“We are trying to establish alibis for all these people. Mr. Mason’s movements are a little more difficult to trace than those of the cast, because he was in his office before the supper-party. Wade says you saw him there.”

“Yes. I did. At the end of the play I made for the exit at the back of the stalls. I noticed that the office door into the box-office was open, and thought I would look in on Mr. Mason before going behind the scenes. He came in just as I did.”

“From the yard?”

“Yes. He had been out to speak to the stage-doorkeeper, he said.”

“That tallies with what we have. How long did you stay in the office? By the way I hope you don’t mind me hauling in shop like this?”

“Not in the least. I hoped that we might discuss the case. Let me see. We stayed there for about ten minutes, I think. Mr. Mason said that they would not be ready behind the scenes for some little time and suggested we should have a drink. We took off our overcoats and sat down by the fire. I refused the drink, but he had one, and we both smoked. The men from the box-office came in and Mason dealt with them. Someone came in from the bank to take the cash, and the stage-doorkeeper looked in too, I remember. Oh, yes, and Ackroyd, the little comic fellow, you know—he looked in.”

“Did he, now? What for?”

“As far as I remember it was to tell Mason the guests were beginning to arrive. It struck me he was looking for a free drink, but he didn’t get it. Mason packed him off in no time.”

“Did you see him go?”

“How do you mean? I saw him go out into the yard. Then someone else looked in, I think. People were going in and out all the time.”

“Yes, I see.”

“I suppose that was a crucial time,” said Te Pohika. “I heard about the counterweight from Gascoigne and Mason, last night. They both insisted that there had been interference. Of course there must have been interference. That sort of thing couldn’t happen accidentally.”

“Hardly, one would think. Yes, it’s an important period that, when you were in the office. You left Mason there?”

“Yes. He was there when I returned, too; still in his chair by the fire.”

“You returned to the office? Why did you return?”

“Didn’t I tell you? How stupid of me. When I got to the stage-door I found I had taken Mason’s overcoat instead of my own. We had taken them off at the same time and put them down together. I took my own coat, said a word or two more, and left him locking things up in the office. I remember that I had only just gone on to the stage when you and Mason arrived.”