"Wilhelm-ForgetLuck(1)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilhelm Kate)

Bressler was in his sixties, a contender for the Nobel any year now for his past
work in genetics, and he was more than a little crazy, Tony had decided six
years ago in his class. A redhead appeared. He strained to see. Wrong redhead.

". . . a bit of a problem getting blood . . ."

He thought of her legs, a dancer's long legs.

". . . can't seem to get even a drop. One can't very well simply ask for it, you
see."

He had been to the upper peninsula once in late summer; it had been. misty and
cool, romantic, with a lot of shadowy forest.

". . . have to think they're onto me. I simply can't account for it in any other
way. Four accidents in the last two years, and some of my finest: graduate
students. . ."

Admit it, he would say, your marriage is a sham. I can move out to the west
coast, he would say. I don't have to stay in Chicago; I can work out of
anywhere.

". . . really substantiates my theory, you see, but it also poses a severe
problem."

Tony had hardly touched his gin and tonic; it was simply something to do while
he waited. He tasted it and put it down again. Bressler was gazing off into
space, frowning.

And then she appeared, clinging to the arm of Melvin Witcome, smiling up at him
the same way she sometimes had smiled up at Tony. Melvin Witcome was some kind
of special course coordinator for the Big Ten, a man of power and influence; not
yet forty, independently wealthy, handsome, suave, Phi Beta Kappa, with a
doctorate in charm or something he was everything Tony was not. He watched
Witcome sign the registration, watched him and Georgina take their computer
keys, watched them point out their bags to a bellboy, then board the elevator
together. He was not aware that he had stood up until he heard Bressler's voice.

"I don't mean to imply there's any immediate danger. Sit down, Peter."

He sat down and gulped some of his drink. It was a mistake; they simply happened
to arrive at the same time; they were old friends; she had not expected Tony to
be there. He finished his drink. She had not expected him to be there.

"You're not going to the beastly opening ceremony, are your?" Bressler placed
his hand on Tony's arm. "Let's go have some dinner instead. I want to pick your
brain. You're a godsend, Peter. I was desperate for guidance, and you appeared.
A godsend."