Page 115 of Caper Crush
“But Miju’s confession is still not enough to get a warrant?” Tony asks. “What if Edmund destroys the painting? He’s going to destroy any evidence. We really need to find the Kimimoto. The seller has given us until this Saturday to confirm we can buy it.”
“I have the key to Edmund’s apartment,” I say. “His cleaning service comes tomorrow. We could pretend to be part of the cleaning crew and check out his apartment before his cleaners arrive.”
“Shouldn’t we just leave this to Officer Johnson?” William asks. Poor William, stuck again playing the sane voice of reason.
“No,” the three of us say.
Chapter twenty-nine
WecrouchinWilliam’sparked car outside Edmund’s apartment building, waiting for Edmund to leave. Tony said that Edmund went to the gym every day around 9:00 a.m. when he followed him. I called the cleaning service to confirm they were coming and their time of arrival. Based on my past experience with this cleaning service, the women often arrive separately, not even always at the same time, depending on when they finish their previous job. Anyway, they’re supposed to arrive around 10:00 a.m., which doesn’t give us much time, depending on when he leaves.
I’m dressed in sweats, a blonde wig with a ponytail, a baseball cap, and a mask shielding my face. Since the pandemic, it’s common to see people wearing masks in New York City.
Edmund leaves the building, and William trails him on foot to make sure he doesn’t suddenly return.
Takashi is also dressed in a black cap and mask. He delivered a package earlier to check out the security cameras in the lobby. We want to keep to their blind spots, just in case Edmund suspects something.
William:He went into the gym.
Go time.
Takashi and I get out of the car and walk into the lobby, both carrying backpacks, along with an umbrella, a mop, and a bucket. You never know what supplies you will find.
“Hi, we’re here to clean Edmund Smith’s apartment, 5C,” I say to the doorman. “Another woman is coming later. I’m the first. And this is my supervisor. It’s my first day.” Having hired this cleaning service myself before, I know that this happens periodically.
The doorman barely gives us a glance and lets us in, motioning for us to go up.
No one else is in the elevator. So far, so good. We get off on the fifth floor, scanning the hallway for cameras. We know Edmund has one inside his apartment. That’s why Takashi is here—to jam the Wi-Fi signal.
Takashi tilts his head to the corner, indicating the presence of CCTV.
I open up my huge, doorman umbrella in front of Takashi, blocking the camera’s view of him. It did rain earlier today. I change from my sneakers into slippers to divert attention. Takashi, meanwhile, opens up his laptop, finds the signal frequency in the apartment, and jams it.
“Good job on remembering to change your shoes before entering,” Takashi says. That’s our code for me to unlock the door.
I open the door to the apartment with his key. We slip inside, and Takashi sits down in the foyer with his laptop to make sure the cameras are still jammed. Here’s hoping Edmund doesn’t obsessively monitor the feed.
There may not be that much time.
Luckily, Edmund’s one-bedroom apartment is not that big. The living room is painted in a dark-red color, the walls covered with figurative paintings.
William:Back at the car. On the lookout.
We put on our gloves. I take the bedroom while Takashi searches the closets in the hallway.
The Versal has the prime spot on the wall facing the bed. I shudder. I check behind it. Nothing. Edmund has a walk-in closet filled with three-piece suits and dry-cleaned shirts still in their plastic wrap. Nothing there. No false panels either. I go through the drawers of watches, ties, and socks. Lena has a drawer of underwear at the bottom. At least I hope it is hers—for her sake.
Takashi texts that he’s in the living room now. Nothing was in the closets.
Under the bed is a flat box. No paintings are in there. Next up is the kitchen, although that seems like an unlikely place to hide them. The few cabinets big enough to hold the paintings do not have them.
William:Young woman just entered building.
“We need to leave,” I say.
“I think we covered it, unless he hid it behind these tiny paintings, but I don’t see how either would fit.” Takashi gestures to the larger paintings. “I checked those four. And all the frames are dusty—as if they have not been moved.”
We hurriedly exit and hide in the garbage chute room. We wait for about ten minutes, hopefully enough time for the young woman to pass by and enter Edmund’s apartment.
