Don't Know Jack by Diane Capri

change.”
    “And you believed that?” Gaspar asked.
    “We’ve all heard wilder stories. His checked out. No law requires an American male to be an upstanding husband and father of four, right?  He doesn’t have to hold a steady job and pay a mortgage until he dies, no matter how hard it is, and no matter how much he hates it, does he?”
    Gaspar went quiet.
    Finlay had been briefed.
    Kim said, “Chief Roscoe told us Reacher was arrested for a murder he didn’t commit. That’s how you met him, right?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Why did you like Reacher for the crime?”
    “Both the victim and Reacher were strangers we knew nothing about. Several witnesses saw Reacher walking in the vicinity of the crime scene during the relevant time frame. It made sense in context.”
    Kim understood. She’d been to Margrave. She realized how much a stranger like Reacher would stick out, how the coincidence would be too much to ignore. She’d have figured him as the killer, herself. In fact, Reacher was still the best suspect based on the little bit she knew. She’d held suspects on less.
    “Who was the victim?” Kim asked.
    Finlay hesitated. “We didn’t know the name when Reacher was arrested. Victim had no ID on him and his body had been rendered unrecognizable. We identified him after we’d confirmed Reacher’s alibi and released him from custody. With apologies.”
    Gaspar repeated the question. “Who was the victim?”
    Again, the pause, but nothing with the eyelid. Kim saw Finlay didn’t want to say the victim’s name. But this was a guy who did what he had to.
    “It was Reacher’s brother,” he said, quietly.
    Kim stared. Finlay had arrested Jack Reacher for murdering his own brother, a crime he didn’t commit, didn’t even know had occurred. His only brother. A screw-up of monumental proportions. Finlay was lucky to be alive.
    And maybe he knew it.
    Finlay said, “I’m sorry to be in such a hurry, but I do have a plane to catch. Is there anything else you need right now?”
    “Was Reacher violent?”
    “Yes.”
    “Was he crazy?” 
    “I didn’t think so at the time.”
    “Unpredictable?”  
    Finlay laughed. The sound was deep, resonant, and it shook the room for what seemed like a full minute. Eventually he said, “Agent Otto, I’d say that if you looked up that word in the dictionary, you’d find nothing but a full color photo of Jack Reacher.”
    Then his handlers knocked on the door. Time to go. They accompanied Finlay toward the exit. He towered over Kim and he was a good four inches taller than Gaspar, too. When he reached the door, he turned and reached straight out and took her phone out of her pocket. Like a magic trick. He pushed the button to stop the recording and dropped the phone back into place.
    He said, “Let’s go off the record now.”  He slid two business cards from his jacket pocket. He handed one to each of them. “I promised your boss I’d help you if I can. That’s my private cell. Call me with your questions after you’ve read the files. Let me know if you need anything else. If I can’t talk immediately, I’ll get back to you.”
    Then with his hand on the doorknob he added, “And when you do find Jack Reacher, give him my regards, will you?  Ask him to call me when he has the time. You can give him that number.”
    Gaspar asked, “Did you know Harry Black?”
    Finlay thought and came up empty. “I don’t recognize the name. Who is he?”
    “Who was he. He’s dead.”
    Finlay shook his head. “Should I have known him?”
    “He was a Margrave cop. Killed last night. Roscoe was pretty upset about it.”
    There it was again. The eyelid flick. Finlay knew something. But he said, “Must have been hired after I left.”
    “His wife shot him, she claims.”  Gaspar pulled out his smart phone and showed Finlay a picture. “Sylvia Black. Do you know her?”
    The flick came before the lie this time, and again afterward.
    “Never saw her before,”