Stone’s first question was, and he rapped it out like a shot from a gun: “And how did you come to know Professor Starbank?”
Mr. Chilcott looked puzzled and then shook his head. “I did not know him,” he said. “I had never heard of him until I read about his murder in the newspapers.”
“Oh,” sneered the inspector sarcastically, “and yet he went to the Silver Moon Cafe, which you have been continually frequenting for two years, every day for his lunch.”
“I have never been there at lunch time,” said Mr. Chilcott quietly. “I have always left by a quarter to twelve, in order to get back here for my own mid-day meal, which I take at 12.30. I am very regular in my habits.”
Stone was evidently nonplussed by the answer, but he covered his annoyance by demanding fiercely, “How long had you known L
