"Quintin, Jardine - Fallen Gods" - читать интересную книгу автора (Quintin Jardine)

of the lock had been repaired, and remembered being told by Sharp that
he had sent carpenters to the scene when the flood had receded
sufficiently, to secure several houses where the water had smashed its
way in.

"Oh dear." He heard the woman sigh as she looked into her home, and he
sympathised at once. There was a watermark eighteen inches above the
floor level; the carpet runner in the entry hall lay twisted and
filthy, embedded in an undercoat of stones, mire, paper and other
detritus. "Ah could dna have expected anything else, could Ah, son?"

"No', he agreed, solemnly. "I suppose not." He stepped into the hall
and looked into the living room that opened from it. He was both
surprised and pleased to see that it was empty of furniture, although
its fitted carpet, whatever colour it had been originally, was now
almost black.

"Ma nephew helped me move my stuff upstairs," she said, reading his
mind, 'or at least, as much as he could. He's a good boy. He'd have
come wi' me this morning but he's at his work."

"What about the basement?" asked Martin.

"He moved what he could, but there's some big kitchen furniture and
wardrobes and the like that he could dna shift up the stair. He moved
ma good china ... the stuff that your lot didna' break the last time ..
. but all ma usin' stuff's still down there, and ma washing machine,
and ma fridge."

"Let's go and see it, then."

"A'right." She led him to a steep, narrow staircase behind a door at
the back of the hall. She was about to lead the way down, until he
stopped her. Every tread was covered with mud.

"Please, let me go first. I insist."

She frowned at him, but let him go ahead of her. He took the stairway
slowly, as carefully as he could, gripping the rails on either side as
hard as he could, for they too were slippery. The walls on either side
were sodden, and in places the plaster bulged outwards.

It was only when he got to the foot that he realised she had been
following behind him. She stepped carefully off the last tread, and
stood beside him, looking around the big room into which they had
emerged. "This is ma kitchen," she announced; unnecessarily, for he
could see, or at least make out the shapes of a cooker, and a tall
fridge. He glanced down at his feet, and saw that he was standing in
mud up to his ankles. The place was an almost indescribable mess; it
was strewn with more stones, crockery.. . some of it broken, he