The man hesitated.
“ ’Ow can I prove it? What d’you think?” he said at last. “But I’ll tell you this, though I wouldn’t say it to no one else. And it’s not for the police, mind you. You said as you wouldn’t pass it on, mister?”
“I won’t. Fire away.”
“There was a woman as might ’ave seen me. She was comin’ towards me on the Whitbury road and she turned into the Lodge just before I got there. Lodge-keeper’s wife, I put her down to be.”
Fayre stared at him in amazement.
“Good Lord, man!” he cried. “Why on earth didn’t you say so when they questioned you? It’s your one chance of clearing yourself. How do you know she didn’t see you?”
“I ’ad me own reasons,” stated the man stubbornly. “The cops won’t get nothin’ out of me I don’t choose to tell.”
Fayre shrugged his shoulders.
“Hanging’s a nasty death,” he suggested.
His curiosity was thoroughly roused, but he knew that his one chance of getting anything out of the man was not to seem too eager.