Chapter 47

  WHEN I RETURNED home from Susie’s, the sun was still hanging above the horizon, splashing orange light on the hood¹ of a squad² car parked right outside my apartment.

  I bent³ to the open car window, said, “Hey there. Something wrong?”

  “You got a couple of minutes?”

  I said, “Sure,” and my partner opened the car door, unfolded his long legs, and walked over to my front steps, where he sat down. I joined him. I didn’t like the look on Rich’s face as he opened a pack of cigarettes and offered me one.

  I shook my head no, then said, “You don’t smoke.”

  “Old habit making a brief return visit.”

  I’d kicked tobacco once or twice myself, and now I felt the pull of the many-splendored ritual as the match sparked, the tip of the cigarette glowed, and Rich released a long exhalation into the dusky air.

  “Kelly Malone is calling me every day so I can tell her that we’ve got nothing. Had to tell her about the Meachams.”

  I murmured sympathetically.

  “She says she can’t sleep, thinking how her parents died. She’s crying all the time.”

  Rich coughed on the smoke and waved his hand to tell me that he couldn’t talk anymore. I understood how helpless he felt. The Malones’ deaths were shaping up to be a part of a vicious serial⁴ killing⁵ spree. And we were clueless.

  I said, “He’s going to screw up, Richie, they almost always do. And we’re not in this alone. Claire, Hanni -”

  “You like Hanni?”

  “Sure. Don’t you?”

  Conklin shrugged⁶. “Why does he know so much and so little at the same time?”

  “He’s doing what we’re doing. Wading⁷ through the sludge. Trying to make sense of the senseless.”

  “Good word for it. Sludging. We’re sludging, and the killer⁸ is laughing - but hell, I’m a bright guy. I can translate Latin platitudes⁹ into English! That’s worth something. Isn’t it?”

  I was laughing with Rich as he joked himself out of his blue mood when I saw a black sedan crawling slowly up the street in search of a parking spot. It was Joe.

  “Oh, look. Stay and meet Joe,” I said. “He’s heard a lot about you.”

  “Nah, not tonight, Linds,” said Rich, standing¹⁰ up, grinding out the butt¹¹ of his cigarette on the pavement. “Maybe some other time. See you in the morning.”

  Joe’s car stopped.

  Richie’s car pulled out of the spot.

  Then Joe’s car pulled in.

1 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

2 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

3 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

4 serial   

n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的

参考例句：

• A new serial is starting on television tonight.今晚电视开播一部新的电视连续剧。
• Can you account for the serial failures in our experiment?你能解释我们实验屡屡失败的原因吗？

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 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》

7 wading   

（从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The man tucked up his trousers for wading. 那人卷起裤子，准备涉水。
• The children were wading in the sea. 孩子们在海水中走着。

8 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

9 platitudes   

n.平常的话，老生常谈，陈词滥调( platitude的名词复数 )；滥套子

参考例句：

• He was mouthing the usual platitudes about the need for more compassion. 他言不由衷地说了些需要更加同情之类的陈腔滥调。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He delivered a long prose full of platitudes. 他发表了一篇充满陈词滥调的文章。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 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。

11 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。