Chapter 70

Something had to break for us. At seven in the morning, I sat alone at a table outside the Cafe du Monde across from Jackson Square. I ate sugar-dusted beignets and sipped¹ chickory-laced coffee. I stared off in the direction of the spire² of St Louis Cathedral and listened to the bleating³ horns of riverboats coming down the Mississippi.
It should have been a nice time of the morning, except that I was frustrated⁴ and angry and filled with energy that I didn’t know what to do with.
I had seen a lot of bad cases, but this was possibly the most difficult to comprehend. The gruesome murders had been going on for more than eleven years, but the pattern was still unclear, and so was the motivation of the killers⁵.
As soon as I reached the FBI offices, I got the disturbing news that a fifteen-year-old girl was missing and that she lived less than six blocks from the magicians. It was possible that she was a runaway⁶, but it didn’t seem likely to me. Still, she had been gone less than twenty-four hours.
There was a briefing scheduled and I went upstairs to find out more, and also why I hadn’t been alerted earlier. When I entered the session that morning, I sensed the frustration⁷ everywhere that I looked. It was hard to imagine a worse result: we suspected that we had tracked down the murderers, but there was nothing we could do about it. And now there was a possibility they had murdered another victim right under our noses.
I sat down beside Jamilla. Both of us had containers of hot coffee plus the morning edition of the Times-Picayune. There was nothing about the missing girl; apparently⁸ the New Orleans police had sat on the disappearance⁹ until early that morning.
Kyle was angry. He just wasn’t himself. He was storming about the front of the room, his right hand nervously¹⁰ combing back his dark hair. I didn’t blame him - everything about the investigation¹¹ depended on FBI cooperation with the local police. The NOPD had broken that trust, broken it badly.
Tor once, I sympathize with Mr Craig,’ Jamilla said. ‘The locals were way out of line.’
‘We could have been working on the girl’s disappearance for hours,’! agreed.’What a mess, and it’s getting worse.’ ‘Maybe this is our opportunity. I wonder if we could get inside the house during the party tonight. What do you think? I’d love to give it a try,’she whispered.’Everybody who goes to the so-called Fetish Ball will be in costume, right? Somebody needs to get inside that house.  We need to do something.’
Kyle stared directly at Jamilla and me. He raised his voice.’Can we have one meeting?’
‘He means can he have his meeting,’ she whispered. I wondered why she had taken such a dislike to Kyle. He was acting¹² strange though; the pressure of the case was getting to him. Something had him on edge.
‘Tell him what you think,’ I said. ‘He’ll listen. Especially now that the girl is missing.’
‘I doubt it. But what can he do - fire me?’
She swiveled around to face Kyle. ‘I think we could probably get inside the house tonight during the party. And if we don’t, what do we lose? The missing girl might be in there.’
Kyle hesitated, but then he said, ‘Do it. Let’s see what’s in the house.’

1 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

2 spire   

n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点

参考例句：

• The church spire was struck by lightning.教堂的尖顶遭到了雷击。
• They could just make out the spire of the church in the distance.他们只能辨认出远处教堂的尖塔。

3 bleating   

v.（羊，小牛）叫( bleat的现在分词 )；哭诉；发出羊叫似的声音；轻声诉说

参考例句：

• I don't like people who go around bleating out things like that. 我不喜欢跑来跑去讲那种蠢话的人。 来自辞典例句
• He heard the tinny phonograph bleating as he walked in. 他步入室内时听到那架蹩脚的留声机在呜咽。 来自辞典例句

4 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 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。

6 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

7 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

8 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。

9 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

10 nervously   

adv.神情激动地，不安地

参考例句：

• He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇，努力忍着不哭出来。
• He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。

11 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

12 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。