“They are the only persons on earth who really believe that Darling is alive. No one else suspects it, even.”
“Surely not,” Dacey again repeated.
“If we were to kill him, then, and get rid of his body, who the devil would ever suspect the crime? Only the Carters! But they could not prove anything. They could not even show that Darling did not kill himself. He’s as good as dead already, as far as that goes, and they can never learn where Moran got the body that was substituted for Darling at the time of the supposed suicide.”
“By Heaven, Kate, you’ve got all the makings of a devil in you,” said Dacey, with a growl.
“I’m only showing you the way,” Kate Crandall replied. “It can be done easily enough. It’s the only way by which we can make Darling produce the coin.”
“What’s your plan?”
“We’ll keep Carter and Garvan here till the trick is turned. We’ll fake a marriage ceremony with Darling. That done and his money on his person, we’ll end him forever and bolt with the coin.”
“I see,” Dacey nodded.
“When Carter and Garvan are liberated, they’ll have only a guess coming to them,” Kate added. “They cannot prove that Floyd and I were one. They cannot show that Sheldon and Darling were one. All they can do, Jim, will be to look wise and guess at the whole business. It can be done like breaking sticks. What do you say?”
“Kill Darling, eh?” queried Dacey.