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Compton stopped the video, turned the laptop back around, and folded her arms over her expansive bosom. “Describe the man who banged into the stroller.”
Confused, Elle looked at the two of them. “You just saw him.”
“Yes, but I want you to tell me again whatyousaw. What was he wearing?”
“Khaki pants, a navy-blue windbreaker, a faded red baseball cap.”
“What kind of shoes?”
“I only saw him from the knees up.”
“Did you get a good look at his face?”
“No. Only in profile.”
“Facial hair?”
“I don’t think so. Nothing like a full beard.”
“Ethnicity?”
“White.”
“Height?”
“A little above average, but that’s only a guess.”
Perkins said, “He’s caught in one freeze frame with Calder Hudson. Hudson’s six feet three inches. Gauging by that, we put this fellow at around five ten.”
“I would say that’s in the ballpark,” Elle said, “but I couldn’t swear to it. He didn’t strike me as either distinctively tall or short.”
“Thin or heavy?”
“Again, not remarkably one or the other.” She held up both hands, palms out. “I’m being of no help to you. Can you give me a hint of what you’re looking for?”
“Let’s keep going,” Compton said.
“He really was only a blur,” Elle insisted. “I was focused more on the stroller and the likelihood of it tipping over.”
Compton ignored that and said, “How old would you guess he was?”
“Judging by his agility alone, I would say late twenties, early thirties. But he must have been older.”
“What makes you think so?”
“His ponytail was gray.” She knew immediately that she’d hit bingo, because the detectives exchanged a telling look. “Is that significant?”
“Out of all the eyewitnesses we interviewed, you’re one of only five who mentioned this guy’s ponytail,” Perkins said. “And in every instance, it was off-handedly referred to and at a different point of their narrative. That’s why it took us so long to pick up on it.”
“You’re absolutely certain that he had a ponytail?” Compton asked.
“Absolutely certain.”
“You saw in the video that he was wearing a baseball cap.”
“His collar was flipped up, but I could see that his ponytail was coming out through the opening in the back of his cap.”
Compton turned the laptop back around toward Elle. “Like this?”
