"Brooks, Terry - Landover 01 - Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brooks Terry)

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The catalogue was from Rosen's, Ltd. It was the department
store's annual Christmas Wishbook.

It was addressed to Annie.

Ben Holiday stood frozen before the open cubicle of his
mailbox, eyes slipping across the gaily decorated cover of
the catalogue to the white address label and the name of his
dead wife. The lobby of the Chicago high rise seemed oddly
still in the graying dusk of the late afternoon rush hour,
empty of everyone but the security guard and himself. Out-
side, past the line of floor-to-ceiling windows that fronted
the building entry, the autumn wind blew in chill gusts down
the canyon of Michigan Avenue and whispered of winter's
coming.

He ran his thumb over the smooth surface of the Wish-
book. Annie had loved to shop, even when the shopping had
only been through the mail-order catalogues. Rosen's had
been one of her favorite stores.

Sudden tears filled his eyes. He hadn't gotten over losing
her, even after two years. Sometimes it seemed to him that
losing her was nothing more than a trick of his imaginationЧ
that when he came home she would still be there waiting for
him.

2 MAGIC KINGDOM FOR SALE - SOLD!

He took a deep breath, fighting back against the emotions
that were aroused in him simply by seeing her name on that
catalogue cover. It was silly to feel like this. Nothing could
bring her back to him. Nothing could change what had
happened.

His eyes lifted to stare into the dark square of the now-
empty mailbox. He remembered what it has been like when
he had first learned that she had been killed. He had just
returned from court, a pre-trial on the Microlab case with
old Wilson Frink and his sons. Ben was in his office, thinking
of ways to persuade his opposition, a lawyer named Bates,
that his latest offer of settlement would serve everyone's best
interests, when the call had come in. Annie had been in an
accident on the Kennedy. She was at St. Jude's in critical