麦克纳布国际音乐公司的年轻员工克劳迪娅?恩格尔死于一起谋杀案。谢泼德探长和韦布警佐负责调查此案。麦克纳布、约翰逊、乔德瑞和弗莱明四个人看起来都有嫌疑。到底谁是恩格尔的危险搭档？谁是杀害她的凶手呢？谢泼德警官又是怎样巧妙地找出凶手的呢？
“剑桥双语分级阅读-小说馆”系列图书适合小学高年级到大学低年级英语学习者阅读使用，其中“第2级”8册，适合初二至初三英语学习的学生，本级别核心词汇量为800词，适合初二、初三学生及相当水平的读者阅读。本册图书为第2级8册之一。本系统图书包括如下特点： 原创英文小说，未经改编，原汁原味。 当代小说题材，学习当代实用英语，了解欧美风土人情。 英语语言教育专家 + 小说作家合力创作，兼具文学欣赏与英语学习的双重作用。 读本 + 录音，阅读与听力双重学习与欣赏。 小说题材丰富，侦探、情感、历险、惊悚、悬疑、科幻、
Richard MacAndrew，作家、英语语言教育专家。从事英语教学与研究工作三十余年，曾在不同国家任教。为剑桥大学出版社创作十余部英语学习小说。在“剑桥双语分级阅读?小说馆”系列中，他创作了《危险拍档》《女督察洛根》等读本。
吴薇，英语应用语言学硕士。曾担任初、高中英语教师，现为北京教育学院讲师。曾主持、参与市级教师培训项目，以及市级、院级科研课题。发表中小学英语教学类论文十余篇。
Peopleinthestory 故事中的人物
Placesinthestory 故事中的地点
Beforereading 读前思考
Chapter1Abodyonthebeach 海滩上的死尸
Chapter2McNabMusicInternational 麦克纳布国际音乐公司
Chapter3QuestionsforMsJohnson 讯问约翰逊女士
Chapter4HowwellisMMIdoing? 麦克纳布国际音乐公司的经营状况如何？
Chapter5MoreaboutClaudiaEngel 克劳迪娅?恩格尔的更多情况
Chapter6Unansweredquestions 未回答的问题
Chapter7WhokilledClaudiaEngel? 谁杀害了克劳迪娅?恩格尔？
Afterreading 读后活动
Learningguide 学习指导
Translation 参考译文
Peopleinthestory 故事中的人物
Placesinthestory 故事中的地点
Beforereading 读前思考
Chapter1Abodyonthebeach 海滩上的死尸
Chapter2McNabMusicInternational 麦克纳布国际音乐公司
Chapter3QuestionsforMsJohnson 讯问约翰逊女士
Chapter4HowwellisMMIdoing? 麦克纳布国际音乐公司的经营状况如何？
Chapter5MoreaboutClaudiaEngel 克劳迪娅?恩格尔的更多情况
Chapter6Unansweredquestions 未回答的问题
Chapter7WhokilledClaudiaEngel? 谁杀害了克劳迪娅?恩格尔？
Afterreading 读后活动
Learningguide 学习指导
Translation 参考译文
Chapter 1 A body on the beach
Noise. Headache. Dry mouth.
Half asleep, Helen Shepherd turned over in bed, but the noise didn’t stop. A moment later she woke up.
The noise. It was her phone. She took it off the table next to her bed.
‘Yes?’ she said. Her dry mouth made it difficult to talk. And her head hurt quite badly. Too much wine last night!
‘Is that Detective Inspector Shepherd?’ asked a voice.
‘Yes,’ said Shepherd.
‘I’m sorry to wake you,’ said the voice. The voice waited for Shepherd to say something, but she didn’t. She looked at the clock. It was six thirty.
‘Er, well, my name’s Webb,’ said the voice. ‘Brian Webb. I’m your new sergeant. I start working for you today. Well, this morning, actually. Erm… I’m sorry to wake you up, but…’
‘Sergeant,’ said Shepherd. ‘People call me at all times of the day and night. Forget the “sorry”. Just tell me what the problem is.’
‘There’s a body on the beach,’ said Webb. ‘In Hythe. About two hundred metres from the Grand Hotel. I’m there now.’
‘I’ll be twenty minutes,’ replied Shepherd and put her phone back down on the table.
Shepherd stood under the shower for five minutes. The hot water got the blood moving around her tired body. She drank half a litre of water and took three aspirins. Five minutes later she was in her car.
The drive from her house in Folkestone to Hythe took Shepherd less than ten minutes. It was the start of autumn and small seaside towns like Hythe were becoming quiet again after the busy summer. The school holidays were over, the beaches were almost empty, and this early in the morning there were few cars on the roads.
As she came into Hythe, Shepherd passed the Seaview Café on her right. It was just opening for breakfast. Two hundred metres down the road, also on the right, she could see a large building – the Grand Hotel. On her left was the sea wall. And on the other side of the wall were the beach and the sea. There were a number of cars by the side of the road. Shepherd stopped behind them.
She looked quickly at herself in the car mirror: grey-blonde hair tied back, intelligent eyes, small nose, thin mouth. ‘I don’t look too bad,’ she thought. But she felt tired and old, and her head still hurt.
She got out of her car and looked over the wall. A cold wind was coming off the sea. The sun was only just up. About fifty metres along the beach some people were standing around and looking down at something. The body.
One of them, a young man in a blue suit, looked round and saw Shepherd.
‘That must be Webb,’ thought Shepherd. ‘He looks about sixteen.’
It was true what people said: as you get older, police officers look younger.
Webb came to meet Shepherd as she walked over.
‘I’m Brian Webb, madam,’ he said. ‘Your new sergeant.’
‘I know,’ said Shepherd.
‘You know?’ asked Webb.
‘Yes, Sergeant,’ replied Shepherd. She waved a hand at the others. ‘You’re the only person here I don’t know, so you must be my new sergeant. I’m a detective, remember.’
‘Oh!’ said Webb, looking down and then up again.
Shepherd looked him in the eye.
‘And don’t call me madam,’ she said. ‘It’s Shep. That’s what everyone calls me.’
第1 章 海滩上的死尸
噪声。头痛。口干舌燥。
半睡半醒中，海伦?谢泼德在床上翻了个身，但是噪声并未停止。过 了一会儿，她醒了。
那噪声是她的电话铃声。她从床边的桌子上拿起电话。
“喂？”她说。口干得她难以说话。她头疼得相当厉害。昨晚酒喝得太 多了！
“是谢泼德探长吗？”一个声音问道。
“是，”谢泼德说。
“很抱歉叫醒您，”那个声音说。对方等着谢泼德说点儿什么，但她没 接话。她看了看表，六点半。
“呃，嗯，我叫韦布，”那声音说，“布赖恩?韦布。我是您的新任警佐。 从今天开始我就为您工作了。嗯，实际上是今天上午。呃……很抱歉叫醒 您，但是……”
“警佐，”谢泼德说。“人们给我打电话不分白天黑夜什么时候。去掉那 个‘抱歉’。就告诉我什么事。”
“ 海滩上有一具死尸，”韦布说。“在海斯。距离格兰德酒店大约两百 米。我现在就在这儿。”
“我二十分钟到，”谢泼德回答，然后把电话放回了桌子上。
谢泼德站在喷头下冲了五分钟。热水让血液在她疲惫的身体里循环起来。她喝了半升水，吃了三片阿司匹林。五分钟后她就坐在自己的车里了。
从福克斯通的家开到海斯谢泼德用了不到十分钟。正值初秋，忙碌的夏天过后，像海斯这样的海边小镇又重新变得宁静。学校的假期已结束，海滩上几乎空无一人，而在这么早的清晨，路上的车寥寥无几。
进入海斯后，谢泼德途经右侧的海景餐厅。餐厅刚开门卖早点。沿着这条路又开了两百米，还是右侧，她看到一幢大楼——格兰德酒店。她的左边是海堤，海堤的另一侧就是海滩和大海。路边停着很多车。谢泼德停在了它们后面。
她迅速照了照反光镜：略带花白的金发束在脑后，睿智的眼睛，小鼻子，薄嘴唇。“我看上去不算太糟，”她想。但是她感到疲惫，年岁不饶人，她的头还在疼。
她下了车，向海堤之外望去。一股冷风从海上吹来。太阳刚刚升起。大约五十米开外的海滩上有一些人围站在那里，低头看着什么。是那具尸体。
其中一个穿着蓝色西装的年轻人向四周望了望，看到了谢泼德。
“那一定是韦布，”谢泼德想。“他看上去大概十六岁。”
人们说的没错：你越来越老，而警员们越来越年轻。
谢泼德走过去的时候，韦布走来迎她。
“我是布莱恩?韦布，长官，”他说。“您的新任警佐。”
“我知道，”谢泼德说。
“您知道？”韦布问。
“是的，警佐，”谢泼德回答。她向其他人挥挥手。“你是这里唯一一位我不认识的人，所以你一定是我的新任警佐。我是侦探，别忘了。”
“哦！”韦布说着，低下了头，然后又抬起来。
谢泼德直视着他。
“不用叫我长官，”她说。“叫我谢泼。大家都这样叫我。”
书单推荐
