Chapter 6 #2
‘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.’
‘Fine, that’s good enough for me.’
‘Oh,’ he said.
I got the impression it had been a while since someone had put their faith in him like this.
‘I’ll text you my password,’ I said. ‘Actually…’
I hesitated, regretting that I’d not saved this conversation until I’d changed my password to something more innocuous.
‘You’ve come to your senses. Good,’ said Leo.
‘No, I’m sending it now.’ In for a penny, in for a pound.
There was a pause as he checked his texts followed by a low chuckle at the other end of the line.
‘MrDarcy1whereru? Seriously, that’s your password?’ he said.
‘The IT guys at work always say it’s safer to use a pass phrase rather than a password.’ I tried to defend myself.
‘You have got a bad dose of the romance bug,’ was his only reply.
‘Look, I still feel uncomfortable with this situation, so here’s my guarantee.
I won’t log into the app and read your messages unless we’re together, or you’ve got in touch to direct me towards a particular exchange.
And you should feel free to change your password at any point to lock me out. ’
‘Thank you. I appreciate your thoughtfulness. Perhaps we can look at a selection of the messages together at the library tomorrow during my break. And in the meantime, I guess I’d better get on with my reply.
Wish me luck with this first stage of Operation Get Brian.
’ I frowned. ‘I can hear Moira’s voice in my head saying we need to come up with a catchier name for our mission.
What did you do when you were in the police? How did you choose operation names?’
There was a long pause. ‘Operation Get Brian is just fine. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday evening.’
He ended the call before I could respond.