"Elrod, P N - Vampire Files 05 - Fire In The Blood E-Txt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elrod P N)

don't want the police."
"Have you an idea who took it?"
"Oh, yes. Marian's best friend Kitty has a boyfriend. Now, Kitty is a little
doll, but it's a sad fact that the sweetest girls can hook up with the most
rotten men, and that's the case with her and Stan. He can put on a smooth kind
of charm and generally fool those too young to know better, but it's all show.
I've met his type before and they're always out for whatever they can get away
with. Anyway, the two of them were over at our house for a Christmas party last
week and I expect that that's when the bracelet was taken."
"But you've no proof?"
"Nothing I can go to the police with, but I wouldn't go to them, anyway."
"A week is a long time, Mr. Pierce."
"I only found out about it today."
"He may have pawned or fenced it by now."
"You think you'll be able to trace it if he has?"
"There are no guarantees, but we can try, if he is the culprit. Who else was at
this party?"
"Myself, Marian, her current boyfriend Harry Summers, Kitty Donovan, Stan
McAlister, and the servants who were working that night. They've been with us
for years, though. It was Marian's maid who first told me about it."
"The circumstances?"
"Marian usually leaves the valuable stuff lying around on her dresser mixed in
with the rest of her costume jewelry. I know it's careless, I've nagged her on
it more than once, but in our house it was safe enough until now. Her maid was
cleaning and straightening today and noticed that the bracelet was gone. She
asked me if Marian had finally put it in the house safe. We checked, but she
hadn't, so we went over her room again."
"Marian did not wear the bracelet today?"
"No, or in the last week, we're sure of that."
"And she has not noticed it's gone missing?"
"No. As I said, she's very careless."
"Has anyone else been in the house since the party?"
Pierce shook his head decisively.
"Could Marian have taken it herself?"
"If I thought that I wouldn't have to hire you."
"What made you choose me?"
"I didn't, you're Griff's idea."
"Indeed?"
"He said you came highly recommended by a friend of his. Shoe something."
"Shoe Coldfield?"
"I think that was the name."
Escott glanced at me, one eyebrow bounced, and a smile tugged briefly at the
corner of his mouth. Coldfield was now a gang boss in Chicago's "Bronze Belt,"
but he'd shared some lean times on the stage with Escott in a traveling
Shakespeare company years ago. Once in a while he threw some business in our
direction, just to say hello.
Pierce continued. "Normally I'd ask Griff to handle something like this, but we
thought it better to hire someone a little less noticeable for the job. Griff is
a bitЕ tall, and McAlister knows him."
"And if Stan McAlister should happen to mention the encounter to your daughterЕ"