Cold Shoulder

Начало книги

I sincerely thank Suzanne Baboneau, Gill Coleridge, Esther Newberg, Patty Detroit, the real Lorraine Page whose name I borrowed, Hazel Orme, Clare Ledingham and Liz Thorburn. To everyone at the Pasadena Police Station and Sheriff’s Office, thank you for your time and expertise. But above all my thanks to a very admirable lady who brought me the story of her life.

It was dark, the alley lit only by neon flashes from the main street; not a single bulb above the many exit doors leading into it remained intact. The boy was running. He wore a black bomber jacket, a bright yellow Superman stripe zigzagging down its back, shiny black elastic knee-length pants, and sneakers, flapping their tongues and trailing their laces.

‘Police officer — freeze.’

The boy continued to run.

‘Police officer — freeze.’

Half-way along the alley, the boy sidestepped a trash-can like a dancer. The flash of a pink neon light gave an eerie outline to his young body, and the Superman stripe appeared like a streak of lightning.

Читать дальше →