It had been better,
doubtless, if indeed Dick had shot Griggs, had indicted a just
penalty on a housebreaker. But the District Attorney was not
inclined to credit the confession. Burke's account of the plot
in which the stool-pigeon had been the agent offered too many
complications. Altogether, the aspect of the case served to
indicate that Dick could not have been the slayer.... Demarest
shook his head dejectedly.
"Burke," he said, "I want the boy to go free. I don't believe
for a minute that Dick Gilder ever killed this pet stool-pigeon
of yours. And, so, you must understand this: I want him to go
free, of course."
Burke frowned refusal at this suggestion. Here was a matter in
which his rights must not be invaded. He, too, would have gone
far to serve a man of Edward Gilder's standing, but in this
instance his professional pride was in revolt. He had been
defied, trapped, made a victim of the gang who had killed his
most valued informer.
"The youngster'll go free when he tells what he knows," he said
angrily, "and not a minute before.
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