Uncommon Thief

by William Manchee

Chapter 42

  Backup Plan

  There was a four-hour time difference between Toronto and Los Angeles so Steve had to wait until 10:00 a.m. to call Jim. He dialed the number and waited. A female voice came on the line.

  “Jim Wells, please,” he said.

  “Sure, one moment please,” a female voice replied.

  "Hello. Jim Wells here."

  "Mr. Wells, thanks for taking my call. This is Steve, a friend of Fred Fuller.”

  “Right, lad. Fred has talked about you and your buddy, Randy, right?”

  “Right. Randy’s here with me too.”

  “So. How’s the trial going?”

  “Not so well. That’s why I am calling. We need your help.”

  “Sure thing. I told Fuller I’d help him any way I could now. So, what can I do for you?"

  "I need someone to look in Sam Stewart's personnel file."

  "Oh. That would be bit tricky now. Those records are in Mr. Sinclair’s office and I’m not authorized to look at them.”

  “It’s very important. We need to know if Sam Stewart has any relatives in Toronto, Canada. Can you find a way to get into his office, take a peek at them and call me back?"

  "I could probably manage that, but it could take some time. I’ll have to wait for Sinclair to leave his office. Give me a few minutes."

  "Thanks."

  Steve took a deep breath and waited impatiently. A few minutes later Jim was back on the line. "Okay, I got lucky. Sinclair got called away for a meeting and he left his door open. You were right. Sam listed his sister, Regina Scott, as the person to contact in case of an emergency. She lives at 88 Cokesbury Lane, Toronto, Canada."

  "Oh, thank you so much, Jim. You're not going to get into trouble giving me this information, are you?"

  "How they gonna find out I gave it to you? You're not going to tell them, are you?"

  "No. No way."

  "Okay. Then there's not a bloody thing to worry about."

  “Thanks, Jim. You may have just saved Fred’s ass."

  “I bloody hope so,” Jim replied.

  Steve hung up the phone and gave Randy a thumbs up. Now he just hoped Sam would be there when they showed up at his doorstep. If he wasn’t, all their efforts would have been for naught.