“Was any one else in this room while you were?”
“Nobody at all. Everybody ashore, including the stewards.”
Charlie turned to the man whom he had purposely saved until the last. Ross was sitting not far away, staring down at his injured foot. His stick, innocent of its rubber tip, lay beside him on the floor.
“Mr. Ross, I believe you will complete the roster,” Chan remarked. “You went ashore last evening, I have heard.”
Ross looked up in surprise. “Why, no, Inspector,” he replied. “I didn’t.”
“Indeed? Yet you were seen to come aboard ship at nine-fifteen.”
“Really?” Ross lifted his eyebrows.
“On authority not to be impeached.”
“But—I am sorry to say—in this case quite mistaken.”
“You are sure you did not leave the ship?”
“Naturally I’m sure. It’s the sort of thing I ought to know
