"LEMON" - читать интересную книгу автора (Paul Barbara)

M A K I N G L E M O N A D E


by Barbara Paul


(Published in SISTERS IN CRIME 4,
edited by Marilyn Wallace, Berkley,
copyright 1991 by Barbara Paul)





The dead man was Japanese, dressed in a Ralph Lauren suit
that had amazingly little blood on it. Mid-forties, dapper even
in death. His second-floor apartment reflected an almost stereo-
typical love of order, of serenity, of delicate objects, at the
same time avoiding any chauvinism in its decoration: the clean-lined
sofa was a German design, the lighting fixtures were from Sweden.
But the ambience remained unquestionably Japanese -- the expanse of
open floor space, the lack of clutter, the exact positioning of one
perfect bowl on the reflecting surface of a table. The normally
bull-voiced uniformed cops who'd invaded the dead man's sanctuary
spoke in muted tones, unconsciously adjusting to their environment;
designed to soothe, the apartment could also intimidate.

Sergeant Marian Larch knelt on the floor and examined the
three small bullet holes in the dead man's chest. What a waste,
she thought. His name was Tatsuya Nakamoto, and he was with Sony
Corporation; that much she knew. A wedding ring said there was a
Mrs. Nakamoto. The owner of the ground-floor apartment directly
under Nakamoto's had called the police; he'd heard the shots and
had even caught a glimpse of the killer from the back as he ran
out of the building. Thin, Caucasian, brown hair, under six feet.
Scruffy-looking. Only about a million people in New York who fit
that description.

A pane in a glass door leading to the second-floor balcony
had been broken from the outside. Next to the balcony grew an elm
tree, graceful and decorative and, apparently, climbable. The
building itself was on Second Avenue in the East Village; fully
renovated and almost lavishly decorated, it was a four-story home
to four upscale families who were doing their part to help gentrify
the part of Manhattan that fell within the city's Ninth Precinct.
Three blocks away were slums; five blocks away were the project
houses. Haves unwittingly daring the have-nots to prey upon them;
the have-nots frequently taking the dare.