Van Zandt takes from his pocket a folded slip of paper and passes it across the table to the detective.
“There is a check for $5,000,” he says. “It is not a bribe. It is only your just dues for the labors that you have expended on the case. Personally, I am under deep obligations to you. As to whether the Raymond mystery shall remain a mystery, I leave it to your own sense of duty.”
Barker folds the check slowly, and, as he slips it into his vest pocket, he remarks, with a glance toward Ashley:
“If my partner consents, the Hathaway case may as well remain as now fixed in the coroner’s records in Raymond, Vermont.”
“Your partner came to that decision some time ago,” is Ashley’s quiet response.
“Thank you, gentlemen,” says Van Zandt, as he rises. “And now, my friends, suppose we rejoin the ladies. They will begin to think that we have deserted them.”
THE END.
- Transcriber’s Notes:
- The spelling of some words were corrected if they appeared likely to be typographic errors; otherwise they were left as written.
- At the end of Chapter X there was an image of the note Cyrus received. The the image was almost illegible so only the text was included.
- The word “clue” is consistently spelled “clew” throughout the book. It appears in older dictionaries.
- Accent marks were omitted in all but one Spanish word (café) that would normally require them.
- Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.
- Typographical errors were silently corrected.
- Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a predominant form was found in this book.