阿加莎·克里斯蒂的谜样人生

深肤色的年轻女郎 名叫南希·尼尔
curvaceous, dark young woman, called Nancy Neele,
-她闯入了阿尔奇的生活 -没错
– who crosses Archie’s path. – Yes, yes.
他开始花大把的时间和她待在一起
and he starts to spend a lot of time with her.
就在高尔夫球场 他们一同打高尔夫
on the golf course, actually. They come and play golf together.
阿加莎则陷入人生低潮 她挚爱的母亲去世了
And then she has a terrible time. Her darling mother dies.
-她深爱着母亲 -十分依恋
– Of whom she was so fond. – So attached to.
阿加莎负责清理旧房♥子
And it’s Agatha’s job to clear out the old house.
可以想象她当时的情况
So, you have to imagine her there,
像是拆解着自己的童年
dismantling her childhood, really.
那么多小时候的回忆
All those childhood memories
都要打包或者扔掉
that she’s wrapping up or throwing away.
她独自一人 孤立无援
She’s down there on her own.
这时候阿尔奇出现了
And then Archie turns up
宣称他有了婚外情 想要离婚
and announces that he’s having an affair and he wants a divorce.
阿加莎身心交瘁
Agatha was devastated.
接下来发生的事不同凡响
What happened next was so extraordinary,
几乎像是她自己小说中的情节
it was like the plot from one of her own novels.
1926年12月3日星期五的晚上
On the evening of Friday 3 December, 1926,
阿加莎向熟睡的女儿罗莎琳德道过晚安
Agatha said goodbye to her sleeping daughter Rosalind,
便驱车驶进了茫茫夜色
then drove off into the night.
次日早晨 人们在吉尔福德附近的纽兰兹角
The following morning, her Morris Cowley was found abandoned
发现了她遗弃的莫里斯考利车
at a spot called Newlands Corner near Guildford.
她的大衣和驾照放在后座
Her coat and driving licence were on the back seat,
她本人则不知去向
but Agatha was nowhere to be seen.
乘坐着一辆几乎相同的车
In a near-identical car,
我们来亲眼看看这个地方
we’ve come to see the place for ourselves.
我们知道她开了这么远
So, we know that she got this far,
因为第二天警♥察♥报告称
because the police report the following day
-发现了她的车 -是的
– reported having found this car, – Yes.
但是车里没人
but abandoned.
你能想象吗 这地方和现在一样荒凉
And can you imagine? It’s bleak enough as it is now, isn’t it?
是啊
Yes.
如此偏僻 荒无人烟
And so remote. It’s not near anywhere.
的确
No.
贝蒂尼找到了一些当时警方的报告
Bettany had unearthed some early police reports
我希望能从中解开她的失踪之谜
that I hoped would shed some light on her disappearance.
“这位夫人不知去向
“The lady disappeared under
其失踪可能有多种原因
circumstances which opened out all sorts of possibilities.
她可能因为失去记忆
She might have been wandering around with loss of memory
在纽兰兹角附近大♥片♥开阔的乡村兜圈子
over that vast open country around Newlands Corner,
也可能掉进了砂石场
or she might have fallen into one
这附近有很多砂石场”
of the numerous gravel pits that abound here…”
因为沿路过去有很多砂石场
Cos there’s tons just a bit further down the lane there.
“无助且痛苦地躺在那里
“And lying helpless in agony.
或者 警方猜测最可能的情况
Or she might, as was strongly suggested to the police,
是她已经惨遭杀害”
have been the victim of a serious crime.”
我的天哪
My goodness me.
-这地方可真不寻常 -的确如此
– This is an extraordinary place to come. – It is.
你不觉得来到这里…
I mean, don’t you think, coming here…
像是选定的地址
this feels like a chosen place?
不像是她偶然开到了这里…
It doesn’t feel like she’s ended up here…
-一点也不像偶然发生的 -不像
– It doesn’t seem random at all. – No.
-在公路上看不到这个地方 -看不到
– I mean, you can’t see this from the road, – No.
所以肯定是提前选好的
so it must be foreknowledge.
是的 你可以想象
Yes. I mean, you can imagine…
这激发了公众的想象
It caught the public imagination.
几乎一瞬间就成了头条新闻
Almost immediately, it became headline news.
“飞机出动 搜寻失踪小说家”
“Aeroplane search for missing novelist.”
还有在第三版上
And then it’s on page three.
“女小说家失踪 飞机参与搜寻”
“Plane scours downs for lost woman novelist.”
“三百人带搜救犬搜索一整天” 闹得很大
“All-day hunt by 300 men with dogs.” This is huge.
闹得很大 看这儿 “再次打捞静湖”
It’s huge. And look: “Silent Pool dragged again.”
实际上我这里有些照片
Actually, I think I’ve got some pictures of that.
他们在那里 正在搜寻
Oh, they’re there. Look at them, searching.
他们都在搜寻
They’re all searching.
我不知道数据是否准确
I don’t know whether the numbers are right,
但传言有一万五千人来搜寻她
but some people said there were 15,000 who came to look for her…
因为只要知道推理的人
because if anybody knows that people like a mystery,
-就知道阿加莎·克里斯蒂 -天哪
– it was Agatha Christie. – My goodness me.
然而随后我发现了真♥相♥
But then I discovered the truth.
就在温泉小镇哈罗盖特的一间酒店里
It lay in a hotel in the spa town of Harrogate.
现在我坐上火车 前往哈罗盖特
And so, now I find myself on the train, going to Harrogate,
希望能找到
and hoping to find
阿加莎失踪之谜的可能答案
some answers to the mystery of her disappearance.
1926年12月4日
On 4 December 1926,
阿加莎来到这家酒店
Agatha arrived at this hotel,
以尼尔这个姓登记入住
and signed in under the surname Neele,
这正是阿尔奇情妇的姓氏
the same name as Archie’s mistress.
她在这里待了十天
And here she remained for the next ten days.
与此同时 搜寻工作仍在紧张进行
In the meantime, the search for her continued unabated.
传记作者珍妮·摩根要告诉我接下来的事情
Biographer Janet Morgan is here to tell me what happened next.
阿加莎的
隐匿之地
珍妮 这可不是一件小事
Janet, we’re not talking about a minor occurrence.
传记作家
这可是一次大规模的搜索
We’re talking about a major manhunt,
寻找阿加莎·克里斯蒂的尸体
looking for the body of Agatha Christie.
-还有凶手 -是的
– And the murderer. – And the murderer.
这故事非同寻常
It was an extraordinary story.
飞机 特种警♥察♥
Aeroplanes. Special constables.
“穿好靴子 带好侦探犬”
“Bring your boots. Bring your bloodhounds.”
公众不了解她
But for the public that didn’t know her,
-只知道她是个侦探小说作家 -没错
– and only knew her as a crime writer, – Yes.
写一些谜案故事
writing these mysteries…
各种理论随之产生
Huge theories developed.
她失踪之后 都有哪些理论呢
So, what were some of the theories after her disappearance?
有一个理论是说这个女人想为她的书造势
That here was a woman who wanted to publicise her books.
还有一个是说
And another theory was that
这是极其复杂的复仇之举
this was a very complicated sort of revenge.
如果她消失了
So, if she disappeared,
她的丈夫就可能被认为
it might be thought that her husband
是企图谋杀她的凶手
had intended to murder her.
然后他就会因谋杀未遂而受审
And then he’d be tried for attempted murder,
克里斯蒂上校
克里斯蒂上校
小说家的丈夫接受采访
在当时 这很有可能毁了他
and possibly, in those days, that would be the end of him.
那她是怎么被找到的
So, how was she discovered?
乐队里的两个男人认出了她
Two of the men who played in the band identified her…
他们做得很好
who, rather wonderfully,
没有诉诸媒体 索取一百英镑的奖励
didn’t go to the press and claim the 100-pound reward,
而是报了警
but went to the police,
说他们可能找到了阿加莎·克里斯蒂
and said that they thought that this might be Agatha Christie.
而她正是克里斯蒂
Which is Christie.
媒体很快得知了这个消息
The press quickly got wind of the story,
阿加莎离开酒店的照片登上了头版
and photos of Agatha leaving the hotel hit the front pages.
阿尔奇告诉记者
Archie told journalists
他的妻子当时受到失忆症的折磨
his wife was suffering from amnesia,
但是公众的呼声
but there was public outcry
却仍然认为她的失踪
from those who continued to see her disappearance
浪费金钱与时间
浪费金钱与时间
只不过是做秀
as nothing more than a publicity stunt.
这件事造成的影响困扰着阿加莎的后半生
The repercussions would haunt Agatha for the rest of her life.
但她拒绝谈论这件事
But it was a subject she refused to discuss,
我从她的自传里也只能找到只言片语
and I could find little mention of it in her autobiography.
我需要再次会见罗拉·汤普森
I needed to see Laura Thompson again,
看看她能不能揭开谜团
to see if she could shed any light on the mystery.
我便从阿加莎的只言片语入手
I began by reading what little Agatha had written.
“但英格兰的生活令人难以忍♥受
“But life in England was unbearable.
我想 我是从那时开始反感媒体
From that time, I suppose, dates my revulsion against the press,
厌倦记者和大众的关注
my dislike of journalists and of crowds.
我就像一只被猎人盯上的狐狸
I had felt like a fox, hunted,
我的世界被搅得天翻地覆
my earths dug up