牛津書蟲《誰謀殺了總統(tǒng)》04：第四天
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The Fourth Day
After he left Marta's village, Alex moved quickly and quietly across the fields. Nobody saw him. He walked and ran, and walked again. It rained all day and all night. He walked through the night, and the next morning—the fourth day—he was very tired and very hungry. He hid in some trees for an hour or two, then he went on south. Always south. To his home town.'Where can I go?' he thought. 'Perhaps I can escape from the country, but I want to see Olivia again before I leave... or before the police find me.'
But first he needed food. He had some money in his pocket—Marta's money. He remembered her words. You take it. I don't need it. An old woman doesn't need money. Alex smiled. What a wonderful old woman!
He came to a small town on a river, and found a food shop in a quiet street. He opened the door and went in. There were a lot of people in the shop, and he waited quietly behind them. People looked at him, and a man went out quickly. Alex wanted to run, but he was very hungry, so he waited. Then a woman with her young son came into the shop. The woman whispered to the boy, and the boy came up to Alex. 'There are two policemen in the street,' he said very quietly, 'and they're coming here.'
Alex looked quickly at the door, but he could not escape now. Then the shopkeeper called to him, 'Hey, you!' he said. 'Quick! Go out through the back.'
Alex ran through the back of the shop, and the shopkeeper followed him. 'I never help the police—they're all bad,' he said. He opened the back door and looked out. 'It's OK,' he said quickly. 'You can get out of town along the river. Follow the back of the houses. Nobody goes there. Good luck!'
'Thank you,' Alex said, and ran.
Three kilometres from the town Alex came to a road. He crossed the road quickly but a lorry came along at the same time. The lorry slowed down and the driver called out to him, 'Where are you going?'
Alex said the name of his home town, and the driver said, 'Come on. I'm going near there. You can come with me.'
Alex got into the front of the lorry, and the driver looked carefully into his face. 'Do I know you?' he asked.
Alex said nothing, and waited. He felt very tired. The driver stared at him for a minute, then he smiled. 'No, I don't know you,' he said. 'Get into the back of the lorry. Nobody can see you there. Are you hungry?'
'Yes, I am,' Alex said. 'Very.'
'Well, I've got some sandwiches. Here you are. Now, get in the back quickly. Before we see a police car.'
The lorry drove slowly south. Alex ate all the driver's sandwiches and then slept like a dead man.
* * *
'We're always three hours or more behind him,' Felix said to Adam in the car. 'We drive up and down the country, but Dinon always moves on before we get there.'
'Perhaps this shopkeeper can tell us something,' Adam said.
But the shopkeeper was not helpful. 'Alex who?' he said.
'DINON!' Felix shouted. He was very tired. 'He escaped from prison five days ago. Somebody saw him in your shop.'
'I don't have prisoners in my shop,' the shopkeeper said angrily. 'And I don't want the police here.'
'Did Dinon come into this shop?' Felix asked.
'Dinon,' the shopkeeper said slowly. 'What did he do? Wait a minute. Yes! Did he write a book about the old President?'
'He killed the President,' Adam said. 'He murdered him.'
'Oh yes,' the shopkeeper said. 'I remember now. It was a good book. But the President's murderer did not come into my shop this morning.'
Felix watched the shopkeeper's face carefully. 'My question', he said, 'asked about Alex Dinon.'
The shopkeeper looked at Felix and smiled slowly. 'That's right,' he said.
Felix and Adam talked to a lot of people and asked a lot of questions in that small town, but they learned nothing.
Later, back in the office, Felix was very quiet. Suddenly he looked at Adam across the desk, and said:
'We can't get Dinon's book in this country. Do you know it, Adam?'
'No,' Adam said.
Felix stared at the telephone on his desk. 'Where is Dinon?' he said slowly. 'People are helping him, but why? He's a murderer. And nobody wants to help us.'
'People never help the police in this country,' Adam said. 'People don't like us.'
'Why are we policemen, Adam?'
'It's a good job,' Adam said. 'And the money's good.'
After a minute or two Felix said, 'Did Dinon murder the President? What do you think, Adam?'
'Well, why did they put him in prison, then?'
'That doesn't answer my question,' Felix said.
'I do my job,' Adam said, 'and I don't ask questions.'
Felix looked at him, but said nothing.
?
第四天
離開了瑪爾塔的村莊，亞歷克斯走得很快，他悄悄地穿過了田地。沒有人看到他。他走一會兒跑一會兒，然后又繼續(xù)走。雨下了一天一夜，他在夜色中穿行。到第二天早上——那是他逃出來的第四天了——他真是又饑又乏。他在一片樹叢里躲了一兩個小時，然后又繼續(xù)向南走。一直朝南走，就能到他的家鄉(xiāng)。“我能去哪兒呢？”他想，“我也許能逃離這個國家，但走之前我想再見奧利維亞一面……或者說是在警察抓住我之前。”
但是首先他得吃點什么。他口袋里有些錢——是瑪爾塔給他的。他記起她的話：你拿去吧，我不需要，一個老太太不需要什么錢的。亞歷克斯笑了。一個多好的老太太！
他來到河邊的一個小鎮(zhèn)上，在一條安靜的街道上找到了一家食品店。他打開門，走了進去。店里人很多，他靜靜地排在他們后面等著。人們看著他，一個男人很快地出去了。亞歷克斯想跑，但是他很餓，所以只好等著。隨后一個女人帶著她的小兒子進了商店。這個女人悄悄地對她的孩子說了些什么，小男孩兒朝亞歷克斯走過來。“街上有兩個警察，”他悄悄地說，“他們正在往這兒趕。”
亞歷克斯立刻看看門口，但是他現(xiàn)在已經逃不掉了。這時，店主對他喊道：“嗨，你！”他說，“快！從后面出去。”
亞歷克斯穿過食品店的后面，店主跟著他。“我從來不幫警察——他們都是壞蛋。”他說。他打開后門，向外看了看。“沒事兒，”他說得很快，“你可以沿著河出鎮(zhèn)，順著房后走。沒人去那些地方。祝你好運！”
“謝謝你。”亞歷克斯說，然后就跑走了。
跑出小鎮(zhèn)三公里，亞歷克斯來到了公路上。他很快地穿過公路，但是一輛卡車也在這時開了過來?？ㄜ嚶讼聛?，司機對他喊：“你要去哪兒？”
亞歷克斯說出了他家鄉(xiāng)小鎮(zhèn)的名字，司機說：“快點兒。我正要到那兒附近去，你可以和我一塊兒去。”
亞歷克斯進了駕駛室，司機仔細地打量他的臉。“我認識你嗎？”他問。
亞歷克斯什么也沒說，他等待著。他感到疲憊不堪。司機盯著他看了一會兒，笑了。“不，我不認識你。”他說，“到卡車的車廂里去吧，在那兒，誰也看不到你。你餓嗎？”
“是的，我餓了，”亞歷克斯說，“非常餓。”
“好的，我有一些三明治。給你?，F(xiàn)在，趕在我們看到警車之前，快鉆到車廂里去。”
卡車慢慢地駛向南方。亞歷克斯吃光了司機的三明治，然后像個死人似的睡著了。
* * *
“我們總是比他慢三個小時或者更多，”費利克斯在車里對亞當說，“我們開著車在這個國家來回奔波，但每次我們還沒趕到，迪農就又逃掉了。”
“也許這個店主能告訴我們點兒什么。”亞當說。
但是店主并沒有給他們提供什么有用的東西。“亞歷克斯什么？”他問。
“迪——農！”費利克斯吼道，他非常疲憊，“他五天前從監(jiān)獄里逃走了。有人看見他在你的店里。”
“我的店里沒有罪犯，”店主生氣地說，“而且我也不歡迎警察。”
“迪農來過這個店嗎？”費利克斯問道。
“迪農，”店主慢悠悠地說，“他是干什么的？等一下，想起來了！他是不是寫過一本關于前總統(tǒng)的書？”
“他殺了總統(tǒng)，”亞當說，“他謀殺了他。”
“噢，是的，”店主說，“現(xiàn)在我記起來了，那是一本好書。但是今天早上，謀殺總統(tǒng)的兇手并沒有來我的店。”
費利克斯認真地觀察店主的臉。“我的問題，”他說，“是在問亞歷克斯·迪農。”
店主看著費利克斯，慢慢地笑了。“沒錯呀。”他說。
費利克斯和亞當同那個小鎮(zhèn)里的好多人談了話，也問了不少問題，但是他們一無所獲。
后來，回到辦公室時，費利克斯非常的平靜。突然，他看著桌子對面的亞當，說：
“在這個國家里，我們沒法兒弄到迪農的書，你知道嗎，亞當？”
“不知道。”亞當說。
費利克斯盯著桌上的電話。“迪農在哪兒呢？”他若有所思地說，“人們在幫助他，但這是為什么？他是個謀殺犯呀。然而卻沒人愿意幫助我們。”
“在這個國家，人們向來不幫警察。”亞當說，“人們不喜歡我們。”
“那為什么我們要做警察呢，亞當？”
“這個活兒不錯，”亞當說，“還有，薪水也不錯。”
過了一兩分鐘，費利克斯才說：“迪農謀殺總統(tǒng)了嗎？你怎么看，亞當？”
“嗯，那他們?yōu)槭裁匆阉P進監(jiān)獄呢？”
“這不能回答我的問題。”費利克斯說。
“我只管低頭干活，”亞當說，“我不問問題。”
費利克斯看著他，什么也沒說。
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