"Barry B. Longyear - The Hangingstone Rat" - читать интересную книгу автора (Longyear Barry)

MathesonтАЩs eyebrows arched. тАЬA cat and a duck?тАЭ

тАЬIs that any more unusual than a cat and a man being married?тАЭ I
demanded rather more angrily than intended.

тАЬSorry.тАЭ He thought for a moment. тАЬI suppose it isnтАЩt unusual for our
times. My wife Constance can be wed to John Dillinger, your wife Valerie
can be a cat and married to Basil Rathbone, your partner a duck dating
another cat, and my leading inquiry team right now is a frustrated
bloodhound and an incontinent gorilla. The world is still just at the beginning
of the entire artificial being phenomenon, isnтАЩt it?тАЭ

тАЬMy concerns arenтАЩt quite that philosophical, sir. Tell Parker to watch
his back.тАЭ I looked up at him. тАЬRevenge and murder are still with us.тАЭ

Matheson raised a hand and rubbed the back of his neck. тАЬItтАЩs most
likely an accident, Jaggers, but IтАЩll get in touch with London ABC, convey
your suspicions, see what they suggest.тАЭ

He placed his hand on my shoulder. тАЬTerribly sorry about Shad.тАЭ He
nodded, turned, and left the room, leaving the door open. As soon as he
left, Val and her friend Nadine came in. Nadine was an orange tabby. My
wife hopped up on the bed and Nadine, never presumptuous, climbed up
on the chair recently vacated by the superintendent.

тАЬHow do you feel, Harry?тАЭ Val asked.

тАЬA bit shell shocked.тАЭ I reached out a hand and stroked her cheek.
тАЬWere you terribly worried?тАЭ

She cocked her head toward her friend. тАЬIтАЩm afraid Nadine is the one
whoтАЩs having a fright.тАЭ

тАЬDetective Superintendent Matheson said that Guy is dead,тАЭ Nadine
said quietly, her tone begging for another opinion.

I looked at Nadine, and expression is often difficult to read in a cat.
They always look so inscrutably pleased with themselves over some covert
triumph. Nadine, though, looked miserable. Her head hung down, and she
made a pitiful and barely audible mewing sound. All I could do was lie there
looking foolish. I wouldтАЩve resorted to some sort of
weтАЩll-get-the-blighter-who-did-this rhetoric, but I feared it would have been
heard as falsely as it would have fitted my tongue. Either it was an accident,
which meant that gunners and range officers responsible were long dead
and gone, or it was indeed set up by person or persons unknown quite
skilled at what it takes to stage a crime scene. Either way, that slight
reduction in pain referred to by that vacuous term closure seemed distant,
not just for Nadine, but all of us.