Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven
The day I spent with Lincoln was very healing for me. I needed the break from work and I needed to connect with Lincoln. We had a great time and he started asking a few questions about Charles. I didn’t pressure him to cry or want more information, I just answered the questions he asked in a way that was understandable to him.

I had another day off but I was going to read more of the case files and maybe pay another visit to the warehouse where Timothy worked. I called the warehouse manager and asked if they could answer a few more questions. The manager was very cordial and gave me an appointment for later this afternoon to come in and ask questions. 

I arrived at the warehouse just a few minutes before my assigned time. The receptionist remembered me and led me right to Kevin Frank’s office. He stood when I entered the room and offered me a chair in front of his desk. He was a mature man, I would guess in his fifties. He had thinning brown hair with some streaks of gray in the temples. From what I had discovered from my previous interviews, he had been the manager for fifteen years. 

I asked, “What exactly did Timothy do for the company?”

Kevin replied, “Timothy was the shipping manager. Everything shipped from the company went through Tim.”

I asked, “Who is taking his place while he is in jail?”

Kevin said, “His assistant, Emily, has taken over his duties while he is gone. She worked side by side with him and knew how to run all the shipping.”

I asked to speak with Emily and Kevin said he would ask her to come to the conference room so we could sit and talk. I took a seat on one side of a conference table leaving a chair open across the table from where I sat. I wanted to ask her about her job and what she knew about Timothy. I hoped she could provide me information about Timothy’s duties.

Emily entered the room and walked to the conference table sitting in a chair right across the table from the one I was sitting at. I guessed her to be early thirties. She was blonde with a medium build and seemed confused about why I am asking questions about Timothy. I didn’t want anyone here to know what my suspicions about Timothy were. I learned that Timothy had complete control of the shipping department and over the hundreds of packages that he shipped out every day.

When I first came snooping at the warehouse, Kevin jumped to the conclusion that I was part of the defense investigating team and I did not correct him. Everyone seemed to like Timothy and I was sure nobody would say anything that would harm him, at least not intentionally. 

Emily said, “I understand you need information about Timothy. I worked as close with him as anyone so I guess if you have questions I will try to answer.”

I asked, “I have basic questions about what kind of work he did here and what kind of things you shipped out from this warehouse?”

Emily replied, “I will give you the complete company promotion info we use. I will also show you where we work. This place is essentially a souvenir based wholesale company. We import souvenir based merchandise from overseas producers. Some items are custom made. We also have a printing department that produces printed t-shirts, caps, postcards and other items for state and national parks, and souvenir shops across the country.”

I replied, “It sounds impressive. Did you have any issues taking over Timothy’s job once he became incarcerated?”

Emily answered, “No, I worked beside him every day and knew what he did and I performed the same job. He stayed late sometimes and made sure things were shipped out.”

I asked, “He was occasionally here doing work by himself?”

Emily answered, “Yes He stayed sometimes saying he needed to make sure everything was shipped. I didn’t always see anything that couldn’t wait till the next day.”

I asked, “Did anyone double check the items he shipped when no one was around?”

Emily replied, “There was no need. He knew what he was doing and we never had any reasons to question his judgment.”

I asked, “Did he ever ship anything that you didn’t know what it was?”

Emily said, “I never questioned anything he shipped. He was my boss, why would I question it? The only thing I couldn’t figure out was why he had two accounts set up on our shipping software?”

I asked, “You weren’t able to get into it and see what was going on in there?”

Emily replied, “I didn’t have a login for the other account, only for the account I always ship from.”

I made notes about the second account. I think it could be evidence in how Timothy paid the gang. Emily showed me the area where the boxes were placed where they waited to be picked up by services like UPS, FedEx or a trucking service. The boxes sat in a separate area from the warehouse. If there was anything suspicious going on with them no one in the warehouse would ever notice.

I asked, “Does the warehouse have any kind of security system?”

Emily answered, “Yes, the whole building has cameras including the parking lot.”

I learned there were other workers in the warehouse who packed boxes, but all of those workers were gone at night when Timothy stayed late to make shipments. I thanked Emily and she left the conference room to return to work. I asked a few employees where the security department was and one woman led the way to a room at the opposite end of the building. The room we entered had a sign on the door that said “security” so it wasn’t exactly a secret. She introduced me to a man they called Gus. I shook his hand and the woman that led me there disappeared into the hallway. 

I asked Gus about video surveillance and if the recordings are kept to which he replied yes and he also informed me that they were kept for a year before being discarded. Gus had been aware that I was in the building, just normal security to track anyone coming and going in the building. He knew I was involved with Timothy’s case. He informed me that unlike a lot of people in the building he didn’t care for Timothy.

Gus told me he had questioned Timothy many times about unusual things but Timothy had always brushed the questions away and told him it was of no concern. I asked him to elaborate and he told me he would show me. 

Gus evidently thought the incident was important enough to make a copy and add it to some other things he was unclear about. Gus played the recording and I watched a camera view from outside the building. The time stamp on the recording said two thirty five in the morning. The car stopped outside the warehouse and Timothy came out to greet it. The person driving the car was John McKinley. 

I was surprised to see this on video and it would be good evidence. It linked the two men together, something the police hadn’t been able to do. I also saw John hand Timothy something and Timothy came back into the warehouse and John drove away. Gus brought up another recording that showed Timothy walking down the hallway in the building to the shipping department. He was carrying a large box that was given to him by John. 

Timothy then took the contents of the box and scattered it into several boxes on the shipping table and then he sealed the boxes and put them in the outgoing shipping. Timothy was clearly shipping something for John and whoever was working with him. Timothy wasn’t paying with cash, he was shipping for them to pay for the services he wanted. 

I asked Gus if I could have a copy of the recording and he burned it onto a DVD. I would need to take the copy to my favorite local law enforcement and maybe they could get their team to break into the second account that Timothy was using and find out if anything there could be used against him.

I took my DVD and secured it inside my purse. I walked down the hall toward the front door, only stopping to say thank you to Kevin Franks for all of his help. I was on a high when I left the warehouse, I had gathered some useful information and once again I would be taking that evidence to the police. I called and had a short conversation with Detective Hagan and he told me to just stop by and let him view the video.

I wasted no time and headed directly to the police station. Detective Hagan was waiting to see what I had discovered. I had already told him the context of what we were viewing and he just wanted to see the actual act. We sat in his office and watched the event unfold in front of our eyes. 

When we finished watching Timothy conduct his after hour’s business, the detective told me if I keep bringing them evidence he would have to put me on the payroll. 

Hagan said, “With what you have given to me, I think I can get a search warrant to see what is on that computer.”

I replied, “I am not sure you will need one. I think if you just ask they will gladly cooperate and allow you to check it out.”

Hagan said, “It is safer to go ahead and get the warrant to eliminate any hassles in court down the line, even if they are cooperative.”

Hagan did get the warrant and as I suspected he didn’t really need it but he had it just in case. A team of forensics experts showed up, including a forensic computer guy. I would stay out of the way while they spent hours searching through the second account Timothy had set up for himself. 

I didn’t hang around. I knew someone would tell me what they discovered in that second account. I wanted to get home and spend time with Lincoln and Angela. I actually enjoyed being an amateur sleuth but I enjoyed family time more.