THERE ARE CRIMES that are brutal¹ and inexcusable. Some-times they make me sick, but their motives² are open. Now and then, I even understand. Then there are the hidden crimes. The ones you are never meant to see. The kind of cruelty that barely breaks the skin but crushes what's inside, the little voice that is human in all of us.

These are the ones that really make me wonder about what I do for a living.

After Jill told me what had been going on between her and Steve, after I wiped her tears and cried with her like a little sister, I drove home in a daze³. A pall⁴ had clung to her face, a whitewash⁵ of shame I will never forget. Jill, my Jill.

My first instinct was to drive over there that night and slap a charge on Steve. All along, the slick, self-righteous prick⁶ had been bullying⁷ her, hitting her.

All I could think of was Jill, the face I saw on her, that of a little girl. Not the Chief Assistant D.A., top of her class at Stanford, who seemed to breeze through life. Who put mur-derers away with that icy stare. My friend.

I tossed and turned the whole night. The following morn-ing, it took all I had to focus on the case. Overnight the lab tests confirmed Claire's findings. It was ricin that had been ingested by George Bengosian.

I had never seen the Hall as tense as it was that morning, bustling⁸ with dark-suited Feds and media managers. I felt as if I was sneaking⁹ past security just to call Cindy and Claire.

"I need to see you guys," I told them. "It's important. I'll meet you at Susie's at noon."

By the time I arrived at the quiet counter caf?down Bryant, Cindy and Claire were squeezed into a corner booth. Both wore anxious looks.

点击收听单词发音  

1 brutal
adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的
参考例句：
She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。 They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

2 motives
n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 )
参考例句：
to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机 His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。

3 daze
v.(使)茫然，(使)发昏
参考例句：
The blow on the head dazed him for a moment.他头上受了一击后就昏眩了片刻。 I like dazing to sit in the cafe by myself on Sunday.星期日爱独坐人少的咖啡室发呆。

4 pall
v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕
参考例句：
Already the allure of meals in restaurants had begun to pall.饭店里的饭菜已经不像以前那样诱人。 I find his books begin to pall on me after a while.我发觉他的书读过一阵子就开始对我失去吸引力。

5 whitewash
v.粉刷，掩饰；n.石灰水，粉刷，掩饰
参考例句：
They tried hard to whitewash themselves.他们力图粉饰自己。 What he said was a load of whitewash.他所说的是一大堆粉饰之词。

6 prick
v.刺伤，刺痛，刺孔；n.刺伤，刺痛
参考例句：
He felt a sharp prick when he stepped on an upturned nail.当他踩在一个尖朝上的钉子上时，他感到剧烈的疼痛。 He burst the balloon with a prick of the pin.他用针一戳，气球就爆了。

7 bullying
v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈
参考例句：
Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。 All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 bustling
adj.喧闹的
参考例句：
The market was bustling with life. 市场上生机勃勃。 This district is getting more and more prosperous and bustling. 这一带越来越繁华了。

9 sneaking
a.秘密的，不公开的
参考例句：
She had always had a sneaking affection for him. 以前她一直暗暗倾心于他。 She ducked the interviewers by sneaking out the back door. 她从后门偷偷溜走，躲开采访者。

10 fixed
adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的
参考例句：
Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？ Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

11 numbly
adv.失去知觉，麻木
参考例句：
Back at the rickshaw yard, he slept numbly for two days. 回到车厂，他懊睡了两天。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子 He heard it numbly, a little amazed at his audacity. 他自己也听得一呆，对自己的莽撞劲儿有点吃惊。 来自辞典例句

12 dealing
n.经商方法，待人态度
参考例句：
This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。 His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

13 linguistics
n.语言学
参考例句：
She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。 Linguistics is a scientific study of the property of language.语言学是指对语言的性质所作的系统研究。