“Three days?”
“If he does not show himself in that time his portrait and description will be published broadcast. We have waited too long.”
“I am sorry you think that, sir?”
“Oh, I am not casting any reflection on your judgement. I believe with you that this man will efface himself, or try to efface himself, fully, when he sees his portrait in every news-sheet, but there is the chance that he will fail. Besides, Freyberger, I am not sure that the course we have already taken is one absolutely moral.”
“How so, sir?”
“We have refrained from alarming this man.”
“Yes.”
“By doing so we have, well, to put it plainly, given him the incentive to commit another murder.”
“That is what I have been waiting for, sir, and I have no qualms at all in the matter. If this man lives, it is inevitable that he must murder. Far better is it that he should commit one more crime and be taken, than that he should escape now, take warning that he is watched, amend his methods and enter on a new campaign of infamy.
“Besides, it is not at all inevitable that he should commit another murder. An attempt is quite sufficient. His next victim may be more fortunate than Mr Goldberg. His next victim may turn the tables upon him. Who knows? He may fall upon a sheep and find that he has tackled a wolf.”