The A. C. went on: “Ten people dead on an island and not a living soul on it. It doesn’t make sense!”
副专员继续说道：“十个人，死了十个，一个活的都没有。简直无法理解！”
Inspector Maine said respectfully: “I know, sir.”
警官梅因恭恭敬敬地说：“我明白，先生。”
Sir Thomas Legge, Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard, said irritably: “But the whole thing’s incredible!”
托马斯·莱格爵士，英国警察厅派来调查这个案件的副专员，气恼地说：“这件事从头至尾简直无法相信。”
“That’s just our problem, sir.”
“我们要侦察的正是这件事，阁下。”
“No, sir. Wargrave and Lombard were shot, the first through the head, the second through the heart. Miss Brent and Marston died of cyanide poisoning, Mrs. Rogers died of an overdose of chloral. Rogers’ head was split open. Blore’s head was crushed in. Armstrong died of drowning. Macarthur’s skull was fractured by a blow on the back of the head and Vera Claythorne was hanged.”
“看不出来。沃格雷夫和隆巴德是饮弹而死，前者被击中头部，后者子弹穿透心脏。布伦特小姐和马斯顿死于氰中毒。罗杰斯太太是服用过量的三氯乙醛中毒身死的。罗杰斯的头部被劈开了。布洛尔的头部被碰碎了。阿姆斯特朗是溺死的。麦克阿瑟是被人击中后脑而死的。维拉·克莱索恩是吊死的。”
Inspector Maine said stolidly: “Nevertheless, it happened, sir.”
梅因警官愣头愣脑地说：“不管怎么说，事情明摆着就是这个样子啊，阁下。”
Sir Thomas Legge said: “Damn it all, Maine, somebody must have killed them.”
托马斯·莱格爵士说：“滚它的吧，梅因。一定有个人把他们都杀了。”
“Nothing helpful in the doctor’s report?”
“从医生的报告里能看出点什么来吗？”
He considered for a minute or two. He said irritably: “Do you mean to say that you haven’t been able to get anything helpful out of the Sticklehaven people. Dash it, they must know something.”
他沉思了一会儿，又气恼地说：“你的意思是说，你还没能从斯蒂克尔海文镇的人嘴里得到任何有用的东西？可恶，他们肯定掌握些情况。”
The A. C. winced. He said: “Nasty business — all of it.”
副专员的身子不禁往后一缩，说道：“干得可真野蛮！”
“Man called Morris. Isaac Morris.”
“莫里斯，爱萨克·莫里斯。”
Inspector Maine smiled. “Not if you knew Morris! He can wangle figures until the best chartered accountant in the country wouldn’t know if he was on his head or his heels! We’ve had a taste of that in the Bennito business. No, he covered his employer’s tracks all right.”
警官梅因笑了。“要是您认识莫里斯，您就知道这是根本不可能的事情！他惯会做假账，连全国最好的会计师都能被他蒙骗过去。我们在本尼托那个案子里已经领教过了。他把他雇主的账面简直搞得天衣无缝。”
“And what does he say about it all?”
“他对这些事说了些什么？”
“And he was behind this island business?”
“他死在这个岛拍卖之后？”
“Who provisioned the island and made all the necessary arrangements?”
“谁是欧文的代理人？”
“Surely there’s something to be found out on the financial angle, there?”
“我想从账面上肯定可以发现一些蛛丝马迹，你说呢？”
“Oh, yes, sir, we know about him. He wasn’t a very savoury gentleman, Mr. Morris. He was implicated in that share — pushing fraud of Bennito’s three years ago — we’re sure of that though we can’t prove it. And he was mixed up in the dope business. And again we can’t prove it. He was a very careful man, Morris.”
“哦，是的，阁下。我们知道点儿他的事。他的名声不很好。三年以前和本尼托公司那次兜售假股票的案子有牵连——虽然我们没能找到确凿的证据，但这一点还是肯定的。他还参与过贩毒，但同样我们也没能抓住他什么把柄。莫里斯这个人办这种事非常小心。”
“Yes, sir, he put through the sale — though he made it clear that he was buying Indian Island for a third party, unnamed.”
“是的，先生，他一手包办了这项交易——虽然他声明他是替第三者购买的，他不肯泄露那个人的姓名。”
Inspector Maine shrugged his shoulders. “They’re ordinary decent seafaring folk. They know that the island was bought by a man called Owen — and that’s about all they do know.”
警官梅因耸耸肩膀。“他们都是正正派派的普通渔民。他们听说这个岛是被一个叫做欧文的人买去的。这是他们能提供的全部线索。”
The A. C. frowned. “Do we know anything abut this Morris?”
副专员皱了皱眉头。“我们对这位莫里斯先生知道点什么事情呢？”
“He can’t say anything, sir, he’s dead.”
“什么也说不了了，阁下，他死了。”
Maine shrugged his shoulders. He said: “You’re forgetting, sir, that Indian Island previously belonged to young Elmer Robson, the American. He had the most extraordinary parties down there. I’ve no doubt the local people’s eyes fairly popped out over them. But they got used to it and they’d begun to feel that anything to do with Indian Island would necessarily be incredible. It’s natural, that, sir, when you come to think of it.”
梅因耸耸肩说：“阁下，您忽略了一件事：印第安岛本来是艾尔默·罗伯逊先生的财产。那个美国人什么样奇特的宴会都举办过。开始的时候，毫无疑问，当地的人看到岛上的事感到眼花缭乱，可是慢慢地他们也就习惯了。岛上再发生什么奇特古怪的花样他们也都熟视无睹了。您如果仔细想一想，阁下，这倒也是很自然的。”
The other man sighed. Inspector Maine went on: “It was Morris who made all the arrangements down at Sticklehaven, Represented himself as acting for ‘Mr. Owen.’ And it was he who explained to the people down there that there was some experiment on — some bet about living on a ‘desert island’ for a week — and that no notice was to be taken of any appeal for help from out there.”
副专员叹了口气。警官梅因继续说道：“同斯蒂克尔海文联系、实排各项事务都是莫里斯。也正是他，作为欧文先生的代理人，向那里的人们解释，岛上正进行一场赌赛，看看能不能在这个荒岛上住一个星期。因此岛上如果发出任何求援信号，斯蒂克尔海文镇的居民都不要理会。”
Sir Thomas Legge stirred uneasily. He said: “And you’re telling me that those people didn’t smell a rat? Not even then?”
托马斯爵士不安地移动了一下身体，问道：“照你的意思，镇上的人一点都没有起疑？当时也没有觉得这事有些奇怪？”
The Assistant Commissioner admitted gloomily that he supposed it was.
副专员面色阴郁，承认这是事实。
Maine said: “Fred Narracott — that’s the man who took the party out there — did say one thing that was illuminating. He said he was surprised to see what sort of people these were. ‘Not at all like Mr. Robson’s parties.’ I think it was the fact that they were all so normal and so quiet that made him override Morris’ orders and take out a boat to the island after he’d heard about the SOS signals.”
梅因说：“弗雷德·纳拉科特——就是把这群人送上岛去的那个开摩托艇的人——他倒说了一件对我们有些启发的事。他说他看见这群人的时候大吃一惊，完全不像罗伯逊先生的客人。我想正是因为他觉得这些人都是普普通通的人，都很不起眼，所以在他听到求援的信号的事以后，才违背了莫里斯先生的指示，驾着船到岛上去了。”
“When did he and the other men go?”
“他和另外几个人是什么时候到岛上去的？”
“Couldn’t some one have swum ashore?”
“可能有人会游泳逃走？”
“It’s over a mile to the coast and there were heavy seas and big breakers inshore. And there were a lot of people, boy scouts and others on the cliffs looking out towards the island and watching.”
“小岛距离海岸有一英里远。那天浪还很大。再说岸上还有不少人在观望，有大人，也有不少童子军。”
“The signals were seen by a party of boy scouts on the morning of the 11th. There was no possibility of getting out there that day. The men got there on the afternoon of the 12th at the first moment possible to run a boat ashore there. They’re all quite positive that nobody could have left the island before they got there. There was a big sea on after the storm.”
“信号是一群童子军在十一日早晨发现的。那天不可能出海。他们是在十二日下午风暴刚刚平息一点以后马上就出海的。他们一点都没耽搁，所以绝对不会有人在他们登岸之前从岛上溜走。暴风雨过后海上总是波涛汹涌。”
The A. C. sighed. He said: “What about the gramophone record you found in the house? Couldn’t you get hold of anything there that might help?”
副专员长嘘了一口气，问道，“你从房子里找到的那张唱片怎么样了？从那里能搞出点什么有用的线索来吗？”
Inspector Maine said: “I’ve been into that. It was supplied by a firm that do a lot of theatrical stuff and film effects. It was sent to U. N. Owen, Esq. c/o Isaac Morris, and was understood to be required for the amateur performance of a hitherto unacted play. The typescript of it was returned with the record.”
警官梅因说：“我己经检查过了。那是一家专门供应剧场和电影公司道具和效果的公司制造的。是通过爱萨克·莫里斯送寄欧文先生的。说是一个业余剧团准备上演一出戏用的。原词已连同唱片一起寄回了。”
Inspector Maine said gravely: “I’m coming to that, sir.”
警官梅因郑重其事地说：“我正要谈这个问题，阁下。”
Legge said: “And what about the subject matter, eh?”
莱格说：“唱片的内容呢？”
“By the way, Seton was guilty — unmistakably guilty. Evidence turned up later after he was hanged which proved that beyond any shadow of doubt. But there was a good deal of comment at the time — nine people out of ten thought Seton was innocent and that the judge’s summing up had been vindictive.”
“接下去是劳伦斯·沃格雷夫先生。这个人什么问题也没有。他是判决塞顿的法官。顺便提一句，塞顿是有罪的——这是千真万确的事。证据是在他被处决后才发现的。他完全罪有应得。但在宣判时都议论纷纷，十个人中至少有九个认为塞顿是无辜的，认为法官是公报私仇。”
“Starting with the Rogerses who were the first to arrive on the island. They were in service with a Miss Brady who died suddenly. Can’t get anything definite out of the doctor who attended her. He says they certainly didn’t poison her, or anything like that, but his personal belief if that there was some funny business — that she died as the result of neglect on their part. Says it’s the sort of thing that’s quite impossible to prove.”
“从最先上岛的罗杰斯夫妇说起吧。他们本来是布雷迪小姐的仆人，后来布雷迪小姐突然死了。给她治疗的医生也说不出什么来。只是说这对夫妇肯定没有用毒药毒她这类话。但是他个人也认为其中有些耐人寻味的事——起码是他们没有尽到职责。但是他又说这类事完全不可能查清楚。”
He cleared his throat. “I’ve investigated those accusations as thoroughly as I can.”
他清了清喉咙。“我尽可能详细地调查了那些控告。”
“Then there is Mr. Justice Wargrave. That’s O. K. He was the judge who sentenced Seton.”
“接下去是劳伦斯·沃格雷夫先生。这个人什么问题也没有。他是判决塞顿的法官。”
“Go on,” said the A. C. with a sigh.
“继续讲下去。”副专员叹了口气说。
Maine took a deep breath. “Dr. Armstrong now. Well-known man. Had a consulting room in Harley Street. Absolutely straight and aboveboard in his profession. Haven’t been able to trace any record of an illegal operation or anything of that kind. It’s true that there was a woman called Clees who was operated on by him way back in 1925 at Leithmore, when he was attached to the hospital there. Peritonitis and she died on the operating table. Maybe he wasn’t very skillful over the op. — after all he hadn’t much experience — but after all clumsiness isn’t a criminal offence. There was certainly no motive.”
梅因深深吸了口气：“阿姆斯特朗是位名医，在哈里大街有个诊所。职业方面无可指摘。没能发现唱片上指控的那种医疗事故。不过追溯到一九二五年，他确实在莱特莫尔医院给一个叫做克利斯的女人动过手术。她得的是腹膜炎，死在手术台上了。或许他当时对这种手术不够熟练——经验不多——技艺不精，终究算不上是犯罪。这里面肯定不存有动机的问题。”
“Then there’s Miss Emily Brent. Girl, Beatrice Taylor, was in service with her. Got pregnant, was turned out by her mistress and went and drowned herself. Not a nice business — but again not criminal.”
“再说埃米莉·布伦特小姐，比阿特里斯·泰勒曾经服侍过她，怀孕后被她赶了出去，投水自杀了。事情本身近乎残忍——但也算不上是犯罪。”
“The Claythorne girl, I find, was governess in a family where a death occurred by drowning. However, she doesn’t seem to have had anything to do with it, and as a matter of fact she behaved very well, swam out to the rescue and was actually carried out to sea and only just rescued in time.”
“克莱索恩姑娘是位家庭女教师。这家人发生过一起溺死案。不过，她好像并没有什么牵连。实际上她表现得非常勇敢，游到大海里去救人。如果不是及时被救上来，她自己也差一点儿送了命。”
“That,” said the A. C., “seems to be the point. U. N. Owen dealt with cases that the law couldn’t touch.”
“这一点嘛，”副专员说，“似乎是个关键问题。欧文先生插手的正是法律无法触及的这些案件。”
Maine went stolidly on with his list. “Young Marston was a fairly reckless car driver — had his license endorsed twice and he ought to have been prohibited from driving, in my opinion. That’s all there is to him. The two names John and Lucy Combes were those of two kids he knocked down and killed near Cambridge. Some friends of his gave evidence for him and he was let off with a fine.”
梅因按照名单毫无表情地继续介绍，“年轻的马斯顿开起车来太鲁莽——执照被吊销了两次。依我看早就该禁止他驾驶。之所以控告他正是因为这个原因。两个孩子被他在剑桥附近撞死了，一个叫约翰·库姆斯，另一个叫露西·库姆斯。他的几个朋友替他作保，他交了罚款以后获释了。”
“Now, Philip Lombard. Lombard has been mixed up in some very curious shows abroad. He’s sailed very near the law once or twice. Got a reputation for daring and for not being over-scrupulous. Sort of fellow who might do several murders in some quiet out-of-the-way spot.”
“我们接着说菲利普·隆巴德。他在国外干过几次不怎么名誉的勾当，有一两次差点就栽了跟头，但都被他逃过来了。人人都说他胆子大，而且非常鲁莽。保不准在那些偏远的地方有过人命案。”
“Possibly,” said the A. C.
“很可能。”副专员说。
“Can’t find anything definite about General Macarthur. Fine record — war service — all the rest of it. Arthur Richmond was serving under him in France and was killed in action. No friction of any kind between him and the General. They were close friends, as a matter of fact. There were some blunders made about that time — commanding officers sacrificed men unnecessarily — possibly this was a blunder of that kind.”
“没找到有关麦克阿瑟将军任何明确的线索。大战中表现得很好。平日也是这样。阿瑟·里奇蒙在法国时是他的部下，后来阵亡了。将军和他之间没有任何旧怨新仇。事实上他们还是很要好的朋友。战时免不了会出差错——司令官叫部下白白牺牲了这类的事——可能他也犯过这种错误。”
“Then we come to Blore.” Maine hesitated. “He of course was one of our lot.”
“再说布洛尔，”梅因犹豫了一下，“他以前和我们同行。”
“You think so, sir?”
“您这么认为，阁下？”
The A. C. said: “I always thought so. But he was clever enough to get away with it. It’s my opinion that he committed black perjury in the Landor case. I wasn’t happy about it at the time. But I couldn’t find anything. I put Hams onto it and he couldn’t find anything but I’m still of the opinion that there was something to find if we’d known how to set about it. The man wasn’t straight.”
副专员说：“我一直这么认为。但是他非常狡猾，让他逃脱了。依我看他在兰德那个案子里犯了伪证罪。当时我就很怀疑，但找不到证据。我派哈里斯去调查这件事，也没发现什么。我现在仍然相信，如果当时我们知道如何入手，肯定会发现一些线索的。这个人不正直。”
The other man stirred. “Blore,” said the Assistant Commissioner forcibly, “was a bad hat!”
另一位又不觉一动。“布洛尔，”副专员一字一板地说，“不是个好人。”
There was a pause, then Sir Thomas Legge said: “And Isaac Morris is dead, you say? When did he die?”
两个人有一会儿谁都没讲话。最后莱格爵士问：“爱萨克·莫里斯死了，你刚才是这么说的吗？他什么时候死的？”
“I thought you’d soon come to that, sir. Isaac Morris died on the night of August 8th. Took an overdose of sleeping stuff — one of the barbiturates, I understand. There wasn’t anything to show whether it was accident or suicide.”
“我就知道您马上就要打听这件事，阁下。爱萨克·莫里斯是八月八日夜间死的。据我了解是服用了过量的巴比妥这类的安眠药。调查不出来是出于偶然还是自杀。”
Legge said slowly: “Care to know what I think, Maine?”
莱格慢慢地说：“想知道我在想什么吗，梅因？”
“Perhaps I can guess, sir.”
“或许我能猜得到，阁下。”
Legge said heavily: “That death of Morris’ is a damned sight too opportune!”
莱格沉重地说：“莫里斯死得也太凑巧了！”
Inspector Maine nodded. He said: “I thought you’d say that, sir.”
梅因警官点点头。他说：“我想您就会这么说。”
Maine coughed. He said: “Well, it’s not quite like that, sir. We do know why, more or less. Some fanatic with a bee in his bonnet about justice. He was out to get people who were beyond the reach of the law. He picked ten people — whether they were really guilty or not doesn’t matter –“
梅因咳嗽了一声说：“嗯，并非完全是这样，阁下。我们多多少少知道些为什么。某个对正义怀有怪异想法的人，一心寻找那些法律无法制裁的人。他一共找到了十个人，也不管他们是真有罪，还是假有罪。他满不在乎……”
The Assistant Commissioner brought down his fist with a bang on the table. He cried out: “The whole thing’s fantastic — impossible. Ten people killed on a bare rock of an island — and we don’t know who did it, or why, or how.”
副专员的拳头砰地敲了一下桌子，喊道：“这太不可思议了——简直不可能。十个人被杀死在一个光秃秃的小岛上——我们既不知道是谁干的，也不知道为什么要这么干，是怎么下手的。”
The Commissioner stirred. He said sharply: “Doesn’t it? It seems to me –“
副专员激动起来。他严厉地说：“不在乎吗？我可是觉得……”
He stopped. Inspector Maine waited respectfully. With a sigh Legge shook his head.
他忽然停住了，警官恭敬地等着他说下去。莱格长长叹了一口气，摇了摇头。
“Carry on,” he said. “Just for a minute I felt I’d got somewhere. Got, as it were, the clue to the thing. It’s gone now. Go ahead with what you were saying.”
“讲下去吧，”他说，“刚刚我忽然觉得有了点头绪，仿佛得到了些—线索。可忽然又都没了。继续说你的吧。”
Maine went on: “There were ten people to be — executed, let’s say. They were executed. U. N. Owen accomplished his task. And somehow or other he spirited himself off that island into thin air.”
梅因继续说道：“十个将被处决的人，姑且让我们用这个词——处决吧。十个人都被处决了。欧文先生完成了他的任务。他不知用什么方法从岛上脱了身，销声匿迹了。”
The A. C. said: “First-class vanishing trick. But you know, Maine, there must be an explanation.”
副专员说：“第一流的遁身术。不过你要知道，梅因，世上没有不可能解释的事。”
Maine said: “You’re thinking, sir, that if the man wasn’t on the island, he couldn’t have left the island, and according to the account of the interested parties he never was on the island. Well, then the only explanation possible is that he was actually one of the ten.”
梅因说：“先生，您是不是认为如果这个人没到岛上来，自然也不可能离开这个岛？据有关人的叙述，他从没到岛上来过。这么说来，惟一的解释是，这个人就是十个人中的一个。”
The A. C. nodded.
副专员点点头。
Maine said earnestly: “We thought of that, sir. We went into it. Now, to begin with, we’re not quite in the dark as to what happened on Indian Island. Vera Claythorne kept a diary, so did Emily Brent. Old Wargrave made some notes — dry legal cryptic stuff, but quite clear. And Blore made notes too. All those accounts tally. The deaths occurred in this order: Marston, Mrs. Rogers, Macarthur, Rogers, Miss Brent, Wargrave. After his death Vera Claythorne’s diary states that Armstrong left the house in the night and that Blore and Lombard had gone after him. Blore has one more entry in his notebook. Just two words: ‘Armstrong disappeared.'”
梅因热切地说：“我们早就想到这一点了，阁下。我们仔细考虑过。现在我们起码不像印第安岛案件刚刚发生时那样在一团漆黑中了。维拉·克莱索恩留下一本日记，埃米莉·布伦特也有日记。老沃格雷夫写了一些杂记——全是有关法律的，用词比铰隐晦，但内容却非常清楚。布洛尔也留下这样的一些杂记。这些证词情况没有什么出入。死亡的顺序是这样的：马斯顿，罗杰斯太太，麦克阿瑟，罗杰斯，布伦特小姐，沃格雷夫。沃格雷夫死了以后，维拉·克莱索恩的日记上记述了阿姆斯特朗夜晚离开了房子，布洛尔和隆巴德跟随他也出去了。布洛尔在他的便笺上也有这个记载，只这么一句话：‘阿姆斯特朗失踪了。’”
“Now, sir, it seemed to me, taking everything into account, that we might find here a perfectly good solution. Armstrong was drowned, you remember. Granting that Armstrong was mad, what was to prevent him having killed off all the others and then committed suicide by throwing himself over the cliff, or perhaps while trying to swim to the mainland?”
“阁下，根据这些记载，我们似乎可以得出这样一个可以解释这一疑案的结论。阿姆斯特朗是淹死的，这一点谅您还记得。假定阿姆斯特朗是疯子，他完全有可能杀死其余的那些人以后自己跳崖自杀。或者死于泅水游往陆地的途中。”
“That was a good solution — but it won’t do. No, sir, it won’t do. First of all there’s the police surgeon’s evidence. He got to the island early on the morning of August 13th. He couldn’t say much to help us. All he could say was that all the people had been dead at least thirty-six hours and probably a good deal longer. But he was fairly definite about Armstrong. Said he must have been from eight to ten hours in the water before his body was washed up. That works out at this, that Armstrong must have gone into the sea sometime during the night of the 10th-11th — and I’ll explain why. We found the point where the body was washed up — it had been wedged between two rocks and there were bits of cloth, hair, etc. on them. It must have been deposited there at high water on the 11th — that’s to say round about 11 o’clock A. M. After that, the storm subsided, and succeeding high water marks are considerably lower.”
“这个结论看来还说得过去——但可惜它不能成立。是的，阁下，完全不能成立。首先，根据法医的检验结果，法医是在八月十三日清晨到达岛上的——这些人至少都死了三十六小时以上了，或许比三十六小时更长些。法医所能判定的也就是这个。但是他肯定认为阿姆斯特朗的尸体是在水中浸泡了八至十个小时以后才冲刷到岸上来的。由此可以推断，阿姆斯特朗一定是在十日至十一日夜间某一时刻掉进大海的。我来解释一下为什么要这么说。我们找到了尸体冲上来的地方——尸体卡在两块礁石之间，石头上还挂着一些碎衣服和头发等等。他一定是在十一号夜间涨潮时搁置到这里来的，也就是说在十一点左右。在这以后，风暴就停了，后来最高的水印要比这里低得多。”
He paused and then went on.”And that leaves — just what exactly? Here’s the position early on the morning of the 11th. Armstrong has ‘disappeared’ (drowned). That leaves us three people. Lombard, Blore and Vera Claythorne. Lombard was shot. His body was down by the sea — near Armstrong’s. Vera Claythorne was found hanged in her own bedroom. Blore’s body was on the terrace. His head was crushed in by a heavy marble clock that it seems reasonable to suppose fell on him from the window above.”
他停顿了一下继续说：“这件事究竟该怎样解释呢？十一日清晨的情况是这样的：阿姆斯特朗失踪（淹死）了，还剩下三个人，隆巴德、布洛尔和维拉·克莱索恩。隆巴德是被枪杀的。他的尸体也在海边。就在阿姆斯特朗尸体的近旁。维拉·克莱索恩被发现吊死在自己的房间里。布洛尔的尸体在露台上，脑袋被一大块大理石砸碎，大理石显然是从上面窗户里扔下来的。”
The A. C. said sharply: “Whose window?”
副专员打断他的话头，高声问道：“谁的窗户！”
“So that settles one point definitely. Some one was alive on the island after Armstrong was dead.”
“这就不容置疑地证明了一点，阿姆斯特朗死后岛上还有人活着。”
“Vera Claythorne’s. Now, sir, let’s take each of these cases separately. First Philip Lombard. Let’s say he pushed over that lump of marble onto Blore — then he doped Vera Claythorne and strung her up. Lastly, he went down to the seashore and shot himself.”
“维拉·克莱索恩的。现在让我们逐个分析一下这几个人的情况吧，阁下。先说说菲利普·隆巴特。我们假设是他扔下的那块大理石把布洛尔砸死的——以后他又给维拉服了麻醉剂把她吊死。最后他走到海边，用手枪自杀了。”
“You might say, I suppose that Armstrong managed to polish off the other three before he went into the sea that night. But there’s another point and one you can’t get over. Armstrong’s body had been dragged above high water mark. We found it well above the reach of any tide. And it was laid out straight on the ground — all neat and”
“您也许会说，阿姆斯特朗首先干掉了其他三个人才跳进大海。可这就又有一点解释不通了：阿姆斯特朗的尸体是被拖到潮水冲不到的地方，而且笔直地停在地上——整整齐齐。”
“But if so, woo took away the revolver from him? For that revolver was found up in the house just inside the door at the top of the stairs — Wargrave’s room.”
“如果是这样，那又是谁把他身边的手枪拿走的呢？因为手枪最后是在房子里的楼梯口发现的——在沃格雷夫的屋门口。”
The A. C. said: “Any fingerprints on it?”
副专员说：“上面留下指纹没有？”
“And that’s quite all right — up to a point. There’s a chair in her bedroom and on the seat of it there are marks of seaweed same as on her shoes. Looks as though she stood on the chair, adjusted the rope round her neck and kicked away the chair.”
“这一切听上去很说得过去，但是有一点：她房里有一把椅子，椅子上留有一些和她鞋上沾的一样的水草。看来当时的情况是她站在椅子上，把绳圈套在脖子上，然后踢开了椅子。”
“Yes, sir, Vera Claythorne’s.”
“有，先生，有维拉·克莱索恩的。”
“But, man alive, then –“
“天哪，那么……”
“But that chair wasn’t found kicked over. It was, like, all the other chairs, neatly put back against the wall. That was done after Vera Claythorne’s death — by some one else.”
“可是我们发现那把椅子并没有翻倒，而是同屋内其它几把椅子一祥，整整齐齐靠墙放着。这肯定是维拉死了以后，别的什么人放的。”
“I know what you’re going to say, sir. That it was Vera Claythorne. That she shot Lombard, took the revolver back to the house, toppled the marble block onto Blore and then — hanged herself.”
“我知道您要说什么，阁下，您想说可能是维拉·克莱索恩干的。是她用枪把隆巴德打死，然后带着手枪走回屋去，把大理石砸到布洛尔的头上，最后自己上了吊。”
“That leaves us with Blore and if you tell me that after shooting Lombard and inducing Vera Claythorne to hang herself he then went out and pulled down a whacking great block of marble on himself by tying a string to it or something like that — well, I simply don’t believe you. Men don’t commit suicide that way — and what’s more Blore wasn’t that kind of man. We knew Blore — and he was not the man that you’d ever accuse of a desire for abstract justice.”
“现在只剩下布洛尔了。假如您告诉我他枪杀了隆巴德，让维拉上了吊，然后走到外面，用绳子什么的拉下那块大理石砸死自己——我可绝对不能相信。谁也不会用这种方法自杀——再说布洛尔也不是这种人。我们了解布洛尔——他绝不是那种主张伸张正义的人。”
The Assistant Commissioner said: “I agree.”
副专员说：“你说得对。”
He stopped.
他打住了话头。
Inspector Maine said: “And therefore, sir, there must have been some one else on the island. Some one who tidied up when the whole business was over. But where was he all the time — and where did he go to? The Sticklehaven people are absolutely certain that no one could have left the island before the rescue boat got there. But in that case –“
梅因警官接着说：“因此，先生，肯定此外还有一个人在岛上。这个人干完这些事之后又做了善后的工作。问题是，他一直在哪儿藏着呢？他又到什么地方去了呢？斯蒂克尔海文镇上的人异口同声地说‘在救援的船到达岛上之前，不可能有人离开岛。’如果是这样的话……”
The Assistant Commissioner said: “In that case –“
副专员说：“如果是这样……”
He sighed. He shook his head. He leaned forward. “But in that case,” he said, “who killed them?”
他长叹了一口气，摇了摇头，又把身子向前倾了倾。“但如果是这样的话，”他说，“杀死这些人的到底是谁？”
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