Театр жестокости - [3]

AH, YES, CORRECT (АХ, ДА, ВЕРНО).

Death sharpened his scythe (заточил свою косу). It was the first time he’d ever helped the police with their enquiries (это было в первый раз, когда он помог полиции с ее делами; enquiry – дело, проблема, вопрос). Still, everyone had a job to do (хотя, у всех есть работа, которую нужно делать).

And on the magical Discworld, there is always one guaranteed witness to any homicide. It’s his job.

Constable Carrot, the Watch’s youngest member, often struck people as simple. And he was. He was incredibly simple, but in the same way that a sword is simple, or an ambush is simple. He was also possibly the most linear thinker in the history of the universe.

He’d been waiting by the bedside of an old man, who’d quite enjoyed the company. And now it was time to take out his notebook.

“Now I know you saw something, sir,” he said. “You were there.”

WELL, YES, said Death. I HAVE TO BE, YOU KNOW. BUT THIS IS VERY IRREGULAR.

“You see, sir,” said Corporal Carrot, “as I understand the law, you are an Accessory After The Fact. Or possibly Before The Fact.”

YOUNG MAN, I AM THE FACT.

“And I am an officer of the Law,” said Corporal Carrot. “There’s got to be a law, you know.”

YOU WANT ME TO… ER… GRASS SOMEONE UP? DROP A DIME ON SOMEONE? SING LIKE A PIGEON? NO. NO-ONE KILLED MR. SLUMBER. I CAN’T HELP YOU THERE.

“Oh, I don’t know, sir,” said Carrot, “I think you have.”

DAMN.

Death watched Carrot leave, ducking his head as he went down the narrow stairs of the hovel.

NOW THEN, WHERE WAS I…

“Excuse me,” said the wizened old man in the bed. “I happen to be 107, you know. I haven’t got all day.”

AH, YES, CORRECT.

Death sharpened his scythe. It was the first time he’d ever helped the police with their enquiries. Still, everyone had a job to do.

Corporal Carrot strolled easily around the town (капрал Моркоу прогуливался по городу). He had a Theory (у него была Теория). He’d read a book about Theories (он читал книгу о Теориях). You added up all the clues, and you got a Theory (вы складывали все улики и получали Теорию). Everything had to fit (все должно совпасть).

There were sausages (там были сосиски). Someone had to buy sausages (кто-то должен был купить сосиски). And then there were pennies (и были центовики). Normally only one subsection of the human race paid for things in pennies (обычно только одна категория человеческой расы платила за вещи центовиками).

He called in at a sausage maker (он зашел к сосисочнику; call in – зайти, заскочить). He found a group of children, and chatted to them for a while (он обнаружил группу детей и поболтал с ними немного).

Then he ambled back to the alley (затем легким шагом он вернулся в аллею), where Corporal Nobbs had chalked the outline of the corpse on the ground (где копрал Шнобби нарисовал мелом контур трупа на земле) (colouring it in (разукрасив его), and adding a pipe and a walking stick (пририсовав трубку и трость) and some trees and bushes in the background (и несколько деревьев и кустарников на заднем плане)—people had already dropped 7p in his helmet (люди уже кинули 7 центов в его шлем)). He paid some attention to the heap of rubbish at the far end (он обратил внимание на кучу мусора в дальнем конце), and then sat down on a busted barrel (и затем сел на сломанную бочку).

“All right… you can come out now (хорошо, вы можете выходить),” he said, to the world at large (сказал он миру в целом = в пустоту). “I didn’t know there were any gnomes left in the world (не знал, что еще остались номы в мире).”

The rubbish rustled (мусор затрещал). They trooped out (они все вышли; troop – двигаться толпой)—the little man with the red hat (маленький мужчина в красной шляпе), the hunched back and the hooked nose (сгорбленной спиной и кривым носом), the little woman in the mob cap carrying the even smaller baby (маленькая женщина в домашнем чепце, несшая на руках еще более маленького ребенка), the little policeman (маленький полицейский), the dog with the ruff around its neck (собака с гривой вокруг шеи), and the very small alligator (и очень маленький аллигатор).

Corporal Carrot sat and listened.

“He made us do it (он вынудил нас сделать это),” said the little man. He had a surprisingly deep voice (у него был на удивление глубокий голос). “He used to beat us (он бил нас). Even the alligator (даже аллигатора). That was all he understood, hitting things with sticks (это все, что он понимал — бить все палкой). And he used to take all the money the dog Toby collected and get drunk (и он забирал все деньги, которые собирал пес Тоби, и напивался). And then we ran away and he caught us in the alley (а затем мы убежали, а он поймал нас в аллее) and started on Judy and the baby and he fell over and (и принялся за Джуди с малышом, и он споткнулся и упал и; fall over – споткнуться обо что-л. и упасть) —”

“Who hit him first (кто ударил его первым)?” said Carrot.

“All of us (все мы)!”

“But not very hard (но не очень сильно),” said Carrot. “You’re all too small (вы слишком маленькие). You didn’t kill him (вы не убивали его). I have a very convincing statement about that (у меня есть очень убедительные показания по этому поводу). So I went and had another look at him (поэтому я пошел и взглянул на него еще раз). He’d choked to death (он задохнулся). What’s this (что это)?”