 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 8 | |
| There was dim light behind narrow leaded panes in the side door of the Sternwood mansion. I stopped the Packard under the porte-cochere and emptied my pockets out on the seat. The girl snored in the corner, her hat tilted rakishly over her nose, her hands hanging limp in the folds of the raincoat. I got out and rang the bell. Steps came slowly, as if from a long dreary distance. The door opened and the straight, silvery butler looked out at me. The light from the hall made a halo of his hair. | Iza uskih, olovom povezanih staklenih ploča sporednih vrata Sternwoodove palače moglo se vidjeti sumračno svjetlo. Zaustavio sam packard ispod kolske nadstrešnice i istresao džepove na sjedalo. Cura je hrkala u kutu, sa šeširom raspusno nagnutim preko nosa i rukama mlohavo ovješenim u naborima kišnog kaputa. Izišao sam i pritisnuo zvonce. Koraci su se primicali sporo, kao iz daleke, turobne daljine. Vrata su se otvorila i uspravni me, srebr-nasti batler pogledao. Svjetlo mu je iz predvorja pretvorilo kosu u aureolu. |
| He said: “Good evening, sir,” politely and looked past me at the Packard. His eyes came back to look at my eyes. | — Dobro veče, sir — kazao je pristojno i pogledao mimo mene prema packardu. Oči su mu se vratile da bi pogledale u moje. |
| “Is Mrs. Regan in?” | — Je li gospođa Regan kod kuće? |
| “No, sir.” | — Ne, sir. |
| “The General is asleep, I hope?” | — General spava, nadam se? |
| “Yes. The evening is his best time for sleeping.” | — Da. Noć je najprikladnije vrijeme za spavanje. |
| “How about Mrs. Regan’s maid?” | — Što je s dvorkinjom gospođe Regan? |
| “Mathilda? She’s here, sir.” | — Mathildom? Ovdje je, sir. |
| “Better get her down here. The job needs the woman’s touch. Take a look in the car and you’ll see why.” | — Radije je dajte ovamo. To je posao za žensku ruku. Bacite pogled u auto i vidjet ćete zašto. |
| He took a look in the car. He came back. “I see,” he said. “I’ll get Mathilda.” | Bacio je pogled u auto. Vratio se. — Shvaćam — rekao je. — Dovest ću Mathildu. |
| “Mathilda will do right by her,” I said. | — Mathilda će s rijom učiniti što treba — rekoh. |
| “We all try to do right by her,” he said. | — Svi mi pokušavamo učiniti s njom što treba — odgovorio je on. |
| “I guess you have had practice,” I said. He let that one go. “Well, goodnight,” I said. “I’m leaving it in your hands.” | — Pretpostavljam da imate prakse. Pustio je ovu da prođe. — Dakle, laka vam noć — rekoh. — Prepuštani to u vaše ruke. |
| “Very good, sir. May I call you a cab?” | — Vrlo dobro, sir. Mogu li vam nazvati taksi? |
| “Positively,” I said, “not. As a matter of fact I’m not here. You’re just seeing things.” | — Svakako, — rekoh — ne. U stvari ja uopće nisam ovdje. Naprosto vam se privida. |
| He smiled then. He gave me a duck of his head and I turned and walked down the driveway and out of the gates. | Tad se nasmiješio. Počastio me naklonom glave, a zatim sam se okrenuo i odšetao niz prilazni put pa napolje kroz dvorišna vrata. |
| Ten blocks of that, winding down curved rain-swept streets, under the steady drip of trees, past lighted windows in big houses in ghostly enormous grounds, vague clusters of eaves and gables and lighted windows high on the hillside, remote and inaccessible, like witch houses in a forest. I came out at a service station glaring with wasted light, where a bored attendant in a white cap and a dark blue windbreaker sat hunched on a stool, inside the steamed glass, reading a paper. I started in, then kept going. I was as wet as I could get already. And on a night like that you can grow a beard waiting for a taxi. And taxi drivers remember. | Slijedilo je deset blokova toga, vijuganja niz zavijene, kišom pometene ulice, pod stalnim kapanjem s drveća, pokraj osvijetljenih prozora velikih kuća na sablasno golemim okućnicama, rasplinutih grozdova streha i zabata i svijetlih okana visoko uzbrdo, dalekih i nedohvatljivih poput vještičinih kuća u šumi. Izišao sam kod servisne stanice što je žareći se rasipala svjetlo i u kojoj je dosadom za-gnjavljeni poslužitelj pod bijelom kapom i u tamnomodroj vjetrovki sjedio zgrbljen na stolici, u zaparenom staklu, i čitao novine. Već sam počeo ulaziti, ali sam ipak nastavio. Bio sam mokar da mokrij i nisam mogao biti. A u ovakvoj vam noći može izrasti brada dok dočekate taksi. Osim toga, taksisti pamte. |
| I made it back to Geiger’s house in something over half an hour of nimble walking. There was nobody there, no car on the street except my own car in front of the next house. It looked as dismal as a lost dog. I dug my bottle of rye out of it and poured half of what was left down my throat and got inside to light a cigarette. I smoked half of it, threw it away, got out again and went down to Geiger’s. I unlocked the door and stepped into the still warm darkness and stood there, dripping quietly on the floor and listening to the rain. I groped to a lamp and lit it. The first thing I noticed was that a couple of strips of embroidered silk were gone from the wall. | Svladao sam put natrag do Geigerove kuće za nešto više od pola sata žustrog hoda. Ondje nije bilo nikoga, nije bilo ni automobila na ulici ako se izuzme moj pred susjednom kućom. Izgledao je turobno kao odlutalo pseto. Iskopao sam iz njega svoju bocu viskija od raži i nalio polovicu onog što je preostalo niz grlo, ušao unutra i pripalio cigaretu. Popušio sam polovicu, bacio je, ponovno izišao i spustio se do Geigerove kuće. Otključao sam vrata, zakoračio u još uvijek toplu tminu i zastao ondje osluškujući kišu, dok je s mene tiho kapalo na pod. Dograbio sam svjetiljku i upalio je. Prvo što sam opazio bilo je da je sa zida nestalo nekoliko vrpci izvezene svile. |
| I hadn’t counted them, but the spaces of brown plaster stood out naked and obvious. I went a little farther and put another lamp on. I looked at the totem pole. At its foot, beyond the margin of the Chinese rug, on the bare floor another rug had been spread. It hadn’t been there before. Geiger’s body had. Geiger’s body was gone. | Nisam ih prebrojio, no prazni su se dijelovi smeđe žbuke isticali, goli i očiti. Otišao sam ma- lo dalje i uključio još jednu svjetiljku. Pogledao sam na totemski stup. U njegovu podnožju, izvan granica kineskog saga, na goli je pod bio položen još jedan prostirač. Prije ga nije bilo. Ali je bilo Geigerovo tijelo. Koje je sada iščezlo. |
| That froze me. I pulled my lips back against my teeth and leered at the glass eye in the totem pole. I went through the house again. Everything was exactly as it had been. Geiger wasn’t in his flounced bed or under it or in his closet. He wasn’t in the kitchen or the bathroom. That left the locked door on the right of the hall. One of Geiger’s keys fitted the lock. The room inside was interesting, but Geiger wasn’t in it. | Smrznuo sam se. Stisnuo sam usne i nacerio se staklenom oku totemskog stupa. Ponovno sam prošao kuću. Sve je bilo točno onako kako je i bilo. Geiger nije bio u svom volanima opšivenom krevetu, ni ispod njega, ni u ormaru. Nije ga bilo ni u kuhinji ni u kupaonici. Preostala su, dakle, samo zaključana vrata nadesno u hodniku. Jedan je od Geigerovih ključeva odgovarao bravi. Soba je iza njih bila zanimljiva, no Geiger nije bio unutra. |
| It was interesting because it was so different from Geiger’s room. It was a hard bare masculine bedroom with a polished wood floor, a couple of small throw rugs in an Indian design, two straight chairs, a bureau in dark grained wood with a man’s toilet set and two black candles in foot-high brass candlesticks. The bed was narrow and looked hard and had a maroon batik cover. The room felt cold. I locked it up again, wiped the knob off with my handkerchief, and went back to the totem pole. I knelt down and squinted along the nap of the rug to the front door. I thought I could see two parallel grooves pointing that way, as though heels had dragged. Whoever had done it had meant business. Dead men are heavier than broken hearts. | Bila je zanimljiva zato što je bila toliko različita od Geigerove. Bila je to opora gola muževna spavaonica s podom od poliranog drva, nekoliko malih prostirača u indijskom stilu, dvije stolice s uspravnim naslonom te malom komodom od tamnog dr-veta s vidljivom šarom, a na njoj muški toaletni pribor i dvije crne svijeće u trideset centimetara visokim svijećnjacima. Krevet je bio uzak, izgledao je tvrdo i bio pokriven prostirkom od kestenjastog batika. Soba je djelovala hladno. Ponovno sam je zaključao, obrisao kvaku maramicom i vratio se do totemskog stupa. Kleknuo sam i zirnuo duž čupave strane otirača pred ulaznim vratima. Učinilo mi se da mogu vidjeti dvije paralelne brazde usmjerene prema njima, kao da je netko nekome vukao pete. Tko god to bio, ozbiljno je shvatio posao. Mrtvi su ljudi teži od slomljenih srdaca. |
| It wasn’t the law. They would have been there still, just about getting warmed up with their pieces of string and chalk and their cameras and dusting powders and their nickel cigars. They would have been very much there. It wasn’t the killer. He had left too fast. He must have seen the girl. He couldn’t be sure she was too batty to see him. He would be on his way to distant places. | To nije bila munja. Oni bi još bili ovdje tek se zagrijavajući, sa svim svojim mjernim vrpcama, kredama, kamerama, prascima za uzimanje otisaka i cigarama od pet centi. Oni bi vraški bili ovdje. Nije to bio ni ubojica. On je prebrzo otišao. Morao je vidjeti djevojku. Nije mogao biti siguran da je tako zeznuta u mozak da ga ne bi vidjela. On je već morao biti na putu u daleke krajeve. |
| I couldn’t guess the answer, but it was all right with me if somebody wanted Geiger missing instead of just murdered. It gave me a chance to find out if I could tell it leaving Carmen Sternwood out. I locked up again, choked my car to life and rode off home to a shower, dry clothes and a late dinner. After that I sat around in the apartment and drank too much hot toddy trying to crack the code in Geiger’s blue indexed notebook. All I could be sure of was that it was a list of names and addresses, probably of the customers. There were over four hundred of them. That made it a nice racket, not to mention any blackmail angles, and there were probably plenty of those. Any name on the list might be a prospect as the killer. I didn’t envy the police their job when it was handed to them. | Nisam mogao smisliti odgovor, no učinilo mi se sasvim u redu da je netko želio da Geiger nestane umjesto da naprosto bude umoren. To mi je stvorilo šansu da razmislim mogu li to prijaviti a da Carmen Sternwood ostane izvan svega. Ponovno sam zaključao vrata, zakašljucao motor u život i otfurao se kući pod tuš, suhu odjeću i kasnu večeru. Nakon toga sam za- sjeo u svom apartmanu i popio suviše toplog groga pokušavajući razriješiti šifru u Geigerovoj modroj indeksiranoj bilježnici. Jedino u što sam mogao biti siguran bilo je da je to popis imena i adresa, vjerojatno mušterija. Bilo ih je više od četiri stotine. S tim se moglo stvoriti lijepo crno tržište, da ne spominjemo ucjenjivački dio posla, a i toga je vjerojatno bilo prilično mnogo. Svako je od imena potencijalno pripadalo ubojici. Nisam zavidio policiji na poslu koji je čeka kad ovo dobije u ruke. |
| I went to bed full of whiskey and frustration and dreamed about a man in a bloody Chinese coat who chased a naked girl with long jade earrings while I ran after them and tried to take a photograph with an empty camera. | Otišao sam u krevet naliven viskijem i frustracijama, da bih sanjao muškarca u zakrvavljenom kineskom ha-Ijetku kako progoni golu djevojku s dugačkim nefritnim naušnicama, i sebe kako trčim za njima pokušavajući ih snimiti praznom kamerom. |