“You and Miss Lacey appear to know it all.” His tone harbored scorn at the root of its being. “I should say it was about time you did something about it.”
Nadia looked serious.
“There is something troubling Joel Lacey,” she said. “But she is keeping it well to herself, in spite of you and that Sergeant Stebbins; and even me. For I’ve been hot on her trail. I should say it was loss of nerve and not lack of knowledge that is holding her tongue-tied. Perhaps she’d better let well enough alone. Do you know, dear man, there are times when terror rises in me like a cold fountain. Not that I’m afraid of death exactly; but I don’t relish it just around every corner. Did you see ‘Outward Bound’?”
“Yes, why?”
“Nothing much. Only those blind ships blowing down there in the fog reminded me of it. Who will be next, Mr. Belknap?”
“You take it for granted there will be a next.”
“Don’t you?” her eyes were steady on his.
“Then perhaps it is my duty to see you under lock and key. You don’t go so far as to deny I could command your arrest, do you? There is that Berlin-Viennese Murder Ring to account for.”
“You know too much,” she murmured with serpent softness. “Did Bertrand tell you more than he knew? Or did he write it?”
“Meaning?”