"Sean McMullen - Alone in His Chariot" - читать интересную книгу автора (McMullen Sean)

Schilden's visitor had an air of suspicion and authority that branded him as a detective at once, and he
suspected that the man had come about a chemical audit of his laboratory. He decided to play the
innocent scientist until the other stated his business. To his surprise the man introduced himself as Drake,
a Homicide Branch detective, without a trace of deception.
"About a week ago a councillor and his wife were savagely bashed when they came home," Drake
explained. "The woman died of a cerebral haemorrhage and the councillor is still on the critical list."
"Yes, I read about it, Mr Drake," said Schilden, relieved but puzzled. "Councillor Dodsworth, I think."
"That's right. He's big and strong, he used to play professional rugby. Our prime suspect is small and
scrawny."
"Perhaps he studied karate."
"Our suspect denies that he has," said Drake, searching Schilden's face for a reaction. "His name is
Albert Vuner."
Schilden sat up with a start. "Vuner? From here? The Assistant Technician Class, er . . ."
"Two," said Drake impassively. "A few nights after the attack Dodsworth's neighbours noticed someone
loitering in the garden of the house. The police missed him that time, but decided to station an unmarked
patrol car nearby. Last night he came back. Dr Schilden, did Vuner ever do any martial arts?"
"Not that I know of."
"That's what he told us, yet he threw one of our men around like a beanbag before his offsider shot him."
"Shot? You mean he's dead?"
"His blood pressure was zero when the ambulance arrived, but he pulled through. This morning he denied
beating up the Dodsworth couple. He told us he was an old school friend, that he just went there to look
around."
Schilden took off his glasses and began to clean them very slowly. The world became blurred, less
threatening, it allowed him to retreat until a measure of confidence returned to him.
"A little morbid, of course," he said, "but some people do that sort of thing."
"He confessed to making illicit drugs in this laboratory."
"Impossible! I keep a video record from our security cameras for three days past. You may check it for
yourself."
"I will. He also said he was using a drug called TEFG-7."
Schilden's glasses slipped from his fingers.
A detailed scan of the security videocassettes showed that Vuner was as deft as a magician as he mixed
the jobs of washing laboratory apparatus and manufacturing illicit drugs. Schilden had only ever scanned
the tapes quickly, and noticed nothing suspicious until it was pointed out to him.
Vuner was a prime suspect in the murder case. On the day that Jason Dodsworth died Drake paid him a
visit at the prison hospital.
"We interviewed your teachers and classmates, Vuner," said the detective. "They say that Dodsworth
gave you a really hard time at school." Vuner sneered.
"We were just kids," he said. "Who remembers kids' games?"
"Someone fooling about with a powerful new memory drug!" shouted Drake, slamming his fist down on
Vuner's meal tray. "As you have admitted yourself, the drug allows you to live in pretty damn clear
fantasies, then remember them like they really happened."
Vuner laughed. "A dream's just a dream, even if it's on TEFG."
"No Vuner, on TEFG-7 it's not. Dr Cottak has a couple of rats that look dead, except that they still have
a brain trace. She thinks that they dream of having plenty of food, and no mazes, pain or injections. They
just turn off the outside world. TEFG-7 allows users to reprogram synapse connections in their brain. If
you're in a deep enough daydream when it wears off, you lose the connection to your senses. You could
have been locked inside your own head!"
"Well, I suppose I'm just lucky, Mr Drake, but so what?"
Drake took a deep breath. "Do you know what charges you face?"