牛津書蟲《誰謀殺了總統(tǒng)》06：第六天
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The Sixth Day
At three ο'clock in the morning Alex got up from the bed and looked out of the window. Olivia opened her eyes. 'Are you... Are you leaving now?' she asked.'Yes,' Alex said. 'I can't stay longer. Perhaps the police are out there now. They're watching all our friends' houses. Pauli told me.' He put on his shoes and coat, then looked at his wife.
'Olivia. Listen. Be very careful and live very quietly. The police are going to watch you for some time. Wait for a year, then take the children and leave the country secretly. Our friends can help you. Find a new home in a new country and make a new life.'
Olivia began to cry. 'But Alex! You're going to be there with us.'
Alex smiled. 'Yes. Perhaps.' He took his wife's face in his hands and looked into her unhappy eyes. 'Don't cry, my love,' he said quietly. 'Give me a smile before I go.'
'Oh Alex! I'm afraid!' Olivia could not stop crying. 'I love you, I love you,' she whispered. 'Go quickly. And be careful. Please.'
Alex smiled sadly. 'Goodbye, my love.'
He left the house quickly and went out into the dark night. He waited for ten minutes at the door and listened, but he heard nothing and saw nothing. He came out into the road very carefully. Again he waited. From an upstairs window in his house, a white face watched him.
Then Alex began to walk quickly along the road. He stayed near the houses and looked behind him again and again. Two hundred metres along the road there was a car. Alex stared at it, but there was nobody in the car, and he walked quickly past.
Suddenly there were noises and lights—and soldiers with guns. Alex began to run, but he did not run far. There was a shot... two, three, four, five shots... And Alex did not move again.
* * *
Felix ran across the road and looked at the body. Adam was there before him.
'Is he alive?' Felix asked quickly.
'No, he's dead.' Adam stood up and looked at Felix. 'Very, very dead,' he said.
Felix's face was angry. 'The soldiers killed him,' he said.
Adam looked at Felix. 'Well, that's their job. Dinon ran away, so the soldiers shot him. "Alive or dead", the Chief said. But we found him. That's the important thing.'
Felix stared down at Alex Dinon's face. 'I wanted to talk to him... to ask him...'
'To ask him what?' Adam said.
Felix did not answer. He looked down at the dead body on the road, then he turned away.
'Nothing,' he said. 'It doesn't matter.'
There was a lot of noise in the road now. Soldiers and policemen moved here and there. Police cars came and went. The people in the houses looked out of their windows, but they did not open their doors. It was better not to ask questions. An ambulance came and took the body away.
Later that day Felix went back to the Chief's office. The Chief called him into her room.
'So he's dead,' she said. 'Well done, Felix. The President is very pleased with you.'
The Chief did not often say 'Felix'. Ususally she called him 'Inspector'.
Felix sat down and looked at Eva Hine. 'A lot of people think...' He stopped. Then he began again. 'They say... Alex Dinon wasn't the President's murderer.'
'People say a lot of things,' the Chief said. She smiled. 'But they're not all true. Don't listen to stories, Felix. You've got a good job. Don't ask questions.'
'But perhaps,' Felix said slowly, 'the stories are true. And it's a policeman's job to ask questions.'
Eva Hine stood up and came nearer to Felix. She looked down into his face, and her grey eyes were cold.
'Listen,' she said. 'Somebody murdered the old President. Right? And our new President needed a murderer. Quickly. So we found a murderer for him. Alex Dinon. We don't kill murderers in this country. They go to prison. But Dinon escaped from prison—and now he's dead. The murderer is dead, Felix, and that's the end of the story.'
It was very quiet in the room. The Chief watched Felix and waited. Felix looked down at his hands and said nothing. Then he looked up into Eva Hine's cold eyes.
'Who murdered the President?' he asked.
Eva Hine's face did not change. She stared at Felix, and Felix stared back at her.
After a long time Eva Hine said, 'Perhaps you need a new job, Felix. Think about it... very carefully.'
The young man looked at her face, then he looked away, out of the window. After a minute or two he stood up, and went to the door. Then he turned and looked at the Chief of Police.
'I'd like to know the murderer's name,' he said quietly. 'And I'm going to find it.' He opened the door. 'Goodbye, Chief.'
He went out and closed the door behind him, for the last time.
?
第六天
凌晨3點，亞歷克斯從床上坐了起來，向窗外看去。奧利維亞睜開眼睛。“你要……你要走了嗎？”她問。“是的。”亞歷克斯說，“我不能再待在這兒了。也許現(xiàn)在警察就在外面，他們監(jiān)視了我們所有朋友的房子。保利告訴我的。”他穿上鞋和外套，而后看著他的妻子。
“奧利維亞，聽著，小心謹慎點兒，平平靜靜地過日子。警察會監(jiān)視你一段時間。等上一年，然后帶著孩子，悄悄地離開這個國家。我們的朋友會幫助你的。在一個新的國度，安一個新家，開始新的生活。”
奧利維亞開始哭了。“但是亞歷克斯！你可要去那兒和我們會合。”
亞歷克斯笑了。“好的，也許吧。”他手捧妻子的臉，看著她那憂傷的眼睛。“別哭，親愛的。”他平靜地說，“在我走之前，為我笑一下。”
“噢，亞歷克斯！我好害怕！”奧利維亞一直哭著。“我愛你，我愛你。”她輕輕地說，“快走吧，一定要小心點兒，求你了。”
亞歷克斯笑了，但是笑得很悲傷。“再見，親愛的。”
他很快地出去了，走進了漆黑的夜色之中。他在門口等了十分鐘，聽了聽，但是一點兒動靜也沒有，也沒看到什么。他小心翼翼地來到了路上。然后又等了一會兒。在他家的那所房子樓上的一個窗口里，一張蒼白的臉正注視著他。
接著亞歷克斯開始沿著馬路飛快地走起來。在有房子的地方，他不時地停下來，回頭看了又看。沿路200米處有輛汽車，亞歷克斯定神看了看，車里沒人。他很快走過去了。
突然，響起了一片噪音，燈也亮了——還有荷槍實彈的士兵。亞歷克斯開始跑，但是沒能跑多遠。槍響了……兩聲，三聲，四聲，五聲……然后亞歷克斯就倒下不動了。
* * *
費利克斯跑過馬路，看著倒下的軀體。亞當(dāng)比他先到了那兒。
“他還活著嗎？”費利克斯急切地問。
“不，已經(jīng)死了。”亞當(dāng)站起來，看著費利克斯。“徹底沒救了。”他說。
費利克斯?jié)M面怒色。“那些士兵殺了他。”他說。
亞當(dāng)看著費利克斯。“好啦，那是他們的職責(zé)。迪農(nóng)逃跑，所以士兵們便開槍打死了他。警長說‘不管活的還是死的’。但是我們找到了他，這才是重要的。”
費利克斯低頭盯著亞歷克斯的臉，“我想和他談?wù)?hellip;…問問他……”
“問他什么？”亞當(dāng)問。
費利克斯沒有回答，又低頭看著路上的尸體，然后轉(zhuǎn)過身去。
“沒什么，”他說，“無關(guān)緊要。”
現(xiàn)在路上一團嘈雜，士兵和警察走來走去的。警車來了，又走了。人們在房子里透過窗戶向外望，但是沒有開門。不問問題才是上策。一輛救護車來了，拉走了尸體。
那天晚些時候，費利克斯回到警長的辦公室。警長把他叫到她的房間。
“他死了，”她說，“干得不錯，費利克斯?？偨y(tǒng)對你很滿意。”
警長并不常稱呼他“費利克斯”，她通常稱他為“警員”。
費利克斯坐下，看著伊娃·海因。“許多人認為……”他停了一下，而后又接著說，“他們說……亞歷克斯·迪農(nóng)不是殺害總統(tǒng)的兇手。”
“人們說什么的都有，”警長說，她笑了，“但他們說的并不都是真的。不要去聽信那些傳言，費利克斯。你有一份不錯的工作，但別問問題。”
“但是也許，”費利克斯慢吞吞地說，“那些傳言是真的，而一個警察的天職就是問問題。”
伊娃·海因站起來，走近費利克斯。她低頭看著他的臉，灰色的眼睛異常冷峻。
“聽著，”她說，“有人謀殺了前總統(tǒng)，是吧？而我們的新總統(tǒng)需要找到一個謀殺犯，非常急切。所以我們就給他找一個謀殺犯，就是亞歷克斯·迪農(nóng)。在我們國家，我們不能處死謀殺犯，而是把他們關(guān)進監(jiān)獄。但是迪農(nóng)從監(jiān)獄里逃跑了——而現(xiàn)在他死了。謀殺犯死了，費利克斯，這就是故事的結(jié)局。”
房間里鴉雀無聲。警長看著費利克斯，等待著。費利克斯低頭看著自己的雙手，一言不發(fā)。然后他抬起頭，看著伊娃·海因那雙冷峻的眼睛。
“那么是誰謀殺了總統(tǒng)？”他問。
伊娃·海因的臉僵住了。她瞪著費利克斯，費利克斯也瞪著她。
過了好長時間，伊娃·海因說：“也許你需要一份新的工作，費利克斯?？紤]考慮吧……好好考慮考慮。”
年輕人看著她的臉，然后把目光移開，望著窗外。一兩分鐘以后，他站了起來，向門口走去。然后又轉(zhuǎn)過身看著警長。
“我想知道謀殺犯的名字，”他平靜地說，“我會查出來的。”他打開門，“再見，警長。”
說著他走了出去，并且最后一次關(guān)上了那扇門。
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