"P. N. Elrod - Vampire Files 02 - Lifeblood" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elrod P N)

the threshold. She was small, not much over five feet, wearing emerald

green with a matching hat and a heavy dark veil that covered her face

down to her hard, red lips. She carried a big green bag trimmed with

beads that twinkled in the light. Her green heels made quite a noise as

she crossed the wood floor to the tall man at the bar. He straightened a

little, because polite men do things like that when a lady comes up to

them, and he did look polite.

She glanced around warily, her eyes resting on me a moment. She must

have been pretty enough to be noticed even by a drunk like me; at least

she had a trim figure and good legs. I gave her an encouraging, if

bleary leer and raised my glass hopefully. After that she ignored me and

tilted her chin expectantly at the tall man.

He frowned, worried, but gathered up his hat, cane, gloves, and drink

and followed her to the second-to-last booth at the end. She sat with

her back to me and the man slid in opposite her with his back to the big

man in gray, who was now pressed tight against the wall. She seemed not

to have noticed him.

The gin placed his cane across the table, the curved handle hanging over

the outside edge. His hat went next to it and the gloves were tucked

into a pocket. I could tell he was nervous again from the way he fussed

with things. He quietly asked the woman if she cared to have a drink.

She shook her head. He repeated the gesture to the bartender, who then

moved down to my end and picked up another glass to polish. He was

watching me, but I was in a slack-jawed dream, staring into space, at

least at the space occupied by the mirror behind him.