Page 44 of Read Between The Lines

‘You’re a star, thank you so much. You’ve given my investigation a breakthrough.’

‘I’m glad. People like that should face their comeuppance. Well, I’ll leave you to it. It’s time for Robin’s dinner. She’s very particular about such things. See you at the library next week.’

‘Looking forward to it. And make sure you give that gorgeous girly a belly rub for me.’

As soon as I finished talking to Gavin, I hit dial on Leo’s number, then just as quickly cancelled the call. At the moment, I only had a hunch, and while I was sure that Leo would be in full agreement with Gavin and me that Marc was indeed a ‘wrong ’un’, I knew that the next thing he’d challenge me on would be what evidence I had to back up my theory. And he’d be right to. I needed to find some actual proof.

I settled myself back down in front of my laptop and set to work researching everything I could about Marc. This was where my librarian skillset could finally come into its own. Before long, I discovered that he’d also left Cambridge University under a cloud, rather than to take on new challenges as he’d told me. The local press was vague, quoting an official statement saying that he’d resigned for health reasons, but the student paper went further, citing an unnamed source in the science department who said that an investigation had been started about claims of bullying.

I dug deeper, paying to access the records of county court judgements and discovered that Marc had two against him for unpaid parking fines. That hardly made him a criminal mastermind, I reminded myself, but it did suggest a pattern of behaviour. The court judgements would have affected his credit score, and he’d been grumbling about his reduced pay in theOxford Mail. Judging by his clothing, he had expensive tastes. Perhaps he was struggling to fund the lifestyle he desired. That would give him a financial motive to run a scam. Plus, he’d made a big deal about being friends with Dom, so he possibly had access to insider knowledge about the app which could make it easier for him to create a fake identity to scam people. The more I thought about it, the more credible a suspect he appeared to be. He had to go to the top of our list. I ignored the fact that Marc’s was actually the only name on that suspect list.

I went to bed happy that night, full of anticipation about seeing Leo the next day and telling him what I’d discovered.

ChapterSeventeen

Calling the place Leo attended a gym rather overstated the facilities within it. I’d been expecting somewhere full of state-of-the-art equipment and intimidating athletic types flexing for selfies in front of full-length mirrors. I opened the door with apprehension and felt self-conscious as a chime went off. But that seemed to be the only concession to modernity in the ramshackle, shed-like building. It was sparsely furnished, with a few racks of weights and other simple equipment, and not a mirror in sight. At the top of the room, a large blackboard listed the ‘WOD’ or ‘Workout of the Day’ as I mentally translated thanks to having come across it in a book once.

‘Shall we get started?’ asked Leo, barely glancing across at me as he carried on setting up a crash mat.

‘Good morning, Leo. How are you? Did you have a good Friday?’ I asked, making the point that a little bit of polite small talk wouldn’t do him any harm. Admittedly, I was also being deliberately sarky as a defence mechanism because, although I’d sensed the strength which lurked beneath his normally run-of-the-mill attire, I hadn’t quite prepared myself for the effect of seeing him in gym shorts and a t-shirt which was almost indecently form-fitting against his strong biceps and broad shoulders. If he smiled at me now, I was a goner.

He raised an eyebrow. ‘It was the same as any other Friday of late.’

‘I had a lovely day, thanks for asking,’ I said, still needling away to maintain the protection of his grumpiness so I could focus my attention on what really mattered.

‘Fine, how was your day off?’ he asked begrudgingly.

‘Extremely productive.’ I started explaining what I’d found out about Marc, pulling a collection of print-outs from my bag to support my reasoning. Surely, given the extent of the background dossier I’d compiled, Leo would have to agree that Marc had both the motive and the means to be Scammer Brian.

‘That is a lot of paper,’ said Leo, which wasn’t exactly the enthusiastic response I’d been hoping for.

‘Have a read, see what you think. You have to agree that I’m on to something.’

He fixed me with a stern look. ‘Is this a delaying tactic?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘You made it very clear that you’re not keen to learn self-defence.’

‘It’s not that I’m not keen; it’s just that I don’t think it’s the best use of our time,’ I said. ‘I wish you’d pay attention and believe what I’ve told you countless times– that I can look after myself.’

‘You may have mentioned it once or twice,’ he said, in a manner which told me he still didn’t believe a word of it. ‘If I have a quick look through this file now, and promise to read it more thoroughly later, can we please get on with the lesson?’

I’d really prefer we didn’t. Initially my reluctance had been purely because I wasn’t the complete novice that he thought I was. But there was also the fact that being taught self-defence by Leo would mean having to grapple at close quarters with him and, given the confusing way I was starting to feel, that was an added complication I could really do without. However, he was clearly going to keep nagging me until he got his own way, and the longer he spent doing that, the less focus he would be giving to the investigation.

‘I’m surprised you’re calling me stubborn when you’re acting like the very definition of it.’ I sighed. ‘If you absolutely insist, I guess that sounds like a fair compromise.’

He sat down on an upturned packing case to read through my evidence while I wandered over to take a closer look at the list of exercises on the blackboard. No wonder Leo had the appearance he did. These exercises wouldn’t look out of place in an Olympian’s training schedule. Or in a torture chamber, if you ask me. Nobody worked out like that unless they were seriously dedicated. Or seriously in need of distraction.

Eventually, Leo came over to join me.

‘Okay, I think you’ve got a point about Marc. He’s definitely one to keep a close eye on.’

‘That’s great, I knew I was on to something.’

‘Don’t get too carried away. All of this is circumstantial evidence. And I use the word “evidence” in the loosest possible sense,’ he said.

‘I also knew you’d say that.’

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