Twenty-seven COLIN LAMB’S NARRATIVE II

II
I rang Hardcastle.
“Yes,” he said in answer to my questions. “It’s just as they say.”
His voice sounded hard and bitter.
“I went to see her night before last. I told her her story about the scar just wouldn’t jell. That thescar tissue was comparatively recent. Funny how people slip up. Just by trying to overdo¹ things.
Somebody paid that woman to identify the corpse² as being that of her husband, who ran out on heryears ago.
“Very well she did it, too! I believed her all right. And then whoever it was tried to be a littletoo clever. If she remembered that unimportant little scar as an afterthought, it would carryconviction and clinch³ the identification. If she had plumped out with it straight away, it might havesounded a bit too glib⁴.”
“So Merlina Rival was in it up to the neck?”
“Do you know, I rather doubt that. Suppose an old friend or acquaintance goes to her and says:
‘Look here, I’m in a bit of a spot. A chap I’ve had business dealings with has been murdered. Ifthey identify him and all our dealings come to light, it will be absolute disaster. But if you were tocome along and say it’s that husband of yours, Harry⁵ Castleton, who did a bunk⁶ years ago, thenthe whole case will peter out.’”
“Surely she’d jib at that—say it was too risky⁷?”
“If so, that someone would say: ‘What’s the risk? At the worst, you’ve made a mistake. Anywoman can make a mistake after fifteen years.’ And probably at that point a nice little sum wouldhave been mentioned. And she says O.K. she’ll be a sport! and do it.”
“With no suspicions?”
“She wasn’t a suspicious woman. Why, good lord, Colin, every time we catch a murderer thereare people who’ve known him well, and simply can’t believe he could do anything like that!”
“What happened when you went up to see her?”
“I put the wind up her. After I left, she did what I expected she’d do—tried to get in touch withthe man or woman who’d got her into this. I had a tail on her, of course. She went to a post officeand put through a call from an automatic call box. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the box I’d expectedher to use at the end of her own street. She had to get change. She came out of the call box lookingpleased with herself. She was kept under observation, but nothing of interest happened untilyesterday evening. She went to Victoria Station and took a ticket to Crowdean. It was half past six,the rush hour. She wasn’t on her guard. She thought she was going to meet whoever it was atCrowdean. But the cunning devil was a step ahead of her. Easiest thing in the world to gang upbehind someone in a crowd, and press the knife in … Don’t suppose she even knew she had beenstabbed. People don’t, you know. Remember that case of Barton in the Levitti Gang robbery?
Walked the length of a street before he fell down dead. Just a sudden sharp pain—then you thinkyou’re all right again. But you’re not. You’re dead on your feet although you don’t know it.”
He finished up: “Damn and damn and damn!”
“Have you—checked on—anybody?”
I had to ask. I couldn’t help myself.
His reply came swift and sharp.
“The Pebmarsh woman was in London yesterday. She did some business for the Institute andreturned to Crowdean by the 7:40 train.” He paused. “And Sheila Webb took up a typescript tocheck over with a foreign author who was in London on his way to New York. She left the RitzHotel at 5:30 approx. and took in a cinema—alone—before returning.”
“Look here, Hardcastle,” I said, “I’ve got something for you. Vouched⁸ for by an eyewitness⁹. Alaundry van drew up at 19, Wilbraham Crescent at 1:35 on September the 9th. The man who droveit delivered a big laundry basket at the back door of the house. It was a particularly large laundrybasket.”
“Laundry? What laundry?”
“The Snowflake Laundry. Know it?”
“Not offhand¹⁰. New laundries are always starting up. It’s an ordinary sort of name for a laundry.”
“Well—you check up. A man drove it—and a man took the basket into the house—”
Hardcastle’s voice came suddenly, alert with suspicion.
“Are you making this up, Colin?”
“No. I told you I’ve got an eyewitness. Check up, Dick. Get on with it.”
I rang off before he could badger¹¹ me further.
I walked out from the box and looked at my watch. I had a good deal to do—and I wanted to beout of Hardcastle’s reach whilst I did it. I had my future life to arrange.

1 overdo   

vt.把...做得过头，演得过火

参考例句：

• Do not overdo your privilege of reproving me.不要过分使用责备我的特权。
• The taxi drivers' association is urging its members,who can work as many hours as they want,not to overdo it.出租车司机协会劝告那些工作时长不受限制的会员不要疲劳驾驶。

2 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。

3 clinch   

v.敲弯，钉牢；确定；扭住对方 [参]clench

参考例句：

• Clinch the boards together.用钉子把木板钉牢在一起。
• We don't accept us dollars,please Swiss francs to clinch a deal business.我方不收美元，请最好用瑞士法郎来成交生意。

4 glib   

adj.圆滑的，油嘴滑舌的

参考例句：

• His glib talk sounds as sweet as a song.他说的比唱的还好听。
• The fellow has a very glib tongue.这家伙嘴油得很。

5 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

6 bunk   

n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话

参考例句：

• He left his bunk and went up on deck again.他离开自己的铺位再次走到甲板上。
• Most economists think his theories are sheer bunk.大多数经济学家认为他的理论纯属胡说。

7 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

8 vouched   

v.保证( vouch的过去式和过去分词 )；担保；确定；确定地说

参考例句：

• He vouched his words by his deeds. 他用自己的行动证明了自己的言辞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Have all those present been vouched for? 那些到场的人都有担保吗？ 来自互联网

9 eyewitness   

n.目击者，见证人

参考例句：

• The police questioned several eyewitness to the murder.警察询问了谋杀案的几位目击者。
• He was the only eyewitness of the robbery.他是那起抢劫案的唯一目击者。

10 offhand   

adj.临时，无准备的；随便，马虎的

参考例句：

• I can't answer your request offhand.我不能随便答复你的要求。
• I wouldn't want to say what I thought about it offhand.我不愿意随便说我关于这事的想法。

11 badger   

v.一再烦扰，一再要求，纠缠

参考例句：

• Now that our debts are squared.Don't badger me with them any more.我们的债务两清了。从此以后不要再纠缠我了。
• If you badger him long enough,I'm sure he'll agree.只要你天天纠缠他，我相信他会同意。