“But why do you come to me?”
“Because you are a very likely person to have some knowledge on the point I raised. You see every person who enters or leaves Stowmarket by train.”
“That is true. We railway men see far more than people think,” said the official, with a smile. “But it is very odd that you should be the first gentleman to think of talking to me in connection with the affair, though I can assure you certain things puzzled me a good deal at the time.”
“And what were they?”
“You are the gentleman who came here three days ago with Mr. David, whom, by the way, I hardly recognised at first?”
“Exactly.”
“Well, I suppose it is all right. I did not interfere because I could not see my way clear to voluntarily give evidence. Of course, were I summoned by the police, it would be a different matter. The incidents of that New Year’s Eve fairly bewildered me.”
“Indeed!”
“It was stated at the trial, sir, that Mr. David came from Scotland that morning, left Liverpool Street at 3.20 p.m., and reached Stowmarket at 5.22 p.m.”
“Yes.”