"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 30 - Dimension Of Horror" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

MacMurdo lowered his voice. "Dexter was being trained for something, wasn't he? And there
was an accident, wasn't there? Colby never told me anything, but I guessed that much. It was so
long ago. Surely you can tell me now."

J shook his head. "No, I can't. It's still classified information, and besides, if I told you I'm afraid
you'd lock me in here and never let me out." He laughed raggedly.

MacMurdo recommenced eating, obviously annoyed. "Keep your little secrets," he muttered,
speaking with his mouth full. "See if I care. Anyway, Dexter had nothing to do with Colby taking
up witchcraft. There were plenty of other things happening around here about that time. Dexter
was the least of our worries."

"What do you mean?"

"As you probably know, no old house in Scotland is complete without one or more ghosts. This
sanitarium is no exception. MI6 has owned the manor since World War II, but the family ghosts
don't seem to realize that. They lie low for years, then suddenly they stage a grand comeback,
howling and swinging chains and throwing the furniture around just like old times. If you ask me,
that's what set Colby off. The ghosts. For about two weeks this place was a madhouse in more
ways than one. Crashing. Banging. Funny lights. Voices muttering things in foreign languages
out of thin air. Strange faces in the mirrors. Even a fire that started, so they say, by spontaneous
combustion! It burned up four rooms in the east wing before we could put it out. Could have
brought the whole place blazing down around our ears! I can't say who was seeing more things
that weren't there, the inmates or the staff. I saw a few things myself. I swear I did."

"I don't doubt it," J said, thinking of the heavy dresser that had crashed against the wall in Blade's
room. "And Colby's interest in witchcraft began during this period of haunting?"

"After the haunting," the psychiatrist corrected.
"After? I don't understand."

There was a long uncomfortable pause, then MacMurdo reluctantly began, "First I have to tell
you Colby had once had a daughter, back before his divorce, when he was finishing his schooling
at the University of California in Berkeley."

"A daughter?" J prompted, puzzled.

MacMurdo nodded gravely. "Jane was her name. She was about ten years old when she died,
there in her bedroom looking out over the San Francisco Bay. Colby used to tell me about her
again and again, about the view the poor child had had of the Golden Gate Bridge and all. Jane
took an overdose of sleeping pills and died by that window. Nobody could say whether it was
suicide or an accident. She didn't leave a note."

J broke in, "But what's that got to do with . . "

"The witchcraft business? Well, along with all those traditional Scottish spooks and ghosties and
things that go bump in the night . . . along with all of them came Jane Colby. Dr. Colby saw her.
He talked to her. He went for long walks with her in the hills."