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detective and I asked her to empty her purse.”
    “Did she do so?”
    “Not at first.”
    “Why was that?”
    “As to why, I couldn’t tell you. The fact is, she didn’t want to open her purse. She wanted to know what was going on. Mr. Fletcher explained the situation to her—again, I understand I’m not allowed to say what he said. But he talked to her, and afterwards she agreed to let me look in her purse. I examined the money in her wallet and found she had four twenty dollar bills. I compared them to the serial numbers in my notebook.”
    “With what result?”
    “Two of the serial numbers matched.”
    “How can you be so sure?”
    “Because I have the bills right here.” Macklin reached in his jacket pocket again, took out an envelope. He pulled two bills from the envelope. “I have one bill, serial number K30914335A and another bill, serial number B80632833D.”
    “Your Honor, I ask that these bills be marked for identification as Peoples’ Exhibits Two-A and Two-B.”
    “So ordered.”
    When the bills had been marked for identification, Pearson smiled and said, “These are the bills that you took from the wallet of the defendant on the morning of Monday, May 3rd?”
    “Yes, they are.”
    “And they match two of the serial numbers that you had written down in your notebook in the office on April 30th, the notebook that has been marked for identification as People’s Exhibit One?”
    “Yes, they do.”
    Pearson smiled. “Thank you, Mr. Macklin. That’s all.”
    Steve Winslow got to his feet. “Mr. Macklin, you testified to being a trained observer, is that right?”
    “Yes, it is.”
    “I think you also testified that you saw Mr. Fletcher put the twenty dollar bills in the petty cash box, is that right?”
    “Yes, it is.”
    “He gave you the twenty dollar bills?”
    “Yes, he did.”
    “You wrote the serial numbers down and gave them back to him?”
    “Yes, I did.”
    “He took those twenty dollar bills and put them in the petty cash drawer?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Twenty-five twenty dollar bills?”
    “That is correct.”
    “You counted them?”
    “He counted them and I counted them.”
    “And there were twenty-five?”
    “Yes, there were.”
    “So when you said earlier in response to Mr. Pearson’s question that you didn’t know how many serial numbers you had written down, you would have to count them, that was incorrect?”
    Macklin’s smile was somewhat superior. “Not at all,” he said. “I meant exactly what I said. I had not counted the serial numbers. Nor had I numbered them. I had counted the bills, and knew them to be twenty-five. And I had written down the serial numbers for those bills, so I could assume I had written down twenty-five numbers. But I’m not allowed to testify to what I assume . Only what I know .”
    At the prosecution table, A.D.A. Pearson let the jurors see his broad grin.
    “I’m glad to hear it,” Steve said. “But you know now from counting that you wrote twenty-five serial numbers in your notebook?”
    “That’s right.”
    “And you knew then from counting that Mr. Fletcher gave you twenty-five twenty dollar bills?”
    “That’s right.”
    “And it was those same bills that you wrote the serial numbers of down in your notebook?”
    “That’s right.”
    “And those same bills that you returned to Mr. Fletcher?”
    “That’s right.”
    “And those same bills that Mr. Fletcher put in the cash box and put in the desk?”
    Macklin nodded. “Absolutely. The same ones.”
    “And you know that because you are a trained observer, and if Mr. Fletcher had substituted any bills for the ones you’d given him, you’d have seen him do it. Is that right?”
    “Yes, it is.”
    Steve Winslow nodded. “I see. Mr. Macklin, do you have x-ray vision?”
    Macklin blinked. “I beg your pardon?”
    “X-ray vision. You know. Like Superman. Can you see through walls?”
    “Objection, Your Honor,” Pearson said. “Of all the