谎言书：19

We get so comfortable in our lives, things get so mundane¹, we spiritually 

fall asleep. But you don’t have to go to an ashram in India to reignite your 

life. If we just follow those feelings, like my feeling to go talk to your dad 

at the airport—”

“Serena, the only reason I got on this plane was to save my own rear.”

She undoes² her Indian-style position, stands up from her seat, and never

abandons the soft, knowing smile that lifts her cheeks. “Your father told me

where you work, Cal. If you really were as tough as you think, you wouldn’t

be there. And if you really didn’t want to connect with him, you wouldn’t be

here. It’s no different than taking me along with you. In that act, you did one

of the most beautiful things anyone can do. You said yes to me. And with your

father, just getting on this plane, you did the same. You buckled³ your belt the

other way.”

As she walks back to her seat, I look down at my unfastened seat belt.

“Airline buckles⁴ only go one way,” I call out.

“Not when you share them with the person next to you,” she calls back.

40

The blue lights swirled⁶, the siren howled, and Naomi held her breath.

Three minutes. She’d be there in three minutes, Naomi told herself, clenching⁷

the wheel as her car slowly elbowed through the lunchtime traffic on Miami

Gardens Drive.

In her ear, Scotty was gone. She needed her cell to make sure—

“Pick up the damn phone, Mom!” she screamed. But all she heard back 

was a droning ring, again and again and—

“This is Naomi,” her own voice replied on the answering machine. “I’m

probably screening you right now, so—”

With a click, she hung up and started again. Mom’s cell. Still no answer. 

Home phone . . .

“This is Naomi. I’m probably screening you—”

Click. Redial.

Two minutes. Less than two minutes, she swore to herself as she cut off a

black Acura and the phone continued to ring. . . . Dammit, why isn’t she

picking up!?

On the GPS screen, the glowing crimson⁸ triangle still hadn’t moved from 

her house. No, don’t think the worst —

Swerving⁹ across two lanes of traffic, Naomi jerked the wheel to the left, 

and her dark green Chevy bucked¹⁰ and bounced over the last few inches 

of the street’s concrete turning lane. The phone beeped and she reacted

instinctively¹¹.

“Mom?” she asked, picking up.

“Local police are en route,” Scotty said. “For all you know, this is just—”

“Just what!? He’s at my house, Scotty — with my son!”

“That doesn’t mean—”

“How the hell’d he know where I live!?”

Ramming¹² the gas, Naomi sank her nails deep into the rubber of the 

steering¹³ wheel. As she craned her neck wildly back and forth¹⁴, she fought 

to get a better look past the thin trees. At the far end of the block was a 

modest, faded yellow rambler with a crooked¹⁵ garage door and . . .

Her mom’s car. Still in the driveway. Oh, no . . .

“Who gave him my address!?” she shouted at Scotty.

“Listen, you need to—”

“I’ve never been listed! Someone gave him my damn address!”

The brakes were still screaming as Naomi threw open her car door and 

leapt outside.

“Nomi, if he’s still in there . . .” Scotty warned.

“Scotty, swear to me you didn’t give anyone my address. By accident 

or on purpose . . . I need to hear it.”

“A-Are you—? I — Of course I didn’t!”

There was real pain in his voice. She trusted that pain.

“Lucas!” Naomi screamed, pulling her gun and sprinting¹⁶ for the front 

door. Her feet felt like anvils¹⁷, her throat like a pinched straw. She tried 

to breathe. . . .

“Luuucas!” She jabbed her key at the bottom lock, but even before it 

got there . . . the door slowly swung away from her. God. It was already 

open. She could hear the sirens in the distance.

“Nomi, you need to wait,” Scotty pleaded. “Don’t go in without—”

Darting¹⁸ inside, she felt her heart kicking in her neck. Her eyes scanned 

the hallway . . . the front closet . . . but all she was really looking for were 

her son’s shoes . . . There.

Lucas’s flip-flops.

That means Lucas is still —

Frantically¹⁹ sprinting toward the kitchen, she heard her phone beep in her 

ear. Another call.

“What’re you, a mental patient?” her mother asked as Naomi clicked over.

“Who leaves fifteen rambling²⁰ messages like that?”

“L-Lucas . . . where’s—? Where are you?” Naomi asked, her gun pointed²¹

straight out and her back touching²² the wall as she prowled around the 

corner of her dark and clearly empty kitchen.

“The video store — we walked from the park — though I didn’t realize that 

was a reason to call out the entire Customs Service,” her mother shot back.

“Where’s Lucas?”

“Right next to me. He wants one of those Star War movies — those are okay, 

right? No nudity or anything?”

Naomi doubled back into the hallway and quickly checked both bedrooms . . .

closets . . . bathrooms . . . All empty. Back in the living room, she studied the

carpet, the sofa cushions, even the slight sway of the vertical²³ blinds that led

to the backyard. Nothing was out of place. The back door was still locked. 

But something still . . .

“Mom, go to the back of the video store,” Naomi said into the phone.

“There’s a bathroom there—”

“Wait, what happened?”

“Just find the bathroom — they’ll let you use it if you ask nice — then lock

the door and wait there for me, okay? I don’t care who bangs on that door,

you don’t open it, you don’t let Lucas out, you don’t check on anything 

until I’m there. Only me.”

Naomi pulled out her GPS device, clicked back to Scotty on her cell, then

began to search for the red triangle.

“Nomi, don’t click off like that!” Scotty scolded. “I thought you were—”

“Shh.” It took a moment to reorient herself. On-screen, the tiny crimson

triangle stood completely still. So did Naomi. She was rushing so fast, she

never even saw it. According to the screen, the beacon²⁴ was now coming from

behind her.

Naomi twisted around and dashed up the main hallway, rammed²⁵ her shoulder

at the front door, and crashed outside, back into the bright sun.

Outside, her front yard was empty. There was no breeze. And no sound but

the shrieking²⁶ sirens that finally turned onto her block.

“He’s gone,” she whispered.

“You sure?” Scotty asked. “If he came there — No note? No message?”

On-screen, the crimson triangle overlapped²⁷ almost perfectly²⁸ with the white,

elongated²⁹ triangle that represented Naomi’s location. Overlapped . . . Looking

straight down, Naomi stepped off the exploding-fireworks-shaped doormat

she still hadn’t removed since July Fourth and took a peek³⁰ underneath³¹. On

the ground was a tiny and familiar flat oval disk.

“Oh, he definitely left a message,” Naomi said, pinching the transmitter with

two fingers. Ellis didn’t come here just to leave it under the mat. If her son

had been home, Ellis would’ve — A boil of anger bubbled up the back of her

neck. The last time she was this mad was during her repo years. The victim

sued for the cost of the hospital bills. And won. Four figures.

“You okay there?” Scotty asked.

Naomi let go of the welcome mat, and as it slapped against the concrete, a

swirl⁵ of dust cartwheeled out the sides. For a moment, Naomi just knelt

there, thinking about her son, and her mom, and everything that might’ve

happened if something might’ve happened. But it hadn’t. And that’s what

made it so damn easy to focus back on Ellis. And Cal. Especially on Cal. The

former agent . . . the one who was at the port last night . . . and the one who

could’ve easily given her family’s address to—

“You’re plotting their deaths now, aren’t you,” Scotty said.

“I want the next flight to Cleveland.”

“Yeah, and I want to eat cream sauce without feeling puffy after.”

Naomi didn’t say a word.

“I was joking, Nomi. (Kinda.) Now do you want the bad news or the really

bad news?”

“Bad news.”

“You just missed one of the flights to Cleveland; you’re on the next one.”

“And the really bad?”

“I got Ellis’s full file from the prosecutor³², like you asked. They got everything

in here: psych profiles, behavior reports, even identifying marks.”

“I thought you said this was really bad?”

“Hear that noise? That’s the other shoe falling, Nomi. Because that tattoo³³ on

Ellis’s hand? You’re not gonna believe what it stands for.”

41

“Cain? As in Cain Cain?” I ask Roosevelt through my newest disposable cell.

As we whip down the highway, I scour³⁴ the buttons on the dashboard,

searching for—

“Here,” my father says from the passenger seat. He clicks a switch, and a

cannonball of warm air blasts at the fog on our windshield, lifting it away like

a raised curtain.

“Now find the heat,” Serena pleads from the backseat as the gray Cleveland

sky smothers³⁵ all light and we plow³⁶ through the slush and past the blackened

snowbanks on I-71.

It’s December in Florida, but not like December here. At barely four o’clock,

it’s nearly dark. Still, we’re not completely unprepared. From my job, my dad

and I have the two thickest winter coats the donation room had to offer. From

Serena’s driver’s license³⁷, we have an untraceable rental³⁸ car. And from the gas

station right outside the Cleveland airport, Serena has a Cleveland Rocks

sweatshirt, and I — like Roosevelt in Fort Lauderdale — have a brand-new

chat’n chuck mobile phone to make sure we’re not traced. Everything’s in

place. But it doesn’t stop me from studying every car around us. The next

Florida flight to Cleveland left barely an hour after ours. It’s not much of a

lead.

“I thought you were dropping her at a hotel,” Roosevelt says as he hears

Serena’s voice.

“If Ellis is following, it’s not safe by the airport. Trust me, we’re doing it first

thing after the house,” I tell him. “So you were saying about Ellis’s tattoo.”

“Can’t you put him on speaker?” Serena asks from the backseat, looking up

from a foldout map. Quickly backing down, she adds, “Sorry. I just—” Her

voice drops to a whisper. “It’s not like I can’t hear everything he’s saying

anyway.”

“They can hear me?” Roosevelt asks through the phone.

In the rearview, Serena nods. My dad thinks I don’t see him smile.

“Roosevelt, you’re on speaker,” I announce with the push of a button as I

stuff the phone in a dashboard cup holder³⁹. Behind us, I notice a white Jeep

with its lights off. “So the tattoo: It’s Cain from Adam and Eve. Okay, so he

loves the bad guys.”

“Oh, goodness, son — you’re missing it all, aren’t ya?” Roo-sevelt asks, and

I swear I hear a swish from his ponytail. “Sure, all the images — the dog, the

stars, the moon, even the thorns that the man is carrying — they’re all

ancient symbols of the so-called Mark of Cain. But deciphering that mark is

one of the oldest questions of the Bible. Most scholars believe it’s something

God gave to Cain as punishment for killing⁴⁰ Abel: that God marked Cain as a

murderer — gave him horns, put a cross on his forehead, made him into

some gol-durn half-beast — then sent him wandering in the Land of Nod. But

the real question remains⁴¹: Who is Cain?”

1 mundane   

adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的

参考例句：

• I hope I can get an interesting job and not something mundane.我希望我可以得到的是一份有趣的工作，而不是一份平凡无奇的。
• I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.我发现生活有时挺诙谐的，即使是最平凡的事情也能影响我们的感知。

2 undoes   

松开( undo的第三人称单数 )； 解开； 毁灭； 败坏

参考例句：

• Undoes the last action or a sequence of actions, which are displayed in the Undo list. 撤消上一个操作或者一系列操作，这些操作显示在“撤消”列表中。

3 buckled   

a. 有带扣的

参考例句：

• She buckled her belt. 她扣上了腰带。
• The accident buckled the wheel of my bicycle. 我自行车的轮子在事故中弄弯了。

4 buckles   

搭扣，扣环( buckle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She gazed proudly at the shiny buckles on her shoes. 她骄傲地注视着鞋上闪亮的扣环。
• When the plate becomes unstable, it buckles laterally. 当板失去稳定时，就发生横向屈曲。

5 swirl   

v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形

参考例句：

• The car raced roughly along in a swirl of pink dust.汽车在一股粉红色尘土的漩涡中颠簸着快速前进。
• You could lie up there,watching the flakes swirl past.你可以躺在那儿，看着雪花飘飘。

6 swirled   

v.旋转，打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The waves swirled and eddied around the rocks. 波浪翻滚着在岩石周围打旋。
• The water swirled down the drain. 水打着旋流进了下水道。

7 clenching   

v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I'll never get used to them, she thought, clenching her fists. 我永远也看不惯这些家伙，她握紧双拳，心里想。 来自飘（部分）
• Clenching her lips, she nodded. 她紧闭着嘴唇，点点头。 来自辞典例句

8 crimson   

n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色

参考例句：

• She went crimson with embarrassment.她羞得满脸通红。
• Maple leaves have turned crimson.枫叶已经红了。

9 swerving   

v.（使）改变方向，改变目的( swerve的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• It may stand as an example of the fitful swerving of his passion. 这是一个例子，说明他的情绪往往变化不定，忽冷忽热。 来自辞典例句
• Mrs Merkel would be foolish to placate her base by swerving right. 默克尔夫人如果为了安抚她的根基所在而转到右翼就太愚蠢了。 来自互联网

10 bucked   

adj.快v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的过去式和过去分词 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• When he tried to ride the horse, it bucked wildly. 当他试图骑上这匹马时，它突然狂暴地跃了起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The plane bucked a strong head wind. 飞机顶着强烈的逆风飞行。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 instinctively   

adv.本能地

参考例句：

• As he leaned towards her she instinctively recoiled. 他向她靠近，她本能地往后缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He knew instinctively where he would find her. 他本能地知道在哪儿能找到她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 ramming   

n.打结炉底v.夯实（土等）( ram的现在分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输

参考例句：

• They are ramming earth down. 他们在夯实泥土。 来自辞典例句
• Father keeps ramming it down my throat that I should become a doctor. 父亲一直逼我当医生。 来自辞典例句

13 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。

14 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

15 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

16 sprinting   

v.短距离疾跑( sprint的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Stride length and frequency are the most important elements of sprinting. 步长和步频是短跑最重要的因素。 来自互联网
• Xiaoming won the gold medal for sprinting in the school sports meeting. 小明在学校运动会上夺得了短跑金牌。 来自互联网

17 anvils   

n.（铁）砧( anvil的名词复数 )；砧骨

参考例句：

18 darting   

v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• Swallows were darting through the clouds. 燕子穿云急飞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Swallows were darting through the air. 燕子在空中掠过。 来自辞典例句

19 frantically   

ad.发狂地, 发疯地

参考例句：

• He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
• She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。

20 rambling   

adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的

参考例句：

• We spent the summer rambling in Ireland. 我们花了一个夏天漫游爱尔兰。
• It was easy to get lost in the rambling house. 在布局凌乱的大房子里容易迷路。

21 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

22 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

23 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

24 beacon   

n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔

参考例句：

• The blink of beacon could be seen for miles.灯塔的光亮在数英里之外都能看见。
• The only light over the deep black sea was the blink shone from the beacon.黑黢黢的海面上唯一的光明就只有灯塔上闪现的亮光了。

25 rammed   

v.夯实（土等）( ram的过去式和过去分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输

参考例句：

• Two passengers were injured when their taxi was rammed from behind by a bus. 公共汽车从后面撞来，出租车上的两位乘客受了伤。
• I rammed down the earth around the newly-planted tree. 我将新栽的树周围的土捣硬。 来自《简明英汉词典》

26 shrieking   

v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The boxers were goaded on by the shrieking crowd. 拳击运动员听见观众的喊叫就来劲儿了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They were all shrieking with laughter. 他们都发出了尖锐的笑声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

27 overlapped   

_adj.重叠的v.部分重叠( overlap的过去式和过去分词 )；（物体）部份重叠；交叠；（时间上）部份重叠

参考例句：

• His visit and mine overlapped. 他的访问期与我的访问期有几天重叠。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Our visits to the town overlapped. 我们彼此都恰巧到那小城观光。 来自辞典例句

28 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

29 elongated   

v.延长，加长( elongate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Modigliani's women have strangely elongated faces. 莫迪里阿尼画中的妇女都长着奇长无比的脸。
• A piece of rubber can be elongated by streching. 一块橡皮可以拉长。 来自《用法词典》

30 peek   

vi.偷看，窥视；n.偷偷的一看，一瞥

参考例句：

• Larry takes a peek out of the window.赖瑞往窗外偷看了一下。
• Cover your eyes and don't peek.捂上眼睛，别偷看。

31 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

32 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。

33 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。

34 scour   

v.搜索；擦，洗，腹泻，冲刷

参考例句：

• Mother made me scour the family silver.母亲让我擦洗家里的银器。
• We scoured the telephone directory for clues.我们仔细查阅电话簿以寻找线索。

35 smothers   

（使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的第三人称单数 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制

参考例句：

• Mary smothers her children with too much love. 玛丽溺爱自己的孩子。
• He smothers his hair with grease, eg hair-oil. 他用发腊擦头发。

36 plow   

n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough

参考例句：

• At this time of the year farmers plow their fields.每年这个时候农民们都在耕地。
• We will plow the field soon after the last frost.最后一场霜过后，我们将马上耕田。

37 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

38 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

39 holder   

n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物

参考例句：

• The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
• That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。

40 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

41 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。