Julaile: переводы

→When Gladys had left I gave Florrie her breakfast — a scant handful of dried food — and shut her in the kitchen. I put on a warm coat and my fluffy boots, set the alarm excluding the kitchen, locked up, and left the house. Then I climbed into the little Ford and roared up the lane as if I were Jenson Button and it was a Formula One racing car. Well, I certainly drove as fast as speedster Charlie Jameson had ever driven on such a surface, I was quite sure. If not faster.

→‘Take care if you go out,’ she said. ‘The vultures are still gathered at the top of your lane.’

→I studied her in silence. She smiled back at me warmly, and began to make light small talk. She asked me no questions about anything. Not for the first time I became aware how much more sensitive she was than she appeared to be. And I was quite surprised to realize what a comfort her presence was. Gladys Ponsonby Smythe really was an unusually kind and strong woman. She didn’t overstay her welcome either, leaving right after we’d finished our coffee and cake.

→I managed a weak smile. I wondered how much, if anything at all, she knew yet about Robert’s double life and the role Brenda Anderton may have played in events. In any case she and the rest of the village would learn about it sooner or later for sure. I thought I probably owed Gladys the courtesy of giving her a summary of events myself, but I just didn’t feel up to it.

→I smiled my gratitude.

→I nodded. A little boy had to be kidnapped and a woman, whatever she might have done, had to die before I was given any priority at all, I thought. But I said nothing.

→He grinned. ‘Don’t worry,’ he went on. ‘I’ll make sure they stay on red alert. And if you have any cause for anxiety, dial 999 at once. Don’t mess about. I’ll also make sure it’s known everywhere that you’re top priority.’

→I had good ears. ‘So do I,’ I said.

→He paused, then added almost inaudibly: ‘I hope.’

→‘I’ll get Jacobs and Bickerton to continue to keep an eye right through the night,’ he said. ‘This is their patch and, if you ask me, they don’t usually have enough on, it’s that peaceful round here. A bit of extra duty will do them no harm at all. So don’t panic if you hear an engine or see lights approaching. It’ll be the boys in blue looking out for you.’

→The two officers left a few minutes later. Jarvis repeated his instruction of the previous day for me to stay inside and keep all my doors and windows locked, and told me to make sure I set the alarm when I went to bed. I could only assume that he still suspected Robert of all kinds of things I really didn’t want to think about. Who else could he think might want to harm me now that Brenda was dead?

→‘Yes.’ I said. ‘Coincidences do happen, you know, Detective Sergeant.’

→‘No. Nor her, I shouldn’t think. Robbie and I were only there because we’d had to go shopping in Exeter and Brenda didn’t have the sort of lifestyle that gave her a lot of leisure time, that’s for sure.’

→‘Was it something you often did?’

→‘Yes.’

→‘Then do you believe it was pure coincidence that you both decided to walk your dogs on Exmouth beach on the same day and at the same time?’

→I shook my head.

→‘So you think that casual meeting of dog walkers on Exmouth beach wasn’t really that at all? You think Brenda Anderton arranged it, in order to begin to get to know you, to get close to you and your son?’

→I felt the enormity of my loss hit me again. My special men. Gone for ever. Both of them. Robert was still alive. But really he may as well not be, as far as I was concerned anyway.

→He looked at me pleadingly. I did not respond. He sighed again.