Page 17 of Read Between The Lines

‘Exactly,’ said Leo. ‘Chat with him, flirt with him, continue the conversation as if nothing has happened. If he thinks that he’s got you in his grasp again, he might lower his guard and let something slip.’

‘That sounds like an awfully big “if” Won’t he just lose interest in me and focus on his other targets when it becomes apparent that I’m not going to give him any money? What would be the point in investing any more time in me?’

‘You’ll need to string him along. Make it seem like you’re about to pay out, but there’s always some very plausible reason why it doesn’t happen. But next time, it definitely will.’

‘In other words, I should use his playbook against him, give him a taste of his own medicine. I appreciate the irony in that.’ But what I didn’t like the sound of was how unlikely it was that we’d actually get anywhere with this approach. ‘Do you honestly think this will work? It feels like I’d be leaving too much to chance. Isn’t there something more proactive we could do? I’ve already worked out the source of his stolen pictures. Couldn’t we try to build a profile of the real person behind the catfish? The choices he’s made must tell us something about him.’

Leo sighed. ‘Let me guess, another pearl from one of your detective novels?’

‘There’s no need to talk down to me.’ I bristled, standing up from the sofa in an outrage that wouldn’t have been out of place in an Austen novel.

‘That was not my intention. It’s just there’s very little to go on right now, and I’m trying to be realistic. Unless you’re happy sharing the contents of the messages you exchanged with your virtual boyfriend, which might give us some insight into what’s going on in his mind, this is my best suggestion. And you did agree that you’d listen to my advice.’

I considered my options while I wandered aimlessly around the room. Letting Leo read Brian’s messages and, worse, my replies to them would be horribly exposing– the opening banter which had quickly moved into flirtation and then into shared confidences of long-term dreams. It might allow Leo to build a profile of the scammer, but it would also enable him to learn far too much about me.

‘Okay, I’ll have a go at picking up where I left off with Brian,’ I said without enthusiasm, berating myself for taking the cowardly approach.

‘Great, I’ll leave you to get on with it. Let me know how he responds, and we’ll go from there,’ said Leo.

‘Wait, aren’t you going to help me write the messages? If this is the approach you took when you were in the police, then you’ll know the best way of phrasing things so that he falls into our trap.’

It must have been obvious from my tone that I didn’t believe that this was how he’d carried out fraud investigations when he was in the force.

‘You seemed to manage pretty well for yourself before you clocked that he was a scammer. Carry on along those lines. Show an interest in his interests, tell him how much you want him, how much you need him. I don’t know, whatever floats your boat. Let’s face it, if I start dictating messages to you, he’s bound to pick up a change in tone.’

‘Not used to romantic talk, are you?’

‘I’m a man who speaks as he finds,’ he responded. ‘And for goodness’ sake, don’t let slip any more information about yourself. It’ll be a hard line to tread, trying to elicit confidences from him while avoiding them yourself, but you have a way with words; I’m sure you’ll make it work. Keep me posted.’

Was that it? The extent of his plan of action? His restrained tactics were underwhelming. I suspected he was motivated by trying to keep me out of trouble, but I needed an actual result. And if it meant losing a bit of dignity, then I would just need to get over it and pay that price.

I sat back on the sofa and steeled myself. ‘Maybe it wouldn’t do any harm to share one or two messages with you, just the most recent ones to try to hurry things along.’

‘Are you sure about that?’ asked Leo. He sounded as reluctant as I felt, which was strangely comforting. I tried to reassure myself that it meant he’d be tactful about what he saw.

‘You must have had to read loads of private correspondence when you were in the police. I trust that you’ll apply the same level of discretion as if you were still in the force?’

‘You have my word,’ he said.

I made my decision.

‘The problem is, the app blocks screenshots, so I guess I’ll share my login details with you,’ I thought aloud.

‘Ah-ah.’ Leo made a noise like a buzzer on a TV game show, making me jump. ‘Wrong thing to say. There’s no way you should share your login details with anyone. It’s rule 101 of cyber security.’

‘But that’s the only way I can share those messages with you. We’re meant to be working as a team, after all. I trust you.’

‘And how do you know you can trust me?’ he asked. ‘I’ve made a promise to you, but what evidence do you have that it’s worth anything? You don’t actually know the first thing about me. You’ve seen me working in the library and that seems to have been enough for you. At every step of the way, you’ve taken me at my word, but I could be stringing you along, just like your Brian James did. I told you I used to be a police officer, but have you actually checked that’s true? How do you know I’m even called Leo Taylor as I claim? I could be working my own angle and be an even worse person than Mr James.’

The more he tried to convince me that I couldn’t trust him, perversely the more relaxed I felt about doing just that.

‘The very fact that you’re warning me not to share my login details with you proves that sharing them is the right thing to do,’ I countered. ‘If you had dodgy intentions, you’d have been badgering me for them from the start. And would a real criminal spend so long going on about how they could be putting on an act? I don’t think so. Besides, I’m a librarian. Of course I’ve checked your registration details so I know without any doubt that you are who you say you are. And I can access your loan history any time I like.’ I attempted a joke.

‘That’s hardly a proper background check. By sharing your login details, you’re handing me the key to assuming your identity.’ Leo sounded increasingly frustrated. ‘At best, I could flirt outrageously with every user on the app while pretending to be you, and at worst, I could access your bank account and perpetrate my own scam.’

‘You could,’ I acknowledged. ‘But do you actually plan to do any of those things?’

‘Well, of course not.’

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