马龙探案卷三 之 错误的凶案 三十七
乔治?布兰德往一杯苏打水里倒了双份黑麦威士忌，梦幻般地看着它，说：“你怎么知道所有这些的？”
GEORGE BRAND POURED A DOUBLE RYE into a glass of seltzer, gazed at it dreamily, and said, “How did you know all that?”
“我不知道，” 马龙立刻说。“我是边编边说的。但是该死，我总得告诉冯?弗拉纳根点什么。”
“I didn’t,” Malone said promptly. “I was making it up as I went along. But damn it, I had to tell Von Flanagan something.”
已经过了午夜。在第三街格斯的店里的一个隔间里有他们五个人：杰克、海伦、马龙、乔治?布兰德和莫娜?麦克莱恩。他们选择格斯的店一部分是因为这里离机场开车距离不远，杰克和海伦要乘坐黎明的飞机（尽管马龙发誓说有海伦开车的话，密尔沃基也不算远），另一部分是因为海伦宣称她喜欢格斯，哪儿也不想去。
It was past midnight. There were five of them in the booth in Gus’s place on 3rd Street: Jake, Helene, Ma-lone, George Brand, and Mona McClane. They had selected Gus’s partly because it was easy driving distance from the airport from which Jake and Helene were to take the dawn plane (though Malone swore that Milwaukee would be easy driving distance with Helene at the wheel) and partly because Helene declared that she liked Gus and refused to go anywhere else.
“你是说，” 莫娜?麦克莱恩说，“艾伦什么也没告诉你？”
“You mean,” Mona McClane said, “that Ellen didn’t tell you anything?”
“一点也没说，” 马龙愉快地说。
“Not a thing,” Malone said cheerfully.
“但是那个速记员的笔记本，” 杰克说，“上面有记录。你是怎么做到的？”
“But that stenographer’s notebook,” Jake said, “with notes in it. How did you manage that?”
马龙说：“你们两个出去的时候，我叫来了玛吉，让她赶紧到办公室，我一边讲她一边记下来。” 他把他的酒一饮而尽，微微颤抖了一下，然后钦佩地说：“我什么都能想到。”
Malone said, “While you two were out, I got hold of Maggie and had her e down to the office in a hurry and take it all down as I told it to her.” He poured his drink down his throat, shuddered slightly, and said admiringly, “I think of everything.”
“你是说那些都不是真的？” 杰克问道。
“You mean none of that was true?” Jake demanded.
“全都是真的。但是我没法证明。那个笔记本是关键。反正只要冯?弗拉纳根把案子结了，他才不在乎呢。”
“All of it was true. But I couldn’t prove it. The notebook was the clincher. As long as Von Flanagan had the case closed, he didn’t give a hoot anyway.”
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