Chapter 3

ChAPTER THREE By eleven thirty-six that morning, Kate's bunk was no longer a bunk. It was a detective booth. First to be questioned were the twins from Compartment No. 6: Chloe and Zoe. Their bright red plaits were so long they could sit on them, but right now they were chewing on the ends nervously. "We were both in our compartment last night," said Zoe.

第三章 那天上午十一点三十六分，凯特的铺位已经完全不是普通铺位了。 它变成了一间侦探问询亭。 第一个要接受问询的是六号车厢的双胞胎：克洛伊和佐伊。 她俩的鲜红色辫子长到能直接坐在屁股底下，可这会儿她们正紧张地咬着发梢。 “我们俩昨晚都待在自己的车厢里。”佐伊说。

"Yes," said Chloe. "What were you doing?" asked Kate. "Nothing, really." "Nothing at all?" asked Kate. "No," said Chloe. "I mean... Yes." "You just said "No", Chloe," said Kate, who was beginning to suspect she might be looking forward to an illustrious career in detective work. "Yes," said Chloe. "No, she didn't," said Zoe. She poked Chloe with the wet end of her plait. "Oh, we might as well just tell her," sighed Chloe. "Fine," said Zoe. "Although you have to promise not to tell anyone, Kate." Kate solemnly placed her hand on The

“对呀。”克洛伊说。 “你们当时在做什么？”凯特问。 “没什么，真的。” “什么都没做？”凯特追问。 “没有啊。”克洛伊说。 “我是说…… 对。” “你刚才还说‘没有’呢，克洛伊。”凯特说，她都忍不住觉得自己未来说不定能成为一名出色的侦探。 “是啊。”克洛伊说。 “不，她没说过。”佐伊接话。 她用自己辫子湿乎乎的那头戳了戳克洛伊。 “唉，我们干脆直接告诉她算了。”克洛伊叹了口气。 “行吧。”佐伊说。 “不过你得保证不告诉任何人，凯特。” 凯特郑重地把手放在

Special Correspondent Manual. "You have my word." "We're running away to join the circus," said Chloe coolly. "I know it's a cliché, but what else are we supposed to do? It's not as if there is a circus at home in the Hebrides. Last night we were practising our routine." "I see," said Kate, secretly very impressed. "And do you need anything for this routine? Trophies to prove you're Hebridean champions? Biscuits for... um... sustenance?" "Nope, the only thing we've ever stolen are utensils from Granny's kitchen," said Zoe. "We experimented with a bit of knife juggling, but Chloe got annoyed when her finger was chopped off."

《特派记者手册》上。 “我保证。” “我们要逃走去加入马戏团。”克洛伊冷静地说。 “我知道这听起来老套，可我们除此之外还能怎么办呢？ 我们老家在赫布里底群岛，那儿可根本没有马戏团。 昨晚我们正在练习表演节目呢。” “原来是这样。”凯特说，心里其实觉得超厉害。 “那你们的节目需要什么东西吗？ 比如奖杯来证明你们是赫布里底群岛的冠军？ 或者饼干……嗯……用来当口粮？” “不用，我们唯一偷过的东西就是奶奶厨房里的餐具。”佐伊说。 “我们还试过玩扔飞刀杂耍，可后来克洛伊的手指被削到了，她就生气不玩了。

"What can I say?" Chloe shrugged. "I can be dramatic. Now our act is mainly plait-oriented. Skipping, lassoing, performative crocheting- that sort of thing." "I see," said Kate again, nodding as if she was very In The Know with circus talk. There was no motive here, she thought gloomily, pencilling a giant red X next to Rupert's drawing of the twins, before seeing them out. Next was Simon the Conductor-in- Training. "How long have you been training for, Simon?" "Three years, six months and forty-five

“我能说什么呢？” 克洛伊耸耸肩。 “我就是容易大惊小怪嘛。 现在我们的节目主要都是靠辫子来表演的。 跳绳、套索、表演性钩针编织——就是这类东西。” “我明白了。”凯特又点点头，仿佛她对马戏团的行话特别懂似的。 这儿没有作案动机啊，她闷闷地想，在鲁珀特画的双胞胎画像旁边打了个大大的红叉，然后把她们送了出去。 下一个是实习列车员西蒙。 “你培训多久了呀，西蒙？” “三年六个月零四十五

days," he replied cheerfully. "That's a long time to be in training..." Kate said. Simon shrugged. "Well, I'm doing the best I can- and there's a lot that needs to be done around here, you know." Kate thought back to Simon's cooking

天。”他乐呵呵地回答。 “要培训这么久啊……” 凯特说。 西蒙耸耸肩。 “嗨，我已经尽力啦——而且你不知道，这列车上要做的事可多了。” 凯特想起西蒙做的饭，

and silently agreed. But back to business. It was time to turn up the heat. "And what-" Kate lowered her voice for maximum impact- "were you doing last night at the time Miss Bonbon's trophies went missing?" "Reading." "A book isn't a very good alibi." "Oh, Kate, you're just so clever!" interrupted a beaming Dad from the corner of the compartment where he was refolding their towels into origami animals. "Who would have thought you'd grow into such a investigated-" "Dad! I'm investigating!" "Oops! Didn't mean to interrupt!" Time for one last question.

默默在心里同意了他的话。 不过还是得回到正事上。 是时候加大盘问力度了。 “那——”凯特压低声音，好让问题更有冲击力，“昨晚邦邦小姐的奖杯失窃的时候，你在做什么？” “看书。” “一本书可算不上什么好的不在场证明哦。” “哦，凯特，你可太聪明了！” 爸爸突然插嘴，他正待在车厢角落，把他们的毛巾重新折成折纸小动物，脸上笑盈盈的。 “谁能想到你会长成这么会调——”“爸爸！ 我正在查案呢！” “哎哟！我不是故意打断你的！” 该问最后一个问题了。