Chapter 40

The night with Macy Francis kept bothering me for the next couple of days. It was like a sad song that played in my head. I hadn’t expected it to turn out that way. I hadn’t liked what I’d seen, or felt.  The look in Macy’s eyes stayed with me: a terrible mixture of hurt, vulnerability, and anger that would be hard to soothe¹.  I grabbed Sampson on Thursday night after work. We agreed to meet at the Mark for drinks. The bar was a couple of streets down from Fifth. Local hangout. Tin ceiling, wideboard pine floors, long, worn mahogany bar, ceiling fan turning lazily.  ‘Sugar, damn,’ Sampson said when he arrived and found me sitting by myself, nursing a Foggy Bottom lager while studying the old Pabst clock on the wall. ‘You don’t mind me saying, you look like shit, man. You sleeping all right? You still sleeping alone, aren’t you.’
‘Good to see you too,’I said to him.’Sit down and have a beer.’
Then Sampson wrapped one of his mammoth² arms around me.  He hugged me as if I were his little kid. ‘What the hell is going on with you?’ he asked.
I shook my head. ‘Don’t know exactly. The manhunt on the West Coast went real bad. I mean, it dried the hell up. There’s no word on Betsey Cavalierre’s murder either. Had a date the other night. Just about has me swearing off dating for the rest of my life.’ Sampson nodded. ‘I know the words to that sad song.’ He ordered a Bud from the bartender, an ex-cop we both knew Tommy DeFeo.
‘The case I was working on in California ended real badly, John.  The killers³ just disappeared. Thin air. So. How are you doing? You look good. For you.’
He raised an index ringer. Then he pointed⁴ it right between my eyes. T always look good. It’s a given. Don’t try to change the subject on me. We’re into something here.’
‘Oh hell, you know I don’t like to talk about my troubles, John. So tell me about yours.’I started to laugh. He didn’t.  Sampson just looked at me, said nothing, waited me out.
‘You’d probably make a decent shrink,’ I told him.  ‘Speaking of which, have you been to see the good Doctor Finaly lately?’Adele Finaly is my psychiatrist⁵. Sampson has also seen her a couple of times. She helps. Both of us agree on that. We’re fans of Adele.
‘No, she’s really pissed off at me. Says I’m not trying hard enough, says I won’t embrace my own pain. Words to that effect.’ Sampson nodded and smiled thinly. ‘So why is that?’
I made a face.’I didn’t say that I agree with Adele.’ I sipped⁶ my Foggy Bottom. It wasn’t too bad, and I liked being loyal to a local brewer⁷.
‘When I try to embrace the goddamn pain, I keep coming back to the conflict between the job and the life I think I want to lead. I missed another one of Damon’s concerts while I was out in California.  Stuff like that keeps happening.’
Sampson punched my shoulder. ‘That’s not the end of the world, you know. Damon knows you love his little ass⁸. The young dude and I talk about it sometimes. He’s over it. Now you get over it.’ ‘Maybe it’s just that I’ve worked on too many bad murder cases in the past few years. It’s changing me.’
Sampson nodded approval. He liked that answer. ‘Sounds like you’re feeling a little burnt-out.’
‘No. I’m feeling like I’m caught in a scary nightmare that won’t go away. Too many coincidences whirling around me. The Mastermind howling my name, threatening me. I don’t know how to make it all stop.’
Sampson stared into my eyes. He locked into them. ‘Back there a little bit you said coincidences, sugar. You don’t believe in coincidences.’ That’s what makes it so scary. If you want to know the truth, I think that someone really is after me, and they’ve been after me for a long time. Whoever it is, he’s scarier than the vampires⁹. I keep getting calls from the Mastermind, John. He calls me every day. Hardly misses a day. We still can’t trace the calls.’ Sampson ran a hand across his forehead.’I just can’t work out who would be stalking you? Who would dare to take on the Dragon-slayer? Must be some kind of fool.’
‘Believe me,’ I said, ‘this is no fool.’

1 soothe   

v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承

参考例句：

• I've managed to soothe him down a bit.我想方设法使他平静了一点。
• This medicine should soothe your sore throat.这种药会减轻你的喉痛。

2 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

3 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

4 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

5 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

6 sipped   

v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sipped his coffee pleasurably. 他怡然地品味着咖啡。
• I sipped the hot chocolate she had made. 我小口喝着她调制的巧克力热饮。 来自辞典例句

7 brewer   

n. 啤酒制造者

参考例句：

• Brewer is a very interesting man. 布鲁尔是一个很有趣的人。
• I decided to quit my job to become a brewer. 我决定辞职，做一名酿酒人。

8 ass   

n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人

参考例句：

• He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
• An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。

9 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