Page 8 of Read Between The Lines

He reached into the pocket of his jeans, pulled out a packet of tissues and offered me one. I really didn’t want to accept anything from him, but the only other option was snot dripping on the floor. Reluctantly I took it and blew my nose vigorously, mopping up a couple of traitorous tears that were slipping down my face. The tissue came away with smears of dark mascara on it. Great. The last thing I needed was to go full-on panda.

‘Thanks,’ I said half-heartedly, then tried to claw back some poise. ‘And there’s no need to mansplain the concept of CID to me, or how fraudsters manipulate people. I do live in the real world. I’m not a complete idiot. Despite appearances to contrary,’ I added under my breath. It was just that whenever I’d thought of romance scammers, I’d pictured the way their victims were portrayed in the media, as defenceless, lonely people, desperate for connection at any cost, their vulnerabilities blinding them to what was so obvious to everyone else. Not a person like me. Or maybe I was still deluding myself. Maybe I wasn’t so different from that stereotypical picture of a victim.

‘Whatever you say,’ said Leo. ‘I just would have thought, with a name like yours, you’d have been more aware than most of the possibility of scammers, Ms Kat Fisher, isn’t it? I remember your surname from your badge.’

He knew full well that was my name. Had he been waiting for an opportunity to stick the knife in? If I’d been cross before, now I was properly seething. I’d chosen to be called Kat rather than Katherine at primary school because of my complete devotion to the caretaker’s pet, a bundle of fluffy kindness who’d always had an incredible knack for knowing when a shy small child like myself was in need of some feline love and friendship. Of course, by the time I hit senior school, there was more awareness among my peers of the concept of catfishing thanks to the MTV show, but it was too late to change my nickname, and to be honest, it felt strange to be called anything else. I’d endured years of comments, from gentle teasing to the downright nasty. To have that kind of cruelty shoved back in my face again when I was already so low was the final straw.

‘Right, that’s it. You need to leave the library.’

Moira nudged my elbow, but I ignored her gentle warning. I stared Leo down and gestured angrily at the door, in case he hadn’t got the message.

He spread his palms as if trying to appease me.

‘But it’s not closing time quite yet. I meant no offence, I promise you. I was only trying to make a joke to lighten things up.’

‘You think what I’m going through is a joke? How dare you? You insensitive, insufferable…’ I lost the power of speech as another angry sob threatened to erupt. I took a deep, shuddery breath and attempted to muster what was left of my self-respect. ‘It’s not closing time, but patrons are reminded that the library reserves the right to ask them to leave if their behaviour is deemed to be disruptive or problematic to others,’ I quoted from the terms and conditions which every prospective member was required to agree to. ‘I think that describes your behaviour exactly, so I’m throwing you out. Please leave. Right now.’

Ex-copper, ongoing nuisance, Mr Leo Taylor looked surprised by the vehemence of my tone. Perhaps he didn’t expect such a show of strength from a woman who wore frivolous yellow polka dot dresses and allowed herself to be duped by a sweet-talking man online.

‘Look, I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to upset you with the catfisher comment,’ he said. ‘I obviously hit a sore spot. As I said, I was trying to lighten a difficult situation, but I clearly went about it the wrong way. I can only apologise.’

‘Any idiot could probably guess that I’ve been tormented by catfisher jibes for years. And sadly, I’m sure you won’t be the last to try such an unimaginative approach to having a go at me.’ His look of sympathy and sorrow riled me still further. I could have kicked myself for letting the words out of my mouth. Time to save face. If I could. ‘The only thing that is difficult about this situation is your refusal to exit the building,’ I said, cursing the continued wobble in my voice. ‘Are you going to make me summon security?’

I was completely blagging it now. The Oxford Community Library’s budget didn’t stretch to having security staff. It was down to Moira and me and the rest of the librarians, and frankly, most of us were of the firm opinion that the pen is mightier than the sword. If things got bad, we were expected to zip round the corner and throw ourselves on the mercy of the Ashmolean Museum’s security team, or if it was really, really bad, the protocol was to lock ourselves in the break room and wait for the police to arrive. Thankfully, it had never got to that point. Most of the challenging situations we’d faced had been defused by a cup of tea and a sympathetic ear. I was definitely not in the mood to offer either of those options to this particular man, although I could do with them myself.

‘Okay, okay, I’ll go quietly.’ He started packing up his things, slowly and methodically.

‘A little bit of speed wouldn’t go amiss,’ I said, tapping my foot on the floor as he took an unnecessary amount of time to save a document and shut down his laptop.

‘Come on, Kat,’ said Moira quietly. She was being a supportive friend by not openly challenging what we both knew was totally unreasonable behaviour on my part, but I recognised the subtle caution not to push the situation any further.

Leo hesitated as he packed away his final notebook.

‘You shouldn’t feel ashamed, you do know that, don’t you?’ he said. ‘These people prey on kindness. Don’t beat yourself up about it.’

‘I’m quite capable of managing my own emotions, thank you very much,’ I said, an ill-timed tear making a liar of me.

He shrugged. ‘Sure. Have a good weekend, both of you.’

He walked out of the library with an easy stride.

‘I hope he doesn’t come back,’ I said.

‘I’m certain, if you apologise when he does return, you’ll get over your embarrassment,’ said Moira.

‘That’s not what…’ The sentence trailed off. I knew exactly what she meant.

I plucked helplessly at the yellow dress. ‘Do you mind if I go and take this off? I can’t bear to wear it any longer. I feel so stupid. Who did I think I was kidding, making myself a laughingstock with a silly polka dot dress and prancing around with a starry expression? Why did I even take the tags off? Do you think the shop will still take it back without them?’

‘Oh, come here, love,’ said Moira, and before I knew it, I was wrapped in a bony bear hug. Moira was never very touchy-feely, so this was a big deal, and I think that was what finished me off.

‘Why am I such an idiot?’ I blubbed. ‘I can’t believe I fell for it. It was so obvious from the start. Why on earth would a sexy soldier be interested in someone as ordinary as me? That kind of thing only happens to characters in books. Of course he was trying to scam me. I’d even turn out to be a disappointment to him on the financial front, especially now I’ve wasted so much money getting ready for a fake date.’

Moira gave a final squeeze then held me at arm’s length.

‘I’m not quite sure where to begin with unpacking all that. I don’t think you’re in the right frame of mind to believe me if I start extolling your many virtues, so I’m not even going to bother. As to returning that beautiful dress, absolutely not. I forbid you to do it. What’s more, you’re going to leave it on and we’re going to go out and have a lovely meal, exactly as you were planning. Well, maybe not exactly like it,’ she corrected herself.

I told myself to get it together and not fall to pieces again at her act of kindness.

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