In Chapter 27, we learn that the victim's name did not begin with the letter "D" as expected. What hypothesis do the inspectors make that explains this mistake? The A.B.C. Murders

In Chapter 27, it is found that it was not someone with the letter ‘D’ that was murdered, but with the letter ‘E,’ George Earlsfield, the local barber. Roger Emmanuel Downes, who was in the theater a few seats away, gives testimony about the murder. In his testimony he says that he was going to sit where Earlsfield sat, but moved at the last minute. The investigators hypothesize that he was, perhaps, the intended victim.