Chapter 9

ChAPTER NINE Kate turned around slowly, trying to think of an excuse. In front of her was the girl whose picture she had seen approximately fifty- seven times that day. Frances FitzHarris's hair was thick and glossy, she wore a pretty dress, and the pair of them would probably be exactly the same height were it not for Frances's high-heeled shoes. She looked quizzically at Kate, taking in her

第九章 凯特慢慢转过身，脑子里拼命想着借口。 站在她面前的女孩，那张脸她当天少说已经看过五十七次照片了。 弗朗西斯·菲茨哈里斯的头发浓密又有光泽，穿着一条漂亮的小裙子，要不是弗朗西斯踩着高跟鞋，两人的身高应该刚好一样。 她疑惑地看着凯特，目光落在她的

badge and flushed face. "You had a special delivery!" said Kate, spontaneously grabbing a vase of roses. "More flowers!" "Oh," said Frances. "Thanks. I thought maybe something had come from Figgy." "No, no," said Kate quickly. "Anyway, I'd better be go—" "You're Kate, aren't you? The girl my aunt's hired to look into all the mess around here." "Er... yes," said Kate.

徽章和涨红的脸上。 “你有个特快专递！”凯特脱口而出，顺手抓起了一瓶玫瑰花。 “又有花呀！” “哦，”弗朗西斯开口。 “谢谢啦。 我还以为是菲吉寄了什么东西过来呢。” “不是不是，”凯特赶紧说。 “不管啦，我最好还是先走——” “你是凯特，对不对？ 我姨妈雇来查这里这堆乱子的女孩。” “呃……对。”凯特答道。

"Don't you want to ask me any questions?" said Frances. "I hear you've interviewed practically everyone." "Oh no, not everyone," said Kate hastily. "I'm working through my list in a very specific way." Frances shrugged. "Well, if you need any help, I'd be happy to lend a hand." "We're fine, thank you," Kate said. Frances may have been able to sabotage the newspaper, but Kate wasn't about to let her sabotage the investigation too. "Okay." Frances turned to leave. Kate couldn't resist calling out, "Who do you think it is?" as Frances walked away. Frances turned. "I don't know.

“你不想问我点问题吗？”弗朗西斯说， “我听说你差不多把所有人都问了个遍。” “哦没有，没问所有人，”凯特连忙说， “我是按着清单来的，顺序很讲究。” 弗朗西斯耸了耸肩。 “好吧，要是你需要帮忙，我很乐意搭把手。” “我们没问题的，谢谢你。”凯特说。 弗朗西斯能破坏报纸出版，凯特可绝不会让她再打乱自己的调查。 “行吧。” 弗朗西斯转身准备走。 凯特忍不住喊了一声：“你觉得是谁干的？” 当弗朗西斯走远的时候 弗朗西斯转过身。 “我不知道。

But whoever they are, I'm sure they think they've a good reason. Anyway, I've got to go model Hilda's latest creation. Good luck- you'll certainly need it." "What a suspicious thing to say," said Kate, finishing the rest of the room-service dinner Bunty had brought up to the Guest Suite. She mimicked Frances's voice. "You'll need it. She thinks she's so clever!"

但不管是谁，我敢肯定他们都觉得自己这么做有充分的理由。 不说啦，我得去试穿希尔达新做的衣服当模特了。 祝你好运哦——你肯定会需要的。” “这话听着也太可疑了吧。”凯特一边说，一边吃完了邦蒂送到客房的客房服务晚餐剩下的部分。 她模仿着弗朗西斯的语气。 “你会需要的。” 她还觉得自己特别聪明呢！

She and Rupert were sitting on the floor- the Suite was large and grand, but comfy too, and had a bath the size of a small swimming pool. Dad had the room next door, but was currently downstairs with Hank, learning how to weld metal. "I can't believe Frances doesn't like being a star," mused Rupert, who was still reeling from the stench of Smarty's personal archive of unwashed vintage sportswear. "You would never guess. She's so... poised."

她和鲁珀特正坐在地板上——套房又大又气派，但是也很舒服，还有个小游泳池那么大的浴缸。 爸爸住在隔壁房间，不过现在正和汉克在楼下，学怎么焊接金属。 “我真不敢相信弗朗西斯不喜欢当明星，”鲁珀特若有所思地说，他刚才被斯玛蒂收藏的一堆没洗的复古运动服的臭味熏得现在还晕乎乎的。 谁都猜不到的。 她看起来那么……端庄稳重。”

Kate rolled her eyes and opened her notebook. "Let's recap. According to Penny, the newspaper had none of the rude mistakes when it arrived in her chute, and certainly not when it left, and we know that someone- Frances- was inside the Darkroom tampering." "Penny could be making it all up," said Rupert, loading a third helping of macaroni cheese onto his tiny plate. "She's the one who sees the paper last- couldn't it be her?" "You saw how upset she was," said Kate. "If that was an act, she should be on the stage. And she's very proud of her extraordinary eyesight- why would she make herself look bad?"

凯特翻了个白眼，翻开自己的笔记本。 “我们来梳理一下。 按照佩妮的说法，报纸送到她的传送槽的时候，还没有那些出格的错误，送出去的时候肯定也没有，而且我们知道有人——就是弗朗西斯——进过暗室搞破坏。” “也可能全是佩妮编的呀，”鲁珀特一边说，一边往自己的小盘子里盛第三份通心粉奶酪。 “她是最后一个碰报纸的人——说不定就是她干的呢？” “你也看见她有多难过了，”凯特说， “那要是演的，她都能去登台演戏了。 而且她对自己的好视力特别自豪，干嘛要做这种让自己丢脸的事？”