The Perfect Witness

A daring daylight robbery at Holstein's Books turns into something far worse when two thieves, cornered by a silent alarm, grab a hostage - Jenny Roberts, a blind girl they figure can never identify them. But after dumping her far from the police station where they promised, the robbers make a big mistake... they assume Jenny noticed nothing at all. Detective Pat Ethan, a specialist in blind witnesses, helps Jenny build a "sound picture" of the ride: a slow freight train, thieves who didn't care about the cash, and an envelope someone else told them to find. Meanwhile, Eugene Meltsner reports his own crime - his car stolen, the very car the robbers used for their getaway. Back in his room, he discovers his laptop, his backup disks, and every last copy of his computer files have vanished, his desktop wiped clean. Now Captain Quinn is sure the crimes are connected, and the real target was never the money at all.

Found on Twists and Turns Album 23 · 12 episodes

The run See every episode

0303 All the Difference in the World Danny discovers that being the only kid with rules might matter more than he ever imagined.

0304 St. Paul: The Man from Tarsus A test run of the upgraded Imagination Station drops two very different Odyssey kids into first-century Jerusalem, where one befriends the early church and the other falls in with its fiercest persecutor.

0305 St. Paul: Set Apart by God A blinded persecutor waits in Damascus, and the one man sent to help him is a follower of the very faith he came to destroy.

0306 A Victim of Circumstance A prank gone wrong lands Whit's End in court when an opportunistic lawyer convinces the Rathbones that Rodney is the real victim.

0307 Poetry in Slow Motion A struggling student who can't make sense of his class's poetry unit will try almost anything to avoid admitting he needs help.

0308 Subject Yourself While young Lawrence chafes under his orthodontist's strict rules, his mother must decide whether to challenge a flawed new school curriculum - even if it costs her career.

1 of 3 0309 The Perfect Witness When a bookstore robbery goes wrong, the thieves take a blind girl as the "perfect" hostage - never suspecting how much a witness can learn without seeing.

2 of 3 0310 The Perfect Witness A detective must piece together a blindfolded witness's memories of sounds and smells before the kidnappers' trail - and their hideout - disappears forever.

3 of 3 0311 The Perfect Witness A blind girl's remarkable memory for sounds and details may be the key to unraveling a bookstore robbery that's far more than it appears.

0312 Rewards in Full A citywide charity drive and a school safety campaign test what happens when the credit for good work lands on the wrong people.

0313 Top This! When her lifelong-rival cousin moves to Odyssey, Courtney turns a simple youth group fundraiser into an escalating contest to outdo her - while the local radio station stages its own outrageous bid for attention.

1 of 3 0314 The Underground Railroad Told through a curator's discovery of hidden tunnels beneath Whit's End, an enslaved Tennessee family's hope for freedom is tested when a cruel master's spite tears them apart.

2 of 3 0315 The Underground Railroad While one fugitive risks everything by mailing himself north in a shipping crate, two others race a relentless slave catcher toward a freedom that a new law may snatch away

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 10 more roles

10 supporting roles

Jenny Roberts Natalie Babbitt Fred Holstein Kenneth Mars Captain Richard Quinn Kenneth Mars Mike Roberts Matt Hurwitz Detective Pat Ethan Vaughn Taylor Detective Patricia Ethan Vaughn Taylor Martin Franklin Johns Robert Spina Russell Kosh Matt Hurwitz Linda Roberts Shari Belgeau Officer Spector Mark Drury

Made by

Chris Anthony Host Paul McCusker Writer · Director · Producer Dave Arnold Sound Designer · Producer Mark Drury Producer Chuck Bolte Executive Producer

The story

Read the full synopsis 2 min

Jenny Roberts arrives at Holstein's Books irritated by strangers who treat her as helpless because she is blind. She has walked there by herself to collect books for her family. Katrina Shanks is helping the owner, Fred Holstein, while two unfamiliar men browse the crime section. Holstein is especially excited about a rare first edition he has obtained for Professor Marcus.

The two customers suddenly lock the door and announce a robbery. They force Holstein to open the register and take Katrina's knapsack into the back room. Holstein deliberately fumbles while pressing a silent alarm, but the thieves discover the button as a police car approaches. Needing “insurance,” they seize Jenny. Katrina offers herself instead, but they decide a blind girl is the perfect hostage because she cannot see their faces or the place they take her.

The robbers flee in a car and examine the contents of Katrina's knapsack. They show little interest in the stolen cash. Instead, they open an envelope and confirm that it contains what they came for. At a nearly empty hideout three floors above the ground, they remove disguises and change clothes, assuming Jenny cannot learn anything useful. One robber later abandons the car while the other drives Jenny back toward Odyssey in a pickup truck. He promises to leave her safely and insists the kidnapping was an accident.

The man tells Jenny he has brought her to the Odyssey police station and orders her not to speak until he drives away. When she steps out and calls for help, however, no one answers. She does not know where she has actually been left.

Jenny is eventually found and taken home. County detective Pat Ethan, a woman who specializes in cases involving blind witnesses, comes to help Captain Quinn investigate. Rather than dismiss what Jenny cannot see, Ethan believes Jenny knows more than she realizes. She asks the girl to combine her memory with her other senses and construct a “sound picture” of the journey.

Jenny recalls stopping for a slow freight train and remembers that the thieves did not care how much cash they had stolen. She also remembers them opening something in the knapsack and giving credit to a third person for knowing it would be there. Ethan first suspects the rare Hoggard book may have been the real target and that someone hired the robbers to steal it. She asks Jenny to concentrate next on every sound and sensation from the hideout.

Meanwhile, Eugene Meltsner learns about the robbery when he comes to the police station with a crime of his own. Someone has broken into his college room, stolen his laptop, and taken his car - the same car the robbers used to escape from Holstein's. The police find no obvious evidence inside it, but Eugene notices unusual dust and clay on the vehicle and asks that it be analyzed.

Captain Quinn now suspects the crimes are connected and sends Eugene back to inspect his room more carefully. Eugene discovers that a box of backup disks is missing as well. When he checks his desktop computer, he finds its hard drive has been reformatted. His laptop, disks, and every remaining copy of his files are gone.