Читать книгу The Devil's Whelp - Vin Hammond Jackson - Страница 35

The body was identified as that of Mike DeLong. Dr. Perry was performing his examination of it when he found the message, this time carved onto Mike's back. They were fairly certain it was a message, but even Jerry Dennis had no idea for whom it was intended. The Inspector took the problem to Del, but he couldn't shed any light on it either. It wasn't until Del was talking to Jack Pierce that the riddle was solved.

"It said: 'G'day, Uncle'," Del explained. He noticed the blood drain from Pierce's face which didn't surprise him - it wasn't every day that a person came face to face with this kind of brutality. Jack had every right to feel a bit off about it. "Don't suppose you know who 'Uncle' is?" Del didn't really expect much more than a straight 'No'.

While the retrieval operation had been underway, Jack had been too concerned for his diver to worry about Mike DeLong whom he regarded as just another job only slightly out of the ordinary. Even after Bill Rose was safely back on deck, he still hadn't wanted to know the gory details. In fact, he'd finished up and gone straight to his cabin without talking to anyone about anything. Now, the bad news had come to him, so he couldn't really ignore it any longer. If only it could have been a normal death - simple drowning, or if it had to be murder, then strangulation, or a knife in the back - but this__! It wasn't merely ugly, disgusting: this was personal!

Jack staggered a little then sat heavily on his cot. He was a man who had just had all the energy sucked from him. Finally he nodded. "It's for me," he spoke in a whisper and even then the admission was reluctant. "He used to call me that - Uncle Jack." He looked up at Del, his eyes flickering, a warning that the build-up of nervous energy was approaching critical dimensions. "It's a message from little Eddie. He's out there, Del!" Jack's eyes were staring at the toolpusher in disbelief. "Eddie's come back! Oh, dear God, Eddie's still alive!"