马龙探案卷四 之 正确的凶案 九
莫娜·麦克莱恩坐在壁炉旁的一把高背椅上，头向后靠在靠垫上，眼睛闭着。她的衣服有点奇怪的中国风格，长长的直袖子，高领紧身的领口，还有那厚重锦缎丝绸的深蓝色。她戴着一个精雕细刻的白色玉质圆形饰物，挂在一条细长精致的银链子上，还有十几只纤细的白色玉手镯。她的黑发剪得很短，厚厚的刘海垂在她苍白的额头上；在刘海下面，她那顽童般的脸非常苍白，只有那形状奇特的宽宽的猩红色嘴巴很显眼。
Mona McClane sat in a high-backed chair near the fireplace, her head thrown back against its cushions, her eyes closed. There was something oddly Chinese about her dress, with its long, straight sleeves, its high-throated, close-fitting collar, and the intense blue of its heavily brocaded silk. She wore an exquisitely carved white jade medallion on a long, delicate silver chain, and a dozen slender, white jade bracelets. Her black hair was cut short, with a heavy bang falling over her pale forehead; below the bang her gamin face was very white, save for the wide, odd-shaped scarlet mouth.
起初马龙以为房间里只有她一个人，便朝她走去。他走到地毯中间的时候，一个响亮的声音吓了他一跳。
At first Malone believed her to be alone in the room and walked toward her. He was halfway across the rug when a loud voice startled him.
“嘿，你。别挡道。”
“Hey, you. Keep out of the way.”
他抬起头，看见一个年轻人平趴在一个巨大的书架顶上。年轻人恶狠狠地瞪着他。
He looked up, and saw a young man lying flat on his stomach on top of one of the massive bookcases. The young man glared at him balefully.
“你就站在那儿，不管你是谁。”
“You stay right there, whoever you are.”
“我是约翰?J?马龙。” 律师说，“我很乐意站在这儿，但是为什么呢？”
“I’m John J. Malone,” the lawyer said, “and I’ll be glad to stay right here, but why?”
“因为我在给她拍照，这就是为什么。” 上面传来的声音告诉他。他把马龙见过的最小的相机对准了莫娜?麦克莱恩。
“Because I’m taking her picture, that’s why,” the voice from above told him. He aimed the smallest camera Malone had ever seen at Mona McClane.
“别理彭德利。” 莫娜?麦克莱恩一动不动地说。“他马上就拍完了。”
“Don’t mind Pendley,” Mona McClane said without moving a muscle. “He’ll be through right away.”
“我才不会呢。” 年轻人烦躁地说。过了一会儿，他以一种连空中飞人表演者都会羡慕的敏捷身手从高处爬了下来，站在那儿摆弄着他的相机。
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“I will not,” the young man said peevishly. A moment later he climbed down from the perch with an agility a trapeze performer would have admired, and stood fiddling with his camera.
“这是彭德利?泰德韦尔，马龙先生。” 莫娜?麦克莱恩说。“他是个摄影迷。”
“This is Pendley Tidewell, Mr. Malone,” Mona McClane said. “He’s a camera addict.”
“我还以为他只是喜欢高处呢。” 马龙温和地说。年轻人一声不吭。
“I thought maybe he just liked high altitudes,” Malone said mildly. The young man said nothing at all.
现在年轻人站在地上，在马龙看来他至少有十英尺高，而且非常瘦。他穿着随意，灯芯绒裤子，一件有污渍的棕色毛衣和运动鞋。一绺浓密的淡黄色头发垂在他瘦削、有雀斑的脸上。马龙猜他顶多刚成年，如果有的话。
To Malone he seemed at least ten feet tall, now that he was down on the ground level, and exceedingly thin. He was dressed informally in corduroy trousers, a stained tan sweater, and sneakers. A heavy lock of straw-colored hair fell over his bony, freckled face. Malone guessed that he was barely out of his teens, if that.
“就当我不存在。” 彭德利?泰德韦尔最后说。“就继续表现得好像我不存在一样。我想拍一些非常自然的照片。”
“Just pretend I’m not here,” Pendley Tidewell said at last. “Just go on acting as if I didn’t exist. I want to try for something very natural.”
莫娜?麦克莱恩向马龙挥挥手，示意他坐到一把椅子上。年轻人似乎消失了。
Mona McClane waved Malone to a chair. The young man seemed to disappear.
“很高兴再次见到你。” 莫娜?麦克莱恩说。“杰克和海伦分手了，真可惜。” 她的声音里带着恰到好处的同情和遗憾。
“It’s good to see you again,” Mona McClane said. “What a shame Jake and Helene have split.” There was just the right touch of sympathetic regret in her voice.
马龙咕哝了几句客气而又不置可否的话。
Malone murmured something polite and nonmittal.
她伸手拿了一支烟。“我真的觉得他们太般配了，不适合幸福地结婚。” 她说。在马龙还没琢磨出这句话的意思时，她又接着说，“不过，幸福的婚姻是很难得到的。我自己就非常幸运。我所有的婚姻都很幸福。”
She reached for a cigarette. “I really thought they were much too well suited to each other to be happily married,” she said. Before Malone had puzzled that out, she went on, “Still, a happy marriage is something very hard to attain. I’ve been extremely fortunate myself. All my marriages have been happy.”
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“杰克是 ——” 马龙刚开口。
“Jake is—” Malone began.
“别动。” 一个响亮的声音从他脚边传来。
“Don’t move,” said a loud voice right under his feet.
律师低头一看，只见六英尺高的彭德利?泰德韦尔正绕着他椅子旁边的小桌子扭来扭去。小小的相机对着他的眼睛，他的头几乎要碰到马龙的膝盖了。
The lawyer looked down and saw the six feet of Pendley Tidewell twisted around the small table by his chair. The tiny camera was held to his eye, and his head was almost on Malone’s knee.
马龙没动。他忍住了拍拍年轻人脑袋的冲动。过了一会儿，彭德利从茶几边松开身子站了起来。
Malone didn’t move. He resisted an impulse to pat the young man’s head. After a moment Pendley unwound himself from the end table and bounded to his feet.
“非常感谢，马龙先生。我以前从没给律师拍过照。” 他咧嘴笑了。“莫娜跟我讲过你的事。”
“Thanks awfully, Mr. Malone. I’ve never photographed a lawyer before.” He grinned. “Mona’s told me about you.”
马龙放松下来，擦了擦额头。“我不知道律师这么难抓拍。”
Malone relaxed and mopped his brow. “I didn’t know lawyers were so hard to snap.”
彭德利?泰德韦尔笑得更灿烂了。“没迈克尔?文宁那么难拍。他对相机有恐惧症。有一天晚上他在浴室里追着我跑，恨不得拧断我的脖子。”
Pendley Tidewell’s grin widened. “Not as hard as Michael Venning is. He’s got a phobia about cameras. Chased me out of his bathroom the other night all ready to break my neck.”
“也许他更喜欢一个人洗澡。” 莫娜提议道。
“Maybe he’d rather bathe alone,” Mona suggested.
“他很守旧。” 年轻人承认道。“而且他确实讨厌相机。莫娜，你不记得了吗，他们在旧金山靠岸的时候，他把一个船讯摄影师的相机给砸了？这就是为什么我那么急于给他拍张照片，从来没人拍到过。” 他看起来几乎是虔诚的。“也许我甚至能把照片卖给报纸。”
“He is reactionary,” the young man admitted. “And he does hate cameras. Don’t you remember, Mona, he smashed the camera of a ship news photographer when they docked in San Francisco? That’s why I’m so anxious to get a picture of him, no one ever has.” He looked almost reverent. “Maybe I could even sell it to the newspapers.”
“我想看看你的一些照片。” 马龙说，尽量让自己听起来像是真心想看。
“I’d like to see some of your pictures,” Malone said, trying to sound as if he really meant it.
彭德利?泰德韦尔的脸垮了下来。“我还没拍出好的照片呢。不过也许这些会拍得不错。我现在就上楼去冲洗照片。” 他又朝马龙咧嘴笑了笑。“莫娜在楼上给我弄了个暗房。有空来看看。”
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Pendley Tidewell’s face fell. “I haven’t made any good ones yet. But maybe these will turn out well. I’m going upstairs and develop them right away.” He grinned at Malone again. “Mona’s made me a darkroom upstairs. Come and see it sometime.”
他跑上楼后，房间似乎显得更大了，也安静了许多许多。
The room seemed much larger and far, far quieter after he had raced up the stairs.
“他真是个好孩子。” 莫娜说。
“He’s really a nice boy,” Mona said.
“可能有颗金子般的心。” 马龙表示赞同。
“Probably a heart of gold,” Malone agreed.
“他是伊迪莎?文宁的侄子。” 她告诉他，“一个孤儿，身无分文。文宁夫妇供他上学。我想他一定很高兴迈克尔?文宁后天就五十岁了，虽然他看起来对钱一点都不在乎，只在乎他的相机。”
“He’s Editha Venning’s nephew,” she told him, “an orphan, and penniless. The Vennings educated him. I imagine he feels greatly relieved that Michael Venning’s going to be fifty day after tomorrow, though he doesn’t seem to care anything about money, only about his camera.”
马龙还没弄明白她的意思，大厅里就传来一阵轻微的骚动，两个人从前门走了进来。其中一个人，一个穿着难看但昂贵的黄绿格子大衣的男人，走进房间向莫娜?麦克莱恩问好。他手里拿着一顶深绿色的软边帽子，帽沿上装饰着一根俏皮的羽毛。
Before Malone could figure out what she meant, there was a mild motion in the hall as two people came in the front door. One of them, a man in an ugly, but expensive yellow and green plaid overcoat, came into the room to greet Mona McClane. In his hand he carried a dark-green slouch brim trimmed with a jaunty feather.
“伊迪莎的外套被雨给毁了。”
“Editha’s ruined her coat in the rain.”
他回到大厅。马龙听到有人在脱外套和套鞋的声音。男人回来了，没穿外套，还带着一个女人。莫娜?麦克莱恩介绍他们是迈克尔?文宁先生和夫人，然后开始调兑苏格兰威士忌和苏打水。
He went back into the hall. Malone caught the sound of wraps and overshoes being shed. The man returned, without the overcoat, a woman with him. Mona McClane introduced them as Mr. and Mrs. Michael Venning, and began mixing Scotch and sodas.