马龙探案卷五 之 盛怒的审判七

黑暗中，河流变成了银灰色。马龙若有所思地凝视着它。

THE RIVER had turned silver gray in the darkness. Malone gazed at it reflectively.

“给我讲讲这些人。” 他最后说，“先从尸体开始。”

“Tell me about all these people,” he said at last, “and begin with the corpse.”

汤姆?伯罗斯舒服地坐在他的包装箱上。“已故的参议员杰拉尔德?佩维利于 1878 年出生在杰克逊县的一个农场。1885 年他在米勒溪镇的米勒镇学校上学 ——”

Tom Burrows settled himself fortably on his packing box. “The late Senator Gerald Peveley was born on a farm in Jackson County in 1878. He attended Miller township school at Miller’s Creek from 1885 -”

“别扯那些废话。” 小律师疲倦地说，“说重点。他的家庭、他的事业、他的性格和他的女人。”

“Skip the frills,” the little lawyer said wearily, “and get to the facts. His family, his business, his personality, and his women.”

“还有他的敌人。” 杰克补充道。

“And his enemies,” Jake added.

“他有相当多。” 年轻的新闻记者说。“我是说敌人，不是女人。据我所知，参议员过着无可指摘的生活。当然，在这样的小镇上你可以为所欲为。”

“He had plenty of those,” the young newspaperman said. “Enemies, I mean, not women. From all I ever knew, the Senator led a blameless life. Of course you can get away with plenty in a town like this.”

“我听到的关于小镇的情况可不是这样。” 马龙调皮地说。

“That isn’t the way I heard it about small towns,” Malone said coyly.

杰克哼了一声。“这说明你对小镇一无所知。我十五岁的时候 ——”

Jake snorted. “That shows what you know about it. Why when I was fifteen -”

“别管你的私生活。” 海伦甜甜地说。“你可以写信给多萝西?迪克斯谈谈。继续，汤姆。”

“Never mind your private life,” Helene said sweetly. “You can write to Dorothy Dix about it. Go on, Tom.”

“嗯，” 伯罗斯说，“参议员佩维利是个杰出的公民。在像杰克逊这样的地方，没有哪个前参议员有那么多钱还能不是杰出人物。如果他是个普通人，每个人都会公开地、毫不掩饰地恨他入骨。”

“Well,” Burrows said, “Senator Peveley was a prominent citizen. No ex-Senator, with that much dough, could be anything else in a place like Jackson. If he’d been an ordinary guy, everybody would have openly and admittedly hated his guts.”

“从我看到的他的样子，他可一点都不可爱。” 海伦大胆地说。

“He didn’t look exactly lovable,” Helene ventured, “from what I saw of him.”

这次是马龙问：“如果他那么不得人心，他到底是怎么当选参议员的？”

This time it was Malone who asked, “If he was so all-fired unpopular, how in the hell did he get elected Senator?”

“这很容易解释。” 汤姆?伯罗斯告诉他。“他在党内很受欢迎。他有很多钱可以捐给竞选活动，而且他出手大方。在整个候选人名单都顺利当选的时候，他被选为县财务主管，然后当他想竞选州财务主管的时候，党把他推了上去。最后他想竞选参议员，党说，‘哦，好吧，为什么不呢’，于是他就当选了。”

“That’s an easy one,” Tom Burrows told him. “He was popular with the party. He had plenty of money to contribute to campaign expenses, and he contributed with a lavish hand. He was elected county treasurer at a time when the whole ticket slid in, and then when he wanted to make it state treasurer, the party pushed him through. Finally he wanted to run for the Senate, and the party said, ‘Oh well, why the hell not,’ and there he was.

“而且，” 他接着说，“他有一定的演讲天赋，也有让自己成为公众英雄的本事。在他退出之前，他对党来说是个真正的财富。”

“Besides,” he went on, “he had a certain gift for oratory and for making a public hero of himself. He was a real asset to the party, until he quit.”

杰克说：“我想最终他只是厌倦了把自己当成一种财富。”

Jake said, “I suppose eventually he just got tired of making an asset of himself.”

“我刚写了一个很棒的白手起家的故事。” 汤姆?伯罗斯说。“从农场男孩到国会大厦，只需十步轻松课程。那全是胡说八道。参议员的老爸去世时留下了六七个农场。”

“I just wrote a swell rags-to-riches story,” Tom Burrows said. “Farm boy to Capitol, in ten easy lessons. It was a lot of baloney. The Senator’s old man left half a dozen farms when he kicked off.”

马龙眨了眨眼。“在我看来这仍然像是白手起家的故事。”

Malone blinked. “It still reads like rags to riches to me.”

“在这个国家，” 新闻记者说，“六七个农场意味着真正的财富。他去世的时候财富大概是那时的十倍，但那是亨利的功劳。亨利有真正的商业头脑。”

“In this country,” the newspaperman said, “half a dozen farms means real dough. He was worth about ten times that when he died, but that was Henry’s doing. Henry had the real business head.”

“对他来说不错。” 马龙说。“谁是亨利？”

“Nice for him,” Malone said. “Who’s Henry?”

“参议员的兄弟。他很不寻常。” 汤姆?伯罗斯停顿了一下。“哦，好吧，你可能会亲自见到他。亨利是个鳏夫，没有孩子。参议员有一个孩子，弗洛伦斯。她和年轻的地方检察官订了婚。”

“The Senator’s brother. He’s rather unusual.” Tom Burrows paused. “Oh well, you’ll probably meet him yourself. Henry’s a widower, no children. The Senator had one child, Florence. She’s engaged to the young D. A.”

“别给我讲年轻的爱情故事。” 马龙说。“我只想知道参议员被杀的时候法院二楼都有谁。” 他又说，“你可以把这叫做从几乎最底层卷入谋杀案。”

“Spare me the young love interest,” Malone said. “I just want to know who was on the second floor of the courthouse when the Senator got his.” He added, “You can call this getting in on murder on the next-to-the-ground floor.”

“别管我们是怎么卷入的。” 海伦说。“我们怎么脱身呢？”

“Never mind how you get in on it,” Helene said. “How do we get out of it?”

汤姆?伯罗斯再次开口时声音若有所思。“恐怕你得了解一下这个镇的历史。像这样的一个小镇全是暗流涌动。每个人都和其他人有亲戚关系，或者通过出生、教堂、商业关系、仇恨、爱情或者债务和其他人纠缠在一起。就拿今天在法院里的那群人来说吧。”

Tom Burrows’ voice was thoughtful when he spoke again. “You’ll have to take the town history, I’m afraid. A little town like this is all currents and crosscurrents. Everybody is related to everybody else, or entangled with everybody else through birth, church, or business affiliations, hatred, love affairs, or debts. Take that group up in the courthouse today.”

他停下来点了一支烟。“嗯，先从杰瑞?勒克斯通说起。他父亲是老勒克斯通法官，来自勒克斯通和阿普尔伯里事务所。大约十五年前曾是县法官。杰瑞的祖父也曾在这里当过勒克斯通法官。杰瑞是个聪明、讨人喜欢的年轻人，刚从法学院毕业不久。”

He paused to light a cigarette. “Well, starting out with Jerry Luckstone. His father is old Judge Luckstone, of Luckstone and Applebury. Was county judge about fifteen years ago. Jerry’s grandfather was a Judge Luckstone here, too. Jerry’s a bright, likable young man only recently out of law school.”

“他怎么当上地方检察官的？” 海伦问。“还是说你们在这里是从帽子里抽签选出来的？”

“How did he get to be district attorney?” Helene asked. “Or do you draw names out of a hat up here?”

“嗯，他被任命为助理是因为地方检察官是他家的朋友。然后老勒克斯通法官在县里有些权势，杰瑞是个聪明的年轻人，大家都喜欢他，所以几年后老地方检察官退出后他参加竞选并当选了。”

“Well, he was appointed assistant because the D. A. was a friend of the family. Then old Judge Luckstone is something of a power in county affairs, and Jerry’s a smart young boy and everybody likes him, so a couple of years later he ran for the office after the old D. O. dropped out, and got elected.”

“就这么简单！” 马龙钦佩地小声说。

“It’s as simple as that!” Malone murmured admiringly.

“杰瑞和弗洛伦斯?佩维利大约一个月前宣布订婚。” 汤姆接着说。“我听说参议员不太高兴，但他没有直接反对。在那之前杰瑞常和阿琳在一起，我想他偶尔也会和科拉?贝尔出去，但县里大多数男性都这样。”

“Jerry and Florence Peveley announced their engagement about a month ago,” Tom went on. “I understood the Senator wasn’t too pleased, but he didn’t e right out and object. Before that Jerry used to run around with Arlene, and I guess he used to go out with Cora Belle once in a while, but so did most of the male population of the county.”

“这有点《红字》的味道吗？” 海伦想知道。

“Is this a slight shade of the ‘scarlet letter’?” Helene wanted to know.

“哦，不，完全不是那样。科拉?贝尔 —— 她是弗洛姆夫人 —— 有点让人皱眉，但大家还是跟她说话。我听说她还在高中的时候就有点活泼。她在毕业前两个月退学跑去了密尔沃基，至少表面上是为了找份工作，当时引起了一点议论。后来有消息说她嫁给了一个叫弗洛姆的人。几年前她和他离了婚回到了这里，靠赡养费过得相当奢华。科拉?贝尔非常有趣。” 他最后那句话带着一丝怀念的语气。

“Oh no, nothing like that. Cora Belle - she’s Mrs. Fromm - is frowned on a little, but everybody is still speaking to her. I understand she was something of a lively girl when she was still in high school. There was a little talk when she quit two months before she was to graduate and ran off to Milwaukee, ostensibly, at least, to take some kind of job. Then sometime later news came that she had married a guy named Fromm. A few years ago she divorced him and came back here, and she’s living fairly lavishly on her alimony. Cora Belle’s a heluva lot of fun.” He said the last in a faintly reminiscent tone.

“我想我要和她谈谈这个案子。” 马龙热情地说。他又说，“除了可能在某个黑暗的乡村小路上有点暧昧之外，她和参议员有什么联系吗？”

“I think I’d like to discuss the case with her,” Malone said enthusiastically. He added, “Any link between her and the Senator, except possibly a little hanky-panky on some dark country lane?”

“据我所知没有。但她经常和埃伦?麦高恩的弟弟在一起，我听说那个老妇人一点也不喜欢。”

“Nothing I know about. But she runs around a lot with Ellen MacGowan’s younger brother, and I’ve heard that the old dame doesn’t like it a little bit.”

律师叹了口气。“我明白你说的暗流涌动是什么意思了。” 他疲倦地说。“这个麦高恩小姐怎么样？”

The lawyer sighed. “I see what you meant about currents and crosscurrents,” he said wearily. “How about this Miss MacGowan?”

“埃伦?麦高恩，” 新闻记者说，“就是大家所说的那种了不起的女人。她是银行的出纳员，学校董事会成员，图书馆委员会主席，还参加了几个妇女俱乐部。一个非常受尊敬的公民，而且很能干。”

“Ellen MacGowan,” the newspaperman said, “is what’s popularly known as a remarkable woman. She’s cashier of the bank, member of the school board, head of the library mittee, and belongs to a couple of women’s clubs. A highly respected citizen, and very capable.”

“我更喜欢我的女人有点无助，不要那么了不起。” 马龙说。

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