Jake stared gloomily at his omelet. “That damned woman!”
“海伦？”
“Helene?”
“不，莫娜?麦克莱恩。昨天我查了从她下那个赌注那天起到现在的所有凶杀案。” 他从口袋里掏出一张脏兮兮皱巴巴的纸。“有十一宗。其中两宗我们知道。五宗可以排除，因为凶手已经被抓住了 —— 都是些抢劫和酒馆斗殴之类的常规案件。剩下的四宗里，一宗是在第四十一大街附近的一条小巷里发现的一个黑人，喉咙被割断了，一宗是一个叫奥斯卡?佐特克的洗衣店司机，他被从卡车上拖下来打了一顿，另外两宗是新年夜被刺伤的那个身份不明的人和图伊兹先生。” 他把单子放回口袋里。
“No, Mona McClane. Yesterday I checked up on all the homicides between the day she made that bet and the present.” He drew a soiled and wrinkled paper from his pocket. “There were eleven. Two of those we know about. Five can be checked off because the slayers have been picked up—routine stuff like stickups and tavern brawls. Of the remaining four, one is a Negro found up an alley off 41st Street, with his throat cut, one is a laundry driver named Oscar Zaudtke who was dragged from his truck and slugged, and the other two were your unidentified guy who was stabbed on New Year’s Eve and Mr. Tuesday.” He put the list back in his pocket.
“我怀疑莫娜?麦克莱恩既没有割断那个黑人的喉咙，也没有打那个洗衣店司机。” 马龙说。“你的单子不太有希望。”
“I doubt if Mona McClane cut the Negro’s throat or slugged the laundry driver,” Malone said. “Your list isn’t very promising.”
杰克叹了口气，从煎蛋卷上切下一平方英寸，用叉子叉起来，又放了下去。“我最后提到的那两个人会很有希望，只是他们不符合赌注的条件。”
Jake sighed, cut a square inch off his omelet, picked it up on his fork, and put it down again. “Those two I named last would be very promising, only they don’t conform to the terms of the bet.”
“在公共街道上被枪杀，有很多目击者。” 马龙喃喃地说。
“Shot down in the public streets, with plenty of witnesses,” Malone murmured.
“目击者！” 杰克把煎蛋卷推到一边，一了百了。“那两个人。那个身份不明的人和图伊兹先生。我现在知道他们是谁以及他们为什么死了。”
“Witnesses!” Jake shoved the omelet to one side, once and for all. “Those two guys. The unidentified one and Tuesday. I know now who they were and why they died.”
马龙被咖啡呛到了。“我希望人们别吓我。好吧，他们是谁？”
Malone strangled on his coffee. “I wish people wouldn’t startle me. All right, who were they?”
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“他们 —— 是目击者！” 杰克得意洋洋地说。
“They—were the witnesses!” Jake said triumphantly.
“也许我就是迟钝，但我不明白。”
“Maybe I’m just backward, but I don’t get it.”
“莫娜按照规定实施了她的谋杀。这两个人目睹了一切。然后他们开始敲诈她，或者威胁要揭发她，所以她不得不除掉他们。”
“Mona mitted her murder according to specifications. These two guys witnessed it. Then they started blackmailing her, or threatening to expose her, and she had to do them in.”
“一个很不错的想法，” 马龙说，“但是最初的尸体在哪里呢？”
“A very pretty notion,” Malone said, “but where’s the original corpse?”
“该死，我不知道，” 杰克生气地说，“也许还没被发现呢。”
“Damn it, I don’t know,” Jake said angrily. “Maybe it hasn’t been discovered yet.”
“一场按照赌注规定在公共场合进行的谋杀，而尸体还躺在那里没被发现？”
“A murder done right out in public, as the bet specified, and the corpse still lying around undiscovered?”
“尸体可以被转移，目击者可以被收买。”
“A corpse can be moved, and witnesses can be bribed.”
“随你便吧，” 律师疲倦地说，“你要做的就是在芝加哥地区寻找一具失踪的、身份不明的尸体。也许你最好也去密尔沃基和加里查一查。赌注里可没规定地点。”
“Suit yourself,” the lawyer said wearily. “All you have to do is search the Chicago area for a lost and unknown corpse. Maybe you’d better check up on Milwaukee too, and Gary. There weren’t any specifications about locale.”
杰克愁眉苦脸地看着他，沉默了一会儿。“马龙，你的两百块钱你需要拿回去一些吗？”
Jake looked at him gloomily and was silent for a moment. “Malone, do you need any of your two hundred bucks back?”
“现在不用。” 马龙说，“你需要钱吗？”
“Not right away.” Malone said. “Need any dough?”
“不。我以为你可能需要呢。昨天我在查本地的凶杀案的时候，和一些《时报》的摄影师玩了一局掷骰子游戏。”
“No. I thought you might. While I was checking up on the local homicides yesterday, I got into a crap game with some Times photographers.”
“我一大早就受够了，” 马龙生气地说，“吃完你的早餐，让我安静一会儿。”
“I’ve had all I can stand this early in the morning,” Malone said crossly. “Finish your breakfast and leave me in peace.”
杰克沉默了两分钟，然后说：“嘿，今天早上报纸上有一条有趣的消息。昨晚有个人的车被偷了。有人给警察打了个假电话，说在南区很远的地方看到了那辆车。”
Jake was silent for two minutes and then said, “Say, there was a funny item in the paper this morning. Some guy had his car stolen last night. A phony call went in to the police reporting it seen way down on the south side.”
小主，
“那没什么，” 马龙说，“每当有车在警方广播中被报失窃，就会有六七个怪人打电话来说他们看到了那辆车。”
“That’s nothing,” Malone said. “Whenever a car is reported stolen on the police radio, there’s half a dozen calls from cranks who think they saw it.”
“是的，但是等一下。那个打虚假电话的人说他的名字是杰拉尔德?图伊兹。”