"Lawrence Treat - M As in Mugged" - читать интересную книгу автора (Treat Lawrence)

LAWRENCE TREAT

M As in Mugged

On his 60th birthday Lieutenant Decker was reminded of his first important
arrest, 30 years before. Was he any part of the man he used to be? . . . One of the
best stories in this prize-winning procedural series . . .

****

Lieutenant William Decker, Chief of Homicide and some-thing of a character even to
himself, woke up at 6:00 a.m. and remembered that this was his birthday. The idea
annoyed the hell out of him.

He sat up and glanced at his wife, Martha, sleeping along-side him. He slipped
out of bed as quietly as he could, went into the bathroom, and peeled off his pajama
top. In the mir-ror he saw a tall straight figure. His stomach was lean and flat, his
gray eyes were somber, and the amount of his hair was moderate. Just moderate.

He slapped his chest hard, and laughed. тАЬBrother!тАЭ he said aloud. тАЬYou ainтАЩt
sixty!тАЭ

But he was.

He might have accepted the fact and survived the day without incident if it
hadnтАЩt been for MarthaтАЩs birthday pres-ent. It was wrapped in fancy paper and
propped up in front of his plate at the breakfast table. After heтАЩd started the coffee,
he picked up the package and untied the ribbon. In-side was a framed photograph of
himself, in uniform, at the age of 28. Underneath the picture was the printed caption,
PATROLMAN WILLIAM DECKER.

He remembered that picture. HeтАЩd been a rookie then, and the police were
looking for a man named McGovern whoтАЩd held up a filling station and killed the
attendant. McGovern came from what was called Tough Town in those days, and
you didnтАЩt go down there unless you belonged. But Patrolman Bill Decker went
anyhowтАФto a big wake they were holding for somebody whose name heтАЩd
forgotten long ago. Young Patrolman Decker figured that McGovern might show up
there, and he did.

Thinking back, Decker realized that he owed that first triumph to a kind of
cockeyed daring, along with more luck than any man had a right to expect. HeтАЩd
drifted around the crowded hall until heтАЩd spotted McGovern. The killer was
standing near a door, and Decker grabbed him and hustled him out to a waiting car.
Everybody who saw the scuffle assumed it was a private fightтАФjust a couple of
brawlers feel-ing their oats, the way it sometimes happens at a wake. Con-sequently
nobody interfered.

As a result of the arrest Decker had got a citation and a promotion, and his
picture in the newspaper. This one. And Martha must have gone over to the
Chronicle offices, bor-rowed the negative, and had it reproduced, framed, and