言情小说吧【m.yqxsb.com】第一时间更新《马龙探案之三点的迷案》最新章节。
马龙探案卷三 之 错误的凶案 三十四
杰克感觉自己就像一个圣诞节早上的小男孩，第一次看到自己的新溜冰鞋，知道这正是他想要的，却不明白为什么自己会非常失望。
JAKE FELt LIKE A SmALL boY on christmas morning who sees his new skates for the first time, knows they are exactly what he wanted, and can’t understand why he is terribly disappointed.
天知道他有多想赢得那个赌注。他愿意不惜一切代价，冒几乎任何风险，去揭开莫娜?麦克莱恩谋杀约书亚?冈布里尔的动机。
heaven only knew how he’d wanted to win that bet. he’d been willing to go to almost any lengths, take almost any risks, to uncover mona mcclane’s motive for the murder of Joshua Gumbril.
现在找到了这个动机，现在他把它拿在手里，他却没有感到兴奋、得意或者胜利的喜悦。他甚至没有感到惊讶。出于某种无法解释的原因，他只是感到失望。
Now that it had been found, now that he held it in his hand, he didn’t feel excited or elated or triumphant. he didn’t even feel surprised. For some inexplicable reason, he only felt disappointed.
突然他意识到马龙一直在打电话。
Suddenly he realized that malone had been talking on the telephone all that time.
“…… 第二个人这么问，嗯？” 小个子律师用一种奇怪的平淡声音说道，“你不记得另一个人了，是吗？是这样吗？好吧，谢谢。很高兴我没给你带来什么特别的麻烦。如果我在芝加哥能为你做点什么，你可以在电话簿里找到我。对，没错。马-龙-”
“… second person who asked that, eh?” the little lawyer was saying in a curiously flat voice. “You don’t recall the other person, do you? Is that so? well, thanks. Glad I didn’t put you to any special trouble. If I can ever do anything for you here in chicago, you’ll find me in the phone book. Yes, that’s right. m-A-L-o-N-E.”
他放下听筒，坐在那儿盯着电话。“我没想到会在盒子里找到这个。” 他用一种奇怪、茫然的声音说道，“我没想到会在盒子里找到任何和莫娜?麦克莱恩有关的东西。” 他停顿了一下，看着他们，仿佛他们的脸能给出一些解释，最后说道，“那是不该在那里的东西。”
he put the receiver down and sat staring at the telephone. “I didn’t expect to find that in the box,” he said in a strange, dazed voice. “I didn’t expect to find anything about mona mcclane in the box.” he paused, looked at them as though their faces might offer some explanation, said at last, “that was what wasn’t supposed to be there.”
突然他站起来，走到窗前，站在那儿望着窗外的屋顶看了很久，双手插在口袋里，肩膀缩着，头低着。杰克握住海伦柔软的手，紧紧地握着。
Suddenly he rose, walked to the window, and stood looking out across the roofs for a long time, his hands in his pockets, his shoulders hunched, his head bowed. Jake felt for helene’s soft hand and held it tight.
“走开。” 马龙意外地说道，“离开半个小时再回来。去喝一杯。去绕着街区走走。去做任何你们想做的该死的事，但让我一个人呆着。我要想想。”
“Go away,” malone said unexpectedly. “Go away for half an hour and e back. Go get a drink. Go walk around the block. Go and do anything you damned well please, but leave me alone. I want to think.”
杰克盯着小个子律师的后背看了足足一分钟，然后轻轻地领着海伦来到走廊，按了电梯铃。在他们乘电梯下楼的时候，他感觉到她的胳膊在他的手下颤抖着，看到她的脸色非常苍白。走到人行道上，她停了下来，抬头看着他。
Jake stared at the little lawyer’s back for a full minute, then led helene gently out to the hall and rang for the elevator. As they rode down he felt her arm trembling under his hand, and saw that her face was very pale. out on the sidewalk she paused, looking up at him.
“杰克，怎么了？”
“Jake, what is it?”
“我不知道，” 他说，“而且我也没心情去猜。”
“I don’t know,” he said, “and I’m not in the mood for guessing.”
她皱起眉头。“我需要喝一杯才能想得清楚。”
She frowned. “I need a drink to help me think clearly.”
“跟我来，” 杰克说，“我是圣伯纳德犬（能救人的狗，此处表示能帮她找到喝的）。”
“Follow me,” Jake said. “I’m a St. bernard.”
他们穿过轻轻飘落的雪花，沿着麦迪逊街走到瓦克大道的拐角处，向南走了半个街区，走进了一家虽然不怎么华丽但却很热闹的酒馆。
they walked through the softly falling snow down madison Street to the corner of wacker drive, turned south for half a block, and entered a pleasantly noisy, though far from ornate, saloon.
杰克把海伦带到一个僻静的角落，喊道：“两杯双份黑麦威士忌，快点。”
Jake waved helene to a secluded corner and called for, “two double ryes, quick.”
“可怜的马龙。” 她轻声说，一边摘下手套。黑麦威士忌让她的脸颊恢复了一点血色。她点了一根烟，透过烟雾若有所思地看着，然后说：“不管怎么说，你赢了你的赌注。我希望你开心。”
“poor malone,” she said softly, peeling off her gloves. the rye brought a little color back to her cheeks. She lit a cigarette, looked reflectively through its smoke, and said, “well, anyway, you’ve won your bet. I hope you’re happy.”
“我不开心。” 他告诉她，“我应该开心的。我打了这个赌，我也想赢，但我不开心，你也不开心。而马龙最不开心。”
“I’m not,” he told her. “I should be. I made the bet, I wanted to win it, but I’m not happy, and you’re not either. And malone, least of all.”
“我完全知道他在想什么。” 她说。
“I know exactly what’s in his mind,” she said.
“那你比我更会读心术。”
“then you’re a better mind reader than I am.”
“一直以来，” 她告诉他，“他都希望能找到证据证明莫娜?麦克莱恩并不是真的要打那个赌 —— 这一切都只是纯粹的巧合。然而，当他打开盒子的时候 —— 却发现了他最不想找到的动机。”
“All along,” she told him, “he’s been hoping he’d find proof that mona mcclane didn’t mean that bet -that the whole thing was pure coincidence. Instead, when he opened the box-there was the motive he hadn’t wanted to find.”
“那张结婚证书说明不了什么。” 杰克说，但他知道自己的语气没有说服力。
“that marriage certificate doesn’t mean a thing,” Jake said in what he knew was an unconvincing voice.
“1914 年 5 月。” 她梦幻般地说，“我恰好知道莫娜?麦克莱恩第一次公开结婚 —— 我是说正式的那次 —— 是在 1914 年 6 月 25 日。我确定这个日期是因为那是我出生的日子。”
“may, 1914,” she said dreamily. “I happen to know mona mcclane was married the first time-publicly, I mean-on June 25, 1914. I’m sure of the date because it was the day I was born.”
“那不可能。” 杰克说，“她不可能在那么短的时间里和冈布里尔离婚，甚至不可能申请到婚姻无效的判决。”
“that’s impossible,” Jake said. “She could never have gotten a divorce from Gumbril, or even an annulment, in that length of time.”
“也许她没有离婚。” 海伦说，“也许她从来就没有离过。”
“maybe she didn’t get one,” helene said. “maybe she never did.”
“但是。” 杰克说着，突然停了下来。
“but,” Jake said, and stopped suddenly.
海伦缓缓地点点头。“那意味着她后来的婚姻是重婚。她后来所有的婚姻都是重婚。”
helene nodded slowly. “that would mean her later marriage was bigamous. All her later marriages were bigamous.”
“好吧。” 杰克说，“不管怎么说，这就是动机了。”
“well,” Jake said. “there’s the motive, anyway.”
“但这不是我们想找到的。” 海伦悲叹道。
“but it isn’t what we wanted to find,” helene wailed.
杰克皱起眉头。“我想我明白你的意思。但是马龙 —— 他到底期望在那个盒子里找到什么呢？”
Jake frowned. “I think I know what you mean. but malone-what the hell did he expect to find in that box?”
“他期望……” 她突然停了下来，说，“我们最好再喝一杯。”
“he expected-” She stopped suddenly, said, “we’d better have another drink.”
杰克引起酒保的注意，喊道：“再来两杯一样的。” 然后对海伦说：“继续说。他期望什么？”
Jake attracted the bartender’s attention, called, “two more of the same,” and said to helene, “Go on. he expected what?”
“等一下。” 她的眼睛突然睁得大大的，充满梦幻，几乎闪闪发光。“他确实期望能找到莫娜?麦克莱恩谋杀冈布里尔的动机。但不是这种。绝不是像冈布里尔对她进行丑恶的勒索之类的。你也期望不是这样的动机。我知道你是这样想的。”
“wait a minute.” her eyes had suddenly grown large and dreamy, almost luminous. “he did expect to find a motive for mona mcclane’s murdering Gumbril. but a different kind. Nothing like Gumbril’s having an ugly blackmail hold over her. And you expected it too. I know you did.”
她停顿了一下，这时酒保又拿来两杯黑麦威士忌，她的下巴搁在拳头上。
She paused while the bartender brought two more ryes, her chin resting on her fist.
“你明白吗，杰克？一直以来，莫娜身上都有一些英勇和快乐的特质。那个赌注本身 —— 送那个暖手筒的举动 —— 所有的一切。我们一直在为其他人找到杀他的动机 —— 卢拉梅、整个桑德斯家族、奥格特里夫人 —— 但不是莫娜。所以看起来动机一定和那个赌注本身一样英勇。现在却变成这样，一个肮脏、丑陋、普通的犯罪动机 ——！” 突然，毫无预兆地，泪水开始从她脸上流下来。“我受不了。我无法忍受事情变成这样。” 她在手提包里摸索着找手帕，没找到，无力地说：“该死！”
“do you see, Jake? there’s been something heroic and gay about mona all this time. the bet itself-the gesture of sending that muff-everything. we kept finding motives for other people to have killed him-Lulamay, the whole Sanders family, mrs. ogletree-but not mona. So it seemed that the motive must be something as heroic as the bet itself. Now to have it e down to this, a sordid, ugly, ordinary motive for a monplace crime-!” Suddenly, without warning, tears began to stream down her face. “I can’t bear it. I can’t bear to have it turn out this way.” She fumbled in her purse for a handkerchief, didn’t find one, and said feebly, “hell!”
杰克盯着她，从口袋里掏出一块手帕递给她。她擦了擦脸，大声擤了擤鼻子，说：“现在一切都结束了，我们知道了事情为什么会发生。” 然后立刻又开始哭起来。
Jake stared at her, drew a handkerchief from his pocket, and handed it to her. She mopped her face, blew her nose noisily, and said, “Now it’s all over and we know just why it happened,” and immediately began to weep again.
杰克突然意识到酒保那庞大的身躯正笼罩着他们的桌子。
Jake suddenly realized that the enormous bulk of the bartender was shadowing their table.
“你在欺负这位小女士吗？” 酒保愤怒地问道。他放柔了声音，看着海伦说：“好了，好了，好了。”
“Are you picking on the little lady?” the bartender demanded indignantly. he gentled his voice, looked at helene, and said, “there, there, there.”
“走开。” 杰克含糊不清、无力地说。
“Go away,” Jake said vaguely and inadequately.
海伦把脸埋在手帕里嚎啕大哭。酒保同情地咂着嘴，安慰道：“别难过了，别难过了。怎么了，他在欺负你吗？”
helene buried her face in her handkerchief and howled. the bartender made a sympathetic, clucking noise with his teeth, and said soothingly, “Never mind now, never mind. what’s the matter, is he picking on you?”
“是的，他是。” 海伦从手帕里说，“我哭是因为他不给我再买一杯喝的。”
“Yes he is,” helene said from the handkerchief. “I’m crying because he won’t buy me another drink.”
“这个大笨蛋。” 酒保责备地说。他又轻声说了句 “好了，好了”，拿起杯子，接着说，“如果他不给你买一杯，我来买。” 看到她不再流泪了，他又瞪了杰克一眼，然后离开了。
“the big palooka,” the bartender said reproachfully. he murmured, “there, there,” again, gathered up the glasses, and added, “If he won’t buy you a drink, I will.” Seeing that the tears had stopped, he scowled once more at Jake and went away.
“等你闹完，我的名声可就毁了。” 杰克生气地说，“这里离《先驱美国人报》只有半个街区，而且这里全是我的朋友。”
“A fine reputation I’ll have when you get through with me,” Jake said irately. “this place is half a block from the herald-American and it’s full of my friends.”
“我只是要确保他们永远不会忘记你。” 她擦去脸上最后一丝泪痕，拿出粉盒，开始精心而巧妙地补妆。
“I’m just making sure they’ll never forget you.” She removed the last traces of tears from her face, took out her pact, and began powdering it carefully and artistically.
酒保回来把重新倒满的杯子放在桌上。他把一杯推到杰克面前，说：“你不配喝这个，杰克?贾斯特。”
the bartender returned to set the refilled glasses on the table. he shoved one in front of Jake and said “You don’t deserve this, Jake Justus.”
“现在不再是杰克?贾斯特了。” 杰克心不在焉地说，“我结婚了。” 他想了一会儿又说，“我是说，这是我妻子。这是贾斯特夫人。”
“It isn’t Jake Justus any more,” Jake said absent-mindedly, “I’m married now.” he thought for a moment and added, “I mean, this is my wife. this is mrs. Justus.”
“你喝醉了。” 酒保怀疑地说。
“You’re drunk,” the bartender said suspiciously.
“也许吧。” 杰克告诉他，“但她仍然是我的妻子。” 他一口喝干了黑麦威士忌，示意海伦也喝掉，看了看表，站起身来，开始扣上大衣的扣子。“我们前天的前一天结婚了。”
“that may be,” Jake told him, “but she’s my wife just the same.” he downed his rye, motioned to helene to do the same, looked at his watch, stood up, and began fastening his overcoat. “we were married day before day before yesterday.”
