"Eric Frank Russell - Mechanical Mice2" - читать интересную книгу автора (Russell Eric Frank)

His still-startled eyes looked down the street while he paid attention to the voice at the other
end of the line. The eyes wandered slowly, descended, found the gutter, remained fixed on
the dim shape lying therein. Another dead cat! Still clinging to his phone, Burke moved out
as far as the cord would allow, extended a boot, rolled the cat away from the curb. The flash
settled on it. Just like the otherтАФear to ear!
"And listen," he shouted into the phone, "some maniac's wandering around slaughtering
cats."
Replacing the phone, he hurried back to the maltreated window, stood guard in front of it
until the police car rolled up. Four men piled out.
The first said, "Cats! I'll say somebody's got it in for cats! We passed two a couple of blocks
away. They were bang in the middle of the street, flat in the headlights, and had been damn
near guillotined. Their bodies were still warm."
The second grunted, approached the window, stared at the small, neat hole, and said, "The
mob that did this would be too cute to leave a print."
"They weren't too cute to leave the rings," growled Burke.
"Maybe you've got something there," conceded the other. "If they've left the one, they might
have left the other. We'll test for prints, anyway."
A taxi swung into the dark street, pulled up behind the po┬мlice car. An elegantly dressed,
fussy, and very agitated indi┬мvidual got out, rushed up to the waiting group. Keys jangled in
his pale, moist hand.
"Maley, the managerтАФyou phoned me," he explained, breathlessly. "Gentlemen, this is
terrible, terrible! The win┬мdow show is worth thousands, thousands! What a loss, what a
loss!"
"How about letting us in?" asked one of the policemen, calmly.
"Of course, of course."
Jerkily, he opened the gate, unlocked the door, using about six keys for the job. They walked
inside. Maley switched on the lights, stuck his head between the plateglass shelves,
sur┬мveyed the depleted window.
"My watches, my watches," he groaned.
"It's awful, it's awful!" said one of the policemen, speaking with beautiful solemnity. He
favored his companions with a sly wink.
Maley leaned farther over, the better to inspect an empty corner. "All gone, all gone," he
moaned, "all my show of the finest makes inтАФYeeouw!" His yelp made them jump. Maley
bucked as he tried to force himself through the obstructing shelves toward the grille and the
window beyond it. "My watch! My own watch!"
The others tiptoed, stared over his shoulders, saw the gold buckle of a black velvet fob go
through the hole in the win┬мdow. Burke was the first outside, his ready flash searching the
concrete. Then he spotted the watch. It was moving rapidly along, hugging the angle of the
wall, but it stopped dead as his beam settled upon it. He fancied he saw something else,
equally bright and metallic, scoot swiftly into the darkness beyond the circle of his beam.
Picking up the watch, Burke stood and listened. The noises of the others coming out
prevented him from hearing clearly, but he could have sworn he'd heard a tiny whirring noise,
and a swift, juicy ticking that was not, coming from the in┬мstrument in his hand. Must have
been only his worried fancy. Frowning deeply, he returned to his companions.
"There was nobody," he asserted. "It must have dropped out of your pocket and rolled."
Damn it, he thought, could a watch roll that far? What the devil was happening this night? Far
up the street, something screeched, then it bubbled. Burke shudderedтАФhe could make a
shrewd guess at that! He looked at the others, but ap┬мparently they hadn't heard the noise.

The papers gave it space in the morning. The total was sixty watches and eight cats, also