Adam Poole greeted Alleyn with a sort of controlled impatience. He had changed and was on his feet. Apparently Alleyn had interrupted an aimless promenade about the room.

‘Well?’ he said. ‘Are you any further on? Or am I not supposed to ask?’

‘A good deal further, I think,’ Alleyn said. ‘I want a word with you, if I may have it, and then with Mr Doré. I shall then have something to say to all of you. After that I think we shall know where we are.’

‘And you’re convinced, are you, that Bennington was murdered?’

‘Yes, I’m quite convinced of that.’

‘I wish to God I knew why.’

‘I’ll tell you,’ Alleyn said, ‘before the night is out.’

Poole faced him. ‘I can’t believe it,’ he said, ‘of any of us. It’s quite incredulous.’ He looked at the wall between his own room and Helena’s. ‘I could hear your voices in there,’ he said. ‘Is she all right?’

‘She’s perfectly composed.’

‘I don’t know why you wanted to talk to her at all.’

‘I had three things to say to Miss Hamilton. I asked her if she wanted to see her husband before he was taken away. She didn’t want to do so. Then I told her that I knew about an event of yesterday afternoon.’

‘What event!’ Poole demanded sharply.

‘I mean an encounter between her husband and herself.’

‘How the hell did you hear about that?’

‘You knew of it yourself, evidently.’

Poole said: ‘Yes, all right. I knew,’ and then, as if the notion had just come to him and filled him with astonishment, he exclaimed: ‘Good God, I believe you think it’s a motive for me.’ He thrust his hand through his hair. ‘That’s about as ironical an idea as one could possibly imagine.’ He stared at Alleyn. An onlooker coming into the room at that moment would have thought that the two men had something in common and a liking for each other. ‘You can’t imagine,’ Poole said, ‘how inappropriate that idea is.’

‘I haven’t yet said I entertain it, you know.’

‘It’s not surprising if you do. After all, I suppose I could, fantastically, have galloped from the stage to Ben’s room, laid him out, turned the gas on and doubled back in time to re-enter! Do you know what my line of re-entry is in the play?’

‘No.’