The Solar System Looks Great On You

*sigh* Bourbon is not pure alcohol, so it does freeze, but it has to be really damned cold. Since the writer was hammering the idea that it was really cold, I read that as another "it's really cold!" detail. If you're going to offer clues, try to get them right.

1. A blind man as an accountant - suspicious.
2. If she was stranded, why did they have to canvas a 10 block area for her. She would have stayed in the same place - suspicious.
3. If bourbon does freeze as Artor states, the verbiage says it was just 'beginning' to crystalize - suspicious.
There is evidence that all 3 could have been the lookout.
Maybe the police should have looked for the other walkie-talkie.

Most alcoholic beverages freeze someplace between -6C and -34C. Bourbon being about 80 proof, it's going to be nearer to that -34 and it's still probably going to take a while, even though at that temperature, frost bite can set in in about 5 minutes. There won't be any cats wandering the streets at that temperature. Water, on the other hand, will take about an hour to freeze at 0C. This suggests that if the entire search took half an hour, and then the questioning took place outdoors in the order written, the water might just be beginning to freeze. Within the realm of plausibility, anyway.

The real question, though, is why on earth ANYONE would go to the trouble of finding a bottle of bourbon and filling it with dyed water rather than just buy a bottle of bourbon. If it's that cold, and you're celebrating a jewel heist, wouldn't you rather have a bottle of whiskey handy?