在或者以後給海倫寫信，我不想讓你提到我。甚至連我的名字都別提。明白嗎？”
jake dropped his spoon with a noisy ctter “look here, alone if you do write to helene now, or any other ti, i don't want you to ntion at all not even ntion y na see?”
“當然，當然，當然。” 律師急忙說。“你為什麼不和她和好呢？”
“sure, sure, sure,” the wyer said hastily “why don't you ake up with her?”
“你去死吧，少管閒事。”
“you go to hell and d your own bess”
“兩個一起還是我可以選一個？”
“both, or do i t a choice?”
馬龍喝著咖啡，思考著當天的問題。海倫不久就會出現，幫忙從羅斯?麥克勞林那裡套出證據。眼下得想辦法讓傑克離遠點。一個模糊的想法在他腦海中慢慢形成。
alone sipped his ffee and pondered the proble of the day helene would show up before long to help pry evidence fro ross cur how jake had to be kept out of the way for the ti beg a vague idea began to for slowly his d
，！
傑克愁眉苦臉地盯著他的煎蛋卷。“那個該死的女人！”
jake stared glooily at his olet “that daned woan!”
“海倫？”
“helene?”
“不，莫娜?麥克萊恩。昨天我查了從她下那個賭注那天起到現在的所有兇殺案。” 他從口袋裡掏出一張髒兮兮皺巴巴的紙。“有十一宗。其中兩宗我們知道。五宗可以排除，因為兇手已經被抓住了 —— 都是些搶劫和酒館鬥毆之類的常規案件。剩下的四宗裡，一宗是在第四十一大街附近的一條小巷裡發現的一個黑人，喉嚨被割斷了，一宗是一個叫奧斯卡?佐特克的洗衣店司機，他被從卡車上拖下來打了一頓，另外兩宗是新年夜被刺傷的那個身份不明的人和圖伊茲先生。” 他把單子放回口袋裡。
“no, ona ne yesterday i checked up on all the hoicides beeen the day she ade that bet and the present” he drew a iled and wrkled paper fro his pocket “there were eleven o of those we know about five can be checked off becae the syers have been picked up—route stuff like stickups and tavern brawls of the reag four, one is a negro found up an alley off 41st street, with