马龙探案卷四 之 正确的凶案 十四
“我真的非常抱歉，杰克。” 布莱克县治安官安迪?阿赫恩说道，“如果我当时在这儿，这种事就不会发生了。很抱歉你被关进了监狱。但是乔很冲动。他当副警长才几个月，而且他热爱自己的工作。”
“I’m sorry as hell, Jake,” Andy Ahearn, sheriff of Blake County, was saying. “It’d never have happened if I’d been here myself. I’m sorry you got thrown in the jail. But Joe’s impetuous. He’s only been a deputy for a coupla months, and he loves his work.”
杰克说：“好吧，也许我不该打他鼻子。但他让我很恼火。他说我要么是喝醉了，要么是疯了，然后我就发脾气了。行为不检点，这个讨厌的家伙！他把我扔进你的该死的监狱，我应该再揍他一顿。”
Jake said, “Well, maybe I oughtn’t to have busted him one in the nose. But he made me sore. He said I was either drunk or bats, and I lost my temper. Disorderly conduct, the dirty bum! I ought to bust him again for throwing me in your damn jail.”
“乔是个非常紧张的人。” 安迪?阿赫恩说。
“Joe’s an awful nervous fellow,” Andy Ahearn said.
“此外。” 杰克?贾斯特痛苦地补充道，“我和狱卒玩皮诺奇牌输了两美元。”
“Besides,” Jake Justus added bitterly, “I lost two bucks playing pinochle with the jailer.”
“他是个很棒的皮诺奇牌玩家。” 安迪说。他又补充道，好像是在提供补偿，“喝一杯吗？”
“He’s a good pinochle player,” Andy said. He added, as though offering reparations, “Have a drink?”
“当然。” 杰克说，希望安迪?阿赫恩的杜松子酒自他上次来后质量有所提高。但并没有。
“Sure,” Jake said, hoping the quality of Andy Ahearn’s gin had improved since his last visit. It hadn’t.
“我真的对此很抱歉，杰克。” 治安官又说了一遍，“乔也很抱歉。如果我当时在这儿……”
“I really am sorry about this, Jake,” the sheriff said again. “Joe, he’s sorry too. If I’d been here myself—”
“当然，我们都很抱歉。” 杰克说，“你抱歉，他抱歉，我也抱歉，只有狱卒高兴，他赢了两美元。忘了它吧。这是个很棒的监狱。现在坦白这里发生的这起谋杀案，我们就两清了。”
“Sure, we’re all sorry,” Jake said. “You’re sorry, he’s sorry, I’m sorry, nobody’s happy but the jailer, he won two bucks. Forget it. It’s a swell jail. Now e clean about this murder you’ve had out here and we’ll call it square.”
阿赫恩盯着他，“天啊，杰克，也许你真的疯了。”
Ahearn stared at him. “Jeez, Jake, maybe you are nuts.”
“得了，安迪，我过去帮过你忙。而且，我现在不为任何报纸工作了。我得到一个可靠的消息，说你们这里发生了一起没有见报的凶杀案。”
小主，
“Come on, Andy, I’ve done favors for you in the past. Besides, I’m not working for any newspaper now. I got a reliable tip you’d had a homicide out here that wasn’t breaking into print.”
“你从哪里得到的消息？”
“Where did you get the tip?”
“一个我认识的人。” 杰克犹豫了一下，然后摇了摇头。没必要把马龙牵扯进来。“一个不重要的人。”
“Fellow I know.” Jake hesitated, then shook his head. No use dragging Malone into this. “No one important.”
“好吧，” 阿赫恩说，“如果你不想说，就不用说。但是我们这里唯一的一起谋杀案是三个月前，一个暴徒在酒馆斗殴中脑袋被打破了。”
“All right,” Ahearn said, “you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. But the only murder we’ve had out here was three months ago when some goon got his dome split in a tavern brawl.”
“这是千真万确的吗？” 杰克问道。
“Is that the honest-to-God?” Jake demanded.
“你觉得我会对你说谎吗？” 安迪?阿赫恩用受伤的声音问道。他又补充道，“见鬼，这里一直很平静，伙计们为了保持状态都在互相逮捕。” 他给来访者的杯子里倒了一大杯杜松子酒。
“You don’t think I’d lie to you?” Andy Ahearn asked in a hurt voice. He added, “Hell, things have been so quiet out here the boys have been arresting each other just to keep in practice.” He poured a generous slug of gin into his visitor’s glass.
“谢谢。” 杰克说。
“Thanks,” Jake said.
安迪?阿赫恩接着说，“如果你不相信，可以查看这里的每一份记录。”
Andy Ahearn went on, “If you don’t believe it, you can look through every record in the place.”
杰克摇了摇头，“我相信你的话。只是有人给了我一个糟糕的线索，仅此而已。”
Jake shook his head. “I’ll take your word for it. Somebody gave me a lousy steer, that’s all.”
“太糟糕了。” 治安官同情地说。
“Too bad,” the sheriff said sympathetically.
他们花了几分钟回忆往事，然后杰克起身要走。
They spent a few minutes in reminiscent talk, and Jake rose to go.
“嘿，” 安迪?阿赫恩说，“我听说你娶了那个来自枫树公园的金发女孩 —— 布兰德小姐。恭喜啊。”
“Say,” Andy Ahearn said. “I hear you married that blonde girl from Maple Park—Miss Brand. Congrats.”
“现在都结束了，” 杰克说，“我们分手了。” 他想知道还要多少年他才能平静地说出这句话并且是真心这么认为。
“That’s all over now,” Jake said. “We split up.” He wondered how many years it would be before he’d be able to say it calmly and mean it that way.
小主，
“所以呢？” 安迪?阿赫恩说。他停顿了一下。“你没告诉我啊。” 他又停顿了一下。“嗯，这就是我对婚姻一直以来的看法。今天在，明天就没了。”
“So?” Andy Ahearn said. He paused. “You don’t tell me.” He paused again. “Well, that’s what I always say about marriage. Here today and gone tomorrow.”
在法院外面，杰克停下来四处看看。他考虑给马龙打电话骂他几句，然后又决定等当面骂得更痛快些更好。
Outside the courthouse, Jake paused and looked around. He considered telephoning Malone and calling him a few names, and then decided it would be far more satisfactory to wait and do it more fully in person.
安迪?阿赫恩可能在对他说谎。而且如果他在掩盖真相，记录里也不会有任何显示。他太轻易就愿意出示那些记录了，这很可疑。杰克决定既然他已经在这儿了，四处打探一下也没什么坏处。麦克莱恩的庄园就在几英里外的枫树公园。他不知道在那儿能找到什么，但快速看一眼也没什么坏处。
Andy Ahearn could have been lying to him. And if he were covering up, the records wouldn’t show anything. He’d been suspiciously willing to show those records. Jake decided that since he was already out here, there was no harm in nosing around a little. The McClane estate was only a few miles away, in Maple Park. He didn’t know what might be found there, but it couldn’t hurt to take a quick look.
他叫了一辆当地的出租车，告诉司机在麦克莱恩家附近让他下车。然后他往后一靠，试图决定到了那儿该做什么。他不仅不知道自己期望找到什么，甚至不知道该去哪儿找。
He hailed one of the local taxis and told the driver to leave him near the McClane place. Then he leaned back and tried to decide what to do when he got there. He not only didn’t know what he expected to find, he didn’t even know where to look for it.
也许有打斗的迹象？上面还覆盖着两英尺厚的雪呢！或者有具尸体，就那么随便地扔在那儿。他提醒自己，这样的谋杀无论如何都不符合莫娜打赌的条件。在一两平方英里的雪地里跋涉，寻找莫娜?麦克莱恩谋杀的人是没有意义的。那甚至可能不是一个男人。可能是个女人。可能是连体双胞胎。他想知道如果海伦在这儿她会怎么做。
Signs of a struggle, perhaps? With two feet of snow on top! Or a body, just carelessly left around. He reminded himself that such a murder wouldn’t conform to the terms of Mona’s bet anyway. No sense in tramping all over a square mile or two of snow, looking for the guy Mona McClane had murdered. It might not even be a guy. Might be a gal. Might be the Siamese twins. He wondered what Helene would do if she were here.
小主，
他知道，海伦很可能会坚持拿着放大镜把这个地方的每一寸都检查一遍。
Helene, he knew, would probably insist on going over every square inch of the place with a magnifying glass.
麦克莱恩庄园临街的两面被高高的铁栅栏围着。杰克沿着栅栏走，最后来到一扇小边门，门没锁，尽管房子因为冬天而关闭着。
The two sides of the McClane estate that bordered on the street were bounded by a high grillwork fence. Jake walked along it until at last he came to a small service gate that was unlocked, in spite of the fact that the house was closed up for the winter.
他走了进去，随手关上了门，站在那儿不知道先去哪儿。在他前面，一片广阔耀眼的未被破坏的白色一直延伸到一个小山坡上，房子就坐落在那里，是一座巨大的灰色石屋，被飘落的雪柔和了许多。周围的树光秃秃的没有叶子；这儿那儿一堆变色的雪表明了灌木丛和矮树丛的位置。
He went in, closing the gate behind him, and stood wondering where to go first. Ahead of him, a wide, dazzling expanse of unbroken white swept up to a little rise in the ground, where the house stood, a massive, gray-stone affair, pleasantly softened by the drifted snow. The trees around it were bare and leafless; here and there heaps of discolored snow indicated the location of shrubs and bushes.
据他判断，这里已经好几周没人来过了。一条狭窄的小路在雪地里隐约可见，沿着铁栅栏延伸，他顺着小路走，寻找任何可能表明最近有人来过的迹象。但什么也没有。小路最后穿过一小片树林，杰克发现自己面对着一堵高高的石墙，这堵墙把麦克莱恩的庄园和紧邻其南面的庄园隔开。
As far as he could tell, no one had been here for weeks. A narrow path, showing faintly through the snow, led along the side of the iron fence, and he followed it, looking for any indication he might find of some recent visitor. There was none. The path finally passed through a little clump of trees, and Jake found himself confronted with a high stone wall that separated the McClane estate from the one immediately south of it.
杰克记起来了，那应该是文宁家的地方。他沿着墙边走，直到来到一扇嵌在石头里的小铁门处。门没锁。他犹豫了一下，然后推开门，出于一种突然而又无法解释的冲动，走进了文宁家的院子。他记得文宁一家当时和莫娜?麦克莱恩一起呆在城里，而且在那两起谋杀案发生时 —— 不只是他知道的那两起，还有他想查清楚的那一起 —— 他们都是那家人中的成员。
That would be the Venning place, Jake remembered. He followed the path along the wall until he reached a small iron gate set in the stone. It was unlatched. He hesitated a moment, then pushed it open and entered the Venning grounds, on a sudden, unexplainable impulse. He remembered that the Vennings were staying in town with Mona McClane and had been members of the household at the time of the murders—not only the two murders he knew about, but the one he wanted to find out about.
小主，
在文宁家的院子中央有一座巨大的木屋。杰克好奇地看着它，心想这房子是不是建在这儿是为了吓唬建筑师。它实在是太丑了，让人没法觉得好笑；它有种阴森、沉闷的恐怖感。在它正前方是一片他猜夏天可能是个有图案的花园的地方，现在是雪地里的一系列隆起和凹陷。
In the center of the Venning grounds was an immense, wooden house. Jake looked at it curiously and wondered if it might have been put there to frighten architects. It was almost too ugly to be pleasantly funny; it had a kind of sinister, gloomy horror. Immediately before it was what he guessed might be a patterned garden in summer, now a series of bulges and depressions in the snow.
他又看了看那座房子，心想难怪文宁二十年来都没回来过。
He looked again at the house and reflected that it was no wonder Venning had stayed away for twenty years.
他穿过草坪，一边无力地咒骂着钻进裤腿的雪，一边绕着房子走。房子后面，紫杉树篱中的一个拱门通向另一片宽阔的草坪，这似乎是枫树公园风景的特色。他穿过草坪走了几步，突然停了下来。
He walked across the lawn, swearing impotently at the snow that crept up under his trouser leg, and skirted the house. Behind it, an archway in a yew hedge led into another of the broad lawns that seemed to characterize the Maple Park landscape. He took a few steps across it and stopped suddenly.
有一个女人，身材高挑，穿着黑色衣服，站在草坪边缘的一片树林前。他盯着她看了一会儿，怀疑她是真实的，还是安迪?阿赫恩的杜松子酒产生的幻觉。她身后没有叶子的树黑乎乎的，影影绰绰，而她面前的雪则是一片完整而耀眼的白色。
There was a woman, tall, and dressed in black, standing just before a grove of trees that ran along one edge of the lawn. He stared at her for a moment, wondering if she were real, or something cooked up by Andy Ahearn’s gin. The leafless trees behind her were dark and shadowy, before her the snow was an unbroken, dazzling white.
突然，他意识到这昏暗的天气和低低地悬在头顶的厚重云层。
Suddenly he became conscious of the murky gloom of the day and the heavy clouds that hung low overhead.