"Destroyer 002 - Death Check.pdb" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Remo)

In a vein of nastiness which Remo knew he should not allow himself, he snarled. "The latter, of course. It's obvious to anyone who plants tomatoes." And he drove off, leaving the man to puzzle, with the pipe now working furiously in his mouth.

Remo drove back to the cluster of cottages, parking near a fieldstone walk that led to a larger white building with green shutters, shaded by large oaks. The newness of the buildings indicated they had been built for proximity to the towering trees.

Remo followed the fieldstones to the door of the building and knocked. He could see a gravel driveway fifty yards away that led into the circle ^of cottages but he preferred the walk, a luxury he allowed himself only rarely. Just doing something because he felt like it. Almost like a human being.

The brass knocker was made in a peace symbol design, a circle with the outline of a phantom bomber inside it. At least that was what it had always looked like to the man who was now Remo Pelham, sent to replace Peter McCarthy.

The door opened and down around the doorknob was a little girl with pigtails, round pink cheeks, a smile and dancing eyes.

"Hello," she said. "My name is Stephanie Brewster. I'm six years old and the daughter of Dr. Nils Brewster who is obviously my father since I am his daughter."

"Obviously," said Remo. "I'm Remo Pelham, I'm thirty two years old and I am your new policeman for Brewster Forum. I'm taking the place of the man who went away."

"You mean you're our new security officer. To replace Mr. McCarthy who OD'd last week?"

"OD'd?"

"Yes. He took an overdose of heroin. Would you call that a drug problem? I mean if one man takes an overdose and dies, does that constitute a problem? Obviously, it is no problem for him."

Remo looked more closely. Okay, she wasn't a midget. Maybe there was a speaker planted on her.

Stephanie Brewster smiled mischievously. "You're shocked because I've added a new dimension to reality. Six-year-old girls are not supposed to be so aware. But I'm very aware. Prematurely aware, they say, and I'm going to face problems because of it when I grow up unless I learn to adjust my own peer group. That's what daddy says. Only my older sister, Ardath, who is fifteen years old, is just as aware, and she adjusted. So therefore, I should adjust. Right?"

"I guess so," said Remo.

"Would you like to see my daddy?"

"Yes, I would."

"I'll show you where he is if you play Frisbee with me first."

"Why don't you show me where your daddy is now and then we'll play Frisbee?"

"Because if we play Frisbee first, then we'll play Frisbee for sure. But if it's later, then maybe we'll play Frisbee. Reality is so much more meaningful than a promise, don't you think? Especially a promise from someone over eight."

"I never trusted anyone over eight myself," Remo said. When you are overwhelmed, you are overwhelmed.

"Do you have a Frisbee?"

"No, I'm afraid I don't."

"But you said you would play Frisbee with me and if you don't have a Frisbee, how can we play Frisbee together?" Her faint brows furrowed and her mouth turned down. Her blue eyes filled with tears. She stamped a foot. "You said you'd play Frisbee with me and you're not playing Frisbee. You said you'd play and you don't have a Frisbee. And how can we play Frisbee if you don't have one? I don't have a Frisbee."

Then Stephanie Brewster covered her eyes and cried like the six-year-old girl she was. And Remo picked her up and held her and promised her a Frisbee, but she would have to stop rubbing her eyes because that was bad for them.

"I know," sobbed Stephanie Brewster. "The retina is sensitive to pressure."

"Would you like to learn a Korean proverb?"