Page 16 of Read Between The Lines

Once I had a name for the actual individual in the pictures, I set about searching for his social media profiles. Thankfully his DMs were open, so I sent a quick message warning him that his identity had been stolen by a fraudster. A response pinged back within minutes.

Sadly this isn’t the first DM I’ve had about this. Thanks for the heads up though. I’ve stopped posting pictures online, but there’s not a lot I can do about the images that are already out there. The police advised me to point victims in the direction of Action Fraud. My wife and I hope you’re okay.

It was a kind message, although the clumsy reference to the fact that he was married was rather embarrassing, like he felt the need to warn me off because I had some kind of aura of desperation about me due to falling for a romance fraudster. I sent what I hoped was a suitably sexless thumbs up emoji in response, but he’d already blocked me.

I briefly considered sending a screenshot of the exchange to the app, but they’d been so dismissive before that I decided it was better to gather more evidence first. It was a small comfort that the police were already aware of the misuse of the photos, but it didn’t help me get any closer to the person who’d misappropriated them. I wished the army guy had told me which force was involved in the case so I could approach them, but as he’d closed down any means of communication, that was a dead end.

I was halfway through watchingThe Tinder Swindleron Sunday evening when my phone rang.

‘Is that you, Holmes?’ said a voice that I hadn’t been expecting to hear from so soon. I smiled to myself.

‘Knowing that you dislike the man, I’m rather insulted by your choice of nickname for me,’ I said. ‘Does that make you my Dr Watson, asking obvious questions all the time and catching on a little late?’

‘Definitely not. Okay, I’ll stick to Kat Fisher.’

‘Thanks, Leo Taylor, but as I said before, just Kat will do fine.’

‘You weren’t the only one growing up being teased about their name, you know,’ he said suddenly. ‘I couldn’t move in secondary school without people making splashing sounds.’

‘Splashing sounds? Oh, you mean like a Leo DiCaprioTitanicreference? That’s a bit dark, isn’t it?’

‘That’s kids for you. Although, now I look back, maybe it could also have been a reference to the fact that I was on the swimming team.’

‘Oh, I get it. You brought out the sob story just so you could show off about being a high school athlete? Why am I not surprised? I’m afraid your school days are long over, Leo. It takes more than that to impress me,’ I retorted.

‘Good. You should have high standards.’

I wasn’t quite sure how to take that, so I responded in the spirit of banter.

‘Did you actually say something nice to me? I’m quite overcome with shock. Hold on a minute while I fan myself.’

Leo cleared his throat. ‘I obviously need to up my game. Anyway, what was it that you wanted?’

‘You’re the one who rang me,’ I reminded him with a chuckle. ‘Maybe I should rethink hiring you as a consultant, if this is the standard of analytical thinking I can expect.’

He laughed. ‘Feel free. But be careful with this talk of hiring. If there’s too much more of it, I may actually start charging you for my services.’

‘That’s the sound of me zipping my lips shut and awaiting further news.’

‘An astonishing turn of events. The chatty librarian falls silent for a change.’

I was surprised to hear myself described in such terms. Sure, I was relaxed and talkative with my friends and library regulars who I’d known for ages, but being naturally an introvert, I was normally a bit quieter and more cautious with people I’d only recently met. But Leo seemed to have the knack for overriding my usual cautious reserve and bringing out a bolder side of my personality.

‘Anyway, so, the actual reason I rang was that I’ve come up with a plan of action,’ he continued.

‘I’m listening,’ I said, although in my head went something along the lines of ridiculing him for imagining that I’d been sitting on my backside doing nothing all weekend.

‘If you’re still serious about getting to the bottom of who’s behind this scam, I think the safest way of doing it is to continue your contact with the alleged Mr Brian James online. You haven’t responded to his message asking you for money, have you?’

‘No. But he’ll have seen from his notifications that I’ve read it.’

‘Just say you dropped your phone shortly after reading his message and it took a while to get it fixed, or something like that. It sounds like a plausible reason for leaving a guy on read without sending a response.’

‘Aw, Leo, is that the excuse girls normally give you?’ I couldn’t help myself.

‘Ha, ha, very funny.’

‘So, I get back in touch, and then what? We pick up where we left off?’

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