"Night of January 16th" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rand Ayn)

SWEENEY:Yes, sir. In the living room.
FLINT:And what was that?
SWEENEY:A letter. It was lying in plain sight on a table. It was sealed and the address said: "To whomsoever finds it first."
[FLINTtakes a letter from theCLERKand hands it toSWEENEY]
FLINT:Is this the letter?
SWEENEY:Yes, sir.
FLINT:Will you kindly read it to the jury?
SWEENEY:[Reading]"If any future historian wants to record my last advice to humanity, I'll say that I found only two enjoyable things on this earth whose every door was open to me: My whip over the world and Karen Andre. To those who can use it, the advice is worth what it has cost mankind. Bjorn Faulkner."
FLINT:[Handing letter toCLERK] Submitted as evidence.
JUDGE HEATH:Accepted as Exhibit A.
FLINT:Did you question Miss Andre about this letter?
SWEENEY:I did. She said that Faulkner wrote the letter and left it there, on the table, and ordered her not to touch it, then went out to the roof garden. She struggled with him, when she saw what he was going to do, but she couldn't stop him.
FLINT:Did you ask her who had been with them that night?
SWEENEY:I did. She said two gentlemen had: they were friends of Mr. Faulkner andshe had never seen them before. He picked them up in a night club, that evening, and brought them along. She said their names were "Jerry White" and "Dick Saunders."
FLINT:Did you try to find any gentlemen by these names among Mr. Faulkner's acquaintances?
SWEENEY:We did. We found that no one had ever heard of them.
FLINT:And Miss Andre told you, as she did at the inquest, that she had never seen these two men before?
SWEENEY:Yes, sir.
FLINT:Was she very emphatic about that?
SWEENEY:Yes, sir.Very.
FLINT:That is all, Inspector.
STEVENS:Miss Andre told you that she had struggled with Faulkner to prevent his suicide. Did you notice any evidence of a struggle in her clothes?
SWEENEY:Yes, sir. Her dress was torn. It had diamond shoulder straps, and one of them was broken, so that she had to hold the dress up with one hand.
STEVENS:What did you think of that?
SWEENEY:[Embarrassed]Do I have to answer?
STEVENS:You certainly do.
SWEENEY:Well . . . I wished he had broken the other strap, too.
STEVENS:I meant, did you think that the dress looked as though it had been torn in a struggle?
SWEENEY:It looked like it, yes, sir.
STEVENS:Now, can you tell us why on earth you turned the shower on in the bathroom?
SWEENEY:[Embarrassed]Well, you see, we heard Faulkner had wine instead of water in it.
STEVENS:[Laughing]You mustn't believe all the legends you hear about Bjorn Faulkner . . . That's all, Inspector.
[SWEENEYleaves the stand and exits]
FLINT:Magda Svenson!
CLERK: Magda Svenson!
[MAGDA SVENSONenters and waddles toward the witness stand. She is fat, middle-aged, with tight, drawn lips, suspicious eyes, an air of offended righteousness. Her clothes are plain, old-fashioned, meticulously neat]
You solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?
MAGDA:[Speaks with a pronounced Swedish accent]I swear.[She takes the Bible, raises it slowly to her lips, kisses it solemnly, and hands it back, taking the whole ceremony with a profound religious seriousness]
FLINT:What is your name?
FLINT:Kindly answer my questions without argument. State your name.
MAGDA:Magda Svenson.
FLINT:What is your occupation?
MAGDA:I am housekeeper.
FLINT:By whom were you employed last?
MAGDA:By Herr Bjorn Faulkner and before that his father.
FLINT:How long have you been employed by them?
MAGDA:I been in the family thirty-eight years. I remember Herr Bjorn since he was little child.
FLINT:When did you come to America?
MAGDA:I been here five years.
FLINT:What were the duties Mr. Faulkner assigned to you?