'At the time the murder was committed, I was travelling on the 8 o'clock train to London,' said the man.
'Do you always catch such an early train?' asked the inspector.
'Of course I do,' answered the man. 'I must be at work at 10 o'clock. My employer will confirm that I was there on time.'

“兇殺案發(fā)生的時(shí)候，我正在8點(diǎn)鐘去往倫敦的火車上”，男人說。

“你總是趕著么早的火車嗎？”探長問。

“當(dāng)然”，男人回答道。“我必須在十點(diǎn)鐘上班。我的老板可以作證我那時(shí)在上班。”

'Would a later train get you to work on time?' asked the inspector.
'I suppose it would, but I never catch a later train.'
'At what time did you arrive at the station?'
'At ten to eight. I bought a paper and waited for the train.'
'And you didn't notice anything unusual?'
'Of course not.'
'I suggest,' said the inspector, 'that you are not telling the truth. I suggest that you did not catch the 8 o'clock train, but that you caught the 8.25 which would still get you to work on time. You see, on the morning of the murder, the 8 o'clock train did not run at all. It broke down at Ferngreen station and was taken off the line.'

“后一班車也能讓你正常上班嗎？”探長問。

“我覺得可以，但我從不搭乘后邊的車。”

“你什么時(shí)間到的車站？”

“7：50，我買了張票并等著上車?！?/span>

“你沒察覺到哪里不對？”

“沒有?！?/span>

“我覺得，”探長說，“你在撒謊，我認(rèn)為你沒有趕8點(diǎn)鐘的火車，而是8：25火車，它一樣可以讓你準(zhǔn)時(shí)上班。你看，早晨的謀殺中，8點(diǎn)的火車根本沒運(yùn)行。它在芬格林車站出了事故，被取消了?！?/span>