Lowering onto a seat, I let my head drop into my hands and searched my thoughts. Was this real? I’d been sitting in the car next to Dixon only minutes ago. He’d driven me home and listened to me tell him all about Margie when really he was the one behind everything?
Fuck.
Thank goodness I only told Margie’s parents about her lying to Shannon and hadn’t accused her of the catfishing. But I had accused her to Shannon and that was the worst part. Shannon and I had been growing so much closer, and now I’d potentially screwed it all up. Yes, Margie had been lying about her identity, but Dixon was the one terrorising us, all the while pretending to be watching out for us. The idea that I’d left Shannon and Zara under his watch countless times over the last few weeks made me want to be sick.
“After the whole fuck up at the barbecue,” my dad began, “I had to go back to the drawing board. I had background checks run on everyone you come into contact with. That was when I saw that Dixon Levitt wasn’t a real person. So, I ran his picture through a reverse image search and up came dozens of online posts warning about a scammer called Samuel Teeling, who’d been catfishing people using a retired U.S. Army Sergeant’s identity, Robert Ansary.”
I looked at Angelica accusingly, “But you hired him. Surely you ran a background check?”
She had the grace to look apologetic. “Actually, I hired Dixon based on the recommendation of his references, which I’m nowguessing were probably fake. It was a really busy time for the band, and I never got around to doing the full background check. Plus, Dixon had already started working for us, and he got along so great with you and the rest of the band. In the end, I just felt like we could trust him. He seemed so genuine.”
“This man knows how to swindle people,” Robert explained. “He had been using my identity for years and I’d been contacted by countless people who’d been conned out of their life savings by him. I understand he’s now started using your identity, and if what happened to me is anything to go by, there are more victims out there.”
More who have been conned and stolen from.Fuck.
Now I really was going to be sick. My stomach heaved. To think I’d just been sitting in the car with Dixon, or whatever the hell his real name was, telling him all about Margie and how I was convinced she was the catfish. He must’ve been having a real good laugh at my expense.
“Mr Ansary here carried out his own investigation several years ago,” Dad said. “He hired a private investigator who discovered the impersonator’s name was Samuel Teeling from Little Rock, Arkansas.”
“Once I found out his true identity, I started posting it all over the internet, alongside his photo,” Robert added. “It made it a lot harder for him to continue conning people. I venture this is likely around the time when he switched over and starting using your name in his scam instead of mine. He must’ve learned from his past mistakes because he didn’t use his own image this time around.”
A small quiet fell as I let it all sink in.
“I think he’s still outside, parked down the end of the street,” I said then, feeling numb. “You should call your Garda friend, Dad. Have him get here so that he can arrest him.”
“We’re already working on a plan to have him extradited back to the States so he can be charged for his crimes committed over there,” Dad said. “The key challenge right now is to ensure he doesn’t suspect anything.”
“Oh,” I said, emitting a joyless laugh. “He doesn’t suspect. In fact, he thinks I’ve decided Margie is the catfish. He must be thrilled that I was so off the mark.”
“Shannon’s friend Margie?” Mam asked in surprise. “Why would you think that?”
“Because she’s been lying about her identity, too,” Dad said, and I stared at him, mouth open.
“How the hell did you know?”
“The background checks. I did them on all of Shannon’s friends since she suspected her coworker, Dean. I still hadn’t entirely written him off until I discovered Dixon’s lies. But Margie’s check showed she’d changed her name by deed poll a little over two years ago, right around the time she and Shannon first met. Some more digging showed her birth name and that she was Cai’s sister.”
“And you were going to tell me this when?”
“I only found out this morning.”
“Yeah, well, there’s more to it. I went to visit Cai’s parents. Margie wasn’t his sister. She was his mother, but she had him young so his parents decided to raise him as theirs. Margie had big problems after that and ended up disappearing to Canada over twenty years ago. She’s been estranged from her parents ever since.”
“Oh my goodness, that’s awful,” Mam said. “But she’s been lying about who she is to Shannon? Why?”
“It could be down to any number of reasons,” Dad said, his expression thoughtful. “Perhaps she started the friendship off lying about who she was but then never came clean because she was afraid of losing Shannon as a friend. Or she could belying intentionally because she has ill will towards you over Cai’s death and wants to use Shannon to get to you.”
“She doesn’t seem dangerous, though,” I said. “Every interaction I’ve had with her has been fairly normal.”
“That’s a good sign.”
“I hate to interrupt,” Robert cut in. “But I think we should move fast on our guy. If he gets a whiff that we’re onto him, he’ll skip town.”
“You’re right,” Dad said before looking to me. “We’ll discuss the Margie thing more later. Right now, we have a catfish to catch.”
“Okay. Like I said, he’s still outside.” It was odd that I wasn’t more angry about Dixon, but right then, I just needed to talk to Shannon. I’d accused her friend of something heinous, and I needed to set things right. Pulling out my phone, I hit “Call” and waited anxiously for her to pick up.
20.
