Here at least was a way out.
"But do you think that is all right? Can he do it?" asked Elaine eagerly.
"Do it? Why those tong men can do anything for money. Only one must be careful not to offend them."
Mary was very convincing.
"Yes, I suppose you are right," agreed Elaine, finally. "I had better do as you say. It is the safest way out of the trouble. Yes, I'll do it. I'll stop at the bank now and get the money."
They rose and Mary preceded her, eager to get away from the house. At the door, however, Elaine asked her to wait while she ran back on some pretext. In the library she took off the receiver of the telephone and quickly called a number.
Our telephone rang in the middle of our conversation on blood crystals and Kennedy himself answered it.
It was Elaine asking Craig's advice.
"They have offered to hush the thing up for ten thousand dollars," she said, in a muffled voice.
She seemed bent on doing it and no amount of argument from him could stop her. She simply refused to accept the evidence of the blood crystals as better than what her own eyes told her she had seen and done.