"WILHELM, KATE - THE BEST DEFENSE" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilhelm Kate)

won't leave Lori. Let her come with me." The other side hurts as much
as the side with the cracked ribs.

From being slammed against the door frame, she re calls, thinking how
crazily the floor kept tilting.

At the kitchen door. Flames. The kitchen blazing. She is running,
running, like nightmare running: all that effort and so little gain. In
the front door, up the stairs, screaming, "Lori! Lori!" The bed is
empty. She plummets into oblivion again.

"Mrs. Kennerman, can you hear me?"

Against her will her eyes come open. Her tongue is thick and dry.

"Take a sip of water," a voice says, and a straw is placed in her
mouth. The water helps.

"I can hear you," she whispers hoarsely.

"Can you tell us what happened back at the Canby house? Do you
remember?"

"I couldn't find Lori," she whispers.

"I looked in every room, under the beds, in the closets, and I couldn't
find her." She pulls against restraints on her arms.

"Where is she? Where is Lori?" She is crying, her voice wild and out
of control.

"Where is she?"

"Mrs. Kennerman, here, a little more water." A washcloth is against
her eyes, gently wiping her cheeks. It is removed and she opens her
eyes.

Now she can see them, a man and a woman. She is very broad, with a
broad, almost flat face; he is tall and heavy, thick through the
shoulders, with thick gray hair.

"Who are you?" she whispers.

"Tell me where my child is, please."

"Don't you remember the rest of it?" the man asks.

Now she does.

"I kept yelling for her to come out, not to hide, because the house was