“我知道，” 马龙告诉他，“这里还有另外两个人也知道。其中一个谋杀了约书亚?冈布里尔和弗雷特?桑德斯。另一个是威利斯?桑德斯，他知道是谁犯下了这些罪行 —— 尽管他自己没有参与其中。”
“I do,” Malone told him, “and so do two others who are here. One of them murdered Joshua Gumbril and Fleurette Sanders. The other is Willis Sanders, who knows who mitted those crimes-though he had no part in them himself.”
威利斯?桑德斯的脸色变得苍白。突然，他用一种类似呜咽的声音用手捂住了脸。房间里的每个人都试图把目光从他身上移开，除了奥格特里夫人。她似乎想同时看向各个地方，不错过任何正在发生的事情。
Willis Sanders’ face turned gray. Suddenly he buried his face in his hands with a kind of sob. Everyone in the room tried to look away from him, save Mrs. Ogletree. She seemed to be trying to look everywhere at once and miss nothing that went on.
马龙几乎是梦幻般地继续说道：“动机总是一起谋杀案的关键。但这次不是发现动机让一切变得清晰。而是动机的缺失。约书亚?冈布里尔被谋杀的动机本应该在他房间里的一个绿色金属盒子里。但它不在，正因为它不在，所以对于它是什么就毫无疑问了。”
Malone went on again almost dreamily, “A motive is always the key to a murder. But this time it was not the discovery of a motive that made everything clear. It was the absence of one. The motive for the murder of Joshua Gumbril should have been in a green metal box in his room. It was not, and because it was not, there was no doubt left as to what it was.”
威尔斯?奥格特里的声音尖锐地打破了沉默。“你是来告诉我们一些确定的事情的吗，马龙先生，还是来漫谈动机和一堆我们都不理解的无意义的废话？”
Wells Ogletree’s voice cut sharply into the silence. “Did you e here to tell us something definite, Mr. Malone, or to ramble on about motives and a lot of pointless rot none of us understand?”
马龙冷冷地看着他，但几乎带着怜悯。“如果你愿意，我可以说得更具体些，奥格特里先生。那个因为约书亚?冈布里尔是个勒索者而谋杀了他，然后又因为她也是…… 而谋杀了弗雷特?桑德斯的人……”
Malone looked at him coldly, yet almost pityingly. “I’ll be more specific if you like, Mr. Ogletree. The person who murdered Joshua Gumbril because he was a blackmailer, and then murdered Fleurette Sanders because she too-”
海伦的一声喊叫打断了他。她跳起来朝大厅走去。杰克跟在她后面，这时他听到书房的窗户被猛地推开，他跑进书房，正好看到一辆汽车在车道上发动起来。这时他才意识到，在威尔斯?奥格特里说话的时候，司机已经悄悄地离开了房间。书房桌子的抽屉大开着；只需要快速地看一眼就知道里面原本放着的枪不见了。当他跑回大厅，冲下台阶时，他能听到马龙在他身后咒骂。
小主，这个章节后面还有哦，请点击下一页继续阅读，后面更精彩！