Chapter 8

Chapter 8 A few minutes later, Dink and Josh walked into the lobby of the Shangri-la Hotel. Mr. Linkletter was standing behind his counter, staring at the door. "Hi, Mr. Linkletter," Josh said. "Ruth Rose said to meet her here. Have you seen her?"

几分钟后，丁克和乔希走进了香格里拉酒店的大厅。 林克莱特先生站在柜台后面，盯着门。 “你好，林克莱特先生，”乔希说。 “露丝·罗斯说在这儿见她。 你见过她吗?”

Mr. Linkletter nodded. "Yes, I saw her about twenty minutes ago, with Dr. Cula." Dink's eyes went to the little, round Band-Aid on Mr. Linkletter's neck. "Do you know where they went?" he asked. "No, I didn't notice," Mr. Linkletter said. "They sat and talked here in the lobby. When I looked up again, they had disappeared." Dink remembered how the myste-rious man in black "disappeared" from Ellie's Diner and the Book Nook. "Of course," Mr. Linkletter went on, "Dr. Cula could be up in his room. He likes to nap during the day." Josh snuck a glance at Dink. "Um, can you tell us which room he has?" Josh asked. "That would be room 202," he said. "Feel free to go up and check." Dink grabbed Josh by the arm and tugged him toward the elevators. Dink pushed the UP button, and the boys waited. Seconds later, one of the two elevators arrived with a ping. Dink and Josh stepped inside.

林克莱特点点头。“是的，大约二十分钟前我看见她了。 Cula。”丁克的目光转向了林克莱特先生脖子上的小圆创可贴。 “你知道他们去哪儿了吗?”他问。 “没有，我没有注意到，”林克莱特说。 “他们坐在大厅里聊天。 当我再次抬头时，他们已经不见了。” 丁克记得那个神秘的黑衣男子是如何从埃莉餐厅和书屋“消失”的。 “当然，”林克莱特先生接着说。 库拉可能在楼上他的房间里。 他喜欢在白天小睡一会儿。” 乔希偷偷瞥了丁克一眼。 “嗯，你能告诉我们他住哪个房间吗?”杰克问。 “应该是202房间，”他说。 “你可以上去看看。” 丁克抓住乔什的胳膊，把他拖向电梯。 丁克按了向上键，孩子们等着。 几秒钟后，两部电梯中的一部发出了“ping”的声音。 丁克和乔希走了进去。

"Did you see that?" Dink asked. "Mr. Linkletter didn't even check his register. How did he know which room Dr. Cula had?" "Yeah, and he never gives out room numbers," Josh said. "He always says guests at the Shangri-la pay for privacy." "And did you notice how nervous he looked?" Dink said. Josh nodded. "His mustache was practically doing a dance on his lip!" The elevator pinged, and the doors slid open. Dink and Josh stepped into the long corridor and stood, listening. No one was in the hallway, and it was very quiet. The small wall lights cast a dim glow onto the carpet. "This is creeping me out," Josh whispered. "What if that guy is in his room, just waiting for us?" "Right now we have to find Ruth Rose," Dink said. He pointed to room 202. "Let's go." They tiptoed toward the door. Dink got ready to knock, then noticed that the door was already partly open.

“你看到了吗?”丁克问道。 林克莱特甚至没有检查他的登记簿。 他是怎么知道哪个房间的? Cula了?”“是啊，他从不给我房间号，”乔希说。 “他总是说，来香格里拉的客人要花钱保护隐私。” “你注意到他看起来有多紧张吗?”丁克说。 杰克点了点头。“他的胡子几乎在他的嘴唇上跳舞!”电梯砰的一声响了，门滑开了。 丁克和乔希走进长长的走廊，站着听。 走廊里没有人，非常安静。 墙上的小灯在地毯上投下暗淡的光。 “这把我吓坏了。”乔希低声说。 “如果那家伙就在他的房间里，等着我们呢?”“现在我们必须找到露丝·罗斯，”丁克说。 他指着202房间。“我们走吧。” 他们蹑手蹑脚地向门口走去。 丁克准备敲门，却发现门已经半开着。

He raised his eyebrows at Josh, who was staring back at him. Dink pushed the door open a few more inches. "Dr. Cula?" he called through the crack. "Anyone here?" No answer came. Josh nudged the door fully open with the toe of his sneaker. There was no one in the room. The boys saw a TV set, a desk, an armchair, and night tables with lamps on both sides of a neatly made bed. "It looks like no one is staying here," Dink said. "Mr. Linkletter did say room 202, right?" Josh nodded. The boys tiptoed into the room for a better look. Dink felt goose bumps marching up his arms and legs. Then he noticed a loud hum. "The air conditioner is blasting," he said to Josh with a shiver. "It's freezing!" Josh answered. He walked across the room and stopped at the closet door. He looked at Dink. "Should I open it?" Dink nodded.

他朝乔希扬起眉毛，乔希也在盯着他看。 丁克又把门推开了几英寸。 “库拉医生?”他从裂缝里喊道。 “这里有人吗?”没有回答。 乔希用球鞋的脚趾把门完全推开了。 房间里一个人也没有。 孩子们看到了一台电视机、一张书桌、一把扶手椅和一张铺得整整齐齐的床，床的两边各有几张带灯的床头柜。 丁克说:“看起来没有人会留在这里。” “林克莱特先生说的是202房间，对吧?”杰克点了点头。 男孩子们蹑手蹑脚地走进房间，想看得更清楚些。 丁克感到胳膊和腿上起了鸡皮疙瘩。 接着，他注意到一阵很响的嗡嗡声。 “空调爆炸了，”他打了个寒颤对乔希说。 “真冷!”杰克回答。 他穿过房间，在壁橱门前停了下来。 他看着丁克。“我应该打开它吗?”丁克点点头。

Josh pulled the closet door open, then gasped. "What?" Dink said, hurrying over for a look. On the floor sat a black leather suitcase. Hanging above the suitcase on a hanger was a long black cape. "He disappeared again," Josh whispered. "Let's get out of here," Dink said. "We have to find Ruth Rose." "Maybe she went back home," Josh suggested. "Maybe," Dink said as they walked toward the door. Against the wall to the right of the door was a small table they hadn't noticed when they entered the room. On it was a sheet of paper. A box of Band-Aids sat on top of the paper. Dink picked up the Band-Aid box. "The little, round kind," he said, reading the words on the box. "Oh my gosh!" Josh said, pointing to some writing on the paper.

乔希拉开壁橱的门，然后倒吸了一口气。 “什么?”丁克说着匆匆走过去看了看。 地板上放着一只黑色皮箱。 衣架上的衣箱上方挂着一件黑色的长斗篷。 “他又消失了。”乔希小声说。 “我们离开这里吧，”丁克说。 “我们必须找到露丝·罗斯。” “也许她回家了。”乔希暗示道。 “也许吧，”丁克说，他们朝门口走去。 门右边靠墙放着一张小桌子，进屋时他们没有注意到。 上面有一张纸。 纸上放着一盒创可贴。 丁克拿起创可贴盒子。 “小而圆的那种，”他边说边读着盒子上的字。 “我的天哪!”乔希指着纸上的字迹说。

Dink picked up the paper. "It's a list of names," he said. He read the list out loud: ELLIE LANDOLF ERNEST PASKEY LIONEL LINKLETTER RUTH ROSE HATHAWAY DINK DUNCAN JOSHUA PINTO The names were written in purple. The first three names had purple check marks next to them. "The vampire checked off the names of the people he bit on the neck!" Josh wailed. "And our names are next! I think I'm gonna be sick." Dink studied the list. He was espe-cially interested in the purple writing. Where had he seen that color before? Then Dink remembered. He brought the paper up to his nose and took a deep sniff. He smiled. "What do you smell?" Josh asked.

丁克拿起报纸。“这是一份名单，”他说。 他大声念出名单:艾莉·兰道夫·欧内斯特·帕斯基莱昂内尔·林克信露丝·罗斯·海瑟薇·丁克·邓肯乔舒亚·平托这些名字都是用紫色写的。 前三个名字旁边有紫色的勾号。 “那个吸血鬼把他咬脖子的人的名字都勾掉了!”杰克大声哭叫。 “下一个是我们的名字!”我觉得我要生病了。” 丁克研究了一下名单。他对紫色文字特别感兴趣。 他以前在哪里见过这种颜色? 这时丁克想起来了。他把纸拿到鼻子边，深深地吸了一口气。 他笑了。“你闻到了什么?”杰克问。