“Oh, well, have it yer own way, lad. Friendship is a great thing, and it’s har-rd to overcome with silver. As much of a law-abidin’ citizen as I am, I’d vote to hang the man that would even betray Joe Rich for money.”
“You wouldn’t stretch friendship to cover a man who was wanted for murder, would yuh, Mac?” asked Kelsey.
“Friendship,” said McLaren heavily, “is ver-ry elastic. If it wasn’t there’s few of us that would have any.”
“By gee, that’s true!” snorted Layton. “I guess we’ll just leave that reward as it is, Mac.”
“All right, yo’re the doctors,” said Kelsey. “I merely wanted to speed things up a little.”
Merrick smiled thinly.
“Joe Rich still has friends,” he said meaningly.
McLaren’s eyes darkened, but he turned and walked away, with the flowery-vested member from Ransome following in his wake, his black coat-tails flapping, looking very much as Honey Bee had said—“a bouquet of flowers wrapped up in crêpe.”
Merrick and Ben Collins rode past the HJ a few hours later and stopped to tell Hashknife that Kelsey wanted him and the other two boys at the inquest on the following day.
“Just a matter of form,” said Merrick. “You boys found the body, and I think you were the last persons to see him alive; so the coroner will require your testimony.”