马龙探案卷四 之 正确的凶案 七
到了人行道上，杰克说：“如果我自夸的话，这是一件非常漂亮的工作。不知怎么的，冯?弗拉纳根现在认为你不认识那个被谋杀的人。”
Out on the sidewalk, Jake said, “A very nice piece of work, if I do say so myself. Somehow von Flanagan now thinks you didn’t know the murdered man.”
“一个很棒的故事。” 马龙咕哝道。“可惜不是真的。”
“A swell story,” Malone grunted. “Too bad it wasn’t the truth.”
“你怎么知道不是真的？”
“How do you know it isn’t?”
律师摇了摇头。“我不认识那个被谋杀的人，但他确实认识我。在来这儿的路上，那个胖脸的克鲁切茨基在车里，我没法告诉你这件事，但是 ——” 他把钥匙的事告诉了杰克。“酒吧里有十或十二个人。当这个人进来大喊‘马龙’的时候，每个人都转过身来。他没注意其他人，直接朝我走来，把钥匙塞进了我手里。”
The lawyer shook his head. “I didn’t know the murdered man, but he knew me all right. I couldn’t tell you this on the way down here, with that fat-faced Kluchetsky in the car, but—” He told Jake the story of the key. “There were ten or twelve people at the bar. When this guy came in and hollered ‘Malone,’ everybody turned around. He didn’t pay any attention to anybody else, he headed straight for me and slipped the key into my hand.”
“那并不意味着他以前见过你。” 杰克说。“派他来找你的人可能说过，‘这个马龙是个矮胖的家伙，有点小肚子，衣领脏脏的，嘴里叼着一支雪茄，还有一块秃的地方。’”
“That doesn’t mean he ever saw you before,” Jake said. “Whoever sent him to look for you probably said, ‘This Malone is a short fat guy, with a small paunch, a dirty collar, a cigar in his mouth, and a bald spot.’”
“你闭嘴。” 马龙咆哮道。“那是一块非常小的秃的地方。”
“You shut your trap,” Malone growled. “It’s a damned small bald spot.”
“不管怎样，” 杰克说，“冯?弗拉纳根这个月剩下的时间都会忙着调查你在城里认识的所有骗子。那会让他不再缠着你。你应该感激我。”
“Anyway,” Jake said, “von Flanagan’s going to be busy for the rest of the month checking up on all the crooks you know in town. That’ll keep him off your tail. You ought to be grateful to me.”
“当然，” 马龙说，“除非他抓到那个杀人的家伙。”
“Sure,” Malone said, “unless he runs down the one who did the killing.”
“我觉得他不会。在我看来，这起谋杀不像是犯罪的活儿。”
“I don’t think he will. This murder doesn’t look to me like the work of a criminal.”
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“谋杀也是一种犯罪。” 律师提醒他。
“Murder is a crime too,” the lawyer reminded him.
“我说的是职业犯罪。我觉得这个杀手不是。”
“I’m talking about professional criminals. I don’t think this killer was one.”
“我也不这么认为，而且我也不在乎他是谁。尽管如此，我愿意出五分钱知道谁拿着那把钥匙，也许出十分钱把它拿回来。”
“Neither do I,” Malone said, “and I don’t care who he was. Just the same, I’d give a nickel to know who has that key, and maybe two nickels to get it back.”
“为什么？”
“Why?”
“因为，首先，如果我留下来，我可能会因此得到一个客户，其次，因为如果我真的卷入其中，我想知道发生了什么。” 他环顾四周，看到一家药店，然后说：“来吧，我想打个电话。”
“Because, in the first place, if I stick around I may get a client out of this, and because, in the second place, if I do get involved I want to know what goes on.” He looked around, spotted a drugstore, and said, “Come on, I want to telephone.”
他给第一区警察局打电话，和一个叫安迪的人交谈，显然是个老朋友，得知在乔天使酒吧把他带走的警察叫奥斯卡?基克和乔?马尔卡希，而且两人今天下午都不当班。他站着想了一会儿这两个名字，最后又往电话里投了一枚硬币，然后打给马克斯?胡克。
He telephoned to the first-district police station, talked to someone named Andy, apparently an old friend, and learned that the policemen who had picked him up in Joe the Angel’s bar were named Oscar Kieck and Joe Mulcahey, and that both were off duty this afternoon. He stood thinking over both names for a moment, finally dropped another slug into the phone and called Max Hook.
“你好，朋友。你的三百块钱拿回来了吧？那很好。哦，当然，当然，我知道我不用着急，但我有钱了，我想我还是把它还了吧。这次我是来打听消息的。你知道一个叫奥斯卡?基克的警察吗？” 长时间的停顿。“你不知道，是吧。那乔?马尔卡希呢？” 较短的停顿。“这还差不多。听着，朋友，我得从马尔卡希那里套出一些个人信息，我想确定他会告诉我。” 非常长的停顿，其间偶尔穿插着 “嗯哼” 和 “真没想到”。
“Hello, chum. Did your three hundred bucks get back O. K.? That’s good. Oh sure, sure, I knew I didn’t have to hurry, but I had the dough and I thought I might as well get it paid up. This time I’m after information. Know anything about a cop named Oscar Kieck?” A long pause. “You don’t, huh. How about a Joe Mulcahey?” A shorter pause. “That’s more like it. Look, chum, I’ve got to pry some personal information out of Mulcahey and I’d like to make sure he’ll give it to me.” A very long pause punctuated by occasional “uh-huhs” and “you-don’t-say-sos.”
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当小律师挂了电话，他翻了翻电话簿，记下一个地址，然后说：“我们去拜访一下这个马尔卡希家伙。” 杰克还没来得及回答，他就叫了一辆出租车。
When the little lawyer hung up, he thumbed through the phone book, noted down an address, and said, “Let’s go call on this Mulcahey guy.” Before Jake could answer, he called a taxi.
警察马尔卡希住在林肯公园附近一家华丽的公寓式酒店里。马龙在电梯旁停了一会儿，羡慕地环顾了一下大厅，评论道：“靠警察的薪水能过得这么好，真不错！”
Policeman Mulcahey lived in an ornate apartment hotel near Lincoln Park. Malone paused for a moment by the elevator to gaze admiringly around the lobby and ment, “Wonderful to be able to manage all this on a policeman’s salary!”
杰克说：“也许你应该先给他打个电话。”
Jake said, “Maybe you ought to phone up to him first.”
“也许我应该这么做，” 马龙表示同意，“但我不打算这么做。” 他在服务台前停下来，说：“马尔卡希先生在 1217 房间，对吗？”
“Maybe I should,” Malone agreed, “but I’m not going to.” He stopped by the desk and said, “Mr. Mulcahey is in room 1217, isn’t he?”
“不，先生，” 服务员摇摇头说，“是 1102 房间。”
“No sir,” the clerk said, shaking his head. “It’s 1102.”
“谢谢。” 马龙说着，把杰克推向电梯。
“Thanks,” Malone said, pushing Jake toward the elevator.
1102 号公寓在大楼的前面。马龙用力敲了敲门，等了很长时间。最后一个男人的声音喊道：“谁啊？”
Apartment 1102 was at the front of the building. Malone pounded on the door and waited a long time. Finally a masculine voice called, “Who’s there?”
马龙又敲了敲门，说：“快点，乔，开门。”
Malone knocked again and said, “Come on, Joe, open the door.”
有一阵低语声，可能是 “这是怎么回事”，门开了，一个穿着蓝色丝绸睡衣和深红色晨衣的高个子男人盯着他们。
There was a murmur that might have been, “What the hell” the door opened, and a tall man dressed in blue silk pajamas and a dark-red dressing gown stared at them.
“你认识我，对吧？” 马龙说。
“You know me, don’t you?” Malone said.