But this was sufficient to make Carter more deeply interested in those two men.
“Can this be Simeon Rich who conspired against Lawrence?” he asked himself.
There was a chance that the man was in no way related to the murdered man.
After a time the detective heard the man Rich remark:
“Isabella made a mistake.”
“I don’t know about that,” the stout man rejoined, and at the same time he lighted a fresh cigar, while he leaned back in his chair and blew the smoke up in the air over his head.
“Darwin,” replied Rich, in a low, clear, deep voice, “I think you are unnecessarily alarmed.”
“I am not. I have heard a great deal of that man’s ability.”
“All such men are overestimated. When they are brought face to face with shrewd men they fail.”
“Make no mistake. That man has circumvented shrewder men than we.”