He lived back east in the city of New #@~!&. Occupation; smuggler, limited to jewels and very expensive jewelry, preferably in large quantities. He was also in the habit of liberating jewelry that belonged to others.

     He was part of an organization of smugglers, but the liberating of jewelry was something he worked alone, and very successful at both he was. To the real world he was just a minor clerk in a large oil corporation who just happened to work for his wife Lucinda, who was the executive for finance.

     Unknown to Tim, his wife had been embezzling large sums of money and setting it up so it would look like he was the culprit.

     Accidentally knocking a ledger from his wife’s dressing table he found a pair of boat tickets hidden inside. The name on the tickets was that of his wife and one of her co-workers. He took note of the date of sail and returned everything to the table so it looked undisturbed. So at work a little quiet investigating of the financial records revealed what was happening and the tickets told him when. There was time to do something about this situation, but just.

      The money from the sale of liberated jewelry was hidden in a number of banks under different names. He started moving that money to a bank out west.

       He would have time to participate in one more smuggling enterprise with his co-horts. This job was a large amount of diamonds and some bearer bonds. How much? Undetermined at this time.

        His responsibility. Get the place of exchange set up. He would make the determination as to where. Different every time.

       On the day of the exchange, he made contact with one of the other team members. Picked up the product in a black leather brief case and guarded by two others, went to the hotel where he had made the arrangements. A call was made and an hour later the team leader showed up with the key to the case. Satisfied with the contents they left him to guard the locked case, with two others outside the door to guard the room. He waited 10 minutes, and then he took a suitcase from a closet. Inside the suitcase was an identical briefcase. He switched them.

      He knocked softly on an adjoining door. The door opened and a maid took the suitcase and a C note, she put the case in her cleaning cart and the C note down her bodice. Lucky C note.

      The guards checked on him every 30 minutes. He waited. Precisely on time the door opened the guards looked in, Satisfied everything was okay they closed the door.

     He quietly placed a chair under the door knob and just as quietly left through the adjoining room, locking the door behind him. This room was located at a corner allowing him to leave, unseen out of an adjoining hallway. He left the hotel by way of the basement, picking up his case from the cleaning cart on his way out.  

       Chili, a friend of his, ran a tavern 3 blocks away. Chili had his brother-in-law drive Tim to the next town. They did this out of pure friendship and a C note apiece.

      Tim stopped at a freight company and sent his suitcase west in a packing crate, and then caught a bus to the next state. Here he got a private stateroom on a train heading for the Pacific Ocean.

      Over the next two days, he made friends with a man that confided in Tim, that he was going to die and wanted to see as much of the country as he could before that happened. His plan was to run out of life and money at the same time. It wasn't working. His money was about to run out and he was still alive.

      During a long conversation in Tim's stateroom, the man became visibly fatigued. Leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, breathed deeply, then again, then no more.

      Tim stared at his friend for a long time, feeling the loss of a budding close relationship. After a time Tim removed all of the man’ possessions from his pockets and replaced them with his own. Going to the man's stateroom he packed all of his belongings. At the next stop he stepped off the train with the man's baggage and identity and walked into the night. With this action he assumed the identity of Robert Baron.

      What happened to his wife you ask? Or maybe not. Since you are reading this you are going to find out. When Rob left it was three days before his wife's scam was to take place. He took none of his possessions; he left with only the clothes on his back and what he would normally carry in his pockets. His car was found in a downtown garage near his job. Even his bank account, the one his wife knew about, was untouched. All this led to suspecting that he may have been murdered, but never proved. The embezzlement was discovered, and since he had been gone for three days, his wife was arrested and eventually sent to prison.