牛津書蟲《誰謀殺了總統(tǒng)》05：第五天
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The Fifth Day
In an old house in a quiet road a woman waited. She waited day and night, and did not sleep. At nine o'clock in the evening of the fifth day, she heard a noise at the window at the back of the house.Quickly, she ran and opened the window. A minute later she was in Alex's arms. They did not speak for a long time.
Then they talked quietly about their friends and their family. 'The children are with my sister,' Olivia said. 'It's better for them there. But I came here to Rudi's house. Rudi's away, and Pauli told me this was the best place to wait. I wanted to see you before you leave the country. Oh Alex, I'm so afraid for you.'
'Yes, escape is going to be difficult,' Alex said. 'I talked to Pauli on the phone. The police...'
'Yes, but you escaped from prison,' Olivia said quickly. 'You have a lot of friends. Perhaps Pauli can help you. Or...'
'Perhaps. I've got some good friends. I know that. But I've got a lot of enemies too,' Alex said slowly. 'Very dangerous enemies.'
Suddenly Olivia saw his hands. 'Your hands! Oh Alex, what happened to your hands?'
Alex looked down at them. 'It happened in prison,' he said slowly. 'They did it with a knife... and cigarettes.'
'But why?' Olivia whispered. 'Why did they do that?'
'They wanted a name, but I didn't tell them.'
'What name?'
'The name of the President's murderer.'
'But they say you killed him...' Olivia began.
'Yes, but I did not kill the President. And the police know that.'
'So they put you in prison,' Olivia said, 'because they needed a murderer.'
'Yes. And because of my book about the old President, and the government of this country. It was a very angry book. Do you remember?' Alex smiled. 'But the old President read it, and liked it. He wasn't a bad man, and he wanted a better life for the people. He wanted to change things in this country, but he couldn't. The police and the army stopped him. And the new President, of course, is a good friend of the police and the army. A very good friend.' Alex laughed angrily. 'You see, Olivia, the police know the murderer's name, but it's a secret. They don't want people in this country to know the name. And so they were angry with me in prison, because they think that I know the murderer's name.'
Olivia's face was afraid. 'Do... Do you know?' she whispered.
'Yes,' Alex looked at his wife's white, unhappy face. 'But I'm not going to tell you,' he said quietly. 'It's a very... dangerous name.'
Alex ate some food and changed his clothes. Then he slept, and Olivia watched the road through the windows.
* * *
In his office Felix waited for more news. He waited, and he thought—about his job, about the dead President and the new President, about the old woman Marta, about Eva Hine, the Chief of Police—and about Alex Dinon.
At 9.05 p. m. the telephone rang on Felix's desk. He listened, then quickly jumped to his feet and called to Adam. 'Dinon's in his home town,' he shouted. 'He's in his old teacher's house. He went in three minutes ago.'
Adam laughed. 'We've got him now,' he said happily.
'Listen,' Felix said quickly. 'Take ten more men with you and drive down to Dinon's town at once. Wait near the house and watch, but don't go in. I'm going to phone the Chief now, and then follow you.'
'Right,' Adam said, and quickly left the room.
Felix phoned the Chief and told her the news.
'Good,' the Chief said. 'Now wait there. I want to speak to you again in ten minutes.'
Felix waited angrily. He wanted to leave at once. He wanted to talk to Alex Dinon. Perhaps Dinon knew the answers to Felix's questions. The phone rang and Felix picked it up quickly.
'Now listen, Inspector. Don't go into the house. Wait in the road and watch.'
'But we can go into the house and get him!' Felix said. 'Why not?'
'No, that's dangerous. Perhaps his wife and children are in the house.'
'But his children are with his wife's sister. We know that,' Felix said. 'So...'
'LISTEN TO ME, INSPECTOR! '
Felix did not answer.
'Are you listening to me, Inspector?'
'Yes, Chief,' Felix said quietly.
'Now, Dinon can't stay in the house. He's going to come out later in the night, when the streets are quiet. He can't escape. The soldiers—'
'Soldiers? What soldiers?' Felix said angrily. ' I don't need the army!'
'This man Dinon is very, very important, Inspector. You need help, and the army is going to help you. They're putting three hundred men in all the roads near the house. I want Dinon tonight, Inspector!'
The Chief put the phone down, and Felix stared at his desk. 'Alive... or dead?' he thought. 'Which does she—and our new President—want? I think I know the answer. They want him dead. And I want to know why!'
The police car took Felix to Dinon's home town, an hour away, and Felix found Adam in a quiet street behind the house. They sat in Adam's car and talked.
Adam looked at Felix's face. 'What are you angry about?' he asked. 'Dinon's in the house. And he can't escape now. When he comes out—Wham! We've got him!'
'I'm angry,' Felix said, 'because half the army with its guns is in this town tonight. I wanted to go into the house, but I can't because the Chief said "no", and the soldiers are watching the house. But I wanted to get to Dinon first.'
'That's going to be difficult,' Adam said. 'Soldiers shoot first, and ask questions later.'
'Yes,' Felix said slowly. 'They're going to kill Alex Dinon, and I can't stop them.'
?
第五天
在一條安靜的路邊的一所舊房子里，一個女人等待著。她望眼欲穿，夜不成寐。第五天晚上9點鐘，她聽到房子后面的窗戶那兒有響動。她很快跑過去把窗戶打開了。一分鐘后，她已經(jīng)在亞歷克斯的懷抱里了。他們沉默了很長時間。
然后，他們輕聲地說起他們的朋友和家人。“孩子們和我妹妹在一起，”奧利維亞說，“他們在那兒會好一些。但是我到魯?shù)霞疫@兒來了。魯?shù)喜辉?，保利告訴我說，這是等你的最好的地方。在你離開這個國家之前，我想見你一面。噢，亞歷克斯，我真為你擔心。”
“是啊，逃亡將會很困難。”亞歷克斯說，“我跟保利通過電話，警察……”
“是的，但你已經(jīng)從監(jiān)獄里逃出來了，”奧利維亞語速很快，“你有很多朋友，也許保利能幫你，或者……”
“也許吧，我有一些好朋友，這我知道。但是我也有很多敵人，”亞歷克斯若有所思地說，“很危險的敵人。”
奧利維亞突然看著他的手。“你的手！噢，亞歷克斯，你的手是怎么回事？”
亞歷克斯低頭看著自己的手。“在監(jiān)獄里弄的。”他緩緩地說，“他們用刀子……還有煙頭。”
“但是為什么？”奧利維亞小聲問，“他們?yōu)槭裁匆菢幼觯?rdquo;
“他們想知道一個名字，但是我沒告訴他們。”
“誰的名字？”
“謀殺總統(tǒng)的兇手的名字。”
“但他們說是你殺了他……”奧利維亞說。
“他們是這樣說的，但是我沒殺總統(tǒng)，而且這一點警察也知道。”
“所以他們把你關進了監(jiān)獄，”奧利維亞說，“因為他們需要一個兇手。”
“是的，這是因為我寫了那本關于這個國家前任總統(tǒng)和政府的書。那是一本充滿不滿的書，你還記得嗎？”亞歷克斯笑了，“但是前總統(tǒng)讀過它，而且很喜歡。他不是壞人，他想讓人們過上好一點兒的生活。他想改變這個國家的某些事情。但是他沒能辦到，警方和軍隊阻止了他。而新總統(tǒng)，當然，是警方和軍隊的好朋友，他們的關系異常親密。”亞歷克斯憤怒地笑著，“你知道，奧利維亞，警方知道兇手的名字，但這是個秘密。他們不想讓這個國家的人知道這個名字。所以在監(jiān)獄里，他們對我很粗暴，因為他們認為我知道這個兇手的名字。”
奧利維亞一臉恐懼。“那你……你到底知不知道？”她輕聲問道。
“知道。”他看著妻子那張蒼白、憂郁的臉。“但是我不能告訴你，”他平靜地說，“這是一個非常……危險的名字。”
亞歷克斯吃了些東西，換了身衣服，然后睡了。奧利維亞透過窗戶望著外面的路。
* * *
在辦公室里，費利克斯正在等待著更多的消息。他等待著，思考著——關于他的工作，關于去世的總統(tǒng)和新總統(tǒng)，關于那個老太太瑪爾塔，關于警長伊娃·海因——還有亞歷克斯·迪農。
晚上9:05，費利克斯辦公桌上的電話響了。他接聽了電話，隨后一下子站了起來，招呼亞當。“迪農現(xiàn)在就在他的家鄉(xiāng)，”他喊道，“在他以前的老師家里。他三分鐘前進了他老師的家門。”
亞當笑了。“我們現(xiàn)在終于找到他了。”他開心地說。
“聽著，”費利克斯說得很快，“你再帶上十個人立刻開車去迪農住的那個小鎮(zhèn)，在房子周圍等著，監(jiān)視他，但是別進去。我給警長打電話匯報一下，隨后就到。”
“好的。”亞當說著，很快地離開了。
費利克斯打電話給警長，向她報告這個消息。
“很好，”警長說，“你現(xiàn)在就在那兒等著。我十分鐘后給你打電話。”
費利克斯很生氣，但也只好等著。他想馬上離開，去和亞歷克斯·迪農談談。也許迪農能夠解答他的問題。電話鈴響了，他立刻抓起聽筒。
“聽著，警員，不要進入那所房子，在路上等著，監(jiān)視他。”
“但是我們可以進去抓住他！”費利克斯說，“為什么不呢？”
“不行，那樣很危險。也許他的妻子和孩子也在房子里。”
“我們已經(jīng)查明，他的孩子在他的妻妹家里。”費利克斯說，“所以……”
“服從命令，警員！”
費利克斯沒有回答。
“你在聽我說話嗎，警員？”
“是的，警長。”費利克斯平靜地說。
“好，迪農不能一直待在那個房子里，晚上晚些時候，街上安靜下來以后，他會出來的。他是跑不掉的。士兵們——”
“士兵？什么士兵？”費利克斯生氣地說，“我不需要軍隊！”
“這個迪農非常非常重要，警員。你需要幫助，軍隊是去幫你的。他們在那所房子的周圍布置了300個人，封鎖了所有路口。我今天晚上就要抓住迪農，警員！”
警長掛斷了電話。費利克斯盯著他的辦公桌發(fā)愣。“活的……或者死的？”他想，“她——還有我們的新總統(tǒng)——到底要什么樣的？我想我知道了。他們要他死，但是我想知道為什么！”
警車把費利克斯帶到了迪農家所在的鎮(zhèn)上。—個小時以后，費利克斯在房子后面的一條安靜的街道上找到了亞當。他們坐在亞當?shù)能嚴镎f話。
亞當看著費利克斯的臉。“你生什么氣？”他問，“迪農在房子里。他現(xiàn)在跑不了啦。他一出來——啪！我們就抓住他啦！”
“我生氣，”費利克斯說，“是因為今天晚上這個鎮(zhèn)上來了無數(shù)當兵的，而且是荷槍實彈的。我想進到房子里去，卻不能，因為警長說‘不行’。而且士兵們也在監(jiān)視著這所房子。但是我想在他們之前抓住迪農。”
“那會很難。”亞當說，“士兵們總是先開槍，后問話。”
“是呀，”費利克斯慢慢地說，“他們會殺了迪農，而我卻無法阻止。”
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