Английский язык с Крестным Отцом
Шрифт:
and fired into his brain. No more than five seconds had passed when Fanucci slumped
(to slump – резко падать, тяжело опускаться) into death, jamming (to jam – зажимать;
впихивать) the door open with his body.
Very carefully Vito took the wide wallet out of the dead man's jacket pocket and put it
inside his shirt. Then he walked across the street into the loft building, through that into
the yard and climbed the fire escape to the roof. From there he surveyed the street.
Fanucci's body was still lying in the doorway but there was no sign of any other person.
Two windows had gone up in the tenement and he could see dark heads poked out but
since he could not see their features they had certainly not seen his. And such men
would not give information to the police. Fanucci might lie there until dawn or until a
patrolman making the rounds stumbled on his body. No person in that house would
Мультиязыковой
deliberately (сознательно, осознанно; нарочно = по собственной воле) expose
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himself to police suspicion or questioning. They would lock their doors and pretend they
had heard nothing.
He could take his time. He traveled over the rooftops to his own roof door and down to
his own flat. He unlocked the door, went inside and then locked the door behind him. He
rifled (to rifle – обыскивать в целях грабежа) the dead man's wallet. Besides the seven
hundred dollars he had given Fanucci there were only some singles and a five-dollar
note.
Tucked (to tuck – делать складки /на платье/; подгибать; засовывать, прятать;
tuck – складка) inside the flap (клапан, заслонка, /боковое/ отделение) was an old
five-dollar gold piece, probably a luck token (знак, примета; здесь: талисман). If
Fanucci was a rich gangster, he certainly did not carry his wealth with him. This
confirmed some of Vito's suspicions.
He knew he had to get rid of the wallet and the gun (knowing enough even then that
he must leave the gold piece in the wallet). He went up on the roof again and traveled
over a few ledges (ledge – планка, рейка). He threw the wallet down one air shaft and
then he emptied the gun of bullets and smashed its barrel against the roof ledge. The
barrel wouldn't break. He reversed it in his hand and smashed the butt against the side
of a chimney. The butt split into two halves. He smashed it again and the pistol broke
into barrel and handle, two separate pieces. He used a separate air shaft for each. They
made no sound when they struck the earth five stories below, but sank into the soft hill
of garbage that had accumulated there. In the morning more garbage would be thrown
out of the windows and, with luck, would cover everything. Vito returned to his
apartment.
He was trembling a little but was absolutely under control. He changed his clothes and
fearful that some blood might have splattered on them, he threw them into a metal tub
his wife used for washing. He took lye (щёлок) and heavy brown laundry soap to soak
the clothes and scrubbed them with the metal wash board beneath the sink. Then he
scoured (to scour –
bundle of newly washed clothes in the corner of the bedroom and mingled his own
clothes with these. Then he put on a fresh shirt and trousers and went down to join his
wife and children and neighbors in front of the tenement.
All these precautions proved to be unnecessary. The police, after discovering the
dead body at dawn, never questioned Vito Corleone. Indeed he was astonished that
they never learned about Fanucci's visit to his home on the night he was shot to death.
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He had counted on that for an alibi, Fanucci leaving the tenement alive. He only learned
later that the police had been delighted with the murder of Fanucci and not too anxious
to pursue his killers. They had assumed it was another gang execution, and had
questioned hoodlums with records in the rackets and a history of strong-arm. Since Vito
had never been in trouble he never came into the picture.
But if he had outwitted the police, his partners were another matter. Pete Clemenza
and Tessio avoided him for the next week, for the next two weeks, then they came to
call on him one evening. They came with obvious respect. Vito Corleone greeted them
with impassive courtesy and served them wine.
Clemenza spoke first. He said softly, "Nobody is collecting from the store owners on
Ninth Avenue. Nobody is collecting from the card games and gambling in the
neighborhood."
Vito Corleone gazed at both men steadily but did not reply. Tessio spoke. "We could
take over Fanucci's customers. They would pay us."
Vito Corleone shrugged. "Why come to me? I have no interest in such things."