雪莉·霍姆斯和立陶宛青年案(txt+pdf+epub+mobi电子书下载)

作者：（英）珍妮弗·巴西特

出版社：外语教学与研究出版社

格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT

雪莉·霍姆斯和立陶宛青年案试读：

内容简介

在世界各地，你都可以找到像雪莉·霍姆斯这样的私人侦探。打开互联网，在谷歌搜索引擎上输入“私人侦探”，会出现680多万条搜索结果。

私人侦探会做各种各样的侦探工作。也许他们会寻找某个人的信息……那是他的真实姓名吗？他住在哪儿？之前住在哪里？有多大年纪？他真的在美国哈佛大学获得过学位？也许他们的工作是监视某个人……他去哪儿？他与谁见面？他们都谈些什么？也许某家公司在赔钱，但是没有人知道原因。私人侦探夜以继日地倾听和观察，最后找到答案。

那么立陶宛青年案是怎么回事呢？这是个人员失踪案。案中有个失踪的15岁女孩，叫卡丽·威廉斯。她有个新交的男朋友，来自立陶宛。案中还有一个哭泣的母亲，一个愤怒的父亲，还有一个伤心的弟弟。

五个星期前卡丽从伦敦的家中出走。她的母亲想让雪莉·霍姆斯找到她。雪莉对伦敦了如指掌，而且，她也能洞察人心……

SHIRLEY HOMES AND THE LITHUANIAN CASE

You can find private investigators like Shirley Homes anywhere in the world. Put the words 'private investigator' into a Google search on the Internet, and you get more than 6,800,000 hits.

Private investigators do all kinds of detective jobs. Perhaps they look for information about a person... Is that their real name? Where do they live? Where did they live before that? How old are they? Do they really have a university degree from Harvard, USA? Perhaps the job is watching somebody... Where do they go? Who do they meet? What do they talk about? Perhaps a business is losing money, but nobody understands why. A private investigator can listen and watch, day and night, and find an answer.

So what is the Lithuanian Case? It is a missing persons case. There is a missing daughter, Carrie Williams, aged fifteen. There is a new boyfriend, from Lithuania. There is a crying mother, there is an angry father, there is an unhappy little brother.

Carrie left her family home in London five weeks ago. Carrie's mother wants Shirley Homes to find her. Shirley knows London very well – but she also understands people...

1．A missing daughter

I look at my computer. I want to see the person before I open the door. The little camera over the door shows me a woman in a raincoat. About forty, maybe. Not rich. The raincoat is a cheap one, from the street market. She's carrying a newspaper, the Putney Gazette.

I hit the 'open door' button on the wall. The door opens, and the woman comes in.

'Are you the private investigator? Shirley Homes?' she asks. She looks around the office, probably looking for someone older.

'I am.' I use my older person voice. 'Please sit down, Mrs... er...'

'Williams. Edith Williams,' she says. She sits down in my best chair, and looks around the office again, still looking for that older person.

'How can I help you, Mrs Williams?' I say. 'What's your problem?'

She looks at me then, and the trouble in her face is clear.

'Do you find people?' she says. 'Can you find my daughter? She left home five weeks ago. Just walked out. Took all her things, and walked out. And not a word from her. No phone calls. Not even a text. Nothing.'The little camera over the door shows me a woman in a raincoat.

Edith Williams is nearly crying now.

'Why?' I ask.

I'm careful. Family problems can be dangerous. You open a door, and all kinds of dark and horrible things come out. And when those dark and horrible things are out, you can never put them back in again.

Edith Williams is still trying not to cry.

'Why, Mrs Williams?' I say again. 'Why did your daughter leave home? Was there an argument?'

'Not with me, no. It's her father, he...' Now she really is crying. Five weeks of crying, all in two minutes in my office.

I get her a cup of coffee, and sit on a chair next to her.

'Tell me all about it, Mrs Williams. Take your time.'

The daughter, Carrie, is fifteen, I learn. She likes boys, has lots of boyfriends, doesn't listen to her parents. So what's new? Many fifteen-year-old girls are like that.

But the new boyfriend, Edith Williams says, is older, and he's not English. He's a foreigner, from Lithuania.

I remember my Ukrainian grandmother, my Greek mother. Foreigners.

'Is that a problem for you?' I ask. 'A foreigner?''Tell me all about it, Mrs Williams. Take your time.'

'Not for me, but it is for my husband,' Edith Williams says. 'He doesn't like foreigners. They come here, he says, they take our jobs, they take our houses, they take our money. And they can't speak English. He gets very angry about it. He says some horrible things to Carrie. “I don't want this foreigner in my house,” he says, and Carrie goes crazy. She calls her father some horrible names, and he gets really angry. He's shouting, and Carrie's crying. They don't stop for hours.'

Edith Williams stops for a second. She can still hear the shouting and the crying, I think.

'And what happened next?' I ask quietly.

'The next day,' Mrs Williams says, 'Carrie left. Early in the morning, before we all got up. She left a letter.'

'Have you got the letter?' I ask.

'Yes, I have.' She gives the letter to me, and I read it quickly. An angry letter, from an angry fifteen-year-old. Nothing useful. I give the letter back to her.

'I asked all her friends,' Mrs Williams says. 'Everyone. They didn't know – or they didn't want to tell me. And she's stopped going to school.'

'What about the police?' I ask.

'I can't go to the police. My husband doesn't want to see her again. We can't even say her name at home.'

'We? Who's we?'

'Me and Darren. He's Carrie's little brother. He's ten. He's very unhappy about all this.''Carrie calls her father some horrible names, and he gets really angry. He's shouting, and Carrie's crying.'

I must meet Darren. Ten-year-old boys can be very useful. They see and hear a lot.

Edith Williams looks at me with her red eyes. 'Can you find her for me? I just want to know she's all right. And this boyfriend, this Lithuanian... What's he like? How old is he? What does he do? Is he kind? Is he the right person for my little girl?'

I take the job. I ask for a photograph of Carrie, the names of friends, the school, mobile phone numbers.

'Can I talk to Darren?' I ask.

'Yes, we can meet him after school,' Edith Williams says. 'But please don't come to my house. Please. My husband...'

'I understand,' I say. 'I can text you when I have some news.'

She doesn't know the name of the Lithuanian boyfriend. That's really helpful. There are thousands of Lithuanians in London. Finding one young man without a name in thousands of people? How easy is that!missing adj. lost, or not in the usual place 失踪的doorbell n. a bell on a house door which you push to tell the people inside you are there 门铃client n. a person who pays another person for help 客户；顾客business n. 1.your work, your job 工作；业务　2.making and selling things 生意；商务private investigator a detective who is not in the police, and who has private clients 私人侦探problem n. something that is difficult, or that worries you 困难；疑难问题trouble n. problems in your life which you are worried about 苦恼，烦恼walk out to leave (one's family or partner) and go to live somewhere else 离家出走text n. a written message on a mobile phone （手机）短信v. to send such a message 发送短信horrible adj. very unpleasant and often frightening or worrying 可怕的，吓人的argument n. talking angrily with someone because you do not agree 争执；争吵；争论really adv. 1. in fact, actually 事实上；真地 2. very or very much 非常take one's time do something slowly or do not hurry 慢慢来；不着急foreigner n. a person from another country 外国人crazy adj. very angry 非常生气的

1．失踪的女儿

我办公室的门铃响了。现在是周一早上9点10分，客户来访的话时间尚早。不过，也许这周的生意会不错。上周的生意不是很好，我需要些新的客户。

我看着电脑。我想先看清楚门外是谁再开门。安在门上方的那个小摄像机显示有一个穿着雨衣的女人。她40岁左右，不是有钱人，那件雨衣是从街头集市买的廉价货。她手里拿着一份《普特尼公报》。

我按下墙上的“开门”按钮。门开了，那个女人走了进来。“你就是那个私人侦探吗？叫雪莉·霍姆斯？”她问道。她环顾办公室，也许是在寻找一个年纪比我大的人。“我就是。”我用我听起来比实际年龄大的嗓音说：“请坐，呃……太太。”“威廉斯，伊迪丝·威廉斯。”她说。她在我最好的那把椅子上坐下来，然后环顾四周，仍然在寻找一个比我年纪大的人。“有什么需要我帮忙吗，威廉斯太太？”我问道。“您有什么困难？”

这时她才看着我，她的苦恼清晰地写在脸上。“你找人吗？”她问道，“你能替我找女儿吗？五个星期前她离开了家，就这样出走了。她拿走了自己所有的衣物，就再也没回来。至今都没有她的消息，也没打电话，甚至都没发一条短信。什么都没有。”

说到这儿，伊迪丝·威廉斯快要哭出来了。“为什么？”我问道。

我很谨慎。家庭问题可能会比较棘手。你打开一扇门，各种隐秘的和可怕的事情就都被抖搂出来。一旦那些隐秘的、可怕的事情被抖搂出来，你就再也无法把它们封存回去了。

伊迪丝·威廉斯还在强忍着眼泪。“为什么，威廉斯太太？”我再问一遍，“您女儿为什么离家出走？吵架了吗？”“不是跟我，不是。是跟她父亲，他……”这回她真的哭出来了。五个星期的眼泪啊，来我办公室两分钟之后全都倾倒出来了。

我给她倒了杯咖啡，坐到她旁边的椅子上。“把事情经过全告诉我吧，威廉斯太太。不着急，慢慢说。”

然后我得知，她失踪的女儿叫卡丽，15岁。她喜欢男孩子，有很多男朋友，不听父母的话。这有什么新鲜的呢？很多15岁的女孩都那样。

伊迪丝·威廉斯说，但是她新交的这个男朋友比她大，而且不是英国人。他来自立陶宛。

我想起我的祖母是乌克兰人，我母亲是希腊人。她们都是外国人。“这对你来说是个问题吗？”我问，“外国人？”“对我来说不是问题，但是对我丈夫来说是个问题。”伊迪丝·威廉斯说，“他不喜欢外国人。他说他们来这里，抢走了我们的工作，占领了我们的房子，拿走了我们的钱。而且他们不会说英语。他对此感到非常气愤。他对卡丽说了些难听的话。他说：‘我不要让这个外国人出现在我家里。’卡丽气疯了。她用很难听的话骂她父亲，他气坏了。他在大吼大叫，卡丽在哭。他们吵了好几个小时。”

伊迪丝·威廉斯沉默了一会儿。我想，她耳边仍然能听到吼叫声和哭泣声吧。“后来发生什么呢？”我轻声问。“第二天，”威廉斯太太接着说道，“卡丽走了。趁我们都还没起床，一大早就走了。她留下了一封信。”“信您带来了吗？”我问。“有，我带来了。”她把信递给我，我飞快扫了一眼信的内容。字里行间充满了愤怒，出自一个愤怒的15岁少女之手。没有什么有用的信息。我把信还给她。“我问了她所有的朋友。”威廉斯太太说，“每个朋友都询问过了。她们都不知道，或者她们不想告诉我。她已经不去上学了。”“警察那边有什么消息？”我问。“我不能去警察局报警。我丈夫不想再见到她。我们在家里甚至不能提她的名字。”“我们？‘我们’是谁？”“我和达伦。他是卡丽的弟弟，今年10岁。现在发生的这一切让他非常伤心。”

我必须见见达伦。10岁的孩子也许可以帮上大忙。很多事情都逃不过他们的眼睛和耳朵。

伊迪丝·威廉斯用红肿的眼睛看着我。“您能帮我找到我女儿吗？我只是想知道她没事。还有，她的这个男朋友，这个立陶宛人……他长什么样？多大了？他是做什么工作的？他人好吗？他适合我女儿吗？”

我接下了这活儿，向她要了一张卡丽的照片、卡丽朋友们的名字、学校的名字和所有相关人员的手机号码。“我能跟达伦谈谈吗？”我问道。“可以，我们可以去接他放学。”伊迪丝·威廉斯说，“不过，请不要去我家。千万别去。我丈夫……”“我明白，”我说，“有消息的话，我可以给你发短信。”

她不知道她女儿的那个立陶宛男朋友的名字。名字可是真正有用的线索。伦敦有成千上万的立陶宛人。从这成千上万人当中找到一个不知道名字的年轻人？谈何容易！

2．Help from friends

'That's Janice – look!' says Darren. 'The girl with long black hair. She's very friendly with Carrie. And that's Kim, next to her. I like Kim. She's funny, she makes me laugh. Ooh, and that's Ant. See – the one with very short hair and black clothes.'

'Ant? What name is that? Anthea?'

'Don't know,' says Darren. 'She's just Ant.'

I take a quick photo of the three girls, and then I take Darren for a pizza to say thank you.

'Can you find my sister?' he says. 'It's horribly quiet at home without her. Nobody ever laughs now. Mum cries all night. I hear her.'

I look at his small boy face. 'Yup. I can find her.'

That evening I phone my friend in the police. He's a detective– Detective Sergeant Saheed Patel.

'Hi, Saheed, how are you?'We sit in my car and watch the students when they leave.'Can you find my sister?' Darren says.

'Fine. What's new with you?' Saheed says. 'Are you working on a case?'

'Yes, I've got a missing persons case – a missing girl. Her mother came to me today. The girl left home five weeks ago after an argument with her father about her boyfriend... a Lithuanian boyfriend.'

'How old is the girl?' Saheed asks.

'Fifteen.'

'Oh dear.' Saheed is not surprised. 'Every day we get missing persons reports – do you know how many?'

'No. Tell me. How many?'

'The police in Britain get about 1,000 reports every day,' Saheed says. 'And nearly one third of those are young people between the ages of fifteen and seventeen. When did the mother make the report to the police?'

'She didn't. The girl's father doesn't want to see her again,' I say. 'So, no police, no missing persons report, and no looking for her. That's what the mother told me.'

'OK. Be careful, Shirley. The girl's only fifteen. She can't get married before she's sixteen, and the law says—'

'I know all that, Saheed! I know the law!'

'Of course you do. Sorry.' There's a smile in Saheed's voice. 'So what do you want from me?'

'Can you help with the Lithuanian boyfriend?' I say. 'Where do I look for him? Can you give me some names? People to talk to.'There's a smile in Saheed's voice.

'Maybe. But there are about 200,000 Lithuanians in London. When do you want this? I have work to do, you know.'

'I'm going to try the girl's school friends first,' I say. 'Can you do it in a day or two? Text me when you have something.'

'OK. Bye now.'

The next day at four o'clock, I'm outside Carrie's school. I have my photo of the three girls, and I soon see them. They're standing, all three of them, in the street, looking at their mobile phones and laughing. I walk over to them.

'Hi, guys,' I say. 'You're friends of Carrie Williams, right? I need your help.'

'Carrie Williams?' says the girl called Ant. 'Who's she?'

I watch the girls' faces. They know Carrie, all right. And they know she's missing. But how much do they know?

'Ah, come on,' I say. 'You're Carrie's best friends. I'm looking for her. I need to find her.'

'And who are you?' asks the girl called Janice.

I give them my card.

The girl called Kim laughs. 'Shirley Homes? Are you the granddaughter of Sherlock Holmes or something?'

I smile. I get this all the time, again and again. And again. 'Great-great-granddaughter. He lived in the 1890s.'

'Wow! Really? That is awesome!' says Kim.

Janice and Ant laugh. 'Kim, you idiot! Sherlock Holmes wasn't a real person. He's just a detective in stories on television.'

'Er, and in books,' I say. 'The books were first.'

The girls look at me, and their faces are more friendly now.

'OK, Shirley Homes, great-great-granddaughter of Sherlock,' says Ant. 'How can we help you? Who are you looking for? What was her name again?'

Ant is going to be difficult, I can see that. She's a good friend of Carrie's, and she's not going to talk.

'Do you have mothers?' I say. 'All three of you?'

The girls stare at me. 'Of course we have mothers,' says Janice. 'What are you talking about?'

'Do you love your mothers? Do your mothers love you?' I say. 'Well, listen. Carrie's mother loves her daughter. And now Carrie's mother can't sleep at night. She doesn't eat. She cries about Carrie all the time. She wants to know that Carrie is all right. Can you understand that? She just wants to know.'

Kim looks at me with big eyes. 'Oh, poor Mrs Williams!' she says.

Ant gives her an angry look. 'We don't know Carrie Williams!' she says. 'Remember?'

Janice looks at me. 'Give us a minute,' she says. 'We need to talk.'

They move away, turn their backs to me, and talk quietly. I can't hear them. Then they come back to me.

'OK,' says Ant. 'What do you want?'

'You know Café Nero in Putney High Street?' I say. 'Tell Carrie this. I'm going to be in Café Nero at 18.30 tomorrow evening, and 18.30 the evening after that. I want to see her and talk to her. I want to know she's alive and well. That's all. Then I can tell her mother, and Mrs Williams can stop crying all night.'

'OK,' Ant says. 'We got it.'

'Thanks, guys,' I say. 'See you around.'

'See you,' they say.Ant gives Kim an angry look. 'We don't know Carrie Williams!'funny adj. making you laugh or smile 风趣的；滑稽的horribly adv. very 非常detective n. a person whose job is to find out who did a crime 侦探case n. an event or set of events that need to be dealt with by the police in order to find out if a crime has been committed and who committed it 案件，案子surprised adj. feeling or showing surprised 惊讶的；吃惊的report n. information (written or spoken) about something that has happened （书面或口头的）报告law (the law) n. all the rules of a country 法律guys n. (pl. inf.) used when speaking to a group of people （常用复数；非正式）伙计们；兄弟们；姐妹们card (business card) n. a small piece of card with your name, address, phone number, etc. on it 名片awesome adj. (inf.) very good, great, enjoyable （非正式）非常好的；棒极了的idiot n. a stupid person 白痴；傻子；笨蛋stare v. to look at somebody or something for a long time 盯着；凝视

2．朋友们的帮助

不用说，我先从卡丽着手。我知道她的名字，有她的照片，知道她的学校。达伦一出校门，我便迎了上去，然后我们一起去了卡丽的学校。我们坐在我的车里，看着学生们从学校走出来。“那是贾尼丝——看！”达伦说，“那个黑色长发的女孩。她跟卡丽的关系非常好。她旁边是金。我喜欢金，她很风趣，总是逗得我大笑。哦，那是安特。看见了吗？短头发，穿黑色衣服的那个。”“安特？全名是什么？安西娅吗？”“不知道，”达伦说，“我们都叫她安特。”

我迅速拍了张这三个姑娘的照片，然后带达伦去吃比萨饼，以示感谢。“你能找到我姐姐吗？”达伦问，“她不在家，家里安静得可怕。现在家里看不到笑容。妈妈整夜地哭，我听见的。”

我看着这个小男孩的脸，说：“没问题，我能找到她。”

当天晚上，我给警察局的一个朋友打了个电话。他是个侦缉警长———萨希德·帕特尔探长。“嗨，萨希德，你好吗？”“还行。你最近怎么样？”萨希德问，“在办案子吗？”“是的，我接了一桩失踪案——一个失踪女孩的案子。她妈妈今天来找我。那个女孩五个星期前因为她的男朋友而跟她爸爸大吵了一架，然后离家出走了……她的男朋友是个立陶宛人。”“那个女孩多大？”萨希德问。“15岁。”“哦。”萨希德并不吃惊。“我们每天都会接到有人失踪的报案——你知道有多少吗？”“不知道。快告诉我吧，有多少？”“英国的警察局每天大约接到1,000起人员失踪的报案，”萨希德说，“其中将近三分之一的失踪人员是年龄在15岁到17岁的年轻人。那个妈妈是什么时候向警察局报案的？”“她没有报案。女孩的爸爸不想再见到自己的女儿。”我说，“所以，没有警察介入，没有人员失踪报案，也没有人去找她。这是那位妈妈告诉我的。”“好吧。雪莉，你要小心点。那个女孩只有15岁。她要到16岁才能结婚，而且根据法律……”“这些我都知道，萨希德。我懂法律的！”“你当然知道了，抱歉。”萨希德笑着说，“那么，你想要我帮你做怎么？”“你能在那个立陶宛男朋友方面帮我提供一点信息吗？”我问，“我该去哪儿找他？你能提供一些人名吗？那些可以见面谈谈的人。”“也许可以。不过，伦敦大约有20万立陶宛人。你什么时候要？我手头还有工作，你知道的。”“我打算先去试着见见那个女孩在学校里的朋友。”我说，“你能在一两天内搞定吗？如果你有什么消息，就给我发短信吧。”“好的。那么，再见。”

第二天下午4点，我等在卡丽的学校外边。我拿着那三个女孩的照片，很快就看到了她们。她们三个人站在街上，边看各自的手机边笑。我向她们走过去。“嗨，姑娘们，”我说，“你们是卡丽·威廉斯的朋友，对吧？我需要你们的帮助。”“卡丽·威廉斯？”那个叫安特的女孩说，“她是谁？”

我留神观察姑娘们的脸。她们肯定认识卡丽，而且她们知道她失踪了。但是，她们知道多少呢？“哎，得了吧，”我说，“你们是卡丽最好的朋友。我正在找她。我必须找到她。”“那么你是谁？”叫贾尼丝的女孩问道。

我把名片递给了她们。

叫金的女孩笑了起来。“雪莉·霍姆斯？你是那个叫歇洛克·福尔摩斯还是什么的人的孙女吗？”

我笑了。我总是碰到这样的问题，一次又一次。这次又是这样。“应该是曾曾孙女。他生活在19世纪90年代。”“哇！真的吗？那可太棒了！”金说道。

贾尼丝和安特笑起来。“金，你这个傻瓜！世界上没有歇洛克·福尔摩斯。他只是电视剧里的一个侦探。”“呃，也出现在书里，”我说，“先出版的是书。”

女孩们看着我，此时她们脸上的表情友善多了。“好吧，雪莉·霍姆斯，歇洛克的曾曾孙女，”安特说，“我们能帮你做什么？你在找谁？你再说一遍，她叫什么来着？”

看得出来，安特是个很难对付的人。她是卡丽的好朋友，她不会说的。“你们有妈妈吗？”我问，“你们三个？”三个女孩盯着我。“我们当然有妈妈了，”贾尼丝说，“你在说什么呢？”“你们爱妈妈吗？你们的妈妈爱你们吗？”我说，“嗯，听着。卡丽的妈妈爱她的女儿。她现在夜不能寐，也不吃东西，一直为卡丽哭泣。她想知道卡丽是不是平安无事。你们能理解吗？她只是想知道女儿的近况。”

金瞪大眼睛看着我。“噢，可怜的威廉斯太太！”她说道。

安特生气地瞪了她一眼。“我们不认识卡丽·威廉斯！”她说，“记得吗？”

贾尼丝看着我。“等我们一会儿，”她说，“我们需要谈一谈。”

她们走到一旁，背对着我小声交谈。我听不见她们在说什么。过了一会儿，她们回到我面前。“好吧，”安特说，“你想要知道什么？”“你们知道普特尼大街上的尼罗咖啡馆吧？”我说，“告诉卡丽，我明天晚上6点30分会在尼罗咖啡馆，后天晚上6点30分也会在那里。我想见她，想跟她聊聊。我想知道她还活着，过得不错。如此而已。然后我就可以告诉她妈妈，让威廉斯太太不用再整晚整晚地哭泣了。”“好的，”安特说，“我们明白了。”

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