“It was clever of me to arrive with a cast-iron alibi. You really have no ideas about how I could have faked it?”
“I am satisfied, Monsieur, that that would be beyond even your powers.”
“One day I must figure out how it could be done,” said the Saint, and in some incredible way he made it sound possible.
The Inspector grunted.
“You have not, perhaps, any more constructive suggestions about the mystery?”
“I read a detective story once with a decapitated body in it, in which the head was actually taken from an entirely different body, the object being to confuse the police and no doubt the readers too.”
“The medical examination, in this case, proves positively that the head which was found did indeed belong to the body.”
“A big part of your problem, then, seems to be to find an answer to why anyone who had already killed someone, for whatever reason, should afterwards take the trouble to cut off his head. It was not done to prevent identification, because the head was left there.”
“Exactly.”
Simon gazed at the ceiling.