This was a psychological technique called subliminal manipulation, but con artists and advertisement experts called it ‘force feeding’ – the subtle art of presenting relevant information to a mark so as to guide that mark, unsuspectingly, down a pre-arranged path. Mary had used that same technique many times in the past. And that was exactly what Natálie had done to her.
THOMAS: ‘If there is one thing that every con artist on this planet has in common, it is that regardless of them running small cons for a couple of bucks, or big cons for millions, they are always on the lookout for a possible next target – even if they say that they aren’t. And the first rule of con artistry is that if a good opportunity presents itself, you should never walk away from it. All I really did was plant the seed, Mary. The con artist and the greed inside you did the rest.’
Mary couldn’t believe that she’d been so naïve.
THOMAS: ‘Once “Natálie” handed you the newspaper page, all I had to do was wait.’
Another lopsided smile.
THOMAS: ‘That same night, one of our many “Quaddra” fake websites, after being online for over seven months, got its first-ever hit. How coincidental, don’t you think?’
Mary now knew why they had chosen the name Quaddra – double ‘D’ – a very uncommon name that no one searching the Internet would’ve come across by accident, which made it so much easier for them to track the number of visitors to any of their websites.
THOMAS: ‘In the subsequent days, all the sites we created kept on getting hit after hit, which meant that you were doing your research, getting all your info together. Once you moved to San Francisco, I knew that you were hooked and your plan was “go”. All I had to do from then on was simple maintenance, just to make sure that you were riding along the correct path.’
MARY: ‘Betsy to get me to go to the exhibition. And that weird couple to give you the perfect excuse to approach me.’
THOMAS: ‘Betsy would also encourage you to come out with me on that first date, telling you how hot she thought I was and how you just couldn’t miss that exhibition. The “friend approval”. Subtle, but also very powerful.’
Mary’s blood was about to boil in her veins.
THOMAS: ‘Rule number two of con artistry – always control the pace of the con. From there, the rest was easy.’
MARY: ‘All your friends? Ricky, your business partner? His family?’
THOMAS: ‘Actors and actresses… all of them… and all of them under a very generous contract that stipulated that they were never to set foot in San Francisco, unless I asked them to.’
Of course, Mary thought, as another piece of the puzzle slotted itself into place. Thomas couldn’t risk Mary bumping into any of his ‘fake friends’ while she was out by herself. What if they didn’t respond when Mary called out their ‘fake names’? What if they didn’t recognize her at first?
MARY: ‘So, I take it that you’re not from San Francisco either, are you?’
THOMAS: ‘Bridgeport, Connecticut. Just like Phillip.’
Running such a long con inside his own city would’ve been too great a risk to take, Mary knew that. Regardless of how much of a private person Thomas really was, the chances of him running into someone who knew who he truly was, while on a night outwith Mary, was always there. So, the trick was to move the con to a place where he was almost certain that he would never bump into anyone he knew, or anyone who knew him – another simple rule of con artistry: tip the odds in your favor.
THOMAS: ‘It wasn’t a perfect plan. I know that. There were many weak spots throughout, but your greed blinded you to them. Your desire to rob “Quaddra” of everything he had was stronger than your logic, creating blind spots along the way.’
MARY: ‘The restaurant… after we left The Legion, on our first-ever date.’
THOMAS: ‘According to you, it wasn’t a date, remember?’
If he could’ve laughed, he would’ve done.
THOMAS: ‘But I’m guessing that you’re talking about the credit card incident.’
MARY: ‘Yes.’
THOMAS: ‘Now that really was a fluke. The original idea was for me simply to leave the credit card on the table and go to the bathroom. I knew that you would check the credit card once I was gone, but the flying credit card mistake worked much better. Much more natural.’
He paused and nodded at his screen.
THOMAS: ‘And I’ll hand it to you – back at The Legion, the whole running away trick so that I’d come running after you, followed by the argument in the restaurant because of the false name… that was genius and so well played.’
Thomas paused for a second.
THOMAS: ‘Back at the house, I wasn’t exactly ready for you to find that secret basement yet. I was still working on ideas on how I could make you find it without making you suspicious, but you beat me to it, which made the whole thing seem that much more real too. And I’ll tell you this – your performance after you discovered the basement was flawless. You would’ve probably been a great actress if you hadn’t decided to waste your life as a con artist.’
MARY: ‘Fuck you! You know nothing about my life.’
