"C M Kornbluth - Kazam Collects" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kornbluth C M)

"Nothing to it Nothing at all. Come into the office."



Dully the detective followed, wondering if the cot had been removed.



The ritual that Kazam performed was simple in the extreme, but a little revolting. The mucky aspects of it
Fitzgerald completely excused when he suddenly realized that he no longer heard his own blood pumping
through his veins, and that the asthmatic wheeze of the janitor in the basement was now private to the
'janitor again. "How does it feel?" asked Kazam concernedly. "Magnificent," breathed the detective,
throwing away his cotton plugs. "Too wonderful for words."
"I'm sorry about what I had to do," said the other man, "but that was to get your attention principally.
The real cure was mental projection." He then dismissed the bedevilment of Fitzgerald with an airy wave
of the hand. "Look at this," he said.



"My God!" breathed the detective. "Is it real?" Joseph Kazam was holding out an enormous diamond cut
into a thousand glittering facets that shattered the light from his desk lamp into a glorious blaze of color.



"This," said the stringy, brown man, "is the Charity Diamond."



"You mean," sputtered the detective, "you got it fromтАФ" The very woman," said Kazam hastily. "And of
her own free will. I have a receipt: 'For the sum of one dollar in payment for the Charity Diamond.
Signed, Mrs.тАФтАФ'"



"Yes," said the detective. "Happy days for the Sons of Hagar. Is this what you've been waiting for?"



"This," said Kazam curiously turning the stone in his hand, "is what I've been hunting over all the world
for years. And only by starting a nut cult could I get it Thank God tfs legal."



"What are you going to do now?" asked the detective. "Use the diamond for a little trip. You will want to
come тАвlong, I think. You'll have a chance to meet your Mr. Rooney."