诺伍德的建筑师（10）（在线收听）

“Well, he drew up his own death-warrant at the same time,” said Lestrade.

“Oh, you think so?”

“Don't you?”

“Well, it is quite possible; but the case is not clear to me yet.”

“Not clear? Well, if that isn't clear, what could be clear? Here is a young man who learns suddenly that if a certain older man dies he will succeed to a fortune. What does he do? He says nothing to anyone, but he arranges that he shall go out on some pretext to see his client that night; he waits until the only other person in the house is in bed, and then in the solitude of a man's room he murders him, burns his body in the wood-pile, and departs to a neighbouring hotel. The blood-stains in the room and also on the stick are very slight. It is probable that he imagined his crime to be a bloodless one, and hoped that if the body were consumed it would hide all traces of the method of his death—traces which for some reason must have pointed to him. Is all this not obvious?”

“It strikes me, my good Lestrade, as being just a trifle too obvious,” said Holmes. “You do not add imagination to your other great qualities; but if you could for one moment put yourself in the place of this young man, would you choose the very night after the will had been made to commit your crime? Would it not seem dangerous to you to make so very close a relation between the two incidents? Again, would you choose an occasion when you are known to be in the house, when a servant has let you in? And, finally, would you take the great pains to conceal the body and yet leave your own stick as a sign that you were the criminal? Confess, Lestrade, that all this is very unlikely.”

“As to the stick, Mr. Holmes, you know as well as I do that a criminal is often flurried and does things which a cool man would avoid. He was very likely afraid to go back to the room. Give me another theory that would fit the facts.”

“这等于他同时给自己出了一张死刑判决书，”雷斯垂德说。

“哦，你这样想吗？”

“你不这样想吗？”

“很可能，不过这件案子对我来说还不清楚。”

“不清楚？如果这样一件案子都不算是清楚的话，还有什么能算是清楚的呢？有个年轻人忽然知道只要某个老人一死，他就可以继承一笔财产。他怎么办？他不告诉任何人，安排了某种借口在当天昨上去拜访他的委托人。一直等到全屋仅存的第三者睡了，在单独的一间卧室里他杀了委托人，把一尸一体放在木料堆里焚烧，然后离开那里去附近的旅馆。卧室里和手杖上的血迹都很少。可能他想象连这一点点血迹也不会留下，并且希望只要一尸一体毁了，就可以掩盖委托人如何毙命的一切痕迹，因为那些痕迹迟早要把他暴露出来。这不是很明显吗？”

“我的好雷斯垂德，你所说的使我感到有点过于明显，”福尔摩斯说，“你没有把想象力加到你许多长处中去，但是，如果你能试试把自己摆在这个年轻人的地位上来看，你会挑选立遗嘱的那个晚上去行凶吗？你不觉得把立遗嘱和行凶这两件事连接得这么紧是很危险的吗？还有，你会选择别人知道你在那里、正是这家的佣人开门让你进屋的这样一个时机吗？还有最后一点，你会那么煞费苦心地藏一尸一体，而又留下手杖作为暴露你是凶犯的证据吗？雷斯垂德，你必须承认这些都是不可能的。”

“至于那根手杖，福尔摩斯先生，你我都知道：一个罪犯总是慌慌张张的，往往干出头脑冷静的人能避免的一些事情来。他很可能是不敢回那间屋里去。你给我一个别的能符合事实的推测吧。”