CLANCY: This is it? Just two files?
GERWAL: They’re all you need.
CLANCY: Hmmpf ... What’s this? A receipt for 18 dollars and 25 cents. Another one seven days later for 22 dollars. This one the next week for 19.50, another for 23. These belong to the Moskovitz woman, don’t they? Here’s one for 18.25. How did you get these?
GERWAL: That’s not your concern. They’re petrol station receipts. The ...
CLANCY: I might have been able to figure that out, Gerwal! They’ve got Irving Oil written across the top. And in this country you say “gas bar” or “gas station.” This isn’t England, you know.
GERWAL: I’m not from England.
CLANCY: Well, wherever it is you’re from. All I ...
GERWAL: India. And not just India: the Punjab. Now do you want to discuss my heritage or do you want my report.
CLANCY: Okay, okay, Gerwal, don’t get huffy. It’s just ... well, when you’re in Rome, you should talk like the Romans.
GERWAL: You mean like: Braccae tuae aperiuntur?
CLANCY: Don’t get smart-alecky with ... with ... Braccae tu ... That’s good, Gerwal! That’s funny! Braccae tuae aperiuntur. You’re telling me my fly is open. Where did you pick up Latin like that?
GERWAL: At school in the Punjab. I can give it to you in Greek too. But I remind you my fee is 500 a day, so do you want to talk about my investigation of this witness or do you want to play linguistic one-up?
CLANCY: Okay, okay. Now, the witness, this Mrs. Moskovitz that saw the accident. Allegedly saw the accident ...
GERWAL: The next receipt is the one you want.
CLANCY: The next ... hmmm ... yes. Twenty dollars even. 8:04 a.m. on November 12.
GERWAL: The accident was at 8:02.
CLANCY: Yes. And on Friday, November 12. Hmmpf ... This receipt is Irving Oil too. Might have known. And every receipt is from the gas bar at 240 King Street.
GERWAL: There are photographs of it in the other file. It’s on the northeast corner of King and Queensgate Boulevard. Faces King.
CLANCY: Photographs? Oh, I see, yea. You took these?
GERWAL: Of course. The one you’re looking at is the side view. I took it from the south side of Queensgate. Typical modern petrol ... er ... gas station. Three vehicle alleys parallel with the front of the building. Four pump islands, each with a back to back pump so they can handle up to eight vehicles at once. Self-serve on the left island, full serve on the right. There’s a front view of the station there too. I took that from the west side of King so you can see ...
CLANCY: Aren’t we getting a little information overload here, Gerwal?
GERWAL: When I investigate you get the full Monty.
CLANCY: The what?
GERWAL: Never mind. She ... the witness, Mrs. Moskovitz ... she lives three blocks east of the station. On a little cul-de-sac off Queensgate.
CLANCY: Probably accounts for why all these receipts are from the same place. She just runs up the street and ... What’s this picture? Her car?
GERWAL: Yes. A Buick Century, 2003.
CLANCY: In good shape. Except for that little dinger there on the driver’s side.
GERWAL: Dinger?
CLANCY: Dent. The dent there below the fuel door.
GERWAL: Dinger ... dinger! The things you do to the English language in this country!
CLANCY: When in Rome, Gerwal. I’d say if you look close you’d find a few more dingers like that too, given her age. By the way, that’s something that bothers me. Here she’s a pensioner with all the time in the world and she gets her gas in rush hour. Look at these other receipts ... 8:05 a.m., 8:28, like that. Always pays cash too.
GERWAL: She’s an early riser. And regular as clockwork. Every Friday she gets gas and then goes grocery shopping. Do you want me to dig up even more on her lifestyle?
CLANCY: At 500 dollars a day?
GERWAL: My fee is a lot less than you’ll be charging your client for legal services.
CLANCY: Yea, he could get burned if we can’t shake this Mrs. Moskovitz, ’cause according to her, he ran the red light at Queensgate and T-boned the school bus going south on King. Didn’t even touch the brakes. GERWAL: But she didn’t actually put it that way, did she? CLANCY: No, what she told the police was that while she was at the pumps she saw our guy drive right into the intersection against the red light and that his brake lights never came on.
GERWAL: Of course, you ...
CLANCY: Yes, his car’s been tested and the brake lights work so they must have been working on November 12 too.
GERWAL: Nevertheless, in my opinion you have more than enough here in these files to generate a large dollop of reasonable doubt when Mrs. Moskovitz takes the stand.
CLANCY: In fact I do, Gerwal, in fact I do. You’ve earned your fee. By the way: dollop — I like that! Dollop! That’s good, Gerwal!
What evidence has the investigator, Gerwal, provided which will enable Clancy to undermine Mrs. Moskovitz’s testimony?