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

She shuddered. "His heart stopped, just like that. Makes you think,
doesn't it. There is no Superman; there is no Planet Krypton. Not
even the great Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner was invulnerable. Now
let's talk about something else."

"Okay, but why are you so bitter?"

"Because he's gone," she snapped. "That's why I'm bitter. I'm angry
with him, and I'm angry with the whole fucking world. Ron, I'm trying
to come to the terms with the fact that my peaceful, lovely parents
have been robbed and murdered in their peaceful, lovely lakeside cabin.
Even now, with them both in the ground, I can barely make myself
believe it. I needed Bob beside me more than I ever did before, and
yet he's gone, and left me here in Goddamned Buffalo New York, with my
three children, and the aftermath of all that horror."

"But come on, Sarah. It was hardly his choice."

Tears welled in her eyes. "Yes it was! He's gone because of his
career, his fucking career!"

"Okay, okay, okay, calm down."

She took a deep breath and dabbed her eyes, briefly, with her napkin.
"I will if we talk about something else."

"Sure, let's do that. Do you still have much to do to get your
parents' estate through probate?"

"Not about that either," she said. "Let's talk about you. Will you
play another season, like that man asked you?"

Ron Neidholm, Sarah Grace's college lover, looked at her across the
table, in an hotel dining room which seemed, suddenly, to be empty
apart from them. "Honey," he said, in the soft drawl he had acquired
in his Texas days, "I have three Superbowl rings, and I have been
All-American or Pro-bowl quarterback more times than I can even
remember. That doesn't stop me wanting more glory, or more trophy
jewellery, and the Nashville Cats are offering me an unbelievable
amount of money to throw that damn ball for another season.

"If that guy had asked me a month ago whether I'd take it, I'd have
said "Too damn right!" But now, I'm not quite so sure."

She frowned; she had always showed her surprise that way. "What's
making you hesitate all of a sudden?"

"You are, Dr. Sarah Grace Skinner. You are."

Three.