The Big Sleep

Chapter 3

3
This room was too big, the ceiling was too high, the doors were too tall, and the white carpet that went from wall to wall looked like a fresh fall of snow at Lake Arrowhead. There were full-length mirrors and crystal doodads all over the place. The ivory furniture had chromium on it, and the enormous ivory drapes lay tumbled on the white carpet a yard from the windows. The white made the ivory look dirty and the ivory made the white look bled out. The windows stared towards the darkening foothills. It was going to rain soon. There was pressure in the air already.	Soba je bila prevelika, strop suviše uzdignut, vrata previsoka, a bijeli je sag što se prostirao od zida do zida izgledao kao svježi snijeg na Lake Arrowheadu. Po čitavoj su prostoriji bila ogledala ljudske visine i kojekakve kristalne prdosije. Namještaj boje bjelokosti sjajio se kromom, a goleme draperije iste boje rušile su se na bijeli sag metar daleko od prozora. Bijelo je činilo bjelokosno prljavim, a bjelokosno bijelo beskrvnim. Prozori su zurili u sve tamnije pribrežje. Uskoro će zakišiti. Već se u zraku osjećao pritisak.
I sat down on the edge of a deep soft chair and looked at Mrs. Regan. She was worth a stare. She was trouble. She was stretched out on a modernistic chaise lounge with her slippers off, so I stared at her legs in the sheerest silk stockings. They seemed to be arranged to stare at. They were visible to the knee and one of them well beyond. The knees were dimpled, not bony and sharp. The calves were beautiful, the ankles long and slim and with enough melodic line for a tone poem. She was tall and rangy and strong looking. Her head was against an ivory satin cushion. Her hair was black and wiry and parted in the middle and she had the hot black eyes of the portrait in the hall. She had a good mouth and a good chin. There was a sulky droop to her lips and the lower lip was full.	Sjeo sam na rub dubokog mekog naslonjača i pogledao gospođu Regan. Bila je vrijedna pogleda. I bila je davež. Protegla se na modernističkoj počivaljci, bez papuča, tako sam joj zurio u noge u najfinijim svilenim čarapama. Činilo se da su bile namještene da bi se u njih zurilo. Bile su vidljive do koljena, a jedna i dobrano iznad njih. Koljena su bila punačka, ne koščata i tvrda. Listovi su joj bili prekrasni, stopala dugačka i tanka, s dovolj.no melodične linije za orkestralnu poemu. Bila je visoka i krakata i na izgled snažna. Glava joj je bila na bjelokosnom jastuku od baršuna. Kosa joj je bila crna i poput strune, s razdjeljkom u sredini, a oči crne i vatrene, oči portreta u predvorju. Imala je lijepo oblikovana usta i bradu. Usnice su joj bile mrzovoljno ovješene, donja je bila bujna.
She had a drink. She took a swallow from it and gave me a cool level stare over the rim of the glass.	Pila je. Povukla je gutljaj i pogledala me hladnim, položenim pogledom preko ruba čaše.
“So you’re a private detective,” she said. “I didn’t know they really existed, except in books. Or else they were greasy little men snooping around hotels.”	— I tako, vi ste privatni detektiv — rekla je. — Nisam znala da uistinu postoje, osim u knjigama. Ili da su to pak neoprani žgoljavci što njuškaju oko hotela.
There was nothing in that for me, so I let it drift with the current. She put her glass down on the flat arm of the chaise lounge and flashed an emerald and touched her hair. She said slowly: “How did you like Dad?”	Tu nije bilo ničega što bi mene išlo, zato sam pustio da sve voda odnese. Spustila je čašu na ravni naslon za ruke svoje ležaljke, bljesnula smaragdom i dodirnula kosu. Tada je polako izgovorila:— Kako vam se dopada tata?
“I liked him,” I said.	— Sviđa — rekoh.
“He liked Rusty. I suppose you know who Rusty is?”	— Njemu se sviđao Rusty. Pretpostavljam da znate tko je on?
“Uh-huh.”	— A — ha.
“Rusty was earthy and vulgar at times, but he was very real. And he was a lot of fun for Dad. Rusty shouldn’t have gone off like that. Dad feels very badly about it, although he won’t say so. Or did he?”	— Rusty je znao povremeno biti prizeman i vulgaran, no bio je vrlo stvaran. I bio je velika radost za tatu. Rusty nije mogao samo tako otići. Tatu je to vrlo pogodilo, iako to ne bi priznao. Ili jest?
“He said something about it.”	— Rekao je nešto o tome.
“You’re not much of a gusher, are you, Mr. Marlowe? But he wants to find him, doesn’t he?”	— Baš ne šikljaju riječi iz vas, zar ne, mister Mario-we? No on ga je želio pronaći, je li tako?
I stared at her politely through a pause. “Yes and no,” I said.	Pristojno sam gledao u nju dok je trajala stanka. — I da i ne — rekoh.
“That’s hardly an answer. Do you think you can find him?”	— Teško da je to odgovor. Mislite li da ga možete naći?
“I didn’t say I was going to try. Why not try the Missing Persons Bureau? They have the organization. It’s not a one-man job.”	— Nisam rekao da ću pokušati. Zašto ne pokušate kod biroa za nestale osobe? Oni imaju organizaciju. Nije to posao za slobodnog strijelca.
“Oh, Dad wouldn’t hear of the police being brought into it.” She looked at me smoothly across her glass again, emptied it, and rang a bell. A maid came into the room by a side door. She was a middle-aged woman with a long yellow gentle face, a long nose, no chin, large wet eyes. She looked like a nice old horse that had been turned out to pasture after long service. Mrs. Regan waved the empty glass at her and she mixed another drink and handed it to her and left the room, without a word, without a glance in my direction.	— Ah, tata ne bi htio ni čuti da se policija uplete u sve to. — Ponovno me umiljato pogledala preko čaše, iska-pila je i pritisla zvonce. U sobu je kroz prostrana vrata ušla služavka. Bila je to sredovječna žena izdužena, žućkasta i blaga lica, duga nosa, uvučene brade, velikih vlažnih očiju. Nalikovala je lijepom starom konju kojeg su poslali na ispašu nakon duge službe. Gospođa Regan mahne joj praznom čašom i ona smiješa drugo piće, dade joj ga i napusti sobu, bez riječi i bez i jednog pogleda u mom smjeru.
When the door shut Mrs. Regan said: “Well, how will you go about it then?”	Nakon što su se vrata zatvorila, gospođa Regan reče: — Dakle, kako to onda mislite srediti?
“How and when did he skip out?”	— Kako je i kada zgiljao?
“Didn’t Dad tell you?”	— Tata vam nije rekao?
I grinned at her with my head on one side. She flushed. Her hot black eyes looked mad. “I don’t see what there is to be cagey about,” she snapped. “And I don’t like your manners.”	Nacerio sam se nagnuvši glavu u stranu. Krv joj je su-nula u glavu. Vatrene su joj crne oči divlje pogledale. — Ne vidim ništa zbog čega biste morali mutiti — prasnula je. — I ne dopadaju mi se vaše manire.
“I’m not crazy about yours,” I said. “I didn’t ask to see you. You sent for me. I don’t mind your ritzing me or drinking your lunch out of a Scotch bottle. I don’t mind your showing me your legs. They’re very swell legs and it’s a pleasure to make their acquaintance. I don’t mind if you don’t like my manners. They’re pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings. But don’t waste your time trying to cross-examine me.”	— Ni ja nisam lud za vašima — rekoh. — Nisam vas molio da se vidimo. Vi ste poslali po mene. Nije me briga što se preda mnom snobirate ili ispijate ručak iz boce viskija. Nije me briga što mi pokazujete noge. Vrlo su moćne i zadovoljstvo mi je bilo upoznati se s njima. I nije me briga što vam se ne dopadaju moje manire. Prilično su gadne. Žalim zbog njih za dugih zimskih večeri. Ali me ne pokušavajte podvrći unakrsnom ispitivanju.
She slammed her glass down so hard that it slopped over on an ivory cushion. She swung her legs to the floor and stood up with her eyes sparking fire and her nostrils wide. Her mouth was open and her bright teeth glared at me. Her knuckles were white.	Tresnula je čašom tako jako da se tekućina prolila po bjelokosnom jastuku. Zamahom je spustila noge na pod i ustala, dok su joj iz očiju vrcale iskre a nosnice se širile. Usta su joj bila otvorena i blještavi su joj zubi sijevnuli na mene. Zglavci su joj bili bijeli.
“People don’t talk like that to me,” she said thickly.	— Ljudi mi se ne obraćaju na takav način — rekla je muklo.
I sat there and grinned at her. Very slowly she closed her mouth and looked down at the spilled liquor. She sat down on the edge of the chaise lounge and cupped her chin in one hand.	Sjedio sam tamo i smješkao joj se. Vrlo je sporo zatvorila usta i pogledala na prosuto piće. Sjela je na rub ležalj-ke i zatvorila bradu u dlan.
“My God, you big dark handsome brute! I ought to throw a Buick at you.”	— O bože, vi velika, Ijepuškasta, crna divljačino! Trebala bih baciti buick na vas.
I snicked a match on my thumbnail and for once it lit. I puffed smoke into the air and waited.	Reznuo sam šibicom po palčanom noktu i ona se začudo upalila. Ispuhnuo sam dim u zrak i počekao.
“I loathe masterful men,” she said. “I simply loathe them.”	— Mrzim dominirajuće muškarce — kazala je. — Naprosto ih ne podnosim.
“Just what is it you’re afraid of, Mrs. Regan?”	— A čega se vi zapravo bojite, gospođo Regan?
Her eyes whitened. Then they darkened until they seemed to be all pupil. Her nostrils looked pinched.	Oči su joj pobijelile. Zatim su potamnile dok se čitave naizgled nisu pretvorile u zjenicu. Nosnice kao da su bile stegnute kvačicom.

“That wasn’t what he wanted with you at all,” she said in a strained voice that still had shreds of anger clinging to me. “About Rusty. Was it?”	— Nije to uopće bilo ono što je želio s vama — kazala je napetim glasom kojega su krhotine bijesa još i sad zve-ketale po meni. — O Rustvju? Je li o tome?
“Better ask him.” She flared up again. “Get out! Damn you, get out!” I stood up. “Sit down!” she snapped. I sat down. I flicked a finger at my palm and waited.	— Radije pitajte njega. Ponovno je planula. — Van! Proklet bio, van! Ustao sam. — Sjedite! — prasnula je. Sjeo sam. Kvrc-nuo sam prstom po dlanu i počekao.
“Please,” she said. “Please. You could find Rusty—if Dad wanted you to.”	— Molim vas — rekla je. — Molim vas. Vi možete pronaći Rustvja — ako tata želi da ga nađete.
That didn’t work either. I nodded and asked: “When did he go?”	Ni to nije šljakalo. Kimnuo sam i upitao: — Kada je otišao?
“One afternoon a month back. He just drove away in his car without saying a word. They found the car in a private garage somewhere.”	— Jednog popodneva prije mjesec dana. Naprosto se odvezao autom ne rekavši ni riječi. Pronašli su mu kola negdje u nekakvoj privatnoj garaži.
“They?”	— Pronašli? Tko?
She got cunning. Her whole body seemed to go lax. Then she smiled at me winningly. “He didn’t tell you then.” Her voice was almost gleeful, as if she bad outsmarted me. Maybe she had.	Prolukavila se. Čitavo tijelo kao da joj se opustilo. Trijumfalno mi se nasmiješila. — Dakle vama nije rekao. — Glas joj je bio gotovo radostan, kao da me je prešla. Možda i jest.
“He told me about Mr. Regan, yes. That’s not what he wanted to see me about. Is that what you’ve been trying to get me to say?”	— Rekao mi je o misteru Reganu, to da. To nije bilo ono zbog čega me je želio vidjeti. Je li to ono što ste me željeli navesti da kažem?
“I’m sure I don’t care what you say.”	— Sigurna sam da me nije briga što vi velite.
I stood up again. “Then I’ll be running along.” She didn’t speak. I went over to the tall white door I had come in at. When I looked back she had her lip between her teeth and was worrying it like a puppy at the fringe of a rug.	Ponovno sam ustao. — Onda idem. — Nije progovorila. Otišao sam prijeko do visokih bijelih vrata kroz koja sam ušao. Kad sam se osvrnuo, držala je usnicu između zubi i gnjavila je kao štene rub tepiha.
I went out, down the tile staircase to the hall, and the butler drifted out of somewhere with my hat in his hand. I put it on while he opened the door for me.	Izišao sam i spustio se niz keramikom obloženo stepenište do predvorja, a batler je odnekud doplovio s mo un šeširom u ruci. Stavio sam ga na glavu dok mi je otvarao vrata.
“You made a mistake,” I said. “Mrs. Regan didn’t want to see me.”	— Zabunili ste se — rekoh. — Gospođa Regan nije me željela vidjeti.
He inclined his silver head and said politely: “I’m sorry, sir. I make many mistakes.” He closed the door against my back.	Nagnuo je svoju srebrnastu glavu i uljudno odgovorio: — Žao mi je, sir. Često griješim. — Zatvorio mi je vrata za leđima.
I stood on the step breathing my cigarette smoke and looking down a succession of terraces with flowerbeds and trimmed trees to the high iron fence with gilt spears that hemmed in the estate. A winding driveway dropped down between retaining walls to the open iron gates. Beyond the fence the hill sloped for several miles. On this lower level faint and far off I could just barely see some of the old wooden derricks of the oilfield from which the Sternwoods had made their money. Most of the field was public park now, cleaned up and donated to the city by General Sternwood. But a little of it was still producing in groups of wells pumping five or six barrels a day. The Sternwoods, having moved up the hill, could no longer smell the stale sump water or the oil, but they could still look out of their front windows and see what had made them rich. If they wanted to. I didn’t suppose they would want to.	Stajao sam na stepenici udišući dim cigarete i gledajući niz slijed terasa sa cvjetnim lijehama i podšišanim drve-ćem koji se završavao kod visoke željezne ograde s pozlaćenim šiljcima što je opasivala posjed. Vijugava prilazna cesta spuštala se između potpornih zidova do otvorenih željeznih vrata. S onu stranu ograde brdo se spuštalo nekoliko kilometara. Na toj nižoj razini, izblijedjeloj i dalekoj, mogao sam tek naslutiti po koji stari drveni toranj naftnoga polja iz kojeg su Sternwoodovi izvukli svoj novac. Najveći je dio polja sada bio javni park, očišćen i darovan gradu odstrane generala Sternwooda. No manji je još uvijek proizvodio u skupinama izvora iz kojih su crpli po pet ili šest barela dnevno. Sternwoodovi, koji su se pomakli uzbrdo, nisu više mogli podnijeti miris ustajale isplačne vode ili nafte, ali su još i sad mogli gledati sa svojih fasadnih prozora u ono što ih je obogatilo. Ako su željeli. A nisam pretpostavljao da jesu.
I walked down a brick path from terrace to terrace, followed along inside the fence and so out of the gates to where I had left my car under a pepper tree on the street. Thunder was crackling in the foothills now and the sky above them was purple-black. It was going to rain hard. The air had the damp foretaste of rain. I put the top up on my convertible before I started downtown.	Zakoračio sam niz opekom popločanu stazu, s terase na terasu, proslijedio duž unutrašnje strane ograde, zatim izišao kroz vrata i našao mjesto gdje sam ostavio automobil, pod peruanskim zimzelenim drvetom uz cestu. Grmljavina je već praštala po obroncima a nebo je nad njima bilo grimizno crno. Spremala se gadna kiša. U zraku se osjećao njezin vlažni nagovještaj. Podigao sam krov na svom kabrioletu prije no što sam pošao prema središtu grada.
She had lovely legs. I would say that for her. They were a couple of pretty smooth citizens, she and her father. He was probably just trying me out; the job he had given me was a lawyer’s job. Even if Mr. Arthur Gwynn Geiger, Rare Books and Deluxe Editions, turned out to be a blackmailer, it was still a lawyer’s job. Unless there was a lot more to it than met the eye. At a casual glance I thought I might have a lot of fun finding out.	Imala je dražesne noge. Rekao bih joj to u prilog. Bio je to par sasvim pristojnih građana, ona i njen otac. Vjerojatno me je naprosto iskušavao; posao što mi ga je dao bio je zadatak za pravnika. Čak ako se i ispostavi da je mister Arthur Gwynn Geiger, »Rijetke knjige i divot-izdanja«, nekakav ucjenjivač, ipak je to posao za pravnika. Osim ako tu nema mnogo više od onoga što upada u oko. Na prvi pogled pomislio sam da bih mogao imati lijepu zabavu dok to otkrijem.
I drove down to the Hollywood public library and did a little superficial research in a stuffy volume called Famous First Editions. Half an hour of it made me need my lunch.	Odvezao sam se dolje do holivudske javne knjižnice i pozabavio se malim površnim istraživanjem kroz suhoparnu knjižurinu zvanu »Glasovita praizdanja«. Pola sata toga navelo me je da poželim ručak.

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