“别想了。”杰克轻声说。

“Don’t try,” Jake said quietly.

沉默了很久之后，海伦温柔地说：“你需要的，罗斯，是一杯酒。”

After a very long silence, Helene said gently, “What you need, Ross, is a drink.”

他感激地看着她。“没错。也许我们最好出去找一杯。”

He looked at her gratefully. “That’s right. Maybe we’d better go out and get one.”

海伦看了看梳妆台上的一排瓶子，说：“也许我们最好就呆在这儿。”她拿起那瓶老乌鸦威士忌递给他。“罗斯，杰拉尔德·图伊兹被杀那天发生了什么？”

Helene glanced at the array of bottles on the bureau and said, “Maybe we’d better stay right here.” She picked up the bottle of Old Crow and handed it to him. “Ross, what happened the day Gerald Tuesday was murdered?”

他的眼睛亮了起来。“我记得。那不是很久以前的事。有个叫图伊兹的人。还有一些关于一个叫马龙的人的事情。”

A light came into his eyes. “I remember. That wasn’t very long ago. There was this man Tuesday. And something about some man named Malone.”

“那就是我。”小律师无力地说。

“That’s me,” the little lawyer said feebly.

年轻人转向海伦。“真有趣，有这么多人叫马龙。”

The young man turned to Helene. “Funny how many men there are named Malone.”

这章没有结束，请点击下一页继续阅读！

“这可不仅仅是有趣。”海伦严肃地说。“图伊兹先生在找一个叫马龙的人吗？”

“Funny is no word for it,” Helene said grimly. “Was Mr. Tuesday looking for a Malone?”

“对。我一个人在房间里。喝了一点酒。孤零零的，甚至没人关心我在哪里。有人敲我的门。一个男人走了进来。说他叫杰拉尔德·图伊兹。在找电话簿。他说，‘很抱歉打扰你，老兄，我在找一本电话簿。’”罗斯·麦克劳林停顿了一下，渴望地说，“哪里能找到最好的酒？”

“That’s it. I was all alone in my room. Been drinking a little. All alone, nobody even cared where I was. Somebody knocked on my door. Man came in. Said his name was Gerald Tuesday. Looking for telephone book. He said, ‘I’m sorry to trouble you, old man, but I’m looking for a telephone book.’” Ross McLaurin paused and said wistfully, “Where’s the best place to get a drink?”

“就在这儿。”杰克赶紧说，又把瓶子递给他。“你有电话簿吗？”

“Right here,” Jake said hastily, handing him the bottle again. “Did you have a telephone book?”

他点点头。“我当然有电话簿。怎么，你想要一本吗？不？嗯，这个人想要。我拿起电话簿说，‘你要找什么名字？很乐意帮你查一下。’他的表现就好像他觉得我喝醉了。这让我很生气。我说，‘你不认为我能在电话簿里找到一个名字吗？’他说他在找一个叫马龙的人。我说，‘真有趣，我认识一个叫马龙的人……’”

He nodded. “Sure I had a telephone book. Why, you want one? No? Well, this man did. I picked it up and said, ‘What name d’ya want? Be glad to look it up for you’ He acted as though he thought I was drunk. That made me mad. I said, ‘Don’t you think I can find a name in the telephone book?’ He said he was looking for a man named Malone. I said, ‘That’s funny, I know of a man named Malone—’”

海伦坚定地用一只手捂住马龙的嘴，说：“你帮他找到那个名字了吗？”

Helene put a hand firmly over Malone’s mouth and said, “Did you find the name for him?”

罗斯·麦克劳林用力地摇摇头。“他自己查了。说了声谢谢就走了。然后我坐下来喝了一杯，我开始思考。这个男人在找一个叫马龙的人。现在，很巧的是，在除夕夜我遇到了另一个也在找某个叫马龙的人。我跟你们说过这件事吗？”

Ross McLaurin shook his head vigorously. “He looked it up himself. Said thanks and went away. Then I sat down and had a drink and I got to thinking. Here this man was looking for a Malone. Now by a funny kind of coincidence on New Year’s Eve I’d met another man looking for some Malone. Did I tell you about that?”

本小章还未完，请点击下一页继续阅读后面精彩内容！

杰克和海伦异口同声地点点头。“你说过。”海伦严肃地说。

Jake and Helene nodded in unison. “You did,” Helene said grimly.

“没错，我想我是说过。嗯，不管怎么说，我开始思考这件事，然后得出结论，我最好把这件事告诉这个杰拉尔德·图伊兹。我不