Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15 "Lester, can I talk to you for a minute?" Nellie approached the table. Lester was putting the box down carefully on top of its plastic bag. "Sure," he said. "What's up?" Nellie touched the snake nose ring. Everything was so complicated… how could she possibly explain it all to him? Where should she start? At the beginning, of course. With Grace. Everything started with Grace. "Grace was really interested in this project, wasn't she?" Nellie said. "Oh, yah," Lester said with a smile. "She was interested in everything about old Jamaica. I remember the time she was here, when I was just a little kid. She'd ask my Granma about all the old stories, and Granma would tell her, and I'd sit there listening. It's probably what made me want to study history."

第十五章“雷斯脱，我能跟你谈一下吗？”内莉走近桌子。 雷斯脱小心地把盒子放在塑料袋上。 “当然，”他说。“怎么了?”内莉摸了摸蛇鼻环。 一切都那么复杂……她怎么可能向他解释这一切呢？ 她应该从哪里开始呢？当然是一开始。 与优雅。一切都始于格蕾丝。 “格蕾丝对这个项目很感兴趣，不是吗？”内莉说。 “噢，是的，”雷斯脱笑着说。 “她对老牙买加的一切都很感兴趣。 我还记得她在这里的时候，那时我还是个小孩。 她会问我奶奶所有的旧故事，奶奶会告诉她，我坐在那里听着。 这可能就是我想学习历史的原因。”

"Did she know you were working on the project?" "Oh, sure. She's the one who got me the job. She found out that a university in the States was teaming up with the Jamaican Historical Society to excavate the site. She gave a big donation and" —another smile —"got me an interview to be a researcher here. So now I work full time at the Archives and do consulting work on the project." Nellie nodded. Grace the mastermind at work again. Lester frowned. "She used to check in with me from time to time, ask how the project was going, if we'd found anything interesting. I hadn't heard from her in a few months. I should have gotten in touch myself." He looked sad. They were both quiet for a moment, remembering Grace. Nellie touched his arm. "Lester, I think we know something about Grace that you might not," she said. "Grace was interested in this project for a specific reason. There was something she was hoping to find."

“她知道你在做这个项目吗？”“哦,当然。 是她帮我找到这份工作的。 她发现美国的一所大学正在与牙买加历史学会合作挖掘这个遗址。 她捐了一大笔钱，”——又是一个微笑——“让我得到了在这里做研究员的面试机会。 所以现在我在档案馆全职工作，并为这个项目做咨询工作。” 内莉点了点头。格蕾丝又开始策划了。 莱斯特皱起了眉头。“她过去常常和我联系，询问项目进展如何，是否发现了什么有趣的东西。 我已经好几个月没有她的消息了。 我应该自己跟你联系的。” 他看起来很伤心。他们都沉默了一会儿，想起了格蕾丝。 内利摸了摸他的胳膊。“雷斯脱，我想我们知道一些你不知道的关于格雷斯的事，”她说。 “格蕾丝对这个项目感兴趣是有特殊原因的。 她希望找到一些东西。”

Lester looked at her curiously. "What, exactly?" "This is going to sound crazy," Nellie said, "but we're not sure if she actually knew what she was looking for. All we know is, she had come across bits and pieces of it over the years. And she died before she could finish her search, so Amy and Dan are trying to finish it for her. And me, too." Lester seemed a little bemused now, but not alarmed. "Okay, I'm still with you," he said. Nellie took a deep breath. "It was really important to Grace," she said. "And also secret— she wanted as few people as possible to know about it. So what it comes down to is this: We need that box." She nodded toward the table. "We think that's what Grace was looking for. We need to take it with us"— she raised her hand to stop Lester from objecting —"but we want to make a deal." She rushed on before Lester could say anything. "We think we have at least part of what's needed to open it. You let us take the box to see if we can open it. Then when we're done with it, we give it back to you with the secret of how to open it."

雷斯脱好奇地望着她。 “什么,到底是什么?”“这听起来很疯狂，”内莉说，“但我们不确定她是否真的知道她在找什么。 我们所知道的是，这些年来她只看到了一些碎片。 她还没找完就死了，所以艾米和丹想帮她找完。 还有我。”雷斯脱现在似乎有点困惑，但并不惊慌。 “好吧，我还是和你在一起，”他说。 内莉深吸了一口气。 “这对格蕾丝来说真的很重要，”她说。 而且还是个秘密——她想让尽可能少的人知道这件事。 所以归根结底就是：我们需要那个盒子。” 她朝桌子点了点头。 “我们认为这就是格蕾丝想要的。 我们需要把它带走，”她举起手阻止莱斯特反对，“但是我们想做个交易。” 雷斯脱还没来得及说话，她就急急忙忙地说下去了。 “我们认为我们至少具备了打开它所需的部分条件。 你让我们拿着盒子，看看能不能打开。 等我们用完了，我们就把它连同打开它的秘密一起还给你。”

She locked eyes with him. He has to say yes, he just has to. If not, the people she was working for would be extremely displeased. And they were no fun when they were displeased. Lester looked at the box on the table. Then he glanced toward the back of the hut, at one of his colleagues working on a computer. Probably his boss. He looked at the box again, and finally at Nellie. She waited in silence for what felt like hours. "Okay, here's my deal," he said at last. "Grace meant the world to me and Granma. Before you showed up, I'd have said there was nothing I wouldn't do for her." He shook his head. "I'd have been wrong. I can't do it— I can't let you take it. Not just because I'd lose my job. But because it goes against every principle of good historianship. You think you have a good reason for taking it. So does every other person or group or government in the world who's ever taken artifacts away from where

她和他眉来眼去。他必须答应，他必须答应。 否则，她的老板会非常不高兴。 他们不高兴的时候也不好玩。 雷斯脱看着桌子上的盒子。 然后他瞥了一眼小屋后面，他的一个同事正在电脑上工作。 可能是他的老板。他又看了看盒子，最后看了看耐莉。 她默默地等了好几个小时。 “好吧，这是我的交易，”他最后说。 “对我和奶奶来说，格蕾丝就是一切。 在你出现之前，我曾说过，我愿意为她做任何事。” 他摇了摇头。“我错了。 我不能这么做，我不能让你拿走。 不仅仅是因为我会丢掉工作。 而是因为它违背了优秀史学的所有原则。 你觉得你有很好的理由接受它。 世界上所有把文物带走的人，组织或政府也是如此

they belong." "But we'd return it! I swear!" Nellie crossed her fingers surreptitiously, praying that what she said was true. "It's not that I don't trust you," Lester said. "Really, I don't even know you. The fact that you knew Grace, and they're her grandchildren— I wish that could be enough. But it's not. I'm sorry." Nellie's heart sank to the pit of her stomach. They'd have to steal the box, and if they could manage to pull that off, then Lester, who had been so nice, would hate them, and Miss Alice would hate them, too…. Lester was staring at her so hard he was almost glaring. She held his gaze, not daring to blink or breathe, hoping her expression didn't give away that she was already trying to figure out how to steal the box. After a long moment, he seemed to make up his mind and eased off on the laser–beam stare. "You can't take the box," he said flatly, "but I can. I can say I want to do some research on it,

他们属于。”“但我们会还的！”我发誓!”内莉偷偷地交叉着手指，祈祷她说的是真的。 “不是我不信任你，”莱斯特说。 “真的，我甚至不认识你。 你认识格蕾丝，他们是她的孙子，我希望这就够了。 但事实并非如此。我很抱歉。”内莉的心一下子沉到了肚子里。 他们得去偷那个盒子，如果他们能成功的话，那么曾经那么好的雷斯脱就会恨他们，爱丽丝小姐也会恨他们.... 雷斯脱目不转睛地望着她，几乎是在怒目而视。 她紧盯着他的目光，不敢眨眼，也不敢呼吸，希望她的表情不会暴露出她已经在想办法偷走盒子了。 过了很长一段时间，他似乎下定了决心，放松了激光束的凝视。 “你不能拿走盒子，”他断然地说，“但我可以。 我可以说我想做一些研究，

and they'll let me take it off the site. So here's how it goes down. Whatever you need to do with the box, you do it with me there. That's nonnegotiable." Nellie flung her arms around his neck. Not like she had to force herself— he was, after all, very… "Thanks a million, Lester! You won't regret it, I promise!" Her ebullient response drew Dan and Amy over. Nellie gave them a thumbs—up. "YESSSS!" Dan said, and made a valiant attempt to moonwalk. Nellie raised her eyebrows at Amy, who was smiling at Lester. She caught Nellie's glance and shrugged in return. Jeez, she's a tough nut, Nellie thought. I might be making progress with Dan, but she's a different animal altogether…. Grinning sheepishly, Lester disentangled himself from Nellie's embrace. He picked up the box and put it back in its plastic bag. "I'll go talk to the boss," he said. "I'll meet you

他们会让我把它从网站上撤下来。 所以事情是这样的。 不管你要对盒子做什么，都得跟我一起做。 这是毫无疑问的。”内莉猛地搂住他的脖子。 她倒不必勉强自己——他毕竟是非常……”“万分感谢，雷斯脱！你不会后悔的，我保证！”她热情洋溢的回答吸引了丹和艾米。 内莉朝他们竖起大拇指。 “太!”丹说着，勇敢地尝试着太空步。 奈莉对艾美扬起眉毛，艾美正对雷斯脱微笑。 她瞥见内利的目光，也耸了耸肩。 天哪，她可真难对付，内莉心想。 我和丹也许有进展，但她完全是另一种动物.... 雷斯脱不好意思地咧着嘴笑，从内利的怀抱中挣脱出来。 他拿起盒子，把它放回塑料袋里。 “我去和老板谈谈，”他说。 “我来接你