"Pronzini, Bill - Nameless Detective 007 - Hoodwink" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pronzini Bill)

"Thanks. I'll read it later.Ф

He jabbed out his cigarette in the ashtray I keep on the desk for clients and promptly lit another one. I watched him without a trace of envy. It had been almost two years since I'd quit smoking because of a lesion on one lung that had turned out to be benign, this time. I seldom even thought about cigarettes any more.

There were a dozen or so seconds of silence. Then Dancer waved his hand in a deprecating way, as if he were annoyed with himself, and said, "Ah hell, I'm jerking you around here. I didn't just drop by because of the convention.

There's something else.Ф

"Uh-huh,"I said.

"You figured I was after something.Ф

"I figured.Ф

"Not much gets by you, right?Ф

"Me and Hannigan," I said.

That got my a nimbly laugh. "Okay. I don't want much; just a favor.Ф

"What kind of favor?Ф

"Do a little snooping for me.Ф

"What kind of snooping?Ф

"There's something screwy going on and I want to find out what it is. I can't pay you anything, you know that. But you're going to be there any way, and I can introduce you around, give you a chance to rap about pulps with me and the other old farts.Ф

"Tell me what's going on that's screwy.Ф

"I can do better than that," he said. "I'll show you.Ф

He hoisted the briefcase onto my desk, unlatched it, and took out a nine-by-twelve manila envelope. "This came in the mail three days ago. Take a look.Ф

I opened the envelope and withdrew its contents, the photocopy of an old forty-page manuscript carbon. You could tell it had been copied from an old carbon from the dog-ears, tears, and faded and smeared typeface. In the middle of the topmost sheet was a one-word title: "." No author's name or address appeared in the upper left-hand corner of that sheet nor any of the others.

"It's a novelette," Dancer said. "Set in England in the Victorian era.

Psychological suspense, not too bad. You remember a big-budget Hollywood flick came out in 1952, called Evil by Gaslight}" "Vaguely.Ф

"Well, the movie was written by somebody named Rose Tyler Crawford. Supposed to be an original screenplay, not adapted from any other medium. But the plot of the movie and the plot of this story are identical. Only difference is the title and the names of the characters.Ф

"Plagiarism?Ф

"So it would seem." Dancer took something else out of the briefcase, a plain piece of white paper this time, and handed it over to me. "This came with the manuscript," he said.

It was a letter, typed in business format, on a different typewriter from the manuscript, and addressed to Dancer. It said: Enclosed is a copy of an original manuscript entitled "" which I have hi my possession. Also in my possession is proof that you are the one who plagiarized it and sold it to Hollywood under the name Rose Tyler Crawford and the title Evil by Gaslight. Bring five thousand dollars ($5,000) with you to the pulp convention in San Francisco. In cash, small bills only. I will contact you there. If you do not bring the money, I will notify your agent and all your publishers that you are a plagiarist. I will also notify the film company which produced Evil by Gaslight, and turn over all material in my possession to the newspapers.

There was no signature written or typed.