"Philip Jose Farmer - The Image Of The Beast" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farmer Phillip Jose)

blood over
himself and Colben.
The first time, Childe had fainted. This time, he got up and ran
toward the
door but vomited before he reached it. He was not alone.




CHAPTER 2

The Dracula and the woman had looked into the camera and laughed
wildly as
if they had been having a hilarious time. Then, fade-out, and a flash
of TO BE
CONTINUED? End of film.
Herald Childe did not see the ending the second time. He was too
occupied
with groaning, with wiping the tears from his eyes and blowing his
nose and
coughing. The taste and odor of vomit were strong. He felt like
apologizing, but
he repressed the impulse. He had nothing to apologize for.
The Commissioner, who had not thrown up but who might have looked
better if
he had, said, "Let's get out of here."
He stepped over the mess on the wooden floor. Childe followed
him. The
others came out. The Commissioner said, "We're going to have a
conference,
Childe. You can sit in on it, contribute, if you wish."
"I'd like to keep in touch with the police, Commissioner. But I
don't have
anything to contribute. Not just yet, anyway."
He had told the police, more than once, everything he knew about
Matthew
Colben, which was much, and everything he knew about his
disappearance, which
was nothing.
The Commissioner was a tall lean man with a half-bald head and a
long thin
face and melancholy black moustache. He was always tugging at the
right end of
his moustache--never the left. Yet he was left-handed. Childe had
observed this
habit and wondered about its origin. What would the Commissioner say
if he were
made aware of it?
What could he say? Only he and a psychotherapist would ever be
able to find