"Philip E. High - The Artifact" - читать интересную книгу автора (High Phillip E)

THE ARTIFACT

PHILIP E. HIGH

The place was a shambles, no doubt about that. A blood-stained saber lying in the middle of the carpet
was bad enough, but the killer had gone berserk. Limbs, hands pieces of torso, even fingers and toes had
been flung insanely about the room. Needless to say there was the hell of a lot of blood, much of it
splashed up the walls.

An elaborate attempt had been made to set fire to the place by setting fire to the kitchen. An erection of
cups, soup plates and jugs filled with spirits, whisky, brandy, and cleaning fluids should have started a
blaze capable of gutting the place in less than thirty minutes.

This aspect to me was the worst of all. This was not a single building, this was an apartment, one of eight
in the same blockтАФentire families could have died as well.

Fortunately, in this case, the apartment had a damper that snuffed out the fire before it took hold.

Landlords and the owners of tenements often forget to mention they have installed dampers. The device,
ideal for snuffing out fires, is also able to detect the presence of human life before it comes into operation
but there have been notable cases when it has failed to work. A damper in operation is just as lethal as
the fire itself.

A damper, on detecting a fire, does a number of things: it drops concealed shutters over every window
and door and floods the place withNothreen . This is a newly discovered gas that destroys oxygen so
rapidly in an enclosed space that the fire is snuffed out in minutes.

It is not pleasant to dwell on the deaths of those the device failed to detect. Detective Inspector Ransome
looked round the room several times before he spoke. I had worked with him only a few weeks but he
was a brilliant detective and I respected him from the first but then, well, I had certain advantages.

His thin sardonic face turned in my direction and he gave me his twisted smile. тАЬAny comments, constable
Barret?тАЭ

тАЬNo, Chief, no yet.тАЭ

тАЬVery wise of you, boy, too easy to jump to conclusions but there's something about this set-up which
doesn't feel right.тАЭ

I agreed with him entirely but it was not, as yet, my place to say so. He and I got on very well outside of
work, drank a beer together, discussed sport but mainly music as we both loved the classics. At work
however, there was tension, not hostile, but tension nonetheless.

You see, I am the first тАШSensitiveтАЩ to join the Police Department and I am on trial in it. I am that new
psychic guy they've just taken on. Fortunately I've been trained for it but I've taken a lot of stick,
Constable Weirdo, Magician Barret and тАЬHow's your bloody spirit guide today, old son?тАЭ

Ransome has been both kind and helpful but I can well understand him being ill at ease.

тАЬKnow who the tenant isтАФor was?тАЭ he asked.