And from the doorway, advancing slowly into the room, a hand extended before her, the other concealed behind her back, came Lisalotte Schmidt. She sang, also, in harmony with Heinrich Konrad, Wagner’s lines rendered into her own accented English.
Heinrich Konrad rose to his feet, his hands resting on the piano above the keyboard. The Walther pistol still lay on the music stand.
Lisalotte Schmidt brought her hand from behind her back, pointing Andy Winslow’s Beretta at Heinrich Konrad.
Konrad started for the Walther, but Lisalotte Schmidt fired a single shot. He slumped back on to the piano bench, bleeding from the shoulder. With his other hand he reached for the Walther but was stopped by a single word from the bulky woman.
“Lisalotte,” he murmured. “Lisalotte. After … after our night … after our night of love … Lisalotte. How —?”
From the doorway, Jacob Maccabee whispered the translation to Andy Winslow. “You murdered my brother.”
Lisalotte Schmidt carefully aimed the Beretta, pointing it at Konrad’s heart.
Konrad lunged for the Walther but Lisalotte Schmidt’s second shot sent him reeling backward. The piano bench caught him behind the knees and he crashed to the floor. A final syllable hissed from his lips. “
Lisalotte Schmidt hissed,
Andy Winslow said, “There’s no need to translate that, Jacob.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mike Ashley is a full-time writer, editor and researcher with almost a hundred books to his credit. He has compiled over fifty Mammoth books including
With the exception of the story below, all of the stories are copyright © 2011 by the individual authors, are original to this anthology and are printed with the authors’ permission.
“Brodie and the Regrettable Incident” © 1998 by Anne Perry was first published in
Примечания
1
In Greek, Eureka
