马龙探案卷四 之 正确的凶案 三十三
“这是我见过的最漂亮的自卫案例。”马龙说。
“As pretty a case of self-defense as I ever saw,” Malone said.
“在你看来总是这样。”冯·弗拉纳根说。
“According to you, it always is,” von Flanagan said.
马龙叹了口气。“如果你仔细想想，所有的谋杀都是一种自卫形式。但在这种情况下——我觉得毫无疑问。我们所有人”——他做了一个大幅度的手势，把莫娜·麦克莱恩客厅里的每个人都包括在内——“都看到是他先向她开枪的。”
Malone sighed. “All murder is a form of self-defense, if you’ll stop to think about it. But in this case—I don’t think there’s any possible doubt. All of us”—he made a sweeping gesture that included everyone in Mona McClane’s living room—“saw him shoot at her first.”
“他的子弹把我的永久卷发弄乱了。”海伦抱怨地说。
“His bullet bent my permanent wave the wrong way,” Helene said plainingly.
那个警察怀疑地抿了一口莫娜·麦克莱恩的女仆给他的饮料。“尽管如此，我还是想知道麦克莱恩夫人是不是总是在衣服口袋里放着一把枪，或者这是不是某种特殊场合才这样。”
The police officer sipped suspiciously at the drink Mona McClane’s maid had offered him. “Just the same, I’d like to know if Mrs. McClane always carries a gun around in her dress pocket, or if this was some kind of special occasion.”
“只有当她穿有口袋的衣服时才这样。”马龙厉声说，“通常她把枪塞在长筒袜里。”他伸手去拿雪茄。“讲点道理。你已经把整个案子都弄清楚了。你还想要什么，新闻影片和米老鼠吗？如果你的一个房客被谋杀了，另一个差点也被杀了，你可能也会紧张到带把枪。”
“Only when she wears a dress with pockets,” Malone snapped. “Usually she tucks it into her stocking.” He reached for a cigar. “Be reasonable. You’ve got the whole case cleared up. What the hell more do you want, a news-reel and Mickey Mouse? You might be nervous enough to pack a gun too, if one of your house guests had been murdered and another damn near it.”
“我只是问问。”冯·弗拉纳根嘟囔着。“这个文宁家伙有那么多钱，为什么还要去杀人呢？”
“I was only asking,” von Flanagan grumbled. “What did this Venning guy want to go murdering people for, with all the dough he had?”
“钱不是谋杀的唯一理由。”马龙说。
“Money isn’t the only reason for murder,” Malone said.
“不，但这是我知道的最好的理由。”警察说，“该死——对不起，麦克莱恩夫人——不管怎么说，这到底是怎么回事，马龙？”
“No, but it’s the best one I know,” the police officer said. “What the hell—pardon me, Mrs. McClane—what’s it all about, anyway, Malone?”
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“文宁在东方卷入了一些麻烦事。”律师快速地说，“是这样吧，文宁夫人？是的，我想是这样。你知道的，冯·弗拉纳根。热带地区对一些人的影响。图伊兹兄弟发现了这件事，然后就勒索他。”
“Venning got into some shenanigans in the Orient,” the lawyer said rapidly. “That’s right, isn’t it, Mrs. Venning? Yes, I thought so. You know, von Flanagan. The effect the tropics have on some people. The Tuesday brothers got onto it, and were blackmailing him.”
海伦偷偷看了一眼伊迪莎·文宁。她脸色苍白，但非常镇定。她眼睛里闪烁的光芒消失了。
Helene stole a glance at Editha Venning. She was pale, but perfectly posed. The glittering light had gone from her eyes.
“在新年前夜，”马龙继续说，“文宁在谢尔曼酒店的圆顶餐厅看到了两兄弟中的弟弟。他觉得新年的时候，反正每个人都有点晕乎乎的，会是个杀人的好时机。所以他离开了派对一小会儿——我说得对吗，麦克莱恩夫人？”
“On New Year’s Eve,” Malone went on, “Venning spotted the younger of the two in the Dome at the Sherman Hotel. He figured that New Year’s, with everybody a little hazy anyway, would be a swell time for a homicide. So he left the party for a short time—am I correct about that, Mrs. McClane?”
莫娜·麦克莱恩点点头说：“是的。大概有半个小时左右。当然，在那样的派对上，你不会太留意——人们随意地离开又回来。但他确实离开了那么久。他在十二点的哨声响起的时候刚好回来。”
Mona McClane nodded and said, “Yes. For half an hour or so. Of course, in a party like that, you don’t pay much attention—people wander away and e back pretty much as they want to. But he was gone about that long. He got back just as the twelve o’clock whistles blew.”
“那就对了。”马龙说。“文宁在十一点半左右在圆顶餐厅看到了这个人。那可不是个安静地杀人的好地方，所以他跟踪他去了两三个其他的酒吧，最后在某个小巷里追上了他——我们永远也不会确切知道是在哪里——用刀刺了他，擦掉刀上的血，把刀插回他的牛仔裤里，然后像没事人一样回到了黑豹厅。他没想到这个人这么顽强，背上有个洞还能走一两个街区。”
“That would make it,” Malone said. “Venning spotted this guy in the Dome about eleven-thirty. That was no place for a nice quiet stabbing, so he trailed him to two or three other bars and finally caught up with him in an alley somewhere—we’ll never know exactly where it was—ran a knife into him, wiped off the knife, stuck it back in his jeans, and returned to the Panther Room as good as new. He couldn’t have figured the guy would be tough enough to walk a block or two with a hole in his back.”
小主，
他停下来点燃雪茄，看到冯·弗拉纳根的眼睛里开始露出若有所思的神情，于是快速地说。
He paused to light his cigar, observed a thoughtful look beginning to form in von Flanagan’s eyes, and spoke rapidly.
“图伊兹被刺的时候可能倒下了然后又站了起来。你记得吧，他的膝盖和肘部有泥。他倒下的时候，文宁在他的口袋里翻找有罪的文件。他时间不多，就把所有东西都拿走了。这就是为什么尸体被发现的时候没有身份证明。”
“Tuesday probably fell when he was stabbed and got up again. There was mud on his knees and elbows, you remember. While he was down, Venning went through his pockets for incriminating papers. He didn’t have much time and just carried away everything. That’s why there was no identification on the body when it was found.”
警察眼里的沉思神情越来越深。
The thoughtful look was deepening in the police officer’s eyes.
“然后，”马龙继续说，不敢停下来喘口气，“另一个图伊兹通过以前和莫娜·麦克莱恩的相识设法得到了来这里的邀请。文宁发现他搬到这里来一定大吃一惊，但他没有浪费任何时间。图伊兹在这里只待了几个小时就被谋杀了。”
“Then,” Malone went on, not daring to pause for breath, “the other Tuesday wangled an invitation to Mona McClane’s through a previous acquaintance with her. It must have been a nasty shock to Venning to find him moved in here, but he didn’t lose any time. Tuesday had only been here a few hours when he succeeded in getting himself murdered.”
不管冯·弗拉纳根一直在想什么，他都忘了。“但是听着，”他气愤地说，“那个人被谋杀的时候文宁在外面散步。你自己听到他进来的。”
Whatever von Flanagan had been thinking about, he forgot it. “But look here,” he said indignantly, “Venning was out walking when that guy was murdered. You heard him e in yourself.”
每个人都满怀希望地看着马龙。
Everyone looked hopefully at Malone.
“我听到的是他第二次进来。”马龙说，用手指转动着雪茄。他转向伊迪莎·文宁。“你们在外面的时候他离开过你几分钟，对吗？”
“I heard him e in the second time,” Malone said, rolling his cigar in his fingers. He turned to Editha Venning. “He left you for a few minutes while you were outside, didn’t he?”
她点点头。“就在我们进来之前。他想去药店买点东西，所以我在拐角处等他。”
She nodded. “Just before we came in. He wanted to run up to the drugstore for something, so I waited for him on the corner.”
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“他没去药店。”马龙告诉她，“他回到这里，用莫娜·麦克莱恩给所有客人的房子钥匙从侧门进来，上了楼，谋杀了第二个图伊兹，又从侧门出去，遇到了你，然后和你一起回到房子里。那时候你们被雨淋湿了。那场突然的雨下来的时候你在外面等他。你的外套毁了——我听到莫娜·麦克莱恩提到过。但他一点都没被淋湿。他走进房间的时候还没摘下帽子和外套——他帽子上的羽毛就是个明显的证据。它甚至都没湿。”
“He didn’t go to the drugstore,” Malone told her. “He came back here, entered by the side door with the house key Mona McClane gives all her guests, went up the stairs, murdered the second Tuesday, went out again by the side door, met you, and came back to the house again with you. That’s when you were caught in the rain. You were outside waiting for him when that sudden rainfall came down. Your coat was ruined—I heard Mona McClane speaking of it. But he didn’t get rained on at all. He walked into the room before taking off his hat and coat—and the feather in his hat was a dead giveaway. It wasn’t even moist.”
他转向冯·弗拉纳根。“那场雨是在图伊兹可能被杀害的唯一时间下起来的，”他说，“在海伦经过他的门看到他还活着，和我们都上楼发现他死了之间。我和气象局核对了时间。”
He turned to von Flanagan. “That rainfall came down during the only time Tuesday could have been killed,” he said. “between the time when Helene went past his door and saw him alive and when we all went upstairs and found him dead. I checked the time with the weather bureau.”
杰克突然说：“哦，这就是你那天晚上给气象局打电话的时候在做的事。我还以为你疯了。”