第5章 第6節 戻る競争
A standoff and a desperate bluff
Heavy steps climbed the lighthouse stair, slow and .
Edwin appeared in the doorway, as a man arriving home.
"If you hand me the tape, I will let the old man live," he said.
His voice was gentle, which somehow made it far more frightening.
"You must be tired, Nora," he said. "This has gone on too long."
Nora kept her back straight and her eyes .
"You can't win this," she answered. "The truth is already out."
Edwin's smile did not move, but his eyes grew colder.
"That tape must still be here," he said. "You would not losing it."
It was a , and Nora heard the small inside it.
So she did what her mother had taught her, and she lied.
"The recording left this coast two days ago," she said.
"If anything happens to us, a newsroom will play it tomorrow."
Edwin studied her face, searching for the in the story.
"You might be bluffing," he said slowly. "You might not."
"If you kill us, you will only prove every word of it true."
For the first time, something like fear crossed his face.
"A powerful man can't a story he cannot ," she said.
"And you have lost , Edwin. You just don't know it yet."
He took one step forward, then stopped himself with effort.
Behind him, Sam had quietly reached the top of the stair.
"If you touch her, you will answer to the whole town," Sam said.
Three of them now stood between Edwin and the trembling old woman.
"Then let us finish this properly," Nora said, "on the air."