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”

“He'd sent Ed out to get that phone and the first thing he thought of was that you'd talked Ed out of taking it. Or maybe Ed had just sort of failed to drop around and get it. He knew you and Ed were friends.”

— Еще бы,  — сказал я.  — У Тома характер известный. Воображаю, как его там разобрало.

— Он же велел Эду снять телефон. Сперва он подумал  — может, ты как-нибудь Эду заговорил зубы. Или, может, Эд сам не торопился. Том же знает, что вы с Эдом друзья.

“I suppose, he was so sore that he broke in and took it.

“No,” said Hiram, “he never did break in. He went down to the bank and talked Daniel Willoughby into giving him the key.”

“Without considering,” I said, “that I was renting the office.”

— Значит, его так разобрала досада, что он взломал дверь и сам унес телефон.

— Нет,  — сказал Хайрам,  — ничего он не взламывал. Он вошел в банк и выпросил у Дэниела Виллоуби ключ.

— А между прочим, помещение арендую я.

“But you hadn't paid your rent for three solid months. If you ask me, I'd figure Daniel had the right.

“In my book,” I told him, “Tom and Daniel broke into my place and robbed me.”

— Арендуешь, да не платишь. Уже за целых три месяца не уплачено. Так что, я считаю, Дэниел в своем праве.

— А я считаю, что Том с Дэниелом вломились ко мне безо всякого на это права и еще обокрали меня.

“I told you. They didn't do any breaking. And Daniel had no part in it. Except giving Tom the extra key. Tom went back alone. Besides, you say you'd never seen this phone, that you never owned it.

“That's beside the point. No matter what was in my office, he had no right to take it. Whether it was mine or not. How do I know he didn't walk away with some other stuff?”

— Говорят тебе, никто никуда не вламывался. И Дэниел тут ни при чем. Он просто дал Тому запасной ключ. Том вернулся один. И потом, ты ж сказал, этот телефон не твой и ты его раньше в глаза не видал?

— Не в том дело. Мало ли что у меня есть в конторе, а Том не имеет права ничего трогать.

“You know damn well he didn't,” Hiram told me. “You said you wanted to hear about this.”"

"“So go ahead and tell me.”

“Well, Tom got the key and got into your office and he saw right away that it was a different kind of phone. It didn't have a dial and it wasn't connected. So he turned around and started to walk out and before he reached the door, the phone rang.