Malone ignored her. “Of the people in that room tonight, five had definite reasons for wanting to murder Joshua Gumbril and, later, his sister. Mona McClane, Willis Sanders, Daphne Sanders, Ellen Ogletree, and Mrs. Ogletree. The same line of thought I applied to you applied to them. Before Gumbril was killed, there must have been papers in that box relating to the killing of the first Mrs. Sanders and to the Ellen Ogletree kidnapping. Possibly, something relating to Mrs. Ogletree’s personal-information service.” He explained to Mona McClane what he had learned from Max Hook. “When I opened the box, only that marriage certificate was there. The Ogletree papers were missing because they were the reason Gumbril was killed. The Sanders papers were missing because Ellen took them to use in blackmailing Willis Sanders into giving her boy friend a job. Anything about Mrs. Ogletree was missing because she was Ellen’s mother.”
乔治?布兰德从与他的杯子长时间的、恍惚的交流中回过神来。“但是那些关于第一任桑德斯夫人被杀的文件……” 他停顿了一下，咽了口唾沫，然后说，“它们对威利斯不利。”
George Brand emerged from a long, trancelike munion with his glass. “But those papers about the murder of the first Mrs. Sanders-” He paused, gulped, and said, “They’re incriminating to Willis.”
“不利是个很温和的说法，” 马龙说。
“Incriminating is a mild word for it,” Malone said.
乔治?布兰德脸色变得苍白。“如果它们被发现了……！我的天啊，马龙！它们在哪里？”
George Brand turned pale. “If they should be found-! My God, Malone! Where are they?”
“在我的口袋里，” 小个子律师得意洋洋地说。他掏出两张用廉价纸打印的文件。“这是小乔治一直急于拿到的收据，上面写着他因参与策划绑架艾伦?奥格特里而收到了一千美元。我会把它交给他，让他烧了它 —— 在他今天下午的表现之后，他应该得到这份快乐作为奖励。” 他看着另一张纸，把它放在烟灰缸上方，然后点了一根火柴。“这是那个开枪打死第一任桑德斯夫人的人签的字，因为他是受弗雷特的雇来这么做的。”
“In my pocket,” the little lawyer said placently. He drew out two typewritten documents on cheap paper. “There’s the receipt Little Georgie was so anxious to get, stating he’d received one grand for his part in the arranged kidnapping of Ellen Ogletree. I’ll give it to him and let him burn it-after his performance this afternoon he deserves that pleasure as a reward.” He looked at the other paper, held it over the ash tray, and set a match to it. “That was signed by the man who shot and killed the first Mrs. Sanders because he was paid to do so by Fleurette.”
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