“Not now you aren’t,” Helene said. “You’re out with a man who was killed later that night, looking for a lawyer named Malone.”
“是啊。”罗斯·麦克劳林说，“我们去了某个酒吧。在那里喝了几杯，他向酒保打听一个人。我想他叫马龙。”
“So I was,” Ross McLaurin said. “We went to some bar. Had a couple of drinks there while he asked the bartender for some man. Malone, I think his name was.”
“那就是我。”马龙说。没人听到他说话。
“That’s me,” Malone said. No one heard him.
“我又停下来喝了一杯，这个家伙——我不知道他是谁——没等我就走了。这让我很生气。他走了把我丢下，而我只是想帮他找一个人——想不起来他叫什么了。”
“I stopped for one more drink and this chap—don’t know who he was—went on without me. That made me mad. He’d gone off and left me, and I was only trying to help him find some chap—can’t think of his name.”
“马龙。”律师说。
“Malone,” the lawyer said.
“对，马龙。不寻常的名字。不管怎么说，我很生气。所以我就出去找他。看到他走进街那头的一个酒吧。在那里追上了他，我对他说，‘听着，我认识一个叫马龙的律师。很乐意帮你找到他。’他根本不理我。表现得好像他觉得我喝多了，不知道自己在干什么。就那么走了，把我丢在那里。我很生气。所以我喝完酒就去追他。我只是想帮忙，可这家伙对我一点都不礼貌。”
“That’s it, Malone. Unusual name. Anyway, I was mad. So I went out after him. Saw him going in barroom up the street. Caught up with him there and I said to him, ‘Look here, I know a lawyer named Malone. Be glad to help you find him,’ He didn’t pay any attention to me. Acted as though he thought I’d been drinking and didn’t know what I was doing. Just walked off and left me there. I was mad. So I finished my drink and went after him. Only wanted to help, and chap wasn’t even civil to me.”
“真想不到。”海伦同情地说。她把鸡骨头扔向废纸篓。“那你怎么办了？”
“Imagine that,” Helene said sympathetically. She threw the chicken bone at the wastebasket. “So what did you do?”
“我一直跟着他。去了不同的地方。还在找这个马龙。我想那个时候他应该已经厌倦了。不记得他去了哪些地方。也不记得花了多长时间。”突然他停了下来，呼吸半窒。“还有别的事情。”有那么一瞬间，他看起来完全清醒了。“但我想不起来是什么。很可怕的事情。我想不起来了。一切都混在一起了。我记得跟着一个人去了很多不同的地方，因为他在找一个叫马龙的人，而我听说过一个叫马龙的人，进进出出那些地方，还有街上的雪，还有一些很可怕的事情，但我想不起来是什么，就这些。一切都混在一起了，我也不记得什么时候发生了什么。”他深深地吸了口气，浑身颤抖，把脸埋在双手里，说了些听起来像“妈妈！”的话。过了一会儿，他又抬起头来。“我想不起来了。”
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“I kept after him. Went different places. Still looking for this Malone. Think he’d have been tired of it by that time. Can’t remember what places he went. Can’t remember how long it took.” Suddenly he paused breath half indrawn. “There’s something else too.” For another brief moment, he seemed entirely sober. “But I can’t think what it was. Something ghastly. I can’t remember it. Everything gets mixed up. I remember following some man to a lot of different places because he was looking for someone named Malone, and I’d heard of someone named Malone, and going in and out of places and the snow out on the street and something that was terrible but I can’t think what it was, and that’s all. And it’s all mixed up and I can’t remember what happened when.” He drew a long, shuddering breath, buried his face in his hands, and said something that sounded like “Mamma!” After a while he looked up again. “I can’t remember.”
“别想了。”杰克轻声说。
“Don’t try,” Jake said quietly.
沉默了很久之后，海伦温柔地说：“你需要的，罗斯，是一杯酒。”
After a very long silence, Helene said gently, “What you need, Ross, is a drink.”
他感激地看着她。“没错。也许我们最好出去找一杯。”
He looked at her gratefully. “That’s right. Maybe we’d better go out and get one.”
海伦看了看梳妆台上的一排瓶子，说：“也许我们最好就呆在这儿。”她拿起那瓶老乌鸦威士忌递给他。“罗斯，杰拉尔德·图伊兹被杀那天发生了什么？”
Helene glanced at the array of bottles on the bureau and said, “Maybe we’d better stay right here.” She picked up the bottle of Old Crow and handed it to him. “Ross, what happened the day Gerald Tuesday was murdered?”
他的眼睛亮了起来。“我记得。那不是很久以前的事。有个叫图伊兹的人。还有一些关于一个叫马龙的人的事情。”
A light came into his eyes. “I remember. That wasn’t very long ago. There was this man Tuesday. And something about some man named Malone.”
“那就是我。”小律师无力地说。
“That’s me,” the little lawyer said feebly.
年轻人转向海伦。“真有趣，有这么多人叫马龙。”
The young man turned to Helene. “Funny how many men there are named Malone.”
小主，
“这可不仅仅是有趣。”海伦严肃地说。“图伊兹先生在找一个叫马龙的人吗？”
“Funny is no word for it,” Helene said grimly. “Was Mr. Tuesday looking for a Malone?”
“对。我一个人在房间里。喝了一点酒。孤零零的，甚至没人关心我在哪里。有人敲我的门。一个男人走了进来。说他叫杰拉尔德·图伊兹。在找电话簿。他说，‘很抱歉打扰你，老兄，我在找一本电话簿。’”罗斯·麦克劳林停顿了一下，渴望地说，“哪里能找到最好的酒？”
“That’s it. I was all alone in my room. Been drinking a little. All alone, nobody even cared where I was. Somebody knocked on my door. Man came in. Said his name was Gerald Tuesday. Looking for telephone book. He said, ‘I’m sorry to trouble you, old man, but I’m looking for a telephone book.’” Ross McLaurin paused and said wistfully, “Where’s the best place to get a drink?”
“就在这儿。”杰克赶紧说，又把瓶子递给他。“你有电话簿吗？”
“Right here,” Jake said hastily, handing him the bottle again. “Did you have a telephone book?”
他点点头。“我当然有电话簿。怎么，你想要一本吗？不？嗯，这个人想要。我拿起电话簿说，‘你要找什么名字？很乐意帮你查一下。’他的表现就好像他觉得我喝醉了。这让我很生气。我说，‘你不认为我能在电话簿里找到一个名字吗？’他说他在找一个叫马龙的人。我说，‘真有趣，我认识一个叫马龙的人……’”
He nodded. “Sure I had a telephone book. Why, you want one? No? Well, this man did. I picked it up and said, ‘What name d’ya want? Be glad to look it up for you’ He acted as though he thought I was drunk. That made me mad. I said, ‘Don’t you think I can find a name in the telephone book?’ He said he was looking for a man named Malone. I said, ‘That’s funny, I know of a man named Malone—’”
海伦坚定地用一只手捂住马龙的嘴，说：“你帮他找到那个名字了吗？”
Helene put a hand firmly over Malone’s mouth and said, “Did you find the name for him?”
罗斯·麦克劳林用力地摇摇头。“他自己查了。说了声谢谢就走了。然后我坐下来喝了一杯，我开始思考。这个男人在找一个叫马龙的人。现在，很巧的是，在除夕夜我遇到了另一个也在找某个叫马龙的人。我跟你们说过这件事吗？”
Ross McLaurin shook his head vigorously. “He looked it up himself. Said thanks and went away. Then I sat down and had a drink and I got to thinking. Here this man was looking for a Malone. Now by a funny kind of coincidence on New Year’s Eve I’d met another man looking for some Malone. Did I tell you about that?”
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杰克和海伦异口同声地点点头。“你说过。”海伦严肃地说。
Jake and Helene nodded in unison. “You did,” Helene said grimly.
“没错，我想我是说过。嗯，不管怎么说，我开始思考这件事，然后得出结论，我最好把这件事告诉这个杰拉尔德·图伊兹。我不