The Case of the Phantom Fortune

Chapter 10

Late Friday morning Mason's phonerang and Paul Drake said, "Perry, I'm getting frightened."

"How come?" Mason asked.

"That confounded identificationbusiness. I'm afraid we're in a jam."

"Now look," Mason toldhim, "all we have to do is to act in good faith so that we're not lying toGideon. We simply tell him that this picture of him has been submitted to theeyewitnesses in a murder case. He, of course, has no idea that we ordered thepicture made. He thinks it's a composite picture made from the description ofeyewitnesses – not a picture that we had made and then submitted toeyewitnesses.

"The guy is smart. Knowing whatwould happen to him when he gets on the witness stand and his past record comesout, he's going to take it on the lam. We won't hear any more from him."

"You don't know the half ofit," Drake said.

"All right, what's the half ofit?"

"You know Parley Fulton, myoperative?"

"I've met him, yes. Seems likea pretty level-headed sort of a chap."

"All right," Drake said."The Pacific Northern Supermarket was robbed last night. They got awaywith about seven thousand dollars. There was a night watchman on duty, andevidently he surprised the burglar."

"More than one?" Masonasked.

"Apparently a lone wolf."

"All right, whathappened?"

"He gunned the watchman andthen escaped through the front door."

"How bad is it?" Masonasked. "The watchman, I mean."

"The watchman is going to live.Fellow by the name of Steven Hooks. The bullet was aimed right for the heart,but it was deflected by his shield. Gave him a nasty shoulder wound and knockedhim off his feet, but he's okay"

"All right," Mason said,"what are you getting at?"

"Well, I followed yourinstructions. Had Fulton take this sketch of Gideon to the watchman and the other eyewitness, afellow by the name of Drew Kearny

"Now, Kearny was a fellow who had been at a late motionpicture show and happened to be walking down the street just as this hold-upman burst out the front door. He drew a gun on Kearny, told him to stick up his hands. Kearny thought it was a holdup but the fellow justused the gun to terrorize Keamy, then sprinted across the street and into analley.

"Kearny started trying to find a phone where hecould call police, but as it happened someone had already heard the gunshot andtelephoned the police. A police cruiser came along so Kearny flagged them down and gave them his storyand a description of the guy It was a pretty good description. He claims he gota good look at him."

"Look anything likeGideon?" Mason asked.

"Two eyes, a nose and a mouth,and that's all the resemblance."

"But that doesn't keep us fromshowing him the sketch," Mason said, "and we can plant a story in thepaper that the police artist has made a composite sketch – "

"Wait a minute, you haven'theard anything," Drake said. "We showed Keamy the sketch and he justlaughed at us, said it had no resemblance whatever to the fellow, that thestick-up was an older man, more heavy-set, that the eyes were different, and soforth. So then Parley Fulton got into the hospital and showed the sketch toSteven Hooks.

"Now, Fulton claims that hedidn't use any suggestion, that he just told Hooks he'd like to have him lookover this sketch and see if there was any resemblance and all that."

"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.

"The mouth is the thing thatdoesn't click," he said. "The eyes aren't so bad, but this fellow hada mouth that was – I don't know what was wrong with it. Maybe he was holdingsomething in his mouth, but the upper part of this sketch could be – Well, it'ssomething like the guy … That's what keeps bothering me. I have a feelingI've seen this bird somewhere before but…" He broke off and shook hishead. "Anyhow, I can't identify this sketch as being that of theman."

"All right," Mason toldhim. "That's as far as we can go. Thanks a lot for coming in."

"Who is this fellow? Where didyou get the picture?" Kearny asked.

Mason said, "We're interestedin certain aspects of crime. That is, of course, the Drake Detective Agency is.And in the course of its investigations it – Well, of course, they run intolots of peculiar things."

Mason smiled and extended his hand."Nice to have met you, Mr Kearny."

Kearny grinned and said, "Okay, don't tell meif you don't want to. That's the best piece of double-talk I've heard in a longwhile. Thanks a lot, Mr Drake. You have my address. Goodbye, everyone."

Kearny went out.

Drake mopped his forehead."What a hell of a mess we're in. The watchman told the police we had asketch of the burglar."

"Can't you get to that watchmanand throw cold water on his identification?"

"It wasn't anidentification," Drake said. "He said there was a strong resemblanceand let it go at that."

"Well, can't you get him toback up a little bit in view of what Kearny says?"

"I probably could," Drakesaid, "but it's too hot right now. The police are wondering what in hellwe're trying to do."

"Well, let the police worryabout their end of the business," Mason said, "and we'll worry aboutours."

"Suppose they call on me andwant to see the sketch?"

"Show it to them."

"Then they'll ask where I gotit."

"Tell them an artist drewit."

"They'll want to know theartist."

"Refer them to me."

"That darned watchman,"Drake said moodily. "He's really got us in a spot."

Mason said, "Don't overlook thefact that this plays right into our hands. It gives us a beautiful club. We'lllet the police take this sketch, and if the Watchman does keep insisting itlooks like the man, the police will publish it, Gideon will take one agonizedlook at the newspaper and be on his way out of the country just as fast as hecan go."

"What'll he use forfunds?" Drake asked.

"Whatever he can scrapeup," Mason said thoughtfully. "And that raises a point I'd betterthink about."