Detective Inspector1 Hardcastle looked at the calendar on his desk. 20th September. Just over tendays. They hadn’t been able to make as much progress as he would have liked because they wereheld up with that initial difficulty: the identification of a dead body. It had taken longer than hewould have thought possible. All the leads seemed to have petered out, failed. The laboratoryexamination of the clothes had brought in nothing particularly helpful. The clothes themselves hadyielded no clues. They were good quality clothes, export quality, not new but well cared for.
Dentists had not helped, nor laundries, nor cleaners. The dead man remained a “mystery man!”
And yet, Hardcastle felt, he was not really a “mystery man.” There was nothing spectacular ordramatic about him. He was just a man whom nobody had been able to come forward andrecognize. That was the pattern of it, he was sure. Hardcastle sighed as he thought of the telephonecalls and letters that had necessarily poured in after the publication in the public press of thephotograph with the caption2 below it: DO YOU KNOW THIS MAN? Astonishing the amount ofpeople who thought they did know this man. Daughters who wrote in a hopeful vein3 of fathersfrom whom they’d been estranged4 for years. An old woman of ninety was sure that the photographin question was her son who had left home thirty years ago. Innumerable wives had been sure thatit was a missing husband. Sisters had not been quite so anxious to claim brothers. Sisters, perhaps,were less hopeful thinkers. And, of course, there were vast numbers of people who had seen thatvery man in Lincolnshire, Newcastle, Devon, London, on a tube, in a bus, lurking5 on a pier,looking sinister6 at the corner of a road, trying to hide his face as he came out of the cinema.
Hundreds of leads, the more promising7 of them patiently followed up and not yielding anything.
But today, the inspector felt slightly more hopeful. He looked again at the letter on his desk.
Merlina Rival. He didn’t like the Christian8 name very much. Nobody in their senses, he thought,could christen a child Merlina. No doubt it was a fancy name adopted by the lady herself. But heliked the feel of the letter. It was not extravagant9 or overconfident. It merely said that the writerthought it possible that the man in question was her husband from whom she had parted severalyears ago. She was due this morning. He pressed his buzzer10 and Sergeant11 Cray came in.
“That Mrs. Rival not arrived yet?”
“Just come this minute,” said Cray. “I was coming to tell you.”
“What’s she like?”
“Bit theatrical-looking,” said Cray, after reflecting a moment. “Lots of makeup—not very goodmakeup. Fairly reliable sort of woman on the whole, I should say.”
“Did she seem upset?”
“No. Not noticeably.”
“All right,” said Hardcastle, “let’s have her in.”
Cray departed and presently returned saying as he did so, “Mrs. Rival, sir.”
The inspector got up and shook hands with her. About fifty, he would judge, but from a longway away—quite a long way—she might have looked thirty. Close at hand, the result of makeupcarelessly applied12 made her look rather older than fifty but on the whole he put it at fifty. Dark hairheavily hennaed. No hat, medium height and build, wearing a dark coat and skirt and a whiteblouse. Carrying a large tartan bag. A jingly13 bracelet14 or two, several rings. On the whole, hethought, making moral judgements on the basis of his experience, rather a good sort. Notoverscrupulous, probably, but easy to live with, reasonably generous, possibly kind. Reliable?
That was the question. He wouldn’t bank on it, but then he couldn’t afford to bank on that kind ofthing anyway.
“I’m very glad to see you, Mrs. Rival,” he said, “and I hope very much you’ll be able to helpus.”
“Of course, I’m not at all sure,” said Mrs. Rival. She spoke15 apologetically. “But it did look likeHarry. Very much like Harry16. Of course I’m quite prepared to find that it isn’t, and I hope I shan’thave taken up your time for nothing.”
She seemed quite apologetic about it.
“You mustn’t feel that in any case,” said the inspector. “We want help very badly over thiscase.”
“Yes, I see. I hope I’ll be able to be sure. You see, it’s a long time since I saw him.”
“Shall we get down a few facts to help us? When did you last see your husband?”
“I’ve been trying to get it accurate,” said Mrs. Rival, “all the way down in the train. It’s terriblehow one’s memory goes when it comes to time. I believe I said in my letter to you it was about tenyears ago, but it’s more than that. D’you know, I think it’s nearer fifteen. Time does go so fast. Isuppose,” she added shrewdly, “that one tends to think it’s less than it is because it makes youyourself feel younger. Don’t you think so?”
“I should think it could do,” said the inspector. “Anyway you think it’s roughly fifteen yearssince you saw him? When were you married?”
“It must have been about three years before that,” said Mrs. Rival.
“And you were living then?”
“At a place called Shipton Bois in Suffolk. Nice town. Market town. Rather one-horse, if youknow what I mean.”
“And what did your husband do?”
“He was an insurance agent. At least—” she stopped herself “—that’s what he said he was.”
The inspector looked up sharply.
“You found out that that wasn’t true?”
“Well, no, not exactly … Not at the time. It’s only since then that I’ve thought that perhaps itwasn’t true. It’d be an easy thing for a man to say, wouldn’t it?”
“I suppose it would in certain circumstances.”
“I mean, it gives a man an excuse for being away from home a good deal.”
“Your husband was away from home a good deal, Mrs. Rival?”
“Yes. I never thought about it much to begin with—”
“But later?”
She did not answer at once then she said:
“Can’t we get on with it? After all, if it isn’t Harry….”
He wondered what exactly she was thinking. There was strain in her voice, possibly emotion?
He was not sure.
“I can understand,” he said, “that you’d like to get it over. We’ll go now.”
He rose and escorted her out of the room to the waiting car. Her nervousness when they got towhere they were going, was no more than the nervousness of other people he had taken to thissame place. He said the usual reassuring17 things.
“It’ll be quite all right. Nothing distressing18. It will only take a minute or two.”
The tray was rolled out, the attendant lifted the sheet. She stood staring down for a fewmoments, her breath came a little faster, she made a faint gasping19 sound, then she turned awayabruptly. She said:
“It’s Harry. Yes. He’s a lot older, he looks different … But it’s Harry.”
The inspector nodded to the attendant, then he laid his hand on her arm and took her out againto the car and they drove back to the station. He didn’t say anything. He left her to pull herselftogether. When they got back to his room a constable20 came in almost at once with a tray of tea.
“There you are, Mrs. Rival. Have a cup, it’ll pull you together. Then we’ll talk.”
“Thank you.”
She put sugar in the tea, a good deal of it, and gulped21 it down quickly.
“That’s better,” she said. “It’s not that I mind really. Only—only, well it does turn you up a bit,doesn’t it?”
“You think this man is definitely your husband?”
“I’m sure he is. Of course, he’s much older, but he hasn’t changed really so much. He alwayslooked—well, very neat. Nice, you know, good class.”
Yes, thought Hardcastle, it was quite a good description. Good class. Presumably, Harry hadlooked much better class than he was. Some men did, and it was helpful to them for theirparticular purposes.
Mrs. Rival said, “He was very particular always about his clothes and everything. That’s why, Ithink—they fell for him so easily. They never suspected anything.”
“Who fell for him, Mrs. Rival?” Hardcastle’s voice was gentle, sympathetic.
“Women,” said Mrs. Rival. “Women. That’s where he was most of the time.”
“I see. And you got to know about it.”
“Well, I—I suspected. I mean, he was away such a lot. Of course I knew what men are like. Ithought probably there was a girl from time to time. But it’s no good asking men about thesethings. They’ll lie to you and that’s all. But I didn’t think—I really didn’t think that he made abusiness of it.”
“And did he?”
She nodded. “I think he must have done.”
“How did you find out?”
She shrugged22 her shoulders.
“He came back one day from a trip he’d taken. To Newcastle, he said. Anyway, he came backand said he’d have to clear out quickly. He said that the game was up. There was some womanhe’d got into trouble. A schoolteacher, he said, and there might be a bit of a stink23 about it. I askedhim questions then. He didn’t mind telling me. Probably he thought I knew more than I did. Theyused to fall for him, you know, easily enough, just as I did. He’d give her a ring and they’d getengaged—and then he’d say he’d invest money for them. They usually gave it him quite easily.”
“Had he tried the same thing with you?”
“He had, as a matter of fact, only I didn’t give him any.”
“Why not? Didn’t you trust him even then?”
“Well, I wasn’t the kind that trusts anybody. I’d had what you’d call a bit of experience, youknow, of men and their ways and the seamier side of things. Anyway, I didn’t want him investingmy money for me. What money I had I could invest for myself. Always keep your money in yourhands and then you’ll be sure you’ve got it! I’ve seen too many girls and women make fools ofthemselves.”
“When did he want you to invest money? Before you were married or after?”
“I think he suggested something of the kind beforehand, but I didn’t respond and he sheered offthe subject at once. Then, after we were married, he told me about some wonderful opportunityhe’d got. I said, ‘Nothing doing.’ It wasn’t only because I didn’t trust him, but I’d often heard mensay they’re on to something wonderful and then it turned out that they’d been had for a mugthemselves.”
“Had your husband ever been in trouble with the police?”
“No fear,” said Mrs. Rival. “Women don’t like the world to know they’ve been duped. But thistime, apparently24, things might be different. This girl or woman, she was an educated woman. Shewouldn’t be as easy to deceive as the others may have been.”
“She was going to have a child?”
“Yes.”
“Had that happened on other occasions?”
“I rather think so.” She added, “I don’t honestly know what it was used to start him off in thefirst place. Whether it was only the money—a way of getting a living, as you might say—orwhether he was the kind of man who just had to have women and he saw no reason why theyshouldn’t pay the expenses of his fun.” There was no bitterness now in her voice.
Hardcastle said gently:
“You were fond of him, Mrs. Rival?”
“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. I suppose I was in a way, or I wouldn’t have marriedhim….”
“You were—excuse me—married to him?”
“I don’t even know that for sure,” said Mrs. Rival frankly25. “We were married all right. In achurch, too, but I don’t know if he had married other women as well, using a different name, Isuppose. His name was Castleton when I married him. I don’t think it was his own name.”
“Harry Castleton. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“And you lived in this place, Shipton Bois, as man and wife—for how long?”
“We’d been there about two years. Before that we lived near Doncaster. I don’t say I was reallysurprised when he came back that day and told me. I think I’d known he was a wrong ’un for sometime. One just couldn’t believe it because, you see, he always seemed so respectable. Soabsolutely the gentleman!”
“And what happened then?”
“He said he’d got to get out of there quick and I said he could go and good riddance, that Iwasn’t standing26 for all this!” She added thoughtfully, “I gave him ten pounds. It was all I had inthe house. He said he was short of money … I’ve never seen or heard of him since. Until today. Orrather, until I saw his picture in the paper.”
“He didn’t have any special distinguishing marks? Scars? An operation — or a fracture —anything like that?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t think so.”
“Did he ever use the name Curry27?”
“Curry? No, I don’t think so. Not that I know of, anyway.” Hardcastle slipped the card acrossthe table to her.
“This was in his pocket,” he said.
“Still saying he’s an insurance agent, I see,” she remarked. “I expect he uses—used, I mean—all sorts of different names.”
“You say you’ve never heard of him for the last fifteen years?”
“He hasn’t sent me a Christmas card, if that’s what you mean,” said Mrs. Rival, with a suddenglint of humour. “I don’t suppose he’d know where I was, anyway. I went back to the stage for abit after we parted. On tour mostly. It wasn’t much of a life and I dropped the name of Castletontoo. Went back to Merlina Rival.”
“Merlina’s—er—not your real name, I suppose?”
She shook her head and a faint, cheerful smile appeared on her face.
“I thought it up. Unusual. My real name’s Flossie Gapp. Florence, I suppose I must have beenchristened, but everyone always calls me Flossie or Flo. Flossie Gapp. Not very romantic, is it?”
“What are you doing now? Are you still acting28, Mrs. Rival?”
“Occasionally,” said Mrs. Rival with a touch of reticence29. “On and off, as you might say.”
Hardcastle was tactful.
“I see,” he said.
“I do odd jobs here and there,” she said. “Help out at parties, a bit of hostess work, that sort ofthing. It’s not a bad life. At any rate you meet people. Things get near the bone now and again.”
“You’ve never heard anything of Henry Castleton since you parted—or about him?”
“Not a word. I thought perhaps he’d gone abroad—or was dead.”
“The only other thing I can ask you, Mrs. Rival, is if you have any idea why Harry Castletonshould have come to this neighbourhood?”
“No. Of course I’ve no idea. I don’t even know what he’s been doing all these years.”
“Would it be likely that he would be selling fraudulent insurance—something of that kind?”
“I simply don’t know. It doesn’t seem to me terribly likely. I mean, Harry was very careful ofhimself always. He wouldn’t stick his neck out doing something that he might be brought to bookfor. I should have thought it more likely it was some racket with women.”
“Might it have been, do you think, Mrs. Rival, some form of blackmail30?”
“Well, I don’t know … I suppose, yes, in a way. Some woman, perhaps, that wouldn’t wantsomething in her past raked up. He’d feel pretty safe over that, I think. Mind you, I don’t say it isso, but it might be. I don’t think he’d want very much money, you know. I don’t think he’d driveanyone desperate, but he might just collect in a small way.” She nodded in affirmation. “Yes.”
“Women liked him, did they?”
“Yes. They always fell for him rather easily. Mainly, I think, because he always seemed so goodclass and respectable. They were proud of having made a conquest of a man like that. They lookedforward to a nice safe future with him. That’s the nearest way I can put it. I felt the same waymyself,” added Mrs. Rival with some frankness.
“There’s just one more small point,” Hardcastle spoke to his subordinate. “Just bring thoseclocks in, will you?”
They were brought in on a tray with a cloth over them. Hardcastle whipped off the cloth andexposed them to Mrs. Rival’s gaze. She inspected them with frank interest and approbation31.
“Pretty, aren’t they? I like that one.” She touched the ormolu clock.
“You haven’t seen any of them before? They don’t mean anything to you?”
“Can’t say they do. Ought they to?”
“Can you think of any connection between your husband and the name Rosemary?”
“Rosemary? Let me think. There was a red-head—No, her name was Rosalie. I’m afraid I can’tthink of anyone. But then I probably wouldn’t know, would I? Harry kept his affairs very dark.”
“If you saw a clock with the hands pointing to four-thirteen—” Hardcastle paused.
Mrs. Rival gave a cheerful chuckle32.
“I’d think it was getting on for teatime.”
Hardcastle sighed.
“Well, Mrs. Rival,” he said, “we are very grateful to you. The adjourned33 inquest, as I told you,will be the day after tomorrow. You won’t mind giving evidence of identification, will you?”
“No. No, that will be all right. I’ll just have to say who he was, is that it? I shan’t have to go intothings? I won’t have to go into the manner of his life—anything of that kind?”
“That will not be necessary at present. All you will have to swear to is he is the man, HarryCastleton, to whom you were married. The exact date will be on record at Somerset House. Wherewere you married? Can you remember that?”
“Place called Donbrook—St. Michael’s, I think was the name of the church. I hope it isn’t morethan twenty years ago. That would make me feel I had one foot in the grave,” said Mrs. Rival.
She got up and held out her hand. Hardcastle said good-bye. He went back to his desk and satthere tapping it with a pencil. Presently Sergeant Cray came in.
“Satisfactory?” he asked.
“Seems so,” said the inspector. “Name of Harry Castleton—possibly an alias34. We’ll have to seewhat we can find out about the fellow. It seems likely that more than one woman might havereason to want revenge on him.”
“Looks so respectable, too,” said Cray.
“That,” said Hardcastle, “seems to have been his principal stock-in-trade.”
He thought again about the clock with Rosemary written on it. Remembrance?
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
inspector
|
|
| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
caption
|
|
| n.说明，字幕，标题；v.加上标题，加上说明 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
vein
|
|
| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
estranged
|
|
| adj.疏远的，分离的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
lurking
|
|
| 潜在 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
sinister
|
|
| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
promising
|
|
| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
Christian
|
|
| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
extravagant
|
|
| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
buzzer
|
|
| n.蜂鸣器；汽笛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
sergeant
|
|
| n.警官，中士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
applied
|
|
| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
jingly
|
|
| 叮玲响的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
bracelet
|
|
| n.手镯，臂镯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
harry
|
|
| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
reassuring
|
|
| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
distressing
|
|
| a.使人痛苦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
gasping
|
|
| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
constable
|
|
| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
gulped
|
|
| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
shrugged
|
|
| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
stink
|
|
| vi.发出恶臭；糟透，招人厌恶；n.恶臭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
frankly
|
|
| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
curry
|
|
| n.咖哩粉，咖哩饭菜；v.用咖哩粉调味，用马栉梳，制革 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
acting
|
|
| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
reticence
|
|
| n.沉默，含蓄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
blackmail
|
|
| n.讹诈，敲诈，勒索，胁迫，恫吓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
approbation
|
|
| n.称赞；认可 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
chuckle
|
|
| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
adjourned
|
|
| （使）休会， （使）休庭( adjourn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
alias
|
|
| n.化名；别名；adv.又名 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |