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chapter 52
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He sat down in the customer's chair and crossed his knees. "You wish certain information about Se.or Lennox, I am told." "The last scene only." "I was there at the time, se.or. I had a position in the hotel." He shrugged1. "Unimportant and of course ternporary. I was the day derk." He spoke2 perfect English but with a Spanish rhythm. Spanish — American Spanish that is — has a definite rise and fall which to an American ear seems to have nothing to do with the meaning. It's like the swell3 of the ocean. "You don't look the type," I said. "One has difficulties." "Who mailed the letter to me?" He held out a box of cigarettes. "Try one of these." I shook my head. "Too strong for me. Colombian cigarettes I like. Cuban cigarettes are murder." He smiled faintly, lit another pill himself, and blew smoke. The guy was so goddam elegant he was beginning to annoy me. "I know about the letter, se.or. The mozo was afraid to go up to the room of this Se.or Lennox after the guarda was posted. The cop or dick, as you say. So I myself took the letter to the correo. After the shooting, you understand." "You ought to have looked inside. It had a large piece of money in it." "The letter was sealed," he said coldly. "El honor no se mueve de lado como los congrejos. That is, honor does not move sidewise like a crab4, se.or." "My apologies. Please continue." "Se.or Lennox had a hundred-peso note in his left hand when I went into the room and shut the door in the face of the guarda. In his right hand was a pistol. On the table before him was the letter. Also another paper which I did not read. I refused the note." "Too much money," I said, but he didn't react to the sarcasm5. "He insisted. So I took the note finally and gave it to the mozo later. I took the letter out under the napkin on the tray from the previous service of coffee. The dick looked hard at me. But he said nothing. I was halfway6 down the stairs when I heard the shot. Very quickly I hid the letter and ran back upstairs. The dick was trying to kick the door open. I used my key. Se.or Lennox was dead." He moved his fingertips gently along the edge of the desk and sighed. "The rest no doubt you know." "Was the hotel full?" "Not full, no. There were half a dozen guests." "Americans?" "Two Americanos del Norte. Hunters." "Real Gringos or just transplanted Mexicans?" He drew a fingertip slowly along the fawn-colored cloth above his knee. "I think one of them could well have been of Spanish origin. He spoke border Spanish. Very inelegant." "They go near Lennox's room at all?" He lifted his head sharply but the green cheaters didn't do a thing for me. "Why should they, sefior?" I nodded. "Well, it was damn nice of you to come in here and tell me about it, Se.or Maioranos. Tell Randy I'm ever so grateful, will you?" "No hay de que, se.or. It is nothing." "And later on, if he has time, he could send me somebody who knows what he is talking about." "Se.or?" His voice was soft, but icy. "You doubt my word?" "You guys are always talking about honor. Honor is the cloak of thieves—sometimes. Don't get mad. Sit quiet and let me tell it another way." He leaned back superciliously7. "I'm only guessing, mind. I could be wrong. But I could be right too. These two Americanos were there for a purpose. They came in on a plane. They pretended to be hunters. One of them was named Menendez, a gambler. He registered under some other name or not. I wouldn't know. Lennox knew they were there. He knew why. He wrote me that letter because he had a guilty conscience. He had played me for a sucker and he was too nice a guy for that to rest easy on him. He put the bill—five thousand dollars it was—in the letter because he had a lot of money and he knew I hadn't. He also put in a little off-beat hint which might or might not register. He was the kind of guy who always wants to do the right thing but somehow winds up doing something else. You say you took the letter to the correo. Why didn't you mail it in the box in front of the hotel?" "The box, se.or?" "The mailbox. The cajdn cartero, you call it, I think." He smiled. "Otatoclán is not Mexico City, se.or. It is a very primitive8 place. A street mailbox in Otatodán? No one there would understand what it was for. No one would collect letters from it." I said: "Oh. Well, skip it. You did not take any coffee on any tray up to Se.or Lennox's room, Se.or Maioranos. You did not go into the room past the dick. But the two Americanos did go in. The dick was fixed9, of course. So were several other people. One of the Americanos slugged Lennox from behind. Then he took the Mauser pistol and opened up one of the cartridges10 and took out the bullet and put the cartridge11 back in the breech. Then he put this gun to Lennox's temple and pulled the trigger. It made a nasty-looking wound, but it did not kill him. Then he was carried out on a stretcher covered up and well hidden. Then when the American lawyer arrived, Lennox was doped and packed in ice and kept in a dark corner of the carpinterla where the man was making a coffin12. The American lawyer saw Lennox there, he was ice-cold, in a deep stupor13, and there was a bloody14 blackened wound in his temple. He looked plenty dead. The next day the coffin was buried with stones in it. The American lawyer went home with the fingerprints15 and some kind of document which was a piece of cheese. How do you like that, Se.or Maioranos?" He shrugged. "It would be possible, se.or. It would require money and influence. It would be possible, perhaps, if this Se.or Menendez was dosely related to important people in Otatoclán, the alcalde, the hotel proprietor16 and so on." "Well, that's possible too. It's a good idea. It would explain why they picked a remote little place like Otatoclán." He smiled quickly. "Then Se.or Lennox may still be alive, no?" "Sure. The suicide had to be some kind of fake to back up the confession17. It had to be good enough to fool a lawyer who had been a district attorney, but it would make a very sick monkey out of the current D.A. if it backfired. This Menendez is not as tough as he thinks he is, but he was tough enough to pistol-whip me for not keeping my nose clean. So he had to have reasons. If the fake got exposed, Menendez would be right in the middle of an international stink18. The Mexicans don't like crooked19 police work any more than we do." "All that is possible, se.or, as I very well know. But you accused me of lying. You said I did not go into the room where Se.or Lennox was and get his letter." "You were already in there, chum—writing the letter." He reached up and took the dark glasses off. Nobody can change the color of a man's eyes. "I suppose it's a bit too early for a gimlet," he said.

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1 shrugged 497904474a48f991a3d1961b0476ebce     
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》
2 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
3 swell IHnzB     
vi.膨胀,肿胀;增长,增强
参考例句:
  • The waves had taken on a deep swell.海浪汹涌。
  • His injured wrist began to swell.他那受伤的手腕开始肿了。
4 crab xoozE     
n.螃蟹,偏航,脾气乖戾的人,酸苹果;vi.捕蟹,偏航,发牢骚;vt.使偏航,发脾气
参考例句:
  • I can't remember when I last had crab.我不记得上次吃蟹是什么时候了。
  • The skin on my face felt as hard as a crab's back.我脸上的皮仿佛僵硬了,就象螃蟹的壳似的。
5 sarcasm 1CLzI     
n.讥讽,讽刺,嘲弄,反话 (adj.sarcastic)
参考例句:
  • His sarcasm hurt her feelings.他的讽刺伤害了她的感情。
  • She was given to using bitter sarcasm.她惯于用尖酸刻薄语言挖苦人。
6 halfway Xrvzdq     
adj.中途的,不彻底的,部分的;adv.半路地,在中途,在半途
参考例句:
  • We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路,天就黑了。
  • In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上,最忌讳的是有始无终。
7 superciliously dc5221cf42a9d5c69ebf16b9c64ae01f     
adv.高傲地;傲慢地
参考例句:
  • Madame Defarge looked superciliously at the client, and nodded in confirmation. 德伐日太太轻蔑地望了望客人,点头同意。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
8 primitive vSwz0     
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物
参考例句:
  • It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
  • His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。
9 fixed JsKzzj     
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的
参考例句:
  • Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗?
  • Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定,我们就不应该随意改变。
10 cartridges 17207f2193d1e05c4c15f2938c82898d     
子弹( cartridge的名词复数 ); (打印机的)墨盒; 录音带盒; (唱机的)唱头
参考例句:
  • computer consumables such as disks and printer cartridges 如磁盘、打印机墨盒之类的电脑耗材
  • My new video game player came with three game cartridges included. 我的新电子游戏机附有三盘游戏带。
11 cartridge fXizt     
n.弹壳,弹药筒;(装磁带等的)盒子
参考例句:
  • Unfortunately the 2G cartridge design is very difficult to set accurately.不幸地2G弹药筒设计非常难正确地设定。
  • This rifle only holds one cartridge.这支来复枪只能装一发子弹。
12 coffin XWRy7     
n.棺材,灵柩
参考例句:
  • When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
  • The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。
13 stupor Kqqyx     
v.昏迷;不省人事
参考例句:
  • As the whisky took effect, he gradually fell into a drunken stupor.随着威士忌酒力发作,他逐渐醉得不省人事。
  • The noise of someone banging at the door roused her from her stupor.梆梆的敲门声把她从昏迷中唤醒了。
14 bloody kWHza     
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染
参考例句:
  • He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
  • He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。
15 fingerprints 9b456c81cc868e5bdf3958245615450b     
n.指纹( fingerprint的名词复数 )v.指纹( fingerprint的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • Everyone's fingerprints are unique. 每个人的指纹都是独一无二的。
  • They wore gloves so as not to leave any fingerprints behind (them). 他们戴着手套,以免留下指纹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
16 proprietor zR2x5     
n.所有人;业主;经营者
参考例句:
  • The proprietor was an old acquaintance of his.业主是他的一位旧相识。
  • The proprietor of the corner grocery was a strange thing in my life.拐角杂货店店主是我生活中的一个怪物。
17 confession 8Ygye     
n.自白,供认,承认
参考例句:
  • Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
  • The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。
18 stink ZG5zA     
vi.发出恶臭;糟透,招人厌恶;n.恶臭
参考例句:
  • The stink of the rotten fish turned my stomach.腐烂的鱼臭味使我恶心。
  • The room has awful stink.那个房间散发着难闻的臭气。
19 crooked xvazAv     
adj.弯曲的;不诚实的,狡猾的,不正当的
参考例句:
  • He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指,示意我们到他那儿去。
  • You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。


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