TROUBLED AS NEVER BEFORE BY THE DARKNESS beyond the windows, Ethan went through his apartment, closing the drapes and shutting out the rainy night as if, in fact, it had a thousand eyes.
In his study, at his desk, he switched on the computer and engaged the house-control program. On the screen, icons2 appeared for the heating-cooling controls, the pool and spa heaters, the landscape watering and lighting3, the interior lighting, the interlinked audio-video equipment, the electronic security apparatus4, the telephones, and other systems.
Using his mouse, he clicked the telephone icon1. A request for his password appeared, and he entered it.
Among everyone on the household staff, only Ethan could access and reprogram the security and the telephone systems.
The screen changed, offering him a new set of options.
The phones in his apartment featured all twenty-four lines, but only two were accessible to him. He could not eavesdrop5 on anyone’s calls, and they were likewise unable to overhear his.
Furthermore, when calls came through to other lines in the house, [263] Ethan heard no ringing in his rooms. The indicator6 light above the number of each line did, however, flutter when a call was coming in, and it burned steadily7 when a conversation was being conducted.
Having entered the telephone program, Ethan edited the controls to make Line 23, Fric’s line, henceforth accessible to his apartment phones. It would also ring here using Fric’s personal tone.
With this task completed, he perused8 the day’s phone log.
Every incoming call to Palazzo Rospo and all outgoing calls as well were automatically logged—although not voice recorded. Note was made of the time that each connection had been effected and of the duration of each conversation.
For every outgoing call, the phone number was also preserved on the computer log. Incoming caller numbers were noted9 as well, except in those instances when they had Caller ID blocking to protect their privacy.
He entered his name and saw that he had received only one call while he’d been out of the house. The calls he’d made and received on his cell phone were not included in these records.
He snatched up the phone to check his voice mail. The call had been from the hospital, informing him of Dunny’s death.
When Ethan cleared his name and typed Aelfric’s, the computer reported that the boy had received no calls at any time on this date, Monday, December 21.
According to Fric, the breather had phoned twice. And at least once, the boy had tracked him back with *69. All three occurrences should have been noted.
Ethan jumped from Fric’s file to the master log, which listed all phone-line activity since the previous midnight in the order that the calls had been placed and received. The list was long because the staff had been busy making Christmas preparations.
Carefully scrolling10 through the log, Ethan found no calls to or from Fric’s line.
[264] Unless the record-keeping system had erred12, which it had never done before in Ethan’s experience, the inescapable conclusion had to be that Fric lied about receiving obscene calls.
His respect for the boy motivated Ethan to scroll11 through the phone log again, bottom to top this time. The result was the same.
As difficult as it might be to believe that the system had failed to note the calls that Fric reported, Ethan found it almost equally hard to accept that the kid had concocted13 the story of the heavy breather. Fric was not a self-dramatizer and certainly not an attention-seeker.
Besides, he had seemed genuinely disturbed when he’d recounted those calls. He just breathed. And made some ... some almost like animal sounds.
Aware of a winking14 brightness at the periphery15 of his vision, Ethan turned from the computer and saw the indicator light fluttering on Line 24. As he watched, the call was answered, a connection made, and the light burned steadily.
Line 24, the last line on the board, was set aside to receive phone calls from the dead.
收听单词发音 |
1
icon
|
|
| n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
icons
|
|
| n.偶像( icon的名词复数 )；（计算机屏幕上表示命令、程序的）符号，图像 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
lighting
|
|
| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
apparatus
|
|
| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
eavesdrop
|
|
| v.偷听，倾听 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
indicator
|
|
| n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
steadily
|
|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
perused
|
|
| v.读（某篇文字）( peruse的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指）细阅；审阅；匆匆读或心不在焉地浏览（某篇文字） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
noted
|
|
| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
scrolling
|
|
| n.卷[滚]动法，上下换行v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的现在分词 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
scroll
|
|
| n.卷轴，纸卷；(石刻上的)漩涡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
erred
|
|
| 犯错误，做错事( err的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
concocted
|
|
| v.将（尤指通常不相配合的）成分混合成某物( concoct的过去式和过去分词 )；调制；编造；捏造 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
winking
|
|
| n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
periphery
|
|
| n.(圆体的)外面；周围 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |