“Come on, Andy, I’ve done favors for you in the past. Besides, I’m not working for any newspaper now. I got a reliable tip you’d had a homicide out here that wasn’t breaking into print.”
“你从哪里得到的消息？”
“Where did you get the tip?”
“一个我认识的人。” 杰克犹豫了一下，然后摇了摇头。没必要把马龙牵扯进来。“一个不重要的人。”
“Fellow I know.” Jake hesitated, then shook his head. No use dragging Malone into this. “No one important.”
“好吧，” 阿赫恩说，“如果你不想说，就不用说。但是我们这里唯一的一起谋杀案是三个月前，一个暴徒在酒馆斗殴中脑袋被打破了。”
“All right,” Ahearn said, “you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. But the only murder we’ve had out here was three months ago when some goon got his dome split in a tavern brawl.”
“这是千真万确的吗？” 杰克问道。
“Is that the honest-to-God?” Jake demanded.
“你觉得我会对你说谎吗？” 安迪?阿赫恩用受伤的声音问道。他又补充道，“见鬼，这里一直很平静，伙计们为了保持状态都在互相逮捕。” 他给来访者的杯子里倒了一大杯杜松子酒。
“You don’t think I’d lie to you?” Andy Ahearn asked in a hurt voice. He added, “Hell, things have been so quiet out here the boys have been arresting each other just to keep in practice.” He poured a generous slug of gin into his visitor’s glass.
“谢谢。” 杰克说。
“Thanks,” Jake said.
安迪?阿赫恩接着说，“如果你不相信，可以查看这里的每一份记录。”
Andy Ahearn went on, “If you don’t believe it, you can look through every record in the place.”
杰克摇了摇头，“我相信你的话。只是有人给了我一个糟糕的线索，仅此而已。”
Jake shook his head. “I’ll take your word for it. Somebody gave me a lousy steer, that’s all.”
“太糟糕了。” 治安官同情地说。
“Too bad,” the sheriff said sympathetically.
他们花了几分钟回忆往事，然后杰克起身要走。
They spent a few minutes in reminiscent talk, and Jake rose to go.
“嘿，” 安迪?阿赫恩说，“我听说你娶了那个来自枫树公园的金发女孩 —— 布兰德小姐。恭喜啊。”
“Say,” Andy Ahearn said. “I hear you married that blonde girl from Maple Park—Miss Brand. Congrats.”
“现在都结束了，” 杰克说，“我们分手了。” 他想知道还要多少年他才能平静地说出这句话并且是真心这么认为。
“That’s all over now,” Jake said. “We split up.” He wondered how many years it would be before he’d be able to say it calmly and mean it that way.
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