Killing Floor

Reacher is angry “out of all proportion” about Molly Beth’s murder. He compares his anger to a chemical reaction that makes a glass beaker explode and feels the pressure of no time and no leads will soon “crush [him] or turn [him] into a diamond” (316). Finlay wants to stay with Molly Beth’s body until the police arrive, but Reacher hauls him away. The trio agrees to find Gray’s Kliner file, as it is their only remaining lead. At the stationhouse, Finlay has Baker photocopy Joe’s notes. When Teale leaves, the trio searches the file room. They find a box labelled “Kliner,” but it does not contain anything related to Kliner at all. Roscoe thinks someone swapped out the real file, but Reacher thinks Gray took his Kliner file and hid it somewhere else. Reacher checks the box that held Gray’s handgun and finds a key hidden in the lid. Reacher recalls one of the barbers telling him Gray came in three times a week and realizes Gray likely hid the file there. The barber says Gray told him not to give the files to anyone besides Roscoe.

The trio reads Gray’s Kliner files. Reacher finds reports of a detective James Spirenza with the New Orleans Police Department who tried to solve a string of murders: a textile plant owner, the plant’s foreman, and six EPA agents.