"MacDonald, John - Travis McGee 06 - Bright Orange for the Shroud" - читать интересную книгу автора (MacDonald John D)

shower and you need some coffee, before and after the

shower."

"Talk about what?"

"Maybe how you can help me make some money."

He wiped his face slowly with his hand, stopped and looked

me with one skeptical eye between his fingers. "Mean it?" I nodded. He sighed. "Okay. Hang around. Make coffee, if you can find the stuff."

I found powdered coffee. I made a strong mug of it and took

it toward the sound of the shower. The bathroom door was ajar.

I put it on the counter top next to the sink, yelled to him that it

was there, and went back to the living room. Houses where love

dead or dying acquire a transient look. Somewhere there are



people who, though they do not know it yet, are going to move in.

He came wandering in, mug in his hand, hair damp, wearing a blue bathrobe. He sat wearily, sipped the coffee, stared at me. His color was not good. There were dark stains under his eyes. He had a drinker's puffiness, not far advanced, but enough to alert the observant and the wary. But the mists had lifted.

"Why me?" he asked. "That's the best question I can ask."

"I could need a hungry lawyer."

"You found him. Maybe I'm not as hungry as I have to be. I won't know, will I, until you tell me."

"I'm doing a favor for a man. For a fee. He trusts my judgment and my knowledge of Florida land values. He just came into a very big piece of money. He wants to put half of it in securities and half in land. A broker is working up a portfolio for him. I'm... hunting around."

"You an agent?"

"No. If I could locate something good, a very promising investment, something in the eight or nine hundred thousand range, he'll give me ten thousand finder's fee. He's interested in raw land."

"And you need a lawyer to check out something quietly?"

"Not exactly. I found a couple of very clean deals, one near Arcadia and the other up the coast, south of Cedar Keys. Each is worth the finder's fee."

"So where does a hungry lawyer fit?"

I stood up. "Let's adjourn to die office."

Looking bewildered, he followed me to the bathroom. I turned the cold water in the shower on full, then leaned on the counter top. He understood quickly enough. "You're more careful than you have to be, McGee."