There was a fire at the Glade Theater, so Encyclopedia and Sally went to check it. No, don’t get excited, Encyclopedia wasn’t about to investigate an arson. No, this turnes into another “someone sneaked up behind someone else, hit them over the head and robbed them” case.
Mr. Jorgens, who owns the beauty parlor, emerged from the alley saying that he had been robbed. Officer Wilson questioned Jorgens, who then gave the report to his superior, Chief Brown, who then divulged all of the details to his son over dinner.
Jorgens usually went to the bank on Fridays, but he decided to make a special trip on this day because business had been particularly good. The only person he told about his plan to go to the bank was his wife. There were three customers in the beauty parlor at the time, but they were under the loud hair driers at the time and they wouldn’t have been able to hear what Jorgens was saying.
Encyclopedia said that this case was easy. All they needed to do was find out which of the three customers was deaf, and that was the robber. He reasoned that someone who was deaf would be able to see what Jorgens was saying by reading his lips.
Sure enough, Mrs. O’Brien was deaf and caught that Jorgens was going to go to the bank. Knowing that he would be taking a shortcut through the alley and that everyone would be paying attention to the commotion at the theater, she seized the opportunity. After leaving the beauty parlor, she waited in the alley for him and hit him over the head and took his money.
I think it was kind of a good guess though. Yeah, deaf people are likely to be able to read lips, but it’s not a skill only held by the hearing impaired. The Idaville PD is lucky that O’Brien was actually the one who committed the crime. What if it was random? What if it was another customer, who was able to read lips despite being able to hear? That would look bad if they just arrested someone because she happened to be deaf and at the wrong place at the wrong time.
