“I don’t know,” Malone said. “But maybe I will tomorrow—after a couple of boys I can trust break in there tonight and find out. Meantime,” he sighed again, “maybe I can find out more about these Gerald Tuesdays—if the birthplace named on this certificate is correct.”

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“要是你没把那把钥匙丢了就好了。”海伦哀叹道，“马龙，就没有找到它的可能了吗？”

“If only you hadn’t lost that key,” Helene wailed. “Malone, isn’t there any chance of finding it?”

“我可能把它丢在出租车里、街上或者十几个其他地方中的任何一个地方。”马龙沮丧地说，“要再找到它得有奇迹发生。”

“I might have lost it in a taxi, or on the street, or in any of a dozen places,” Malone said gloomily. “It would take a miracle to find it again.”

“你想过登寻物启事吗？”

“Have you thought of the want ads?”

“没有。不，我没有。”

“No. No, I haven’t.”

“嗯，去登吧。”杰克热心地说，“这是启动你那个巨大脑袋的简单方法。”

“Well, do,” Jake said cordially. “It’s an easy way to start that giant brain working.”

马龙坐下来想了几分钟，然后叫来了玛吉。

Malone sat thinking for a few minutes, then called for Maggie.

“在所有报纸上登这条寻物启事。新年前夜丢失，标有 114 的钥匙。重酬。”

“Run this want ad in all the papers. Lost, on New Year’s Eve, key marked 114. Large reward.”

她把它写下来。“你最好给出一些你丢失它的地点的线索。”

“She wrote it down. “You’d better give some idea of where you lost it.”

“我们可没那么多版面。”马龙说，“就这样登吧。”她走后，他皱着眉头说，“假设我们真的找回了钥匙。你觉得我们要用它打开什么标有 114 的东西呢？”

“We couldn’t afford the space,” Malone said. “Go on, run it the way it is.” After she had gone, he said, scowling, “Suppose we do get the key back. What the hell do you think we’re going to unlock with it?”

“某个标有 114 的东西。”杰克得意地说。

“Something marked 114,” Jake said smugly.

马龙哼了一声。“当然。这就全清楚了。”他皱起眉头。“文宁也牵扯进这件事里了。那个坟墓的事，还有那个面无表情一直盯着他妻子的同伴，以及莫娜·麦克莱恩说过的一句话——等一下，让我想想。”有几分钟他出神地望着空中。“我们当时在谈论彭德利·泰德韦尔。她说他是伊迪莎·文宁的侄子。她说——他会非常欣慰迈克尔·文宁后天就五十岁了——现在就是明天了——尽管他，也就是彭德利，似乎并不在乎钱。”

Malone snorted. “Sure. That clears it all up.” He frowned. “Venning is mixed up in this, too. The business of the grave, and that frozen-faced panion who watches his wife every minute, and a crack Mona McClane made—wait a minute, let me think.” For a few minutes he stared dreamily into space. “We were talking about Pendley Tidewell. She said he was Editha Venning’s nephew. She said—he’d feel greatly relieved that Michael Venning was going to be fifty day after tomorrow—that’s tomorrow now—although he, meaning Pendley, didn’t seem to care anything about money.”

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“再好好想想。”海伦建议道，“你听起来有点混乱。”

“Try thinking some more,” Helene advised. “You sound a little confused.”

律师没理她。“彭德利·泰德韦尔是文宁的外甥女婿，他应该为他的舅舅明天就五十岁而感到高兴。这和钱有关。我在想，”他若有所思地说，“文宁有多少钱，谁会继承它。”

The lawyer paid no attention to her. “Pendley Tidewell is Venning’s nephew by marriage, and he should be glad that his uncle is going to be fifty tomorrow. Something to do with money. I wonder,” he said thoughtfully, “how much money Venning has and who is going to inherit it.”

“他有很多钱。”杰克说，“这是芝加哥的一大笔财富。”

“He has plenty,” Jake said. “It’s one of the big Chicago fortunes.”

马龙又把玛吉叫过来。“查出迈克尔·文宁的律师是谁，然后祈求老天让我认识他。”

Again Malone called Maggie. “Find out who Michael Venning’s lawyer is, and pray to heaven that I know him.”

“我会查出来的。”她尖刻地说，“但你自己去祈祷吧。”

“I’ll find out,” she said tartly, “but you handle your own prayers.”

“你为什么关心这个？”杰克问。

“Why do you care?” Jake asked.

“一大笔遗产可能是谋杀他的充分理由。”

“A large-sized inheritance might be an adequate reason for murdering him.”

“他还没被谋杀呢。”海伦指出。

“He hasn’t been murdered,” Helene pointed out.

“是，但他的坟墓已经挖好了。”

“No, but his grave has been dug.”

五分钟后，玛吉回来了。“我给文宁家族的办公室打电话，询问文宁先生的律师的名字的正确拼写。”

Five minutes later Maggie returned. “I called the office of the Venning estate and asked for the correct spelling of the name of Mr. Venning’s lawyer.”

“谢谢。”马龙说，“我希望是史密斯。”

“Thank you,” Malone said. “I hope it turned out to be Smith.”

“结果是费瑟斯通。”她说，“O.O.费瑟斯通。”

“It turned out to be Featherstone,” she said, “O. O. Featherstone.”

马龙松了一口气。“谢天谢地，我确实认识他。他是英格哈特老太太的律师。给他打电话，玛吉，给我约个时间。”