Page:The Millbank Case - 1905 - Eldridge.djvu/127

 and above all don't flatter yourself for one moment that the criminal will stop at any additional crime to prevent detection. If detected, he's lost everything. He can't lose any more with twenty murders to his charge."

McManus glanced over his shoulder, as if he expected to see the murderer rise out of vacancy in his own defence.

"What connection then has Judge Parlin's statement with the crime?" he asked uneasily.

"It's a mere incident—an accident, as you might say, that holds its place by its own sensational character and the tensity of nervous interest aroused in the public mind by the crime itself. It had nothing to do with the crime, or the cause that led up to it. I don't believe the murderer knew of its existence. At the same time it's one of those accidents that may lead to things to which it's in no way related. It may be the very thing that'll ultimately set us on the right track. Don't lose sight of it for a moment."

McManus looked as if the caution were wholly uncalled for. There was not much danger of his