“别说什么评论的话。” 马龙一边说一边在身后踢上门。“把我的支票存根再加一遍，确定总额是多少。上次可能你算错了。”
“Never mind the remarks,” Malone said, kicking the door shut behind him. “Just add up my check stubs again and make sure what my balance is. You may have had it wrong the last time.”
“我可不这么认为。” 她沮丧地说。“而且冯?弗拉纳根队长在过去的两个小时里一直在给你打电话。”
“I doubt it,” she said gloomily. “And Captain von Flanagan has been calling you for the past two hours.”
“如果他再打来，告诉他，要我嘴巴闭紧得要现金十美元。” 律师说。然后他走进他的私人办公室。
“If he calls again, tell him I’ll keep my mouth shut for ten dollars cash,” the lawyer said. He went on into his private office.
他把帽子和大衣扔在沙发上，在一个标有 “信息” 的文件夹里翻找，找到一个平底玻璃杯和一瓶半满的黑麦威士忌。犹豫了片刻后，他把杯子放回抽屉里，把瓶子凑到嘴边喝了一个大口，然后把瓶子又放了回去，坐到办公桌前。
He tossed his hat and overcoat on the sofa, rummaged through a file marked “Information,” and located a tumbler and a half-full bottle of rye. After a moment’s indecision he put the tumbler back in the drawer, with the bottle to his lips, and drank deeply. Then he replaced the bottle, and sat down at his desk.
过去四天积累起来一堆的信件，在这堆信件的最上面是一叠明信片。马龙用手指拨弄着它们，看到它们都有同样的画面：一幅色彩过于艳丽的大海、天空和两棵树。他数了数。正好有四十八张。
On top of the heap of correspondence that had been collecting for the last four days was a pile of postcards. Malone ran a finger over them, saw that they all bore the same picture; an overcolored reproduction of sea, sky, and two trees. He counted them. There were exactly forty-eight.
他把它们翻过来，注意到四十八张都有同样的邮戳和同样的消息：“玩得很开心，希望你也在这儿。” 二十四张署名 “杰克”，另外二十四张署名 “海伦”。
He turned them over, noted that all forty-eight had the same postmark and the same message: “Having wonderful time, wish you were here.” Twenty-four of them were signed “Jake,” the other twenty-four were signed “Helene.”
小个子律师把明信片整整齐齐地叠好，深深地叹了口气，然后把注意力转向其余的邮件。广告扔进了废纸篓，还有三个小信封也扔了进去，信封上分别是三种不同的女性笔迹。他打开四封商务信件，看了看日期和签名，然后把它们放进标有 “未读信件” 的文件夹里。他匆匆看了一眼第五封商务信件，然后把它放进标有 “未回复信件” 的文件夹里。其余的都是账单。
本小章还未完，请点击下一页继续阅读后面精彩内容！