To Catch a Catfish: Love, Lies and Catfish

Catfish Defined

A catfish is someone who creates a false online identity. Catfishing is common on social networking and online dating sites. Sometimes a catfish's sole purpose is to engage in a fantasy. Sometimes, however, the catfish's intent is to defraud a victim, seek revenge, or commit identity theft.

-From whatis.com

CHAPTER 1

London

London Lewis saw the yellow note on the door before she reached her office.

London, please stop by my office when you get in – Aja

Sticky notes first thing in the morning were never good news. They never said things like Cake in the break room for breakfast! or Happy Friday! Leave a couple hours early today. No. Yellow stickies first thing in the morning meant there was some urgent need from someone higher up the food chain.

Grabbing the note, London sat her laptop tote on her desk while scanning the message from her cousin and boss, Aja Lewis. Hoping to snag a cup of tea and breakfast from the café downstairs, London had arrived a few minutes early for once. So much for that, she thought as she read the note again. Direct and to the point. Typical Aja. No wasted words. London squared her shoulders, preparing to walk to her cousin’s office.

The walk was brief. The headquarters of Exposé, the company Aja started four years ago to help people find out if they were the victims of catfishing, was one of those office suites that catered to small businesses that needed to look more established than they were.

Their space had four offices, or cubicles with doors, as London liked to call them, a conference room that boasted of holding eight people when five was really the max if everyone wanted to sit down, and a compact break area with a long table and bench. London passed the second office and break room on the way to Aja’s office.

Aja had probably been in the office for at least two hours. A typical Type A go-getter who personified Black girl magic, she commanded all of the attention in any room she occupied and carried herself like she was 6’2" even though she was only a little over five feet tall.

As London approached Aja’s office, she heard her cousin’s voice.

She paused, waiting to hear whether Aja got a response. There was a hushed answer, but London recognized the other voice as Aja’s best friend and new business partner, Zaria Laurent.

London didn’t know why Aja wanted to talk to her but it didn’t feel like good news.

Knocking quickly to announce herself, London smiled and proceeded towards the empty low-slung white chair in front of Aja’s matching desk. Aja had infused her personality into her office; the furniture was modern and beautiful but London dreaded sitting in the uncomfortable chairs, wondering if Aja had done that intentionally to keep anyone from lingering too long in her space.

Aja had a killer wardrobe and London always liked to see what mood Aja was in by the clothes she selected that day. Normally in edgy styles, Aja was more conservative in a black pantsuit, tomato red blouse, and her signature sky high pointy black stilettos. Aja’s conversation with Zaria stopped abruptly when London entered, confirming they were discussing her.

London found herself comparing the two women. Where Aja was petite and brown skinned like London, Zaria was tall, statuesque and fair. Zaria had recently gone blonde with a faux hawk she wore curly. A vibrant blue scarf knotted like a turban at the top of Zaria’s head coordinated with the royal blue and black shirtdress she wore.

London, please have a seat. Aja glanced over at Zaria, who nodded quickly.

London tried to read each woman’s face for clues but came up empty. The professional look on Aja’s face was the one she used when she had to deliver unpleasant news or correct a client’s assumptions.

Good morning, London, Zaria said as London folded herself awkwardly in the chair. She smiled and nodded at Zaria in response.

Cute top, is that another one of your vintage finds? Zaria asked, tilting her head toward London.

Where was this coming from? Zaria hadn’t socialized with London beyond standard greetings since London started working at Exposé two months ago, and now she was all smiles and asking about her wardrobe? Her stomach clenched. Were they trying to soften her up to deliver bad news?

Was Aja about to tell her she was fired? And why was Zaria in the room? Zaria was in charge of sales as far as London knew.

Thanks. She touched her collar, reminding herself which top she wore, a semi-sheer black lace high neck blouse with ruffles that ran down the front along with a pair of wool trousers. The blouse was typical of her style: vintage, frilly, and feminine. No, this one came from the mall. Maxie clawed the vintage one I had. London played along for now and kept up the small talk.

Aja made a face. Uncle Gene still has that crazy stray cat? I thought my dad said he was going to put her up for adoption?

Nope. He said she’s grown on him and now she’s a member of the family. It’s like having an evil stepsister. She doesn’t appreciate that I have moved into her house, and I’ve never been a cat person so we can’t stand each other. London shifted her position in the chair, trying not to wince but feeling as if she was practically sitting on the floor.

She waited a beat. Are you going to fire me? I know I’ve made some mistakes in the case note system, I always forget to log out but I…

Shaking her head, Aja cut her off. Of course not. Why would I fire you? Aja frowned at London. You’re doing a great job; plus I would never hear the end of it from my dad or yours.

That was certainly true. Their fathers, identical twins born minutes apart, were close and had conspired to convince Aja and London to mend their broken fences and work together. London assumed they had to work much harder on Aja than they did on her as she had recently moved back to Atlanta from DC broke, broken, and jobless.

When her father suggested talking to Aja about a job, she was hesitant since they weren’t close any more. After he’d confided that Aja needed the help more than she was willing to admit, London resolved to get over her pride and embarrassment and just broach the subject.

Glancing at her smart watch, Aja continued. Anyway, the reason I called you in is that Zaria had a suggestion we wanted to discuss with you. She seemed to be measuring her words carefully, as she glanced at Zaria, who nodded enthusiastically at both of them.

London frowned slightly. Zaria hadn’t gone out of her way to make London feel welcome since she’d started at the company, giving London the distinct impression that Zaria was avoiding her. Not that London could blame her given their history.

She couldn’t imagine what Zaria had in mind for her. She was generally leery of people in sales. Most of the time that sales personality was an indication they were good at manipulating people into doing whatever they wanted.

Aja continued. The business is doing well. We’re on track to double our revenue from last year and I plan to expand. But that means we need more cash. I’m looking for an angel investor who can help us take the next steps.

While that all sounded great, London wondered what they needed from her. Currently, London’s job was to take the information gathered from the client, such as social media accounts they used, how they met the person they wanted Exposé to investigate, anything they knew about the other person and figure out the real story. Then London put all details and a conclusion into a report that was submitted to the client.

Aja turned to Zaria. Yes, London, we were thinking you could start onboarding clients. After dropping that bombshell, Zaria rushed on. We think you’ll be great at it. You have good technical knowledge and we think you’ll be able to establish rapport with clients. If you do the onboarding, Aja is free to do more promotion of the company.

London held up her hand as if she was back in elementary school asking for a bathroom break. When you say onboarding, what exactly is that?

Right, glad you asked. After a new client signs up, we interview them to understand why they think they have a catfishing situation and try to find out as much as possible about the relationship. We then outline the process and let them know what to expect, Aja answered.

Zaria pressed on. You will still do the research you normally do, which is your superpower, but instead of passing the research off to us, you’ll present it to the client yourself. It’s a great opportunity. And we need your help.

Zaria stopped, glancing back at Aja. Another mic pass to Aja, London noted.

Aja nodded. It’s not hard, I promise. I’ll help you and answer any questions you have. You can do this! Your research reports are more thorough than any of those done by the contractors, so you will still do that, but moving forward, as Zaria said, you would be their point of contact when clients sign up. She placed her elbows on the desk and clasped her hands together. London, you can totally handle this.

London chewed her lip, considering their words while her inner introvert screamed in protest. They were really trying to sell her on this promotion and she wondered what the catch was.

Client facing? Ugh. London loved that she didn’t have to deal with the public. Since starting at the company, she had only worked two cases which were super simple to crack. She was pretty sure that was intentional so she wouldn’t give up and quit as a couple of previous researchers had.

Aja leaned back to close the deal. Your ninety day review is coming up. If you agree and all goes well, I’ll give you a salary bump.

Normally, London wasn’t driven by money, but she had to consider her current circumstances. She was living at home with her father and his evil cat in her old princess purple bedroom with a bank account that was barely covering the minimum balance needed to keep it active. She could definitely be bought.

Ok, I’ll do it. What do I need to do?

It couldn’t be that bad, right? While she was definitely more comfortable sitting in front of a laptop by herself, she wasn’t going to hiss and claw at approaching strangers. Surely, she could be a charming onboarding person, or whatever her new title would be.

She turned to Zaria, who looked like she might shake London’s hand now that they’d sold her on the job. What exactly do you call people who do onboarding?

Aja glanced at her watch again then at Zaria. Good question…maybe Client Account Liaison? It’s a new position so we’ll come up with an impressive title. She rose from the desk, a signal that the meeting was over. I’m expecting a call in a few minutes, but we’ll talk later.

Zaria rose smoothly from the low chair then strode to the door, smiling at London. This is going to be a good move for you. I think you’ll enjoy working with clients. She turned to Aja. I’ll call you later; I’m off to the airport.

London watched Zaria leave. An attempt to propel herself easily from the chic chair from Hell as she’d just seen Zaria do ended with London’s legs splayed like she was ready for a pelvic exam. Readying for another try, London only caught part of Aja’s next comment. Wait, what?

I was optimistic you’d agree so I went ahead and scheduled your first client at 2:00 today.

London struggled then scooted to the edge of the seat to right herself. She tried to keep most of the panic out of her voice. Today?

Before Aja could respond, her phone rang and she waved London out, repeating her promise to talk later.

The promised talk later happened at a quarter to one, five minutes before London’s new client walked in.

London and Aja were in London’s office where Aja was bent over walking London through pulling up the New Client Questionnaire on her laptop when the outer door chimed. Aja’s head swung to the time displayed on the screen.

Oh, he’s early. Aja swore under her breath, which caught London by surprise. Unable to help herself, she snorted a laugh. Her cousin, the consummate professional, dropping an F bomb, was hilarious.

Aja turned to London with an expression that made her quickly drop the grin. His name is Donovan and he’s here about his grandmother. Just follow my lead. I’ll ask the questions and you can take notes on the questionnaire. She stood up straight and adjusted her suit jacket, her game face fully on. You ready?

Attempting her own game face, London managed a sickly grimace, prompting Aja to frown and ask if she was all right. London dumped the game face. She would just smile instead. She followed Aja to the receptionist area where the client was waiting.

London’s first client was tall, dark and, she realized, familiar. Ok, she had to admit, he was also very nice looking. She gauged his height at a couple inches over six feet as she had to look up a bit to see his face. He had the lean, muscular body of a distance runner with locs that grazed his broad shoulders.

London assumed he had come from an office as he was wearing the standard casual office uniform: dark slim cut jeans, striped blue shirt and sports jacket that fit like it was custom made. London studied his face. Smooth brown skin with dark brown eyes and lashes most women would kill for coupled with full lips. She knew his face but couldn’t place it.

Why was this beautiful stranger so familiar? He didn’t give off model or professional athlete vibes so that wasn’t it. She was racking her brain when she heard Aja call her name.

I’m Aja Lewis, we spoke on the phone last week, and this is London Lewis. She’s going to be handling your inquiry. She’s our best research analyst.

London felt a quick elbow jab from her cousin, causing her to jump. Aja wanted her to say something, she guessed. London, this is Donovan Willis.

Donovan shook her hand. Same last name, Lewis. Any relation? London saw his eyes dart from her face to Aja’s and land on hers.

We’re cousins. Aja smiled, poking London again. Our dads are brothers. Keeping it in the family, right, London?

As Donovan spoke, London realized even his voice was slightly familiar. Her brain went into overdrive scanning for where she’d seen and heard him before. Although she often forgot a name seconds after hearing it, she was good with faces and voices.

Suddenly, London snapped her fingers and gasped. You won the World Cyber Games Tournament when you were younger. You were on the news because you got to go to South Korea and everything. That’s where I know you from! London pushed at his arm enthusiastically, fangirling big time now. Your scores were amazing.

As soon as London touched him, Donovan jumped back as if threatened. London quickly dropped her arm, letting it hang awkwardly at her side. She hadn’t meant to get so handsy with a man she just met. Sorry.

No worries. Donovan lifted a brow. You saw me on TV back then? London saw another realization hit him. So you must be a gamer then?

Yes, I loved all things Quake back in the day. You’ve done a few of the QuakeCons too, right? London asked, referring to a gaming conference for a popular first-person shooter video game.

Donovan nodded, stroking his chin. Yeah, I went in 2003 but I came in like sixth place. The competition was crazy that year. He pointed at London. Did you go?

Please, my father would have banned me from the computer if he’d known I was playing a shooting game. So, no tournaments or conferences for me. Do you still play?

Not as much these days. Since I work in game development now, I have this annoying habit of analyzing the games and finding design flaws which kind of ruins the fun of it. Do you play much?

London happily chatted about the games she played now and how she missed some of the old school games from her childhood. Donovan agreed and added some games of his own. London glanced over at Aja catching her roll her eyes ever so slightly. Aja wasn’t all that into video games when they were kids and London imagined she certainly had no interest in gaming now.

Aja clasped her hands together. Let’s head into the conference room to talk. London, can you grab your laptop?

London excused herself and Donovan gave her this wide, slightly gap-toothed grin that tapped her in the pit of her stomach. Flustered, she practically ran to her office.

Reaching her office, London took a deep breath. What the hell was wrong with her? Ok, so the man was amazing at a game she loved as a kid. So what? Not a big deal and certainly no reason to act as if he was a celebrity. She was a professional and would conduct herself as one.

She took an aggressive gulp of water from the bottle on her desk, almost spilling it, and grabbed her laptop, working on her game face.

When London entered the conference room, Aja was sitting at what was considered the head of the five-seat table and Donovan sat to her left facing the door. They were chatting about the stock market, causing London to roll her eyes as Aja did earlier.

Donovan quickly rose and held out a seat next to him for her. Trying to recall the last time any man held her chair, she awkwardly sat down, thanking him. London planned to sit on Aja’s right making it easier to look at the client while taking notes, but now she would have to turn to the right to address him. She was also close enough to be very aware of his scent, a pleasing combination of spice and citrus, which made her want to close her eyes and breathe it in fully. There was just something enticing about a man who smelled good.

Once London was settled and ready to take notes, Aja gave him some background on the company. Donovan, this is a very straightforward process. We will take the information you give us and start researching your inquiry. Expect a weekly report from us at minimum, but we’ll keep you posted more frequently if there are major developments. If we conclude that the probability of a catfish is very high, we’ll notify you. We will not contact either party; we leave that up to the client’s discretion.

She smiled and leaned in, tenting her fingers like a trusted therapist. Why don’t you tell us about your grandmother and what brings you in.

Focused on her new client, London watched as Donovan exhaled then placed his elbows on the conference room table.

My grandmother’s name is Emmaline Roberson and she lives here in Atlanta. He rubbed his chin. I guess my grandmother started using that dating site for seniors, Silver and Sexy, about eight months ago. She told me one of her friends found a husband through the site and she decided to give it a try. I didn’t really think she was going to go through with signing up.

London clicked quietly on the keyboard taking notes as Donovan continued. We’re close and she’s told me about some of the men at church who hit on her, but she’s been very secretive since she signed up for that site. Silver and Sexy has an app for your phone that allows members to send direct messages to each other. She had me help her set that up on her phone and now she’s on it all the time. I can tell when she gets a message from him because she gets all flustered.

Donovan leaned back in his chair.

Aja tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. How old is your grandmother? And why do you think the man isn’t who he says he is?

Donovan rubbed his chin again. She’s seventy-five.

London could tell he was considering the second question carefully. I think it’s the secrecy that’s bothering me. Normally she shares with me what’s going on in her life. I don’t know for sure that the man is up to no good, but I wonder why she hasn’t told me about him. Why is she hiding someone she clearly likes from her family?

Feeling for him, London really hoped this investigation turned out to be a case where Donovan’s grandmother didn’t tell her family because the relationship was too new to share.

Looking up from her notes, London asked, Does your grandmother know you have concerns or that you’ve hired us?

No, and she can’t know any of this. She would kill me. His head slumped forward. This has to stay between us. Their eyes met and London saw the internal battle he struggled with for going behind his grandmother’s back. She wanted to rub his shoulders and tell him everything would be ok.

Aja nodded, clasping her hands like she held his secret within them. Of course. We will do our digging discreetly and let you know what we find. If the man is who he says he is, and we certainly hope that’s the case, she need not ever know.

Dropping his hands back to his lap, Donovan’s lips parted slightly as if he wanted to speak then thought better of it.

Was there anything else you wanted to tell us? London asked gently.

So, most of your cases, are they actually catfish?

London leaned back in her chair. Since she had so little history with the company, Aja would need to take this one. London recalled her cases were both catfish. One was a middle-aged married man who was masquerading as a single woman in her twenties and the other was a prison inmate pretending to be a dancer on tour with Rhianna.

People come to us because they feel there’s a problem in their online relationship. Unfortunately, most of the time their feelings are correct, Aja said softly. But your case is unique. Usually, the person in the relationship hires us. As I said though, we will treat your inquiry with kid gloves and your grandmother will never know.

The interview continued. London learned that Donovan’s grandmother was retired and now wrote a foodie blog with videos of her cooking and gardening. London was impressed with this woman already; compared to her life at thirty-two, Emmaline’s life at seventy-five was far more interesting.

London stopped typing as she thought about a blog she might start and felt eyes on her. Snapping out of her daydream, she glanced around to find Donovan and Aja looking at her expectantly.

Desperately, she blurted the first question that came to mind.Did you say your grandmother hasn’t met this man in person yet? How do you know?

Donovan shrugged. It’s just a hunch. I can’t explain it, but my gut says she hasn’t met him in person and that something’s off. If I find out this man is married… He let the words trail off and London wondered what he would do when he found out the truth.

Chances were good this man was at best, not who he claimed to be and at worse, out to do harm. Men preyed on women online all the time.

As I said earlier, we’ll give you all the info we find, but if this person turns out to be a catfish, we don’t recommend confronting him. The best course of action is to give the info to your grandmother and let her end things.

Aja stood and handed Donovan an info packet. London’s business card is in here as well as mine in case you need them. We’ll get started on our research and send you updates, but don’t hesitate to call either of us if you have questions or find out something that could be useful.

Donovan stood, tucking the packet under his arm. He shook Aja’s hand then turned to London, shaking her hand and giving her an appreciative look that had her wanting to fan herself from the heat it caused.

This investigation is perfect for you! Aja said, her eyes lighting up. Let’s talk strategy. Back in the conference room, Aja had London connect her laptop up to the large flat screen monitor mounted on the wall so they could review London’s notes together. She stood near the monitor, ready to point out aspects of her notes that London needed to focus on. London felt almost like she was back in college attending a lecture.

Scanning the beginning of the questionnaire, Aja put a hand on her chin. What was your initial impression of our client? Does he seem trustworthy to you? She paused, pursing her lips. Beyond the fact that he plays games as an adult male.

London guessed Aja saw that as a negative. Go figure. As an occasional gamer herself, London found that part to be rather charming, but that was just her. "Well, if I remember