"Kristine Kathryn Rusch - The Disappeared" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

client and тАФ "
"No," she said. "Early court date."
He stepped back from her, and she realized she sounded abrupt. But he had to
leave. She had to get him out and quickly.
"I'm sorry, Simon," she said. "But I really need the time тАФ "
"I know." His smile was small. She had stung him, and she hadn't meant to.
"Call
me?"
"As soon as I can."
He nodded, then headed for the door. "Turn your system back on."
"I will," she said as he pulled the door open. Fog had rolled in from the
Bay,
leaving the air chill. "Thank you for the flowers."
"They were supposed to brighten the day," he said, raising his hands toward
the
grayness.
"They have." She watched as he walked down the sidewalk toward his aircar,
hovering the regulation half foot above the pavement. No flying vehicles were
allowed in Nob Hill because they would destroy the view, the impression that
the
past was here, so close that it would take very little effort to touch it.
She closed the door before he got into his car, so that she wouldn't have to
watch him drive away. Her hand lingered over the security system. One
command,
and it would be on again. She would be safe within her own home.
If only it were that simple.
The scent of the lilacs overpowered her. She stepped away from the door and
stopped in front of the mirror again. Just her reflected there now. Her and a
bouquet of flowers she wouldn't get to enjoy, a bouquet she would never
forget.
She twisted her engagement ring. It had always been loose. Even though she
had
meant to have it fitted, she never had. Perhaps she had known, deep down,
that
this day would come. Perhaps she'd felt, ever since she'd come to Earth, that
she'd been living on borrowed time.
The ring slipped off easily. She stared at it for a moment, at the promises
it
held, promises it would never keep, and then she dropped it into the vase.
Someone would find it. Not right away, but soon enough that it wouldn't get
lost.
Maybe Simon would be able to sell it, get his money back. Or maybe he would
keep
it as a tangible memory of what had been, the way she kept her family
heirlooms.
She winced.
Something scuffled outside the door тАФ the sound of a foot against the stone
stoop, a familiar sound, one she would never hear again.
Her heart leaped, hoping it was Simon, even though she knew it wasn't. As the
brass doorknob turned, she reached into the bouquet and pulled some petals