'No. Naturally, I didn't know he was there.'
Hadley absently, tapped his fingers on the desk for some time. He resumed suddenly: 'Now, Mrs Bitton, according to your own statement you arrived here in the vicinity of one o'clock. The body was discovered at two-thirty, and of course you started to leave after that time, or you wouldn't be here. So you spent all, that time looking at the Crown Jewels and wandering about the parade-ground in the fog? Is that correct?'
She laughed and regarded Hadley with some defiance. But she was not so cool as before.
`I hope you don't think I'm afraid of a bit of mist or rain? Good Lord! You surely don't think I had anything to do with killing Phil, do you?'
'It is my duty to ask these questions,' Mrs Bitton. Since you carried no watch, I suppose you do not know whether you were anywhere near the Traitors' Gate between half past one and a quarter to two?'
'The Traitors' Gate,' she repeated. `Let's see. Which one is that?'
Hadley nodded towards her handbag. `May I ask what you have there, under the strap on the other side of your bag? Folded over, I mean; a green pamphlet of some sort.'
It's… I say, I'd forgotten all about it! It's a guide to the Tower of London. I bought it for twopence at the ticket-window.'
`Were you anywhere near the Traitors' Gate between half past one and a quarter to two?'
She took out a cigarette, lighted it with a sweep of the match, against the table, and regarded him with cold anger.