"Fielding, Joy - Whispers and Lies" - читать интересную книгу автора (Fielding Joy)

"Take a guess."
The sudden intensity of her gaze caught me
off-guard. She scrutinized me as if I were an
exotic specimen in a lab, trapped between two
tiny pieces of glass, under an invisible
microscope. Her clear green eyes burrowed
into my tired brown ones, then moved across my
face, examining each telltale line, weighing the
evidence of my years. I have few illusions. I
saw myself exactly the way I knew she must: a
reasonably attractive woman with good
cheekbones, large breasts, and a bad haircut.
"I don't know," she said. "Forty?"
"Exactly." I laughed. "Told you."
We fell silent, frozen in the warmth of the
afternoon sun that surrounded us like a spotlight,
highlighting small flecks of dust that danced in the
air between us, like hundreds of tiny insects. She
smiled, folded her hands together in her lap, the
fingers of one hand playing carelessly with the fingers of the
other. She wore no rings of any kind, and no
polish, although her nails were long and cared-for. I
could tell she was nervous. She wanted me to like
her.
"Did you have any trouble finding the house?" I
asked.
"No. Your directions were great: east on
Atlantic, south on Seventh Avenue, past the
white church, between Second and Third Street.
No problem at all. Except for the traffic.
I didn't realize that Delray was such a busy
place."
"Well, it's November," I reminded her.
"The snowbirds are starting to arrive."
"Snowbirds?"
"Tourists," I explained. "You're
obviously new to Florida."
She looked toward her sandaled feet. "I like
this rug. You're very brave to have a white carpet in
the living room."
"Not really. I don't do much
entertaining."
"I guess your job keeps you pretty
busy. I always thought it would be so great to be a
nurse," she offered. "It must be very rewarding."
I laughed. "Rewarding is not exactly the
word I would use."
"What word would you use?"
She seemed genuinely curious, something I
found both refreshing and endearing. It had been so