牛津书虫《谁谋杀了总统》02：第二天
- 英文
- 中文
The Second Day
The next morning Alex Dinon was forty kilometres south of the prison. He moved quickly and stayed away from towns and villages. It was winter and the weather was cold, so there were not many people in the fields. He looked behind him often, but nobody saw him and nobody followed him.At midday he found a quiet field and lay down under some small trees. He slept at once.
At about three o'clock Alex opened his eyes, and saw an old woman in front of him.
'What are you doing in my field, young man?' she said.
Alex sat up quickly. 'I'm sorry,' he said. 'I was tired, and needed some sleep. I'm going now.'
'You're very dirty,' the old woman said. 'Look at you! Where are you going?'
'North,' Alex said. He stood up and began to move away.
'Don't run away. I'm only an old woman.' She looked at him carefully. 'You're dirty, and hungry, and tired... and afraid. Am I right?'
Alex smiled slowly. 'Yes,' he said.
'Well, come back to my house and have some food. And you can have some of my husband's old clothes. He died last winter.'
Alex looked at her. It was true. He was hungry and tired and dirty. And afraid... but not of this old woman. 'Thank you very much,' he said.
The old woman's name was Marta. Her house was very small, but she put some wonderful hot food in front of Alex. He ate quickly, and Marta watched him.
'Oh, you were hungry,' she laughed.
Alex smiled, but did not stop eating.
Marta found some old clothes for him, and then made some coffee. She said nothing, but watched him with a smile. Alex finished eating and drank some coffee. He began to feel better.
'How did you escape from prison?' Marta asked suddenly.
Alex's face went white. He stared at Marta and said nothing.
Marta laughed. 'It's all right,' she said. 'I'm not afraid of the President's murderer. You can stay here tonight, Alex Dinon, and have a good sleep. I don't like the police, and I'm not going to tell them.'
* * *
Felix and Adam did not get much sleep. They stayed in the office and slept between telephone calls. The phones rang often, but in the morning there was no news of Alex Dinon. The day went slowly. The phones rang again and again—but there was no news.
'Where is he? What's he doing?' Felix said to Adam. 'He's hiding—perhaps with friends.'
'We questioned all his friends early this morning,' Adam said. 'They said nothing.' He looked at Felix. 'Can we bring some of them in here? With their wives. Then we can ask more... difficult questions. Somebody usually talks then.'
'No,' Felix said coldly. 'That's not right, and you know it. Dinon can't get out of the country now. But we need to find him today. The Chief isn't going to be very happy.'
Late in the afternoon the Chief of Police telephoned. 'Come to my office in half an hour,' she told Felix.
Felix felt tired and dirty. He quickly drank some black coffee, and changed his shirt. Twenty minutes later he stood in front of Eva Hine's desk.
She did not smile, but looked at Felix and waited.
'The police are looking for Dinon in every town and village,' Felix said quickly. 'We're watching the roads and the airports, and the houses of his family and friends...'
'Sit down, Inspector, and listen,' the Chief said. 'We need to find this man quickly. The President is not happy. You're a good policeman, Inspector, and this is an important job for you.'
'Chief,' Felix began. 'How did Dinon escape from prison?'
'That's not important now,' the Chief said.
'But perhaps he had friends in prison,' Felix said. 'Perhaps they know something. I need to talk to people at the prison.'
'Well, you can't,' the Chief said.
The telephone rang on the Chief's desk. She picked up the phone. 'Eva Hine here.' Then she smiled. 'Yes, Mr President,' she said. She listened for a minute or two. 'Yes, of course, Mr President. I understand. Yes. Goodbye.'
Eva Hine put the phone down and looked at Felix angrily. 'Forget Dinon's escape from prison. Get out there and find him. And bring him back dead or alive!'
At the door Felix turned and looked at her. 'Dead?' he asked slowly.
'Dead men can't talk. Now go!'
Felix walked slowly back to his office. There were a lot of questions in his head, and he did not know the answers. 'Why can't I talk to people at the prison?' he thought. 'What did the President say to the Chief on the phone? And why does she want Dinon dead? He went to prison because he murdered the old President. Everybody knows that. What can he talk about... now?'
第二天
第二天早上，亚历克斯·迪农已经在监狱南面40公里的地方了。他避开城镇和村庄，走得很快。时值冬日，天气寒冷，所以田地里人不多。他不时地回头看看，但是没有人看到他，也没有人跟着他。中午时分，他找到了一块安静的田地，在一片小树丛下躺下了。他很快就睡着了。
大约3点钟时，亚历克斯睁开了眼睛，看到一个老太太站在他面前。
“你在我的地里干什么，年轻人？”她问。
亚历克斯立刻坐了起来。“对不起，”他说，“我很累，需要睡一会儿，我马上就走。”
“看看你，浑身上下脏兮兮的。”老太太说，“你要去哪儿？”
“去北边。”亚历克斯说。他站了起来，要走。
“别走，我只不过是一个老太太。”她仔细地打量他，“你浑身脏兮兮的，又饿又累，……还很恐惧。我说得对吗？”
亚历克斯慢慢地笑了。“不错。”他说。
“那好吧，来我家吃点东西。你可以换上我丈夫的旧衣服，他去年冬天过世了。”
亚历克斯看着她。她说得不假。自己又饿又累，浑身脏兮兮的。还很恐惧……但并不是害怕这个老太太。“太谢谢您了。”他说。
老太太名叫玛尔塔。她家的房子不大，但她却弄了些香喷喷、热腾腾的饭菜，放在亚历克斯的面前。他狼吞虎咽地吃着，玛尔塔看着他。
“噢，你真是饿坏了。”她笑了。
亚历克斯也笑了，但是嘴没停。
玛尔塔给他找来几件旧衣服，又端来了咖啡。她默默地看着他，脸上挂着微笑。亚历克斯吃完饭后，又喝了些咖啡。他开始感觉好一点了。
“你是怎样从监狱里逃出来的？”玛尔塔突然问。
亚历克斯的脸“唰”地白了。他看着玛尔塔，一言不发。
玛尔塔笑了。“没事的，”她说，“我不害怕什么谋杀总统的凶手。今晚你就住在这儿吧，亚历克斯·迪农，睡个好觉。我讨厌警察，也不会去报案的。”
* * *
费利克斯和亚当几乎没怎么合眼。他们待在办公室里，没电话时就打一会儿瞌睡。电话铃老是响个不停，到早上的时候，还是没有亚历克斯·迪农的消息。一个白天慢慢地过去了。电话铃响了又响——但仍旧没有消息。
“他在哪儿？他在干什么？”费利克斯问亚当，“他藏起来了——也许和朋友们在一起。”
“我们今天上午早些时候问过了他所有的朋友，”亚当说，“他们什么也不说。”他看看费利克斯，“我们把他的几个朋友带到这儿来行吗？还有他们的妻子。然后我们可以问一些更……难的问题。那时，就会有人说话了。”
“不，”费利克斯冷静地说，“那不行，你是知道的，迪农现在还逃不出这个国家，今天我们要找到他。否则，警长会不高兴的。”
下午晚些时候，警长打电话过来。“半个小时后来我的办公室。”她对费利克斯说。
费利克斯觉得很累，而且身上很脏。他很快地喝了些黑咖啡，换了件衬衣。20分钟后，他已经站在伊娃·海因的办公桌前了。
她板着脸，看着费利克斯，等他说话。
“警方正在城镇和村庄里到处搜捕迪农。”费利克斯语速很快，“我们正在监视道路、机场、他的家以及他的朋友……”
“坐下吧，警员，听着，”警长说，“我们要很快地抓住这个人。总统不高兴了。你是个好警察，警员。这项工作对你来说很重要。”
“警长，”费利克斯开始问，“迪农是怎样从监狱里逃走的？”
“现在这个并不重要。”警长说。
“但是，也许他在监狱里有朋友，”费利克斯说，“他们可能会知道一些情况。我要和监狱里的人谈一谈。”
“嗯，这不行。”警长说。
警长办公桌上的电话响了。她拿起电话。“我是伊娃·海因。”接着她笑了，“是的，总统先生。”她说。她又听了一两分钟，“是的，当然，总统先生。我明白。好的，再见。”
伊娃·海因把电话放下，怒气冲冲地看着费利克斯。“别管迪农是怎么从监狱里逃跑的吧。快出去找他。不管是死的还是活的，都要把他抓回来！”
走到门口的时候，费利克斯回过头来，看着她。“死的？”他小心地问。
“死人不会讲话。现在就去！”
费利克斯慢腾腾地走回他的办公室。他的头脑里充斥着很多问题，却找不到答案。“我为什么不能和监狱里的人谈谈？”他想，“而总统在电话里又对警长说了些什么呢？她为什么要迪农死呢？他入狱是因为他谋杀了前总统，这是人人皆知的，他又能说出些什么呢……现在？”
搜 索
- 频道推荐
- |
- 全站推荐
- 推荐下载
- 网站推荐
