"Dean Wesley Smith - A Hard Rain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Dean Wesley)

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ISBN: 0-7434-1927-8

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For the wonderful mystery writer, Kris Nelscott. Dixon Hill and I thank you.




A HARD RAIN
Chapter One

A Hardboiled Life in the City




Section One: On the Hunt

IT WAS RAINING IN THE CITYby the bay. A hard rain. Hard enough to wash the slime out of
the streets.

Dixon Hill thought back over the words of his friend, Mr. Data, as the radiator behind him cracked and
popped. It fought the valiant battle to keep the cold and damp out of his office. It usually lost.

Beyond the single pane window the deep sounds of a far-off ship’s horn echoed through the fog and
rain, crying out like a lost animal in the night.

He listened. Many days he had just sat, feet up on his desk, and listened to that deep, mournful sound.
Now it faded, replaced by the honking of cars and swishing of tires on the wet pavement of the street
below. He loved the city, every rotten, lustful, dark thing about it.

But right now he wished he could make the whole stinking place just go away.

Dixon Hill sighed and listened as the ship’s horn again moaned its plaintive cry. So far he had been lucky
in this world. He doubted his luck was going to hold.
 He nestled his gray fedora tight on his head, straightened his tie, and pulled the collar of his tan raincoat
up around his neck. Then he touched the scarred top of the single wood desk that commanded the room.
The empty, wooden chair behind the desk sat with its back to the city, seeming to say that nothing out
there meant anything.

But that wasn’t true.