破镜谋杀案40
时间：2025-11-25 09:44:39
（单词翻译:单击）
III
Marina was lying on the chaise longue in her bedroom, her eyes closed.
She looked grey with strain and fatigue.
Her husband stood there for a moment looking at her. Her eyes opened.
“Was that that Craddock man?”
“Yes.”
“What did he come about? Ella?”
“Ella—and Giuseppe.”
Marina frowned.
“Giuseppe? Have they found out who shot him?”
“Not yet.”
“It’s all a nightmare… Did he say we could go away?”
“He said—not yet.”
“Why not? We must. Didn’t you make him see that I can’t go on waiting
day after day for someone to kill me. It’s fantastic.”
“Every precaution will be taken.”
“They said that before. Did it stop Ella being killed? Or Giuseppe? Don’t
you see, they’ll get me in the end… There was something in my coffee that
day at the studio. I’m sure there was…if only you hadn’t poured it away! If
we’d kept it, we could have had it analysed or whatever you call it. We’d
have known for sure….”
“Would it have made you happier to know for sure?”
She stared at him, the pupils of her eyes widely dilated.
“I don’t see what you mean. If they’d known for sure that someone was
trying to poison me, they’d have let us leave here, they’d have let us get
away.”
“Not necessarily.”
“But I can’t go on like this! I can’t… I can’t… You must help me, Jason.
You must do something. I’m frightened. I’m so terribly frightened… There’s
an enemy here. And I don’t know who it is… It might be anyone—anyone.
At the studios—or here in the house. Someone who hates me—but why?…
Why?… Someone who wants me dead… But who is it? Who is it? I thought
—I was almost sure—it was Ella. But now—”
“You thought it was Ella?” Jason sounded astonished. “But why?”
“Because she hated me — oh yes she did. Don’t men ever see these
things? She was madly in love with you. I don’t believe you had the least
idea of it. But it can’t be Ella, because Ella’s dead. Oh, Jinks, Jinks—do help
me—get me away from here—let me go somewhere safe…safe….”
She sprang up and walked rapidly up and down, turning and twisting
her hands.
The director in Jason was full of admiration for those passionate, tor-
tured movements. I must remember them, he thought. For Hedda Gabler,
perhaps? Then, with a shock, he remembered that it was his wife he was
watching.
“It’s all right, Marina—all right. I’ll look after you.”
“We must go away from this hateful house—at once. I hate this house—
hate it.”
“Listen, we can’t go away immediately.”
“Why not? Why not?”
“Because,” said Rudd, “deaths cause complications…and there’s some-
thing else to consider. Will running away do any good?”
“Of course it will. We’ll get away from this person who hates me.”
“If there’s anyone who hates you that much, they could follow you easily
enough.”
“You mean—you mean—I shall never get away? I shall never be safe
again?”
“Darling—it will be all right. I’ll look after you. I’ll keep you safe.”
She clung to him.
“Will you, Jinks? Will you see that nothing happens to me?”
She sagged against him, and he laid her down gently on the chaise
longue.
“Oh, I’m a coward,” she murmured, “a coward…if I knew who it was—
and why?… Get me my pills—the yellow ones—not the brown. I must have
something to calm me.”
“Don’t take too many, for God’s sake, Marina.”
“All right—all right… Sometimes they don’t have any effect anymore…”
She looked up in his face.
She smiled, a tender exquisite smile.
“You’ll take care of me, Jinks? Swear you’ll take care of me….”
“Always,” said Jason Rudd. “To the bitter end.”
Her eyes opened wide.
“You looked so—so odd when you said that.”
“Did I? How did I look?”
“I can’t explain. Like—like a clown laughing at something terribly sad,
that no one else has seen….”
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