As he slammed the door, Helene looked up with a new show of interest. “Did I hear the name of von Flanagan?”

“你听到了。他想和我谈谈我的谋杀案。”

“You did. He wants to talk with me about my murder.”

“你的？”

“Yours?”

他点点头。“我自己的私人谋杀案。” 他坐在办公桌前，给海伦讲了新年前夜在乔天使酒吧死去的那个人的故事。

He nodded. “My very own personal murder.” He sat down at his desk and told Helene the story of the man who had died in Joe the Angel’s bar on New Year’s Eve.

他讲完后，她沉默了一会儿，苍白的额头上皱起困惑的眉头。“通常是凶手在犯罪后想见你，而不是受害者。”

She was silent for a while after he had finished, a puzzled frown wrinkling her pale forehead. “Usually it’s the murderer who wants to see you after the crime, not the victim.”

“这就是让我困惑的地方。” 马龙告诉她。“很明显，这家伙在事情发生之前就在找我。然后有人在他背上捅了一刀，他还是继续找我。但在他能告诉我任何事情之前，他就死了。”

“That’s what puzzles me,” Malone told her. “Obviously, this guy was looking for me before it happened. Then somebody stuck a knife in his back, and he went right on looking for me. But before he could tell me anything, he kicked off.”

“那把钥匙。” 她若有所思地说。“我在想 —— 那是把什么样的钥匙，马龙？”

“The key,” she said thoughtfully. “I wonder—what kind of key was it, Malone?”

“只是一把普通的钥匙。我没好好看清楚它。而且，我不在乎我是否再也看不到它了。我只在乎摆脱这个麻烦。” 他停顿了一下。“不过 ——” 他敲掉雪茄上的烟灰，皱着眉头说，“也许是这样。有两个人想互相捅刀子。这家伙是其中之一。有人告诉他，如果他要杀人，提前找一个非常好的律师是个明智的主意，并建议他来找我。但在他找我的时候，另一个人先找到了他。”

“Just an ordinary key. I didn’t get a very good look at it. What’s more, I don’t care if I never get another look at it. All I care about is getting out of this mess.” He paused. “Just the same—” He knocked the ashes from his cigar, frowned, and said, “Maybe it was this way. There were two guys out to knife each other. This guy was one of them. Somebody tipped him off that if he was going to murder anybody, it was a smart idea to engage a damn good lawyer in advance, and advised him to e to me. But while he was looking for me, the other guy got to him first.”

小主，

“听起来很有逻辑。” 海伦说。“现在你只需要等着，另一个人就会作为客户来找你。”

“Sounds logical,” Helene said. “Now all you need to do is wait and the other guy’ll e in as a client.”

“我希望如此。” 马龙虔诚地说。“我能有一个客户就好了。” 他听到接待室里有声音，知道钱已经到了。他看了看表。

“I hope so,” Malone said prayerfully. “I could use one.” He heard voices in the reception room and knew that the money had arrived. He looked at his watch.

“接下来怎么办，马龙？”

“What next, Malone?”

“你最好去莫娜?麦克莱恩那里安顿下来，好好睡一觉。你看起来需要睡眠。明天早上我们再碰面。”

“You’d better go and get settled at Mona McClane’s and get a good night’s sleep. You look as if you need it. Tomorrow morning we’ll get together.”

她梦幻般地说：“莫娜?麦克莱恩想杀的人不可能有那么多。”

She said dreamily, “There couldn’t have been so many people Mona McClane wanted to murder.”

“明天再说。” 他坚定地说。他挽起她的胳膊，把她带到接待室。

“Tomorrow,” he said firmly. He took her arm and led her to the reception room.

“如果你收到杰克的消息……” 她开口说道，又停了下来。

“If you should hear from Jake—” she began, and stopped.

“我不会告诉你的。” 他对她说。

“I’m damned if I’ll tell you,” he told her.

他在玛吉的桌旁停了一会儿，拿起五张十美元的钞票。

He paused by Maggie’s desk long enough to pick up five ten-dollar bills.

“另一件事已经处理好了。” 玛吉说。

“The other matter is taken care of,” Maggie said.

马龙点点头，把四张钞票塞进口袋，把另一张递给海伦。“你需要打车钱。来吧，下楼去，我给你叫辆出租车。”

Malone nodded, stuffed four of the bills in his pocket and handed the other to Helene. “You’ll need cab fare. Come on downstairs and I’ll put you in a taxi.”

“但是你现在要做什么？” 她问道。

“But what are you going to do now?” she demanded.

小个子律师长叹一口气。“我？” 他按下电梯呼叫按钮。“我要出去找个扑克局。”

The little lawyer drew a long sighing breath. “Me?” He pushed the elevator call. “I’m going out and find a poker game.”