"P. N. Elrod - Vampire Files 02 - Lifeblood" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elrod P N)

drunkenness against the lure of the money. It was a slow night and the

money won. His hand made a move for it, but mine was a little faster and

covered three of Washington's portraits first.

"Wise guy," he said, and took a bottle of the cheap stuff down from the

shelf behind him. Hell, it was all cheap, but that hardly mattered to

me, I only wanted an excuse to hang around.

"I've had some, but not that much." I left two bucks on the bar, took
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the bottle, glass, and remaining money, and tottered to the second booth

in line along the wall. With my back to the front door I settled in,

using the careful movements of a drunk who wants to show people he

isn't. I spent a lot of time counting my three dollars and putting them

away before pouring a drink and pretending to imbibe. Ten cents for the

whole bottle would have been an overcharge; the stuff smelled like some

of the old poison left over from before repeal. I brought the glass to

my lips, made a face, and coughed, spilling some of it down my

well-stained shirtfront.

While I was busy dabbing at the mess with a dirty handkerchief, a big

man in dark gray came in and went straight to the bar. He was in a suit,

which was wrong for the neighborhood, and he was in a hurry, which was

wrong for the hour. At one in the morning, nobody should be in a hurry.

He ordered a whiskey with a beer chaser and took a look around. It

didn't take long; except for me, seven booths, and the bartender, the

place was empty.