"All right," Mason said,"what are you getting at?"
"Hooks says it looks like theguy."
"What!" Mason exclaimed.
"Well, he can't exactlyidentify him, but he said the sketch looked very much like the man, although hehad only the one fleeting glimpse of him before the shooting started. There wasa night light on. Hooks first saw the fellow's back. He made the mistake ofyelling before he had his gun out. He was drawing his gun and yelling at thesame time. The hold-up man had his gun out. He whirled and fired and the shothit Hooks a glancing blow on the shield and down he went. He wasn't in aposition to get a very good look at the man.
"On the other hand, this fellowKearny, who was walking along the street when the fellow burst out of the door,was within eight or ten feet of the guy and had a good chance to see his face.
"So now we're in the devil of afix. The police have learned from Hooks that a private detective agency had asketch that looked something like the hold-up man and they want the sketch andwant to know what it's all about. I'm keeping Fulton under cover. I told the police he's out ona job. They want to see him as soon as he comes in. I'm afraid there's hell topay."
"That," Mason said,"is an unexpected complication. What about this fellow, Drew Kearny?"
"That's why I've calledyou," Drake said. "He's in the office. He wants to take another lookat the sketch. He says he doesn't think it's the same guy, but the watchmantold him he thought the sketch looked like the guy, so Kearny wants to take another look."
"He's in your office now?"
"Yes."
"Where's the sketch?"
"I have a photostaticcopy"
"Bring it down," Masonsaid, "and bring Kearny along with it. Let me talk with him."
"I was hoping you'd dothat," Drake said. "I was hoping you'd take over on this, but we'vegot to turn that sketch over to the police sooner or later, Perry."
Mason said, "We'll cross thatbridge when we come to it. My own inclination is to turn it over to them. Let'stalk with Kearny and see if we can't make something out ofthat."
"Be right down," Drakesaid.
Mason hung up the telephone andturned to Della, who had been monitoring the conversation.
"Now we're in a jam," hesaid. "That damned watchman … Of course, that's one of the things thathappens with eyewitness identification. That's why it's the most unreliabletype of evidence we have. Suggestion, self hypnosis, tricky recollection, poorobservation everything enters into it and a good percentage of the timesomeone, acting in the highest good faith, comes along with a cockeyedidentification."
Drake's code knock sounded on thedoor. Mason let him in.
Drake turned to the man with him andsaid, "This is Drew Kearny, Mr Mason."
"How are you, Mr Kearny?" Mason said, shaking hands.
Kearny, a man in his early forties,with steady grey eyes, a strong, determined mouth, broad shoulders, andsomething of a paunch, said, "How do you do, sir? I've heard a great dealabout you and it's a real pleasure to meet you."
"Sit down, sit down,"Mason said. "Make yourselves comfortable. Now, what is all this about,Paul?"
Drake said, "Drew Kearny hadbeen at a late movie and was coming past the Pacific Northern Supermarket onhis way home a little after midnight. The door burst open and a man ran out. Kearny found himself looking into the business endof a gun. He automatically stuck his hands up, and because he was carrying afairly large sum of money, figured he was going to be held up. But the fellowsimply kept the gun pointed at him and said, 'Keep your hands up,' then backedaway until he was halfway across the street, turned and ran through an alley.
"Kearny felt, of course, something was wrong andtried the door of the supermarket but it had a spring lock on it and it hadswung shut and latched. So Kearny started running down the street, looking for the nearest telephone hecould use. He's -Well, you tell it, Kearny."
Kearny patted his stomach. "I'm not as muchof a sprinter as I used to be. I slowed down after about a couple of blocks andwas walking along, trying to remember where the nearest phone was."
"You're familiar with theneighbourhood?" Mason asked.
"Fairly familiar. My place ofbusiness is not too far away"
"What's your business?"
"Electrical repairing."
"All right," Mason said,"what happened?"
"Well, as luck would have it, Isaw a flashing red light and a police car came along fast. I ran out in themiddle of the street and flagged them down. I told them what had happened andthey put out a general alarm and threw a cordon around the district, but Iguess they didn't get the guy. And of course they went on into the supermarketand found the watchman, who was pretty badly knocked out but in a short timethey had him out and hospitalized.
"Now, what's bothering me isthis sketch that this detective showed me. Of course it's awfully hard toremember people when you get just a quick glance at them, particularly during atime of excitement, but I'm pretty good that way. I seldom forget a face, and Ihad a good look at this guy."
"And you saw the sketch?"Mason asked.
"I saw the sketch."
"Any chance it's the sameman?""
Kearny said, "I didn't think so, but I don'twant to give any crook the breaks. I talked with the watchman, and I decidedI'd better study that sketch."
"Oh, well," Mason said,"these things happen every once in a while. Something goes wrong with anidentification and -"
"That's not the point," Kearny said. "I'm a law-abiding citizen and Ihate crooks and I hate stick-ups. I've been held up once, lost more money thanI could afford to lose."
"Now, when this detective firstidentified himself and asked me to take a look at that sketch, I took a quicklook at him and told him hell no, that wasn't the man at all, and I didn'tthink much more of it, but I did take the precaution of getting the guy's cardso I could get in touch with him later if anything happened."
"The police had been asking youfor a detailed description?" Mason asked.
"Sure they had. I was with thepolice for more than two hours and they had an artist working on thedescription I gave them."
"Well then, that's all there isto it," Mason said.
"No, it isn't," Kearnysaid, "because I understand now the watchman said that sketch looked a lotlike the fellow, so I want to take another look at it and check. I'd sure hateto let a crook get away."
Mason said, "You have thatsketch, Paul?"
Drake hesitated perceptibly, thensaid, "Yes, I have a copy"
"Let's take a look," Masonsaid.
Mason spread a copy of the sketch ofCollister Gideon out on the desk. "Take a look," he said.
Kearny studied it carefully, then said,"Well, it's, hard to say. What the watchman says has given me a jolt. Igot sort of uncertain, but now I know this isn't the guy. The fellow I saw wasolder, he was heavier, he was … well, sort of menacing. This fellow looksmore the intellectual type. This guy that came busting out of there was athug."
"Of course," Mason said,"experience shows that in times of emotional disturbance of that sort,particularly where a man has a gun, the witnesses are inclined to think the manis bigger than he actually is, heavier than he actually is, and quitefrequently, older than he actually is."
"Well, I couldn't make thatmuch of a mistake," Kearny said. "It's all right. I just wanted to satisfy myself and I don'tknow what all the blinking fuss is about. Hell's bells, I just came up to thisdetective's office to check to see if I'd made a mistake, after I heard thewatchman say the sketch was one that looked to him like the fellow"
"No chance you could bemistaken?" Mason asked.
"I saw the fellow real close.Had a good look at him. This sketch – No, this isn't the guy"
"Is there perhaps some slightresemblance here which confused the watchman?" Mason asked.
Kearny said, "Of course there is. Otherwisehe wouldn't have thought it was the guy." He looked at the sketch againand covered up the lower part.