I arrived at the Orient Heights T station near my apartment and ran all the way to my building. There was a police car out front and one of the cops was talking to Seymour, who looked bullshit to have to be out of his apartment. He barely said anything to me as I approached. He probably figured it was my fault that he had to be questioned.

I identified myself and was led up the stairs by the cop. Seymour was right behind us and veered off into his apartment without a word, slamming the door behind him.

"Pleasant guy," said the cop.

"You should see him when he's unhappy," I answered.

"The woman downstairs," he looked at his notes, "a Molly Peters, is up in your apartment with my partner. She says she's not leaving until you get home. Said she's part of some neighborhood watch and it's her job to remain until you arrive."

I smiled. Her idea of the neighborhood was our building.

"She says the perpetrator was already gone by the time she got there."

"Lucky for him," I said.

We reached the third floor landing and were greeted by the cop's partner.

"It's all yours," he said sullenly, brushing past us. "I'll be in the car."

The cop with me looked at his partner's back as he headed down the stairs.

"What's with him?" he muttered.

I knew immediately what it was. He had tried to hit on Mo and she put him in his place. Mo got that a lot. She was quite attractive: average height, jet black long hair—I never knew whether it was natural or dyed—and a great body. She had massive muscles, but not the bodybuilder type, and I could easily see how she appealed to a certain kind of guy, like a cop. The funny thing was that her lover was a petite thing with curly blonde hair. She reminded me of Little Bo Peep.

"Hey, Mo, thanks for watching the place."

"My pleasure. This is the first burglary we've had around here in a while. I'm surprised. I can't see that anything was taken though."

I looked over at the bookshelf. The package was gone. The cop was on his radio, so I whispered to Mo, "I know what's going on. I'll tell you later."

She raised her eyebrows, nodded, and headed out the door.

I quickly looked around the apartment and checked my gun safe in the bedroom. Everything seemed fine. The only thing missing was the package. No real damage had been done to the place, except for the broken door leading out to the fire escape. Time to call another carpenter.

"Anything missing that you can see?" asked the cop.

I lied. "No. Doesn't look like they got anything."

Interesting how things had changed. Just the day before I was ready to spill my guts and give my life story if they wanted it. Now, I was realizing that this wasn't a police matter. It was something in a completely different realm. Maybe I wasn't as intimidated as I thought.