I've made plenty of money by
this game. Sometimes we sweated four hundred sovereigns a
day. The factory has been here for five years, Jennings--"
"I know. The man Maxwell, who was Susan Grant's father, made
the secret entrance, and you had him killed."
"No, I didn't. Miss Loach did that. I thought she was a fool
at the time. I told her so. We could have taken Maxwell as a
pal. He was willing to come. But she thought death was
best."
"And Maraquito killed Tyke?"
"No. I did that. I sent Gibber to fix him up. Tyke was a
drunkard and made a fool of himself in being arrested. He
would have given the show away, so I sent Gibber with a
poisoned bottle of whisky. I knew Tyke couldn't resist a
drink. He died, and--"
"Did you kill Miss Loach also?" interrupted Jennings, casting
a glance over his shoulder to make sure that the clerk was
noting all this.
Hale laughed weakly.
"No!" he said. "I fancied you would ask that. I tell you
honestly that none of us know who killed her."
"That's rubbish. You do know."
"I swear I don't. Neither does Maraquito. You haven't caught
her yet and you never will. I'm not going to split on the
pals I have left, Jennings. You have nabbed some, but there
are others, and other factories also. I won't tell you about
those."
"Clancy is captured--he will."
"Don't you make any mistake. Clancy is not the fool he looks.
He has the cleverest head of the lot of us.
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