海伦突然抬起头。“对。在他们的兄弟冒充迈克尔·文宁的这段时间里，他们在哪里呢？”
Helene looked up suddenly. “That’s right. Where were they, all this time their brother was impersonating Michael Venning?”
“环游世界，过着奢华的生活，”马龙说，“杰拉尔德和他们分道扬镳了，因为他们知道真相。但当他回到这里时，他决定把他们排除在外。罗斯代尔公墓里已经有一个坟墓，上面有一块石头，刻着‘杰拉尔德·图伊兹’和日期。坟墓是空的——可能是因为他没有机会把迈克尔·文宁的尸体放进去。这些年来，尸体一直留在枫树公园的那个坟墓里。但他回来后的第一件事就是转移尸体。”
“Traveling around the world, living on the fat of the land,” Malone said. “Gerald split with them, because they knew the truth. But when he came back here he decided to cut them out. There already was a grave in Rosedale cemetery with a stone marked ‘Gerald Tuesday’ and the dates. The grave was empty—probably because he didn’t have a chance to put Michael Venning’s body in it. The body stayed in that grave out in Maple Park all those years. But his first act when he came back was to transfer it.”
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“但是，”海伦说，然后停顿了一下。“一开始立那个墓碑的目的是什么呢？”
“But.” Helene said, and paused. “What was the idea of the gravestone in the first place?”
“必须有某种方式来解释两个男人从东方来到这里，却只有一个回去的事实，”马龙说，“当杰拉尔德·图伊兹决定成为迈克尔·文宁时，他立了一块石头，标志着杰拉尔德·图伊兹的死亡。”
“There had to be some way to account for the fact that two men came here from the Orient and only one went back,” Malone said. “When Gerald Tuesday decided to bee Michael Venning, he put up a stone marking the death of Gerald Tuesday.”
他停下来重新点着雪茄。“他认为，一旦他让认识真正的迈克尔·文宁的芝加哥人接受了他，并且把真正的迈克尔的尸骨重新埋葬在罗斯代尔的坟墓里，他的兄弟们就不敢叫嚷了。但他不知道他们的执着。”他看着莫娜。“你帮了他们多少忙？”
He paused to relight his cigar. “He figured that once he’d gotten Chicagoans who’d known the real Michael Venning to accept him, and reburied the real Michael’s bones in the Rosedale grave, his brothers wouldn’t dare yelp. But he didn’t know their persistence.” He looked at Mona. “How much did you help them?”
“我把他们送到你那里，”莫娜说，“带着证据。”她突然停了下来。“现在它在哪里？”
“I sent them to you,” Mona said, “with the proof.” She stopped suddenly. “Where is it now?”
“我正坐在它上面。”杰克出人意料地说。他从自己身下抽出那个大的牛皮纸信封，递给马龙。“州街汽车站的 114 号行李寄存柜。”
“I’m sitting on it,” Jake said unexpectedly. He pulled the big manila envelope out from under him and handed it to Malone.
马龙抽出一小把信，边缘已经褪色发黄，他匆匆浏览了一遍。
Malone drew out a small handful of letters, faded and yellowed around the edges, and glanced through them hurriedly.
“这些就足够了。”他轻声说。他把信递给杰克和海伦。“这些是写给当时在新加坡的乔治·图伊兹的信，真正的迈克尔·文宁和杰拉尔德来到这里的时候。有些是文宁写的，讨论他们要参与的生意的安排，并提到杰拉尔德和他在一起。有一封——我没有仔细读，但我了解得够多了——是杰拉尔德写的，暗示会有一个更令人满意的安排，并要求乔治留在新加坡处理那里的事情。最后的关键证据是文宁死后杰拉尔德写的一封信，在信中他要求乔治为他以迈克尔·文宁的新身份回到东方铺平道路。”
“This would have done it,” he said quietly. He handed them to Jake and Helene. “Letters to George Tuesday who was in Singapore at the time the real Michael Venning and Gerald came over here. Some are from Venning discussing arrangements of the business they were to go into and referring to the fact that Gerald was with him. One—I didn’t read it closely but I gathered enough—is from Gerald, hinting that a more satisfactory arrangement would be made and asking George to stay in Singapore to handle things there. The final clincher is a letter written after Venning’s death in which Gerald asked George to pave the way for his return to the Orient in his new character of Michael Venning.”
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莫娜·麦克莱恩说：“那个我们以为是杰拉尔德·图伊兹的人来到这里找文宁先生。他不在。当那个人说他叫杰拉尔德·图伊兹时，我把他叫进来，告诉他我知道真相。我建议他把证据放在一个安全的地方，然后去找你充当中间人。我知道如果文宁——那个假文宁——发现他的兄弟在这里，就会发生谋杀。然后警察就会被叫来，一切都会暴露——你明白吗？但我想如果把你牵扯进这件事，你就能处理任何出现的情况。”
Mona McClane said, “The man we knew as Gerald Tuesday came here asking for Mr. Venning. He was out. When the man said his name was Gerald Tuesday, I called him in and told him that I knew the truth. I advised him to put his proof in a safe place and go to you to act as intermediary. I knew that if Venning—the false Venning—discovered that his brother were here, there would be murder done. Then the police would be called in, everything would e out—you see? But I thought that if you had been drawn into the affair, you could handle anything that came up.”
“谢谢。”马龙说。他的耳垂有点红。
“Thanks,” Malone said. The tips of his ears were pink.
“另一个图伊兹——第一个被杀的那个——出去找你。顺便说一下，我说我以前从没见过他是实话。我只见过那个我们以为是杰拉尔德的人。新年前夜，文宁——我想不出别的称呼——看到了他的兄弟，然后跟踪他。”
“The other Tuesday—the one who was killed first—went out looking for you. By the way, I was telling the truth when I said I never saw him before. I only saw the one we knew as Gerald. New Year’s Eve, Venning—I can’t think to call him anything else—saw his brother and trailed him.”
“是的，一定是这样。”马龙说，“他跟踪第一个图伊兹到一个小巷里的偏僻地方，然后刺了他。然后图伊兹活了足够长的时间找到我，把钥匙给了我。第二个图伊兹临死前的举动是试图给我打电话。他们想让我找到那个储物柜和里面的东西，为他们的死报仇。那些家伙很顽强。”
“Yes, it must have been that way,” Malone said. “He trailed the first Tuesday to some lonely spot in an alley and stabbed him. Then Tuesday lived just long enough to find me and give me that key. The second Tuesday’s dying act was to try to telephone me. They wanted me to find that locker and its contents, and avenge their deaths. They were a hardy bunch, those boys.”
“新年前夜之后，”莫娜·麦克莱恩接着说，“那个我以为是杰拉尔德·图伊兹的人来找我，想通过勒索的方式进入我家。那时他知道我在试图保护伊迪莎，他威胁要把整个故事告诉警察。我警告他那个假文宁已经犯了一起谋杀罪，不会对再犯一起有丝毫犹豫——但他说他愿意冒这个险。好吧，他冒了这个险。”
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“After New Year’s Eve,” Mona McClane went on, “the man I knew as Gerald Tuesday came to me, to blackmail his way into my house. He knew, then, that I was trying to protect Editha, and he threatened to tell the whole story to the police. I warned him that the false Venning had done one murder and wouldn’t hesitate at a second—but he said he’d take his chance on that. Well, he took it.”
马龙说：“你还有别的原因。你不能告诉我你这么容易就被勒索了。”
Malone said, “You had some other reason, too. You can’t tell me you can be blackmailed that easy.”
她微微一笑。“我想如果图伊兹实施他的计划来到这里，他的兄弟会杀了他。那可能会给我实现我的计划的机会，就像今天发生的一样。”
She smiled faintly. “I thought that if Tuesday carried out his plan and came here, his brother would murder him. That might give me the opportunity to carry out my plans that it did give me—today.”
“不管怎么说，最后结果还不错。”马龙温柔地说，“好了，事情就这样了。第一个和第二个图伊兹的谋杀案——对年轻的麦克劳林的谋杀未遂，因为凶手担心他知道真相——那个敞开的坟墓。”他重新点着雪茄。“那个假文宁来到这里后的第一个举动可能就是挖出真正的迈克尔·文宁的遗体并处理掉。”他对伊迪莎·文宁微笑。“你出现找坟墓的时候让杰克吓了一跳。”
“It turned out all right in the end, anyway,” Malone said gently. “Well, that does it up. The murders of the first and second Tuesdays—the attempted murder of young McLaurin because the murderer feared he knew the truth—the open grave.” He relit his cigar. “The false Venning’s first move when he arrived here was probably to dig up the remains of the real Michael Venning and dispose of them.” He smiled at Editha Venning. “You gave Jake a bad moment when you turned up looking for the grave.”
“还有人让我更害怕。”杰克说，“那一定是第二个迈克尔·文宁在树林里向我开枪。或者他只是在安静地进行一点射击练习？”
“Somebody else gave me a much worse moment,” said Jake. “That must have been Michael Venning the Second shooting at me out in the woods. Or was he just having a little quiet target practice?”
伊迪莎淡淡地笑了笑。“在那里看到你我真的松了一口气。我确定迈克尔跟踪了我。你是一种保护。我没意识到他有多绝望。他一定认为那个敞开的坟墓会是一个明显的线索。”
Editha smiled wanly. “I was so relieved to see you out there. I was sure Michael had followed me. You were protection. I hadn’t realized how desperate he was. He must have thought the open grave would be a dead giveaway.”
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杰克叹了口气。“我想我失去了我最欣赏我的观众，那个唯一认为我是个策划大师的人。”
Jake sighed. “I guess I’ve lost my most appreciative audience, the only person who ever thought I was a mastermind.”
莫娜·麦克莱恩说：“我们都来喝一杯吧。”
Mona McClane said, “Let’s all have a drink.”
马龙看着他手里的信。“我想我们不再需要这些了。”他把信放在火里。一道耀眼的火焰照亮了房间，然后又熄灭了。小律师抬头看着彭德利·泰德韦尔。“你最好也把那张照片给我——就是你昨晚在文宁房间里拍的那张。不管怎么说，你当时在哪里？”
Malone looked at the letters in his hand. “I don’t think we need these any longer,” he said. He laid them in the fire. A brilliant blaze lighted the room and died down again. The little lawyer looked up at Pendley Tidewell. “You’d better give me that picture, too—the one you took in Venning’s room last night. Where were you, anyway?”
“在床底下。”年轻人温顺地说。“自从他来到这里我就一直想给他拍张照片。昨天我弄到了一个那种灯，在他的房间里安装好，然后藏在那里。我想我可以在他不知道的情况下给他拍张照片。然后伊迪莎阿姨进来开始四处窥探。我给她拍了一张，就在那时他从衣柜里出来，给了她一拳，然后从门跑出去，顺着那个侧楼梯下去了。但我给他拍了几张照片。”
“Under the bed,” the young man said meekly. “I’d been trying to get a picture of him ever since he got here. Yesterday I got one of those lamps and rigged it up in his room and hid there. I figured I could get a picture of him without his knowing it. Then Aunt Editha came in and began prowling around. I took one of her, and just then he came out of the wardrobe and bopped her one and ducked out the door and down that side stairway. But I got a couple of pictures of him.”
“如果我们需要任何证据的话……”马龙说。他叹了口气。“把它们扔进壁炉里，孩子。”
“If we’d needed any proof—” Malone said. He sighed. “Toss them in the fireplace, son.”
彭德利·泰德韦尔似乎快要哭了。“但是，天哪。它们是我拍过的最好的照片。”
“Pendley Tidewell seemed on the verge of tears. “But gosh. They’re the first good pictures I ever took.”
杰克说：“没关系。我会安排让你偷拍一张凯利市长的照片。你以前从没有机会给市长拍照。”
Jake said, “Never mind. I’ll fix it so you can get a candid-camera shot of Mayor Kelly. You never had a chance to photograph a mayor before.”
壁炉里又燃起一团火焰。
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A second blaze sprang up in the fireplace.
“你在那个房间里找什么？”马龙问伊迪莎·文宁。“现在这已经不重要了。”
“What were you looking for in that room?” Malone asked Editha Venning. “Not that it matters now.”
“我知道迈克尔——杰拉尔德——谋杀了他的兄弟们。我想他一定拿回了他们掌握的关于欺骗的证据。所以当我以为他昨晚要离开的时候，我给怀特小姐——怀特先生——下了药，然后去搜查那个房间。但他起了疑心，比我先到了那里。”
“I knew Michael—Gerald—had murdered his brothers. I figured he must have gotten back the proof they had of the deception. So when I thought he was going to be away last night, I doped Miss White—Mr. White—and went to search the room. But he suspected something was up, and got there ahead of me.”
“你做得很好，”杰克说，“他显然计划去枫树公园，去把坟墓填上，把罗斯·麦克劳林简单地放进去的坟墓。如果你没有拖延他，我们可能就得在那时那地和他枪战了，而我们唯一的武器是一瓶黑麦威士忌。”
“A good thing you did,” Jake said. “He evidently planned to go out to Maple Park and fill in the grave where he’d so conveniently placed Ross McLaurin. If you hadn’t delayed him, we might have had to shoot it out with him right then and there, and the only weapon we had was a bottle of rye.”
“这让我想起了一件事，”马龙说，“卢·怀特——我说得对吗？文宁在你来到这个国家的时候雇了他，让他留意你，以防万一，却没有告诉他到底是怎么回事？”
“That reminds me,” Malone said. “Lou White—am I right that Venning engaged him when you got to this country, to keep an eye on you, just in case, without telling him what it was all about?”
伊迪莎·文宁点了点头。“我不知道他跟怀特说了什么——但那不是真相。”
Editha Venning nodded. “I don’t know what he told White—but it wasn’t the truth.”
“好的，”律师说，“我警告过怀特要一字不差地告诉警察我告诉他的话，他现在正在这么做。我威胁他说如果他不这么做，我就告诉纽约的每一个私家侦探卢·怀特会织毛衣。”
“O.K.,” the lawyer said. “I warned White to tell the police exactly what I told him, and he’s doing it now. I threatened that if he didn’t, I’d tell every private dick in New York that Lou White knew how to knit.”
在鸡尾酒桌周围出现了一阵短暂而愉快的混乱。混乱中，女仆突然出现并宣布：“医院刚刚打来电话。麦克劳林先生恢复了意识，正在找艾伦小姐。”
There was a brief and pleasant confusion around the cocktail table. In the midst of it the maid suddenly appeared and announced, “The hospital just called. Mr. McLaurin is conscious and asking for Miss Allen.”
原名安杰洛的洛特斯·艾伦说了声“谢谢”，几乎在她的声音消失之前就离开了房间。
Lotus Allen, nee Angelo, said “Thank you,” and was out of the room almost before the sound of her voice had died away.
莫娜·麦克莱恩的眼睛里闪着光。“这会很有趣。这房子里好几年都没有举行过婚礼了。”她停顿了一下，微笑着说：“虽然这里似乎什么都发生过！”
A light came into Mona McClane’s eyes. “It’s going to be fun. There hasn’t been a wedding in the house in years.” She paused, smiled. “Though there does seem to have been everything else!”