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.
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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.”
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“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.
小主，
“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。”