Can I Get A Witness? (**TYPO: BINDED = BLINDED)

CAN I GET A WITNESS?

Detective Terry Waits drummed her fingers on the top of her desk. She wasn’t angry, so much as frustrated. Witness statements. They were the worst — always notoriously unreliable. But more so this time. It wasn’t the statements that were confounding her, but the witnesses themselves. They were an unconventional group, to say the least.

“So, what do you think? Anyone lying?” asked her partner, Carlos Ito. Ito was the junior partner, and he valued Waits’s take on most situations. Sometimes Ito thought that Terry Waits was some kind of a crime whisperer — she seemed to be able to intuit what really happened in any given scenario.  

“Someone is. There are too many inconsistencies.” Waits continued to drum her fingers on the desk. She was in her late thirties, and the senior detective in the unit. She had been a detective for over ten years, with a solid ninety-two percent solve rate. “But that means jack-squat. People lie, on purpose or by omission. Or they mis-remember. Different people see the same things differently.”

“What do you think’s going on here?”

“I think only one person is lying. On purpose,” said Waits. “Let’s look at the witness statements again.” She hit a few keys on her computer, and the screen flashed on. The frozen face of the clerk, Samantha Winglet, the twenty-year-old clerk at the 24-7 Heaven Convenience, appeared on half the screen, her blond hair pulled back into a pony tail, her nervous eyes captured looking right. The other side of the split-screen was a wider view of the interview room that included Waits and Ito on one side of a table, and Samantha Winglet on the other.

Waits hit another button, and the video sprang to life.

“So,” said Samantha Winglet. Waits examined Samantha Winglet’s face as she spoke. She looked anxious and nervous, her brown eyes roaming around the room, skimming past Waits, settling on the area behind her left shoulder. “Like, this guy comes bursting into the store. I was just about to serve Mr. Blanchard — he’s a regular customer. Anyway, this guy came busting into the store. He shouted for everyone to get on the floor. He had a gun, and he stuck it into my face. I screamed, and he told me to ‘Shut the fuck up,’ and I did. The lady with the kid hit the floor, but the kid wasn’t there, and she was calling ‘India, India, lay down.” At first I didn’t know what she was saying, then I realized it was the kid’s name, you know? When Mr. Blanchard didn’t get on the floor, I thought the guy was going to hit him, or shoot him, you know? I told him that Mr. Blanchard was blind and to just leave him alone. Then he told me to put all the money in the bag. He had this brown paper bag. I did what I was told, because he had a gun and it’s not worth getting shot for a hundred bucks. Then he left.”

“What time was that?” asked Waits.

“Uh, I dunno? A little after four? Maybe?”

“Okay, good,” said Waits, smiling at Samantha. "What did the robber look like?”

“Uh, I didn’t actually see him. He had one of those ski mask thingies, with the eyes and mouth holes—“

“A balaclava,” said Ito.

“Yeah, that’s what they’re called. A balaclava. It was black.”

“How tall was he?” asked Waits.

“I dunno. Pretty tall. Like six feet? Bigger than me.” Waits judged Samantha Winglet to be around five foot seven.

“What about his build? Fat? Skinny? Big? Slight?”

“No fat, but pretty ripped.”

“Good Samantha. What was he wearing?”

“Uh, well, that balaclava thing, and … I think he was wearing black. To be honest, Detective Waits, all I really saw was the gun, you know?” She looked at Waits. “It was big, and black, and it was pointed right at my face. Oh, he was wearing gloves — black gloves.”

“Did he say anything else to you?”

“Well, after he said everyone on the ground, I started to get down, and he said ‘Not you,’ he told me to shut up, then he told me to put the money in the bag. That’s all. Then he ran out.”

Waits stopped the video, and turned to Ito.

“What do you think?”she asked

“She’s really nervous. I’m just not sure it’s because of the robbery, or because she’s talking to the cops, or because she’s hiding something.”

“Yeah, I felt that, too. Look at her face when we ask her questions. She doesn’t make any type of eye contact. She’s always looking over my shoulder. I was tempted to turn around and see what was back there that was so interesting.” Ito snorted.

Waits turned her attention back to her computer, toggled a few keys, and the frozen close-up image of Kendall Pierce's frazzled face filled half the screen, the other screen, showing Ms. Pierce with Waits and Ito seated across from her. Waits pressed play.

“…When he said ‘Everybody down!” that’s what I did. But India, my daughter, wasn’t with me. When we come in here to pick something up, I let her look around the store, and we can buy one thing that she wants. I only came into the store to get some milk. We usually only drink oat milk, but we were making homemade ice cream, and you need cow's milk for that.” She took a big breath in, and continued. “Anyway, I was at the back of the store by the cooler getting the milk, and India wasn’t with me when the man with the gun entered the store and said to get down — oh, I already said that. Sorry. Anyway I called to India, telling her to lay down, and he told me to — excuse my language — ‘Shut the fuck up.’ So I did.”

“Did you see his gun?”

“No. No, no, no, no. I was on the ground, trying to spot India. I couldn’t see her from where I was laying down, and I was extremely worried. But I was too frightened to move.” She paused. “I’m a terrible mother.” Her eyes welled up. “I should have gone to my daughter.”

“No, Ms. Pierce, you did the right thing. If you moved, we don’t know what the gunman would have done. You did as you were told, and nobody got hurt.” In the video Waits looks at her notebook. “Did you hear the gunman say anything, other than telling you to be quiet?”

“No, nothing. But I was by the cooler, and my head was right beside the motor. It was too noisy. To be honest, I was just trying to see where India was.”

Waits stopped the tape.

“Anything?” she asked.

“Nah. I think she’s being honest. When she pointed out on the drawing where she was in the store, there was no way she could see anything. So, she’s less a witness, and more a bystander.”

“I agree.”

Waits fiddled with a few more keys, and the video switched out, and the face of Harrison Blanchard filled the screen, black sunglasses covering his eyes. In the side-by-side they could make out Teek, his guide dog, laying quietly on the floor on Mr. Blanchard’s left side. Waits tapped play.

“Mr. Blanchard, can you tell us what happened today at the 24-7 Heaven?”

“I was just picking up some items for dinner. Sam — Samantha, the clerk — always gets my items for me because I’m blind, and I don’t know where everything is. She’s very kind, and she doesn’t have to do that for me, but she does. She’s a very nice young woman. That’s why I go to 24-7 when I need something between major shoppings, because she’s so willing to help me. So, we — Teek and I — had just gone in, and I was standing off to the side, waiting for Sam to ask us what we needed, when I heard the door chime. The footsteps where quick, so I figured it was someone in a hurry. I heard the person walk up to the counter and yell ‘Everybody down!’ so I knew it was a man. I just stood there. Then he said, ‘Get on the floor, asshole.’ I’m blind, and I need to slowly feel my way down. I heard him take a step towards me, and Teek growled. Then he yelled ‘Shut the fuck up.’ I told Teek to settle. Then I heard Sam say ‘He’s blind.’ I heard him tell Sam to put the money in the bag, and then the register dinged open, and I heard the rustle of bills being put into, I think, a paper bag, but I’m not one hundred percent certain.”

“Is there anything else you can tell us about the gunman, Mr. Blanchard?” asked Waits.

“Well, the gunman was shorter than me. I’m six foot, and I’d say he was maybe five-seven or five-eight.”

“How do you know that?” asked Ito.

“I could hear where his voice was coming from. When he spoke his voice was coming from below, a good head below.” He paused for a minute. “Besides his height, I’d say he was a smoker — both cigarettes and marijuana, and there was something else that smelled like a combination of burnt plastic and cat urine, which was very unpleasant. He also wasn’t too clean. He had that dirty blue jean smell.  His shoes had leather or hard rubber soles. If I had to guess, I’d say leather. I assumed he had a gun, or Teek wouldn’t have growled the first time.”

“Do you have any other impressions about what was happening during the robbery?”

“I heard the woman in the back of the store calling for India, who I later learned was her daughter. From the sound of her voice, I assumed she was laying on the floor. I did not hear the little girl. I had heard her singing to herself just before the gunman entered the store. I only know she was behind me, but she was quiet as a mouse. I heard Sam open the till, and take the money out. Then I heard the robber run towards the door, the door chimed, and then I heard the mom calling for India, running toward the front of the store. Then Sam called nine-one-one.”

“Anything else? Did you hear a car, or motorcycle after the robber left? Were there any voices outside?”

“No. I’'m sorry. Nothing. It happened so quickly.”

Waits stopped the playback, and switched immediately to the last interview, five-year old India Pierce. In the side-by-side wide angle they could see India and her mother on the far side of the table. Only Waits was sitting across from India and her Mom. She and Ito figured it would be better if he stood behind India, out of her line of sight — first because she had just seen a man with a gun, and Ito was a man, and second, they both agreed Waits was so much better with kids. 

“Hi India. My name is Terry. I’m a police officer. So, I guess you had a pretty big scare today, huh?”

India looked at her mother, Kendall Pierce, who nodded and said, “It’s okay, India. Tell Terry what you saw today in the convenience store.”

“It was scary. My mom said that I was a very brave girl.”

“You were!” said Waits. “You were the bravest girl, ever!” Waits smiled at India. “Can you tell me what happened?”

“There was a man with a gun.”

“Can you tell me what you were doing when he came into the store?” 

“Mommy said that I could pick out a treat. We do this every time we come to the store. I was looking at a some chocolate sauce that we could put on our ice cream when we made it at home. And some sprinkles.”

“That was a very good idea, India,” said Waits, smiling. “What happened after the man came into the store?”

India shut her eyes, then opened them. “I heard the bell from the door. Then a man came in the store. He was yelling, and said to get on the floor. So I did. He had a gun. I think it was a real gun, not a toy. I was scared he was going to shoot me or Mommy.” Kendall Pierce looked at her daughter. They were sitting close together, their chairs touching, and she put her arm around India. “I heard him use a swear word. Then I heard him yell at the man with the dog to get down on the ground. The lady at the cash said ‘He’s binded.’ Then the man told her to give him the money, and she did. He put it in a paper bag, like the ones you put your lunch in. Then the man with the gun ran away out the door, and Mommy came and got me.” Kendall Pierce was crying silently as she hugged her daughter close to her.

“India, can you tell me about the man with the gun? Did you see what he was wearing?”

“Yes.”

“Can you tell me about it?”

“He had on a mask that covered his face. At first I thought that was silly because it isn’t Hallowe’en. But then he started yelling, and I was scared.”

“Can you tell me about his clothes?”

India shut her eyes again, conjuring. “Um, he had blue jeans, like Daddy wears, and a hoodie. It was black. With a zipper. He had on gloves which is also silly because it’s summer.” She paused. “He had on cowboy boots.”

“How do you know they were cowboy boots, India?” Waits asked.

India smiled. “Because Uncle Jeff, my mommy’s brother, has a pair. He’s not a cowboy. He’s an—“ she looked at her mother, “—an anesthesiologist?” Kendal Pierce nodded.

“India, can you describe the man in the store’s boots for me?”

“They were all pointy-toed. And they have all this shiny metal on the front. Uncle Jeff’s are brown, but these were black. I kept looking at them when I was laying on the ground, until he left and Mommy came to get me.”

Waits stopped the tape. “So, our witnesses are an unreliable clerk, a blind man, and a five year old.”

“Yeah, the mom, Kendal Pierce, didn’t see anything because she was at the back of the store one the floor, so she’s not even a witness.” Ito ran his hands through his hair. “What now?”

“Okay, so no tapes in the store, but look for other CCTV videos from around the area. I’m going to do some electronic mining.”

*****

Waits and Ito looked at the scrawny man sitting at the interrogation room table. They were watching him on the monitor in their office.

“How did you know? He doesn't look anything like Samantha's description," said Ito.

Waits shrugged. “Well, a couple of things. First, Samantha’s description of the robber was so different from Mr. Blanchard's, it was like she was purposely trying to throw us off the trail, so, her story was suspect right from the beginning. Second, although we didn’t interview her, Teek was very helpful as well, getting all growly during the lineup when she saw the robber. And Mr. Blanchard did recognized the guy’s voice, so that was the clincher. I figured we had the right guy. Plus the was wearing the boots when we picked him up.”

“But how did you know that Samantha knew him?” He tilted his head towards the screen.

“Remember our interview with India? When she told us that Samantha Winglet said ‘He’s blinded?’ Well, when we were looking at the interviews a second time, I noticed that, for a five-year-old, India is incredibly articulate. She didn’t mispronounce any words, not even anesthesiologist. So why would she mispronounce a direct quote that she’d heard? Keeping that in mind, I called Harrison Blanchard, and asked him if he was sure Sam had said ‘He’s blind,’ and he said Sam had actually mispronounced the word, and had said ‘He’s blinded.’ That got me to thinking — what if she didn’t say ‘He’s blinded,’ but said ‘He’s blind, Ed’ -- like the man's name, Ed. So, I checked Samantha’s online presence, and lo-and-behold, there was one Edward John Vincas, age twenty-one. So I ran him. Two arrests for distribution of meth, each followed by court-ordered stints in rehab for chemical and alcohol addition, seven months in lockup for beating a guy in a bar, and a sealed juvie record. He is also Samantha Winglet’s step-brother. And a bully. Samantha was frightened by him. I think that’s why she didn’t identify him.”

“So, what about Samantha? What’s going to happen to her?” asked Ito.

“She’ll plead down, probably probation. Maybe they’ll expunge her record after probation. She was under duress. She was frightened that her step-brother was going to cause her grievous bodily harm.” Waits thought for a minute. “It’s too bad about that. Here’s this woman, working part-time at a convenience store to make money for university, and her idiot, meth-addicted step-brother decides he’s going to rob her store, while she’s there. I just wish she’d have come clean when we interviewed her. I don’t even think she would have been charged. Hopefully, this won’t screw up her life.”

“With you making a statement like that, I think she’ll probably get off with slap on the wrist.”

Waits smiled. “Speaking of which, let’s go slap some cuffs on this loser’s wrists.

As they headed into the interrogation room, Waits removed the handcuffs from the back of her waistband, and smiled. She loved it when she figured out the puzzle.