Chapter 43

We marched them into the barn. Brad kept looking at Nora. She didn’t lookback.
Milo said, “Hold on to her, Alex,” as hepropelled Brad up the center path.
Choosing the ’59 Caddy, he stashed¹ Brad in the front passenger seat.
“Looky here, an after-market seat belt.” The sash was drawn² over Brad’sabdomen. The skin on the back of his neck had gone as white as his hair. Helooked like a piece of marble statuary.
Nora focused straight ahead. Her wrists felt soft, as if bones had begun tomelt. She smelled of French perfume and cannabis.
Milo made sure Brad was secured, thenclosed the Caddy’s door. As metal hit metal, I felt a shock of tension coursefrom Nora’s shoulder to her hip³. She said nothing but her breathing quickened.
Then she lifted her right foot and tried to drive a spike⁴ heel into myinstep.
As I danced away she began twisting and spitting. I probably hurt hermaintaining control, because she cried out. Or maybe that was acting⁵.
Milo strode over and took her. “Check theworkbench and see if you can find suitable bindings for Ms. Funnel⁶ here.”
Nora Dowd said, “Brad raped⁸ me, it was nonconsensual.”
“That’s redundant,” said Milo.
“Huh?”
“Nonconsensual rape⁷.”
Confusion in the dope-ruddy eyes.
Milo said, “That’s some art project hangingfrom the door.”
Nora began sobbing⁹ tearlessly. “Dylan! I loved him so much, Brad got jealousand did that horrible thing! I tried to stop it, you’ve got to believe me!”
“How’d you try to stop it?”
“By reasoning with him.”
“Intellectual debate?” said Milo. “Themerits of organic kapok¹⁰ versus¹¹ polyurethane foam¹²?”
Nora wailed¹³. “Oh, my God ! This is terrible !”
Still dry-eyed. An onion would’ve helped.
She sniffed¹⁴. Looked up at Milo.
He said, “Your show’s closing due to bad reviews.”
 
In a workbench drawer, I found a roll of duct tape and two spools¹⁵ of heavy,white rope. Milo said, “Do it.”
He had Nora’s arms bent¹⁶ behind her back and she’d switched from crying tocursing. She swore louder as I bound her wrists, tried to head-butt Milo’s arm. By the time he managed to drag her across thebarn from the Caddy and get her in the passenger seat of a white ’55Thunderbird, she’d gone mute.
He said, “Fun, fun, fun, when Milo takes itaway,” and belted her in, too.
The two of us stood there. Panting. His face was sweaty and I felt moisturetrickle down the side of my head. My ribs¹⁷ hurt. The back of my neck felt as ifI’d encountered a blunt guillotine.
Milo used his phone.
The sirens began as distant moans, enlarged to nuclear trombone slides.
I was working hard at not thinking and the noise was sweet music.
 
--- oOo ---
 
Eight sheriff’s squad¹⁸ cars, strobe-fest of blinking lights.
Milo had his badge out right away.
A slit-eyed, sunburned sergeant¹⁹ in body-conscious tans got out of the leadcar.
“LAPD,” said Milo.
“Keep your hands where I can see ’em.”
Multiple weapons trained on us. We complied. The sergeant swaggered towardus with that mixture of fear and aggression²⁰ cops display when they’re facedwith uncertainty²¹. His mustache was orange and bristly, big enough to nest hummingbirds²².M. Pedersohn on his tag. Tight neck muscles. A squint²³ at the small print on Milo’s shield didn’t warm the atmosphere.
Freckled²⁴ hands slapped on tan hips²⁵. “Okay…you came up here for what?”
“Job-related,” said Milo. “Lemme show you—”
“The dispatcher said something about a body,” said Pedersohn.
“That’s partially²⁶ accurate,” said Milo.
“What?”
Milo motioned round the south side of thebarn. Pedersohn stood in place, showing his men he couldn’t be bossed around. Milo disappeared from view. Pedersohn went after him.
 
A peek²⁷ inside the hatch turned the sergeant’s sunburn to chalk.
“Jesus…” He grabbed his mustache, rubbed his teeth with the side of hisindex finger. “Is that…”
“It ain’t plastic,” said Milo.
“Jesus…oh, man…how long’s it been there?”
“One question of many rearing their nasty little heads, Sarge. Have youcalled your lab guys?”
“Um…not yet…” Another look down. “Our downtown guys are obviously going toneed to deal with this.”
“Then you should call them, too.”
Pedersohn yanked his radio off his belt. Stopped. Squinted²⁸. “Where are thesuspects?”
“Pretending to be taking a road trip.”
“What?” said Pedersohn.
Milo walked away from him again.
Pedersohn looked at me.
I said, “Multiple murder makes him cranky.”
 
A deputy coroner named Al Morden who lived in the Palisadeswas called to the scene. He descended²⁹ the stairs, looked at the head, refusedto go farther until the shelter was declared safe.
Lots of who-me? looks from the deputies. Sergeant Mitchell Pedersohn said,“Our downtown guys should be here soon.”
Milo said, “My offer vis-à-vis the lunchbox stands, Alex.”
Pedersohn said,” What?”
Milo climbed down in the hole.
 
He was back moments later. “Look, Ma, no booby traps.”
“What’s down there?” Pedersohn demanded.
“Three separate shelters linked by tunnels. Think of it as your basicparanoid triplex. One of them’s got women’s clothes and toiletries and a comfybed, pictures of our suspects on the walls, kinda homey. The others aren’thomey at all.”
“I meant in terms of evidence.”
“That’s kinda complicated,” Milo said,addressing Dr. Morden.
Morden’s smile was grim. “My type of complicated?”
“Oh, yeah.”

1 stashed   

v.贮藏( stash的过去式和过去分词 )；隐藏；藏匿；藏起

参考例句：

• She has a fortune stashed away in various bank accounts. 她有一大笔钱存在几个不同的银行账户下。
• She has a fortune stashed away in various bank accounts. 她在不同的银行账户上秘密储存了一大笔钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 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。

3 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

4 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 funnel   

n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集

参考例句：

• He poured the petrol into the car through a funnel.他用一个漏斗把汽油灌入汽车。
• I like the ship with a yellow funnel.我喜欢那条有黄烟囱的船。

7 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

8 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

9 sobbing   

<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的

参考例句：

• I heard a child sobbing loudly. 我听见有个孩子在呜呜地哭。
• Her eyes were red with recent sobbing. 她的眼睛因刚哭过而发红。

10 kapok   

n.木棉

参考例句：

• As all we know,kapok is the city flower of Guangzhou.众所周知，木棉是广州市的市花。
• Kapok becomes red when spring comes.春天来了，木棉红了。

11 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

12 foam   

v./n.泡沫，起泡沫

参考例句：

• The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
• The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。

13 wailed   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She wailed over her father's remains. 她对着父亲的遗体嚎啕大哭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The women of the town wailed over the war victims. 城里的妇女为战争的死难者们痛哭。 来自辞典例句

14 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 spools   

n.（绕线、铁线、照相软片等的）管( spool的名词复数 )；络纱；纺纱机；绕圈轴工人v.把…绕到线轴上（或从线轴上绕下来）( spool的第三人称单数 )；假脱机（输出或输入）

参考例句：

• I bought three spools of thread at the store. 我在这个店里买了三轴线。 来自辞典例句
• How many spools of thread did you use? 你用了几轴线？ 来自辞典例句

16 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。

17 ribs   

n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。

18 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。

19 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

20 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

21 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

22 hummingbirds   

n.蜂鸟( hummingbird的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious. 蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。
• Why do hummingbirds and gorillas both have backbones? 为什么蜂鸟和大猩猩都有脊骨？

23 squint   

v. 使变斜视眼, 斜视, 眯眼看, 偏移, 窥视; n. 斜视, 斜孔小窗; adj. 斜视的, 斜的

参考例句：

• A squint can sometimes be corrected by an eyepatch. 斜视有时候可以通过戴眼罩来纠正。
• The sun was shinning straight in her eyes which made her squint. 太阳直射着她的眼睛,使她眯起了眼睛。

24 freckled   

adj.雀斑；斑点；晒斑；（使）生雀斑v.雀斑，斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her face was freckled all over. 她的脸长满雀斑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Her freckled skin glowed with health again. 她长有雀斑的皮肤又泛出了健康的红光。 来自辞典例句

25 hips   

abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的

参考例句：

• She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
• They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》

26 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

27 peek   

vi.偷看，窥视；n.偷偷的一看，一瞥

参考例句：

• Larry takes a peek out of the window.赖瑞往窗外偷看了一下。
• Cover your eyes and don't peek.捂上眼睛，别偷看。

28 squinted   

斜视( squint的过去式和过去分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看

参考例句：

• Pulling his rifle to his shoulder he squinted along the barrel. 他把枪顶肩，眯起眼睛瞄准。
• I squinted through the keyhole. 我从锁眼窥看。

29 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。