Killing Floor

“Long experience had taught me that absolute silence is the best way. Say something and it can be misheard. Misunderstood. Misinterpreted. It can get you convicted. It can get you killed.”

Reacher’s background as a military policeman gives him an understanding of law enforcement that many civilians will never possess. His expertise is on clear display in the novel’s opening pages, as he assesses Baker’s arrest protocol and decides to remain silent. Reacher’s thought here alludes to the likelihood of an arrest going wrong and officers and suspects alike hurt or killed as a result.

“…you are a murdering outsider bastard. You’ve come down here to my town and you’ve messed up right there on Mr. Kliner’s private property…you’re going to jail…And then you’re going to the chair. And then I’m going to take a dump on your shitty little pauper’s grave.”

Morrison’s hostility toward Reacher comes from a mixture of anger and fear. He is understandably upset that a homicide occurred in “his” town, but he also labels Reacher as an outsider, immediately classifying him as a threat. In a town as isolated as Margrave, it is seldom, if ever, that someone new arrives, and Morrison reacts as if Reacher’s presence is an infection he means to eradicate.

“His operation out there pays us a lot of taxes, does us a lot of good. A lot of revenue and a lot of benefit for the town without a lot of mess, because it’s so far away, right? So we try to take care of it for him.”

Finlay’s description of Kliner’s business foreshadows how deeply the company’s corruption has taken root in Margrave. Kliner Industries and the Foundation financially support the entire city, and the citizenry welcomes the aide without seeing how vulnerable that dependency makes them.