“有这种可能。”马龙说，“我倒希望事情是这样发生的。当然，我们可以把事情简单化，把他搬回芝加哥，然后让人在那里发现他。”他又朝坟墓里看了看，“在真正的大雪开始下之前他就被放在这里了，因为坟墓周围没有脚印。不过，还是几乎不可能猜出时间。雪是什么时候停的？”
“It’s possible,” Malone said. “I’d like to have had it happen that way. Of course, we could simplify everything by moving him back to Chicago and having him found there.” He looked into the grave again. “He was put there before the really heavy snow began to fall, because there’s no footprints showing around the grave. Still, it’s next to impossible to guess at the time. It stopped snowing about—when?”
“大概七点左右。”海伦说。
“Somewhere around seven o’clock,” Helene said.
马龙皱起眉头，“但那也没什么用。从那以后风就一直在刮。我们离开这里半小时后，我们自己的脚印就会消失。是飘雪把一切都掩盖了。”
“Malone scowled. “That’s no help, though. The wind has been blowing ever since. Our own footprints will be gone half an hour after we walk away from here. It’s the drifting snow that’s wiped out everything.”
“据莫娜·麦克莱恩说，他失踪了大半天了。”海伦说。
“He’s been missing most of the day, according to what Mona McClane said.”
“那也没什么用。凶手可能花了好几个小时试图弄清楚他到底知道多少，然后才冒险杀了他。然后他放弃了，杀了他，要么在这里，要么在别的地方，然后把他放在这个正好等着他的坟墓里。他要么没时间把坟墓填上，要么没有合适的工具。”
“That’s no help either. The murderer may have spent hours trying to find out how much he really did know, before he risked doing him in. Then he gave up and killed him, either here or somewhere else, and placed him in the grave which was so conveniently waiting for him. He either didn’t have time to fill in the grave, or he didn’t have the right implements with him.”
杰克说：“把你的思考留到以后吧。这里冷得要命。我们要……”他突然停住，盯着马龙。
“Jake said, “Save your mental processes for a later date. It’s damned cold out here. What are we going to—” He stopped short, staring at Malone.
这个小律师的脸本来就很苍白，现在变得灰白。在手电筒怪异的光芒下，他睁得大大的圆眼睛像两个冰球一样闪闪发光。他的嘴张着，一个字只说了一半就冻在了那里。
The little lawyer’s face had been pale, now it had turned ashen. In the weird glow of the flashlight, his wide, round eyes were gleaming like balls of ice. His mouth was open, with a word half formed and frozen there.
“马龙！”杰克叫道，“怎么……”
“Malone!” Jake cried. “What—”
没有回应。杰克盯着他看了一会儿，然后把手电筒照向律师眼睛盯着的方向。海伦尖叫起来。
There was no answer. Jake stared at him for an instant, then turned the flashlight in the direction in which the lawyer’s eyes were fixed. Helene screamed.
罗斯·麦克劳林的尸体正缓慢而吃力地从坟墓里往外爬。
The corpse of Ross McLaurin was climbing, slowly and laboriously, out of its grave.
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