| “There she is—on the power barge,” Ohls said, pointing with one of his toy cigars. | — Eno ga ondje, na motornoj teglenici — kazao je Ohls, upirući jednu od svojih dječjih cigara. |
| A low black barge with a wheelhouse like a tug’s was crouched against the pilings at the end of the pier. Something that glistened in the morning sunlight was on its deck, with hoist chains still around it, a large black and chromium car. The arm of the hoist had been swung back into position and lowered to deck level. Men stood around the car. We went down slippery steps to the deck. | Niska crna teglenica s kormilarnicom nalik na remor-kerovu, šćućurila se uz pilote na kraju mola. Nešto što je blistalo na jutarnjem suncu bilo je na njenoj palubi, s lancima za podizanje još uvijek omotanim oko sebe: veliki crni i kromirani automobil. Samarica je bila zaokrenuta natrag u osnovni položaj i spuštena do razine palube. Oko automobila su stajali nekakvi ljudi. Spustili smo se na palubu niz klizave stepenice. |
| Ohls said hello to a deputy in green khaki and a man in plain clothes. The barge crew of three men leaned against the front of the wheelhouse and chewed tobacco. One of them was rubbing at his wet hair with a dirty bath-towel. That would be the man who had gone down into the water to put the chains on. | Ohls je pozdravio šerif ova zamjenika u zelenoj uniformi i nekog čovjeka u civilnom odijelu. Tročlana se posada teglenice naslonila na kormilarnicu i žvakala duhan. Jedan je od njih trljao vlažnu kosu prljavim ručnikom za kupa- nje,, To je valjda bio onaj koji je ušao u vodu da bi postavio lance. |
| We looked the car over. The front bumper was bent, one headlight smashed, the other bent up but the glass still unbroken. The radiator shell had a big dent in it, and the paint and nickel were scratched up all over the car. The upholstery was sodden and black. None of the tires seemed to be damaged. | Pregledali smo kola. Prednji je odbojnik bio svinut, jedan far smrskan, drugi izvijen, iako se staklo nije slomilo. Na maski hladnjaka bila je velika rasparotina, a boja i nikal bili su izgrebeni po čitavom automobilu. Prevlake su bile promočene i crne. Činilo se da ni jedna guma nije oštećena. |
| The driver was still draped around the steering post with his head at an unnatural angle to his shoulders. He was a slim dark-haired kid who had been good-looking not so long ago. Now his face was bluish white and his eyes were a faint dull gleam under the lowered lids and his open-mouth had sand in it. On the left side of his forehead there was a dull bruise that stood out against the whiteness of the skin. | Vozač je još uvijek poput krpe visio s volana dok mu je glava bila neprirodno nagnuta prema ramenima. Bio je to vitak tamnokos klinjo još ne tako davno prilično lijepa izgleda. Sad mu je lice bilo plavičastobijelo, a oči su mu bile slabašni zeleni odsjaj pod spuštenim kapcima; u ustima mu je bio pijesak. Na lijevoj je strani čela bila tamna masnica što se isticala na bjelini kože. |
| Ohls backed away, made a noise in his throat and put a match to his little cigar. “What’s the story?” | Ohls je odstupio, proizveo nekakav zvuk u grlu i pri-nio šibicu svojoj majušnoj cigari. — Kako ide priča? |
| The uniformed man pointed up at the rubbernecks on the end of the pier. One of them was fingering a place where the white two-by-fours had been broken through in a wide space. The splintered wood showed yellow and clean, like fresh-cut pine. | Uniformirani je upro prstom u zrakala na kraju mola. Jedan je od njih opipavao mjesto gdje je u širokom potezu bila probijena bijela greda. Pokazalo se rascijepano drvo, žuto i čisto, nalik na svježe odsječen bor. |
| “Went through there. Must have hit pretty hard. The rain stopped early down here, around nine p.m. The broken wood’s dry inside. That puts it after the rain stopped. She fell in plenty of water not to be banged up worse, not more than half tide or she’d have drifted farther, and not more than half tide going out or she’d have crowded the piles. That makes it around ten last night. Maybe nine-thirty, not earlier. She shows under the water when the boys come down to fish this morning, so we get the barge to hoist her out and we find the dead guy.” | — Prošao ovuda. Mora da je prilično jako udario. Ovdje je dolje kiša rano prestala, oko devet uveče. Slomljeno je drvo iznutra suho. To dakle veli, nakon što je kiša stala. Pao je u obilje vode kad se nije gore razbio, i nije bilo više od polovice oseke jer bi ga otplavila dalje, niti više od polovice plime jer bi ga vratilo na stupove. To upućuje na sinoć oko deset. Možda devet i pol, ne ranije. Pokazao se ispod vode kad su se momci jutros spustili na pecanje, i tako smo uzeli teglenicu da ga izvuče i pronašli tog mrtvog tipa. |
| The plainclothesman scuffed at the deck with the toe of his shoe. Ohls looked sideways along his eyes at me, and twitched his little cigar like a cigarette. | Policajac je u civilu zastrugao palcem po palubi. Ohls me pogledao postrance i frcnuo svoju malu cigaru kao da je cigareta. |
| “Drunk?” he asked, of nobody in particular. | — Pijan? — upitao je nikoga posebno. |
| The man who had been toweling his head went over to the rail and cleared his throat in a loud hawk that made everybody look at him. “Got some sand,” he said, and spat. “Not as much as the boyfriend got—but some.” | Čovjek koji je brisao glavu prešao je do ograde i pročistio grlo glasnim hrakanjem, koje je navelo sve da pogledaju prema njemu. — Nagutao sam se pijeska — rekao je i pljunuo. — Ne kao taj prijatelj, ali ipak. |
| The uniformed man said: “Could have been drunk. Showing off all alone in the rain. Drunks will do anything.” | Uniformirani je rekao: — Mogao je biti pijan. Producirati se sam na kiši. Pijani su za sve sposobni. |
| “Drunk, hell,” the plainclothesman said. “The hand throttle’s set halfway down and the guy’s been sapped on the side of the head. Ask me and I’ll call it murder.” | — Pijan, đavola — kazao je policajac u civilu. — Ručni gas napola spušten a tip bubnut u glavu. Ako mene pitate, to je umorstvo. |
| Ohls looked at the man with the towel. “What do you think, buddy?” | Ohls je pogledao čovjeka s ručnikom. — Što ti misliš, bratac? |
| The man with the towel looked flattered. He grinned. “I say suicide, Mac. None of my business, but you ask me, I say suicide. First off the guy plowed an awful straight furrow down that pier. You can read his tread marks all the way nearly. That puts it after the rain like the Sheriff said. Then he hit the pier hard and clean or he don’t go through and land right side up. More likely turned over a couple of times. So he had plenty of speed and hit the rail square. That’s more than half-throttle. He could have done that with his hand falling and he could have hurt his head falling too.” | Čovjek s ručnikom je djelovao polaskano. Nacerio se. — Ja velim samoubojstvo, Mac. Nije moj posao, no vi ste pitali, i velim samoubojstvo. Kao prvo, tip je zaorao grozno ravnu brazdu niz taj molo. Možete mu očitati tragove skoro čitavim putem. To onda znači poslije kiše, kako je rekao šerif. Dakle je potrefio molo čisto i oštro, inače ne bi prošao i pao dolje s pravom stranom gore. Prije bi se okrenuo nekoliko puta. Dakle je imao obilatu brzinu i pogodio ogradu okomito. A to je više od pola gasa. Mogao je to učiniti rukom dok je padao, a dok je padao mogao se nabiti i u glavu. |
| Ohls said: “You got eyes, buddy. Frisked him?” he asked the deputy. The deputy looked at me, then at the crew against the wheelhouse. “Okay, save that,” Ohls said. | Ohls je rekao: — Bog ti je dao oči. Prepipali ga? — upitao je šerifova zamjenika. Zamjenik je pogledao mene, pa posadu uz kormilarnicu. — Okej, spremi to — kazao je Ohls. |
| A small man with glasses and a tired face and a black bag came down the steps from the pier. He picked out a fairly clean spot on the deck and put the bag down. Then he took his hat off and rubbed the back of his neck and stared out to sea, as if he didn’t know where he was or what he had come for. | Niz stepenice je s mola sišao čovječuljak s naočalama, umornim licem i crnom torbom. Pronašao je donekle čisto mjesto na palubi i spustio torbu. Tada je skinuo šešir, pro-trljao šiju i zagledao se u more kao da ne zna ni gdje se nalazi ni zbog čega je došao. |
| Ohls said: “There’s your customer, Doc. Dove off the pier last night. Around nine to ten. That’s all we know.” | Ohls je rekao: — Ovdje vam je mušterija, doktore. Zaronio s mola prošle noći. Oko devet do deset. To je sve što znamo. |
| The small man looked in at the dead man morosely. He fingered the head, peered at the bruise on the temple, moved the head around with both hands, felt the man’s ribs. He lifted a lax dead hand and stared at the fingernails. He let it fall and watched it fall. He stepped back and opened his bag and took out a printed pad of D.O.A. forms and began to write over a carbon. | Čovječuljak je mrzovoljno pogledao mrtvaca. Opipao mu je glavu, zirnuo u masnicu na čelu, zaokružio mu glavu objema rukama, pipnuo mu rebra. Podigao je mlohavu mrtvu ruku i zapiljio se u nokte. Zatim ju je pustio da padne i promatrao kako pada. Otkoračio je, otvorio torbu, izvadio blok otisnutih mrtvačkih lista i počeo pisati preko indiga. |
| “Broken neck’s the apparent cause of death,” he said, writing. “Which means there won’t be much water in him. Which means he’s due to start getting stiff pretty quick now he’s out in the air. Better get him out of the car before he does. You won’t like doing it after.” | — Prebijen je vrat očiti uzrok smrti — rekao je pišući. — Što znači da u tipu neće biti mnogo vode. Što znači da bi se prilično brzo morao početi kočiti, sad kad je na zraku. Bolje ga izvucite iz automobila dok to nije učinio. Neće vam to biti drago raditi kasnije. |
| Ohls nodded. “How long dead, Doc?” | Ohls je kimnuo. — Kako clugo mrtav, doktore? |
| “I wouldn’t know.” | — Ne bih znao. |
| Ohls looked at him sharply and took the little cigar out of his mouth and looked at that sharply. “Pleased to know you, Doc. A coroner’s man that can’t guess within five minutes has me beat.” | Ohls ga je oštro pogledao pa izvadio malu cigaru iz us-tiju da bi i nju pogledao na isti način. — Drago mi je što smo se upoznali, doktore. Mrtvozornikov čovjek koji ne može pogoditi za pet minuta ... to ne spajani. |
| The little man grinned sourly and put his pad in his bag and clipped his pencil back on his vest. “If he ate dinner last night, I’ll tell you—if I know what time he ate it. But not within five minutes.” | Čovječuljak se kiselo nasmiješio pa stavio blok u torbu a olovku zatakao natrag u prsluk. — Ako je sinoć večerao, reći ću vam, ako znam kad je jeo. Ali ne za pet minuta. |
| “How would he get that bruise—falling?” | — Kako je mogao pokupiti tu masnicu? Padajući? |
| The little man looked at the bruise again. “I don’t think so. That blow came from something covered. And it had already bled subcutaneously while he was alive.” | Čovječuljak je ponovno pogledao modricu. — Mislim da ne. Udarac je došao nečim umotanim. I došlo je do pot-kožnog krvarenja dok je još bio živ. |
| “Blackjack, huh?” | — Pajser, ha? |
| “Very likely.” | — Vrlo vjerojatno. |
| The little M.E.’s man nodded, picked his bag off deck and went back up the steps to the pier. An ambulance was backing into position outside the stucco arch. Ohls looked at me and said: “Let’s go. Hardly worth the ride, was it?” | Mali je sudski liječnik kimnuo, pokupio torbu s palube i vratio se uz stepenice na molo. Ambulantna su kola natraške zauzimala poziciju izvan ožbukane nadstrešnice. Ohls me pogledao i rekao: — Idemo. Jedva vrijedno vožnje, zar ne? |
| We went back along the pier and got into Ohls’ sedan again. He wrestled it around on the highway and drove back towards town along a three-lane highway washed clean by the rain, past low rolling hills of yellow-white sand terraced with pink moss. Seaward a few gulls wheeled and swooped over something in the surf and far out a white yacht looked as if it was hanging in the sky. | Vratili smo se niz molo ušli u Ohlsovu limuzinu. Uhvatio se s njom ukoštac i zavrnuo je na cesti pa zatim povezao natrag prema gradu auto-cestom s tri staze, umivenom kišom, pokraj uzburkanih brežuljaka blijedožutog pijeska1, razbijenog u terase ružičastom mahovinom. Prema pučini, nekoliko je galebova kružilo i sunovraćivalo se prema nečemu u pjeni valova, a daleko dalje, bijela je jahta izgledala kao da visi o nebu. |
