Mills: The guy had to get into the building before the office was closed and security tightened. Gould would have been working late.
Somerset: I'm certain. He’s the biggest defense lawyer in town. Infamous, really.
Mills: The body was found Tuesday morning. The office was closed Monday. Which means the guy could have gotten in on Friday, laid low till the cleaning crew left and had his way with Gould all day Saturday, Sunday, maybe Monday. Look at this. Gould was bound, his right arm free. He was handed a butcher's knife. Check out the scale.
Somerset: A pound of flesh?
Mills: Yeah.
Somerset: "One pound of flesh, no more, no less. No cartilage, no bone, but only flesh." "Merchant of Venice."
Mills: Didn't see it.
Somerset: "His task done, and he would go free."
Mills: Telling you, that chair was soaked with sweat.
Somerset: Of course. The killer would have wanted Gould to take his time to sit and decide which cut to make first. Imagine it, there's a gun in your face. Which part of your body is expendable?
Mills: How about the love handle? Cut along the side of his own stomach.
Somerset: Let's take a fresh look at these. Even though the corpse is there, look through it. Edit out the initial shock. The trick is to find one item, one detail and focus on it until it's an exhausted possibility.
Mills: I'm going to get another beer.
Somerset: Beer? Wine, please. He's preaching.
Mills: He's punishing.
Somerset: The sins were used in medieval sermons. There were seven cardinal virtues and seven deadly sins used as teaching tools.
Mills: Yeah yeah yeah, like in the "The Parson's Tale," and what's-his... Dante.
Somerset: You read them.
Mills: Yeah. Parts. Hi, remember in "Purgatory," Dante and his buddy, they're climbing up the hill, checking out the sinners? Yeah?
Somerset: Yeah. The Seven Terraces of Purgation.
Mills: Right, but there pride comes first, not gluttony.
Somerset: Well for now let's consider that the books were the inspiration. The sermons were about atonement for sin. These murders are like forced attrition.
Mills: Forced what?
Somerset: Attrition. It’s when you regret your sins but not because you love God.
Mills: Because someone's sticking a fucking gun in your face.
Somerset: No fingerprints.
Mills: Nop.
Somerset: Totally unrelated victims.
Mills: Yep.
Somerset: And no witnesses of any kind.
Mills: Which I don't get because the fucker had to get back out.
妙語(yǔ)佳句，活學(xué)活用
1. defense lawyer 辯護(hù)律師
2. lay low
這個(gè)片語(yǔ)也寫(xiě)作lie low，意思是“隱匿（某人/某事），等待時(shí)機(jī)”，比如： The children lay low, hoping their prank would soon be forgotten. 孩子們藏了起來(lái)，希望人們能很快忘掉他們的惡作劇。
3. take one's time
意思是“從容不迫，慢慢來(lái)”，比如：You can take your time altering that dress; I don't need it right away. 你可以慢慢改那件衣服，我不是馬上就需要它。
