A Coffin from Hong Kong / Гроб из Гонконга. Книга для чтения на английском языке

A Coffin from Hong Kong / Гроб из Гонконга. Книга для чтения на английском языке

Джеймс Хедли Чейз

Чтение в оригинале (Каро)Detective story

Предлагаем вниманию любителей детективов роман Джеймса Хэдли Чейза «Гроб из Гонкога».

В книге приводится полный неадаптированный текст романа, снабженный комментариями и словарем.

James Hadley Chase / Джеймс Хэдли Чейз

A Coffin from Hong Kong / Гроб из Гонконга. Книга для чтения на английском языке

В© РљРђР Рћ, 2015

Chapter One

1

I was just about to shut down the office[1 - was just about to shut down the office – (разг.) собирался закрывать свою лавочку] for the night when the telephone bell rang.

The time was ten minutes past six o’clock. It had been a dull, long and unprofitable day: no visitors, a mail I had dropped into the trash basket without even slitting an envelope, and now this first telephone call.

I lifted the receiver and said, “Nelson Ryan.” My voice as alert and eager as I could make it.

There was a pause. Over the open line I could hear the sound of an aircraft engine start up. The din beat against my ear for a brief moment, then faded to background noise as if the caller had closed the door of the telephone booth.

“Mr. Ryan?” A man’s voice: deep-toned and curt.

“That’s right.”

“You are a private investigator?”

“Right again.”

There was another pause. I listened to his slow, heavy breathing: he was probably listening to mine.

Then he said: “I have only a few minutes. I’m at the airport. I want to hire you.”

I reached for a scratch pad. “What’s your name and your address?” I asked.

“John Hardwick, 33 Connaught Boulevard.”

As I scribbled the address on the pad, I asked, “What is it you want me to do, Mr. Hardwick?”

“I want you to watch my wife.” There was another pause as another aircraft took off. He said something that was blotted out by the high whine of the jet’s engines.

“I didn’t get that[2 - I didn’t get that – (разг.) Я не понял, что вы сказали], Mr. Hardwick”.