What did surprise me was that I didn’t seem to be the least bit upset by the situation. Usually, in a crisis like this, I would either be extremely upset or too angry to care. This time, however, I simply felt a bit bemused. In fact, I felt so relaxed and in control of myself and the situation, I decided to have a bit of fun with it . . . just to break the monotony.
“Look again, sir. Are you absolutely sure?” I knew that voice, too. It was the captain who had given J.R. and me so much grief the last time I had the pleasure of enjoying police hospitality. Before the waiter could respond, I used my disguise spell and switched places with the policeman standing next to me.
“I am sure. He ees the third . . .no, the second from the right!”
“What?”
Resisting the urge to grin, I went to work again, this time changing everyone in the lineup so they were identical images of me.
“But . . . but thees ees imposs-ible!”
“MISTER Skeeve. If you don’t mind?”
“Excuse me, captain?” I said innocently.
“We’d appreciate it a lot if you’d quit playing games with the witnesses!”
“That makes us even,” I smiled. “I’d appreciate it if you quit playing games with me! However, I think I’ve made my point.”
I let the disguise spell drop, leaving the policemen in the lineup to glare suspiciously at each other as well as at me. “What point is that?”
“That this whole lineup thing is silly. We’ll ignore the bit with putting all of your colleagues up here with me for the moment and assume you were playing it straight. My point is that I’m not the only one who knows how to use a disguise spell. Anyone who’s laid eyes on me or seen a picture of me could use a disguise spell well enough to fool the average witness. That invalidates the lineup identification as evidence. All you’ve established is that someone with access to my image has been seen by the witness . . . not that I personally, was anywhere near him.” There was a long silence beyond the lights.