“I hope you’re right,” Helene said. “She’s a nice girl.”

马龙说：“他没有足够的证据把她提交大陪审团，他也知道这一点。他对是谁杀了那两个人的了解并不比我们多。问题是，”他沮丧地补充道，“他了解的跟我们差不多。”

Malone said, “He hasn’t enough evidence to hold her for the grand jury and he knows it. He doesn’t know any more about who murdered those two guys than we do. Trouble is,” he added gloomily, “he knows about as much.”

小主，

“马龙，会不会有人溜进房子杀了他然后又走了呢？”

“Malone, could anybody have slipped into the house and murdered him and gone away again?”

“除非他是从烟囱下去的，”律师说，“而且圣诞节已经过去十天了。”

“Not unless he went down the chimney,” the lawyer said. “And Christmas was over ten days ago.”

“那么要么是洛特斯，要么是卢埃拉·怀特，要么是罗斯·麦克劳林，要么是彭德利·泰德韦尔，要么是我杀了他。你选吧。”

“Then either Lotus or Louella White or Ross McLaurin or Pendley Tidewell or I murdered him. Take your pick.”

杰克皱着眉头看着他的杜松子酒。“你确定你经过他房门的时候他还活着吗？”

Jake scowled at his gin. “Are you sure he was alive when you passed his door?”

“肯定。而且，马龙知道他在给办公室打电话的时候还活着。”

“Positive. Besides, Malone knows he was alive when he telephoned his office.”

“没错，”马龙说，“这就把他的死亡时间精确到了分钟。玛吉总是把电话打进来的准确时间记下来；我们有时候发现这在伪造不在场证明的时候非常有用。是四点十九分。”

“That’s right,” Malone said. “That fixes the time of his death to the minute. Maggie always makes a note of the exact time when calls e in; we’ve found it damned useful sometimes in faking alibis. It was nineteen minutes after four.”

“在四点十九分的时候，”海伦说，“我在我的房间换衣服。罗斯在他的房间，冷得像条鱼。洛特斯——告诉我，马龙，如果她真的杀了他呢？”

“At nineteen minutes after four,” Helene said, “I was in my room changing my dress. Ross was in his room, cold as a fish. Lotus—tell me Malone, what if she did murder him?”

“暂时性精神错乱，”马龙说，向酒保挥了挥手，好像他是陪审团，“或者是自卫。别担心，我会处理好的。”

“Temporary insanity,” Malone said, waving to the bartender as though he were the jury, “or self-defense. Don’t worry, I’ll fix it up.”

“她可能在他来芝加哥之前就认识他。毕竟，我们只是听别人说除了莫娜·麦克莱恩之外，他对每个人来说都是完全陌生的。洛特斯可能是想对罗斯·麦克劳林隐瞒她的出身，这样她就能促成婚礼的钟声响起，而这个人知道她的一切，还威胁要泄露秘密。所以她刺了他。”

“She might have known him before he came to Chicago. After all, we only have people’s word for it that he was a perfect stranger to everyone except Mona McClane. Lotus might have been trying to keep her origin from Ross McLaurin so she could bring about wedding bells, and this guy knew all about her and threatened to spill the soup. So she stabbed him.”

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“她干得很利落。”马龙说。他喊道，“再来三杯小啤酒当配菜。”

“She did a nice neat job of it,” Malone said. He called, “Three small beers for chasers.”

海伦叹了口气。“马龙，你打算怎么处理她？”

“Helene, what are you going to do about her?”

“如果在此期间没什么事发生，明天就把她从监狱里弄出来。”

“Spring her from the can tomorrow, if nothing happens meanwhile.”

“然后呢？”

“And then?”

“然后我想我得在冯·弗拉纳根又因为什么事生气然后再次逮捕她之前找出真正的凶手。”他轮流看着杜松子酒和啤酒，决定用哪个来当配菜。“我先把她弄出来。然后我就往袖子上吐口唾沫，卷起袖子开始干活。”他停顿了一下。“是卷起袖子往手上吐唾沫。”

“Then I suppose I’ll have to find out who really did the stabbing before von Flanagan gets sore at something and arrests her again.” He looked alternately at the gin and the beer, deciding which to use as a chaser. “I’ll spring her first. Then I’ll just spit on my sleeves and roll up my hands and go to work.” He paused. “Roll on my hands and spit up my sleeves.”

“没关系。”海伦说，“我还是觉得第一次说的更好。那你不认为是她干的吗？”

“Never mind,” Helene said, “I liked it better the first time. Then you don’t think she did do it?”

“当然不。”马龙说，“我从来没这么想过。”他喝下杜松子酒，没去管啤酒。

“Hell no,” Malone said, “I’ve never thought so.” He downed the gin and ignored the beer.

“你一直忽略了卢埃拉·怀特。”杰克抱怨道。“我打赌她十岁之前就杀了半打人了。她没有得到足够的关注。她可能溜进那个人的房间，刺了他，然后又神不知鬼不觉地溜了出来。”