“I mean before that.”
Mattern thought for a moment, then slowly shook his head. “No,” he said. “I don’t think anyone came to the office.”
“Immediately after noon,” Mason said, “your time seems to have been pretty well checked.”
“Yes, sir. There’s not more than twenty minutes at any one time, and it would have been a physical impossibility for anyone to get out to that bungalow where the body was found and back to the center of town within a twenty-minute period.”
Mason said, “That’s rather significant, don’t you think, Carl?”
“What do you mean?” Mattern asked in surprise.
Mason said, “You haven’t any alibi until around eleven o’clock on Tuesday morning. From then on, you have a perfect alibi covering every minute of the day, and the interesting thing is that in virtually every instance you made certain that the time would impress itself upon your witnesses.”
“What do you mean?”
Mason stared at him steadily. “I mean, Carl,” he said, “that you were trying to give yourself an alibi, that you were taking every precaution to see that every minute of your time was accounted for… Take for instance your comments with the secretary of the building manager on the length of time your conference had taken… The discussion about time at the jewelry store… The appointment with the tax accountant, and last of all that five-twenty dinner date.”
“Why, I… I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mr. Mason.”