马龙探案卷四 之 正确的凶案 四
“但是你不能离开杰克。” 马龙愚蠢地说。“你们才刚结婚。”
“But you can’t have left Jake,” Malone said stupidly. “You’ve just married him.”
“我必须离开他才能离开他。” 海伦冷淡地说。“而且我已经离开了他。” 她坐在桌子的一角，点了一根烟。
“I had to, in order to be able to leave him,” Helene said coldly. “And I have left him.” She sat down on a corner of the desk and lit a cigarette.
“为什么？”
“Why?”
“我不会告诉你的。” 她的脸颊开始恢复了一点血色。“但不是因为你所想的那些原因。”
“I’m damned if I’ll tell you.” A little color began to e back into her cheeks. “But it wasn’t for any of the reasons you’re thinking about.”
马龙急忙说：“当然不是。” 他在口袋里摸索着找雪茄，最后找到了一根，点燃后说：“你怎么会身无分文呢？还是说你也不会告诉我这个原因？”
Malone said hastily, “Of course not.” He fumbled through his pockets for a cigar, finally found one, lit it, and said, “How e you’re broke, or are you damned if you’ll tell me that, either?”
“这是我离开杰克的部分原因。你刚才说这儿有喝的吗？”
“That’s part of the reason why I left Jake. Did you say there was a drink in the house?”
马龙在壁橱里的一顶旧草帽下找到了另一个杯子，擦了擦，拿出一瓶黑麦威士忌，把它平分到两个杯子里。他看得出这不够。想了一会儿，他拿起电话，拨了一个号码，说：“路易？我是马龙。马上给我送两夸脱黑麦威士忌来。什么？哦，是吗？我肯定是忘了。我马上给你寄张支票。快点送黑麦威士忌来。”
Malone located another glass under an old straw hat in the closet, dusted it, got the bottle of rye, and divided it into two equal parts. He could see it wasn’t going to be enough. After a moment’s reflection he picked up the phone, dialed a number, and said, “Louie? Malone speaking. Send me over a couple of quarts of rye, right away. What’s that? Oh, is it? It must have slipped my mind. I’ll send you a check right away. Hurry up with the rye.”
他猛地挂上电话。“我也身无分文。”
He banged down the telephone. “I’m broke, too.”
“多亲密啊。” 海伦评论道。“所以你终于遇到了一个喜欢珠宝的女孩。”
“How chummy,” Helene mented. “So you finally met a girl who liked jewelry.”
“是皮草。” 马龙有点脸红地说，“但你怎么知道的？”
“It was furs,” Malone said, coloring a little, “but how did you know?”
“我一直在上读心术的课。” 她拿起杯子，看了看，最后说：“一切都见鬼去吧。” 然后一饮而尽。
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“I’ve been taking lessons in mind reading.” She picked up her glass, gazed at it, finally said, “The devil with everything,” and emptied it.
马龙决定采取一种父亲般的态度。“人们一开始肯定会有这些小分歧。你会克服的。等你把事情想几天之后……”
Malone decided to adopt a fatherly attitude. “People are bound to have these little differences at first. You’ll get over it. When you’ve thought things over for a few days—”
“别结巴了。” 她重重地放下杯子说。“我已经离开他了，而且是永远离开。你可以省省你的评论了。”
“Stop stammering,” she said, setting the glass down hard. “I’ve left him and I do mean for good. You can save the mentary.”
他耸了耸肩。“这是你的事。你为什么回芝加哥？”
He shrugged his shoulders. “It’s your funeral. Why did you e back to Chicago?”
“我来告诉你我为什么回芝加哥。” 她的眼睛里闪着危险的光芒。“是因为杰克和莫娜?麦克莱恩打的那个赌。你记得吧。她跟他打赌，说她能犯下一桩谋杀案而他抓不到她的把柄，赌注是卡西诺赌场的地契。”
“I’ll tell you why I came back to Chicago.” A dangerous light came into her eyes. “It’s because of that bet Jake made with Mona McClane. You remember. She bet him the deed to the Casino she could mit a murder and he couldn't pin it on her.”
马龙沮丧地点点头。“我记得。我们在芝加哥到处跑，一有人被谋杀我们就差点累断了脖子，结果却发现是别人杀了那个人。”
Malone nodded gloomily. “I remember. We traipsed all over Chicago and damn near broke our necks as soon as some guy got murdered, only to find out it was somebody else murdered him.”
“但你知道莫娜后来怎么说的。” 她提醒他。“那个是错误的谋杀。我要找到正确的那个，然后赢得那个赌注。”
“But you know what Mona said afterwards,” she reminded him. “It was the wrong murder. I'm going to find the right one and win that bet.”
“随你便，可为什么呢？”
“Suit yourself, but why?”
“因为，” 海伦坚定地说，“这是我唯一能向杰克证明我不是一个被宠坏、娇生惯养的富家女的方法，除了在赌错马的时候给老爸发电报要钱，我就想不出别的事可做。” 她的脸颊突然变得绯红。“不是说我在乎他怎么想。”
“Because,” Helene said firmly, “it's the only way I can ever prove to Jake that I'm not just a spoiled, pampered rich brat who can't think of anything to do but wire her old man for dough when the wrong horse es in.” Her cheeks suddenly flamed scarlet. “Not that I care what he thinks.”
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“所以杰克在赌马上有点小麻烦。” 马龙喃喃地说。他觉得还是什么都不说为妙。
“So Jake had a little trouble with the horses,” Malone murmured. He decided it was wiser to say nothing more.
“我会让他看看。” 海伦说，“我会找出莫娜杀了谁，怎么杀的，为什么杀，然后拿出足够的证据让一大堆陪审团信服。然后我会把卡西诺赌场的地契寄给他，让他见鬼去吧。”
“I'll show him,” Helene said, “I'll find out who Mona murdered, and how, and why, and produce enough evidence to convince a gross of juries. Then I'll send him the deed to the Casino, and the devil with him.”
马龙若有所思地看着她。一顶很宽的深棕色毡帽衬托着她苍白而精致的脸庞；在她的喉咙下方，一堆蓬松的浅棕色皮草分开，露出一块焦糖色的丝绸三角。她纤细娇嫩的手指摆弄着和她帽子颜色完全一样的手套；她美丽修长的腿上那透明的长筒袜是白三叶草蜜的颜色。
Malone looked at her thoughtfully. A very wide, dark-brown felt hat framed her pale, exquisite face; below her throat a mass of fluffy, light-brown furs fell apart to reveal a triangle of caramel-colored silk. Her slender, delicate fingers played with gloves that were exactly the same shade as her hat; the sheer stockings on her lovely long legs were the color of white clover honey.
当他看着她时，一幅幅画面在他脑海中闪过。海伦开着她那辆进口的大汽车在结冰的路面上飞驰，速度之快、不顾一切的程度足以让一位经验丰富的印第安纳波利斯赛车手胆战心惊。海伦亲自策划了一名可能的女杀人犯的越狱行动。海伦因为涉嫌纵火一事与警察有点小麻烦，然后戴着借来的黑色假发和系着丝带的眼镜出现了。海伦用一个临时想出来的巧妙谎言把杰克从冯?弗拉纳根那里解救出来。海伦嫁给了杰克，然后在黎明时分乘飞机去了百慕大。现在，海伦从百慕大回来了，她蓝色的眼睛里带着坚定的决心。绝对不是过去的好日子了。
Scenes raced through his mind as he looked at her. Helene, driving her big, imported car over ice-covered pavements with a speed and abandon that would have petrified an Indianapolis speedway driver of long standing. Helene, personally engineering the jailbreak of a possible murderess. Helene, in a little trouble with the police over a matter of suspected arson, and turning up in a borrowed black wig and beribboned eyeglasses. Helene, talking Jake out of a jam with von Flanagan with an inspired, spur-of-the-moment falsehood. Helene, married to Jake and going off to Bermuda on the dawn plane. Now, Helene back from Bermuda, with that look of grim resolution in her blue eyes. Definitely not the good old days.
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路易店里的送货员带着黑麦威士忌及时赶到，这才没让约翰?J?马龙陷入回忆的泪水之中。
The delivery boy from Louie’s arrived with the rye just in time to save John J. Malone from bursting into reminiscent tears.
他在大衣口袋里找到一小把零钱，给了送货员小费，说：“告诉路易我会给他寄张支票。” 然后开始打开其中一瓶酒。“你到底打算怎么赢得这个赌注呢？”
He found a small handful of change in his overcoat pocket, tipped the boy, said, “Tell Louie I’m sending him a check,” and began opening one of the bottles. “Just how do you propose going about winning this bet?”
“我还不确定所有的细节。首先，我要搬去和莫娜一起住。她已经邀请过我好几次去和她一起住了，而我一个人在城里就是个足够的借口。然后我要找出所有她可能想要谋杀的人，四处打听直到我找到一个被她谋杀的人，然后找出她是怎么以及什么时候干的。”
“I’m not sure of all the details yet. First. I’m going to move in with Mona. She’s asked me to stay with her a number of times, and my being alone in town is enough excuse. Then I’m going to find out all the people she might have wanted to murder, nose around until I find one of them who’s been murdered, and find out how and when she did it.”
“你说得可真轻松。” 马龙说。
“You make it sound so wonderfully easy,” Malone said.
她冲他做了个粗鲁的鬼脸。“你可能得帮忙。”
“You may have to help.”
“我一点也不惊讶。” 律师用一种挖苦的声音说。他的目光落在还在他桌上的那封电报上。他赶紧把它塞进口袋，说：“我需要很多钱。现在让我安静一下，我要打电话。”
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised,” the lawyer said in a wry voice. His eye fell on the cablegram that was still on his desk. He hastily stuffed it into his pocket, and said, “I’m going to need a lot of money. Leave me in peace now while I telephone.”
“你要那么多钱干什么？”
“What do you need a lot of money for?”