"Block, Lawrence - CMS - Strangers On A Handball Court" - читать интересную книгу автора (Block Lawrence)

I allowed that it sounded good to me.

"I guess I'll make it another fake burglary," he said. "Ransack the place, use a knife. Let them think it's the same crazy burglar striking again. Or doesn't that sound good to you?"

"It might tend to link us," I said.

"Oh."

"Maybe you could make it look like a sex crime. Rape and murder. That way the police would never draw any connection between the two killings."

"Brilliant," he said. He really seemed to admire me now that I'd committed a murder and won two games of handball from him.

"You wouldn't actually have to rape her. Just rip her clothing and set the scene properly."

"Is she attractive?" I admitted that she was, after a fashion. "I've always sort of had fantasies about rape," he said, carefully avoiding my eyes as he spoke. "She'll be home at eight o'clock?"

"She'll be home."

"And alone?"

"Absolutely."

He folded the slip of paper, put it into his wallet, dropped bills from his Wallet on the table, swallowed what remained of his beer and got to his feet. "It's in the bag," he said. "Your troubles are over."

*******

"Our troubles are over," I told Vivian.

"Oh, darling," she said. "I can hardly believe it. You're the most wonderful man in the world."

"And a sensational handball player," I said.

*******

I left my house Wednesday night at half past seven. I drove a few blocks to a drugstore and bought a couple of magazines, then went to a men's shop next door and looked at sport shirts. The two shirts I liked weren't in stock in my size. The clerk offered to order them for me but I thought it over and told him not to bother. "I like them," I said, "but I'm not absolutely crazy about them."

I returned to my house. My handball partner's car was parked diagonally across the street. I parked my own car in the driveway and used my key to let myself in the front door. From the doorway I cleared my throat, and he spun around to face me, his eyes bulging out of his head.

I pointed to the body on the couch. "Is she dead?"

"Stone dead. She fought and I hit her too hard..." He flushed a deep red, then he blinked. "But what are you doing here? Don't you remember how we planned it? I don't understand why you came here tonight of all nights."

"I came here because I live here," I said. "George, I'd love to explain but there's no time. I wish there were time but there isn't."

I took the revolver from my pocket and shot him in the face.

*******

"The police were very understanding," I told Vivian. "They seem to think the shock of his ex-wife's death unbalanced him. They theorize that he was driving by when he saw me leave my house. Maybe he saw Margaret at the door saying goodbye to me. He parked, perhaps with no clear intention, then went to the door. When she opened the door, he was overcome with desire. By the time I came back and let myself in and shot him it was too late. The damage had been done."