The Visitor (Jack Reacher #4)

by Lee Child

‘You want to know an interesting fact?’ Blake said. ‘Perpetrators of serial homicide used to drive Volkswagen Bugs. Almost all of them. It was uncanny. Then they switched to minivans. Then they switched to sport-utilities. Big four-wheel drives, exactly like yours. It’s a hell of an indicator.’ Lamarr leaned across and pulled the sheaf of papers back from Deerfield’s place at the table. She tapped them with a finger. ‘They live solitary lives,’ she said. ‘They interact with one other person at most. They live off of other people, often relatives or friends, often women. They don’t do much normal stuff. Don’t talk much on the phone, they’re quiet and furtive.’ ‘They’re law enforcement buffs,’ Poulton said. ‘They know all kinds of stuff. Like all kinds of obscure legal cases defining their rights.’ More silence. ‘Profiling,’ Blake said. ‘It’s an exact science. It’s regarded as good enough evidence to get an arrest warrant in most states of the Union.’ ‘It never fails,’ Lamarr said. She stared at Reacher and then she sat back with her crooked teeth showing in a satisfied smile. Silence settled over the room. ‘So?’ Reacher said. ‘So somebody killed two women,’ Deerfield said. ‘And?’ Deerfield nodded to his right, toward Blake and Lamarr and Poulton. ‘And these agents think it was somebody exactly like you.’ ‘So?’ ‘So we asked you all those questions.’ ‘And?’ ‘And I think they’re absolutely right. It was somebody exactly like you. Maybe it even was you.’