Promises

"He promised me forever," I seethed as I re-read the note my former fiancee had written to me. In it, he informed me that the marriage was off, he wasn't a forever guy. All he left me with was an empty house and the piece of paper in my hand. To myself I made a vow, "I will get to the bottom of this and Jason will hear about it."

My phone laid on the counter, I checked the joint bank account. The balance was just above $0, it was drained it all when he left. Someone was looking out for me when he asked for a joint bank account, and I only agreed to put in my half of the bills. My secret account was safe, thought something caught my attention. Someone had tried to use my card at a local ATM. Hitting the number for the bank's fraud department, I waited while elevator music played. Finally, a human answered, "Hello, thank you for calling Community Bank Fraud Divison. How can I help?"

"Someone tried to use my debit card at an ATM that wasn't me. I need security footage of who it was sent to the police department. I am heading there right now to file a complaint." My car was in the driveway, but my keys were nowhere to be found. I dug in my person and found the spare key, I threw in there.

I kept the phone on speaker as I drove to the police station. After sitting with the Detective and relaying what happened, he asked who I thought it was. "My former fiancee, Alfie Simmons."

He typed in the name and frowned. He tried again, then turned his computer screen to me, "Alfie Simmons doesn't exist."

After reviewing the surveillance footage, it was definitely Alfie who had tried to take money out of my account. Not Alfie. Whatever his name was. The promises made were a lie. Our life together had been a lie because Alfie Simmons didn't exist. With the video, there was a chance that we would be able to figure out who it was. The detective had warned me about trying to find him on my own, but there was no way I was going to let this son of a bitch get away with robbing me blind. Not just of material items but of the security that I knew who I had been engaged to.

I stopped at the bank and got a new debit card, then went to the library to use their computers. Policemen were bound by a code of ethics, I was not bound by the law or anything. I could tap into anything that I wanted to and get the needed information.

Once I signed in, I did a reverse Google check on a picture that I had of him. Other photos began to populate. One caught my eye, so I clicked on it. The name made my jaw drop: Darren Christianson. The name of my brother.

Alfie had been tracking me for a while. There was no other way he could have known about my brother, who had moved away when I was quite young. My parents never told me what happened to him or why he left so abruptly and I never pressed them. "What are you hiding you son of a bitch? I will nail you to my family tree once I find out."

The librarian gave a loud "shhh." My attention went back to the monitor, and I typed in my brother's name. There were a ton of articles about his murder. Filing away that information for later, I went back to the picture of Alfie, posing as my brother. My phone beeped, an alert from my bank. Someone had tried to use my debit card again at a nearby ATM.

I decided that I needed to go talk to this bastard. Find out once and for all what he had hoped to accomplish by targeting my family and me.


Alfie might have been a con artist, but he was not a smart one. He was still attempting to get money from the ATM when I pulled up. I opened the door and stood behind him. Quietly, I said, "Hello there, Stranger."

Alfie turned around, jaw dropped. "What are you doing here?"

"You stole my stuff, including my debit card. Did you think that I was going to let that go, Alfie?" I asked my hands on my hips. My eyes traveled down to the bulging in his side. "Or should I call you Darren? Are you Sybil?"

"Well, I suppose I should be ashamed of myself but no. I am a con artist, and you were one of my marks," Alfie lifted his jeans, allowing the gun to peek through. "One would think that you would be smart enough to stay away from me after I broke up with you. I should have known you would have some sort of hang-up about me not keeping my promise to you." He rolled his eyes and added. "Women."

"Well, when one says that they want to spend the rest of their life with you, we do take it seriously. Silly us," Knowing he had a gun made my mind swim. "Why did you leave me? My guess that the police were on to you, they found you. You were about to be arrested for killing my brother."

"Are you insane? I had nothing to do with the death of your brother, I just happened to come across his obituary and stole his name." A police siren blared in the background. "I have to go."

He tried to push past me, I stuck my foot out and tripped him. His gun went scattering across the floor. I bent down and picked it up. Fired three shots into him. Looked at the camera and waved. It was time to start a new life.

Never con a con.

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