"Edward L. Ferman - Best From F&SF, 23rd Edition" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ferman Edward L)

but what "peculiar" thing had Harry noticed about him, and why had he moved out right after Harry was
killed? Birdie let me take a look at his room, but I didn't find a thing, not even an abandoned paperclip.
Friday morning I sat at my desk trying to put the pieces together. Trouble was, I only had two pieces
and they didn't fit. The sun was coming in off the Boulevard, shining through the window, projecting the
chipping letters painted on the glass against the wall in front of me. BERT MALLORY Confidential
Investigations. I got up and looked out. This section of the Boulevard wasn't rotting yet, but it wouldn't
be long.
There's one sure gauge for judging a part of town: the movie theaters. It never fails. For instance, a
new picture hadn't opened in downtown L.A. in a long, long time. The action ten years ago was on the
Boulevard. Now it's hi Westwood. The grand old Pantages, east of Vine and too near the freeway, used
to be the site of the most glittering premieres. They even had the Oscar ceremonies there for 8 while.
Now it shows exploitation and double-feature horror films. Only Grauman's Chinese and the once
Paramount once Loew's, now Downtown Cinema (or something) at the west end got good openings.
The Nu-View, across the street and down, was showing an X-rated double feature. It was too
depressing. So I closed the blind.
Miss Tremaine looked up from her typing at the rattle and frowned. Her desk was out in the small
reception area, but I had arranged both desks so we could see each other and talk in normal voices
when the door was open. It stayed open most of the time except when I had a client who felt secretaries
shouldn't know his troubles. She had been transcribing the Lucas McGowan report for half an hour,
humphing and tsk-tsking at thirty-second intervals. She was having a marvelous time. Miss Tremaine was
about forty-five, looked like a constipated librarian, and was the best secretary I'd ever had. She'd been
with me seven years. I'd tried a few young and sexy ones, but it hadn't worked out. Either they wouldn't
play at all, or they wanted to play all the time. Both kinds were a pain in the ass to face first thing in the
morning, every morning.
"Miss Tremaine, will you get Gus Verdugo on the phone, please?"
"Yes, Mr. Mallory." She dialed the phone nimbly, sitting as if she were wearing a back brace.
Gus Verdugo worked in R&I. I had done him a favor once, and he insisted on returning it tenfold. I
gave him everything I had on Andrew Detweiler and asked him if he'd mind running it through the
computer. He wouldn't mind. He called back in fifteen minutes. The computer had never heard of
Andrew Detweiler and had only seven hunchbacks, none of them fitting Detweiler's description.
I was sitting there, wondering how in hell I would find him, when the phone rang again. Miss
Tremaine stopped typing and lifted the receiver without breaking rhythm. "Mr. Mallory's office," she said
crisply, really letting the caller know he'd hooked onto an efficient organization. She put her hand over the
mouthpiece and looked at me. "It's for youтАФan obscene phone call." She didn't bat an eyelash or twitch
a muscle.
"Thanks," I said and winked at her. She dropped the receiver back on the cradle from a height of
three inches and went back to typing. Grinning, I picked up my phone. "Hello, Janice," I said.
"Just a minute till my ear stops ringing," The husky voice tickled my ear.
"What are you doing up this early?" I asked. Janice Fenwick was an exotic dancer at a club on the
Strip nights and was working on her
master's in oceanography at UCLA in the afternoons. In the year I'd known her I'd seldom seen her
stick her nose into the sunlight before eleven,
"I had to catch you before you started following that tiresome woman with the car."
тАЬIтАЩve finished that. She's picked up her last parking-lot attendantтАФ at least with this husband," I
chuckled.
"So glad to hear it"
"What's up?"
"I haven't had an indecent proposition from you in days. So I thought I'd make one of my own."
тАЬIтАЩm all ears."
"We're doing some diving off Catalina tomorrow. Want to come along?"