A Darkness More Than Night

started the Cherokee and pulled away from the curb.
    “You really think this car’s dirty?” he asked.

Chapter 36
    The post office on Wilcox was a large World War II-era building with twenty-five-foot-high ceilings and murals depicting bucolic scenes of brotherhood and good deeds covering the upper walls. As they walked in, McCaleb’s eyes scanned the murals but not for their artistic or philosophic merit. He counted three small cameras mounted above the public areas of the office. He pointed them out to Winston. They had a chance.
    They waited in line and when it was their turn Winston flashed her badge and asked for the on-site security officer. They were directed to a door next to a row of vending machines and they waited nearly five minutes before it was opened and a small black man with gray hair looked out.
    “Mr. Lucas?” Winston asked.
    “That’s right,” he said with a smile.
    Winston showed the badge once more and introduced McCaleb simply by name. McCaleb had told her on the way over from Hollywood station that calling him an associate wasn’t working.
    “We’re working a homicide investigation, Mr. Lucas, and an important piece of evidence is a money order that was purchased here and probably mailed here on December twenty-second.”
    “The twenty-second? That’s right in the Christmas rush.”
    “That’s right, sir.”
    Winston looked at McCaleb.
    “We noticed your cameras out there on the walls, Mr. Lucas,” she said. “We’d be interested in knowing if you have a videotape from the twenty-second.”
    “Videotape,” Lucas said, as if the word was foreign to him.
    “You are the security officer here, right?” Winston said impatiently.
    “Yes, I’m the security man. I run the cameras.”
    “Can you take us back and show us your surveillance system, Mr. Lucas?” McCaleb said in a gentler tone.
    “Yup, sure can. Just as soon as you get authorization I’ll take you on back.”
    “And how and where do we get authorization?” Winston asked.
    “From L.A. Regional. Downtown.”
    “Is there a specific person we talk to? We’re on a homicide investigation, Mr. Lucas. Time is of the essence.”
    “That would be Mr. Preechnar – he’s a postal inspector – you would talk to. Yes.”
    “Do you mind if we come back to your office and we call Mr. Preechnar together?” McCaleb asked. “It would save us a lot of time and then Mr. Preechnar could just talk directly to you.”
    Lucas thought about this for a moment and decided it was a good idea. He nodded.
    “Let’s see what we can do.”
    Lucas opened the door and led them through a warren of huge mail baskets to a cubbyhole office with two desks squeezed together. On one of the desks was a video monitor with its screen cut into four camera views of the public area of the post office. McCaleb realized he had missed one of the cameras when he had searched the walls earlier.
    Lucas ran his finger down a list of phone numbers taped to the top of the desk and made the call. Once he got ahold of his supervisor he explained the situation and then turned the phone over to Winston. She went through their explanation again and then turned the phone back over to Lucas. She nodded to McCaleb. They got the approval.
    “Okay, then,” Lucas said after hanging up. “Let’s see what we’ve got here.”
    He reached to his hip and pulled up a ring of keys on a retractable wire attached to his belt. He went to the other side of the office and unlocked a closet door which he opened to reveal a rack of video recorders and four upper shelves of videotapes marked with the numbers one through thirty-one on each shelf. On the floor were two cartons containing fresh videotapes.
    McCaleb saw all of this and suddenly realized it was January 22, exactly one month from the day the money order was purchased.
    “Mr. Lucas, stop the machines,” he said.
    “Can’t do that. The machines always gotta roll. If we’re open for business, then the tapes are rolling.”
    “You don’t understand. December twenty-second is the day we want. We’re taping over the day we want to look at.”
    “Hold your horses, Detective McCallan. I have to explain the setup.”
    McCaleb didn’t bother correcting him on the name. There wasn’t time.
    “Then hurry, please.”
    McCaleb looked at his watch. It was eight-forty-eight. The post office had been open for forty-eight minutes. That was forty-eight minutes of the December 22 tape erased with forty-eight minutes of