"Giles, Michelle - Waiting To Die" - читать интересную книгу автора (Giles Michelle)

"I wasn't hurting anyone," Dr. Wright said. "I was helping."

"Helping! You never helped anyone. Forging records and test results, pretending to console your patients. Do you know what an exact date of death does to a person's psyche?" Jenna leaned forward and stared into the doctor's eyes. "I've been in shock for days. One minute, too depressed to move, the next, trying to plan out every last second. What gave you the right to play God?"

Matt stopped pacing and faced the doctor.

Dr. Wright clenched his hands into fists. "Don't you understand? It's about the power of death. The perception of death."

"Oh, we understand that, a little too well," Matt snapped.

"The doctors were wrong," Dr. Wright said. "She never should have died. They were wrong...Oh, Mommy..." He dropped his head into his hands.

"C'mon, doc," Matt said. "We're not here for some pity routine."

The doctor took a deep breath, a glazed look filled his eyes. "I needed to study how the perception of immediate death affects us. Don't you see? I could have found a way...a way to change that perception so death could never take hold. We are only what we believe."

Jenna and Matt looked at each other. Matt started pacing again.

"So you used us?" Jenna asked in disgust. She began placing the incriminating papers in front of him one by one.

"You are all part of an experiment," the doctor said. "It is a study, which could help so many others. It could, in fact, change the world as we know it."

"You crazy, son of a--" Matt whipped a gun from his jacket pocket.

"No!" Jenna cried.

Matt pointed the barrel against Dr. Wright's forehead. "I've got nothing to lose, Doc. You see, I've already finished my list."

"Matt, you didn't." Jenna shook her head, tears filling her eyes.

"It appears I'll be spending a long, long time in prison, especially since I'm not dying." Matt pushed the gun forward. "One more murder won't make a difference."

"Don't!" Jenna pleaded. She grabbed the phone. "I'm calling the police."

Matt looked at Jenna, then back at the doctor. "You did teach me one thing, Doc. I learned all too well how to watch the time."

The doctor remained still. The clock continued to tick.

"And by now, I know the precise response time of the police." Matt tightened his grip on the gun. "How's this for a perception of death--you've got exactly two minutes and forty-seven seconds to live..."

###
Michelle Giles has had mystery fiction published in Woman's World, Murderous Intent Mystery Magazine, Mystery Time, The Villager, The Storyteller, as well as other fiction published in several magazines. She's a member of Sisters in Crime and the Short Mystery Fiction Digest. She can be reached via e-mail at
[email protected]