The Merger – 39

 

"Why not just check some of the items Palmer bought from them?" Josh asked.

"Because, if we can prove they're stolen, the man, or men, running Leades' Distributors could claim they bought them in good faith from whomever—probably someone who was going out of business and was willing to take pennies on the dollar to get rid of their inventory," Mike replied.

"If they do go that route, of course they'll have the paperwork to back it up."

"Exactly. I want to find out what goods are delivered to them this weekend then see if we can associate them with reports of hijacked shipments that happened within the last few days. That way, if we do decide to pose as buyers interested in what they have to offer, we'll go in Monday morning, knowing that we're purchasing stolen goods and can prove it, before they can mock up faked invoices."

"It's worth a try," Josh replied. "It's too bad that legally we can't enter the premises without permission. Unfortunately, if we did, any evidence we found would be thrown out of court."

"Which is where posing as a buyer comes in," Mike pointed out. He tapped a finger to his lips. "Obviously, they'll want to make a delivery appear legitimate if anyone is around who might see a truck arriving. And by doing it at night there's less chance of that happening. But first, and I know this is one ploy hijackers use, they take the stolen truck some place safe where they can switch out the license plates and alter the US and/or state DOT numbers. That wouldn't take long, and it's cheaper than owning their own trucks and transferring the goods into one of them to bring them to their warehouse. Using the original trucks makes it seem as if the deliveries were coming from the source—if, as I said, someone did see it happening."

"How will we prove differently?"

"See who the plates really belong to, for starters. The same with the DOT numbers. I can do that on the spot with my iPhone."

"Do we…? Okay, probably not."

"Hmm?"

"Want to start staking the place out tonight? You sound as if you think the merchandise, if it is stolen, is only delivered on the weekend."

"I do. As I said, probably at night, when everything around the warehouse is closed. That way, it minimizes the chance of witnesses. Hijack a truck, alter the ID, and get the goods to the warehouse fast—hopefully before the hijacking is reported to the police and they start looking for the perps."

Josh nodded. "Then dump the merchandise on unsuspecting buyers just as quickly. On the following Monday, if what happens with Mr. Palmer is the norm."

"Yep. Of course, all of this is pure conjecture, and I may be way off base, but we have to start somewhere. If I am wrong about the delivery time, then I—we—get to spend all next week staking out the warehouse."

"Gee, just what we want, to lose clients if we have to do that during the day," Josh said wryly, "and lose sleep if we do it at night as well."

"Tell me about it. So, we'll hope to hell my thinking is correct."

"Let's take a drive-by tonight, to see where we can set up surveillance without being spotted."

Mike chuckled. "Are you reading my mind?"

"Nope. I know you and how you operate after all this time."