"Nixon, Joan Lowery - Mary Elizabeth 01 - The Dark and Deadly Pool" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nixon Joan Lowery)

Tina's dark hair was cut short and straight, in line with Boudry's regulations for security personnel, but Tina filled out her uniform of white shirt, maroon jacket, and slacks so well that her hair was not the first thing people noticed about her. When Tina was my age she had worked at the hotel health club, but this summer she was nineteen and had been hired for a full-time position with security. "She nagged me into hiring her," Boudry told everyone, but he let everyone know that Tina was good at her job.
According to Tina, however, her mind was set on higher things. She'd enrolled in a couple of summer college courses and was going to work and study her way eventually into a master's degree in psychology. At least then she could analyze everyone legally. Legal or not, I'd never met anyone so full of advice.
As I regained my balance, Tina tried to peer around me. "Somebody chasing you, or what?" she asked.
I shook the hair from my eyes. "No, no. He was in the pool." I told Tina what had happened.
"What did he look like?"
"I don't know. It was dark, and I was scared. Tina, it all happened in just a few seconds!"
"Records show," Tina said, "that most eyewitnesses are not very accurate, so don't worry if you can't give me details. Basically, it's an emotional problem. Your space is threatened, that sort of stuff. It's in all the books." She walked to the glass wall and tried to open the door. "Get your key, Liz. We'll check around outside."
My fingers trembled, but I managed to unlock the door.
The slight breeze was warm and heavy with moisture, yet I realized I was shivering. "What if he's hiding out here somewhere?" I whispered.
While she talked, Tina poked in and under the shrubbery that lined the outer brick wall. "You forget, Liz, you're protected by the Ridley Hotel security force. Our brave leader has put down the espionage novel he was reading to keep us on camera. And I'm here. Did I tell you that I made top scores in my marksmanship test last week?"
"I didn't know you took the test."
Tina scowled at me over her shoulder and mouthed something that I couldn't make out. She gave a final sweeping glance to the pool area, then came over to join me.
"Whoever he was, he's not here," she said. "My guess is that he went over the wall, probably the same way he came in."
"Isn't the wall too high?"
Tina shrugged. "Maybe he's a super athlete. We have to keep our options open." She gave one last glance around. "I don't think there's anything to worry about, and since you lock the door between the club and the hotel, whoever it was couldn't get into the hotel. At least the Symbol of Controlled Confidence and his security staff protect the guests while they're inside the hotel." She sighed. "I wish we could do something about protecting them when they're outside."
"Protecting them from what?"
Tina lowered her voice. "Don't blab it around, because the hotel is trying to keep a lid on it, and Lamar is having fits about what's happening. A lot of the guests are having their wallets lifted during their first or second day in Houston."
"You mean pickpockets?"
"Right."
"But that could happen to anyone in any city."
"Not in such quantity Not from one hotel in particular."
"I don't see how the hotel could be involved," I told her.
"None of us can," she said "That's the trouble."
She led the way back inside and waited while I once again locked the glass door "You shouldn't have said what you did about the marksmanship test."
"I'm sorry," I told her. "I didn't know about the test."
"There wasn't any test "
"Then what are you talking about?"
"Don't you see? I was psyching him out, in case he was hiding somewhere." Tina smiled "My theory is that the mind is a more potent weapon than a gun. When I'm a psychologist—"
The telephone rang in the health-club office. I rushed to answer it.
It was Boudry "Since everything's okay down there, tell Tina to get herself to room 902. Some complaints about a noisy party Tell her after she's handled that, she can go on home." Before I had a chance to answer, Boudry hung up.
I relayed the message to Tina. I grabbed my handbag and turned off the lights, scrambling to follow Tina out of the health club.
In the corridor Tina turned to face me. "This guy you think you saw in the pool tonight—there's another possibility to consider."
"But I did see him," I began.
Tina interrupted. "Judging by the way you were breathing after you turned out the lights, sort of like the way a fish gasps when he flops around, we could be looking at something deeper."
"What?"
Tina nodded solemnly and said, "Perhaps you saw only a manifestation of your inner fears."
"I did not!" I yelled. "I saw somebody! A person! He screamed at me!"
"You were afraid of the dark when you were little and thought that something lived under your bed. Right?"
That stopped me for a moment, and I stammered, "Well, sure. But who didn't?"
"I didn't," Tina said. "You have unresolved conflicts in your life. Right?"
"But everybody—"
"Be specific. Is there something you'd like to do, but think you can't?"
Immediately a picture came to my eyes. It was the same picture that I liked to dwell on before I fell asleep at night. In the picture I'm standing at the podium in Jones Hall in front of the Houston Symphony Orchestra. I nod to the first violinist, raise my baton, and music swirls and swells to the back row of the top balcony as I once again conduct the orchestra to greatness, fame, and good reviews in the Houston Post and Chronicle.
But how can a superb conductor not be a superb musician? Over the last few years I've tried piano, guitar, and drums in that order; but Mom kept getting migraine headaches. The band director at school suggested I learn the flute, but every time I practiced at home Dad rushed out to take a walk.
Houston Symphony Orchestra conductor? The only symphonies I'll ever conduct are those in the car, when I tune in KLEF. I didn't like Tina prying into my private dreams. No one knew about them, and she wouldn't either!
I stretched to my full height and yelled down at Tina, "My private life has nothing to do with what I saw in the swimming pool tonight! Someone was there, and I saw him!"
"Okay, okay," Tina said. "I'm not a psychologist yet, so we'll handle it your way." She paused. "However—"
"There's a noisy party in Room 902!" I shouted.
"You're kind of a noisy party yourself," Tina said, and giggled.
I couldn't help laughing. I was being pretty huffy. I relaxed a little and said, "I'll see you tomorrow afternoon."