“闭嘴。”海伦说，“继续，罗斯。他说了什么？”

“Shut up,” Helene said. “Go on, Ross. What did he say?”

“他说那就是他要找的人。”

“He says that was the man he was looking for.”

“看，”马龙得意洋洋地说，“我就说吧。”

“See,” Malone said triumphantly. “I told you so.”

这一次海伦没理他。罗斯·麦克劳林也没理他，现在他全神贯注地讲着自己的故事。

This time Helene ignored him. So did Ross McLaurin, now absorbed in the telling of his story.

“我说，‘我帮你找他。’他说，‘太好了。’于是我喝了一杯，然后我们一起走了出去。有一首非常好听的歌就叫这个名字。”他决定唱这首歌。“我们将一起漫步……”

“I said, ‘I’ll help you look for him.’ He said, ‘Fine,’ so I had a drink and out we went. Together. There’s a very good song with that for a title.” He decided to sing it. “We’ll stroll along—together—”

杰克说：“听着，罗斯。别唱了。你还记得除夕夜你发生了什么事吗？”

Jake said, “Listen, Ross. Skip that. Do you remember what happened to you on New Year’s Eve?”

小主，

“除夕夜？我永远不会忘记。我当时在黑豹厅和……”

“New Year’s Eve? I’ll never forget it. I was at the Panther Room with—”

“现在不是了。”海伦说，“你现在和一个当晚晚些时候被杀的男人在一起，在找一个叫马龙的律师。”

“Not now you aren’t,” Helene said. “You’re out with a man who was killed later that night, looking for a lawyer named Malone.”

“是啊。”罗斯·麦克劳林说，“我们去了某个酒吧。在那里喝了几杯，他向酒保打听一个人。我想他叫马龙。”

“So I was,” Ross McLaurin said. “We went to some bar. Had a couple of drinks there while he asked the bartender for some man. Malone, I think his name was.”

“那就是我。”马龙说。没人听到他说话。

“That’s me,” Malone said. No one heard him.

“我又停下来喝了一杯，这个家伙——我不知道他是谁——没等我就走了。这让我很生气。他走了把我丢下，而我只是想帮他找一个人——想不起来他叫什么了。”

“I stopped for one more drink and this chap—don’t know who he was—went on without me. That made me mad. He’d gone off and left me, and I was only trying to help him find some chap—can’t think of his name.”

“马龙。”律师说。

“Malone,” the lawyer said.

“对，马龙。不寻常的名字。不管怎么说，我很生气。所以我就出去找他。看到他走进街那头的一个酒吧。在那里追上了他，我对他说，‘听着，我认识一个叫马龙的律师。很乐意帮你找到他。’他根本不理我。表现得好像他觉得我喝多了，不知道自己在干什么。就那么走了，把我丢在那里。我很生气。所以我喝完酒就去追他。我只是想帮忙，可这家伙对我一点都不礼貌。”

“That’s it, Malone. Unusual name. Anyway, I was mad. So I went out after him. Saw him going in barroom up the street. Caught up with him there and I said to him, ‘Look here, I know a lawyer named Malone. Be glad to help you find him,’ He didn’t pay any attention to me. Acted as though he thought I’d been drinking and didn’t know what I was doing. Just walked off and left me there. I was mad. So I finished my drink and went after him. Only wanted to help, and chap wasn’t even civil to me.”

“真想不到。”海伦同情地说。她把鸡骨头扔向废纸篓。“那你怎么办了？”

“Imagine that,” Helene said sympathetically. She threw the chicken bone at the wastebasket. “So what did you do?”

“我一直跟着他。去了不同的地方。还在找这个马龙。我想那个时候他应该已经厌倦了。不记得他去了哪些地方。也不记得花了多长时间。”突然他停了下来，呼吸半窒。“还有别的事情。”有那么一瞬间，他看起来完全清醒了。“但我想不起来是什么。很可怕的事情。我想不起来了。一切都混在一起了。我记得跟着一个人去了很多不同的地方，因为他在找一个叫马龙的人，而我听说过一个叫马龙的人，进进出出那些地方，还有街上的雪，还有一些很可怕的事情，但我想不起来是什么，就这些。一切都混在一起了，我也不记得什么时候发生了什么。”他深深地吸了口气，浑身颤抖，把脸埋在双手里，说了些听起来像“妈妈！”的话。过了一会儿，他又抬起头来。“我想不起来了。”

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“I kept after him. Went different places. Still looking for this Malone. Think he’d have been tired of it by that time. Can’t remember what places he went. Can’t remember how long it took.” Suddenly he paused breath half indrawn. “There’s something else too.” For another brief moment, he seemed entirely sober. “But I can’t think what it was. Something ghastly. I can’t remember it. Everything gets mixed up. I remember following some man to a lot of different places because he was looking for someone named Malone, and I’d heard of someone named Malone, and going in and out of places and the snow out on the street and something that was terrible but I can’t think what it was, and that’s all. And it’s all mixed up and I can’t remember what happened when.” He drew a long, shuddering breath, buried his face in his hands, and said something that sounded like “Mamma!” After a while he looked up again. “I can’t remember.”