“Let me answer your points as you make them. Frank Morland’s death has already been disposed of — officially. I have seen a report of the inquest. As for this cowboy tonight — you proclaimed a theory. It was a rather nebulous one, and the men you spoke to aren’t too imaginative. Remember that they still accept Nagel as one of themselves. After he talks to them some more, I think they will soon stop worrying.”
“And will they forget about your secret mercury mine?”
“Yes,” said Julius. “Because you never told them.”
Simon looked at him steadily.
“It’s your neck,” he remarked. “You risk it.”
“There really isn’t any risk. In the first place, you contradicted yourself when we were talking — you remember? Then, I’ve spoken to Nagel since then. He said nothing about it. If you had divulged anything so important, he would certainly have mentioned it. I confess that you had me bothered for a moment, but now I’m completely unconcerned.”
The Saint shrugged.
“If you want to draw to an inside straight, I can’t stop you. But there’s still Morland.”
“What about him?”
“Whatever you’ve made him sign, he’ll repudiate it as soon as you turn him loose. Therefore you can’t turn him loose. But if you kill him, that’ll be a third mysterious death, and even Nails is going to have a tough time talking that one off. On the other hand, you can’t hold him for ever, or his daughter either. Not in this country. Sooner or later—”