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

acquaintances from the criminal underworld, mostly through a famous
London thievesтАЩ warren known as тАШSmithтАЩs KitchenтАЩ which now has
concessions in Paris, Rome and New York. If anyone has heard a hint of
the business here, it will be Zenith.тАЭ

тАЬHow will you contact him, chief?тАЭ

Lapointe smiled almost to himself. тАЬOh, I think Blake will confirm I
know where he will be later this morning.тАЭ

****

III

Familiar Names

****

A broken rosary, a silver crucifix bearing the initials j.c., a few coarse, brown
fibres, some photographs of the corpse seen earlier at Les Hivers ... One
by one, Commissaire Lapointe laid the things before him on the bright,
white table-cloth. He was sitting in a fashionable caf├й, LтАЩAlbertine, situated
in the Arcades de lтАЩOp├йra whose windows looked into a square in which a
beautiful fountain played. Outside, ParisтАЩs haut-monde strolled back and
forth, conversing, inspecting the windows of the expensive shops,
occasionally entering to make purchases. Across from him, sipping
alternately from a small coffee cup or a glass of yellow-green absinthe, sat
a most extraordinary individual. His skin was pale as alabaster. His hair,
including his eyebrows, was the colour of milk, and his gleaming, sardonic
eyes resembled the finest rubies. Dressed unusually for the age, the albino
wore perfectly cut morning dress. A grey silk hat, evidently his, shared a
shelf near the cash-register with LapointeтАЩs wide-brimmed straw.

тАЬI am grateful, Monsieur, that you found time to see me,тАЭ murmured
Lapointe, understanding the value the albino placed on good manners. тАЬI
was hoping these objects would mean more to you than they do to me.
Evidently belonging to a priest or a nunтАФтАЭ

тАЬOf high rank,тАЭ agreed Zenith continuing to look at the photographs of
the victim.

тАЬWe also found several long black hairs, traces of heavy red lipstick
of fairly recent manufacture.тАЭ
 тАЬNo nun wore that,тАЭ mused Zenith. тАЬWhich suggests her murderess
was disguised as a nun. In which case, of course, she is still unlikely to
have worn lip-rouge. It was not the young womanтАЩs?тАЭ

тАЬHers was from an earlier age altogether.тАЭ Lapointe had already
explained the circumstances in which the corpse had been discovered, as
well as his guess at the time and date when she was murdered.