马龙探案卷四 之 正确的凶案 二十八
北岸的火车上几乎空无一人。几个晚归的通勤者在座位上睡觉，或者漫不经心地瞥一眼明天的《论坛报》。杰克摸着他们在一家通宵药店买的袖珍手电筒，不知道这次会不会是白跑一趟。
The North Shore train was almost deserted. A few late muters slept in their seats, or glanced uninterestedly at tomorrow’s Tribune. Jake fingered the pocket flashlight they had picked up at an all-night drugstore and wondered if this would turn out to be a wild-goose chase.
“也许，”他在经过埃文斯顿的时候说，“我们走错方向了。也许我们应该回到莫娜·麦克莱恩家，从那里追踪那个女人。”
“Perhaps,” he said as he passed through Evanston, “we’re going the wrong way. Perhaps we ought to go back to Mona McClane’s and pick up the dame’s trail there.”
“该死，才不是呢。”马龙咆哮道，“我买了去枫树公园的往返票，我要让这钱花得值。”他皱着眉头。“我想知道路易·怀特在为谁工作。”
“Hell no,” Malone growled. “I’ve bought a round-trip ticket to Maple Park, and I’m going to get my money’s worth.” He scowled. “I wonder who Lou White was working for.”
“莫娜·麦克莱恩、迈克尔·文宁或者彭德利·泰德韦尔。”海伦立刻说道。
“Mona McClane, Michael Venning, or Pendley Tidewell.” Helene said promptly.
律师嘟囔着。“或者杰拉尔德·图伊兹或者杰拉尔德·图伊兹。”
The lawyer grunted. “Or Gerald Tuesday or Gerald Tuesday.”
离文宁和麦克莱恩庄园最近的枫树公园车站的站台荒凉而空寂。现在天空晴朗，繁星闪烁，但偶尔仍有阵阵松散的雪花吹过脏兮兮的站台木板，给晚上早些时候清理过的人行道铺上一层白色。
The platform at the Maple Park station nearest the Venning and McClane estates was desolate and deserted. The sky was clear and brilliant with stars now, but occasional flurries of loose snow still blew across the dingy boards of the platform and whitened the walks that had been cleared earlier in the evening.
现在已经过了午夜，枫树公园像一座鬼城。马龙满怀希望地四处张望想找一辆出租车，但一辆也没看到。街道上空无一人，人行道上也是如此。只有几盏灯在这儿那儿的房子里亮着，透过树影隐约可见。
It was well past midnight, and Maple Park was like a ghost town. Malone looked hopefully around for a taxi and saw none. The streets were empty, as were the sidewalks. Only a few lights burned here and there in houses seen dimly through the trees.
杰克看了看表。“大约五分钟后就会有一趟开往市中心的火车经过。”他渴望地说道。
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Jake looked at his watch. “There’ll be a Loop-bound train along in about five minutes,” he began wistfully.
海伦摇了摇头。“我们已经到这儿了，不能回去。”
Helene shook her head. “We’re out here and we’re not going to turn back.”
他们开始沿着一条蜿蜒的街道朝文宁庄园的方向走去。枫树公园的街道弯弯曲曲，没有明显的规律，这条街也不例外。他们走了两个街区后，马龙开始满怀期待地在他们经过的每个拐角处张望，心里有点纳闷什么时候会碰到从另一个方向走过来的自己。
They started walking up a winding street in the direction of the Venning estate. Streets in Maple Park turned, curved, straightened out, and turned again with no apparent rhyme or reason, and this one was no exception. By the time they had gone two blocks, Malone began looking expectantly around every corner they came to, half wondering when he was going to meet himself headed in the other direction.
“那是莫娜·麦克莱恩的家。”他们走到铁栅栏边时杰克说道。
“That’s Mona McClane’s,” Jake said, as they came to the iron fence.
“我们要从这儿进去吗？”
“Do we turn in here?”
“还不行。这该死的雪会把所有的痕迹都盖住，而且从这边我永远也找不到墙上的那个缺口。”
“Not yet. This damned snow will have covered any tracks there were, and I’d never find that opening in the wall from this side.”
他带路来到围着文宁庄园的高石墙边。那扇供服务人员出入的小门没锁，他推开门，为海伦和律师撑着门。
He led the way to the high stone wall that bordered the Venning estate. The small, service gateway was unlocked, and he pushed through it, holding it open for Helene and the lawyer.
在星光和飘落的雪花中，文宁家的房子看起来像一座姜饼屋，在天空的映衬下显得奇幻而不可思议。白色的痕迹附着在檐口和铁艺花边线条上，勾勒出这座巨大木建筑奇特的角度和圆顶。
The Venning house, in the starlight and the drifted snow, looked like a gingerbread house, fantastic and incredible, against the sky. Touches of white clung to cornices and lines of iron lacework and outlined the curious angles and cupolas of the huge wooden structure.
“它不在那儿。”马龙抱怨道，“它是画在一块布景上的。在我看来，画得也很糟糕。现在我们去哪儿？”
“It isn’t there,” Malone plained. “It’s painted on a piece of scenery. Painted damned badly, too, if you ask me. Now where do we go?”
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杰克领着他绕过那座老房子，穿过紫杉树篱中的拱门，在星光下，树篱现在呈现出一种深沉而神秘的蓝色。拱门那边，宽阔的草坪是一片令人吃惊的、几乎让人目眩的完整白色区域，平坦而结了一层硬壳。杰克打开手电筒，雪地上反射出的光就像照在粉状玻璃上一样。
Jake led him around the old house and through the archway in the yew hedge, now a deep, mysterious blue in the starlight. Beyond it, the wide lawn was a startling, almost blinding expanse of unbroken white, smooth and crusted over. Jake turned on the flashlight, and it reflected on the snow as though it shone on powdered glass.
“伊迪莎·文宁就站在那儿。”杰克说，“就在那边。”他用手电筒指着树的方向。
“There’s where Editha Venning stood,” Jake said, “right over there.” He pointed the flashlight in the direction of the trees.
马龙迅速看过去，半期待着看到某个模糊的、影子般的身影在等他们。看到只有树，他稍微松了口气，但也没完全放心。
Malone looked quickly, half expecting to see some dim, shadowy figure waiting for them. He was a little reassured to see only trees, but not very much.
“只有天知道这里会有什么样的接待委员会在等我们。”他抱怨道，“我一点也不担心被枪击，但枪声总是让我耳朵疼。”
“Heaven only knows what kind of reception mittee may be waiting for us out here,” he plained. “I’m not at all nervous about being shot at, but the sound of gunfire always gives me an earache.”
“在耳朵里塞点棉花。”海伦冷酷地说。
“Put cotton in your ears,” Helene said grimly.
他们小心翼翼地穿过雪地，来到小路进入树林的地方。现在这条小路看起来比白天窄了，一条白色的雪带蜿蜒伸进树林。入口就像一个黑白洞穴的门，古老的深色树木，这儿那儿被树枝上的积雪压弯了，茂密的、阴暗的灌木丛上覆盖着白色的羽毛，只有偶尔的星星透过树梢在头顶闪烁。
They picked their way gingerly across the snow to the point where the path entered the woods. The path seemed narrower now than it had by day, a white ribbon of snow winding on into the grove. The entrance was like the door to a cave of black and white, dark old trees, bent here and there by the weight of snow on their branches, thick, shadowy bushes feathered with whiteness, and only an occasional star showing overhead through the treetops.
杰克把手电筒照在小路上，说：“小心脚下。”然后继续往前走。海伦和马龙跟在后面，后者嘟囔着鞋子里进了雪。
Jake turned the flashlight on the path, said, “Watch your step,” and went on ahead. Helene and Malone followed, the latter muttering about the snow in his shoes.
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在脚印与小路交汇的地方，杰克停下来跪下寻找脚印。只有未被破坏的雪，在表面来回飘动。
At the point where the footprints had joined the path, Jake paused and knelt to look for them. There was only the unbroken snow, drifted back and forth over the surface.
“我就知道雪会把它们掩盖掉。”杰克痛苦地说，“我想我能找到回到我和它们分开的地方的路，但也仅此而已，而且不管怎样也不会告诉我们什么。”
“I knew that snow would have wiped them out,” Jake said bitterly. “I think I could find my way back to where I parted pany with them, but that’s about all, and it wouldn’t tell us anything, anyway.”
他站起来，掸掉膝盖上的雪，带路朝那座敞开的坟墓走去。手电筒给这场景增添了一种怪异的感觉，在雪地上投下意想不到的阴影，照亮了树林中奇特的、像洞穴一样的小块空地，还在覆着霜雪的小树枝和小树干上反射出一种怪异的光芒。他们来到由一丛灌木形成的挡住小路的障碍物前，有那么一会儿，马龙站在那里跺着脚，低声愤怒地咒骂着，而杰克和海伦则在寻找入口。
He rose, brushing the snow off his knees, and led the way in the direction of the open grave. The flashlight added an eerie touch to the scene, casting unexpected shadows over the snow, lighting up curious cavernlike little clearings in the trees, and reflecting a weird glow on small, snow-frosted twigs and branches. They came to the obstruction across the path formed by the cluster of bushes, and for a moment Malone stood stamping his feet and muttering indignant profanities under his breath, while Jake and Helene hunted for the opening.