"So I 'eard," Sutton agreed. "But I thought it were just daft talk o' some girl. 'Er pa were scared o' the dark or summink. Lost 'is nerve an' shot 'isself, they said. Mind, she never believed it. Said someone else done 'im in."

Blackie's eyes narrowed and he leaned forward sharply. "I'd keep yer face shut about that if I was you, Sutton," he said very quietly. "Stick ter rattin', eh? It's nice an' safe, an' yer know wot yer doin'. Don't go down no 'oles in the ground, an' don' go askin' no questions. O' course they 'ave safety rules, an' o' course they don' use 'em. Fastest one through gets the next contract, easy as that. Better buried alive fer maybe than starved or froze fer sure." He dropped his voice still further. "I owe yer, Sutton, an' I owed yer pa, so I'll tell yer for nothin'. Stick ter rattin'. It's clean an' yer don' upset no one but the rats. There's things about tunnels as yer don' want ter know, an' people in 'em sure as 'ell's burnin' yer don' want as should know you! One feller special, so keep yer nose ter yerself. Got it?"

Sutton nodded. "Mebbe yer right," he conceded. "Don't you go down no 'oles in the ground neither, Blackie. If they bump inter a river accidental, it in't gonna care that yer a tosher an' 'ave worked these ways all yer life. It'll come down there like a train, faster than a man can run, an' pushin' everythin' in front o' it."

"I don' go there no more," Blackie said with a twist of his mouth. "I know which ones is safe an' which in't. But yer listen ter me, Sutton! Water, gas, fire, an' rats in't all there is ter watch fer! There's money in this, so there's men as'd commit murder. Keep out o' it, see? Go, an' take that lad there wi' the eyes out of 'ere. I dunno wot yer come fer, but there's nothin' 'ere fer you."

"I reckon not," Sutton agreed. Taking Hester by the arm, holding her hard, he turned and started back the way they had come. They had gone a hundred yards before Hester dared speak.

"Mary can't have come down here, surely?" she asked a little shakily.

"Mebbe, mebbe not, but they know about 'er," Sutton replied. "She must 'ave asked a lot o' questions-the right ones, by the sound o' it."

"But they wouldn't tell her anything," she protested. "What harm could she have done that they killed her?"

"I dunno," he admitted unhappily. "But if anyone killed 'er, it must'a bin Toby Argyll. Thing is, 'oo told 'im ter?"

"I need to know!" she insisted. "Otherwise, how do we prove that she didn't kill herself?"