“但是，”海伦说，然后停顿了一下。“一开始立那个墓碑的目的是什么呢？”
“But.” Helene said, and paused. “What was the idea of the gravestone in the first place?”
“必须有某种方式来解释两个男人从东方来到这里，却只有一个回去的事实，”马龙说，“当杰拉尔德·图伊兹决定成为迈克尔·文宁时，他立了一块石头，标志着杰拉尔德·图伊兹的死亡。”
“There had to be some way to account for the fact that two men came here from the Orient and only one went back,” Malone said. “When Gerald Tuesday decided to bee Michael Venning, he put up a stone marking the death of Gerald Tuesday.”
他停下来重新点着雪茄。“他认为，一旦他让认识真正的迈克尔·文宁的芝加哥人接受了他，并且把真正的迈克尔的尸骨重新埋葬在罗斯代尔的坟墓里，他的兄弟们就不敢叫嚷了。但他不知道他们的执着。”他看着莫娜。“你帮了他们多少忙？”
He paused to relight his cigar. “He figured that once he’d gotten Chicagoans who’d known the real Michael Venning to accept him, and reburied the real Michael’s bones in the Rosedale grave, his brothers wouldn’t dare yelp. But he didn’t know their persistence.” He looked at Mona. “How much did you help them?”
“我把他们送到你那里，”莫娜说，“带着证据。”她突然停了下来。“现在它在哪里？”
“I sent them to you,” Mona said, “with the proof.” She stopped suddenly. “Where is it now?”
“我正坐在它上面。”杰克出人意料地说。他从自己身下抽出那个大的牛皮纸信封，递给马龙。“州街汽车站的 114 号行李寄存柜。”
“I’m sitting on it,” Jake said unexpectedly. He pulled the big manila envelope out from under him and handed it to Malone.
马龙抽出一小把信，边缘已经褪色发黄，他匆匆浏览了一遍。
Malone drew out a small handful of letters, faded and yellowed around the edges, and glanced through them hurriedly.
“这些就足够了。”他轻声说。他把信递给杰克和海伦。“这些是写给当时在新加坡的乔治·图伊兹的信，真正的迈克尔·文宁和杰拉尔德来到这里的时候。有些是文宁写的，讨论他们要参与的生意的安排，并提到杰拉尔德和他在一起。有一封——我没有仔细读，但我了解得够多了——是杰拉尔德写的，暗示会有一个更令人满意的安排，并要求乔治留在新加坡处理那里的事情。最后的关键证据是文宁死后杰拉尔德写的一封信，在信中他要求乔治为他以迈克尔·文宁的新身份回到东方铺平道路。”
“This would have done it,” he said quietly. He handed them to Jake and Helene. “Letters to George Tuesday who was in Singapore at the time the real Michael Venning and Gerald came over here. Some are from Venning discussing arrangements of the business they were to go into and referring to the fact that Gerald was with him. One—I didn’t read it closely but I gathered enough—is from Gerald, hinting that a more satisfactory arrangement would be made and asking George to stay in Singapore to handle things there. The final clincher is a letter written after Venning’s death in which Gerald asked George to pave the way for his return to the Orient in his new character of Michael Venning.”
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