"Not at all," Eaton said, reassuringly. "Things get around, even when they're told to me in strict confidence. I'm not speaking sarcastically, believe me, or actually blaming myself. Only a fool would claim he can always keep every part of a confidence. A few stray bits of information often slip out subconsciously." "Well," Hansen said, a little more at his ease. "Gerstle had dug up something pretty sensational and was going to run it, but Miss Lathrup said no. She was really putting her foot down about it." "I see," Eaton said. "Did Gerstle show you what he was going to publish?" Hansen shook his head. "I just know, in a general way, what kind of hydrogen bomb it was. No names, nothing specific. He wouldn't show me the signed statements he'd managed to assemble. But I do know this--it would have made that Jelke, cafe-society, party-girl scandal of ten or twelve years ago look like a pin-money racket." "Was it wholly cafe society?" Eaton asked. "No--it took in TV, and Hollywood. There were big producers involved." "But it was a girls-for-sale racket, wasn't it?" Macklin asked, bluntly. Hansen hesitated for an instant, then nodded. "And that's all you know about it?" Eaton asked. "That's all," Hansen said. "Not much to go on," Eaton said. "But we'll have to tell the police about it." "Should we, sir? That's what's been worrying me. If Mr. Gerstle is in danger, because of it, might it not be well to keep it to ourselves for a few days longer?" Eaton shook his head. "I don't think so. When a child's been kidnapped, wise parents go straight to the police. It's the best, the safest way, in the long run. And I doubt very much if anyone is going to phone us, to say they'll release Gerstle if we promise to make him kill the story. If Gerstle is in danger--he'll need all the police help he can get." "I agree with you there," Macklin said quietly. Eaton got slowly to his feet. There was an utterly weary, half-despairing look in his eyes. "This is all very bad," he said. "It will do the magazines no good--although I suppose I shouldn't even be thinking of that. I haven't the least idea why Helen wanted to keep that story hushed up. She didn't tell me a thing about it and naturally Gerstle wouldn't take me into his confidence without her permission. He could have told me later--I wish to God he had--but I guess he had his own reasons for preferring to keep silent. It may cost him his life, if he isn't dead already." Hansen paled visibly. "Sir, you don't think--" "We just don't know," Eaton said. "You're pretty young, Tim. When you're my age, you'll give up trying to soften, or hide from yourself, just how ugly a turn life can take at times. There's nothing to be gained by it." Chapter VIII The next unexpected development in the Lathrup case took place in broad daylight, at two o'clock in the afternoon.