Alleyn led him through the weekend from the moment when Valmai Seacliff and Pilgrim arrived, up to the time they all sat down to dinner. Captain Pascoe said nothing to contradict the information given by the other two. Alleyn complimented him on his memory and on the crispness of his recital, which was anything but crisp. The little man expanded gratefully.

‘And now,’ said Alleyn, ‘we come to the important period between ten o’clock on Friday night and five the following morning. You are a soldier, sir, and you understand the difficulties of this sort of thing. One has to be very discreet—’ Alleyn waved his hands and looked respectfully at Captain Pascoe.

‘By Jove, ya‘. I ‘member there was feller in my reg’ment’—the anecdote wound itself up into an impenetrable tangle—‘and, by Jove, we nearly had a court martial over it.’

‘Exactly. Just the sort of thing we want to avoid. So you see, if we can account, now, for every second of their time during Friday evening they will be saved a lot of unpleasantness later on. You know yourself, sir—’

‘Oh, quite. All for it. Damned unpleasant. Always flatter myself I’ve got the faculty of observing detail.’

‘Yes. Now I understand that during dinner Miss Seacliff complained of a headache?’

‘No, no. Not till after dinner. Minor point, but we may’s well be accurate, Inspector.’

‘Certainly, sir. Stupid of me. Was it about the time you had coffee that she first spoke of it?’

‘No. Wait a bit, though. Tell you what—just to show you—what I was saying about my faculty for tabulatin’ detail—’

‘Yes.’