“Your maid was away that night? Then you've got no one else who could give evidence that Dr. Silverdale was with you during that crucial period?”
Avice seemed to see a fresh gulf opening before her.
“No,” she admitted, with a faint tremor in her voice. “We were quite alone. No one saw us go into the house and no one saw him leave it.”
“H'm!” said Flamborough. “Then it rests on your own evidence entirely? There's no confirmation of it?”
“What confirmation do you need?” Avice demanded. “Dr. Silverdale will tell you the same story. Surely that's sufficient?”
Before Flamborough could make any comment on this, Sir Clinton turned the interview back to its original subject.
“I should like to be clear about the other matter first, if you please, Miss Deepcar. With regard to this police raid on your house, as you called it, can you tell me something more about it? For instance, you say that I produced my card. Was that card preserved?”
“No,” Avice admitted. “My maid tells me that you only showed it to her; you didn't actually hand it over to her.”
“Then anybody might have presented it?”
“No,” Avice contradicted him. “My maid recognised you. She'd seen your photograph in a newspaper once, some months ago, and she knew you from that.”