"Yvonne Navarro - Zachary's Glass Shope2" - читать интересную книгу автора (Navarro Yvonne)

this." She hesitated.
Channing leaned back and folded his arms. Here it comes, he thought angrily.
She
wants to take it back.
Finally she continued. "Do you think you could get me another little glass
thing
-- frame or whatever you call it? I didn't want to tell you last night and
spoil
your mood, but one of the maids dropped it when she was cleaning the cabinet.
It
shattered into about a hundred pieces."



Zachary's Glass Shoppe.
It hadn't changed -- the same dusty, mildewed smell, the same old glass vases
and unremarkable crystal statuettes adorning the shelves. Channing didn't
know
what he'd expected to find on his second visit -- perhaps, although it'd only
been a little over two weeks, that the place didn't even exist anymore. But
here
he was and this time he didn't wonder whether or not there was an owner; he
could feel Zachary's presence behind the curtain.
"Good afternoon, Mr Mandell."
Channing started. He must have done a fade-out, because suddenly Zachary was
there and Channing didn't remember seeing him step up to the register. "Oh,
hello." He didn't say anything else -- how does one ask to buy another life?
Zachary smiled at him serenely and waited. Five seconds passed, then ten;
still
Channing remained nervously silent, never meeting the man's eyes. Finally
Zachary sighed knowingly and bent behind the case, bringing up the mirrored
tray
and its glittering contents.
"A pity about Sandra Wheatley," Zachary said softly. "I'm sure she was a
lovely
woman."
"Who?"
"The woman who died this morning when the frame was broken," Zachary answered
softly.
Channing felt his face drain -- this sixth sense of Zachary's seemed less the
impossibility he'd once thought. Then he frowned. "But I thought you said her
initials were W S, not S W."
The man shrugged. "A small -- shall we say, white lie? Sometimes I am
compelled
inexplicably to reverse the letters." His face remained emotionless.
"Oh. Well, it w-was an accident," Channing said, stammering slightly. "One of
the maids dropped it." He chided himself mentally for offering this
explanation;
after all, what difference did it make? Even had he purposely crushed the
golden