Chapter 5: Forty-One Replies
I scrolled slowly.
The thread was eight months old.
The original poster had described the same dinner, almost beat for beat.
Upscale restaurant.
Manager name-drop.
Monologue about crypto.
The check sliding across the table.
The smirk.
The line delivered just loud enough for the next table to hear.
The replies came from women in six different cities.
San Francisco.
Portland.
Chicago.
Seattle.
Austin.
Denver.
Some had paid.
Some had refused and walked out.
One had thrown water on him, which got forty-seven upvotes and a string of applause emojis.
Most had just gone home feeling confused and ashamed, the way Carrie had described.
The way I might have, if Daniel hadn't been standing ten feet away.
"He's been running this for at least eight months," I said.
"Probably longer," Carrie said.
"That's just when someone first posted about it."
Daniel had his own phone out.
"I'm going to call someone."
"Who?" I asked.
"A friend at the DA's office.
Not to file anything tonight.
Just to ask a question." He stood up.
"Don't go anywhere."
He stepped away from the table.
I watched him move toward the back hallway, already talking.
Carrie and I sat with the thread open between us.
"Do any of them know his real name?" I asked.
"Scroll down," she said.
I scrolled.
About two-thirds of the way through the replies, one post was longer than the others.
A woman named, by her username, Petra_Reads had written four paragraphs.
She had paid.
She had also, unlike most of the others, been curious enough afterward to look at the card receipt she had photographed on her phone before she left the restaurant.
The name on the card had been Marcus Teller.
She had searched it.
She had found a LinkedIn profile for a Marcus Teller in the Bay Area, financial consulting, and a Facebook profile that was mostly private.
She had also found a small local news article from three years ago.
A civil dispute.
A former business partner claiming Marcus Teller had taken investment funds and dissolved the company without notice.
The case had been settled out of court.
"He's not just doing this for dinner," I said.
Carrie shook her head.
"I think the dates are how he finds people.
Tests them.
Sees how they react under pressure, whether they'll just go quiet and pay, whether they'll make a scene." She paused.
"I think he's looking for something specific."
"What?"
"Someone who won't push back."
Daniel came back to the table.
He pulled his chair out and sat down without a word for a moment.
"My contact says the chargeback filing could be wire fraud depending on how it was submitted," he said.
"But what would actually move this forward is a pattern.
Multiple incidents.
Multiple victims willing to go on record."
He looked at the Reddit thread still open on my phone.
"How many of them left contact information?" he asked.
I looked at Carrie.
Carrie almost smiled.
"I've already messaged four of them," she said.
"Two wrote back tonight."
My phone lit up on the table.
A new message from the same unknown number Carrie had first used.
But it wasn't from Carrie.
She was sitting right in front of me, her phone face-down.
I picked it up.
The message read: *I know you talked to her.
Back off, or this gets complicated for your brother's restaurant.*
The three of us looked at the screen.
May you like
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"He's watching," I said.
