Frightened and ill-at-ease, Stella haltingly told what she had heard.
When she had finished, Ben Vickers was grimly silent. He turned to his
work table and stood toying with some papers there, his back to the
others.
"Good lass!" Keef O'Hara said. "Say that in court and we'll see Jay and
Madrid hang as high as Mount Tacoma."
"It won't be that easy," Tesno said. "There were other witnesses to
that conversation. They would probably swear to a different version,
make it seem that Stella misunderstood."
"Jay didn't have to kill," Ben Vickers said darkly. "He was a good
engineer. This is a rough business. We've all been ruthless at times, I
guess. But outright murder...."