On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester’s Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field.
Авторы: King Stephen Edwin
‘In fact, I did. I have no idea how often the technique was actually used in the field—reports varied—but I saw it twice. One of the men confessed, although his confession was worthless. The man he named as an Al Qaeda bombmaker turned out to be a schoolteacher who’d left Iraq for Kuwait fourteen months previous. The other man had a convulsion and suffered brain damage, so there was no confession from him. Had he been capable, though, I’m sure he would have given one. Everybody confesses when they’re waterboarded, usually in a matter of minutes. I’m sure I would, too.’
‘Then save yourself some grief,’ Big Jim said.
‘You look tired, sir. Are you well?’
The tiny smile was replaced by a tiny frown. It emanated from the deep crease between Rennie’s eyebrows. ‘My current condition is none of your concern. A word of advice, Mr Barbara. Don’t bull-spit me and I won’t bullspit you. What you should be concerned about is your own condition. It may be fine now, but that could change. In a matter of minutes. You see, I am indeed thinking of having you waterboarded. Am, in fact, seriously considering it. So confess to these murders. Save yourself a lot of pain and trouble.’
‘I think not. And if you waterboard me, I’m apt to talk about all sorts of things. Probably ought to keep that in mind when you decide who you want in the room when I start talking.’
Rennie considered this. Although he was neatly put together, especially for such an early hour, his complexion was sallow and his small eyes were rimmed with purple flesh like bruises. He really did not look well. If Big Jim just dropped dead, Barbie could see two possible results. One was that the ugly political weather in The Mill would clear without spawning any further tornadoes. The other was a chaotic bloodbath in which Barbie’s own death (quite likely by lynching rather than firing squad) would be followed by a purge of his suspected co-conspirators. Julia might be first on that list. And Rose could be number two; frightened people were great believers in guilt by association.
Rennie turned to Thibodeau. ‘Step back, Carter. All the way to the stairs, if you please.’
‘But if he makes a grab for you—’
‘Then you’d kill him. And he knows it. Don’t you, Mr Barbara?’
Barbie nodded.
‘Besides, I’m not getting any closer than this. Which is why I want you to step back. We’re having a private conversation here.’
Thibodeau stepped back.
‘Now, Mr Barbara—what things would you talk about?’
‘I know all about the meth lab.’ Barbie kept his voice pitched low. ‘Chief Perkins knew, and he was getting ready to arrest you. Brenda found the file on his computer. It’s why you killed her.’
Rennie smiled. ‘That’s an ambitious fantasy.’
‘The State Attorney General won’t think so, given your motive. We’re not talking about some half-assed cook-up in a mobile home; this is the General Motors of meth.’
‘By the end of the day,’ Rennie said, ‘Perkins’s computer will be destroyed. Hers, as well. I suppose there may be a copy of certain papers in Duke’s home safe—meaningless, of course; vicious, politically motivated garbage from the mind of a man who always loathed me—and if so, the safe will be opened and the papers will be burned. For the town’s good, not mine. This is a crisis situation. We all need to pull together.’
‘Brenda passed on a copy of that file before she died.’
Big Jim grinned, revealing a double row of tiny teeth. ‘One confabulation deserves another, Mr Barbara. Shall I confabulate?’
Barbie spread his hands: Be my guest.
‘In my confabulation, Brenda comes to see me and tells me that same thing. She says she gave the copy of which you speak to Julia Shumway. But I know it’s a lie. She may have meant to, but she did not. Even if she had—’ He shrugged. ‘Your cohorts burned down Shumway’s newspaper last night. That was a bad decision on their part. Or was it your idea?’
Barbara repeated: ‘There 15 another copy. I know where it is. If you waterboard me, I will confess that location. Loudly.’
Rennie laughed. ‘Put with great sincerity, Mr Barbara, but I’ve spent my whole life dickering, and I know a bluff when I hear one. Perhaps I should just have you summarily executed. The town would cheer.’
‘How loudly, if you did it without discovering my co-conspirators first? Even Peter Randolph might question that decision, and he’s nothing but a dumb and frightened lickspittle.’
Big Jim stood up. His hanging cheeks had gone the color of old brick. ‘You don’t know who you’re playing with here.’
‘Sure I do. I saw your kind again and again in Iraq. They wear turbans instead of ties, but otherwise they’re just the same. Right down to the blather
