杰克摇了摇头。“没人会故意取杰拉尔德这个名字。”
Jake shook his head. “No one would ever deliberately assume the name of Gerald.”
她深深地叹了口气。“马龙，你提点建议。”
She sighed heavily. “Malone, you suggest something.”
“我建议再来一杯啤酒。”律师说。他向酒保示意。“不。”当酒保走过来时他又说，“我喝腻啤酒了。来三杯杜松子酒。”
“I suggest another beer,” the lawyer said. He signaled to the bartender “No,” he said as the latter approached. “I’m bored with beer. Bring three gins.”
“我们每人三杯。”海伦说。“马龙，还记得你找到的那张纸条吗？”
“Three for each of us,” Helene said. “Malone, remember the note you found?”
“我已经想起来了。”他严肃地说。他拿出纸条。“‘你不能把罪名安在一个死了二十年的人身上。’”
“I’ve already remembered it,” he said grimly. He produced it. “‘You can’t pin a crime on a man who’s been dead for twenty years.’”
“但是，”杰克问道，“谁死了二十年了？”
“But,” Jake demanded, “who has been dead for twenty years?”
马龙盯着他。“我忘了你不识字。那块墓碑上的名字是杰拉尔德·图伊兹。”
Malone stared at him. “I forgot you couldn’t read. The name on that tombstone was Gerald Tuesday.”
海伦透过香烟的烟雾看着马龙。“你打算怎么处置洛特斯？把她一直关在拘留所里吗？”
Helene gazed at Malone through the smoke of her cigarette. “What are you going to do with Lotus? Leave her in the calaboose?”
“还有更糟的地方呢。”马龙不置可否地说。“冯·弗拉纳根只是把她扣下审问。还没对她提出正式指控。等他消消气，我就能轻而易举地把她弄出来。他并不真的认为她杀了杰拉尔德·图伊兹，只是他气坏了，必须得抓个人。”
“There’s worse places,” Malone said nonmittally. “Von Flanagan just has her held for questioning. No formal charges against her yet. When he cools off a little, I can get her out without any trouble. He doesn’t really think she murdered Gerald Tuesday, but he just got mad and had to arrest somebody.”
“我希望你是对的。”海伦说。“她是个好女孩。”
“I hope you’re right,” Helene said. “She’s a nice girl.”
马龙说：“他没有足够的证据把她提交大陪审团，他也知道这一点。他对是谁杀了那两个人的了解并不比我们多。问题是，”他沮丧地补充道，“他了解的跟我们差不多。”
Malone said, “He hasn’t enough evidence to hold her for the grand jury and he knows it. He doesn’t know any more about who murdered those two guys than we do. Trouble is,” he added gloomily, “he knows about as much.”
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