马龙探案卷四 之 正确的凶案 十
图伊兹先生 —— 马龙后来得知是杰拉尔德?图伊兹先生 —— 刚死不久。
mr. tuesday—mr. Gerald tuesday, malone learned later—had not been dead very long.
马龙先他们三步冲进房间，发现他瘫倒在一张小写字台上。他一只手的手指蜷曲着搭在电话上，电话歪歪斜斜地挂在听筒架上，好像是被人漫不经心地放回去的。他的身体别扭地半挂在椅子上，另一只手的手指松散地握着一张揉皱的纸。
the little lawyer, mounting the steps three leaps ahead of everyone else, found him slumped over a small writing desk. the fingers of one of his hands were curled around the telephone, which lay crookedly in its hook as though it had been carelessly replaced there. his body was awkwardly in the chair, half falling. the fingers of the other hand loosely held a crumpled bit of paper.
他的后背，右肩胛骨下方，有一处刀伤。
there was a knife wound in his back, just below the right shoulder blade.
马龙突然意识到其他客人都聚集在了门口，只有莫娜?麦克莱恩走进来房间几步的距离。
malone suddenly realized that the other guests had collected just inside the door. mona mcclane took a few steps into the room.
“真是遗憾。” 她的声音里似乎只有礼貌的遗憾，没有别的感情。
“what a shame.” there was no emotion in her voice save polite regret.
“我本来还想让你见见图伊兹先生的。”
“I had so wanted you to meet mr. tuesday.”
马龙瞥了一眼她的脸，希望能在她的声音里找到那奇怪地缺失的感情。她现在虽然脸色苍白，但很平静。这时海伦挤进了房间，抓住律师的胳膊。
malone glanced at her face, hoping to find the emotion so curiously absent from her voice. She was pale, but serene. helene pushed her way into the room and caught at the lawyer’s arm.
“马龙，他是被谋杀的！”
“malone, he’s been murdered!”
“我注意到了。” 马龙冷淡地说。他直起身来，快速检查了一下尸体，然后面对着门口的那群人说道：“在我们报警之前，这里有人想请我以专业律师的身份提供服务吗？我被认为是芝加哥市最好的辩护律师。”
“I noticed it,” malone said coldly. he straightened up from a brief examination of the body and faced the group by the door. “before we call the police, does anyone here want to consult me professionally? I’m considered the best defense attorney in the city of chicago.”
有一个小小的喘息声，他分辨不出是从哪里发出的，随后是一片寂静。
there was a tiny gasp—he couldn’t tell where it came from—and then silence.
马龙叹了口气，摇了摇头，向女仆示意。“好吧，你最好去报警。告诉他们这所房子里发生了一起谋杀案。”
malone sighed, shook his head, and signaled to the maid. “All right, you’d better call the police. tell them there thes in the house.”
女仆机械地答道：“是，先生。” 然后匆匆忙忙地沿着走廊离开了。
the maid said, “Yes, sir,” automatically, and scuttled down the hall.
马龙拿出一支雪茄，开始极其小心地慢慢拆开包装，突然他看了一眼尸体，又把雪茄放回了口袋。
malone took out a cigar, began to unwrap it slowly and with exquisite care, suddenly glanced at the dead man, and put it back in his pocket.
“以后你们会发现这很有用。” 他非常随意地说，“如果在警察到来之前，你们先把你们的说法都统一一下，这将会省去你们很多的麻烦。”
“You’ll find it helpful later,” he said very casually, “if, before the police get here, you get your stories straight. It’ll save you a lot of bother,”
迈克尔?文宁看起来很惊讶，甚至还有一点恼怒。“你不会认为警察会问我们很多问题吧？”
michael Venning looked surprised and a trifle annoyed. “You don’t fancy the police will need to ask us a lot of questions, do you?”
海伦说：“你会惊讶于警察能问出的问题。你最好接受马龙的建议。”
helene said, “You’d be amazed at the questions the police can ask. You’d better take malone’s advice.”
“但是听着。” 文宁说。“我们当中谁都没见过这个家伙。我甚至还没有被介绍给他认识过。”
“but look here,” Venning said. “None of us had even met the beggar. I’d never been introduced to him.”
“警察，” 马龙疲倦地说，“从来不会把没有正式介绍过当作无罪的证据。” 他冷冷地看着文宁。“这个人刚死还不到几分钟。无论如何也不会不超过半小时。那么，在你们刚才进屋之前，你在哪里？”
“the police,” malone said wearily, “have never accepted lack of a formal introduction as proof of innocence.” he looked at Venning coldly. “this man has only been dead a few minutes. Less than a half-hour, anyway. where had you been before you came in the house just now?”
文宁皱起眉头。“哦，好吧，如果您认为有必要的话。我和我妻子在外面散步，就在湖滨大道上。我们午饭后就出去了。伊迪丝想去买点东西，然后我们走到了公园又走了回来。”
Venning frowned. “oh, very well, if you think that it’s necessary.” he pronounced it “necess’ry.” “my wife and I were walking, out on the drive. we went out immediately after lunch. Editha wanted to do a bit of shopping, and then we walked up to the park and back.”
“没错。” 伊迪丝?文宁说。“我们午饭后就一直在外面。”
“that’s right,” Editha Venning said. “we’ve been out ever since lunch.”
“那么今天下午有谁在这所房子里？” 马龙问。
“who has been in the house this afternoon?” malone asked.
“我在。” 莫娜?麦克莱恩说。“午饭后我休息了一会儿，然后在你来之前，我一直在和厨师商量明天的晚餐。我从三点左右就没上过楼，不过如果需要的话，我想我也没有办法证明。”
“I have,” mona mcclane said. “I wased awhile after luncheon, and then until you arrived I was conferring with the cook about tomorrow’s dinner. I haven’t been upstairs since about three o’clock, though I don’t suppose I could prove that if I had to.”
“你呢？” 马龙问罗特斯?艾伦。
“how about you?” malone asked Lotus Allen.
“我整个下午都在。我听到贾斯特太太上楼的声音时正在涂指甲油。然后我走过走廊去看看罗斯情况怎么样，发现他醉得不省人事。我从他那里回来的时候，碰到贾斯特太太从她房间出来，就和她一起下了楼。”
“I’ve been in all afternoon. I was doing my nails when I heard mrs. Justus e up the stairs. then I went down the hall to see what kind of shape Ross was in, and I found he’d passed out cold. when I came from seeing about him, I met mrs. Justus ing out of her room, and came downstairs with her.”
马龙赞许地点点头。罗特斯?艾伦 —— 他一直想着她叫简 —— 是个不错的实际的好姑娘。“这个罗斯呢？”
malone nodded approvingly. Lotus Allen—he kept thinking of her as Jane—was a good, practical girl. “what about this Ross?”
“他叫罗斯?麦克劳林。” 莫娜说。“他午饭的时候喝的有点醉了，但也不是特别厉害。据我所知，他整个下午都把自己关在房间里，喝着一瓶波旁威士忌。”
“his name’s Ross mcLaurin,” mona said. “he was a little drunk at lunch, but not unusually. As far as I know, he’s been shut up in his room with a bottle of bourbon all 下午.”
“那个爱偷拍的家伙呢？”
“where’s the candid-camera fiend?”
莫娜?麦克莱恩说：“他可能自从带着相机跑上楼后就一直锁在暗房里没出来。”
mona mcclane said, “he’s probably been locked in the darkroom ever since he ran upstairs with his camera.”
马龙点点头，环顾了一下房间。他的目光落在卢埃拉?怀特身上。这是一个绝佳的谋杀嫌犯人选，他想，只是她很可能会，用的是斧头在一所闹鬼的房子里杀人。
malone nodded and glanced around the room. his eye fell on Louella white. A swell candidate for a murderess, he thought, except that she’d probably do her murdering in a haunted house, and with an ax.
“你整个下午都在这所房子里吗，怀特小姐？”
“were you in the house all afternoon, miss white?”
“是的。”
“Yes.”
“在你来客厅之前，你下过楼吗？”
“had you been downstairs before you came into the living room?”
“没有。”
“No.”
“你整个下午都在楼上？”
“You were upstairs all afternoon?”
“是的。”
“Yes.”
“具体在什么地方？”
“Just exactly where?”
她深吸了一口气说：“我的房间。”
She drew a long breath, and said, “my room.”
至少他从她嘴里问出了超过两个字的回答，马龙心想，如果看到冯?弗拉纳根努力的盘问这个面无表情的女伴，将会是个非常有趣的场景，肯定能值回票价。
At least he’d got two words out of her, malone told himself. hearing von Flanagan trying to question the hard-faced panion would be well worth the price of admission.
“好吧，” 他说，“这个人可能是在贾斯特太太和我来之前被杀的，或者之后。但如果……”
“well,” he said, “this man may have been murdered before mrs. Justus and I arrived, or after. but if—”
“是之后。” 海伦突然说道。
“It was after,” helene said suddenly.
所有人都看着她。
Everyone stared at her.
“我上楼去换衣服。” 她的眼睛里闪烁着奇异的光芒。
“I came up the stairs to change my dress.” there was a curiously flickering light in her eyes.
“他的门就在楼梯顶端，我上来的时候，门是开着的，他就坐在书桌旁，背对着我，正在翻电话号码簿。”
“his door is right at the head of the stairs, and when I came up, it was open. he was sitting there at the desk, his back to me, looking in the telephone book.”
“还活着？” 迈克尔?文宁难以置信地说。
“Alive?” michael Venning said incredulously.
“显然，还活着。” 海伦说。
“obviously,” helene said.
“你再下楼的时候他还活着吗？” 马龙问。
“was he alive when you came downstairs again?” malone asked.
“我不知道。那时他的门是关闭的。他可能在那个时候…… 正在被杀…… 就在那个时候。我想是凶手把门关上了。”
“I don’t know. his door was closed. he might have been—being murdered—right then. I suppose the murderer would have closed the door.”
这次的喘息声来自伊迪丝?文宁。她的丈夫说：“听着，我们没必要都在这里守着这个。我要下楼去喝一杯。”
this time the gasp came from Editha Venning. her husband said, “Look here, we don’t all have to stay up here with that. I’m going downstairs and have a drink.”
“我也是。” 罗特斯?艾伦无力地说。
“me too,” Lotus Allen said weakly.
“我们都去。” 莫娜?麦克莱恩说。“在等警察到来的时候，我们不妨舒服点。” 她几乎调皮地笑了笑。“在警察到来之前我们应该做点什么消遣。”
“we all will,” mona mcclane said. “we might as well be fortable while we wait for the police.” She smiled almost impishly. “what to do until the policeman es.”
她领着大家来到走廊。马龙注意到卢埃拉?怀特挽着文宁太太的胳膊。他心想，与其说她像个女伴，倒不如说她更像个警察看护，超级富有的人品味总是很奇怪。他又环顾了一下房间，电话的位置让他有点困惑，那张揉皱的纸片从死者的手指间滑落了一半。马龙几乎是漫不经心地把它捡起来，展开。
She led the way into the hall. malone observed that Louella white took mrs. Venning’s arm. more like a police matron than a panion, he thought, but the very rich had funny tastes. he took another look around the room. the position of the telephone puzzled him a little. the scrap of crumpled paper had half slipped from the dead man’s fingers; almost absent-mindedly malone picked it up and smoothed it out.
上面除了一个数字什么都没有：“114”。
there was nothing on it save a number: “114.”
他又把它揉成一团，放回他发现它的地方，然后跟着其他人下了楼。
he crumpled it up again, dropped it back where he had found it, and followed the others downstairs.
114。这个数字让人有种奇怪的似曾相识的感觉，也和一起谋杀案有关。
one-fourteen. there was something maddeningly reminiscent about that. Something to do with a murder, too.
他能听到客厅里传来兴奋的谈话声。每个人似乎都想比别人说得更多。他听到迈克尔?文宁那刻意调整过的声音说：“我记得在 1929 年在加尔各答的时候……”，而罗特斯?艾伦那带有新英格兰口音的声音打断了他，说：“不管怎么说，罗斯应该是不会被怀疑的，他肯定已经醉得不省人事好几个小时了……”，还有女仆在问：“夫人，您要苏格兰威士忌还是波旁威士忌？”
he could hear the sound of excited conversation from the living room. Everyone seemed to be trying to outtalk everyone else. he heard michael Venning’s carefully modulated voice saying, “I remember once in calcutta, in 1929,” and Lotus Allen’s New Englandish voice cutting across it with, “well anyway, Ross won’t be someutist”
莫娜?麦克莱恩在楼梯最下面的台阶上等他。
mona mcclane was waiting for him on the bottom step.
“你邀请我过来的时候，不会是故意安排了这一切吧？” 他问。
“You didn’t plan this, by any chance, when you invited me over?” he asked.
她对他微笑，好像他不是认真的。“不，我没有。我确实安排了一些事情，但这件事破坏了我原有的安排。我也没有杀那个人，如果这是你想问的问题。”
She smiled at him as though he didn’t mean it. “No, I failed. I did plan something, but this has spoiled it. I didn’t murder that man, either, if that’s what you were going to ask.”
“我不是这个意思。” 他告诉她。“杰拉尔德?图伊兹是谁？”
“I wasn’t,” he told her. “who was Gerald tuesday?”
“只是个客人。” 她轻描淡写地说。“我在国外认识的人。共同的朋友写信告诉我他要来芝加哥，所以我当然邀请他来这儿住了。”
“Just a house guest,” she said lightly. “Someone I’d met abroad. mutual friends wrote me he was ing to chicago, and so of course I invited him to stay here.”
“好吧。” 马龙说。他又把雪茄拿出来，这次他彻底拆开了包装。“如果这是你的说法，我希望它能站得住脚。”
“All right,” malone said. he took the cigar out again, this time he finished unwrapping it. “If that’s your story, I hope it’ll stand up.”
“它会的。” 她冷静地说。
“It will,” she said coolly.
他正要跟着她走进客厅，海伦从走廊走过来，一把抓住了他的胳膊。
he had started to follow her into the living room, when helene came down the hall and clutched at his arm.
“马龙！” 这是一声低沉而急切的耳语。“这不是…… 或者…… 是么？”
“malone!” It was a low, insistent whisper. “this isn’t—or is it?”
“别打哑谜，也别小声说话。你什么意思？”
“don’t ask riddles and don’t hiss. what do you mean?”
“莫娜的谋杀案。”
“mona’s murder.”
他看了她一会儿才回答。“你又忘了赌约里的条件了。这个人不是在公共街道上被杀的，也没有很多的目击者。他是被刺死的，就像另一个……”
he looked at her a moment before answering. “You’re forgetting the terms of the trade again. this man wasn’t shot down in the public streets, with plenty of witnesses. he was stabbed, just like the other—”
“像另一个什么？”
“Like the other what?”
“被…… 刺…… 死…… 的…… 人。” 他机械地说。他刚刚想起为什么那个数字，114，会让人觉得这么熟悉。
“man—who—was—stabbed,” he said automatically. he had just remembered why that number, 114, was familiar.
“马龙……”
“malone—”
“现在别管了。这房子里的电话是怎么用的？电话是什么样的系统？”
“Never mind now. how do the telephones work in this house? what kind of a system is it?”
“是分机电话系统。用任何一部电话都可以接听来电，或者你可以拿起任何一部电话拨打外线号码。一共有三条线路，以防其中一条被占线，而且每部电话都有一个小开关用来管线路。”
“Extension phones. A call can be picked up on any telephone. or you can pick up any telephone and call an outside number. there are three lines, in case one is busy, and every telephone has a little switch connected with it.”
“那么你可以在这所房子里的任何一部电话上打电话，而不会被其他人察觉吗？”
“then you could make a telephone call from any phone in the house, without anyone else knowing it?”
“是的，除非你打电话的时候有人恰好拿起同一条线路上的另一部电话。但如果发生这种情况，拿起电话的人应该按下小开关，除非他出于好奇就是想偷听。”
“Yes, unless someone happened to pick up another phone hitched to the same line while you were making it. when that happens, the person picking up the phone is supposed to press the little switch, unless he’s curious and feels like eavesdropping.”
“谢谢。” 马龙说。他沉默了一会儿。“现在我想打个电话。最近的电话在哪里？”
“thanks,” malone said. he was silent a moment. “Now I want to make a call. where’s the nearest phone?”
她带他来到走廊尽头的一个小壁橱处。他说：“在这儿等我一下。” 然后关上了门，拨打了他自己办公室的号码。过了一会儿，玛吉的声音回答道。
She led him to a little closet down the hall. he said, “wait for me,” closed the door, and dialed the number of his office. After a minute maggie’s voice answered.
“我正要回家呢，马龙先生。”
“I was just going home, mr. malone.”
“去吧。但先告诉我，在过去的一个小时左右的时间里，有没有人打过电话找我？”
“Go ahead. tell me first, have I had any calls in the past hour or so?”
“有两个。一个是路易打来的，关于他的支票。另一个我不知道是谁打来的。”
“two. one from Louie, about his check. I don’t know who the other was from.”
“你什么意思，怎么会不知道？”
“what do you mean, you don’t know?”
“我的意思是打电话的人没说。我接起电话，一个奇怪的声音说：‘马龙。’声音听起来像是从火星来的。我刚要开口说你不在，那个声音又说：‘马龙。114。114。’然后我还没来得及再说一个字，他就挂了电话。就这样。”
“I mean whoever it was didn’t say. I answered the phone and a funny-sounding voice said, ‘malone.’ It sounded like a voice from mars. I started to say you weren’t in, and the voice said, ‘malone. one-fourteen. one-fourteen.’ then before I had a chance to say another word, he hung up. Just like that.”
回到走廊，马龙告诉海伦：“我想我知道他在电话簿里找谁了。”
back in the hall, malone told helene, “I think I know who he was looking for in the phone book.”
“谁？”
“who?”
“我。”
“me.”
他们还没来得及再说一句话，突然从死者的房间里传来一阵声响，接着又是一阵。有人在里面走动。
before either of them could say another word, there was a sudden sound from the dead man’s room, and another. Someone was moving about.
有那么一瞬间，他们面面相觑，然后马龙两步并作一步冲上了楼梯。在房间门口，他停了下来，一只手抓着门框，然后推开了门。
For just an instant they stared at each other, then malone raced up the steps, two at a time. At the door to the room he paused, one hand clutching the door jamb, then pushed it open.
两米高的彭德利?泰德韦尔手里拿着相机，平趴在房间中央的地板上，正在给被谋杀的人拍照。
the six-foot pendley tidewell, camera in hand, was stretched flat on the floor in the middle of the room, engaged in photographing the murdered man.
马龙还没来得及说话，他的注意力就被从写字台上吸墨纸下面露出的一小张白纸条吸引了过去。趁彭德利?泰德韦尔在不好意思地收拾他的摄影器材时，小个子律师把那张白纸条从吸墨纸下面抽了出来塞进了自己的口袋。
before malone could say a word, his attention was distracted by a thin sliver of white paper protruding from under the desk blotter. while pendley tidewell apologetically gathered up his photographic equipment, the little lawyer had slipped the paper out from under the blotter into his own pocket.
直到年轻的摄影师离开，马龙才又拿出来查看他的发现。然后他默默地读完了那张纸，脸上毫无表情，一言不发地把它递给了海伦。
Not until the young photographer had gone did malone examine his find. then he read it through silently, his face expressionless, and handed it to helene without a word.
那似乎是一封信的第二页，是用一种果断的、竖体的字体书写的。
It appeared to be the second page of a letter, written in a decisive, vertical handwriting.
“没有人能把罪行强加在一个已经死了二十年的人身上。”
“No one can pin a crime on a man who’s been dead for twenty years.”
马龙说：“他可能是听到走廊里有动静的时候正在写这封信，然后把它塞到了桌垫下面。” 他皱起眉头，一脸阴郁。“如果你要我解释这是什么意思，这将是你问我的最后一个问题。”
malone said, “he probably was writing it when he heard someone in the hall, and slipped it under the blotter.” his brows drew together in a heavy scowl. “If you ask me what it means, it will be the last thing you ever ask me.”
他小心地把纸条放进内侧口袋，然后带着海伦下了楼。
he stowed the note carefully in an inside pocket and led the way downstairs.