“你从哪儿学来的这招？” 马龙缓过气来后喘着气问。
“Where did you learn that trick?” Malone gasped when he recovered his breath.
“这没什么。” 海伦满不在乎地说，“而且当盒子根本没锁的时候就特别容易。”
“It was nothing,” Helene said airily. “And it’s particularly easy when the box simply isn’t locked.”
有那么一会儿没人敢说话。马龙专注又怀疑地看着盒子，仿佛它随时可能跳起来咬他一口。
For a moment no one dared speak. Malone looked intently and suspiciously at the box, as though at any moment it might leap up and bite him.
最后杰克用非常微弱的声音说：“在冈布里尔房间的第一天晚上，我用我所有的钥匙和我的小刀试过打开它，因为我当然以为它是锁着的。我从没想过不解锁就试着打开它。因为你自然会认为那样的一个盒子会是锁着的。”
At last Jake said in a very weak voice, “I tried all my keys and my penknife on it that first night in Gumbril’s room, because I supposed of course it was locked. I never thought of just trying to open it without unlocking it. Because you’d naturally think a box like that would be locked.”
“如果我们当中有谁有点脑子的话，” 马龙暴躁地说，“我们马上就会知道它没锁。”
“If any of us had had any sense,” Malone said peevishly, “we’d have known right away that it wasn’t.”
“为什么？” 海伦问。
“Why?” Helene asked.
“钥匙在哪儿？”
“Where was the key?”
“什么钥匙？”
“What key?”
“盒子的钥匙，” 马龙吼道，“冈布里尔的钥匙。在他身上或者在他的其他物品中有没有找到任何钥匙？”
“The key to the box,” Malone roared, “Gumbril’s key. Were there any keys found on his person or anywhere else among his possessions?”
杰克说：“没有。我想没有。”
Jake said, “No. I guess there weren’t.”
“你说得太对了，没有钥匙。” 马龙说，“如果他把盒子锁上了，那他肯定得在某个地方有把钥匙。显然，他非常不喜欢携带任何东西或者拥有任何东西。你看到了他房间里的情况，杰克。你也听到了在他口袋里找到的东西。这个人除了钱什么都不想要。甚至连一把打开金属公文箱的小钥匙都没有。他可能意识到，一般人看到这个盒子都会认为它是锁着的，就像我们一样。甚至有可能这个盒子里没有什么贵重到需要锁起来的东西。”
“You’re damned right there weren’t,” Malone said. “If he’d kept the box locked he’d have had to have a key somewhere. Evidently he had an intense dislike of carrying anything or having anything. You saw what was in his room, Jake. You heard what was found in his pockets. The man simply didn’t want possessions, except money. Not even a small key to open a metal dispatch box. He probably realized that the average person, looking at the box, would assume it to be locked, just as we did. It’s even possible that the box doesn’t contain anything sufficiently valuable to be locked up.”
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