It was a shot in the dark, but already he had this firm instinctive sense that there was something wrong, though he hadn't yet attached the word "murder" to the instinct. Kurtz had a cup of coffee halfway to his lips and Martins watched him. The shot apparently went wide; an unaffected hand held the cup to the mouth and Kurtz drank, a little noisily, in long sips. Then he put down the cup and said, "How do you mean—queer?"
"It was convenient for the police to have a corpse, but wouldn't it have been equally convenient perhaps for the real racketeers?" When he had spoken he realised that after all Kurtz had not been unaffected by his wild statement: hadn't he been frozen into caution and calm? The hands of the guilty don't necessarily tremble: only in stories does a dropped glass betray agitation. Tension is more often shown in the studied action. Kurtz had finished his coffee as though nothing had been said.
"Well," he took another sip, "of course I wish you luck, though I don't believe there's anything to find. Just ask me for any help you want."
"I want Cooler's address."
"Certainly. I'll write it down for you. Here it is. In the American zone."
"And yours?"
"I've already put it—underneath—in the Russian zone."
He rose, giving one of his studied Viennese smiles, the charm carefully painted in with a fine brush in the little lines about the mouth and eyes. "Keep in touch," he said, "and if you need help ... but I still think you are very unwise." He picked up The Lone Rider. "I'm so proud to have met you. A master of suspense," and one hand smoothed the toupee, while another passing softly over the mouth brushed out the smile, as though it had never been.
5
MARTINS SAT on a hard chair (Мартинс сидел на жестком стуле) just inside the stage door of the Josefstadt Theatre (прямо внутри служебного входа Йозефштадтского театра; stage — сцена; door — дверь; stage door — служебный вход в театр). He had sent up his card to Anna Schmidt after the matinee (он послал «вверх» свою карточку к Анне Шмидт после утреннего сеанса; to send — посылать), marking it (подписав ее) "a friend of Harry's" (друг Гарри). An arcade of little windows (аркада маленьких окон), with lace curtains (с тюлевыми занавесками) and the lights going out one after another (и лампами, гаснущими одна за другой) showed where the artists were packing up for home (показывали, где артисты собирались, чтобы идти домой; to pack up — упаковывать), for the cup of coffee without sugar (для чашки кофе без сахара = чтобы выпить там…), the roll without butter (булочки без масла) to sustain them for the evening performance (чтобы поддержать их для вечернего представления). It was like a little street built indoors for a film set (это было подобно маленькой улице, построенной внутри для съемочной площадки;