"TUROW, SCOTT - THE BURDEN OF PROOF" - читать интересную книгу автора (Turrow Scott)

then the paramedics and the ambulance. Through the windows Stern saw a
gaggle of his neighbors gathering on the lawn across the way. They
leaned toward the house with the arrival of each vehicle and spoke among
themselves, held behind the line of squad cars with their revolving
beacons. Within the house, policemen roamed about with their usual
regrettable arrogance. Their walkietalkies blared with occasional
eruptions of harsh static.

They went in and out of the garage to gawk at the body and talked about
events as if he were not there. They studied the Sterns' -rich
possessions with an envy that was disconcertingly apparent.

The first cop into the garage had lifted his radio to summon the
lieutenant as soon as he emerged.

"She's cooked," the officer told the dispatcher. "Tell him he better
come with masks and gloves." Only then did he notice Stern lurking in a
fashion in the dark hall outside the laundry room. Abashed, the
policeman began at once

'to explain. "Looks like that car run all day. It's on empty now.
Catalytic converter gets hotter than a barbecue-six, seven hundred
degrees. You run that engine twelve hours in a closed space, you're
generating real heat. That didn't do her any good. You the husband?"

He was, said Stern.

"Condolences," said the cop. "Terrible thing." They waited.

"'Do you have any idea, Officer, what occurred?" He did not know what he
thought just now, except that it would be a kind of treachery to believe
the worst too soon. The cop considered Stern in silence. He was ruddy
and thick, and his weight probably made him look older than he was.

"Keys in the ignition. On position. Garage door's closed."

Stern nodded.

"It dudn't look like any accident to me," the cop said finally. "You
can't be sure till the autopsy. You know, could be she had a heart
attack or somethin right when she turned the key.

"Maybe it's one of them freak things, too," the cop said.

"Turns the car on and she's thinkin about somethin else, you know, fixin
her hair and makeup, whatever. Sometimes you never know. Didn't find a
note, right?"

A note. Stern had spent the moments awaiting the various authorities
here in this hallway, keeping his stupefied watch beside the door. The