"Timothy Zahn - A Coming of Age" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)

"Uh, no." Out of the corner of his eye Tirrell could see Tonio giving him a puzzled stare. "Is it
important?"

"Uh-huh. Colin was going to turn five next Thursday. And since you probably don't know it, I'll
mention that Ridge Harbor law requires a child to be brought in to one of the city's hives for teekay
testing on the Saturday before his or her fifth birthday, and to be officially admitted the Saturday
after that."

"Oh. So if Oliver had come today, he wouldn't have found Colin in the park?"

"That's part of it," Tirrell nodded. "But think it through a bit more. What was your last week at home
likeтАФdo you remember?"

"Not really. All I remember is that my parents kept me pretty busy visiting relatives and having
parties and outings together." The preteen slapped his hands together suddenly. "Aha! If Oliver
hadn't grabbed him yesterday he might not have gotten another chance."

"Right," Tirrell nodded again. "And now you're to the crux of my 'interesting' a while back. One
more question, and you'll see that maybe our Mr. Oliver's made a mistakeтАФhopefully, a fatal one.
Take your time; I'll give you till the station to figure it out."

It was six more blocks to the station. Tirrell drove at a leisurely speed through the moderately heavy
Saturday afternoon traffic, Tonio's silence giving him a chance to map out their next move. An
examination of the city's records, probably, after a stop by Chief Alverez's office to get the necessary
authorization forms.

He pulled the car into the station's level of the attached parking garage and found an empty slot.
Sliding smoothly into it, he set the wheels on lock and turned to Tonio. "Well?"

The preteen was frowning. "There's something about this I don't understand," he said, shaking his
head. "How could Oliver know when Colin's birthday was?"

Tirrell smiled grimly and patted Tonio's shoulder. "Bull's-eye," he said.



The records keeper was a tall old man, well into his sixties, but still vigorous for all that. He seemed
less than happy about letting Tirrell into the vault area. "If you'll just tell me which records you want
to see, Detective, I'll bring them to you at one of the tables," he said, halting on the threshold of the
massive door.

"If I knew exactly which ones I needed, I'd be happy to do it that way," Tirrell explained patiently.
"But all I know is that we're starting with the birth records and probably going on from there."

"What year? I'll get them for you, and you can tell me then what else you want."

"Just let us in," Tirrell sighed, waving his authorization papers gently.

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