"Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Roadside Picnic (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

"Will there be a search?" she asked.
"Let them. The house is clean. Don't worry, keep your tail up-- you
know, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. You married a stalker, so don't
complain. See you tomorrow. And remember, I didn't call. I kiss your little
nose."
He hung up abruptly and stood for a few seconds, eyes shut and teeth
clenched so tightly there was a tingling in his ears. Then he deposited
another coin and dialed another number.
"Listening," said Throaty.
"It's Schuhart. Listen carefully and don't interrupt."
"Schuhart? What Schuhart?" asked Throaty in a natural manner.
"Don't interrupt, I said! They caught me, I ran, and I'm going to turn
myself in now. I'm going to get two and a half or three years. My wife will
be penniless. You take care of her. So that she needs nothing, understand?
Understand, I said?"
"Go on," said Throaty.
"Not far from the place where we first met, there's a phone booth. It's
the only one, you won't mistake it. The porcelain is under it. If you want
it, take it, if you don't, don't. But my wife must be taken care of. We
still have many years of playing together. If I come back and find out you
double-crossed me ... I don't suggest that you do. Understand?"
"I understand everything," said Throaty. "Thanks." After a pause, he
asked: "Maybe you want a lawyer?"
"No," said Redrick. "Every last cent goes to my wife. My regards."
He hung up, looked around, dug his hands into his pants pockets, and
slowly went up Miner Street between the empty, bearded-up houses.

3. RICHARD H. NOONAN, AGE 51,

SUPERVISOR OF ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
SUPPLIES FOR THE HARMONT BRANCH OF THE IIEC

Richard H. Noonan was sitting at the desk in his study doodling on the
legal size pad. He was also smiling sympathetically, nodding his bald head,
and not listening to his visitor. He was simply waiting for a telephone
call, and his visitor, Dr. Pilman, was lazily lecturing him. Or imagining
that he was lecturing him. Or trying to convince himself that he was
lecturing him.
"We'll keep all that in mind," Noonan finally said, crossing out
another group of five lines and flipping down the pad's cover. "It really is
shocking."
Valentine's slender hand neatly flicked the ashes from his cigarette
into the ashtray.
"And what precisely will you keep in mind?" he inquired politely.
"Why, everything that you said," Noonan answered cheerfully, leaning
back in his armchair. "To the very last word."
"And what did I say?"
"That doesn't matter," Noonan said. "We'll keep whatever you say in
mind."
Valentine (Dr. Valentine Pilman, Nobel Prize winner) was sitting in