Key to the defense was locating the tall, gaunt man
sporting a maroon Basque-style beret who had allegedly been in the convenience
store at the time of the robbery. That man was said to have witnessed the three
teenagers hassling the cashier just after ten pm, forcing him to hand over the
few bills in the register, threatening to return and cause havoc to the place
if he called the police, before escaping down the windswept street.
If the tall man could be located, he could identify the
teenagers, who hadn’t bothered to wear masks or disguise themselves and should
therefore be easy to identify. The cashier couldn’t give the police any clues as
to where they had come from, and where they were going, their pockets full of
his evening’s hard-earned revenues.
But the man with the beret had seen everything. At least,
according to Philip, who had been loitering outside when the teenagers robbed
the store.
Philip, who planned to purchase a pack of cigarettes, claimed
the man had been standing at the back when the teenagers rushed in. The man
came down the aisle but did nothing to stop the teenagers or protect the
cashier, Philip said. The cashier had raised his hands in defense even before
the youths announced their intention to rob the establishment. But, as Philip
tried to explain, the tall man could certainly pick out the boys in a lineup.
That’s what Philip told the police officers who arrived
at the scene twenty minutes later, but they didn’t believe him.
Read the rest of the story on Written Tales Magazine.
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