“When did you know he was dead?”
“Why, when I returned from Reno of course.”
Mason said nothing, but once more looked at his wrist watch, an eloquent reminder of the passing of time.
She said, “Honestly, Mr. Mason, I’m telling the truth.”
Mason said, “You were in love with Peltham. He wanted to protect you. You came to my office shortly after midnight. You did everything possible to keep me from learning your real identity as well as the nature of the case on which I was to be employed. You subsequently claimed that you had left for Reno late Monday afternoon. Apparently, you were actually in Reno Tuesday morning.
“Considering all of those various circumstances in their proper light, it means that the body of Albert Tidings was lying right here, in that bedroom, at the very moment you were calling on me at my office… Now then, did you kill him or did Peltham?”
“Neither.”
“But you knew he was dead?”
She hesitated for several seconds, then said, almost inaudibly, “Yes.”
“And you were the ones who put him into that room and on that bed?”