“Murder her! No—no; we aren’t going to do that. It’s a lie!” cried Gunning, shrinking in loathing.
“You are a clever young man,” said Nachbar to Clement. “Too clever. Go on.”
“You think he doesn’t mean murder? Ask him. Ask him if he hasn’t made up his mind to rob a rich young girl, as he made up his mind to rob the rich young man, Roberts of Oregon. Ask him if he didn’t plan to lure her to the wilds, just as he lured Roberts into the wilds. Ask him if, having planned to secure all her money through Landor at Revelstoke, as he secured all Roberts’s money in Oregon, he does not mean to kill her—kill her so that his robbery can be covered up, just as the killing of Roberts covered up that robbery.”
“Kill her—murder Heloise,” said Gunning in a whisper.
“It won’t look like murder. It’ll look like an accident. Just as Roberts’s death looked like an accident. A burst gun barrel while hunting, Gunning—only Nachbar had seen to it that it would burst.”
“It’s a lie! It’s a lie!” shouted Gunning.
“Ask him.”
“It’s a lie! How could they kill her! How would they murder her?”
Clement had a sudden flashing intuition. “Ask him about the motor boat, Gunning?”
And the shot in the dark struck home.