福爾摩斯探案經典:《恐怖谷》第13章Part2
"Well, there are no papers. But I filled him up about constitutions and books of rules and forms of membership. He expects to get right down to the end of everything before he leaves."
"Faith, he's right there," said McGinty grimly. "Didn't he ask you.why you didn't bring him the papers?"
"As if I would carry such things, and me a suspected man, and Captain Marvin after speaking to me this very day at the depot!"
"Ay, I heard of that," said McGinty. "I guess the heavy end of this business is coming on to you. We could put him down an old shaft when we've done with him; but however we work it we can't get past the man living at Hobson's Patch and you being there to-day."
McMurdo shrugged his shoulders. "If we handle it right, they can never prove the killing," said he. "No one can see him come to the house after dark, and I'll lay to it that no one will see him go. Now see here, Councillor, I'll show you my plan and I'll ask you to fit the others into it. You will all come in good time. Very well. He comes at ten. He is to tap three times, and me to open the door for him. Then I'll get behind him and shut it. He's our man then."
"That's all easy and plain."
"Yes; but the next step wants considering. He's a hard proposition. He's heavily armed. I've fooled him proper, and yet he is likely to be on his guard. Suppose I show him right into a room with seven men in it where he expected to find me alone. There is going to be shooting, and somebody is going to be hurt."
"That's so."
"And the noise is going to bring every damned copper in the township on top of it."
"I guess you are right."
"This is how I should work it. You will all be in the big room--same as you saw when you had a chat with me. I'll open the door for him, show him into the parlour beside the door, and leave him there while I get the papers. That will give me the chance of telling you how things are shaping. Then I will go back to him with some faked papers. As he is reading them I will jump for him and get my grip on his pistol arm. You'll hear me call and in you will rush. The quicker the better; for he is as strong a man as I, and I may have more than I can manage. But I allow that I can hold him till you come."
"It's a good plan," said McGinty. "The lodge will owe you a debt for this. I guess when I move out of the chair I can put a name to the man that's coming after me."
"Sure, Councillor, I am little more than a recruit," said McMurdo; but his face showed what he thought of the great man's compliment.
When he had returned home he made his own preparations for the grim evening in front of him. First he cleaned, oiled, and loaded his Smith & Wesson revolver. Then he surveyed the room in which the detective was to be trapped. It was a large apartment, with a long deal table in the centre, and the big stove at one side. At each of the other sides were windows. There were no shutters on these: only light curtains which drew across. McMurdo examined these attentively. No doubt it must have struck him that the apartment was very exposed for so secret a meeting. Yet its distance from the road made it of less consequence. Finally he discussed the matter with his fellow lodger. Scanlan, though a Scowrer, was an inoffensive little man who was too weak to stand against the opinion of his comrades, but was secretly horrified by the deeds of blood at which he had sometimes been forced to assist. McMurdo told him shortly what was intended.
"And if I were you, Mike Scanlan, I would take a night off and keep clear of it. There will be bloody work here before morning."
"Well, indeed then, Mac," Scanlan answered. "It's not the will but the nerve that is wanting in me. When I saw Manager Dunn go down at the colliery yonder it was just more than I could stand. I'm not made for it, same as you or McGinty. If the lodge will think none the worse of me, I'll just do as you advise and leave you to yourselves for the evening."
The men came in good time as arranged. They were outwardly respectable citizens, well clad and cleanly; but a judge of faces would have read little hope for Birdy Edwards in those hard mouths and remorseless eyes. There was not a man in the room whose hands had not been reddened a dozen times before. They were as hardened to human murder as a butcher to sheep.
Foremost, of course, both in appearance and in guilt, was the formidable Boss. Harraway, the secretary, was a lean, bitter man with a long, scraggy neck and nervous, jerky limbs, a man of incorruptible fidelity where the finances of the order were concerned, and with no notion of justice or honesty to anyone beyond. The treasurer, Carter, was a middle-aged man, with an impassive, rather sulky expression, and a yellow parchment skin. He was a capable organizer, and the actual details of nearly every outrage had sprung from his plotting brain. The two Willabys were men of action, tall, lithe young fellows with determined faces, while their companion, Tiger Cormac, a heavy, dark youth, was feared even by his own comrades for the ferocity of his disposition. These were the men who assembled that night under the roof of McMurdo for the killing of the Pinkerton detective.
Their host had placed whisky upon the table, and they had hastened to prime themselves for the work before them. Baldwin and Cormac were already half-drunk, and the liquor had brought out all their ferocity. Cormac placed his hands on the stove for an instant--it had been lighted, for the nights were still cold.
"That will do," said he, with an oath.
"Ay," said Baldwin, catching his meaning. "If he is strapped to that, we will have the truth out of him."
"We'll have the truth out of him, never fear," said McMurdo. He had nerves of steel, this man; for though the whole weight of the affair was on him his manner was as cool and unconcerned as ever. The others marked it and applauded.
"You are the one to handle him," said the Boss approvingly. "Not a warning will he get till your hand is on his throat. It's a pity there are no shutters to your windows."
McMurdo went from one to the other and drew the curtains tighter.
"Sure no one can spy upon us now. It's close upon the hour."
“啊，根本就沒有什麼文件。我告訴他全體會員的登記表和章程都在我這裏，他指望把一切祕密弄到手，然後再離開此地。”
“果然不錯，"麥金蒂咧嘴笑道，“他沒有問你爲什麼沒把這些文件帶去給他看嗎？”
“我說我纔不能帶這些出門呢，我本來是一個受懷疑的人，況且馬文隊長這天又在車站上和我說過話，怎麼可以呢！”
“對，我聽說了，"麥金蒂說道，“我認爲你能擔當這一重任。我們把他殺掉以後，可以把他的屍體扔到一箇舊礦井裏。不過不管怎麼幹，我們也沒法瞞過住在霍布森領地的人，況且你今天又到過那裏。”
麥克默多聳了聳雙肩，說道：“只要我們處置得法，他們就找不出這件殺人案的證據來。天黑以後，沒有人能看見他來過我的寓所中，我會安排好，不使一個人看到他。現在，參議員先生，我把我的計劃向你講一下，並且請你轉告另外那幾位。你們一起早一些來。他來的時間是十點鐘，敲三下門，我就去給他開門，然後我在他身後把門關上。那時他就是我們的囊中之物了。”
“這倒很簡單容易。”
“是的，不過下一步就需要慎重考慮了。他是一個很難對付的傢伙，而且武器精良。我把他騙來，他很可能十分戒備。他本打算只有我一個人單獨和他談，可是我要是直接把他帶到那間屋子，裏面卻坐着七個人。那時他一定會開槍，我們的一些人就會受傷。”
“對。”
“而且槍聲會把附近鎮上所有該死的警察都招引來。”
“我看你說得很對。”
“我一定能安排得很好。你們大家都坐在你和我談過話的那間大屋子裏，我給他開門以後，把他讓到門旁會客室裏，讓他等在那裏，我假裝去取材料，藉機告訴你們事情的進展情況。然後我拿着幾張捏造的材料回到他那裏。趁他讀材料的時候，我就跳到他身前，緊緊抓住他雙手，使他不能放槍。你們聽到我喊，就立刻跑過來，越快越好，因爲他也象我一樣健壯，我一定竭力堅持，保證堅持到你們來到。”
“這是一條妙計，"麥金蒂說道，“我們分會不會忘記你這次的功勞，我想我不做身主時，我一定提名讓你接替我。”
“參議員先生，說實話，我不過是一個新入會的弟兄，"麥克默多說道，可是他臉上的神色表明，他很願聽到這位有實力的人說出這樣讚揚的話。
麥克默多回到家中，着手準備夜晚這場你死我活的格鬥。麥克默多首先把他那支史密斯和威森牌左輪擦乾淨，上好油，裝足子彈，然後檢查一下這位偵探即將落入圈套的那間廳房。這間廳房很寬闊，中間放着一條長桌，旁邊有一個大爐子。兩旁全是窗戶，窗戶上沒有窗板，只掛着一些淺色的窗簾。麥克默多很仔細地檢查了一番。毫無疑問，這間房屋非常嚴密，正適於進行這樣祕密的約會，而且這裏離大路很遠，不會引來不良後果。最後麥克默多又與他的同夥斯坎倫商議，斯坎倫雖是一個死酷黨人，但卻是一個於人無害的小人物，他極爲軟弱無能，不敢反對他那些同夥的意見，可是有時他被迫參加一些血腥的暗殺勾當，私下裏卻異常驚恐厭惡。麥克默多三言兩語把即將發生的事告訴了他。
“假如我要是你的話，邁克·斯坎倫，我就在今夜離開這裏，落得一身清淨。這裏在清晨以前，一定會有流血事件發生。”
“真的，麥克，"斯坎倫答道，“我並不願意這樣，可是我缺乏勇氣。在我看到離這裏很遠的那家煤礦的經理鄧恩被害時，我幾乎忍受不住了。我沒有象你或麥金蒂那樣的膽量。假如會裏不加害於我，我就照你勸告我的那樣辦，你們自己去處理晚上的事好了。”
麥金蒂等人如約趕來。他們是一些外表很體面的人，衣着華麗整潔，可是一個善於觀察的人可以從他們緊閉的嘴角和兇惡殘忍的目光中看出，他們渴望擒獲伯爾弟·愛德華。室內沒有一個人的雙手以前不是多次沾滿鮮血的，他們殺僕人來心腸鐵硬，如同屠夫屠宰綿羊一般。
當然，從令人生畏的身主麥金蒂的外貌和罪惡來看，他是首要人物。書記哈拉威是一個骨瘦如柴的人，心黑手狠，長着一個皮包骨的長脖子，四肢神經痙攣，很關心分會的資金來源，卻不顧得來是否公正合法。司庫卡特是一箇中年人，冷漠無情、死氣沉沉，皮膚象羊皮紙一般黃。他是一個有才幹的組織者，幾乎每一次犯罪活動的細節安排都出自此人的罪惡頭腦。威拉比兩兄弟是實幹家，個子高大，年輕力壯，手腳靈活，神色堅決果斷。他們的夥伴老虎科馬克是一個粗眉大眼的黑臉大漢，甚至會中的同夥對他那兇狠殘暴的秉性也畏懼幾分。就是這些人，準備這夜在麥克默多寓所殺害平克頓偵探。
他們的主人在桌上擺了些威士忌酒，這些人便急匆匆大吃大喝起來。鮑德溫和科馬克已經半醉，醉後更暴露出他們的兇狠殘暴。因爲這幾夜依然寒冷異常，屋中生着火，科馬克便把雙手放到火上取暖。
“這就妥當了，"科馬克發誓說道。
“喂，"鮑德溫捉摸着科馬克話中的含意說道，“如果我們把他捆起來，我們就能從他口中得知真相。”
“不用怕，我們一定能從他口中得知真相的，"麥克默多說道，他生就鐵石心腸，儘管這樣重大事情的全部重任落到他身上，他依然象平時一樣沉着冷靜、毫不在意。因此，大家都稱讚他。
“由你來對付他，"身主麥金蒂讚許地說，“他毫不警惕地就會被你扼住喉嚨。可惜你的窗戶上沒有窗板。”
麥克默多便走過去，把一個個窗子上的窗簾拉緊，說道：
“此時肯定沒有人來探查我們的。時間也快到了。”
