“I did nothing of the kind.”
“Yes, you did.”
“I did not! Why do you say so?”
“Because I know that Flood learned of it, and you’re the only person, except Mr. Gilsey, who could have told him. Now, why did you tell him?”
Belle Braddon shrugged her shoulders, hesitated for a moment, and then indulged in a low, mocking laugh.
“Your assertion is really too absurd, Detective Carter,” she glibly replied. “To begin with, I did not know that Kendall was short in his accounts; and to end with, I have not seen Moses Flood for a week. You think I’m lying, eh?”
“Well——”
“Oh, I see that you do, so don’t deny it. Come round and call on me some evening, Detective Carter, and we’ll talk it over—or have a game of ping-pong, if you prefer. I mustn’t be seen talking too long with a man on the street. It’s not good form, you know; so I’ll bid you good-by.”
With which Miss Braddon gathered up her skirts, gave Nick a nod and smile of the chip-on-my-shoulder type, then tripped away without a look behind her.
Nick knew that she had lied, but it served his purpose to let her go. Yet he grimly said to himself as he entered the Trust Building: