他知道，海伦很可能会坚持拿着放大镜把这个地方的每一寸都检查一遍。
Helene, he knew, would probably insist on going over every square inch of the place with a magnifying glass.
麦克莱恩庄园临街的两面被高高的铁栅栏围着。杰克沿着栅栏走，最后来到一扇小边门，门没锁，尽管房子因为冬天而关闭着。
The two sides of the McClane estate that bordered on the street were bounded by a high grillwork fence. Jake walked along it until at last he came to a small service gate that was unlocked, in spite of the fact that the house was closed up for the winter.
他走了进去，随手关上了门，站在那儿不知道先去哪儿。在他前面，一片广阔耀眼的未被破坏的白色一直延伸到一个小山坡上，房子就坐落在那里，是一座巨大的灰色石屋，被飘落的雪柔和了许多。周围的树光秃秃的没有叶子；这儿那儿一堆变色的雪表明了灌木丛和矮树丛的位置。
He went in, closing the gate behind him, and stood wondering where to go first. Ahead of him, a wide, dazzling expanse of unbroken white swept up to a little rise in the ground, where the house stood, a massive, gray-stone affair, pleasantly softened by the drifted snow. The trees around it were bare and leafless; here and there heaps of discolored snow indicated the location of shrubs and bushes.
据他判断，这里已经好几周没人来过了。一条狭窄的小路在雪地里隐约可见，沿着铁栅栏延伸，他顺着小路走，寻找任何可能表明最近有人来过的迹象。但什么也没有。小路最后穿过一小片树林，杰克发现自己面对着一堵高高的石墙，这堵墙把麦克莱恩的庄园和紧邻其南面的庄园隔开。
As far as he could tell, no one had been here for weeks. A narrow path, showing faintly through the snow, led along the side of the iron fence, and he followed it, looking for any indication he might find of some recent visitor. There was none. The path finally passed through a little clump of trees, and Jake found himself confronted with a high stone wall that separated the McClane estate from the one immediately south of it.
杰克记起来了，那应该是文宁家的地方。他沿着墙边走，直到来到一扇嵌在石头里的小铁门处。门没锁。他犹豫了一下，然后推开门，出于一种突然而又无法解释的冲动，走进了文宁家的院子。他记得文宁一家当时和莫娜?麦克莱恩一起呆在城里，而且在那两起谋杀案发生时 —— 不只是他知道的那两起，还有他想查清楚的那一起 —— 他们都是那家人中的成员。
That would be the Venning place, Jake remembered. He followed the path along the wall until he reached a small iron gate set in the stone. It was unlatched. He hesitated a moment, then pushed it open and entered the Venning grounds, on a sudden, unexplainable impulse. He remembered that the Vennings were staying in town with Mona McClane and had been members of the household at the time of the murders—not only the two murders he knew about, but the one he wanted to find out about.
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