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Да, первый рассказ из сборника, что я успела прочитать, что надо! И написано хорошо, и содержание необычное, но жизненное. Очень понравилось, хотя там...
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Peter Decker 3-Book Thriller Collection
Автор
Год написания книги
2019
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“Give me another scotch, will ya?”
“I haven’t seen you here before,” she started out.
Decker lit a cigarette.
“I haven’t been here in a long time.”
“Are you a cop?”
He laughed.
“Sometimes they call me that.”
“Don’t tell me,” the woman said cocking her head to one side. “You look like a detective.”
Decker smiled.
She gently bit her lower lip. “And I’d say you work in Robbery or maybe GTA.”
“Juvey and Sex Crimes,” he corrected her.
The girl wrinkled her nose. “Sex Crimes! I hear it’s the worst! All those disgusting rapists.”
“Rapists are disgusting … disgusting’s your name?”
“Nadine. What’s yours?”
“Pete.”
“Nice to meet you, Pete.” She stuck out her hand and he took it. It was warm and soft. She pulled it away and took a sip of her tonic.
“So what brings you here, Pete?”
“Atmosphere.”
“Are you married?”
He hesitated a moment.
“No.”
Nadine laughed.
“Oh yes you are. I can spot ’em.”
He chuckled.
“All right, I am.”
“S’okay,” she said. “I’m just interested in a fun night anyway.”
His eyes scanned her body. One word and he had company for the evening. A warm woman in his bed. He felt hot. What did he owe to Rina anyway? What did he owe to anyone? Man, he was roasting. He could feel the smoke rising, enveloping him. It was fucking burning him!
“Shit!” The girl jumped up. “Your jacket’s on fire.”
He bolted off the stool and pounded on his right jacket pocket. A cigarette ember had spat fire onto his threads.
“Holy fucking shit!” he yelled, smothering the flames with his bare palm. It left a blackened hole in the tweed and had burnt the first pages of his pocket siddur. Decker stuffed the ruined prayer book in his other pocket. The girl was giggling.
“You okay?” she said, holding her hand over her mouth.
“Yeah.”
“C’mon,” she chirped. “Let’s get outta here before you burn the place down.”
“I’m going home,” he said disgustedly. “Maybe some other time, okay?”
The girl stopped laughing.
“C’mon,” she said, tugging at his jacket sleeve. He jerked away violently, and she stepped backward, frightened. Without a word, he slapped some bills on the countertop, turned around, and left.
As he drove home, the images grew stronger. The smoky stench of his jacket polluted the car, made it stifling. He threw open the windows and allowed a blast of cold air to hit his face, but still he sweated profusely. The images became real—fire, the stink of rotting flesh. Long-buried memories surfaced. Nam. Tracers lighting up the sky. Blood and bursts of rocket fire. Dismembered bodies. Stop the bleeding treat em for shock get em to a chopper. He shook his head fiercely. His mind segued to the ravaged young faces at Hotel Hell. And to Lindsey, her flesh darkening, oozing, cooking in the flames. He closed his eyes for a moment, but the nightmare stayed.
A horn honked, reminding him that the car was drifting into oncoming traffic. He jerked the wheel around and nearly sideswiped the vehicle on his right. Flooring the gas pedal, he raced over to the yeshiva, managing to get there unharmed.
It was nearly midnight, the place calm and peaceful. He banged loudly on her door, the knocks echoing in the quiet.
“Who’s there?” he heard her say, startled.
He had scared her.
“Peter,” he whispered. But she didn’t hear him and repeated her question, her voice small and frightened.
“It’s Peter,” he said again.
She unbolted the door.
“You scared—What’s wrong?”
He stepped inside and began to pace.
“I burned it,” he said, wiping off sweat with a jacket sleeve.
“It’s all right,” she soothed him. “Calm down and tell me what happened.”
He grabbed at his hair and pulled it.
“You don’t understand. I burned it with my goddam cigarette.” He took out the siddur and threw it on the floor.
Другие электронные книги автора Faye Kellerman
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Да, первый рассказ из сборника, что я успела прочитать, что надо! И написано хорошо, и содержание необычное, но жизненное. Очень понравилось, хотя там...
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