“Why shouldn't I?” said Roger cautiously.
“Principally because it is untrue,” replied the Superintendent, with disconcerting directness.
“I object to that,” said Roger. “That's a very damaging thing to say, and if you think that just because you're a detective you can go round giving people the lie you'll find you're mistaken.” He paused, and reflected for a moment. “Well, as a matter of fact, you probably won't,” he said gloomily, “because it seems to me there's no limit to what the police can get away with in this country.”
“There is a limit,” said Hannasyde, “but your cousin is here to see that I don't overstep it. Your name, Mr Vereker, does not figure on the lists of passengers on board any vessel arriving from South America two days ago.”
“Well, that's a very extraordinary thing,” said Roger, “But when I said I landed two days ago, I didn't say I landed from South America.”
“You said that you had come from Buenos Aires,” Hannasyde reminded him.
“That's true enough,” agreed Roger. “So I did. Of course, if I'd known you were interested I could have told you the whole story. The fact of the matter is, I got off at Lisbon.”
“What on earth for?” demanded Antonia.
“There was a man I wanted to see,” said Roger vaguely. “About a dog, I should think,” said Antonia, with considerable scorn.
“No, it wasn't about a dog. It was about a lot of parrots,” said Roger, improvising cleverly.