chapter 34

The stretch of broken-paved road from the highway to the curve of the hill was dancing in the noon heat and the scrub that dotted the parched¹ land on both sides of it was flour-white with granite² dust by this time. The weedy smell was almost nauseating³. A thin hot acrid⁴ breeze was blowing. I had my coat off and my sleeves rolled up, but the door was too hot to rest an arm on. A tethered horse dozed⁵ wearily under a dump of live oaks. A brown Mexican sat on the ground and ate something out of a newspaper. A tumbleweed rolled lazily across the road and came to rest against a piece of granite outcrop, and a lizard⁶ that had been there an instant before disappeared without seeming to move at all. Then I was around the hill on the blacktop and in another country. In five minutes I turned into the driveway of the Wades⁷' house, parked and walked across the flagstones and rang the bell. Wade⁸ answered the door himself, in a brown and white checked shirt with short sleeves, pale blue denim¹⁰ slacks, and house slippers¹¹. He looked tanned and he looked good. There was an i.kstain on his hand and a smear¹² of cigarette ash on one side of his nose. He led the way into his study and parked himself behind his desk. On it there was a thick pile of yellow typescript. I put my coat on a chair and sat on the couch. "Thanks for coming, Marlowe. Drink?" I got that look on my face you get when a drunk asks you to have a drink. I could feel it. He grinned. "I'll have a coke," he said. "You pick up fast," I said. "I don't think I want a drink right now. I'll take a coke with you." He pressed something with his foot and after a while Candy came. He looked surly. He had a blue shirt on and an orange scarf and no white coat. Two-tone black and white shoes, elegant high-wasted gabardine pants. Wade ordered the cokes. Candy gave me a hard stare and went away. "Book?" I said, pointing to the stack of paper. "Yeah. Stinks¹³." "I don't believe it. How far along?" "About two thirds of the way — for what it's worth. Which is damn little. You know how a writer can tell when he's washed up?" "Don't know anything about writers." I filled my pipe, "When he starts reading his old stuff for inspiration. That's absolute. I've got five hundred pages of typescript here, well over a hundred thousand words. My books run long. The public likes long books. The damn fool public thinks if there's a lot of pages there must be a lot of gold. I don't dare read it over. And I can't remember half of what's in it. I'm just plain scared to look at my own work." "You look good yourself," I said. "From the other night I wouldn't have believed it. You've got more guts¹⁴ than you think you have." "What I need right now is more than guts. Something you don't get by wishing for it. A belief in yourself. I'm a spoiled writer who doesn't believe any more. I have a beautiful home, a beautiful wife, and a beautiful sales record. But all I really want is to get drunk and forget." He leaned his chin in his cupped hands and stared across the desk. "Eileen said I tried to shoot myself. Was it that bad?" "You don't remember?" He shook his head. "Not a damn thing except that I fell down and cut my head. And after a while I was in bed., And you were there. Did Eileen call you?" "Yeah. Didn't she say?" "She hasn't been talking to me very much this last week. I guess she's had it. Up to here." He put the edge of one hand against his neck just under his chin. "That show Loring put on here didn't help any." "Mrs. Wade said it meant nothing." "Well, she would, wouldn't she? It happened to be the truth, but I don't suppose she believed it when she said it. The guy is just abnormally jealous. You have a drink or two with his wife in the corner and laugh a little and kiss her goodbye and right off he assumes you are sleeping with her. One reason being that he isn't." "What I like about Idle Valley," I said, "is that everybody is living just a comfortable normal life." He frowned and then the door opened and Candy came in with two cokes and glasses and poured the cokes. He set one in front of me without looking at me. "Lunch in half an hour," Wade said, "and where's the white coat?" "This my day off," Candy said, deadpan¹⁵. "I ain't the cook, boss." "Cold cuts or sandwiches and beer will do," Wade said. "The cook's off today, Candy. I've got a friend to lunch." "You think he is your friend?" Candy sneered¹⁶. "Better ask your wife." Wade leaned back in his chair and smiled at hint. "Watch your lip, little man. You've got it soft here. I don't often ask a favor of you, do I?" Candy looked down at the floor. After a moment he looked up and grinned., "Okay, boss. I put the white coat on. I get the lunch, I guess." He turned softly and went out. Wade watched the door close. Then he shrugged¹⁷ and looked at me. "We used to call them servants. Now we call them domestic help. I wonder how long it will be before we have to give them breakfast in bed. I'm paying the guy too much money. He's spoiled." "Wages—or something on the side?" "Such as what?" he asked sharply. I got up and handed him some folded yellow sheets. "you'd better read it. Evidently you don't remember asking me to tear it up. It was in your typewriter, under the cover." He unfolded the yellow pages and leaned back to read them. The glass of coke fizzed unnoticed on the desk in front of him. He read slowly, frowning. When he came to the end he refolded the sheets and ran a finger along the edge. "Did Eileen see this?" he asked carefully. "I wouldn't know. She might have." "Pretty wild, isn't it?" "I liked it. Especially the part about a good man dying for you." He opened the paper again and tore it into long strips viciously and dumped the strips into his wastebasket. "I suppose a drunk will write or say or do anything," he said slowly. "It's meaningless to me. Candy's not blackmailing¹⁸ me. He likes me." "Maybe you'd better get drunk again. You might remember what you meant. You might remember a lot of things. We've been through this before — that night when the gun went off. I suppose the seconal blanked you out too. You sounded sober enough. But now you pretend not to remember writing that stuff I just gave you. No wonder you can't write your book, Wade. It's a wonder you can stay alive." He reached sideways and opened a drawer of his desk. His hand fumbled¹⁹ in it and came up with a three-decker check book. He opened it and reached for a pen. "I owe you a thousand dollars," he said quietly. He wrote in the book. Then on the counterfoil²⁰. He tore the check out, came around the desk with it, and dropped it in front of me. "Is that all right?" I leaned back and looked up at him and didn't touch the check and didn't answer him. His face was tight and drawn²¹. His eyes were deep and empty. "I suppose you think I killed her and let Lennox take the rap," he said slowly. "She was a tramp all right. But you don't beat a woman's head in just because she's a tramp. Candy knows I went there sometimes. The funny part of it is I don't think he would tell. I could be wrong, but I don't think so." "Wouldn't matter if he did," I said. "Harlan Potter's Mends wouldn't listen to him. Also, she wasn't killed with that bronze thing. She was shot through the head with her own gun." "She maybe had a gun," he said almost dreamily. "But I didn't know she had been shot. It wasn't published." "Didn't know or didn't remember?" I asked him. "No, it wasn't published." "What are you trying to do to me, Marlowe?" His voice was still dreamy, almost gentle. "What do you want me to do? Tell my wife? Tell the police? What good would it do?" "You said a good man died for you." "All I meant was that if there had been any real investigation²² I might have been identified aS one—but only one—of the possible suspects. It would have finished me in several ways." "I didn't come here to accuse you of a murder, Wade. What's eating you is that you're not sure yourself. You have a record of violence to your wife. You black out when you're drunk. It's no argument to say you don't beat a woman's head in just because she's a tramp. That is exactly what somebody did do. And the guy who got credit for the job seemed to me a lot less likely than you." He walked to the open french windows and stood looking out at 'the shimmer²³ of heat over the lake. He didn't answer me. He hadn't moved or spoken a couple of minutes later when there was a light knock at the door and Candy came in wheeling a tea wagon²⁴, with a crisp white cloth, silver-covered dishes, a pot of coffee, and two bottles of beer. "Open the beer, boss?" he asked Wade's back. "Bring me a bottle of whiskey." Wade didn't turn around. "Sorry, boss. No whiskey." Wade spun²⁵ around and yelled at him, but Candy didn't budge²⁶. He looked down at the check lying on the cocktail²⁷ table and his head twisted as he read it. Then he looked up at me and hissed²⁸ something between his teeth. Then he looked at Wade. "I go now. This my day off." He turned and went. Wade laughed. "So I get it myself," he said sharply, and went. I lifted one of the covers and saw some neatly²⁹ trimmed three-cornered sandwiches.' I took one and poured some beer and ate the sandwich standing³⁰ up. Wade came back with a bottle and a glass. He Sat down on the couch and poured a stiff jolt³¹ and sucked it down. There was the sound of a car going away from the house, probably Candy leaving by the service driveway. I took another sandwich. "Sit down and make yourself comfortable," Wade said. "We have all afternoon to kill." He had a glow on already. His voice was vibrant³² and cheerful. "You don't like me, do you, Marlowe?" "That question has already been asked and answered." "Know something? You're a pretty ruthless son of a bitch. You'd do anything to find what you want. You'd even make love to my wife while I was helpless drunk in the next room." "You believe everything that knife thrower tells you?" He poured some more whiskey into his glass and held it up against the light. "Not everything, no. A pretty color whiskey is, isn't it? To drown in a golden flood—that's not so bad. 'To cease upon the midnight with no pain.' How does that go on? Oh, sorry, you wouldn't know. Too literary. You're some kind of a dick, aren't you? Mind telling me why you're here." He drank some more whiskey and grinned at me. Then he spotted³³ the check lying on the table. He reached for it and read it over his glass. "Seems to be made out to somebody named Marlowe. 1 wonder why, what for. Seems I signed it. Foolish of me, I'm a gullible³⁴ chap." "Stop acting," I said roughly. "Where's your wife?" He looked up politely, "My wife will be home in due course. No doubt by that time I shall be passed out and she can entertain you at her leisure. The house will be yours." "Where's the gun?" I asked suddenly. He looked blank. I told him I had put it in his desk. "Not there now, I'm sure," he said. "You may search if it pleases you. Just don't steal any rubber bands." I went to the desk and frisked it. No gun. That was something. Probably Eileen had hidden it. "Look, Wade, I asked you where your wife was. I think she ought to come home. Not for my benefit, friend, for yours. Somebody has to look out for you, and I'll be goddamned if it's going to be me." He stared vaguely³⁵. He was still holding the check. He put his glass down and, tore the check across, then again and again, and let the pieces fall to the floor. "Evidently the amount was too small," he said. "Your services come very high. Even a thousand dollars and my wife fail to satisfy you. Too bad, but I can't go any higher. Except on this." He patted the bottle. "I'm leaving," I said. 'But why? You wanted me to remember. Well—here in the bottle is my memory. Stick around, pal⁹. When I get lit enough I'll tell you about all the women I have murdered." "All right, Wade. I'll stick around for a while. But not in here. If you need me, just smash a chair against the wall." I went out and left the door open. I walked across the big living room and out to the patio³⁶ and pulled one of the chaises into the shadow of the overhang and stretched out on it. Across the lake there was a blue hare against the hills. The ocean breeze had begun to filter through the low mountains to the west. It wiped the air clean and it wiped away just enough of the heat. Idle Valley was having a perfect summer. Somebody had planned it that way. Paradise Incorporated, and also Highly Restricted. Only the nicest people. Absolutely no Central Europeans. Just the cream, the top drawer crowd, the lovely, lovely people. Like the Lorings and the Wades. Pure gold.

1 parched   

adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干

参考例句：

• Hot winds parched the crops.热风使庄稼干透了。
• The land in this region is rather dry and parched.这片土地十分干燥。

2 granite   

adj.花岗岩，花岗石

参考例句：

• They squared a block of granite.他们把一块花岗岩加工成四方形。
• The granite overlies the older rocks.花岗岩躺在磨损的岩石上面。

3 nauseating   

adj.令人恶心的，使人厌恶的v.使恶心，作呕( nauseate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I had to listen to the whole nauseating story. 我不得不从头到尾听那令人作呕的故事。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• There is a nauseating smell of rotten food. 有一股令人恶心的腐烂食物的气味。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 acrid   

adj.辛辣的，尖刻的，刻薄的

参考例句：

• There is an acrid tone to your remarks.你说这些话的口气带有讥刺意味。
• The room was filled with acrid smoke.房里充满刺鼻的烟。

5 dozed   

v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He boozed till daylight and dozed into the afternoon. 他喝了个通霄，昏沉沉地一直睡到下午。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• I dozed off during the soporific music. 我听到这催人入睡的音乐，便不知不觉打起盹儿来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 lizard   

n.蜥蜴，壁虎

参考例句：

• A chameleon is a kind of lizard.变色龙是一种蜥蜴。
• The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect.蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。

7 wades   

（从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• A lumi wields a golden morningstar with trained ease as it wades into melee. 光民熟练地挥舞钉头锤加入战团。

8 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

9 pal   

n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友

参考例句：

• He is a pal of mine.他是我的一个朋友。
• Listen,pal,I don't want you talking to my sister any more.听着，小子，我不让你再和我妹妹说话了。

10 denim   

n.斜纹棉布；斜纹棉布裤，牛仔裤

参考例句：

• She wore pale blue denim shorts and a white denim work shirt.她穿着一条淡蓝色的斜纹粗棉布短裤，一件白粗布工作服上衣。
• Dennis was dressed in denim jeans.丹尼斯穿了一条牛仔裤。

11 slippers   

n. 拖鞋

参考例句：

• a pair of slippers 一双拖鞋
• He kicked his slippers off and dropped on to the bed. 他踢掉了拖鞋，倒在床上。

12 smear   

v.涂抹；诽谤，玷污；n.污点；诽谤，污蔑

参考例句：

• He has been spreading false stories in an attempt to smear us.他一直在散布谎言企图诽谤我们。
• There's a smear on your shirt.你衬衫上有个污点。

13 stinks   

v.散发出恶臭( stink的第三人称单数 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透

参考例句：

• The whole scheme stinks to high heaven—don't get involved in it. 整件事十分卑鄙龌龊——可别陷了进去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soup stinks of garlic. 这汤有大蒜气味。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

14 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 deadpan   

n. 无表情的

参考例句：

• Some people don't catch his deadpan humor,that makes it even funnier.有些人不能了解他那种无表情的幽默，因此更有趣。
• She put the letter on the desk in front of me,her face deadpan,not a flicker of a smile.她把那封信放在我面前的桌子上，故意一 脸严肃，没有一丝的笑容。

16 sneered   

讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sneered at people who liked pop music. 他嘲笑喜欢流行音乐的人。
• It's very discouraging to be sneered at all the time. 成天受嘲讽是很令人泄气的。

17 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 blackmailing   

胁迫，尤指以透露他人不体面行为相威胁以勒索钱财( blackmail的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The policemen kept blackmailing him, because they had sth. on him. 那些警察之所以经常去敲他的竹杠是因为抓住把柄了。
• Democratic paper "nailed" an aggravated case of blackmailing to me. 民主党最主要的报纸把一桩极为严重的讹诈案件“栽”在我的头上。

19 fumbled   

（笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下

参考例句：

• She fumbled in her pocket for a handkerchief. 她在她口袋里胡乱摸找手帕。
• He fumbled about in his pockets for the ticket. 他（瞎）摸着衣兜找票。

20 counterfoil   

n.(支票、邮局汇款单、收据等的)存根，票根

参考例句：

• I think money is a counterfoil all the time,in should putting in a society.我一直认为钱就是一把票根，应该投放到社会中去。
• She always keeps the counterfoils.她总是保留着各种票根。

21 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

22 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

23 shimmer   

v./n.发微光，发闪光；微光

参考例句：

• The room was dark,but there was a shimmer of moonlight at the window.屋子里很黑，但靠近窗户的地方有点微光。
• Nor is there anything more virginal than the shimmer of young foliage.没有什么比新叶的微光更纯洁无瑕了。

24 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

25 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。

26 budge   

v.移动一点儿；改变立场

参考例句：

• We tried to lift the rock but it wouldn't budge.我们试图把大石头抬起来，但它连动都没动一下。
• She wouldn't budge on the issue.她在这个问题上不肯让步。

27 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

28 hissed   

发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对

参考例句：

• Have you ever been hissed at in the middle of a speech? 你在演讲中有没有被嘘过？
• The iron hissed as it pressed the wet cloth. 熨斗压在湿布上时发出了嘶嘶声。

29 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

30 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

31 jolt   

v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸

参考例句：

• We were worried that one tiny jolt could worsen her injuries.我们担心稍微颠簸一下就可能会使她的伤势恶化。
• They were working frantically in the fear that an aftershock would jolt the house again.他们拼命地干着，担心余震可能会使房子再次受到震动。

32 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

33 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

34 gullible   

adj.易受骗的；轻信的

参考例句：

• The swindlers had roped into a number of gullible persons.骗子们已使一些轻信的人上了当。
• The advertisement is aimed at gullible young women worried about their weight.这则广告专门针对担心自己肥胖而易受骗的年轻女士。

35 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

36 patio   

n.庭院，平台

参考例句：

• Suddenly, the thought of my beautiful patio came to mind. I can be quiet out there,I thought.我又忽然想到家里漂亮的院子，我能够在这里宁静地呆会。
• They had a barbecue on their patio on Sunday.星期天他们在院子里进行烧烤。