Acoustic Shadows. Patrick Kendrick
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Название: Acoustic Shadows
Автор: Patrick Kendrick
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Приключения: прочее
isbn: 9780008139681
isbn:
Dunham turned his focus back to Thiery. ‘Don’t know. I’ve heard their response times have been getting slower. I try not to stick my nose into everyone’s business here, but I’ve also heard some of the guys saying they are trying to get more money for more men and equipment.’
Whispering, Thiery asked, ‘are you saying you believe the Sheriff would deliberately slow his department’s responses to increase his budget?’
Dunham looked back out the window and cleared his throat. ‘I’m saying I’m a Police Chief in a small town, and I don’t know everything, but I get wondering at times. There’s a saying my daddy used to have about big government: “When elephants fight, the only thing that gets hurt is the grass”.’
Thiery made a mental note to look into it, but, for now, he had more pressing issues. He grabbed his wallet and said, ‘Let’s head over to the hospital. I’ve got the tab. The state picks up my expenses when I travel. I’ll let the governor buy us breakfast today, okay?’
Dunham nodded and wiped his eyes as subtly as he could with his napkin.
‘You can follow me over. I better bring my car in case I get a call.’
In the parking lot, both men hesitated before climbing into their respective cars; Dunham seemed to have something else he wanted to say.
‘When I talked to the hospital, they said the other lady was waking up,’ said Dunham. ‘You know, the receptionist?’
‘Yeah? That’s good to hear,’ said Thiery. ‘Maybe she can tell us something about this Weisz woman.’ He stood for a moment, considering. ‘Besides the teacher missing, you know what else is strange?’
Dunham shrugged.
‘The age difference in the shooters. I mean, typically, if there’s two shooters, like at Columbine, they’re about the same age. Maybe went to the same school they attacked, shared the same vendetta. But, Coody is nineteen, and Shadtz was forty-one. What could they possibly have in common?’
Dunham looked at the pavement a moment before answering. ‘They both liked to kill people?’
Moral saw the news as soon as he landed at Orlando airport. It was on the huge flat screen TVs that greeted him as he stepped off the plane.
‘This just in,’ reported THN’s Gail Summer. ‘One of the survivors of yesterday’s shooting has disappeared.’ Over her shoulder, a picture of Erica Weisz popped up. ‘Erica Weisz, the teacher we now know used her own gun to shoot the intruders at Travis Hanks Elementary School yesterday, has vanished. Hospital staff stated she did not check out officially, and her absence was not reported immediately as staff spent several hours looking for her in the building and around the facility. When Ms Weisz did not return to her room after almost two full hours, the Calusa County Sheriff’s Office deputy assigned to watch her room reported her as missing. The officer said he never saw her leave, and does not understand how she could have left with such critical wounds.
‘In the meantime, to report on this unusual set of circumstances, we go back to Dave Gruber who has been standing watch at the hospital since yesterday’s tragic shooting in which a dozen persons died. Dave?’
Gruber was rested now, his eyes bright, eager for breaking news, his blond hair perfect, immovable as a plastic helmet in the light breeze moving through the parking lot in front of the Emergency Room doors.
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