Chapter 20

The ringing of the telephone in my hotel room woke me early the next morning. I was groggy¹, still half-asleep when I picked up.  It was Jamilla, and she sounded a little breathless. ‘I got a call late last night from my friend Tim at The Examiner,’ she told me.’He’s got a lead for us. This could be good stuff².’ She quickly rilled me in on the sketchy³ details of an attempted murder, an old case. We had a witness this time. She and I were going on the road again. She didn’t ask if I wanted to go - it was apparently⁴ a done deal.  ‘I’ll pick you up in half an hour, forty minutes at the latest. We’re going to LA. Wear black. Maybe you’ll get discovered.’
United flies an hourly shuttle between San Francisco and Los Angeles. We just made the nine o’clock and were in LA an hour or so later. We didn’t stop talking for the entire trip. We rented a car at Budget and headed to Brent-wood. I was as pumped up about the new lead as she was. The FBI was also in on the game in LA.  On the way to Brentwood, she checked in with her pal⁵ Tim at The Examiner. I wondered if Tim was a boyfriend. ‘You find out any more for us?’ she asked. She listened, then repeated what she heard for me. Part of it we already knew.
‘Two men attacked the woman we’re going to see. She managed to get away from them. Lucky girl, incredibly lucky. They bit her severely⁶. Chest, neck, stomach, face. She thought the perps were in their mid-forties to mid-fifties. The attack occurred over a year ago, Alex. It was a big story in the supermarket tabloids⁷.’
I didn’t say anything, just listened to her, took it all in. This case was so strange. I hadn’t seen anything quite like it.  ‘They were going to hang her from a tree. There was no mention of a tiger in any of the articles my friend was able to dig up. A detective from the LAPD is meeting us at the station house. I’m sure we’ll hear more details from him. He was the lead detective on the case.’ She looked over at me. She had something here, something good.  ‘Here’s the kicker, Alex. According to my source, the woman believes her attackers were vampires⁸.’

1 groggy   

adj.体弱的；不稳的

参考例句：

• The attack of flu left her feeling very groggy.她患流感后非常虚弱。
• She was groggy from surgery.她手术后的的情况依然很不稳定。

2 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。

3 sketchy   

adj.写生的，写生风格的，概略的

参考例句：

• The material he supplied is too sketchy.他提供的材料过于简略。
• Details of what actually happened are still sketchy.对于已发生事实的详细情况知道的仍然有限。

4 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

5 pal   

n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友

参考例句：

• He is a pal of mine.他是我的一个朋友。
• Listen,pal,I don't want you talking to my sister any more.听着，小子，我不让你再和我妹妹说话了。

6 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

7 tabloids   

n.小报，通俗小报（版面通常比大报小一半，文章短，图片多，经常报道名人佚事）( tabloid的名词复数 )；药片

参考例句：

• The story was on the front pages of all the tabloids. 所有小报都在头版报道了这件事。
• The story made the front page in all the tabloids. 这件事成了所有小报的头版新闻。

8 vampires   

n.吸血鬼( vampire的名词复数 )；吸血蝠；高利贷者；（舞台上的）活板门

参考例句：

• The most effective weapon against the vampires is avampire itself. 对付吸血鬼最有效的武器就是吸血鬼自己。 来自电影对白
• If vampires existed, don`t you think we would`ve found them by now? 如果真有吸血鬼，那我们怎么还没有找到他们呢？ 来自电影对白