Here's to Us (Blood Money #2)

Chapter 8 - Unknown Vitality

"Megan Bateman doesn't exist?" I shook my head in disbelief when I looked up from the file on my desk to face Luke. His spiky blond hair stuck out showing that he had been running fingers through them one too many times. But his sparkling blue eyes showed no kind of exhaustion.

Looking like a kid who just discovered the freeway to access a gaming software, he grinned, "Yep. She is an illusion."

"What do you mean by an illusion, Luke?" I raised both eyebrows, most definitely in mockery.

He pointed two fingers at the file he had yet to show me. Wrinkling both eyebrows, I reached for it to open. Inside, I saw a picture of Meg with long brown hair with a name 'Linda Cuthbert'. A list of confidential information about Linda was gathered on that page. Turning over, I was greeted with the same sight only with a different name.

"She's a con-artist," I muttered more to myself, going through the pages and finding several aliases of her.

"And Megan Bateman is an alias too," Luke threw in, causing me to look up from the file. In the almost dark office, he seemed like a distant stranger, feeding me lies. The truths I had believed for a long time were turning out be a hoax.

"But Bateman can't fool anyone with all her aliases. What if 'Megan Bateman' is her true identity? I mean conning people with the same identity for this long, how can it help her unless she isn't really Megan?"

Discarding the file on my wooden desk, I stole a glance at one of the pictures on my desk. Silas stood beside me, smiling but in the corner, I could see his hand resting on my waist. That was a small but sweet gesture. That man had been conned for years after years.

"I thought the same until our tech guys found this," Luke informed, leaning forward to the desk and pressing on the keyboard of his MacBook. When the screen turned to life, I noticed that a number of tabs were opened in his browser.

"These are the websites holding information about her. Most of the official websites are created from the same IP address. While some websites are just conned to put her up," Luke shrugged, wiping his pale hands over his olive knit sweater.

"Cause they believe her as Megan. But this must have taken a long time to convince people about this kind of authentication. Must have taken years," I put in, slowly but lucid while I scrolled down the screen of the laptop. It was a site, showing her contribution as a psychiatrist. Then it just popped in my mind. Whipping my head up, I immediately spoke, "Unless she's trying to make a con real."

"I agree with you on that, ma'am," Luke gave me a firm nod. "The hard disks of her phone calls for the past few months will be in your hands by this weekend."

"Okay. Do one thing. Run her aliases to see if she's related to any kind of crime, particularly drug-related and try to get your source to find her real ID." When I turned to my desk, looking at her picture, a thought sprung into my mind.

"Luke?"

Turning to me intently, he smiled.

"Try to keep it low. I know you're using feds for the information. But if they find out that we're interfering an FBI investigation, you and me, we can both go to jail for that," I finally paused with a soothing smile. But he wasn't fooled by it. Spooked at the mention of his actual source, Luke just nodded and offered me an almost smile. When he left, I found myself smiling.

Turning on my feet, I looked at the outside world.

Silas really was right about it. Outside world wasn't a fiction. And his world was most certainly not.

"Look what I have become now," I murmured to myself.

Against criminals and shams, I was nothing but a piece of paper waiting on the street, crumpled and helpless. The filthy paper had footprints printed on it. Sometimes, it was held before shredders. Sometimes, it almost faded away in the rain. Sometimes, it just flew from one place to another.