Chapter 71

FROM THE ENTRANCE ROTUNDA¹, AT A WINDOW beside the front door, Ethan watched as Mr. Hachette’s car dwindled² along the driveway, into the tintack rain and the riddled⁴ darkness. The chef had been the last member of the day staff to leave.
Set flush in one wall of the rotunda, tucked discretely⁵ near a corner, a dark display screen brightened when Ethan lightly pressed one finger to it. This was a Crestron touch-control unit by which he could access all the computerized features of the house: the heating and air-conditioning, the music system, the gas heating for swimming pools and spas, both the in-house and landscape lighting⁶, the phone system, and much more.
Crestron panels were positioned throughout the mansion⁷, but the same features could also be controlled from any computer work station, such as the one in Ethan’s study.
After Ethan activated⁹ the screen with a touch, three columns of icons¹¹ were presented for his consideration. He tapped the one that represented the exterior¹² surveillance cameras.
Because eighty-six outdoor cameras were positioned across the estate, he was next presented with eighty-six designating numbers. For the most part, to obtain quickly a view of any specific portion of the [466] grounds, you had to have memorized the numbers—at least those that, in your particular staff position, you were most likely to use frequently.
He touched 03, and the Crestron screen at once filled with a view of the main gate as seen from outside the estate wall. This was the same camera that had captured Rolf Reynerd delivering the package that contained the doll’s eye in the apple.
The gate rolled open. Mr. Hachette’s car drove off the grounds, onto the public street, turned right, and disappeared from the frame.
As the front gate rolled shut, Ethan touched the screen and exited the exterior-camera menu. He pressed the icon¹⁰ for the house alarm system.
Not all staff members were authorized¹³ to activate⁸ and deactivate¹⁴ the alarm; consequently, the screen requested Ethan’s password. He entered it, was granted access, and set the house-perimeter alarm.
All public areas of the mansion—virtually everything except bedrooms, bathrooms, and staff quarters—featured motion detectors¹⁵ that would register the passage of anyone moving along a hallway or through a room. They were activated 24/7, but were actually linked to the alarm only when it was in the “nobody-home mode,” when the house was entirely¹⁶ deserted¹⁷, a rare occurrence.
With Fric and Ethan in residence, if the motion detectors had been linked to the alarm, the breach¹⁸ siren would have gone off every time that they passed through a monitored space or so much as made a gesture with one hand.
All he needed was the assurance that the siren would sound if a door or window were opened. This precaution, along with the team of guards monitoring the additional layers of detection on the grounds beyond the house, ensured that no one could set upon him or Fric by surprise.
Nevertheless, he didn’t want Fric to sleep alone on the third floor. Not tonight, not tomorrow night, not anytime soon.
Either they would make arrangements for the kid to camp out on [467] the ground floor or Ethan would spend the night in the living room of Fric’s third-floor suite¹⁹. He intended to discuss the matter with the boy after dinner.
Meanwhile, for the first time since returning home, he went to his apartment, to his study, to the desk where he had left the three silvery bells. They were gone.
In the deepest garage at Our Lady of Angels, when he had found only a single set of bells missing from the ambulance, he’d suspected that the set currently in Hazard’s possession was the same one that he had found in his hand outside Forever Roses.
The phantom²⁰ that he had seen in the bathroom mirror at Dunny’s apartment, the phantom that had vanished into a mirror in Hazard’s bedroom, had somehow come here during the night, as Ethan slept, had taken the bells, and had transferred them to Hazard, for reasons that were mysterious if not forever beyond understanding. And the phantom, more likely than not, was Dunny Whistler, dead but risen.
Ethan marveled that he could stand here, entertaining such bizarre thoughts, and still be sane²². At least he believed himself to be sane. He might be wrong about that.
Although the bells were gone, the items from the black boxes remained on display. He sat at the desk and studied the six parts of the riddle³, hoping for enlightenment.
Ladybugs, snails²³, a jar containing ten foreskins, the cookie jar full of Scrabble tiles—OWE, WOE—a book about guide dogs, the eye in the apple ...
On better days, in a better mood, he’d been unable to make sense of these messages. He hoped that in his current state of wound-tight tension and mental exhaustion²⁴, his intellectual fences might fall away, allowing him suddenly to see everything from a new perspective and to understand what before had seemed indecipherable.
No luck.
He phoned the guards in the security office at the back of the estate, in the groundskeeper’s building. On duty from four until [468] midnight, they were already aware that he had set the house-perimeter alarm earlier than usual, because that action had registered on their displays.
Without giving them a reason, he asked that they be especially alert this evening. “And pass that request along to the guys on the graveyard²⁵ shift when they get here.”
He phoned Carl Shorter, the chief road warrior²⁶ who managed the squad²⁷ of bodyguards²⁸ protecting the Face in Florida. Shorter had nothing disturbing to report.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Ethan said. “We’ll need to go over new arrangements I’m going to make for your L.A. arrival on Thursday. More security at the airport and all the way here to home base, new procedures, a new route, just in case anyone has tumbled to our usual routine.”
“Is your fan still clean?” Shorter asked.
“No shit’s hit it yet,” Ethan assured him.
“Then what’s up?”
“I told you about the weird²⁹ gifts in the black boxes. We’ve got an issue related to those, that’s all. It’s containable.”
After signing off with Carl Shorter, Ethan went to the bathroom to shave and freshen up for dinner. He pulled off his sweater, put on a clean shirt.
A few minutes later, standing²¹ at the desk in the study, he took one more look at the enigmatic six items.
An indicator³⁰ light on the phone caught his attention: Line 24, first fluttering and then burning steadily³¹.

1 rotunda   

n.圆形建筑物；圆厅

参考例句：

• The Capitol at Washington has a large rotunda.华盛顿的国会大厦有一圆形大厅。
• The rotunda was almost deserted today,dotted with just a few tourists.圆形大厅今天几乎没有多少人，只零星散布着几个游客。

2 dwindled   

v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Support for the party has dwindled away to nothing. 支持这个党派的人渐渐化为乌有。
• His wealth dwindled to nothingness. 他的钱财化为乌有。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 riddle   

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

参考例句：

• The riddle couldn't be solved by the child.这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
• Her disappearance is a complete riddle.她的失踪完全是一个谜。

4 riddled   

adj.布满的；充斥的；泛滥的v.解谜，出谜题(riddle的过去分词形式)

参考例句：

• The beams are riddled with woodworm. 这些木梁被蛀虫蛀得都是洞。
• The bodies of the hostages were found riddled with bullets. 在人质的尸体上发现了很多弹孔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 discretely   

分离地，离散地

参考例句：

• The mesh is the outcome of discretely decomposing the continuous space. 网格是对连续空间进行离散剖分的结果。
• The sensitive flesh must choose the product which discretely these mark sensitive flesh may use. 敏感型肌肤也要谨慎挑选那些标明敏感肌肤可以使用的产品。

6 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

7 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

8 activate   

vt.使活动起来，使开始起作用

参考例句：

• We must activate the youth to study.我们要激励青年去学习。
• These push buttons can activate the elevator.这些按钮能启动电梯。

9 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

10 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

11 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：

• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons. 用图标来区分重要的文本项。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Daemonic icons should only be employed persistently if they provide continuous, useful status information. 只有会连续地提供有用状态信息的情况下，后台应用程序才应该一直使用图标。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

12 exterior   

adj.外部的，外在的；表面的

参考例句：

• The seed has a hard exterior covering.这种子外壳很硬。
• We are painting the exterior wall of the house.我们正在给房子的外墙涂漆。

13 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

14 deactivate   

v.使无效；复员

参考例句：

• Russia is deactivating some of its deadliest missiles.俄罗斯正在拆除其一些最危险的导弹。
• I go through several complex steps to try to "deactivate" my profile.我尝试了那些复杂的步骤，试图“撤销”我的个人资料。

15 detectors   

探测器( detector的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The report advocated that all buildings be fitted with smoke detectors. 报告主张所有的建筑物都应安装烟火探测器。
• This is heady wine for experimenters using these neutrino detectors. 对于使用中微子探测器的实验工作者，这是令人兴奋的美酒。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技

16 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

17 deserted   

adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的

参考例句：

• The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
• The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。

18 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

19 suite   

n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员

参考例句：

• She has a suite of rooms in the hotel.她在那家旅馆有一套房间。
• That is a nice suite of furniture.那套家具很不错。

20 phantom   

n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的

参考例句：

• I found myself staring at her as if she were a phantom.我发现自己瞪大眼睛看着她，好像她是一个幽灵。
• He is only a phantom of a king.他只是有名无实的国王。

21 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。

22 sane   

adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的

参考例句：

• He was sane at the time of the murder.在凶杀案发生时他的神志是清醒的。
• He is a very sane person.他是一个很有头脑的人。

23 snails   

n.蜗牛；迟钝的人；蜗牛( snail的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I think I'll try the snails for lunch—I'm feeling adventurous today. 我想我午餐要尝一下蜗牛——我今天很想冒险。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Most snails have shells on their backs. 大多数蜗牛背上有壳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 exhaustion   

n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述

参考例句：

• She slept the sleep of exhaustion.她因疲劳而酣睡。
• His exhaustion was obvious when he fell asleep standing.他站着睡着了，显然是太累了。

25 graveyard   

n.坟场

参考例句：

• All the town was drifting toward the graveyard.全镇的人都象流水似地向那坟场涌过去。
• Living next to a graveyard would give me the creeps.居住在墓地旁边会使我毛骨悚然。

26 warrior   

n.勇士，武士，斗士

参考例句：

• The young man is a bold warrior.这个年轻人是个很英勇的武士。
• A true warrior values glory and honor above life.一个真正的勇士珍视荣誉胜过生命。

27 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。

28 bodyguards   

n.保镖，卫士，警卫员( bodyguard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks came to Jim's office accompanied—like always—by his two bodyguards. 和往常一样，在两名保镖的陪同下，布鲁克斯去吉姆的办公室。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Three of his bodyguards were injured in the attack. 在这次袭击事件中，他有3名保镖受了伤。 来自辞典例句

29 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

30 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

31 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。