"Kuttner, Henry - Private Eye UC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kuttner Henry)

HENRY KUTTNER

Private Eye
Numerous writers have attempted to combine the mysteiy story with science fiction, and although there have been some successes, there are also problems. The kind of future scientific breakthroughs commonplace in SF should make the apprehension of criminals much easier than it is today. it is not surprising, then, that some of the finest fusions of science fiction and the mystery focus not on the capture of the offender, but rather on the way in which the criminal committed the crime under conditions in which escape from detection is almost impossible. УPrivate EyeФ is a superb example.









The forensic sociologist looked closely at the image on the wall screen. Two figures were frozen there, one in the act of stabbing the other through the heart with an antique letter cutter once used at Johns Hopkins for surgery. That was before the ultramicrotome, of course.
УAs tricky a case as IТve ever seen,Ф the sociologist remarked. УIf we can make a homicide charge stick on Sam Clay, IТll be a little surprised.Ф
The tracer engineer twirled a dial and watched the figures on the screen repeat their actions. OneЧSam ClayЧsnatched the letter cutter from a desk and plunged it into the other manТs heart. The victim fell down dead. Clay started back in apparent horror. Then he dropped to his knees beside the twitching body and said wildly that he didnТt mean it. The body drummed its heels upon the rug and was still.
УThat last touch was nice,Ф the engineer said.
УWell, IТve got to make the preliminary survey,Ф the sociologist sighed, settling in his dictachair and placing his fingers on the keyboard. УI doubt if IТll find any evidence. However, the analysis can come later. WhereТs Clay now?Ф
УHis mouthpiece put in a habeas mens.Ф
УI didnТt think weТd be able to hold him. But it was worth trying. Imagine, just one shot of scop and heТd have told the truth. Ah, well. WeТll do it the hard way, as usual. Start the tracer, will you? It wonТt make sense till we run it chronologically, but one must start somewhere. Good old Blackstone,Ф the sociologist said, as on the screen, Clay stood up, watching the corpse revive and arise, and then pulled the miraculously clean paper cutter out of its heart, all in reverse.
УGood old Blackstone,Ф he repeated. УOn the other hand, sometimes I wish IТd lived in JeifreysТs time. In those days, homicide was homicide.Ф

Telepathy never came to much. Perhaps the deveТoping faculty went underground in response to a familiar natural law after the new science appeared
Чomniscience. It wasnТt really that, of course. It was a device for looking into the past. And it was limited to a fifty-year span; no chance of seeing the arrows at Agincourt or the homunculi of Bacon. It was sensitive enough to pick up the УfingerprintsФ of light and sound waves imprinted on matter, descramble and screen them and reproduce the image of what had happened. After all, a manТs shadow can be photographed on concrete if heТs unlucky enough to be caught in an atomic blast. Which is something. The shadowТs about all there is left.
However, opening the past like a book didnТt solve all problems. It took generations for the maze of complexities to iron itself out, though fiially a tentative check and balance was reached. The right to kill has been sturdily defended by mankind since Cain rose up against Abel. A good many idealists quoted, УThe voice of thy brotherТs blood crieth unto me from the ground.Ф But that didnТt stop the lobbyists and the pressure groups. Magna Carta was quoted in reply. The right to privacy was defended desperately:
And the curious upshot of this imbalance came when the act of homicide was declared nonpunishable unless intent and forethought could be proved. Of course, it was considered at least naughty to fly into a rage and murder someone on impulse, and there was a nominal punishmentЧimprisonment, for exampleЧbut in practice this never worked because so many defenses were possible. Temporary insanity. Undue provocation. Self-defense. Manslaughter, second-degree homicide, third degree, fourth degreeЧit went on like that. It was up to the state to prove that the killer had planned his killing in advance; only then would a jury convict. And the jury, of course, had to waive immunity and take a scop test, to prove the box hadnТt been packed. But no defendant ever waived immunity.
A manТs home wasnТt his castleЧnot with the Eye able to enter it at will and scan his past. The device couldnТt interpret, and it couldnТt read his mind;
it could only see and listen. Consequently the sole remaining fortress of privacy was the human mind. And that was defended to the last ditch. No truth serum, no hypnoanalysis, no third degree, no leading questions.
If, by viewing the prisonerТs past actions, the prosecution could prove forethought and intent, okay.
Otherwise, Sam Clay would go scot-free. Superficially, it appeared as though Andrew Vanderman had, during a quarrel, struck Clay across the face with a stingaree whip. Anyone who has been stung by a Portuguese man-of-war can understand that, at this point, Clay could plead temporary insanity and selfdefense, as well as undue provocation and possible justification. Only the curious cult of the Alaskan Flagellantes, who make the stingaree whips for their ceremonials, know how to endure the pain. The Flagellantes even like it; the pre-ritual drug they swallow transmutes pain into pleasure. Not having swallowed this drug, Sam Clay very naturally took steps to protect himselfЧ irrational steps, perhaps, but quite logical and defensible ones.
Nobody but Clay knew that he had intended to kill Vanderman all along. That was the trouble. Clay couldnТt understand why he felt so let down.

The screen flickered. It went dark. The engineer chuckled.
УMy, my. Locked up in a dark closet at the age of four. What one of those old-time psychiatrists would have made of that. Or do I mean obimen? Shamans? I forget. They interpreted dreams, anyway.Ф
УYouТre confused. It . .
УAstrologers! No, it wasnТt either. The ones I mean went in for symbolism. They used to spin prayer wheels and say СA rose is a rose is a rose,Т didnТt they? To free the unconscious mind?Ф
УYouТve got the typical laymanТs attitude toward antique psychiatric treatments.Ф
УWell, maybe they had something, at that. Look at quinine and digitalis. The United Amazon natives used those long before science discovered them. But why use eye of newt and toe of frog? To impress the patient?Ф
УNo, to convince themselves,Ф the sociologist said. УIn those days the study of mental aberrations drew potential psychotics, so naturally there was unnecessary mumbo jumbo. Those medicos were trying to fix their own mental imbalance while they treated their patients. But itТs a science today, not a religion. WeТve found out how to allow for individual psychotic deviation in the psychiatrist himself, so weТve got a better chance of finding true north. However, letТs get on with this. Try ultraviolet. Oh, never mind. SomebodyТs letting him out of that closet. The devil with it. I think weТve cut back far enough. Even if he was frightened by a thunderstorm at the age of three
months, that can be filed under Gestalt and ignored. LetТs run through this chronologically. Give it the screening for. . . letТs see. Incidents involving these persons: Vanderman, Mrs. Vanderman, Josephine WellsЧand these places:
the office, VandermanТs apartment, ClayТs place . .
УGot it.Ф
УLater we can recheck for complicating factors. Right now weТll run the superficial survey. Verdict first, evidence later,Ф he added, with a grin. УAll we need is a motive
УWhat about this?Ф

A girl was talking to Sam Clay. The background was an apartment, grade
B-2.
УIТm sorry, Sam. ItТs just that ... well, these things happen.Ф
УYeah. VandermanТs got something I havenТt got, apparently.Ф
УIТm in love with him.Ф