"Who's Koch?"
He explained how he had returned to Harry's flat and he described his interview with Koch, the story of the third man.
"If it's true," she said, "it's very important."
"It doesn't prove anything. After all, Koch backed out of the inquest, so might this stranger."
"That's not the point," she said. "It means that they lied. Kurtz and Cooler."
"They might have lied so as not to inconvenience this fellow—if he was a friend."
"Yet another friend—on the spot. And where's your Cooler's honesty then?"
"What do we do? He clamped down like an oyster and turned me out of his flat."
"He won't turn me out," she said, "or his Ilse won't."
They walked up the long road to the flat together: the snow clogged on their shoes and made them move slowly like convicts weighed down by irons. Anna Schmidt said, "Is it far?"
"Not very far now. Do you see that knot of people up the road? It's somewhere about there." The group of people up the road was like a splash of ink on the whiteness that flowed, changed shape, spread out. When they came a little nearer Martins said, "I think that is his block. What do you suppose this is, a political demonstration?"
Anna Schmidt stopped (Анна Шмидт остановилась): she said, "Who else have you told about Koch (кому еще ты рассказал про Коха)?"
"Only you and Cooler (только тебе и Кулеру). Why (а что: «почему»)?"
"I'm frightened (я испугана). It reminds me (это напоминает мне)..." She had her eyes fixed on the crowd (она пристально смотрела на толпу: «она имела свои глаза уставленными на толпу») and he never knew what memory out of her confused past had risen to warn her (и он так и не узнал: «он никогда узнал», какое воспоминание из ее запутанного прошлого поднялось, чтобы предупредить ее; to rise — подниматься). "Let's go away (давай уйдем прочь)," she implored him (она умоляла его = взмолилась она).
"You're crazy (ты сумасшедшая). We're on to something here (мы напали на что-то), something big (что-то большое)..."
"I'll wait for you (я подожду тебя)."
"But you're going to talk to him (но ты собираешься поговорить с ним)."
"Find out first what all those people (выведай сначала, что все эти люди…; to find out — выведать: «найти наружу»)..." She said strangely for one who worked behind the footlights (она сказала странно для человека, который работал за рампой), "I hate crowds (я ненавижу толпы)."
He walked slowly on alone (он пошел дальше медленно, один), the snow caking on his heels (/при том, что/ снег налипал на его каблуки; cake — кекс; пирожное; торт; to cake — затвердевать, спекаться; покрывать, облеплять, заляпать /грязью, краской и т. п./