much on the shoulder as not.
Eric Schilling's mail drop was a private postal service called Stars & Stripes Mail Boxes in a strip mall in a part of San Gabriel where most of the people were of Chinese descent. The mall held three Chinese restaurants, a pharmacy, a pet store, and the postal business. The parking lot was crowded with families on their way to dinner at the restaurants, or lingering outside the pet store. Pike and I parked on the side street, then walked back to the mail drop. It was closed.
Stars & Stripes was a storefront business in full view of the mall, with the pet store on one side and the pharmacy on the other. An alarm strip ran along its glass front and door. Inside, mailboxes were set into the walls in the front part of the store, divided from the back office by a sales counter. The owner had pulled a heavy steel fence across the counter to divide the store into a front and back. Customers could let themselves into the front after hours to get their mail, but not steal the stamps and packages that were kept in the office. The curtain looked strong enough to cage a rhino.
Schilling's box number was or had been 2o. We wouldn't know if the box still belonged to Schilling until
to
we were inside. I could see box zos, but I couldn't tell whether it held any mail. For all I knew, Fallon had sent him a treasure map leading to Ben Chenier. Pike said, 'The rental agreements will be in the office. It might be easier to get in through the back.' We walked around the side of the mall to the alley that ran behind it. More cars lined the alley, along with Dumpsters and service doors for the shops. Two men in white aprons sat on crates in the open door of one of the restaurants. They peeled potatoes and carrots into a large metal bowl. The name of each business was painted on its service door, along with NO ENTRANCE and PARKING FOR DELIVERY ONLY. We found the door for Stars & Stripes Mail Boxes. It was faced with steel and set with two industrial-strength deadbolt locks. The hinges were heavy-grade, too. You would need a truck and chains to pull them out of the wall. Pike said, 'Can you pick the locks?' 'Yeah, but not fast. These locks are made to resist picks, and we have these guys over here.' Pike and I looked at the men, who were doing their best to ignore us. It would be faster to go through the front. We walked back to the parking lot. A Chinese family with three little boys was standing outside the pet store, watching the puppies and kittens inside. The father held his smallest son in his arms, pointing at one of the puppies. He said, 'How about that one? You see how he plays? The one with the spot on his nose.' Their mother smiled at me as we passed and I smiled back, everything so civil and peaceful, everything so fine. Pike and I went to the glass door. We could wait for someone to come for their mail and walk in with them, 271
but hanging around for a couple of hours was not an option. Starkey could have arranged a warrant and roused the owner to open the place if we wanted to wait until midnight.
I said, 'When we break the door, the alarm is going to ring here in the store. It might also ring at a security station, and they'll call the police. We have to pop the face off his mailbox, get past the curtain, then go through the office. All these people here in the parking lot will see us, and someone will call the police. We won't have much time. Then we have to get out of here. They'll probably get our license numbers.'
'Are you trying to talk me out of this?'
The evening sky had darkened to a rich blue and was growing darker, but the street lights had not yet flicked on. Families walked along the narrow walk, coming out of the restaurants or waiting for their names to be called. An old man hobbled out of the pharmacy. Cars crept through the little parking lot, hoping for a space. Here we were, about to break into some honest citizen's place of business. We would destroy property, and that property would have to be paid for. We would violate their rights, and that was something you couldn't pay for, and we would scare the hell out of all these people who would end up witnesses against us if and when we were brought to trial.
'Yes, I guess I am. Let me do this part by myself. Why don't you wait in your car?'
Pike said, 'Anyone can wait in the car. That isn't me.'
'No, I guess not. Let's put our cars in the alley. We'll go in the front here, but leave through the back.'
We put our cars outside the service door, then walked back around to the front again. Pike brought a crowbar. I brought a flathead screwdriver and my jack handle.
The family from the pet store was standing directly in
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front of Stars & Stripes Mail Boxes. The man and the woman were trying to decide which restaurant would seat them faster with the kids.
I said, 'You're too close to the door. Please step aside.' The woman said, 'I'm sorry. What?'
I pointed at the door with my jack handle.
'There's going to be glass. You need to move.'
Pike stepped close to her husband like a towering shadow.
'Go.'
They suddenly understood what was going to happen and pulled their children away, speaking fast in Chinese.
I hit the door with my jack handle and shattered the glass. The alarm went off with a loud steady buzz that echoed through the parking lot and across the intersection like an air-raid siren. The people in the parking lot and on the sidewalks looked toward the sound. I knocked the remaining glass out of the door frame, and then I went in. Something sharp raked my back. More glass fell, and Pike came in after me.
Pike went for the curtain and I went for the mailbox. The boxes were built sturdy, with bronze metal doors set flush to a metal frame. Each door had a small glass window so you could see whether you had mail and a reinforced lock. Schilling's box was packed with mail.
I worked the screwdriver's blade under the door, then hammered it open with the jack handle. None of the mail was addressed to Eric Schilling or Gene Jeanie; it was addressed to Eric Shear.
'It's him. He's using the name Eric Shear.'
The alarm was so loud that I shouted.
I shoved the letters into my pockets, then ran to help Pike.
