"Simon R. Green - Haven 06 - Bones of Haven" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Simon R)

Kings on our hands. And you can bet Haven would end up taking all the blame, not the security
people. They should never have come here, Isobel. I've got a real bad feeling about this."

"You have bad feelings about everything."

"And I'm usually right."

Isobel looked at him knowingly. "You're just miffed because they wouldn't let any Haven Guards into
their security force."

"Damn right I'm annoyed. We know the situation here; they don't. But I can't really blame them, much
as I'd like to. Everyone knows the Guard in this city is rife with corruption, and after our last case, no
one trusts anyone anymore. After all, if even we can come under suspicionтАж"

"We proved our innocence, and exposed the real traitor."

"Doesn't make a blind bit of difference." Hawk scowled and shook his head slowly. "I still can't
believe how ready everyone was to accept we were guilty. After all we've done for this cityтАж
Anyway, from now on, there'll always be someone ready to point the finger and mutter about no smoke
without fire."

"Anyone points a finger at me," said Fisher calmly, "I'll cut it off, and make him eat it. Now, stop
worrying about the Kings; they're not our responsibility."

They walked a while in silence, kicking occasionally at loose debris in the street. The rain seemed to
be letting up a bit. Every now and again someone up on a roof would throw something down at them,
but Hawk and Fisher just ignored it. Thanks to the overhanging upper floors of the buildings, it was
rare for anything to come close enough to do any harm, and there was no point in trying to chase after
whoever was responsible. By the time the Guards could get up to the roof, the culprits would be gone,
and both sides knew it. They were in more danger from a suddenly emptied chamber pot from an upper
window. You had to expect that kind of thing in the Northside. Even if you were the infamous Hawk
and Fisher.

Hawk scowled as he strode along, brooding over recent events. It wasn't that long ago that most of
Haven had been convinced he'd gone berserk, killing anyone who got in the way of his own personal
vendetta outside the law. It hadn't been true, and eventually he'd proved it, but that wasn't the point. He
knew he had a reputation for violence; he'd gone to great pains to establish it. It kept the villains and
the hardcases off his back, and made the small fry too nervous to give him any trouble. But even so,
the speed with which people believed he'd gone bad had disturbed him greatly. For the first time, he'd
seen himself as others saw him, and he didn't like what he saw.

"We never used to be this hard," he said quietly. "These days, every time I look at someone I'm
thinking about the best way to take them out before they can get to me. Whether they're behaving
aggressively or not. Whenever I talk to someone, part of me is listening for a lie or an evasion. And
more and more, I tend to assume a suspect is bound to be guilty, unless hard evidence proves them
innocent."

"In the Northside, they usually are guilty," said Fisher.

"That's not the point! I always said I'd never laid a finger on an honest man, or killed anyone who