"Night Warriors - 01 - Night Warriors" - читать интересную книгу автора (Masterton Graham)

'You want to write about me!' asked Susan, more curious than flattered.

'Well - to come straight to the point - one of the articles has to do with death, and how young people cope with it.'

'How do you mean?' Susan asked him.

'I mean, how young people come to terms with losing somebody they love. Their parents, maybe, like you did -'

'How did you know that?'

'I'm sorry. I thought I recognised your name when the police passed me the list of witnesses to what happened down there on the beach. I looked you up in the morgue. Your parents were killed in a car-crash, weren't they, over at Lake Hodges?'

Susan nodded. 'I didn't realise I was quite so famous,' she said, not without a touch of bitterness, although she knew that Paul hadn't meant to upset her.

'The thing is,' Paul continued, 'you not only lost your parents, you saw a complete stranger lying dead on the beach. It would be interesting for me to compare your reaction to each of these events: the death of someone you loved, and the death of someone you didn't even know. I'd like to know how you really felt, and how you feel now.'

'Isn't that pretty ghoulish?' Daffy demanded.

'Well, maybe it is,' Paul admitted, 'and if Susan doesn't want to have anything to do with it - that's as far as it goes. But death is a part of life, and there isn't any point in trying to hide away from it. I think that other young people - if they read about Susan and how she's handled those tragedies - well, they may find it easier to cope with their own experiences of death.'

Daffy pulled a face. 'Sounds like bull time, if you'll pardon my French.'

But Susan said, 'I don't know. Maybe we could talk about it some more.'

'Maybe this evening?' Paul asked her. 'Supposing I buy you dinner, on the Trib.'

'Okay, then. Where?'

'You know Bully's North? I'll meet you there at seven.'

Susan thought about it, and then nodded yes. 'Okay. The only thing is, I have to be home at nine-thirty. That's the house rule.'

'I know,' said Paul.

Daffy was frowning ferociously - her 'for-Christ's-sake-be-careful' face. But Susan, without knowing why, felt safe with Paul, and reassured. She didn't even think to ask him how he could possibly have known that she had to be home by half-past nine.

'I left my car at the Oceanside Hotel,' said Paul. 'I'll catch you later, okay?'

He crossed the street, and made his way back along Camino Del Mar towards the Oceanside. Susan watched him go, while Daffy waited a little way away, an exaggeratedly sceptical expression already prepared on her face.

'What a bull artist,' said Daffy.

'I don't think so,' said Susan, without even noticing the special face that Daffy had put on for her.

'You don't mean to say that you fell for all that stuff about death and things? My God, Suze, he wants your body, that's all.'

'Don't be so ridiculous. He doesn't even know me.'

'Oh, no? Well, he knows your name, and he knows that your parents died in a car-crash, and he knows that you were down on the beach this morning, and he knows that you live with your grandparents, and he knows what time you're supposed to be home, and he also seems to know that your personal favourite restaurant is Bully's North. Now, if he's telling the truth, he only got your name from the cops about an hour ago. How did he find all that out in just one hour?'