Yeah, you got plastic boots Y'all got cocaine eyes Yeah, you got speed-freak jive, now Can't you hear me knockin' on your window? Can't you hear me knockin' on your door? Can't you hear me knockin' down your dirty street? Yeah Help me, baby Ain't no stranger Help me, baby Ain't no stranger Help me, baby Ain't no stranger Can't you hear me knockin'? Ah, are you safe asleep? Can't you hear me knockin'? Yeah, down the gas light street, now Can't you hear me knockin'? Yeah, throw me down the keys All right, now