eight o'clock
Even with only the money gone , who would they first naturally suspect ? You are known as a safe-breaker ; you have served a term for it . You asked for a night off to stay with your mother who is sick . You left Mr. Hayden-Bond 's , we 'll say , at seven or eight o'clock . It 's after midnight now . How long would it take them to find out that between eight and midnight you had not only never been near your mother , but could not prove an alibi of any sort ? If you told the truth it would sound absurd .