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.”
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