Echo Burning Read Online Free PDF Page B

think?”
    â€œI don’t know,” he said. “I thought I just got lucky. I guess I thought you were a kind person doing a stranger a favor.”
    She shook her head.
    â€œNo, I was looking for a guy like you,” she said.
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œI must have picked up a dozen guys,” she said. “And I’ve seen hundreds. That’s about all I’ve been doing, all month long. Cruising around West Texas, looking at who needs a ride.”
    â€œWhy?”
    She shrugged the question away. A dismissive little gesture.
    â€œThe miles I’ve put on this car,” she said. “It’s unbelievable. And the money I’ve spent on gas.”
    â€œWhy?” he asked again.
    She went quiet. Wouldn’t answer. Just went into a long silence. The armrest on the door was digging into his kidney. He arched his back and pressed with his shoulders and adjusted his position. Found himself wishing somebody else had picked him up. Somebody content just to motor from A to B. He looked up at her.
    â€œCan I call you Carmen?” he asked.
    She nodded. “Sure. Please.”
    â€œO.K., Carmen,” he said. “Tell me what’s going on here, will you?”
    Her mouth opened, and then it closed again. Opened, and closed.
    â€œI don’t know how to start,” she said. “Now that it’s come to it.”
    â€œCome to what?”
    She wouldn’t answer.
    â€œYou better tell me exactly what you want,” he said. “Or I’m getting out of the car right here, right now.”
    â€œIt’s a hundred and ten degrees out there.”
    â€œI know it is.”
    â€œA person could die in this heat.”
    â€œI’ll take my chances.”
    â€œYou can’t get your door open,” she said. “The car is tilted too much.”
    â€œThen I’ll punch out the windshield.”
    She paused a beat.
    â€œI need your help,” she said again.
    â€œYou never saw me before.”
    â€œNot personally,” she said. “But you fit the bill.”
    â€œWhat bill?”
    She went quiet again. Came up with a brief, ironic smile.
    â€œIt’s so difficult,” she said. “I’ve rehearsed this speech a million times, but now I don’t know if it’s going to come out right.”
    Reacher said nothing. Just waited.
    â€œYou ever had anything to do with lawyers?” she asked. “They don’t do anything for you. They just want a lot of money and a lot of time, and then they tell you there’s nothing much to be done.”
    â€œSo get a new lawyer,” he said.
    â€œI’ve had four,” she said. “Four, in a month. They’re all the same. And they’re all too expensive. I don’t have enough money.”
    â€œYou’re driving a Cadillac.”
    â€œIt’s my mother-in-law’s. I’m only borrowing it.”
    â€œYou’re wearing a big diamond ring.”
    She went quiet again. Her eyes clouded.
    â€œMy husband gave it to me,” she said.
    He looked at her. “So can’t he help you?”
    â€œNo, he can’t help me,” she said. “Have you ever gone looking for a private detective?”
    â€œNever needed one. I was a detective.”
    â€œThey don’t really exist,” she said. “Not like you see in the movies. They just want to sit in their offices and work with the phone. Or on their computers, with their databases. They won’t come out and actually do anything for you. I went all the way to Austin. A guy there said he could help, but he wanted to use six men and charge me nearly ten thousand dollars a week.”
    â€œFor what?”
    â€œSo I got desperate. I was really panicking. Then I got this idea. I figured if I looked at people hitching rides, I might find somebody. One of them might turn out to be the righttype of person, and willing to help me. I tried to choose pretty carefully. I only stopped for