“Certainly,” I said. “Half an hour or longer.”
“Very good. That gives us exactly a quarter of an hour in which the crime must have been committed. I make a list of everyone in the house, and work through it, setting down opposite their names where they were and what they were doing between the hour of 9:45 and 10 p.m. ”
He handed a sheet of paper to Poirot. I read it over his shoulder. It ran as follows, written in a neat script:
Major Blunt—In billiard room with Mr. Raymond. (Latter confirms.) Mr. Raymond—Billiard room. (See above.) Mrs. Ackroyd—9:45 watching billiard match. Went up to bed 9:55. (Raymond and Blunt watched her up staircase.) Miss Ackroyd—Went straight from her uncle’s room upstairs. (Confirmed by Parker, also housemaid, Elsie Dale.) Servants:— Parker—Went straight to butler’s pantry. (Confirmed by housekeeper, Miss Russell, who came down to speak to him about something at 9:47, and remained at least ten minutes.) Miss Russell—As above. Spoke to housemaid, Elsie Dale, upstairs at 9:45. Ursula Bourne (parlour maid)—In her own room until 9:55. Then in Servants’ Hall. Mrs. Cooper (cook)—In Servants’ Hall.