"Pohl, Frederik - Best of Frederik Pohl" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pohl Frederick)

Croy tsked solicitously. "Poor man, he's upset, isn't he? But you mustn't worry."
"I'm not worried, darling."
"Of course not, of course not. Trust me." Croy nodded approvingly. "I've got to stop off for a second. A little errand- But I'll be right back and then I'm sure we can straighten out whatever's troubling your brother." Gently he kissed her ear. "My darling," he whispered, soft as a moth's wing.
And then that perfect gentleman, James Croy, bowed to the brother-in-law who was raging impotently across the customs gate, turned on his heel and disappeared into the men's room.
The men's room had a North Entrance, a South Entrance, a Mezzanine Entrance and a Service Entrance to the floor below. It is not a matter of record which door Croy used to come out, but it was not the one by which he had gone in.
The policemen finally went away. "Sorry," said the sergeant, curt and somewhat bored-he had been with Missing Persons for a good long time. "Probably he'll turn up."
But it wasn't true, and both he and Alden Edkin k~new it. And when he had left, Edkin told his sister what the red-bordered credit report had shown.
Across the top was printed in bold letters Zero Credit Rating Zero.
"You can't fool Consolidated Credit," snapped Edkin. "They know. And this man Croy-why, he's a monster, Mary Lynne! He preys on women."
"Oh, no," wept his sister. But she was already in her heart convinced.
"Oh, yes! He is! Listen to this! Four years ago, in Miami, he married a girl named Doris L. Cockingham. There's no record of a divorce! He just married her-set up a trust for her with the royalties from an electric underwater lung, left her pregnant and disappeared. Eh?"
"I don't believe you," sobbed his sister.
"Then listen to this! Eleven months later, in Troy, New York, he married Marsha Gutknecht. Revolting! Can you understand a man like that? Loose morals, bigamy-why, he'd never get credit with a record like that."
"There must be some perfectly simple explanation," whimpered Mary Lynne. "When Jim comes back-"
"He won't be back!" said her brother brutally. "Get used to that idea, Mary Lynne! The Gutknecht woman never saw him again, and~ she was pregnant, too. He meant to run away! He used false names. Told different stories to each of them. But he couldn't fool Consolidated Credit. He put four hundred thousand dollars in trust for this woman and took off and never gave her another thought. How do you like that, Mary Lynne?"
"Jim wouldn't-"
"Jim did! And again the following year. Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin
-a girl named Debris Bennyhoff. Then in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania-" He crumpled the paper in rage. "Ah, what's the use? Five women! He married them, runs off, leaves them pregnant. And what do you have to say to that, Mary Lynne?"
Mary Lynne looked at her brother through blurred eyes.
In a faint, faint voice, she said, "Well, at least he runs true to form, Alden."

Oh, they looked for him. But they couldn't find him. The police
couldn't find him, private detectives couldn't find him, even Consolidated Credit couldn't find him. Jim Croy was gone-probably forever, at least under that name. And while they were booking, events took their natural course, and Mary Lynne made reservations at the hospital and began to pack a little bag.
And Aunt Nora phoned.
Her plump face peered somberly out of the phone screen. "I'm coming east," she announced.
"You're not!" croaked Alden, wincing already. "I mean-"
"Thursday," she said. "On the six o'clock plane."
"But, Aunt Nora-" It was the last thing he wanted! So many years of cutting her out of the family circle because of the indiscretion of her youth, and now- "Meet me," she said, and hung up.
There was nothing to be done about it. Aunt Nora showed up at the house her sister had left the children just as Mary Lynne gasped, checked her wristwatch, gasped again and reached for her readypacked bag.
"Hello, Aunt Nora," said Alden distractedly. "Mary Lynne, aren't you ready yet? Good-by, Aunt Nora. Make yourself at home."
"Wait!" cried Aunt Nora, but she was talking to a closed door. She sighed, shook her head irritably and took off her coat. Men
were so foolish about babies! There would be plenty of time; she would unpack her bag, get settled in, and then, with full leisure, proceed to the hospital. And she was willing to bet that she would be there well before the baby arrived.
She was right-though what she found in the upper bureau drawer of her room made her hurry to the hospital sooner than she'd planned.
"Alden!" she gasped. "The picture! I saw the picture-"
"Hello, Aunt Nora," said Edkin gloomily. "Lord, but this takes a long time!"
"It just seems long," snapped Nora and waved a picture under his nose. It was inscribed in white ink: For Mary Lynne, from Jimmy, with love. "Who's this?"
Edkin said guiltily, "Mary's-ah-husband. He's away just now."
"I bet he is! That's not any Jimmy! That's Sam!"
"Sam?"
"My Sam. The one who left me in a delicate condition years ago! And the only difference is, now he marries them!"
Alden, hardly listening, said soothingly, "That was a long time ago, Aunt Nora. We don't worry about it now. Besides, you gave the
baby up for adoption, didn't you? I never even saw him-or her? What was it, a boy?"
She said shortly, "No."
"A girl, then."
"Guess again," said Aunt Nora in a more peculiar tone. "And it wasn't exactly adoption."
Her tone was peculiar enough to attract his full attention. He looked at her queerly, but she didn't seem to be joking. Funny. He didn't have the faintest idea of what she meant- Until an endless twenty minutes later.
Until the white-faced nurse came out of the delivery room wheeling a bassinet; until, without a word, the nurse pointed a shaking finger, and Edkin saw what it was that his sister had-with the help of what called itself James Croy-brought into an unsuspecting world.

Father of the Stars