Ten minutes later I wasn’t the only one groaning. I was still sitting on the bed. Jerry sat in a chair across from me, looking crestfallen. Nico sat beside him in another chair.
Jerry was actually a really nice guy. He had a lot of money and appeared to be generous. He was about three decades too old for me, but that wouldn’t stop a lot of women.
Too bad I wasn’t the gal he thought he’d been corresponding with. Too bad for him, I mean.
“So let me get this straight,” said Nico. “You met this impostor Gina Gallo on a website called Sugar Daddy dot com.”
“That’s right,” said Jerry. “She was… well, she was wonderful. My ideal woman. It wasn’t just the photo. I loved her online personality. She was very feminine and gentle. Kind and sweet.”
“So definitely not our Gina,” said Nico, snickering.
I gave him the finger.
“Definitely not like that.” Jerry looked horrified. Well, at least he was beginning to believe I wasn’t the same woman.
“Of course, I knew there was an age difference. But she didn’t seem to care,” said Jerry.
Of course she didn’t. She was after money, not a relationship. I said it to myself, though, because the poor guy was suffering enough. Not only was he the victim of a scam, but he’d also just found out that the love of his life had never existed. How awful.
“So when she said she could meet me in Vegas, I was only too happy to send her a check for the airline ticket.”
“First-class, of course,” said Nico, leaning forward.
Jerry nodded. “What else, for my sweet Peaches? And the five-hundred-dollar fee for crossing the border.”
“What fee?” asked Nico. “We don’t have a border fee.”
“Oh, I am such a schmuck,” said Jerry. He lowered his head to his hands.
I was amazed at how small his hands were. No larger than mine. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy. I felt truly sorry for him.
But I was also worried for me. At least now we knew what was going on. Someone had stolen my Facebook photo and was impersonating me on a site called Sugar Daddy dot com. This was identity theft on a grand scale. Thing was, how far did it extend?
“Jerry, I’m worried this might be part of a bigger scam. She may have conned other men.” In fact, I knew she had. Ernie with the flowers, for one. “Is there anything you can tell us about her that could help us find out who she really is?”
“How do we know it’s a she?” asked Nico. “The impostor could be a man.”
Jerry almost collapsed at that point. His bones seemed to go limp. He flopped back in the chair, making snuffling sounds.
“Oh, that’s just awful,” he said after a few moments. “I’ve been corresponding with a man? Talking lovey-dovey with a man?”
“We don’t know that,” I said quickly. I tried to signal Nico with my eyes. “I expect it was a woman. Someone who knew just how to appeal to you.”
“She sussed out my preferences pretty quickly,” Jerry admitted. So he wasn’t stupid. He was just smitten. Jerry sat up straighter but still looked shaken. “I think I’ll go back to my room now, if you don’t mind.”
I exchanged glances with Nico. Would Jerry report this to the police?
He seemed to be reading our minds. “I’m not feeling very well at the moment. I just want to forget about all this, to be honest.” He rose unsteadily from the chair. “I’m really sorry this happened, and for my part in it. I know it affects you too.”
He kept his eyes off mine. I did the same. The click of the door told me he was gone.
“Poor guy. He forgot his flowers,” said Nico.