"Reichs, Kathy - Temperance Brennan 01 - Deja Dead" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reichs Kathy)

"Bien. Bien." Simultaneous head nods. Fine. Fine.

I identified myself, asked if they'd reported finding the bones. More
nods.

"Tell me about it." As I spoke I withdrew a small spiral notebook from
my backpack, flipped back the cover, and clicked a ballpoint into
readiness. I smiled encouragingly.

Ponytail spoke eagerly, his words racing out like children released for
recess. He was enjoying the adventure. His French was heavily accented,
the words running together and the endings swallowed in the fashion of
the upriver Qu6becois. I had to listen carefully.

"We were clearing brush, it's part of our job." He pointed at overhead
power lines, then did a sweep of the ground. "We must keep the lines
clear."

I nodded.

"When I got down into that trench over there"-he turned and pointed in
the direction of a wooded area running the length of the property "I
smelled something funny." He stopped, his eyes locked in the direction
of the trees, arm extended, index finger piercing the air.

"Funny?" He turned back. "Well, not exactly funny." He paused, sucking
in his lower lip as he searched his personal lexicon for the right word.
"Dead," he said. "You know, dead?"

I waited for him to go on.

"You know, like an animal that crawls in somewhere and dies?" He gave a
slight shrug of the shoulders as he said it, then looked at me for
confirmation. I did know. I'm on a first-name basis with the odor of
death. I nodded again.

"That's what I thought. That a dog, or maybe a raccoon, died. So I
started poking around in the brush with my rake, right where the smell
was real strong. Sure enough, I found a bunch of bones." Another shrug.

"Uh-huh." I was beginning to get an uneasy feeling. Ancient burials
don't smell.

"So I called Gil over..." He looked to the older man for affirmation.
Gil was staring at the ground ... .. and we both started digging around
in the leaves and stuff. What we found don't look like no dog or raccoon
to me." As he said it he folded his arms across his chest, lowered his
chin, and rocked back on his heels.

"Why is that?"