ch3 pg 24-25

HER apartment was a mess. The cushions of her couch were strewn across the living room floor. Foam bulged out in several places were they had been slashed open and searched. The drawers of her entertainment center had been pulled out and their contents scattered across the rug. DVDs and compact discs were lay next to their opened cases. About the only thing left alone was her bookshelf. On it were a couple of photos of her and her father. I could see a clean spot in the dust where Royce's badge had lain.
In her bedroom, the contents of her dresser had been dumped out on the bed. Clothes and papers lay everywhere along with assorted underwear of different colors. Her dresses hung haphazardly in her closet and the top shelf had been cleared. Boxes of shoes littered the floor.
I looked at Kua. He shrugged. Someone was obviously looking for something.
The medicine cabinet was open in her bathroom. Makeup bottles and other unidentifiable containers had been opened and emptied on the counter. I checked the cabinet below and found their contents intact. I reached in and shook all the cans of cleanser and checked the rolls of toilet paper. People tried to hide things where you least expected them too.
The kitchen was a shambles. Jars of food had been emptied into the sink to make what looked like some kind of beauty creme. The refrigerator was empty of all containers. Cereal and bread had been searched and were spread across the kitchen counter. The Quaker Oats man smiled at me from the floor.
Kua and I left Samantha's apartment.
There was something about the place that bothered me. I put it on a back burner as the elevator doors opened and we made our way back to the Rover.
Kua pulled some parking warning off the windshield and tossed it on the ground.
"Wait."
Kua looked at me.
"I want to talk to the security guys."
I walked back to the lobby and knocked on the glass door. The same guy we saw earlier came forward. I motioned him outside.
He smoothed his moustache again. "Can I help you?"
"Maybe you can. I noticed you put a ticket on our window today."
He slunk back from me. "It's just procedure. Everyone that parks there for ten minutes or longer gets a warning." He was too old and too under paid to be taking any heat.
"Relax. I'm not complaining about it. I'm wondering if the guards here keep records of all the cars they ticket."
The old moustache eyed me. "Who you again?"
I smiled at him and held out my hand. "The names Darling. I'm a friend of Samantha Kim."
He looked me over and stroked his moustache again before answering. "The name's Lusi. Samantha's one good girl. I wouldn't want for her to get in any trouble."
"Lusi, can you check to see if any other cars were tagged for Monday, say around lunch time?"
He looked around to see if anyone was watching him. "Let me check."
Three cars had been tagged on Monday during the hours of nine a.m. to five p.m.; a Mercedes sedan, a Chevy Van and a Ford Taurus. I made note of all three license numbers and thanked my new friend.

"What do you think?" I asked Kua. Had he seen the same thing I saw?
He kept his eyes on the road.
"Something wasn't right," I said.
He nodded. "At first it seemed like they were looking for something small. But then why not search the bathroom cabinets and the bookshelf?"
I agreed. "If it was a small item, why leave her cosmetics and toiletries closed and intact? Then go and inspect the whole contents of her kitchen?"
If you were looking for a large sum of money, why look in small places? If you were looking for something small like a safety deposit box key, why leave so many other hiding places untouched? Either Samantha had lied about her apartment or someone didn't know what they were looking for.
"You get a lead on the guys that did it?" Kua asked.
I remained silent. The less he knew the better off he would be.
We stopped off at a phone booth long enough for me to look up and address. It was time to check out the players.