Мэри Кларк - Молчаливая ночь [with w_cat]

• Название: Молчаливая ночь [with w_cat]
• Автор: Мэри Кларк
• Жанр: Детектив

Вниманию читателей предлагается книга Кларк Мэри "Молчаливая ночь".

Каждый абзац текста, на английском языке, снабжен ссылкой на литературный перевод.

Книга предназначена для учащихся старший классов школ, лицеев и гимназий, а также для широкого круга лиц, интересующихся английской литературой и совершенствующих свою языковую подготовку.

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Повесть «Молчаливая ночь» — небольшая не только по объему, но и по времени действия. Основные события умещаются на семи часовом отрезке в канун Рождества, но накал страстей столь острый, что книга прочитывается на едином дыхании. Ординарные люди, ощутившие чужую беду, как собственную, пытаются сделать все от них зависящее, чтобы вернуть в семью потерявшегося мальчика по имени Брайан.

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[764] I’m getting too jumpy, he thought.

[765] A block later it suddenly was like they’d sailed off the edge of the earth. As far as he could see, there were no cars ahead. They were in a residential area, quiet and dark. The houses were mostly unlit, except some of them still had Christmas-tree lights glowing from bushes and evergreens on the snow-covered lawns.

[766] He couldn’t be sure if the kid was really asleep or faking it. Not that it mattered. This was the sort of place he needed. He drove six blocks and then saw what he was looking for: a school, with a long drive-way that had to lead to a parking area.

[767] His eyes missed nothing as he carefully searched the area for any sign of an approaching car or someone out walking. Then he stopped the car and opened the window halfway, listening intently for any hint of trouble. The cold instantly turned his breath to steam. He could hear nothing but the hum of the Toyota ’s engine. It was quiet out there. Silent.

[768] Still, he decided to drive around the block one more time, just to be sure he wasn’t being followed.

[769] As he put his foot on the accelerator, and as the car slowly moved forward, he kept his gaze glued to the rearview mirror. Damn. He’d been right. There was a car behind him, running without lights. Now it was moving, too. The lights from a brilliantly lit tree reflected on its rooftop dome.

[770] A squad car. Cops! Damn them, Jimmy swore under his breath. Damn them! Damn them! He tromped on the gas pedal. It might be his last ride, but he’d make it a good one.

[771] He looked down at Brian. “Quit pretending. I know you’re awake,” he shouted. “Sit up, damn you. I shoulda ditched you as soon as I was out of the city. Lousy kid.”

[772] Jimmy floored the accelerator. A quick look in the rearview mirror confirmed that the pursuing car had also speeded up and was now openly following him. But so far there seemed to be only one of them.

[773] Clearly Cally had told the cops he had the kid, he reasoned. She’d probably also told them that he said he’d kill the kid first if they tried to close in on him. If that cop behind him knew that, it explained why he wasn’t trying to pull him over right now.

[774] He glanced at the speedometer: fifty… sixty… seventy. Damn this car! Jimmy thought, suddenly wishing he had something more powerful than a Toyota. He hunched over the wheel. He couldn’t outrun them, but he still might have a chance to get away.

[775] The guy chasing him didn’t have backup yet. What would he do if he saw the kid had been shot and pushed out of the car? He’d stop to try to help him, Jimmy reasoned. I’d better do it right away, he thought, before he has time to call in help.

[776] He reached inside his jacket for his gun. Just then the car hit a patch of ice and began to skid. Jimmy dropped the gun in his lap, turned the wheels in the direction of the skid, then managed to straighten the car just inches away from crashing into a tree at the edge of the sidewalk.

[777] Nobody can drive like I can, he thought grimly. Then he picked up the gun again and released the safety catch. If the cop stops for the kid, I’ll make it to Canada, he promised himself. He released the lock on the passenger door and reached across the terrified boy to open it.

23

[778] Cally knew she had to call police headquarters to see if there was any word about little Brian. She had told Detective Levy she didn’t think Jimmy would try to reach Canada through Vermont. “He got in trouble up there when he was about fifteen,” she’d said. “He never did time there, but I think some sheriff really scared Jimmy. He told him he had a long memory and warned him never to show up in Vermont again. Even though that was at least ten years ago, Jimmy is superstitious. I think he’d stick to the Thruway. I know he went to Canada a couple of times when he was a teenager, and both times he went that way.”

[779] Levy had listened to her. She knew he wanted to trust her, and she prayed that this time he had. She also prayed that she was right and they got the boy back safely, so she could know that in some small way she had helped.

[780] Someone other than Levy answered his phone, and she was told to wait. Then Levy came on. “What is it, Cally?”

[781] “I just had to know if there’s been any word… I’ve been praying that what I told you about Jimmy taking the Thruway helped.”

[782] Levy’s voice softened even though he still spoke quickly. “Cally, it did help, and we’re very grateful. I can’t talk now, but whatever prayers you know, keep saying them.”

[783] That means they must have located Jimmy, she thought. But what was happening to Brian?

[784] Cally sank to her knees. It doesn’t matter what happens to me, she prayed. Stop Jimmy before he hurts that child.

[785] Chris McNally had known it the minute Jimmy spotted him. The radio was open between him and headquarters and was tied in to One Police Plaza in Manhattan. “He knows he’s being followed,” Chris reported tersely. “He’s taking off like a bat out of hell.”

[786] “Don’t lose him,” Bud Folney said quietly.

[787] “We’ve got a dozen cars on the way, Chris,” the dispatcher snapped. “They’re running silent and on dim lights. They’ll surround you. We’re bringing in a chopper, too.”

[788] “Keep them out of sight!” Chris pressed his foot on the accelerator. “He’s going seventy. There’s not many cars out, but these streets aren’t completely cleared. This is getting dangerous.”

[789] As Siddons raced across an intersection, Chris watched in horror as he barely missed slamming into another car. Siddons was driving like a maniac. There was going to be an accident, he knew it. “ Passing Lakewood Avenue,” he reported. Two blocks later he saw the Toyota skid and almost hit a tree. A minute after that, he yelled, “The boy!”

[790] “What is it?” Folney demanded.

[791] “The passenger door of the Toyota just opened. The inside light’s on, so I can see the kid struggling. Oh God… Siddons has his gun out. It looks like he’s going to shoot him.”

24

[792] “Kyrie Eleison,” the choir sang.

[793] Lord have mercy, Barbara Cavanaugh prayed.

[794] Save my lamb, Catherine begged.

[795] Run, Dork, run, get away from him, Michael shouted in his mind.

[796] Jimmy Siddons was crazy. Brian had never been in a car before that was going so fast. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but there must be someone following them.

[797] Brian looked away from the road for a moment and glanced at Jimmy. He had his gun out. He felt Jimmy tugging at his seat belt, releasing it. Then he reached across Brian and opened the door beside him. He could feel the cold air rushing in.

[798] For a moment he was paralyzed with fear. Then he sat up very straight. He realized what was about to happen. That Jimmy was going to shoot him and push him out of the car.

[799] He had to get away. He was still clutching the medal in his right hand. He felt Jimmy poke him in the side with the gun, pushing him toward the open door and the roadway rushing beneath them. Holding on to the seat-belt buckle with his left hand, he swung out blindly with his right. The medal arced and slammed into Jimmy’s face, catching him in his left eye.

[800] Jimmy yelled and took his hand off the wheel, instinctively slamming his foot on the brake. As he grabbed his eye, the gun went off. The bullet whistled past Brian’s ear as the out-of-control car began to spin around. It jumped the curb, went up into a corner lawn, and caught on a bush. Still spinning, it slowed as it dragged the bush back across the lawn and out onto the edge of the road.

[801] Jimmy was swearing now, one hand again on the wheel, the other aiming the gun. Blood dripped into his eye from a gash across his forehead and cheek.

[802] Get out. Get out. Brian heard the command in his head as though someone were shouting it at him. Brian dove for the door and rolled out onto the snow-covered lawn just as a second bullet passed over his shoulder.

[803] “Jesus Christ, the kid’s out of the car,” Chris yelled. He jammed on the brakes and skidded to a stop behind the Toyota. “He’s getting up. Oh my God.”

[804] Bud Folney shouted, “Is he hurt?” but Chris didn’t hear him. He was already out of his car and running toward the boy. Siddons was in control of the Toyota again and had turned it, clearly planning to run over Brian. In what seemed like an eternity but was actually only seconds, Chris had crossed the space between him and Brian and gathered the boy in his arms.

[805] The car was racing toward them, its passenger door still open and its interior still illuminated so that the maniacal anger in Jimmy Siddons’s face was clearly visible. Clutching Brian tightly against him, Chris dove to the side and rolled down a snowy incline just as the wheels of the Toyota passed inches from their heads. An instant later, with a sickening sound of metal crashing and glass breaking, the vehicle careened off the porch of the house and flipped over.

For a moment there was silence, and then the quiet was shattered as sirens screamed and wailed. Lights from a dozen squad cars brightened the night as swarms of troopers raced to surround the overturned vehicle. Chris lay in the snow for a few seconds, hugging Brian to him, listening to the convergence of sounds. Then he heard a small relieved voice ask, “Are you St. Christopher?”

[806] “No, but right now I feel like him, Brian,” Chris said heartily. “Merry Christmas, son.”

25

[807] Officer Manuel Ortiz slipped noiselessly through the side door of the cathedral and instantly caught Catherine’s eye. He smiled and nodded his head. She jumped up and ran to meet him.

“Is he…”

[808] “He’s fine. They’re sending him back in a police helicopter. He’ll be here by the time Mass is over.”

[809] Noticing that one of the television cameras was trained on them, Ortiz raised his hand and made a circle of his thumb and forefinger, a symbol that for this moment, on this most special of days, everything was A-OK.

[810] Those seated nearby witnessed the exchange and began to clap softly. As others turned, they stood, and applause began to slowly rumble through the giant cathedral. It was a full five minutes before the deacon could begin to read the Christmas Gospel, “ ‘And it came to pass…’ ”

[811] “I’m going to let Cally know what’s happened,” Mort Levy told Bud Folney. “Sir, I know she should have called us earlier, but I hope…”

[812] “Don’t worry. I’m not going to play Scrooge tonight. She worked with us. She deserves a break,” Folney said crisply. “Besides, the Dornan woman has already said she’s not going to press charges against her.” He paused for a moment, thinking. “Listen, there’s got to be some toys left in the station houses. Tell the guys to get busy and round some up for that little girl of Cally’s. Have them meet us at Cally’s building in forty-five minutes. Mort, you and I are going to give them to her. Shore, you go home.”

[813] It was Brian’s first helicopter ride, and even though he was incredibly tired, he was too excited to even think about closing his eyes. He was sorry Officer McNally-Chris, as he had said he should call him-hadn’t been able to come with him. But he had been with Brian when they took Jimmy Siddons away, and he had told him not to worry, that this was one guy who would never get out of prison again. And then he’d gotten the St. Christopher medal out of the car for Brian.

[814] As the helicopter came down it looked like it was almost landing on the river. He recognized the Fifty-ninth Street Bridge and the Roosevelt Island tramway. His dad had taken him for a ride on that. He wondered suddenly if his father knew what had happened to him.

[815] He turned to one of the officers. “My dad’s in a hospital near here. I have to go see him. He might be worried.”

[816] The officer, who was by now familiar with the story of the whole Dornan family, said, “You’ll see him soon, son. But now, your mother’s waiting for you. She’s at midnight Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.”

[817] When the buzzer sounded at Cally’s Avenue B apartment, she answered it with the resigned belief that she was going to be arrested. Detective Levy had called to say only that he and another officer were coming by. But it was two beaming, self-appointed Santa Clauses who arrived at her door, laden with dolls and games and a sparkling white wicker doll’s carriage.

[818] As she watched, unbelieving, they placed the gifts under and around the Christmas tree.

[819] “Your information about your brother was a tremendous help,” Bud Folney said. “The Dornan boy is okay and on his way back to the city. Jimmy is on his way back to prison; he’s our responsibility once again, and I promise we won’t let him get away this time. From now on I hope it gets a lot better for you.”

[820] Cally felt as though a giant weight had been lifted from her. She could only whisper, “Thank you… thank you…”

[821] Folney and Levy chorused, “Merry Christmas, Cally,” and were gone.

When they left, Cally at last knew she could go to bed and sleep. Gigi’s even breathing was an answered prayer. From now on, she’d be able to hear it every night, and listen without fear that her little girl would be taken away from her again. Everything will get better, she thought. I know it now.

[822] As she fell asleep, her last thought was that when Gigi saw that the big package with Santa’s present was missing from under the Christmas tree, she could honestly tell her that Santa Claus had come and taken it away.

[823] The recessional was about to start when once again the side door of the cathedral opened and Officer Ortiz entered. This time he was not alone. He bent down to the small boy beside him and pointed. Before Catherine could get to her feet, Brian was in her arms, the St. Christopher medal he was wearing pressed against her heart.

[824] As she held him close, she said nothing, but felt the silent tears of relief and joy course down her cheeks, knowing that he once again was safe, and firm in her belief now that Tom was going to make it, too.

[825] Barbara also did not speak, but leaned over and laid her hand on her grandson’s head.

[826] It was Michael who broke the silence with whispered words of welcome. “Hi, Dork,” he said with a grin.

[827] Christmas Day

[828] Christmas morning dawned cold and clear. At ten o’clock, Catherine, Brian, and Michael arrived at the hospital.

[829] Dr. Crowley was waiting for them when they got off the elevator on the fifth floor. “My God, Catherine,” he said, “are you okay? I hadn’t heard about what happened until I got here this morning. You must be exhausted.”

[830] “Thanks, Spence, but I’m fine.” She looked at her sons. “We’re all fine. But how is Tom? When I called this morning, all they would say was that he had a good night.”

[831] “And he did. It’s an excellent sign. He had a very good night. A lot better than yours, that’s for sure. I hope you don’t mind, but I decided it was best if I told Tom about Brian. The press have been calling here all morning, and I didn’t want to risk his hearing about it from an outsider. When I told him, I started with the happy ending, of course.”