Chapter 103

  CONKLIN AND I leaned against the side of my car, facing the Campion house, staring at the lights glowing softly through a million little windowpanes. Campion and his wife didn’t know what kind of death Hawk¹ and Pidge had planned for them tonight, but we knew - and thinking about that near miss was giving me the horrors.

  If Connor Campion hadn’t fired his gun, Hawk and Pidge would have roasted him and his wife alive.

  Rich pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered me one - and this time I took him up on it.

  “Might be some prints on that foil around the bottle of booze,” he said.

  I nodded, thinking we’d be lucky if those kids had records, if their prints were in AFIS, but I wasn’t counting on it.

  “Hawk. Pidge. Crazy names,” Conklin said.

  “I got a pretty good look at Hawk,” I said. “He matches Molly Chu’s description of the so-called angel who carried her out of the fire.”

  Conklin exhaled² a long stream of smoke into the night. He said, “And the governor’s description of Pidge sounds like the kid who pawned³ Patty Malone’s necklace.”

  “And of course there’s the fishing line. So . . . what are we thinking?” I said to Conklin. “That Hawk and Pidge also killed Michael Campion? Because I don’t see two guys killing⁴ a kid when their MO is to tie up rich couples, leave a few words in Latin inside a book, and then burn the house down.”

  Conklin said, “Nope. That doesn’t work for me, either. So why do you think these birds targeted the Campions?”

  “Because the Campions are in the news. Big house. Big fire. Big headlines. Big score.”

  Conklin smiled, said, “Only they screwed up.”

  I smiled back, said, “Yeah.”

  We were both starting to feel it, the kind of incomparable exhilaration that comes when after nothing but dead ends, A leads to B leads to C. I was sure that Hawk and Pidge were the sadists who did the arson⁵ killings⁶, but not only couldn’t we prove that, we didn’t know who Hawk and Pidge were.

  I stamped out my cigarette on the street, said to Conklin, “That Hawk bastard⁷ had better live.”

  “At least long enough to talk,” said my partner.

1 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。

2 exhaled   

v.呼出，发散出( exhale的过去式和过去分词 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气

参考例句：

• He sat back and exhaled deeply. 他仰坐着深深地呼气。
• He stamped his feet and exhaled a long, white breath. 跺了跺脚，他吐了口长气，很长很白。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子

3 pawned   

v.典当，抵押( pawn的过去式和过去分词 )；以（某事物）担保

参考例句：

• He pawned his gold watch to pay the rent. 他抵当了金表用以交租。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has redeemed her pawned jewellery. 她赎回了当掉的珠宝。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 arson   

n.纵火，放火

参考例句：

• He was serving a ten spot for arson.他因纵火罪在服十年徒刑。
• He was arraigned on a charge of arson.他因被指控犯纵火罪而被传讯。

6 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

7 bastard   

n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子

参考例句：

• He was never concerned about being born a bastard.他从不介意自己是私生子。
• There was supposed to be no way to get at the bastard.据说没有办法买通那个混蛋。