had happened. The other time had involved the travel ladies having to liberate me from a certain amount of rope. The last thing I needed was for them to decide I was a risky subtenant and evict me. “Either of you guys see or hear anything?”
They shook their heads. “We had busy afternoon,” Andi said. “Lots people. This very weird. After we so nervous. We perfectly fine, but your office, this happens.”
“Nervous about what?”
“Lots people, ask about flight, tour, cruise, everythings. Some maybe interested, but most, no. But sit, keep asking, talking. Actually, we worried, in case looking to see, should they rob us. But don’t dare throw them out.”
“Why not?”
“Because,” Ava said. “White Eagles.”
I left the travel ladies in their own office and tiptoed around mine, looking to see what was missing while I waited for the precinct guys.
That White Eagles had spent the afternoon researching vacation packages was beyond suspicious. Chinatown gangsters aren’t Travel & Leisure types. A lot don’t even have passports: Some are illegals, some are still serving out parole time, and others haven’t used their real names in so long they don’t know them. Their only purpose could have been to distract Ava and Andi from whatever was happening in my office.
Which was what? Nobody breaks into a PI’s office looking for cash. Under all the paper, everything that could profitably be fenced was still here. The alley lightwell may not be Main Street, but it’s not risk-free. If I were a jewelry shop, the distraction tactic and the risk might be worth it, but to break into my office?
I examined the bent bars more closely. Not a large opening. I could barely have made it through myself. Anyone slight enough to use this gap probably wouldn’t have the strength to create it. So, a theory: Some muscle-bound rice-brain jimmies the bars; a ten-year-old apprentice gangster squeezes through and opens my door for some other rice-brains while yet another set distracts the ladies at Golden Adventure.
Why? What could make all that worthwhile?
Was it the same thing that had made tossing Joel’s office worthwhile?
And whether or not they’d found what they came for, why didn’t they steal anything else as long as they were here?
The arrival of two uniforms from the Fifth Precinct temporarily derailed my train of thought. They poked around, taking down information. “Kee told us to scare up the crime scene guys,” one of them said. “But I don’t know, a burglary? Even if it was White Eagles. And you don’t know that. And you didn’t lose nothin’ . . .” He trailed off, caught between a detective’s order and the sure scorn of the overworked CSI techs.
“No, it’s okay,” I sighed. The chances of lifting prints weren’t great, and if there were any, that would just prove whoever left them had been here sometime. Since I hadn’t lost nothin’, what charges could I press even if I knew who to press them against?
Of course, maybe I had lost something but in this mess didn’t know what. I thanked the cops and was closing the door behind them when an icy thought hit.
If whoever did this hadn’t found what they were looking for, they might try looking somewhere else.
I yanked out my phone and hit speed dial. When my mother answered, I blurted, “Ma! Are you all right?”
“Ling Wan-ju? What do you mean, am I all right? Of course I am well, for an old woman. If you had not left so early this morning you would have seen how well I am.”
“Don’t open the door until I get there.”
“Who is coming here?”
“I don’t know.”
At a run, I charged up Canal, headed home.
“You think those gang boys will come here?” My mother stared in disbelief. I wasn’t sure if that was for the audacity of the gang boys or for my own absurd idea that anyone, even gang boys, would climb to a fourth-floor walk-up to tangle with my mother.
“Probably not, Ma. This is just to make sure. Ted and Ling-an say they’d love to have you come back for a few days. You’ll be safe out there.”
“If this apartment is not safe, why will you not let me put more locks on the door?”
“Five locks are plenty, Ma. But they crowbarred my bathroom window.”
“Our bathrooms have no windows.”
“There’s the kitchen fire escape.”
“The fire escape faces a busy street.”
“They might come at night.”
“Old Chow Lun would see them.”
“He might not be there.”
“Have you ever seen him when he is not there?”
How could I