“I really couldn't tell you.”
“You don't see much of him privately, sir?”
“Very little,” Markfield answered. “Only when I run across him by accident down town, like last night.”
“You met him, did you?”
“Hardly even that. I happened to drop into the Grosvenor for dinner after I left here. I can't get meals at home just now unless I cook 'em myself. As I was finishing my coffee, Silverdale came into the dining-room with Miss Deepcar and took a table in the window recess. I didn't disturb them, and I don't think they noticed me.”
“Then they were just beginning dinner when you left the place? What time was that, can you tell me?”
Markfield looked suspiciously at the Inspector.
“You're trying to get me to say something that you want to use against—well, someone else, shall we say? I don't care about it, frankly. But since you could get the information from the waiter who served them, there's no harm done. I went to the Grosvenor at 6.35 or thereabouts. I was going down to the Research Station afterwards to pick up some notes, so I dined early that night. Silverdale and Miss Deepcar came in just as I was finishing dinner—that would be about a quarter past seven or thereby. I expect they were going on to some show afterwards.”
“Was she in evening dress?”
“Ask me another. I never can tell whether a girl's in evening dress or not, nowadays, with these new fashions.”