Phil Cohen bustled into the room as if he owned the place. He's pretty sprightly for a seventy-year-old guy, Mitchell thought."All right! What am I doing here while you jackals are making an even bigger mess out of my store?" Phil asked indignantly.
"Mr. Cohen, calm down." Mitchell attempted to take control. "We have to ascertain what happened at your store."
"What happened?!? I was robbed, you schmuck! And the man... And those women... Yeesh! Everybody shooting!" Phil threw his hands up in the air in disgust.
Mitchell gave up on taking control, and tried to coax some sense out of Phil. "Can you please just tell me what you recall happening, from right before the robber walked into the store."
"OK, OK. Lemme think a second." Phil pursed his lips in thought. "It was morning, not usually a busy time, so I was just waiting around the store behind the register. This woman walks in, she looks nice enough at first glance, and I ask her if I can help. She says no, she's just browsing for something for herself, and then she goes over and starts looking at some of the display cases near the door. Now, she's been looking around for about ten minutes when this guy bangs open the door, walks over to me and tells me he's robbing me and I shouldn't try any funny stuff. Then, to show me he's serious, I guess, he pulls out a gun and shoots it to one side of me. Except, this blows out my hearing aid and I can't hear anything anyone says after that. I lost my hearing in Korea, from a mortar explosion, you know."
Mitchell nodded, and said "I'm very sorry to hear that Mr. Cohen. But you mean to tell me that you couldn't hear anything after that point?"
"No way." Phil shook his head. "Without my hearing aid, I miss everything but the loudest noises. So while I'm cringing from the shock, this guy turns and says something to the woman, who lies face down on the ground. Then he yells something at me, and I yell back that I can't hear. He starts to get angry, and motions to me with his gun to go into the back room. He follows me in there, and points at the safe. I try to argue, but he puts his gun against my head, so I opened it. Oy, I was so nervous it took me a couple of minutes fiddling with the dial just to get it open."
"And that's where the Hurley diamond was?" Mitchell asked.
"Yeah, a beautiful stone. One hundred thirty-two facets, in perfect shape. I was going to put it on this gorgeous gold necklace, but this swine grabbed it, along with a few other things. Then he motions for me to go to the corner and stand there facing the wall. So I do it. I don't know how much longer he stayed in the room, grabbing my stuff from the safe. Also, I can't be sure, but I thought I heard glass breaking somewhere - it was pretty loud."
"And then what happened?"
"I waited a little while, then peeked out the door. I saw that bastard yelling at the woman in the store, and she was yelling back at him. He gets really angry and starts to storm off, and she pulls out a gun from her purse and shoots him! I couldn't believe it. Anyway, she goes through his pockets and grabs the stuff he stole from my safe - and she seemed like such a nice lady, too, I couldn't believe it. But apparently, the guy's not dead. He pushes her down and staggers out of the store. And then - and I'm not positive about this - I think I heard another gunshot. The next thing I know, you apes are crawling all over my store! When can I leave and go clean my place up?" Phil threw his arms up in frustration.
Mitchell stood up and walked to the door to signal for Murphy. "We have to keep you here until we can get this all straightened out, Mr. Cohen. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but you'll have to bear with it."
"Bear with it? Yeesh! My grandchildren are better detectives than you shlubs." Phil stormed over to the door where Murphy was waiting. As the two left, Murphy asked "Who's next?"
Who will Mitchell talk to next?
Tonya Roberts, the robber's girlfriend
Jill Simmons, a customer in the store at the time of the robbery