Scam Read Free Page B

out my wallet. The five-dollar bill was still there. So was the faded picture of my mom. For a split second, I was ready to burst into tears. But I pushed that back. Instead, I unfolded the little scrap of paper with Lindsey’s phone number on it.
    I punched in the numbers on my mom’s old cell phone. It rang. What was I going to say to her?
    “Hello?”
    “Lindsey?”
    “Yeah. Who’s this?”
    “Josh.”
    “Josh. This is weird. No one actually calls me to talk on my cell.”
    “I don’t think I can text from this phone.”
    “That’s okay. It’s good to hear from you. How are you doing?”
    “I’m hanging in there,” I said. “What are you doing?”
    “Nothing. I’m bored out of my gourd.”
    “Can we do something together?” I couldn’t believe I was asking her this. I wasn’t even sure I trusted this girl. Maybe she was playing some freaking game by being nice to me.
    “Sure. Like what?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Where are you?” she asked.
    “I’m not far from where we met.”
    “Okay. I’ll come meet you there. Same corner where I first saw you. I’m leaving the house now.” And she hung up.
    I almost didn’t recognize her when I saw her twenty minutes later. She had on an old flannel shirt and dirty ripped jeans and men’s work boots. Her hair was kind of stringy, and she was wearing a Boston Red Sox ballcap.
    She walked up to me and gave me a hug. I think I pulled back a little, remembering what happened the last time. But I tried to relax. Her body felt good against me.
    “How do you like the way I look?”
    “I don’t know. You look okay, but I almost didn’t recognize you.”
    “It’s all part of the game.”
    “What game?” I asked.
    “Look around. Can you tell which people on the street are tourists?”
    I looked around. “No. How could I tell?”
    “Check it out,” she said. “That guy there with the Disneyland T-shirt and the expensive backpack. And his wife in the sunglasses. Tourists for sure.”
    “Why does it matter?”
    “Watch.”
    So I watched as she walked toward them and said something. They stopped. She talked for a bit, and then it looked like maybe she was about to cry.
    That’s when the woman opened her purse and took out a wallet. I was freaking out, thinking Lindsey was about to grab it and run. But it wasn’t like that. The man stood there frowning, but the wife handed over a bill. Lindsey must have kept talking, because then the woman handed over a second bill. And a third. Lindsey bent over and kissed her hand and then turned, looked straight at me and flashed the money.
    When she came back, she grabbed my arm and ushered me down a side street, a big grin on her face. “Like taking candy from a baby. Look. Twenty bucks.”
    “What did you say to them?”
    “I told them I was living on the street and was sick of it. I wanted to go home and needed money for bus fare.”
    “But that was a total scam.”
    “Totally.” She was smiling. I guess I was frowning.
    “Josh. Lighten up. I’ll admit it wasn’t my most creative moment, but I can do better.”
    “No. It’s not that. It’s just that you lied and cheated those people out of their money.”
    “Relax, preacher boy. It’s just a game. I’m not hurting anyone. Think of it like acting. I’m a good actor, right?”
    “You’re a good scam artist.”
    “I don’t like that term,” she said and looked hurt. Then angry. “Hey, do you want to hang out with me, or should I just go home and leave you alone?”
    I hung my head. No, I didn’t want to be alone. And I could see I had pissed her off.
    “This is who I am,” she said. “So get over it.”
    I tried a fake smile.
    “That’s better. Now let’s go get a coffee and something to eat. My treat.”

Chapter Seven
    At the coffee shop, we sat by the window. Lindsey bought us each a fancy coffee drink. It tasted like nothing I’d ever had before. “Cappuccino,” she said. “My favorite.”
    “What if that tourist couple came