A Preface to Murder
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Sometimes life deals a bad hand. Sometimes it is hard to go on. Sometimes evil triumphs over good.
Nancy sighed heavily as she pulled her daughter’s diary from the drawer. She leaned forward to examine the familiar writing. A postcard with a colored sketch fell onto the floor from the book the drawing was a picture of a long curved sandy beach on a tropical island; of course it would be Montserrat. She felt clumsy as she knelt to retrieve(取回,收回) the picture. Under no circumstances could she forgive or forget the criminals who tortured her beautiful Megan. It was difficult not to feel bitter about the events of the preceding year. She had shed so many tears in the past year since her daughter’s murder. Nancy recognized that she was suffering from psychological problems and had really become indifferent to the events in her daily life. She began to shake and then to weep. When would there be an answer to this damn nightmare?
Megan had attended secondary school at a private girls’ school five hundred kilometers from home. In junior school she had been a straight A student. Now in high school she continued to study hard, play sports, join the school orchestra, plus a variety of school clubs. As a joke, her friends labeled her a genius, often just to make her angry. As well as being a high academic achiever she had a great capacity for fun. She thrived on an active social life. Slender, pretty and vivacious(活泼开朗的), she was the apple of her parents’ eye.
Every year in accordance with school policy, a student candidate was chosen to travel and live in another commonwealth(联邦) country for six months. As Megan had an interest in a diplomatic career after completing university, she figure she would be considered a prime applicant if she applied for the position. A detailed essay was necessary to provide the committee with a clear idea of her intention. The selection committee would spend a fortnight reviewing the applications in an attempt to identify the ideal student. Megan also needed to undergo a rigorous personal interview, which would validate(验证) her academic background and evaluate her general behavior.
The interview preceded well, Megan taking the initiative to underline her strengths. After school some of her friends gathered for coffee in the café near the school. They confessed to Megan that they were rather envious of the opportunity she might have to live in another country. They enquired about the details of the interview. Two weeks later Megan received a phone call notifying her of the successful results of the interview.
Her parents were slightly nervous experiencing some negative feelings about Megan leaving the safety of home to live in another country. They knew the experience would broaden her horizons however, her destination, Montserrat, within the past year had a huge volcano erupt(喷发), disrupting(使中断,扰乱) people’s lives. Unstable conditions, loss of homes and fear of more eruptions all tended to breed trouble among the poor of the island. Her parents’ concerns were for Megan’s safety.
Departure day dawned clear and bright. Farewells were made to family and friends and she was off for the adventure of a lifetime.
Megan’s arrival on Montserrat was both welcoming and initially uneventful(平静无事的). The island family where she was to live for the next six months, made her feels right at home. As the pace of life on the island was more relaxed that at home, she was very happy. Her new schoolmates included her in their lives and she adapted quickly. Swimming in the warm ocean water, and sitting underneath waving palm trees in a mild climate, was a pleasant change from the cold northern winters.
One Saturday evening a gang of kids piled into a taxi, heading off for a barbecue(户外烤肉餐) on the beach. Some of the girls decided to walk along the beach. Megan joined them, lagging slightly behind. She knew she ought to hurry to catch up but the moist sand felt good under her feet. Water lapped at her toes; the tide was coming in. the violet light of dusk began to darken the sky.
In the growing darkness a van pulled alongside her, stopping with a squeal(尖锐的声音) of brakes. Before she knew what was happening two masked men leapt out of the car and began to chase her, grabbing her and finally throwing her to the ground. The gross attack that followed was brutal and unexplainable. Initially Megan tried to fight off her attackers by clawing at their faces with her nails. Using a coil of rope to bind her hands, the men were free to proceed. First a fist broke her upper jaw leaving her unconscious. Then the hoodlums(无赖,流氓) used a metal rod to crush Megan’s skull(头颅) and finally a knife blade penetrated her neck piercing an artery(动脉). After the crude act was completed her body was bundled into the back of a cab and discarded in a ditch in an isolated district far from the beach.
Realizing that Megan had disappeared, her friends dialed an emergency number, notifying the authorities of the situation. Once Megan’s body was discovered, a warrant(通缉令) was issued for the immediate arrest of the two wanted men. Megan’s parents were notified by the embassy. They in turn retained legal counsel and an intense inquiry began into the case. Those officials with an intimate knowledge of the island felt that the mugging was a case of mistaken identification and a complete misunderstanding(误解), a misguided outlet for mounting frustrations on the island.
Megan’s parents, Nancy and Don, cancelled all their immediate plans and flew to the island. Rather than wait for the small island ship to transport them to the island they were flown in by helicopter. After hiring a lawyer as an advocate for their cause(案件程序), they began to work with the local police tracking down any angle of the case that would bring these creeps first to court and then to trial before a jury, who in turn would convict them to lengthy jail sentences. As the days slipped by without any answers, they experienced severe emotional fatigue and life became a living hell.
The investigation seemed to lag at first, but they were reluctant to interfere. The initial reports from this mess were inconclusive; many of the details not being addressed. As paying clients they lodged a complaint with the Governor of the island. After several months passed, the authorities had a frank discussion with Megan’s parents stating that as each day passed they were less and less liable to solve the murder. They cited other examples of unsolved cases and encouraged Nancy and Don to return home. Feeling both annoyed and frustrated, they decided they had done all they could here for the moment.
Once at home again, Nancy withdrew from community life choosing to spend her time alone. These days, if you went looking, you could often find Don in a local pub having a pint or two of beer. He, too, is unable to come to terms with the sequence of events that tore his family apart this year. Just thinking about Megan brings a lump to his throat and makes his head spin.
As time passed, it was becoming more and more evident that the stack of paperwork pertaining(与…有关系的) to his daughter’s case was not going to provide any answers immediately, if ever. Tips provided by the public proved to lead nowhere. The records will remain open until the case is solved, however for the moment the natural rhythm of life has been destroyed. Can a family withstand such a tragedy? Only time will tell.
谋杀端倪
有时， 事实比小说还离奇。生活有时候使人无助，有时又让人难以为继。有时，邪恶还战胜了正义。
南希深深地叹了口气，从抽屉里取出女儿的日记。她身体前倾，仔细地看着那熟悉的笔迹。一张彩色素描明信片从杯子里掉落下来。画面上是一个热带岛屿上一处蜿蜒的沙滩美景。自然，那就是蒙特塞拉特岛。在她屈膝去拣明信片时，她感到手脚有些不听使唤了。她决不会饶恕或忘记那些残害她美丽的梅根的凶手。一想到一年前发生的不幸，南希就禁不住感到痛苦。她抓起一张面巾纸，擦去眼中的泪水。女儿被害后的这一年中，她不知道流了多少眼泪。南希知道自己患上了心理障碍，她确实变得对日常生活中的事情漠不关心了。她身体开始颤抖，接着抽泣起来。这该死的噩梦何时才会一个答案呢?
梅根在离家500公里的一所私立学校上中学。她读小学时就一直是最优秀的学生。现在进了中学，她还是继续努力学习，热爱运动，参加学校的管弦乐队，还加入了学校的各种俱乐部。朋友们在开玩笑时称她为天才，这常常只会使她生气。她不但学习成绩好，也很有情趣。她在丰富的社会活动中茁壮成长。她苗条美丽、活泼大方，是父母的掌上明珠。
按照学校的规定，每年要挑选一名学生到另一个英联邦国家去旅行和生活六个月。因为梅根的计划是在读完她上的大学后从事外交工作，她认为如果提出申请，自己将是被考虑的一个主要人选。这需要向委员会提交一篇文章，明确阐明她的意图。选拔委员会要花两个星期对申请人进行评定，以确定人选。梅根还要接受严格的单独面试，以验证她的学业水平并评估她的综合素质。
面试进行得很顺利，梅根积极主动地展示了她的实力。放学后，她与一些朋友聚在学校附近的咖啡馆一块喝咖啡。她们对梅根很坦承对她要在另一个国家生活相当嫉妒。她们还询问了面试的细节。两个星期后，梅根接到电话，通知她成功地通过了面试。
对于梅根要离开安全的家到另一个国家去生活，她的父母略感不安，有一些不祥的感觉。不过，他们知道，这次经历将会拓宽她的视野。她的目的地蒙特塞拉特，去年发生了一次巨大的火山爆发，使人民的生活陷于混乱之中。局势动荡、无家可归和对火山再次爆发的恐惧都在困扰这个岛国的穷人。她父母担心梅根的安全。
出发的那天清早，天气晴朗。在与家人和朋友们告别后，她踏上了她的冒险旅途。
梅根到蒙特塞拉特后受到欢迎，最初也平安无事。她要在岛上住六个月的那个家庭，让她觉得就像在自己家一样。岛上的生活节奏比在家里更轻松，她感到很高兴。她的新同学们接纳了她，把她当作他们当中的一员，她很快便适应了。能够在温暖的海水里畅游，在生长于温和气候带、摇曳的棕榈树下闲坐，与寒冷的北方冬天相比，这种改变令人心旷神怡。
一个星期六的晚上，一帮孩子们挤进一辆出租车，前往海滩吃烧烤野餐。几个女孩子决定沿海滩漫步。梅根也加入进来，跟在后面慢慢地走着。她知道她应该快一点赶上她们，但脚下湿润的沙子让她觉得很舒适。潮水涌来，海水拍打着她的脚趾。紫罗兰色的黄昏降临，天空开始暗下来。
在越来越暗的夜色里，一辆货车向她身边驶来，在尖锐的刹车声中突然停下。没等她明白过来是怎么回事，两个戴面罩的男人从车上跳出来追上她，抓住她，最后把她摔倒在地。接下来就是不分青红皂白的粗暴殴打。起初，梅根设法反抗袭击者，用指甲抓他们的脸。可他们用一卷绳子绑住她的双手后，他们开始为所欲为。他们先是一拳打破她的上颌，使她昏了过去。然后，这帮流氓用一根金属棒敲碎了梅根的颅骨，最后用刀片扎进她的脖子，刺穿了动脉。暴行结束后，他们把她的尸体捆起来，放到车子后面，再丢弃在远离沙滩的一个偏僻小区的沟里。
得知梅根失踪后，她的朋友们拨打了紧急电话，把情况报告给当局。梅根的尸体被发现后，马上发出了立即捉拿那两名凶犯的通缉令。大使馆通知了梅根的父母。他们聘请了法律顾问，并开始紧张地调查此案。非常熟悉这个岛屿的那些官员们认为，这次行凶是一起认错对象的事件，完全是一个误会，罪犯被带错路后错误地登上了这个岛。
梅根的父母，南希和唐，取消了他们当时所有的计划，飞往该岛。他们来不及乘坐送他们到岛上去的岛内小船，改乘直升机飞过去。在请了一名律师作为该诉讼案的辩护律师后，他们开始与当地的警察一起工作，收集与此案有关的各种证据，要把那些家伙送上法庭，交陪审团进行审判，判定他们有罪并予以长期监禁。但时间一天天过去，没有任何结果。他们感到身心憔悴，仿佛生活在人间地狱。
调查工作一开始就有些拖沓，但他们不愿意去干预。在这种混乱状况下，最初的报告没有什么结论，很多细节都没有提到。作为付过费用的委托人，他们向该岛总督提出申述。几个月过去后，当局在与梅根父母的一次坦率谈话中明确表示，随着时间一天天过去，查明这宗凶案的希望越来越小。他们还举出其他没有解决的案例作为佐证，劝南希和唐回家。在气恼和失望之余，南希和唐明白目前在这里他们已经无能为力了。
回到家中后，南希不再参加社交活动，而是独自一人消磨时光。这些天，要是你出去走走，经常会看到唐正在当地的一个酒吧喝着一、两杯啤酒。一年下来，他也忍受不了使家庭支离破碎的这一系列不幸事件的折磨。只要一想起梅根，他就喉咙哽咽，天旋地转。
随着时间的过去，越来越清楚地表明，有关她女儿案件的那堆文件不会马上给出什么答案，也许永远也不会了。公众提供的线索也得不出什么结果。诉状还会保留，直到破案为止。然而，现在正常的生活节奏被破坏了。一个家庭能够承受得了这样的悲剧吗?只有时间才能回答。
