BEYOND THE RESTAURANT WINDOW, FALLING rain as clear as a baby’s conscience met the city pavement and flooded the gutters1 with filthy2 churning currents.
Studying the photo of the jar full of foreskins, Hazard said, “Ten little hats from ten little proud heads? You think they could be trophies3?”
“From men he’s murdered? Possible but unlikely. Anybody with that many kills isn’t the kind to taunt4 his victims first with freaky gifts in-black boxes. He just does the job.”
“And if they were trophies, he wouldn’t give them away so easy.”
“Yeah. They’d be the central theme of his home decor. What I think is he works with stiffs. Maybe in a funeral home or a morgue.”
“Postmortem circumcisions.” Hazard twisted some string cheese onto his fork as he might have spun5 up a bite of spaghetti. “Kinky, but it’s got to be the answer, ’cause I haven’t heard about ten unsolved homicides where it looks like the perp might be a lunatic rabbi.” He dunked the string cheese in lebne and continued with lunch.
Ethan said, “I think he harvested these from cadavers6 for the sole purpose of sending them to Channing Manheim.”
[73] “To convey what—that Chan the Man is a prick7?”
“I doubt the message is that simple.”
“Fame doesn’t seem so appealing anymore.”
The fourth black box had been larger than the others. Two photos were required to document the contents.
In the first picture stood a honey-colored ceramic8 cat. The cat stood on its hind9 paws and held a ceramic cookie in each forepaw. Red letters on its chest and tummy spelled COOKIE KITTEN.
“It’s a cookie jar,” Ethan said.
“I’m such a good detective, I figured that out all by myself.”
“It was filled with Scrabble tiles.”
The second photo showed a pile of tiles. In front of the pile, Ethan had used six pieces to spell OWE and WOE10.
“The jar contained ninety of each letter: O, W, E. Either word could be spelled ninety times, or both words forty-five times side by side. I don’t know which he intended.”
“So the nutball is saying, ‘I owe you woe.’ He thinks somehow Manheim has done him wrong, and now it’s payback time.”
“Maybe. But why in a cookie jar?”
“You could also spell wow,” Hazard noted11.
“Yeah, but then you’re left with half the Os and all the Es not used, and they don’t make anything together. Only owe or woe uses all the letters.”
“What about two-word combinations?”
“The first one is wee woo. Which could mean ‘little love,’ I guess, but I don’t get the message in that one. The second is E-W-E, and woo again.”
“Sheep love, huh?”
“Seems like a dead end to me. I think owe woe is what he intended, one or the other, or both.”
Smearing12 lebne on a slice of lahmajoon flatbread, Hazard said, “Maybe after this we can play Monopoly.”
[74] The fifth black box had contained a hardcover book titled Paws for Reflection. The cover featured a photo of an adorable golden retriever puppy.
“It’s a memoir,” Ethan said. “The guy who wrote it—Donald Gainsworth—spent thirty years training guide dogs for the blind and service dogs for people confined to wheelchairs.”
“No bugs13 or foreskins pressed between the pages?”
“Nope. And I checked every page for underlining, but nothing was highlighted.”
“It’s out of character with the rest. An innocuous little book, even sweet.”
“Box number six was thrown over the gate a little after three-thirty this morning.”
Hazard studied the last two photos. First, the sutured apple. Then the eye inside. “Is the peeper real?”
“He pried14 it out of a doll.”
“Nevertheless, this one disturbs me most of all.”
“Me too. Why you?”
“The apple’s the most crafted of the six. It took a lot of care, so it’s probably the one he finds most meaningful.”
“So far it doesn’t mean much to me,” Ethan lamented15.
Stapled16 to the last photograph was a Xerox17 of the typewritten message that had been folded in the seed pocket, under the eye. After reading it twice, Hazard said, “He didn’t send anything like this with the first five packages?”
“No.”
“Then this is probably the last thing he’s sending. He’s said everything he wants to say, in symbols and now in words. Now he moves from threats to action.”
“I think you’re right. But the words are as much of a riddle18 as the symbols, the objects.”
With silvery insistence19, headlights cleaved20 the afternoon gloom. [75] Radiant wings of water flew up from the puddled pavement, obscuring the tires and lending an aura of supernatural mission to the vehicles that plied21 the currents of Pico Boulevard.
After a brooding silence, Hazard said, “An apple might symbolize22 dangerous or forbidden knowledge. The original sin he mentions.”
Ethan tried his salmon23 and couscous again. He might as well have been eating paste. He put down his fork.
“The seeds of knowledge have been replaced by the eye,” Hazard said, almost more to himself than to Ethan.
A flock of pedestrians24 hurried past the restaurant windows, bent25 forward as if resisting a wind greater than the one that the December day exhaled26, under the inadequate27 protection of black umbrellas, like mourners quickening to a grave.
“Maybe he’s saying, ‘I see your secrets, the source—the seeds—of your evil.’ ”
“I had a similar thought. But it doesn’t feel entirely28 right, and it doesn’t lead me anywhere useful.”
“Whatever he means by it,” Hazard said, “it bothers me that you have this eye in the apple come just after this book about a guy who raised guide dogs for the blind.”
“If he’s threatening to blind Manheim, that’s bad enough,” said Ethan, “but I think he intends worse.”
After shuffling29 through the photos once more, Hazard returned them to Ethan and again addressed the seafood30 tagine with gusto. “I assume you’ve got your man well covered.”
“He’s filming in Florida. Five bodyguards31 travel with him.”
“You don’t?”
“Not usually. I oversee32 all security operations from Bel Air. I talk to the head road warrior33 at least once a day.”
“Road warrior?”
“That’s Manheim’s little joke. It’s what he calls the bodyguards who travel with him.”
[76] “That’s a joke? I fart funnier than he talks.”
“I never claimed he was the king of comedy.”
“When somebody tossed the sixth box over the gate last night,” Hazard asked, “who was the somebody? Any security tape?”
“Plenty. Including a clear shot of his license34 plate.”
Ethan told him about Rolf Reynerd—though he didn’t mention his encounters with the man, neither the one that he knew to be real nor the one that he seemed to have dreamed.
“And what do you want from me?” Hazard asked.
“Maybe you could check him out.”
“Check him out? How far? You want me to hold his privates while he turns his head and coughs?”
“Maybe not that far.”
“You want I should look for polyps in his lower colon35?”
“I already know he doesn’t have any criminal priors—”
“So I’m not the first one you’re calling in a favor from.”
Ethan shrugged36. “You know me, I’m a user. No one’s safe. It’d be useful to know, does Reynerd have any legally registered firearms.”
“You been talking to Laura Moonves over in Support Division?”
“She was helpful,” Ethan admitted.
“You should marry her.”
“She didn’t give me that much on Reynerd.”
“Even all us morons37 can see you and her would be as right as bread and butter.”
“We haven’t even dated in eighteen months,” Ethan said.
“That’s because you’re not as smart as us morons. You’re just an idiot. So don’t jive me. Moonves could get firearm registrations38 for you. That’s not what you want from me.”
While Hazard concentrated on lunch, Ethan gazed into the false twilight40 of the storm.
After two winters of below-average rainfall, the climatological experts had warned that California was in for a long and disastrous41 dry [77] spell. As usual, the ensuing dire42 stories of drought, flooding the media, had proved to be sure predictors of a drowning deluge43.
The pregnant belly44 of the sky hung low and gray and fat, and water broke to announce the birth of still more water.
“I guess what I want from you,” Ethan said at last, “is to take a look at the guy up close and tell me what you think of him.”
As perceptive45 as ever, Hazard said, “You’ve already knocked on his door, haven’t you?”
“Yeah. Pretended I’d come to see who lived there before him.”
“He creeped you out. Something way different about him.”
“You’ll see it or you won’t,” Ethan said evasively.
“I’m a homicide cop. He’s not a suspect in any killing46. How do I justify47 this?”
“I’m not asking for an official visit.”
“If I don’t wave a badge, I won’t get past the doorstep, not as mean as I look.”
“If you can’t, you can’t. That’s okay.”
When the waitress arrived to ask if they wanted anything more, Hazard said, “I love those walnut48 mamouls. Give me six dozen to go.”
“I like a man with a big appetite,” she said coyly.
“You, young lady, I could gobble up in one bite,” Hazard said, eliciting49 from her a flush of erotic interest and a nervous laugh.
When the waitress went away, Ethan said, “Six dozen?”
“I like cookies. So where does this Reynerd live?”
Earlier, Ethan had written the address on a slip of paper. He passed it across the table. “If you go, don’t go easy.”
“Go what—in a tank?”
“Just go ready.”
“For what?”
“Probably nothing, maybe something. He’s either high wired or a natural-born headcase. And he’s got a pistol.”
Hazard’s gaze tracked across Ethan’s face as though reading his [778] secrets as readily as an optical scanner could decipher any bar pattern of Universal Product Code. “Thought you wanted me to check for gun registration39.”
“A neighbor told me,” Ethan lied. “Says Reynerd’s a little paranoid, keeps the piece close to himself most of the time.”
While Ethan returned the computer-printed photos to the manila envelope, Hazard stared at him.
The papers didn’t seem to fit in the envelope at first. Then for a moment the metal clasp was too large to slip through the hole in the flap.
“You have a shaky envelope there,” said Hazard.
“Too much coffee this morning,” Ethan said, and to avoid meeting Hazard’s eyes, he surveyed the lunchtime crowd.
The flogged air of human voices flailed50 through the restaurant, beat against the walls, and what seemed, on casual attention, to be a celebratory roar sounded sinister51 when listened to with a more attentive52 ear, sounded now like the barely throttled53 rage of a mob, and now like the torment54 of legions under some cruel oppression.
Ethan realized that he was searching face to face for one face in particular. He half expected to see toilet-drowned Dunny Whistler, dead but eating lunch.
“You’ve hardly touched your salmon,” Hazard said in a tone of voice as close as he could ever get to motherly concern.
“It’s off, “Ethan said.
“Why didn’t you send it back?”
“I’m not that hungry, anyway.”
Hazard used his well-worn fork to sample salmon. “It’s not off.”
“It tastes off to me,” Ethan insisted.
The waitress returned with the lunch check and with pink bakery boxes full of walnut mamouls packed in a clear plastic bag bearing the restaurant’s logo.
While Ethan fished a credit card from his wallet, the woman waited, her face a clear window to her thoughts. She wanted to flirt55 more with Hazard, but his daunting56 appearance made her wary57.
[79] As Ethan returned the check with his American Express plastic, the waitress thanked him and glanced at Hazard, who licked his lips with theatrical58 pleasure, causing her to scurry59 off like a rabbit that had been so flattered by a fox’s admiration60 that she had almost offered herself for dinner before recovering her survival instinct.
“Thanks for picking up the check,” Hazard said. “Now I can say Chan the Man took me to lunch. Though I think these mamouls are going to turn out to be the most expensive cookies I ever ate.”
“This was just lunch. No obligations. Like I said, if you can’t, you can’t. Reynerd’s my problem, not yours.”
“Yeah, but you’ve got me intrigued61 now. You’re a better flirt than the waitress.”
Midst a clutter62 of darker emotions, Ethan found a genuine smile.
A sudden change in the direction of the wind threw shatters of rain against the big windows.
Beyond the hard-washed glass, pedestrians and passing traffic appeared to melt into ruin as though subjected to an Armageddon of flameless heat, a holocaust63 of caustic64 acid.
Ethan said, “If he’s carrying a potato-chip bag, corn chips, anything like that, there might be more than snack food in it.”
“This the paranoid part? You said he keeps his piece close.”
“That’s what I heard. In a potato-chip bag, places like that, where he can reach for it, and you don’t realize what he’s doing.”
Hazard stared at him, saying nothing.
“Maybe it’s a nine-millimeter Glock,” Ethan added.
“He have a nuclear weapon, too?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Probably keeps the nuke in a box of Cheez-Its.”
“Just take a bagful of mamouls, and you can handle anything.”
“Hell, yeah. Throw one of these, you’d crack a guy’s skull65.”
“Then eat the evidence.”
The waitress returned with his credit card and the voucher66.
[80] As Ethan added the gratuity67 and signed the form, Hazard seemed almost oblivious68 of the woman and did not once look at her.
With needles of rain, the blustering69 wind tattooed70 ephemeral patterns on the window, and Hazard said, “Looks cold out there.”
That was exactly what Ethan had been thinking.
收听单词发音 |
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gutters
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| （路边）排水沟( gutter的名词复数 )； 阴沟； （屋顶的）天沟； 贫贱的境地 | |
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filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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trophies
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| n.（为竞赛获胜者颁发的）奖品( trophy的名词复数 )；奖杯；（尤指狩猎或战争中获得的）纪念品；（用于比赛或赛跑名称）奖 | |
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taunt
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| n.辱骂，嘲弄；v.嘲弄 | |
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spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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cadavers
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| n.尸体( cadaver的名词复数 ) | |
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prick
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| v.刺伤，刺痛，刺孔；n.刺伤，刺痛 | |
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ceramic
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| n.制陶业，陶器，陶瓷工艺 | |
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hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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smearing
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| 污点，拖尾效应 | |
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bugs
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| adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误 | |
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pried
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| v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的过去式和过去分词 )；撬开 | |
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lamented
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| adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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stapled
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| v.用钉书钉钉住( staple的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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xerox
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| n./v.施乐复印机，静电复印 | |
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riddle
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| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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insistence
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| n.坚持；强调；坚决主张 | |
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cleaved
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| v.劈开，剁开，割开( cleave的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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plied
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的过去式和过去分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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symbolize
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| vt.作为...的象征，用符号代表 | |
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salmon
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| n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的 | |
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pedestrians
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| n.步行者( pedestrian的名词复数 ) | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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exhaled
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| 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 | |
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inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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shuffling
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| adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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seafood
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| n.海产食品，海味，海鲜 | |
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bodyguards
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| n.保镖，卫士，警卫员( bodyguard的名词复数 ) | |
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oversee
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| vt.监督，管理 | |
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warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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license
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| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
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colon
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| n.冒号，结肠，直肠 | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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morons
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| 傻子( moron的名词复数 )； 痴愚者（指心理年龄在8至12岁的成年人） | |
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registrations
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| n.登记( registration的名词复数 )；登记项目；登记（或注册、挂号）人数；（管风琴）音栓配合（法） | |
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registration
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| n.登记，注册，挂号 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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dire
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| adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的 | |
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deluge
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| n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥 | |
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belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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perceptive
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| adj.知觉的，有洞察力的，感知的 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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48
walnut
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| n.胡桃，胡桃木，胡桃色，茶色 | |
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eliciting
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| n. 诱发, 引出 动词elicit的现在分词形式 | |
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50
flailed
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| v.鞭打( flail的过去式和过去分词 )；用连枷脱粒；（臂或腿）无法控制地乱动；扫雷坦克 | |
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51
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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53
throttled
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| v.扼杀( throttle的过去式和过去分词 )；勒死；使窒息；压制 | |
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54
torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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55
flirt
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| v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者 | |
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56
daunting
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| adj.使人畏缩的 | |
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57
wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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scurry
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| vi.急匆匆地走；使急赶；催促；n.快步急跑，疾走；仓皇奔跑声；骤雨，骤雪；短距离赛马 | |
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60
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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61
intrigued
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| adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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62
clutter
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| n.零乱，杂乱；vt.弄乱，把…弄得杂乱 | |
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holocaust
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| n.大破坏；大屠杀 | |
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64
caustic
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| adj.刻薄的，腐蚀性的 | |
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skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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66
voucher
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| n.收据；传票；凭单，凭证 | |
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67
gratuity
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| n.赏钱，小费 | |
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oblivious
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| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
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69
blustering
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| adj.狂风大作的，狂暴的v.外强中干的威吓( bluster的现在分词 )；咆哮；（风）呼啸；狂吹 | |
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70
tattooed
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| v.刺青，文身( tattoo的过去式和过去分词 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击 | |
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