‘Why did you buy them?’
‘It was time,’ Reacher said.
‘Were your old clothes dirty?’
‘I suppose.’
‘Did you get something on them?’
‘Like what?’
‘Blood, for instance.’
‘No, there was no blood on them.’
‘Where are they now?’
Reacher said nothing.
Podolski said, ‘We talked to the clerk at your motel. He said you made a point of asking for your trash to be emptied.’
‘I didn’t really make a point.’
‘But still, he emptied your trash. Like you asked him to. Just before the garbage truck came. So now, your old clothes are gone.’
‘Coincidence.’
‘That’s convenient,’ Podolski said again. ‘Isn’t it?’
Reacher didn’t reply.
Podolski said, ‘The clerk checked the clothes. He’s that kind of guy. They were too big for him, of course, but they might have had some value. But they didn’t. Too dirty, he said. And too stained. Including with what looked like blood to him.’
‘Not Moorcroft’s,’ Reacher said.
‘Whose, then?’
‘I’d been wearing them a long time. I have a hard life.’
‘You fight a lot?’
‘As little as possible. But sometimes I cut myself shaving.’
‘You showered, too, didn’t you?’
‘When?’
‘When you trashed the clothes. The motel clerk said you asked him for new towels.’
‘Yes, I showered.’
‘Do you normally shower twice a day?’
‘Sometimes.’
‘Was there a particular reason, today?’
Reacher said, ‘No particular reason.’
‘To rinse the blood, maybe?’
‘I wasn’t bleeding.’
‘If we checked the drain, what would we find?’
‘Dirty water,’ Reacher said.
‘You sure about that?’
‘The whole room is dirty.’
‘You’re facing a homicide charge right now, is that correct? From sixteen years ago? Juan Rodriguez? Some guy you beat up?’
‘False accusation.’
‘I’ve heard that before. Which is what Colonel Moorcroft said too, isn’t it? Major Sullivan told me you mentioned the matter to him. But he wasn’t sympathetic. Did that make you angry?’
‘It made me a little frustrated.’
‘Yes, it must get tiring, being so widely misunderstood.’
Reacher said, ‘How bad is Moorcroft?’
‘Feeling guilty now?’
‘I’m feeling concerned, about him and his client.’
‘I heard you never even met the woman.’
