“There’s no acting wanted. All you’ve got to do is to sit there and argue pigheadedly about it’s being suicide, the same as you always do. Meanwhile, I’ll do the fake part—or rather, it won’t be much of a fake, either. I shall repeat what I told you yesterday, about suspecting Simmonds. That’s all true enough; I do suspect the man; though I wish he wasn’t so confoundedly innocent and self-possessed under examination. Then I shall say that I also suspect Brinkman—not letting on, of course, about the cigarette and all that, but putting up some ground or other for suspicion. Simmonds, I shall say, is clearly the murderer, but I’ve reason to think Brinkman knows more about it than he ought to do. I shall say that I’m going to have Brinkman shadowed, and that I’m going to get a warrant for his arrest. At the same time, I shall say I think he’s a fool not to own up, if his share in the business is not a guilty one. And so on. Then we just wait and see how Brinkman reacts.”
“I should think he’d skip.”
“That’s what I want him to do. Of course, I’ve got him shadowed already. If he makes a determined bolt for it that gives me reasonable ground for putting him under arrest.”
“What else can he do?”
“Well, if he’s relatively innocent, he might confide in you about it.”
“Oh, I see, that’s the game. Damn it, why did I ever consent to become a spy? Leyland, I don’t like this job. It’s too—too underhand.”
“Well, you were an intelligence officer, weren’t you? There was no trick you wouldn’t play, while the war was on, to beat the Germans. Why should you be more squeamish about it when you’ve the well-being of society to consider? Your job is to protect the interests of all the honest men who’ve insured with your company. My business is to see that harmless people don’t get gassed in their sleep. In any case, we’ve got to get at the truth. I might even point out that we’ve got a bet on it.”
“But look here, if Brinkman confides in me, am I to betray his confidence? That hardly seems cricket.”
“Well, if you’re not a fool, you’d better avoid making any promise of secrecy. You must act up to your own confounded conscience, I suppose. But remember, Brinkman can’t get away; I’ve got him watched all right. If his part in the show is quite an innocent one, you’d better point out to him that his best plan is to make a clean breast of it.”
“Well, I’ll help you bait the trap. If Brinkman comes to me about it, I can’t answer for what I’ll do—unless you subpœna me, of course. By the way, what happens if Brinkman doesn’t react at all? If he simply does nothing about it?”