The Case of the Unknown Thief
Encyclopedia and Sally were walking back from the movie theater when they got caught in a heavy storm. He decided it would be a good idea to duck into Rubin’s Fine Jewelers to wait out the storm. Since Mr. Rubin was a friend of his father’s, he didn’t think Rubin would mind.
There were six customers in the store when they entered. Rubin was helping a man in a brown suit carrying and umbrella. Next to him was a man in a gray suit carrying a cane.
After being in the store for a few minutes, the storm intensified and the lights went out. People eventually left the store, and when the lights went on, it was just the two detectives, Rubin and the man in the brown suit, whose name was Mr. Bower.
Rubin noticed a wallet next to Bower, but Bower said that it wasn’t his. Rubin looked inside and found no ID, no photos and no credit cards. Bower suggested that Rubin count the money, so that the owner couldn’t claim that there had been more in it than there was.
Rubin found three dollar bills that were flat, two five-dollar bills folded halfway, a ten-dollar bill folded into thirds and a twenty-dollar bill folded lengthwise. They also found a receipt from the previous week from Top Hardware Store.
At that point, Bower noticed that his watch was gone. Rubin explained that he had hidden the watch as soon as the lights went out. However, Rubin then realized that the watch that he thought was Rubin’s was actually a cheap women’s watch.
Encyclopedia asked if either of them had mentioned how expensive the watch was. Rubin said he that he might have, but anyone could see that it was a fine watch. Encyclopedia said he would go to Top Hardware Store to see if anyone there remembered this watch thief.
The two men reminded Encyclopedia that the receipt was from the previous week and that it wasn’t likely that anyone at the hardware store would remember him.
Encyclopedia was sure that they would because this person was blind. He was able to tell by the way he kept his money folded in his wallet. That folding technique was common among the blind to differentiate between different denominations.
The blind man heard Rubin talking about how expensive the watch was. When he heard everyone talking about the lights going out, he seized the opportunity. He groped blindly, literally, for Bower’s watch and switched it with the cheaply made women’s watch that he must have carried with him all of the time on the off-chance that he would one day happen to be in a jewelry store during a blackout, thereby giving him the opportunity to switch it for a nicer one.
I don't understand how the thief was able to do that. Rubin said that he had hidden the watch as soon as the lights went out. For any of this to have made sense, the thief would have switched the watches a split second after the store lost electricity. How could he have possibly have sensed that there was a blackout and have been ready with this dummy watch. And how could he have switched the watches without Rubin noticing? I understand the lights went out, but it's doubtful that the room went completely pitch black; otherwise, the other customers wouldn't have found their way outside. Even if it was pitch black, how was Rubin unable to tell the difference between an expensive men's watch and an inexpensive women's watch? Wouldn't the weight difference alone have tipped off a jeweler?
I find all of this very difficult to believe. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say that Rubin stole the watch himself and planted this wallet "that only a blind person would have" in order to frame the blind man.