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The Colorado Kid :: Кинг Стивен
Страница: 52 из 81”
But Stephanie’s mind had seized on something else, and it occurred to her that she had been picking at crumbs while there was a roast sitting on the table. She held up the forefinger of her left hand beside her left cheek. “George the Artist waves goodbye to Cogan—to the Colorado Kid—around tenfifteen in the morning. Or maybe it’s more like tentwenty by the time the elevator actually comes and he gets on.”
“Ayuh,” Vince said. He was looking at her, brighteyed. They both were.
Now Stephanie held up the forefinger of her right hand beside her right cheek. “And the countergirl at Jan’s Wharfside across the reach in Tinnock said he ate his fishandchips basket at a table looking out over the water at around fivethirty in the afternoon.”
“Ayuh,” Vince said again.
“What’s the time difference between Maine and Colorado? An hour?”
“Two,” Dave said.
“Two,” she said, and paused, and said it again. “Two. So when George the Artist saw him for the last time, when those elevator doors slid shut, it was already past noon in Maine.”
“Assuming the times are right,” Dave agreed, “and assume’s all we can do, isn’t it?”
“Would it work?” she asked them. “Could he possibly have gotten here in that length of time?”
“Yes,” Vince said.
“No,” Dave said.
“Maybe,” they said together, and Stephanie sat looking from one to the other, bewildered, her coffee cup forgotten in her hand.
16
“That’s what makes this wrong for a newspaper like theGlobe,” Vince said, after a little pause to sip his milky coffee and collect his thoughts. “Even if we wanted to give it up.”
“Which we don’t,” Dave put in (and rather testily).
“Which we don’t,” Vince agreed. “But if we did…Steffi, when a bigcity newspaper like theGlobe or theNew York Times does a feature story or a feature series, they want to be able to provideanswers, or at least suggest them, and do I have a problem with that? The hell I do! Pick up any bigcity paper, and what do you find on the front page? Questions disguised as news stories. Where is Osama Bin Laden? We don’t know. What’s the President doing in the Middle East?We don’t know becausehe don’t. Is the economy going to get stronger or go in the tank? Experts differ. Are eggs good for you or bad for you? Depends on which study you read. You can’t even get the weather forecasters to tell you if a nor’easter is going to come in from the nor’east, because they got burned on the last one.
But Stephanie’s mind had seized on something else, and it occurred to her that she had been picking at crumbs while there was a roast sitting on the table. She held up the forefinger of her left hand beside her left cheek. “George the Artist waves goodbye to Cogan—to the Colorado Kid—around tenfifteen in the morning. Or maybe it’s more like tentwenty by the time the elevator actually comes and he gets on.”
“Ayuh,” Vince said. He was looking at her, brighteyed. They both were.
Now Stephanie held up the forefinger of her right hand beside her right cheek. “And the countergirl at Jan’s Wharfside across the reach in Tinnock said he ate his fishandchips basket at a table looking out over the water at around fivethirty in the afternoon.”
“Ayuh,” Vince said again.
“What’s the time difference between Maine and Colorado? An hour?”
“Two,” Dave said.
“Two,” she said, and paused, and said it again. “Two. So when George the Artist saw him for the last time, when those elevator doors slid shut, it was already past noon in Maine.”
“Assuming the times are right,” Dave agreed, “and assume’s all we can do, isn’t it?”
“Would it work?” she asked them. “Could he possibly have gotten here in that length of time?”
“Yes,” Vince said.
“No,” Dave said.
“Maybe,” they said together, and Stephanie sat looking from one to the other, bewildered, her coffee cup forgotten in her hand.
16
“That’s what makes this wrong for a newspaper like theGlobe,” Vince said, after a little pause to sip his milky coffee and collect his thoughts. “Even if we wanted to give it up.”
“Which we don’t,” Dave put in (and rather testily).
“Which we don’t,” Vince agreed. “But if we did…Steffi, when a bigcity newspaper like theGlobe or theNew York Times does a feature story or a feature series, they want to be able to provideanswers, or at least suggest them, and do I have a problem with that? The hell I do! Pick up any bigcity paper, and what do you find on the front page? Questions disguised as news stories. Where is Osama Bin Laden? We don’t know. What’s the President doing in the Middle East?We don’t know becausehe don’t. Is the economy going to get stronger or go in the tank? Experts differ. Are eggs good for you or bad for you? Depends on which study you read. You can’t even get the weather forecasters to tell you if a nor’easter is going to come in from the nor’east, because they got burned on the last one.