Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Josh's mouth fell open. "Your uncle's the thief?" he asked. "Josh!" Ruth Rose scolded. She turned to Dink. "Your uncle isn't the thief," she said. "He never had a chance to take the jewel. We were with him when he opened the crate, and he sure didn't take it on the tape we just saw."

乔希张大了嘴。 “你叔叔是小偷吗?”他问。 “杰克!”露丝·罗斯责骂道。 她转向丁克。“你叔叔不是小偷，”她说。 “他根本没有机会拿走珠宝。 当他打开板条箱的时候，我们和他在一起，我们刚才看到的带子上他肯定没有拿走。”

Dink felt sick even thinking that his uncle might have stolen the emerald. "What about when we turned out all the lights?" he asked. "But that was so quick," Ruth Rose said. "I don't see how he—" "Guys! The desk!" Josh said suddenly. "Look at it! Do you see anything different?" Dink and Ruth Rose looked at Uncle Warren's desk. "What do you mean?" Dink asked. "There's nothing but the blotter and the letter opener, the same as yesterday and this morning." Josh hit the "play" button on the VCR. He fastforwarded until the tape showed the room and everyone in it. "There!" he shouted a moment later. "Look at the letter opener. The tip is pointing toward the windows, right?" "Yeah, so what?" Dink said. "Wait a sec and you'll see." In the film, the lights went out. After Dr. Pitts finished shining his flashlight on the jewel, the lights came back on. "Now look!" Josh cried. "See, the letter opener is pointing away from the windows. It got turned

丁克觉得恶心，甚至想到他的叔叔可能偷了翡翠。 “那我们关掉所有灯的时候呢?”他问。 “但那太快了，”露丝·罗斯说。 “我不明白他怎么——”“伙计们!桌子上!”乔希突然说。 “你看!”你看到什么不同了吗?”丁克和露丝·罗斯看着沃伦叔叔的桌子。 “你是什么意思?”丁克问道。 “除了吸墨纸和开信刀，什么也没有，跟昨天和今天早上一样。” 乔希按了录像机上的“播放”键。 他快进，直到录像显示出房间和里面的每个人。 “那里!”过了一会儿，他喊道。 “看看开信刀。 尖端是指向窗户的，对吧?”“是啊，那又怎样?”丁克说。 “等一下，你就知道了。” 在电影中，灯光熄灭了。 皮茨医生用手电筒照完宝石后，灯又亮了。 “现在看!”杰克哭了。“你看，开信刀指向窗外。 它被翻转了

around!" "Why does it matter, Josh?" Ruth Rose asked. "I don't know," Josh said. "But someone picked up the letter opener while the lights were out, then put it down again." "Who was standing closest to it?" Dink asked, hitting "stop" and "rewind." "I think Dr. Pitts was," Josh said. "He was standing right in front of the jaguar. The letter opener was a few inches away." "But why would he want the letter opener in the dark?" Ruth Rose asked. Just then, they heard thumps outside the office door, like someone stomping on a carpet. "Who's that?" Ruth Rose whispered. Josh gulped. "Is the door locked?" "I don't think so!" Dink whispered back. He swept a hand over the wall switches. The room darkened except for the small light over the fish tank. "Look!" Josh whispered. Through the frostedglass window in the door, the kids saw a tall shadow.

周围!”“这有什么关系，乔希?”露丝·罗斯问。 “我不知道，”乔希说。 “但是有人在灯灭的时候拿起了开信刀，然后又把它放下了。” “谁站得离它最近?”丁克边问边按了“停止”和“倒带”。 “我想皮茨医生是，”乔希说。 “他就站在美洲虎的前面。 开信刀就在几英寸之外。” “但是他为什么要在黑暗中拿开信刀呢?”露丝·罗斯问。 就在这时，他们听到办公室门外的砰砰声，就像有人在踩地毯一样。 “那是谁?”露丝·罗斯低声说。 杰克一饮而尽。“门锁上了吗?”“我不这么认为!”丁克小声回答。 他把手伸到墙上的开关上。 除了鱼缸上方的小灯外，房间里一片漆黑。 “看!”杰克小声说。透过门上的磨砂玻璃窗，孩子们看到了一个高大的影子。

They heard a click, and the doorknob turned. "Hide!" Dink whispered. "James's office!" The kids dashed into the small office. Dink left the door open a crack so he could see who entered. It was Dr. Pitts.

他们听到咔哒一声，门把手转动了。 “躲起来!”丁克低声说。“詹姆斯的办公室!”孩子们冲进了小办公室。 丁克把门开了一条缝，这样他就能看到谁进来了。 是皮茨医生。