"Kathleen Ann Goonan - Angels and You Dogs" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goose Mother)

way."
"I did neglect to mention that I practice target shooting once a week."
That and line dancing and law school, too? No wonder she was too tired
to clean her room.
"But Lulu " That was about all I could manage with my lover lying at
my feet in a pool of blood.
She snapped at me. "I didn't know he was Charles. And the gun is not
illegal. I have a concealed weapon permit. Since I was fifteen, in fact. My
Mama was frantic about me living unarmed in Miami and made Papa pull
some strings. Miami is one circle removed from hell, she used to say, and
that circle is mighty thin. Rapists, gangs, robbers, and murderers just
running rampant. An unrelenting and horrific hellhole of unimaginable
and unsightly mayhem. And it's everywhere. Everywhere. People can be
absolutely and totally evil. God! Nobody knows this better than me! I just
never I just never thought "
To my complete amazement, she fainted. Just kind of gracefully sank to
the floor, her eyelids fluttering. Her head hit the floor with a thump, and
Ambrose leaped from her arms and stood looking at her doubtfully, as did
I. I didn't think that people really fainted.
"Excuse me," said paramedic number two, a husky young man. We all
stepped back while he and his partner lifted a bandaged, IV'd Charles onto
a telescoping gurney and then attended to Lulu with the kind of pungent
ammonia capsule my grandmother used to use. Her eyes opened wide. She
coughed. "Just lie there for a moment, miss," said the paramedic.
She burst into tears, which Ambrose proceeded to lick frantically.
"Ambrose," she said. "Ambrose. I'm so sorry, Ambrose. I'm so sorry." She
crossed her arms over her chest and scrunched up on the floor. "I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"Well, you should be," said Blake. "You're in a hell of a lot of trouble."
"That's enough out of you," Officer Hawks told him. "You have the right
to remain silent "
"What? You're arresting me? She's a killer!"
"Breaking and entering."
"We didn't break and enter! We have a key! This is our fucking stuff,
lady "
Officer Hawks snapped cuffs on him. "Shut up and go sit on the couch.
Now."
 "Charles," I said, kneeling next to his stretcher. "Charles, are you "
The rest of my sentence went unsaid. He knew I was asking him if he
was coming back, which I suppose was odd, considering the
circumstances, but I couldn't think of anything else. I saw the minute
shake of his head as his eyes slid to Blake, and it finally hit me. Please, he
was saying. He doesn't know.
He didn't even know.
"Step back, sir," said the paramedic.
"I'm sorry," Charles whispered.
He was sorry, Lulu was sorry, and now I was pretty damned sorry, too.
I just looked away and stood up. More might come later. I didn't know.
It seemed that he would live, though.
Lulu still sobbed uncontrollably. I got her some Kleenex, and she blew