"Michael Moorcock - The Affair of the Bassin Les Hivers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moorcock Michael)

disposed of by an expert.тАЭ

тАЬYou have my absolute assurances, Monsieur, that her body was here
when I got up this morning. Someone has done this, surely, to implicate
me. It cannot be a joke.тАЭ

Lapointe nodded gravely. тАЬI fear, Monsieur Gris, that your presence in
this building had little or nothing to do with the appearance of a corpse
outside your kitchen.тАЭ The young man became instantly relieved and began
to babble a sequence of theories, forcing Lapointe to raise his hand as he
dropped to one knee to inspect something clutched in the corpseтАЩs right
fist. He frowned and checked the fingernails of the left fingers in which
some coarse brown fibres had caught. The young man continued to talk
and Lapointe became thoughtful and impatient at the same time, rising to
his feet. тАЬIf you please, Monsieur. It is our job to determine how she came
to die here and, if possible, identify her murderer. You, I regret, will have to
remain nearby while I question the others. Have you the means to
telephone your place of work?тАЭ
 The young man nodded and crossed over to a wall bearing a
fashionably modelled telephone. He gave the operator a number. As he
was speaking, LeBec came in to join his chief. He shuddered when he saw
the corpse. He knew at once why their department had been called in.
тАЬ1820 or perhaps тАШ25,тАЭ he murmured. тАЬWhatтАЩs that in her hand? A rosary?
An expensive gold crucifix, too? Poor child. Was she killed here or there?тАЭ

тАЬBy the look of the blood it was there,тАЭ responded his chief. тАЬBut
whoever brought her body here is still amongst us, I am almost certain. He
turned the crucifix over to look at the back. All he read there were the initials
j.c. тАЬPerhaps also her murderer.тАЭ With an inclination of his massive head,
he indicated where the bloodstains told a story of the girl being dragged
and searched. тАЬDid they assume her to be a witch of some sort? A familiar
story. Her clothes suggest wealth. Yet she wears too much make-up for a
girl of her age from a good family. Was she an adept or the daughter of an
adept, maybe? What if she made her murderers a gateway into wherever
they thought they were going and they killed her, either to be certain she
told no others or as some sort of bizarre sacrifice? Yet why would she be
clutching such an expensive rosary. And what about those fibres? Were
they disguised? You know how they think, LeBec, as well as I do.тАЭ He
watched as his assistant took an instrument from an inside pocket and ran it
over the girlтАЩs head and neck. Straightening himself, Le Bec studied his
readings, nodding occasionally as his instincts were confirmed.

The commissioner was giving close attention to the series of bloody
marks leading away from the corpse to the front door of the apartment.
Again he noted those initials on the back of the crucifix. тАЬMy God!тАЭ he
murmured. тАЬBut why...?тАЭ

****

II