"searchlightsontheriver" - читать интересную книгу автора (Barton Gary)

I lighted a cigarette. My hand shook. "There wasn't anything I could do, Norma."

"And it wasn't enough to see him behind bars: to ruin his life and murder his soul. No
--you had to keep after him, building up the case. turning up more evidence even after they
had convicted him. Johnny on the spot. Relentless Johnny Renn--!"

"I'm a detective," I said.

"You're a ghoul!"

"Sure," I said. "I spend my spare time in the morgue, taking candid-camera shots of
corpses. I'm a ghoul!"

The orchestra on the radio had cut out, and an announcer was saying breathlessly:

"We interrupt this program to bring you a bulletin. Richard Sloane. convicted slayer of
Vincent W. Gordon, wealthy political figure, escaped from Lewiston Penitentiary tonight while
awaiting transfer to the death house--"

It was tagged right, I thought. I looked over at Norma. She was pacing nervously at the
other side of the room.

The announcer was saying:

"--single guard near the prison kitchen was injured; and his condition, thought not to
be serious, has not been determined. Sloane escaped in a fast speedboat which he had picked
up near the prison, proving that the break had been engineered by outside help--"

There was a sound at the side window, the sound of pebbles tossed against the glass. I
whirled.

"Don't move, Johnny!" Norma was standing near the bookcase, a black automatic menacingly
heavy in her small hand. Her lips were very tight, her mouth very red in her white face.
"I'll kill you, Johnny. So help me, I'll drill you!" She was moving toward the shaded window.

The pebbles still rattled against the pane. I heard footsteps on the front porch.

"Get away from that window, Norma!" I shouted.

I dived sideways, slapping down the light switch as I fell. The room went black, broken
by the flashes of orange-red from Norma's gun. The air was acrid and heavy, and the explosions
rolled back and forth like thunder, pounding against my ears. The slugs bit into the wall
above my head and showered plaster.

I heard the front door opening softly. There were footsteps in the hall.

"Norma!" I screamed again. "Get away from that window!"

The pane smashed inward, the glass shattering over the floor, crashing over the gunfire.