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马龙探案卷四 之 正确的凶案 二十五
“你知道，可能有三个叫杰拉尔德·图伊兹的人。”海伦说。
“there could have been three men named Gerald tuesday, you know,” helene said.
马龙点点头。“有可能。”他沮丧地说，“但我也不相信有圣诞老人。”
malone nodded. “there could,” he said gloomily, “but I don’t believe in Santa claus, either.”
他们坐在城北的一个小酒吧里，喝着啤酒，为他们的发现而忧心忡忡。半个小时过去了，喝了三杯啤酒，他们还是没有得出任何结论。
they were sitting in a small north-side bar, drinking beer and worrying about their discovery. After half an hour and three beers, they hadn’t e to any conclusion.
“也许我们会知道得更多。”律师说，“等我找几个我能信任的人闯进那个坟墓看看里面有什么。很可能结果会是里面是空的。”
“maybe we’ll know more,” the lawyer said, “after I have a couple of boys I can trust break into that grave and find out what’s there. It’ll probably turn out to be empty.”
“如果是这样。”杰克指出，“那为什么会有人把它挖开——顺便问一下，第一次是谁挖的？”
“If it is,” Jake pointed out, “what was the idea of someone else digging it up—and incidentally, who did the first digging?”
“我只是提问。”马龙说，“我不回答问题。”他皱着眉头，“不过，立那块墓碑的时候肯定有埋葬许可证和死亡证明。在城市档案里做一点调查可能会查到一些关于杰拉尔德·图伊兹的情况。”
“I just ask the questions,” malone said. “I don’t answer them.” he scowled. “Still, there must have been a burial permit and a death certificate, when that stone was set up. A little research in the city records may tell something about Gerald tuesday.”
“如果我觉得莫娜·麦克莱恩在说谎，我会对整件事感觉好一点。”杰克若有所思地说，“但我有一种不安的怀疑，她在说实话。”
“I’d feel better about the whole thing if I thought mona mcclane was lying,” Jake said thoughtfully. “but I have an unfortable suspicion that she’s telling the truth.”
马龙说：“别忘了，这些图伊兹谋杀案——只有天知道哪个才是真正的杰拉尔德·图伊兹——可能跟莫娜·麦克莱恩和她的赌注毫无关系。”
malone said, “don’t forget that these tuesday murders—and only God knows which one was Gerald tuesday—may have nothing to do with mona mcclane and her bet.”
“你让我沮丧，但你没让我气馁。”海伦说，然后点了一根烟。“也许杰拉尔德·图伊兹是个化名。”
“You depress me,” helene said, “but you don’t discourage me.” She lit a cigarette. “maybe Gerald tuesday was an assumed name.”
杰克摇了摇头。“没人会故意取杰拉尔德这个名字。”
Jake shook his head. “No one would ever deliberately assume the name of Gerald.”
她深深地叹了口气。“马龙，你提点建议。”
She sighed heavily. “malone, you suggest something.”
“我建议再来一杯啤酒。”律师说。他向酒保示意。“不。”当酒保走过来时他又说，“我喝腻啤酒了。来三杯杜松子酒。”
“I suggest another beer,” the lawyer said. he signaled to the bartender “No,” he said as the latter approached. “I’m bored with beer. bring three gins.”
“我们每人三杯。”海伦说。“马龙，还记得你找到的那张纸条吗？”
“three for each of us,” helene said. “malone, remember the note you found?”
“我已经想起来了。”他严肃地说。他拿出纸条。“‘你不能把罪名安在一个死了二十年的人身上。’”
“I’ve already remembered it,” he said grimly. he produced it. “‘You can’t pin a crime on a man who’s been dead for twenty years.’”
“但是，”杰克问道，“谁死了二十年了？”
“but,” Jake demanded, “who has been dead for twenty years?”
马龙盯着他。“我忘了你不识字。那块墓碑上的名字是杰拉尔德·图伊兹。”
malone stared at him. “I forgot you couldn’t read. the name on that tombstone was Gerald tuesday.”
海伦透过香烟的烟雾看着马龙。“你打算怎么处置洛特斯？把她一直关在拘留所里吗？”
helene gazed at malone through the smoke of her cigarette. “what are you going to do with Lotus? Leave her in the calaboose?”
“还有更糟的地方呢。”马龙不置可否地说。“冯·弗拉纳根只是把她扣下审问。还没对她提出正式指控。等他消消气，我就能轻而易举地把她弄出来。他并不真的认为她杀了杰拉尔德·图伊兹，只是他气坏了，必须得抓个人。”
“there’s worse places,” malone said nonmittally. “Von Flanagan just has her held for questioning. No formal charges against her yet. when he cools off a little, I can get her out without any trouble. he doesn’t really think she murdered Gerald tuesday, but he just got mad and had to arrest somebody.”
“我希望你是对的。”海伦说。“她是个好女孩。”
“I hope you’re right,” helene said. “She’s a nice girl.”
马龙说：“他没有足够的证据把她提交大陪审团，他也知道这一点。他对是谁杀了那两个人的了解并不比我们多。问题是，”他沮丧地补充道，“他了解的跟我们差不多。”
malone said, “he hasn’t enough evidence to hold her for the grand jury and he knows it. he doesn’t know any more about who murdered those two guys than we do. trouble is,” he added gloomily, “he knows about as much.”
“马龙，会不会有人溜进房子杀了他然后又走了呢？”
“malone, could anybody have slipped into the house and murdered him and gone away again?”
“除非他是从烟囱下去的，”律师说，“而且圣诞节已经过去十天了。”
“Not unless he went down the chimney,” the lawyer said. “And christmas was over ten days ago.”
“那么要么是洛特斯，要么是卢埃拉·怀特，要么是罗斯·麦克劳林，要么是彭德利·泰德韦尔，要么是我杀了他。你选吧。”
“then either Lotus or Louella white or Ross mcLaurin or pendley tidewell or I murdered him. take your pick.”
杰克皱着眉头看着他的杜松子酒。“你确定你经过他房门的时候他还活着吗？”
Jake scowled at his gin. “Are you sure he was alive when you passed his door?”
“肯定。而且，马龙知道他在给办公室打电话的时候还活着。”
“positive. besides, malone knows he was alive when he telephoned his office.”
“没错，”马龙说，“这就把他的死亡时间精确到了分钟。玛吉总是把电话打进来的准确时间记下来；我们有时候发现这在伪造不在场证明的时候非常有用。是四点十九分。”
“that’s right,” malone said. “that fixes the time of his death to the minute. maggie always makes a note of the exact time when calls e in; we’ve found it damned useful sometimes in faking alibis. It was nineteen minutes after four.”
“在四点十九分的时候，”海伦说，“我在我的房间换衣服。罗斯在他的房间，冷得像条鱼。洛特斯——告诉我，马龙，如果她真的杀了他呢？”
“At nineteen minutes after four,” helene said, “I was in my room changing my dress. Ross was in his room, cold as a fish. Lotus—tell me malone, what if she did murder him?”
