書蟲1級《雪莉·霍姆斯和立陶宛青年案》3. 與卡麗交談

3. Talking to Carrie

Carrie doesn't come the first evening. I sit there for two hours, and drink a lot of coffee. Five big cups, black, no sugar. It's a good thing I like coffee.

But she comes the second evening. I'm sitting with my back to the wall, watching the door. Through the café window I see Ant in her black clothes. She's walking past, slowly, looking into the café. A minute or two later Carrie comes in, and walks over to my table. Red hair, green eyes, no smile. I stand up.

Hi, Carrie. I'm Shirley Homes. Thanks for coming. Have a seat. Can I get you a coffee, or a tea?'

I'm using my head teacher voice. Right, girls, sit down. Open your books. Get to work. I don't want Carrie to have time to think.

She doesn't want coffee, or tea. She wants to have an argument.

I'm not going home,' she says. 'So you can forget that. I don't need my family. I have a new life now.'

I watch her face, and she stares back at me with angry green eyes. I don't think Carrie is in trouble. Carrie knows what she wants, and Carrie gets what she wants. I think Carrie makes trouble. I begin to feel sorry for the boyfriend.

Why are you here, Carrie?' I say. 'What did your friends say to you?'

A minute or two later Carrie comes in, and walks over to my table.

She doesn't answer, just looks at me.

Did they tell you about your mum – crying all night because her little girl is living on the streets, because her little girl is taking drugs, because her little girl is in big, big trouble—'

Suddenly, Carrie has a lot to say. 'I'm NOT living on the streets!' she shouts at me. 'And I don't do drugs – I NEVER do drugs! Who told you all this? It's NOT TRUE!'

People in the café turn their heads to look at us. I smile around at everybody. A smile to say, Everything's fine here. Just a big sister, little sister argument. Happens all the time. Enjoy your coffee, have a nice day...

I look back at Carrie's angry face.

But your mum doesn't know that,' I say quietly. 'At night, when she can't sleep, she thinks about those things. You're only fifteen, Carrie, and it's a big bad world out there. Of course your mum is afraid for you.'

Carrie looks down at the table. 'Yeah. Well...' She looks up. 'But I'm OK. I'm fine. You can tell her that.'

Why don't you tell her?' I say. 'Call her. Text her.'

Carrie stares at me. 'Who sent you?' she says. 'Mum? Or was it my dad?'

Your mum.'

Look, I'm not texting mum, because I don't want my dad to know. I don't want to see him again, ever.'

People in the café turn their heads to look at us.

We're not talking about your dad,' I say quickly. 'I know all about your dad. We're talking about your mum. And your mum needs to know you're all right. But she needs to hear it from you, not me. She texts you every day, you know. And you never text back. Never.'

Carrie looks away. 'I got a new mobile, and changed my number. I never got her texts.'

I laugh. 'Very good, Carrie. You read detective stories, right? Always change your mobile when you don't want people to find you. Dangerous things, mobile phones.'

Carrie nearly smiles. 'Tomas says—' she begins, then stops.

Is Tomas your boyfriend?' I say. 'The one from Lithuania? Are you still with him?'

Of course I'm still with him!' Carrie is angry again. 'I love him and he loves me. We're in love!'

I try not to smile. How wonderful to be fifteen, and in love for the first time!

That's great,' I say. 'I'm happy for you. But please, please text your mum. Tell her you're all right.'

OK,' says Carrie. 'This evening.' She looks at her watch and stands up. 'I must go. I'm meeting someone.'

Thanks for coming, Carrie. And remember that text.'

She walks out of the café, and fifteen seconds later I'm following her. She's walking down the High Street, maybe to the bus station. I've got a minute, but I must be quick.

A private investigator always needs to carry a big bag. I stop by a shop window, and open my bag. Three seconds later, I'm wearing a blue T-shirt over my red T-shirt. In another five seconds, I have a wig on, and my short black hair is now long blond hair. Now I'm walking away from the shop window, and I'm wearing glasses. My big brown bag is now inside a small black backpack. No time to change the shoes. Carrie is a long way down the street. I walk fast, nearly running, and watch her red head in front of me.

When I get to the bus station, I can't see her at first, and walk quickly past all the people waiting. She's there, waiting for the number 71 bus. I wait too, about twenty metres away, and I'm reading the evening newspaper with great interest. (A private investigator always has today's newspaper in their bag.) But Carrie doesn't look round.

When the bus comes, Carrie goes upstairs. This is good news for me because I can sit downstairs, at the back of the bus. I can see Carrie when she gets off, but she can't see me.

It's a short bus ride, only ten minutes. Carrie gets off the bus, and turns left into a small street. I'm thirty metres behind her. Carrie looks round, once, and sees someone with blond hair, in a blue T-shirt, and glasses. She doesn't know me.

Halfway down the street, she crosses the road and goes into a big old house. I walk past the house, not too fast, not too slow. I can't follow her into the house because there are no other people around. You can only hide easily when there are lots of people around.

I'm reading the evening newspaper with great interest.

I take the next right, walk for ten minutes, then turn around and come back. This time I walk to the front door of the big house. There are six bells by the door with names next to them. It's a house with six different apartments. I look at the names, but there isn't a 'Williams' next to any bell. Well, of course not. She's living with her Lithuanian boyfriend. I look at the names again... John Ozumba, K. Brown, Lili Sardelli, R. varnaite, T. Grigas, M. M. Westerbrook.

Varnaite and Grigas... Lithuanian names, I think. Tomas Grigas, perhaps?

You can't stand in a quiet street and watch a house. Everybody looks at you and says, 'Who's that woman? What's she doing?' But you can watch a house from a car. People often sit in cars, waiting for somebody, having a sleep, checking their phone messages...

I go home, make some spaghetti for dinner, and text Edith Williams.

Saw C today. She's fine.

More tomorrow.

There are six bells by the door with names next to them.

drug n. an illegal chemical substance that people take because it makes them happy or excited 毒品

be in trouble to have problems because you have done something wrong or silly 遇到麻煩

follow v. to go after somebody or something 跟蹤；尾隨

wig n. a "hat" of hair you wear on your head, either because you have no hair or want to cover your own hair 假發(fā)

blond adj. (of hair colour) a light gold colour （頭發(fā)）淺黃色的

backpack n. a bag that you carry on your back 背包

apartment n. a group of rooms for living in, on one floor of a house or building <美>（通常指在同一樓層的）公寓套房

check v. to find out what is there 查看；檢查

3. 與卡麗交談

第一天晚上，卡麗沒來。我在咖啡館里坐了兩個小時，喝了很多咖啡——五大杯沒加糖的黑咖啡。還好，我喜歡咖啡。

不過第二天晚上她來了。我靠墻而坐，看著門。透過咖啡館的窗戶，我看到安特身著黑衣，慢慢地從咖啡館走過，邊走邊往里頭張望。過了一會兒，卡麗進來走到我的桌邊。紅色的頭發(fā)，綠色的眼睛，緊繃著臉。我站了起來。

嗨，卡麗。我是雪莉·霍姆斯。謝謝你能來。請坐。要杯咖啡還是茶？”

我用學校校長的腔調說道。好的，姑娘們，坐下。翻開書。開始學習。我不想讓卡麗有時間思考。

她不想喝咖啡，也不想喝茶。她想來吵一架。

“我不回家，”她說，“所以你別想讓我回去。我不需要家人。我現(xiàn)在有了新的生活?！?/p>

我看著她的臉，她也瞪著我，綠色的眼睛里滿含怒火。我覺得卡麗沒事。她知道自己想要什么，而且得到了她想要的。我認為卡麗在制造麻煩。我開始同情她的男朋友。

“你為什么來這里，卡麗？”我問道，“你的朋友們跟你說什么了？”

她沒有回答，只是看著我。

“她們跟你說你媽媽了嗎——整夜哭泣，因為她的寶貝女兒露宿街頭，因為她的寶貝女兒吸食毒品，因為她的寶貝女兒遇到了很大、很大的麻煩——”

突然，卡麗的話來了?！拔覜]有露宿街頭！”她沖我嚷道，“而且我也沒有吸食毒品——我從來不碰毒品！誰告訴你這些的？都是沒有的事！”

咖啡館里的人紛紛扭頭看我們。我環(huán)顧四周，沖眾人微笑。那笑容是在說，我們沒事。只是大姐姐和小妹妹在爭執(zhí)。這種情況隨時都有可能發(fā)生。享用你們的咖啡，祝你們好心情……

我收回目光，看著滿臉憤怒的卡麗。

“但是你說的這些情況，你媽媽并不知道?！蔽移届o地說，“晚上，當她無法入睡時，她就會想到我說到的那些情形。你只有15歲，卡麗，外面的世界又大又亂。你媽媽當然會擔心你?！?/p>

卡麗低頭看著桌子?！笆堑?。不過……”她抬起頭，“不過，我沒事，我很好。你可以這么告訴她。”

“為什么你不告訴她呢？”我說，“給她打個電話，或者給她發(fā)個短信?！?/p>

卡麗瞪著我?！罢l讓你來的？”她問，“我媽媽嗎？或者是我爸爸？”

“你媽媽?！?/p>

“聽著，我不會給媽媽發(fā)短信的，因為我不想讓爸爸知道。我不想再見到他了，永遠?！?/p>

“我們不是在談你爸爸，”我馬上說，“我知道你爸爸的情況。我們在談你的媽媽。你媽媽需要知道你平安無事。但她需要你親自告訴她，而不是我來說。她每天都給你發(fā)短信，你是知道的。而你卻從來沒有回復。一直沒有?！?/p>

卡麗躲開我的目光?！拔屹I了新手機，換了號碼。我沒收到過她的短信?！?/p>

我笑了?！昂芎?，卡麗。你讀過偵探小說，對不對？不想讓人找到你的時候就換手機。手機，危險物品?！?/p>

卡麗差點笑了出來?！巴旭R斯說……”她剛一開口，又頓住了。

“托馬斯是你的男朋友嗎？”我問，“那個立陶宛來的男孩？你還跟他在一起嗎？”

“我當然還跟他在一起！”卡麗又氣呼呼地說，“我愛他，他也愛我。我們在談戀愛！”

我盡量不讓自己笑出來。15歲是多么美好的年華，第一次談戀愛是多么美妙！

“那好極了，”我說，“我為你高興。不過，請一定、一定給你媽媽發(fā)短信，告訴她你一切安好?！?/p>

“好吧，”卡麗說，“我今天晚上發(fā)?！彼戳丝幢?，站了起來?！拔业米吡?。我要見個人?！?/p>

“謝謝你來，卡麗。記住發(fā)短信?！?/p>

卡麗走出了咖啡館。15秒鐘之后，我跟上了她。她沿著大街走，也許是去汽車站。我有一分鐘的時間，但我必須動作快。

私人偵探總是得拎著一個大包。我在一家商店的櫥窗旁停下來，打開包。3秒鐘后，我在紅色T恤外邊套了件藍色T恤。又用5秒鐘戴上了假發(fā)，我原來黑色短發(fā)現(xiàn)在變成了金色長發(fā)。然后我離開櫥窗，戴上副眼鏡。我把棕色的大包塞進一個黑色的雙肩包里。沒時間換鞋了?？愐呀涀叱鋈ズ苓h了。我快步走著，幾乎是一路小跑，緊盯著前邊卡麗的紅色頭發(fā)。

到了公共汽車車站后，一開始我沒看見她，于是飛快地走過所有等車的乘客。她在那兒，正在等71路公交車。我也在距離她20米開外等著車，并且非常專心地看晚報。（私人偵探的包里總有一份當天的報紙。）但是卡麗并沒有四處張望。

公共汽車來了，卡麗上了汽車的上一層。這對我來說是件好事，因為我可以坐在汽車下層的后部。這樣，卡麗下車時我可以看見她，但她卻看不到我。

路程并不遠，只有10分鐘就到了?？愊铝塑?，向左拐到了一條小街上。我跟在她后邊，離她大約30米。卡麗回頭看了一眼，看見一個金發(fā)披肩，穿藍色T恤，戴眼鏡的女子。她沒認出我。

走到街道的一半時，她穿過馬路，走進一座舊大樓。我從大樓前走過，步子不快不慢。我不能跟著她走進去，因為里邊沒有別人。只有周圍有很多人時，你才容易藏身。

我走到街角向右拐，走了10分鐘后，再轉身走回來。這次，我走到那座大樓的前門。門邊有六個門鈴，每個門鈴邊都有名字。這座大樓有六套公寓。我看了看那些名字，可是沒有哪個門鈴旁邊寫有“威廉斯”。嗯，當然不會有了。她跟她的立陶宛男朋友住在一起。我又看了看這些名字……約翰·奧宗巴、K.布朗、莉莉·薩爾代利、R.瓦內特、T.格里加斯、M.M.韋斯特布魯克。

瓦內特和格里加斯……立陶宛名字，我心想。也許是托馬斯·格里加斯？

你不能在一條安靜的街上，盯著一座樓房看。每個看到你的人都會想：“那個女人是誰？她在干什么？”但是，你可以在車上監(jiān)視一座房子。人們經常坐在車里等人、睡覺、查看手機短信……

我回到家，做了點意大利面條當晚飯，然后給伊迪絲·威廉斯太太發(fā)了條短信：

今天看見C了。她很好。

明天再告訴你更多消息。