马龙探案卷四 之 正确的凶案 二十四
“我在医生的办公室里。”杰克说，“我不在医生的办公室里。”他自己的声音把他吵醒了。他很高兴地确定自己在自己的房间和自己的床上，这让他感到安心。这是一个非常糟糕的梦。
“I am in a doctor’s office,” Jake said. “I am not in a doctor’s office.” The sound of his own voice wakened him. He was pleasantly reassured to find that he was in his own room and his own bed. It had been a very bad dream.
他环顾了一下房间，只是为了确认一下。
He looked around the room, just to make sure.
在拜访了利奥纳多·亨尼西医生之后，海伦和罗斯·麦克劳林被送回了莫娜·麦克莱恩家。要从这个年轻人不断忘记又不断想起来的事情中挖掘出真相，似乎是不可能的了。此外，他长时间的失踪可能会引起令人尴尬的问题。
After the visit to Dr. Leonardo Hennessey, Helene and Ross McLaurin had been delivered back to Mona McClane’s. The task of digging out what the young man continued to forget to remember seemed hopeless. In addition, his prolonged disappearance was likely to cause embarrassing questions.
海伦仍然坚持要留在莫娜·麦克莱恩家。稍微想了一下，杰克就能明白这其中的道理，但他还是不喜欢这样。在这里，他们之间的所有分歧都消失了，但到目前为止，他最多也只是在一辆拥挤的出租车里亲了她一下。
Helene had still insisted on remaining at Mona McClane’s. On a little reflection Jake could see the wisdom of it, but he still didn’t like it. Here all the differences between them were made up, and so far he hadn’t managed anything more than a kiss in a taxicab, and a crowded taxicab at that.
他正为此事苦恼的时候，电话响了。是海伦打来的。
He was brooding over this when the telephone rang. It was Helene.
“你应该在床上睡觉。”他对着电话咆哮道。
“You ought to be asleep in bed,” he growled into the phone.
“我醒了，在大厅里。现在是早上十点。”
“I’m awake and down in the lobby. It’s ten o’clock in the morning.”
“上来吧。”
“Come on up.”
“我不想让你为难。记住，我们分开了。而且，没时间了。莫娜……”
“I don’t want to promise you. Remember, we’re separated. Besides, there isn’t time. Mona—”
“莫娜不行。我喜欢金发女郎。”
“Mona won’t do. I like blondes.”
“杰克，你疯了吗？”
“Jake, have you lost your mind?”
“如果我疯了，那我是把理智留在亨尼西医生那儿了。你要上来吗？”
“If I have, I left it at Dr. Hennessey’s. Are you ing up here?”
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“不。”
“No.”
他对着电话叹了口气。“那在咖啡店等我。我马上下来。”
He sighed into the telephone. “Then wait for me in the coffee shop. I’ll be right down.”
他还没等把听筒放回原处，就已经穿上了一只袜子。
He had one sock on by the time the receiver had settled on the hook.
海伦正忧郁地盯着一杯咖啡。“我见过有人为了离开着火的大楼而花更长时间穿衣服。”
Helene was staring moodily into a cup of coffee. “I’ve seen people take longer dressing to leave a burning building.”
“你听起来好像有紧急情况。而且，我急着想再见到你。”他向女服务员招手要再来点咖啡。“我急着赢下那个赌注，这样我们就不用再继续这种分居的状态了。海伦，你不想上去看看那套公寓吗，看看你是否还喜欢它？”
“You sounded as if it was an emergency. Besides, I was in a hurry to see you again.” He waved to the waitress to bring more coffee. “I’m in a hurry to win that bet, so we won’t have to keep up this separation stuff. Helene, wouldn't you like to drop up and just take a look at the apartment, to see if you still like it?”
“我记得它的样子。”她坚定地说，“而且没时间再梳一次头发了。有事情发生了。莫娜·麦克莱恩和冯·弗拉纳根。”
“I remember how it looks,” she said firmly, “and there isn't time to get my hair bed again. Things are happening. Mona McClane and von Flanagan.”
“很有趣的组合。他们私奔了、互相开枪了，还是怎么了？”
“An interesting bination. Have they eloped, shot each other, or what?”
“他在质问她。马龙打电话告诉我的。他要在那儿和她碰面，还建议我们也过去。”
“He's putting her on the pan. Malone phoned me. He's meeting her there, and he suggested we e along.”
“他还挺热心，但为什么呢？”
“Cordial of him, but why?”
她耸了耸肩。“问马龙。他说之后有东西要给我们看。我不知道为什么冯·弗拉纳根要找上莫娜，除非他发现那两个图伊兹是莫娜认识的人，而她一直在瞒着他。”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Ask Malone. He said there was something he wanted to show us, afterward. I don't know why von Flanagan's picking Mona unless he found out the Tuesdays were people Mona knew and she'd been holding out on him.”
“有可能是这样。”杰克说。“我们过去看看吧。”
“That might be it,” Jake said. “Let's go over and find out.”
他们发现冯·弗拉纳根心情很不好。他们到达的时候，他正怒视着桌上的一堆文件。现在他转而怒视着他们。没有莫娜·麦克莱恩的踪影。
They found von Flanagan in very bad humor. He had been glaring at a collection of papers on his desk when they arrived. Now he glared at them instead. There was no sign of Mona McClane.
小主，
“人们犯下谋杀罪，给我带来很多麻烦，这已经够糟糕的了。”他沮丧地说，“但当他们还在这件事上对我撒谎的时候，我就生气了。”
“It’s bad enough when people mit murders and cause me a lot of trouble,” he said gloomily. “But then when they lie to me about it, I get sore.”
“我不怪你。”海伦和蔼地说，“现在是谁在对你撒谎呢？”
“I don’t blame you,” Helene said amiably. “Who’s been lying to you now?”
“我不确定，但我觉得每个人都有。”他皱着眉头，“一个干净利落的枪击或刺杀，我还能理解。人都是冲动的。这种事情肯定会发生。但这种事情让我很生气。”
“I’m not sure, but I think everybody has.” He scowled heavily. “A nice, clean, straightforward shooting or knifing, I can understand. People are impetuous. Those things are bound to happen. But this sort of thing makes me mad.”
“哪种事情？”杰克问。
“What sort of thing?” Jake asked.
“就是这种事情。”警察重复道，用力敲着桌子，“就像在停尸房里，那些人昨天都说不认识那个家伙，而至少麦克莱恩夫人肯定认识他。当警察已经够糟糕的了。但当人们故意这么做来给我找麻烦的时候……”他停顿了一下，看着海伦，“现在你明白我为什么想辞掉这份工作，在某个地方买一份小乡村报纸，然后安定下来了吧？”
“This sort of thing,” the police officer repeated, pounding on his desk. “Like none of those people saying they knew that guy yesterday over in the morgue, when Mrs. McClane at least must have known him. It’s bad enough to have to be a cop. But when people go and do these things just to make it tough for me—” He paused and looked at Helene. “Now do you see why I want to quit this job and buy a little country newspaper some place and settle down?”
“我一直都理解。”她同情地说，“你选好报纸了吗？”
“I’ve always understood,” she said sympathetically. “Have you picked out a paper yet?”
他感激地对她笑了笑。“我看中了几家。有一家在爱荷华州的一个小镇上，人口一千二。报纸的名字是《企业报》。那个名字有点吸引我。”他深吸一口气，引用了一段对这家报纸在当地的地位和潜在利润的热情描述。
He smiled at her gratefully. “I’ve got my eye on a couple. One’s in a little town in Iowa, population twelve hundred Name of the paper’s The Enterprise. Something about that name appeals to me.” He drew a long breath and quoted a glowing description of the newspaper’s standing in the munity and its potential profits.
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杰克哼了一声。“如果这是家这么好的报纸，为什么老板要卖掉它呢？”
Jake grunted. “If it’s such a swell newspaper, why does the owner want to sell it?”
“他从商界退休去当警察局长。”冯·弗拉纳根告诉他。
“He’s retiring from business to bee chief of police,” von Flanagan told him.
“嗯。”海伦缓过气来说，“这是诗意的正义。”
“Well,” Helene said, when she’d caught her breath, “poetic justice.”
“任何想当警察的人都是疯子，所以这个人可能还真有点诗意。” 冯?弗拉纳根说。
“Anyone who wants to be a policeman,” von Flanagan said, “is nuts, so probably this guy is poetic at that.”
马龙到了，他的眼睛因为睡眠不足而又红又肿。“麦克莱恩夫人马上就到。你刚才说谁是疯子？”他开始脱大衣。
Malone arrived, his eyes pink and swollen from lack of sleep. “Mrs. McClane will be here in a minute. Who were you just saying was nuts?” He began shedding his overcoat.
“任何想当警察的人。”冯·弗拉纳根重复道。他不满地看着马龙。“现在说说这个在新年前夜被杀的家伙。如果他注定要被杀，为什么他身上没有护照、驾照，甚至连张名片都没有呢？没有。什么都没有。所以我得费好大劲去查他是谁。等我查出来了，然后呢？更多麻烦。”
“Anyone who wants to be a policeman,” von Flanagan repeated. He looked plainingly at Malone. “Now you take this guy who was killed New Year’s Eve. If he was gonna be killed, why couldn’t he have had his passport on him, or a driver’s license, or even a calling card? No. Not a damn thing. So I have to go to all the trouble of finding out who he was. When I do find out, then what? More trouble.”
马龙平淡地说：“人生来就是要成为向上飞去、半路迎接麻烦的火花。”
Malone observed platitudinously, “Man is born to be the spark that flies upward to meet trouble half-way.”
他还没来得及补充更多细节，莫娜·麦克莱恩就到了。她在门口站了一会儿，身影映衬在门框中，环顾着房间。就连丹尼尔·冯·弗拉纳根似乎也觉得她不属于这里，他坐在那里，钦佩地看着她。他在想，如果冯·弗拉纳根夫人看到那件外套，她肯定会对去年的貂皮大衣极度不满。
Before he could add any more details, Mona McClane arrived. She stood for just a moment framed in the doorway, looking around the room. Even Daniel von Flanagan seemed to feel that she didn’t belong there, as he sat looking at her admiringly. He was reflecting that if Mrs. von Flanagan ever got a look at that coat, she was going to bee violently dissatisfied with last year’s mink.
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他原本准备了一番愤怒、愤慨，甚至可能是亵渎的长篇大论，主题是那些向警方隐瞒重要信息的人。现在他站起身来，显得彬彬有礼又有些尴尬，说道：“你能来真是太好了，麦克莱恩夫人。”他的语气通常是留给市长办公室来访客人的。
He had been saving up a furious, indignant, and possibly profane tirade on the subject of people who withheld important information from the police. Now he rose, looked polite and embarrassed; and said, “It’s very good of you to e here, Mrs. McClane,” in a tone he usually reserved for visitors from the mayor’s office.
她对他微笑。“我很高兴来这儿。”她听起来像是真心这么说的。
She smiled at him. “I was delighted to e.” She sounded as though she really meant it.
冯·弗拉纳根在办公桌后坐下，开始恢复常态。
Von Flanagan sat down at his desk and began to return to normal.
“麦克莱恩夫人，昨天我带你去停尸房看的那个年轻人是谁？”
“Mrs. McClane, who was that young man I took you to see over in the morgue yesterday?”
她那双形状奇特的浅绿色眼睛睁得大大的。“我一点都不知道。我告诉过你，我这辈子从没见过他。”
Her odd-shaped, greenish eyes widened. “I haven’t the faintest idea. I told you, I never saw him before in my life.”
冯·弗拉纳根不赞同地摇了摇头。“现在，夫人，你坚持那样说对你自己和别人都没有好处。我不是在暗示我不相信你，你明白，但这次我希望你告诉我真相。”
Von Flanagan shook his head reprovingly. “Now, ma’am, you aren’t helping yourself or anybody else by sticking to that. I’m not insinuating I don’t believe you, y’understand, but this time I want you to tell me the truth.”
“但这就是事实。我真的从没见过他。”