“你是约翰?马龙，对吧？”
“You’re John J. Malone, aren’t you?”
“见鬼，不是，” 律师说，“你认错人了。我是伯德上将。”
“Hell no,” the lawyer said. “You’ve got the wrong guy. I’m Admiral Byrd.”
这个不速之客领会了他的暗示，悄悄地走了。
The intruder took the hint and went quietly away.
约翰?马龙深深地吸了一口气，又长长地叹了出来，这哀怨的喘息足以击碎最硬的铁石心肠。他又要了一杯杜松子酒，希望这个谋杀的话题不要再被提起。
John J. Malone heaved a long, indrawn, and outgoing sigh that would have pulverized a heart of stone, ordered another gin, and wished that the subject of murder hadn’t been called to his mind.
他知道自己不得不再在脑海里回顾一下过去几周发生的事情。
He knew he would have to make one more mental excursion over the events of the past few weeks.
杰克和海伦结婚的那天，杰克打了一个赌。赌约的另一方是已经结婚多次的富有魅力的社交名媛、飞行员、作家、探险家、百万富婆 —— 莫娜?麦克莱恩。她跟杰克打赌说她能犯下一起谋杀案，而杰克永远也查不出来。赌注是远近闻名的卡西诺赌场，那是芝加哥最受欢迎的饮酒和跳舞的地方。
The day Jake and Helene had been married, Jake had made a bet. The other half of the bet had been the much married, magnetic social leader, aviator, author, explorer, millionairess—Mona McClane. She had bet Jake that she could mit a murder, and Jake would never find it out. The stake had been the far-famed Casino, Chicago’s favorite drinking and dancing spot.
后来真的有人被杀了，事实上有好几个人。马龙、海伦和杰克费尽心力想把罪名安在莫娜?麦克莱恩头上，结果却发现其实一直以来都是别人犯下的罪行。这倒也没什么，只是莫娜坚持说他们认错了尸体。
Then someone had been murdered, several people, in fact, and Malone, Helene, and Jake had worn themselves to a frazzle pinning it on Mona McClane, only to find out that it was somebody else’s murder all the time, which was okay, except that Mona insisted they had followed the wrong corpse.
现在马龙发现自己陷入了一个尴尬的境地，他知道发生了一起谋杀案，也知道凶手是谁，但却不知道受害者是谁。这让他很恼火。这不是他的赌约，也不关他的事，但还是让他很烦恼。要是杰克和海伦在这儿就好了。
Now Malone found himself in the unfortable position of knowing that a murder had been mitted and knowing the identity of the murderer, without knowing the identity of the victim. It irked him. It wasn’t his bet, and it wasn’t his business, but it bothered him just the same. If Jake and Helene were only here.
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