"Clayton Emery - Tyger Blake - Totaled" - читать интересную книгу автора (Emery Clayton)

......The black dog came up and snuffled my shaking hand. "That Firebird gets more visitors than we do,
hunh, Bruno?" He wagged his tail at his name.

......I'd forgotten to ask about the kid.

***

......Visiting hours were over at eight. I went at seven-thirty so there'd be fewer people to meet. I don't
like bright places or crowds.
......My sneakers squeaked along the floor. Late evening sunlight turned white walls toast-gold.

......Visitors talked and joked quietly, as in funeral homes. They did double-takes as I swung by.

......The hospital smelled more of cinnamon and coffee than disinfectant. Almost a homesick smell. There
was a time when disinfectant ran thicker in me than blood.

......Charles St. Amour was in Intensive Care. Only immediate family members were allowed past the
glass walls, I was told.

......I pressed a finger against the glass wall and pointed to his bed. Chuck looked like Frankenstein's
monster still in the shop. He was white from head to toe, with only a slot of pale face showing, and tubes
running into that. Beside the bed sat a girl maybe sixteen years old and eighty pounds, ten of that dark
piled hair. Her face was blotched red, her fists trapped between her knees. "Who's that? His wife?"

......The nurse, in a blue-flowered pullover top, was undiggable. "His girlfriend. Not exactly family, but it's
good therapy." She studied my face with professional curiosity. I was dirty and running cold sweat like a
junkie. A real charmer.

......"I was in a train wreck," I told her.

......"Ah." She didn't believe it. "Are you family?"

......"No. I just like to visit people in hospitals."

......Light was blotted out at my side. Terry Sullivan filled the alcove. He frowned at me. The look he shot
at the girlfriend inside was murderous.

......He raised a paw and banged the glass hard enough to turn the head of every conscious patient and
visitor. The nurse jumped. "Sir!"

......But the girlfriend got the message. She hopped up, all four feet of her, planted a kiss on her fingertips
and then Chuck's bandages, and skipped to meet her ride.

......While we waited, Terry asked me, "What are you doing here?"

......I offered him a box of chocolates. "Here. You're a tough guy. Give Chuck the creams. You can
chew the ones with hard centers."

......Flicking his wrist, he almost whapped the box out of my hand.