“There’s a second question I hope you’ll not mind my asking,” he said at last. “Do you know exactly what agent was used to compass Garland’s death?”
“Oh, yes.” Wygram’s tone removed every shred of doubt from the mind of his questioner.
“Your information would be of considerable value to—shall we say—the police?”
“The police are in possession of it,” said Wygram unconcernedly.
“May I ask how you know that?”
“I have been acting for them.”
Hartz was at once alive to the significance of the statement. “Are you at liberty to disclose the full extent of your knowledge?”
“At liberty, yes,” was the cool reply. “I never, in any circumstances, touch a case without retaining complete liberty of action. But in this affair, I am not inclined to communicate what I know to a private person.”
“Why not?”
“It would be against the public interest.”