(Continued from March 09, 2010)
Alice had no problem obtaining the blog’s URL from her colleague and the contact telephone number for the apparel entrepreneurs was readily available. One did not need to circumnavigate all sorts of security measures to get to it.
Aunt Dorothy advised Alice to use one of the boardroom’s landlines. “It has an unlisted number and the person, on the other end, will get a fake one. Then, if that individual tries to phone back, the set will register the date and time of the attempt.”
When Alice made the call, she was surprised to hear a male voice. She immediately switched to speakerphone and his voice boomed throughout the room. The man spoke in very fluent English but his accent was difficult to recognize; it was definitely not North American. He very easily identified the various nightgown labels.
“If you drop off the gowns at our shop, there will be a substantial reward waiting for you,” he said. He then gave the address of the establishment. When he asked at what time she would be coming by, Alice answered: “I will call you back.” And, before he could say another word, she hung up.
Aunt Dorothy praised: “Good girl, you handled the matter admirably!” She continued: “Obviously, the situation is not what we had expected it to be. Fortunately, the bodyguard was right when he used a stick to show the labels to us. He also assured me that he would use gloves to pack the garments in another bag. In case the police needs to become involved, or for some other reason, none of our fingerprints will be on the clothes.”
“The address is in a somewhat run-down area of the city,” former cabdriver, Alphonse informed us. “However, I must emphasize that I have never witnessed a crime there and I have always received my fare without any complications.”
“A taxi driver with a less imposing physique might not have been so fortunate,” I observed. And, while I had the floor, I told them about an extortion scheme that had drawn my attention on the web: “Folks would return goods that they had found. Then, as they handed over the items, they were accused of theft and threatened of police involvement—if a considerable some of cash was not paid.”
“Our garment collection could easily be a part of that extortion scheme,” Thea declared. “Other ‘victims’ probably didn’t take the precautions that the guard took; so, they would be more easily intimidated. Although the criminals’ claims would not stand up in a court of law, some people would be inclined to pay in order to avoid time-consuming complications.”
(To be continued)