谎言书：02

. . . seven . . . six . . . five . . .

The dog began to growl¹. She could smell death coming. But Ellis ignored the

noise, peacefully reading from the bill of lading: the container’s new tracking

number, the receiver’s name (had to be fake) — everything the Leadership

needed.

. . . four . . . three . . . two . . .

Still flat on his stomach and now with his mouth wide open, Zhao gave a final

hollow gasp² that sounded like the last bits of water being sucked down a

drain. Ellis’s great-grandfather described the same sound in his diary — right

after he mentioned there was no antidote³ for hemlock⁴ poisoning.

. . . one.

Zhao was nice — even kind when they first met at the doctor’s funeral — but

the mission was bigger than Zhao. And based on what happened in 1900 with

Mitchell Siegel, the mission had enough problems with witnesses.

Zhao’s tongue went limp, and his head slumped⁵ forward, sending his forehead

against the carpet.

Ellis didn’t notice. He was already on his phone, dialing Judge Wojtowicz’s

number.

“I told you not to call me here, Eddie,” answered an older man with a soft,

crackly voice.

“Ellis. I’m called Ellis now,” he replied, never losing his composure. He

spread out his left hand, admiring the tattoo⁶.

“It’s five in the morning here, Ellis. What do you want?”

Ellis smiled — truly smiled — turning his full attention to the phone. “What I

want is for you to remember just where you were when I found you, Judge.

Your group — your Leadership — your dream was old and dead. Is that how

you pictured your final years? Just another discarded, cobwebbed old man

sitting in his cramped⁷ Michigan apartment and wondering why his glory days

weren’t more glorious? You’re not even a footnote in history, Judge. Not even

an asterisk⁸. But if you want, I can put you back there. Maybe one day you’ll

be a parenthesis⁹.”

“My family has been in the Leadership since—”

“Don’t embarrass yourself, Judge. Family names don’t get you into Harvard

anymore; what makes you think they’ll get you in here?”

There was a long pause on the line. “I appreciate your helping¹⁰ us with this,

Ellis,” the Judge finally offered. Clearing his throat, he added, “You’re close to

finding the Book, aren’t you?”

“And about to get even closer,” Ellis said, glancing at the pink bill of lading

and studying the container’s new tracking details: when it left the port, when

it’d arrive in Miami, even the truck driver who was responsible for the pickup¹¹.

HARPER, LLOYD.

“C’mon, Benoni,” he murmured to the dog.

He knew it was an odd name. Benoni. But according to the diaries, that was

the name of Abel’s watchdog — the dog that was eventually given to Cain —

and the only witness to the world’s first murder.

“You’re in for a treat, girl,” he said as he stepped over Zhao’s dead body and

led the dog out into the hallway. “This time of year, the weather is gorgeous

in Florida.”

As the dog ran ahead, Ellis never lost sight of her. He knew his history. Only

with Benoni would he find the Book of Lies and solve the true mystery of the

world’s greatest villain¹².

 

2

Two weeks later

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

My name is Cal Harper.

This is the second most important day of my life.

“Remove him,” the manager of the French bistro calls out behind us.

“S-Sorry, Cal,” my client Alberto apologizes, his body shaking as I hook his

arm around my neck and help him hobble back toward our van. From the

stench on his breath, Alberto’s been drinking hard. From his fresh split lip,

plus the tear in his ratty T-shirt, he’s been fighting, too. In his left hand, he

clutches the dented¹³, rusty¹⁵ RC Cola can that he carries everywhere.

Welcome to Fort Lauderdale beach. Just another day in paradise.

“You planning on helping here?” I call to Roosevelt, who’s reclining in the

passenger seat of our dumpy white van.

“Ah’m mentoring¹⁶,” Roosevelt calls back in a thick Tennessee drawl, nodding a

hello to Alberto, who offers a gray-toothed smile in return.

“No, you’re sitting on your rear while I do all the work,” I point out.

“Whattya think mentoring is?” Roosevelt asks, lumbering¹⁷ out like an old

mountain cat and slowly tugging¹⁹ open the side door of the van, a 1991 GMC

Safari²⁰ that another client christened “the White House.” (Roosevelt and Calvin

in the same place? It’s downright presidential.)

“You got him?” I ask.

“Isn’t that why God put me on this planet?” Roosevelt says, his dyed-black,

aging-hippie ponytail flapping in the salty ocean breeze. At forty-two,

Roosevelt’s old enough to know better than the ponytail, but we all have our

weaknesses. “Man, Alberto, you reek²¹.”

To the few passing tourists still walking the beach, we probably look like

mobsters. But our job’s far more dangerous than that.

“Listen, thanks for calling us instead of the cops,” I tell the restaurant

manager, a middle-aged²² guy who looks like a ferret.

“I’m no schmuck,” he laughs, dropping his French accent. “Cops would take

two hours. You take the trash out fast.”

He offers a handshake, and as I reach to take it, I spot a hundred-dollar bill in

his palm. I pull back as if he’s offering a coiled snake.

“Just our way of saying thanks,” he adds, reaching out again for the

handshake.

I don’t shake back. “Listen,” I insist, stepping toward him. It’s clear I’m not

the most imposing²³ figure — I slouch and have a shambling walk that’s all

arms and legs and big hands — but I do have most of my dad’s height. Nearly

six feet when I stand up straight. And the only time I do that is when I’m

pissed. Like now. “Do you understand what I do?” I ask, my thick Adam’s

apple pumping with each syllable²⁴.

“Aw, jeez, you’re gonna give me some self-important speech now, aren’t

ya?”

“No speech. We take the homeless back to shelters—”

“And what? If you accept a tip it’ll make it less of a good deed? I respect

that. I do. But c’mon, be fair to yourself,” he says, motioning to my faded

black T-shirt, which is barely tucked in. “What’re ya, thirty years old with that

baby face? You’re wearing secondhand sneakers and sweatpants. To work.

When was the last time you got a haircut? And c’mon . . . your van . . .”

I glance back at the van’s peeling tinted²⁵ windows and the swarm²⁶ of rust¹⁴ along

the back fender, then down at my decade-old sweatpants and my

checkerboard Vans sneakers.

“Take the money, kid. If you don’t use it for yourself, at least help your

organization.”

I shake my head. “You called my client trash.”

To my surprise, he doesn’t get defensive²⁷. Or mad. “You’re right — I’m sorry,”

he says, still holding out the money. “Let this be my apology. Please. Don’t

make it the end of the world.”

I stare at my sweatpants, calculating all of the underwear and socks I could

buy for our clients with an extra hundred dollars.

“C’mon, bro . . . even Bob Dylan did an iPod commercial.”

“And once again, making the world safe for people who eat croquemonsieurs,”

I say, yanking open the door of the van and climbing back behind

the wheel.

“What the fudge, Cal? You didn’t take the money, did you?” Roosevelt asks

with a sigh as he reaches into the brown bag on his lap and cracks open a

pistachio shell. “Why you so stubborn?”

“Same reason you say dumb crap like ‘What the fudge.’ ”

“That’s different.”

“It’s not different,” I shoot back, looking down at the van’s closed ashtray²⁸.

With a tug¹⁸, I pull it open, spot the dozens of discarded pistachio shells he’s

stuffed inside, and dump them in the empty Burger King bag between us.

Roosevelt cracks another shell and leans for the ashtray. I shake the Burger

King bag in front of him instead. “You were a minister, so you don’t like to

curse — I get it, Roosevelt. But it’s a choice you make on principle.”

“You were a minister?” Alberto blurts²⁹ from the backseat, barely picking his

head up from the RC soda³⁰ can with the plastic wrap on top. It took nearly six

different pickups before Alberto told me that’s where he keeps his father’s

ashes. I used to think he was nuts. I still do. But I appreciate the logic³¹. I’m

what my parents left behind. I understand not wanting to do the same to

someone else. “I thought you were some special agent who got arrested . . .”

Twisting the ignition and hitting the gas, I don’t say a word.

“That was Cal,” Roosevelt points out as we take off down A1A, and his

ponytail flaps behind him. “And we’ve talked about my ministry³², Alberto.”

Alberto pauses a moment. “You’re a minister?”

“He was,” I offer. “Ask him why he left.”

“Ask Cal why he got fired,” Roosevelt says in that calm, folksy drawl that

filled the church pews every Sunday and immediately has Alberto looking my

way. “Losing his badge . . . y’know that’s what turned his hair white?”

Roosevelt adds, pointing at my full head of thick silver hair, which is such a

scraggly mess it almost covers the birthmark near my left eye.

“Nuh-uh,” Alberto says. “You didn’t get that from your momma or daddy?”

I click my front teeth together, staring out at the closed tourist T-shirt shops

that line the beach. The only thing I got from my parents was a light blue

government form with the charges against my father.

The prosecutor³³ was smart: He went for manslaughter instead of murder . . .

painted a picture of this six-foot-two monster purposely shoving a small,

defenseless young mom . . . then for the final spit-shine added in my father

yelling, “That’s it — you’re done!” (Testimony courtesy of every neighbor with

an adjoining wall.)

My dad got eight years at Glades³⁴ Correction Institution. The state of Florida

gave me six minutes to say good-bye. I remember the room smelled like

spearmint gum and hairspray. Life is filled with trapdoors. I happened to swan

dive through mine when I was nine years old. That was the last time I ever

saw Dad. I don’t blame him anymore, even though when he got out, he

could’ve — I don’t blame him anymore.

“Gaaah,” Roosevelt shouts, his ruddy features burning bright. “You shoulda

taken that restaurant money.”

“Roosevelt, the only reason he was offering that cash was so when he goes

home tonight, he doesn’t feel nearly as guilty for sweeping³⁵ away the

homeless guy that he thought was bad for his fake French bistro business. Go

pray . . . or send an e-mail to heaven . . . or do whatever you do to let your

God weigh in, but I’m telling you: We’re here to help those who need it — not

to give fudging penance³⁶.”

His lips purse at my use of the G-word. Roosevelt’ll joke about anything — his

long hair, his obsession³⁷ with early chubby³⁸ Janet Jackson (so much better than

the later thinner model), even his love of “Yo Momma’s So Fat” jokes as a tool

for changing the subject during an awkward social situation — but he’ll never

joke about God.

Staring out the side window, Roosevelt’s now the one clicking his teeth.

“Making it a crusade doesn’t make it right,” he says, speaking slowly so I feel

every word.

“It’s not a crusade.”

“Really? Then I suppose when you leave this job every night, your life is

filled with a slew³⁹ of outside interests: like that kindergarten teacher I tried to

set you up with. Oh, wait — that’s right — you never called her.”

“I called her. She had to run,” I say, gripping the steering⁴⁰ wheel and

searching the passing side streets for possible clients.

“That’s why you set up a date! To make time so you can talk, or eat, or do

something besides riding past mile after mile of gorgeous beach and spending

all that time checking every alley⁴¹ for a homeless person!”

I look straight ahead as Roosevelt cracks another pistachio and tosses the

shell in the bag. I never had an older brother, but if I did, I bet he’d torture

me with the exact same silence.

“I know you can’t turn it off, Cal — and I love you for that — but it’s

unhealthy. You need something . . . a hobby—”

“I have lots of hobbies.”

“Name one.”

“Don’t start.” I think a moment. 

1 growl   

v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣

参考例句：

• The dog was biting,growling and wagging its tail.那条狗在一边撕咬一边低声吼叫，尾巴也跟着摇摆。
• The car growls along rutted streets.汽车在车辙纵横的街上一路轰鸣。

2 gasp   

n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说

参考例句：

• She gave a gasp of surprise.她吃惊得大口喘气。
• The enemy are at their last gasp.敌人在做垂死的挣扎。

3 antidote   

n.解毒药，解毒剂

参考例句：

• There is no known antidote for this poison.这种毒药没有解药。
• Chinese physicians used it as an antidote for snake poison.中医师用它来解蛇毒。

4 hemlock   

n.毒胡萝卜，铁杉

参考例句：

• He was condemned to drink a cup of hemlock.判处他喝一杯毒汁。
• Here is a beech by the side of a hemlock,with three pines at hand.这儿有株山毛榉和一株铁杉长在一起，旁边还有三株松树。

5 slumped   

大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的过去式和过去分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下]

参考例句：

• Sales have slumped this year. 今年销售量锐减。
• The driver was slumped exhausted over the wheel. 司机伏在方向盘上，疲惫得睡着了。

6 tattoo   

n.纹身，(皮肤上的)刺花纹；vt.刺花纹于

参考例句：

• I've decided to get my tattoo removed.我已经决定去掉我身上的纹身。
• He had a tattoo on the back of his hand.他手背上刺有花纹。

7 cramped   

a.狭窄的

参考例句：

• The house was terribly small and cramped, but the agent described it as a bijou residence. 房子十分狭小拥挤，但经纪人却把它说成是小巧别致的住宅。
• working in cramped conditions 在拥挤的环境里工作

8 asterisk   

n.星号，星标

参考例句：

• The asterisk refers the reader to a footnote.星号是让读者参看脚注。
• He added an asterisk to the first page.他在第一页上加了个星号。

9 parenthesis   

n.圆括号，插入语，插曲，间歇，停歇

参考例句：

• There is no space between the function name and the parenthesis.函数名与括号之间没有空格。
• In this expression,we do not need a multiplication sign or parenthesis.这个表达式中，我们不需要乘号或括号。

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

11 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

12 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

13 dented   

v.使产生凹痕( dent的过去式和过去分词 )；损害；伤害；挫伤（信心、名誉等）

参考例句：

• The back of the car was badly dented in the collision. 汽车尾部被撞后严重凹陷。
• I'm afraid I've dented the car. 恐怕我把车子撞瘪了一些。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 rust   

n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退

参考例句：

• She scraped the rust off the kitchen knife.她擦掉了菜刀上的锈。
• The rain will rust the iron roof.雨水会使铁皮屋顶生锈。

15 rusty   

adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的

参考例句：

• The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
• I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用，我的法语又荒疏了。

16 mentoring   

n.mentoring是一种工作关系。mentor通常是处在比mentee更高工作职位上的有影响力的人。他/她有比‘mentee’更丰富的工作经验和知识，并用心支持mentee的职业（发展）。v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• One of the most effective instruments for coaching and mentoring is the "role rehearsal" . 辅导和教学的最有效的手段之一是“角色排练。” 来自辞典例句
• Bell Canada called their mentoring system a buddy-buddy system. 加拿大贝尔公司称他们的训导系统是伙伴—伙伴系统。 来自互联网

17 lumbering   

n.采伐林木

参考例句：

• Lumbering and, later, paper-making were carried out in smaller cities. 木材业和后来的造纸都由较小的城市经营。
• Lumbering is very important in some underdeveloped countries. 在一些不发达的国家，伐木业十分重要。

18 tug   

v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船

参考例句：

• We need to tug the car round to the front.我们需要把那辆车拉到前面。
• The tug is towing three barges.那只拖船正拖着三只驳船。

19 tugging   

n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Tom was tugging at a button-hole and looking sheepish. 汤姆捏住一个钮扣眼使劲地拉，样子显得很害羞。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• She kicked him, tugging his thick hair. 她一边踢他，一边扯着他那浓密的头发。 来自辞典例句

20 safari   

n.远征旅行(探险、考察)；探险队，狩猎队

参考例句：

• When we go on safari we like to cook on an open fire.我们远行狩猎时，喜欢露天生火做饭。
• They went on safari searching for the rare black rhinoceros.他们进行探险旅行，搜寻那稀有的黑犀牛。

21 reek   

v.发出臭气；n.恶臭

参考例句：

• Where there's reek,there's heat.哪里有恶臭，哪里必发热。
• That reek is from the fox.那股恶臭是狐狸发出的。

22 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

23 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

24 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

25 tinted   

adj. 带色彩的 动词tint的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• a pair of glasses with tinted lenses 一副有色镜片眼镜
• a rose-tinted vision of the world 对世界的理想化看法

26 swarm   

n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入

参考例句：

• There is a swarm of bees in the tree.这树上有一窝蜜蜂。
• A swarm of ants are moving busily.一群蚂蚁正在忙碌地搬家。

27 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

28 ashtray   

n.烟灰缸

参考例句：

• He knocked out his pipe in the big glass ashtray.他在大玻璃烟灰缸里磕净烟斗。
• She threw the cigarette butt into the ashtray.她把烟头扔进烟灰缸。

29 blurts   

v.突然说出，脱口而出( blurt的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He blurts out all he hears. 他漏嘴说出了他听到的一切。 来自辞典例句
• If a user blurts out an interesting idea, ask "What problem would that solve for you?" 如果用户不假思索地冒出一个有趣的想法，则询问他：“这可以解决哪些问题？” 来自互联网

30 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。

31 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

32 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

33 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

34 glades   

n.林中空地( glade的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Maggie and Philip had been meeting secretly in the glades near the mill. 玛吉和菲利曾经常在磨坊附近的林中空地幽会。 来自辞典例句
• Still the outlaw band throve in Sherwood, and hunted the deer in its glades. 当他在沉思中变老了，世界还是照样走它的路，亡命之徒仍然在修武德日渐壮大，在空地里猎鹿。 来自互联网

35 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

36 penance   

n.（赎罪的）惩罪

参考例句：

• They had confessed their sins and done their penance.他们已经告罪并做了补赎。
• She knelt at her mother's feet in penance.她忏悔地跪在母亲脚下。

37 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

38 chubby   

adj.丰满的，圆胖的

参考例句：

• He is stocky though not chubby.他长得敦实，可并不发胖。
• The short and chubby gentleman over there is our new director.那个既矮又胖的绅士是我们的新主任。

39 slew   

v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多

参考例句：

• He slewed the car against the side of the building.他的车滑到了大楼的一侧，抵住了。
• They dealt with a slew of other issues.他们处理了大量的其他问题。

40 steering   

n.操舵装置

参考例句：

• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. 他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
• Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵，口吻也马上变得温和了。

41 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。