Smoke in Mirrors

identification?” Leonora asked.
    Julie sniffed. “He just wanted to get your social security number or a credit card number so he could check it out on his computer to make sure you were who you said you were.”
    “Just doing his civic duty, is that it?” Thomas said.
    “I told you,” Julie muttered. “He didn’t want to get Miss Hutton in trouble unless she was a real phony.”
    “A real phony.” Leonora handed Julie a fresh tissue. “An interesting turn of phrase.”
    Thomas looked at Julie. “Did you give Miss Hutton’s social security number to Rhodes?”
    “No. I couldn’t find it.” Julie blew her nose into the new tissue.
    Thomas exhaled slowly. Maybe this wasn’t going to turn out so badly.
    “So I gave him her driver’s license number instead,” Julie concluded.
    “Shit,” Thomas said.
    Leonora frowned.
    Julie jerked violently.
    “Anything else?” Thomas asked.
    Julie swallowed. “Well, I also found a couple of credit cards, so I gave him those numbers, too.”
    “Shit,” Thomas said again. “Little Miss Helpful.”
    “I thought I was helping Mr. Rhodes catch a book thief,” Julie added. “I thought I was doing the right thing.”
    “Good to know that folks like you and Alex Rhodes are out there making the world safe for scholarly research.” Thomas leaned back against the edge of the window and folded his arms. “All right, Julie, pay attention. Here’swhat you are going to do. You will not have any more contact with Rhodes. Is that clear?”
    Dismay widened her eyes. “But he still owes me another fifty bucks. He promised to give me two hundred altogether and I only got one hundred and fifty so far.”
    “The thing is, if you try to collect your money, some people might not understand that you were just holding down a part-time job. The cops, for instance, might get the wrong impression.”
    “Cops?” Julie looked horrified. “What wrong impression?”
    “They might be excused for thinking that you were aiding and abetting an identity thief.”
    “But I didn’t steal anything.”
    “Julie, you’re pushing the envelope with the naïve innocent act. Everyone knows that identity theft is big business and a serious crime. A social security number unlocks all the doors and, given a driver’s license and a credit card or two, it’s not that hard to get it.”
    “But I told you, Mr. Rhodes was just making sure that Miss Hutton was for real.”
    “Is that right?” Thomas asked. “And what makes you think that Alex Rhodes is for real?”
    Julie stared at him, obviously staggered by the implications of that question.
    “You mean that Mr. Rhodes is . . . you mean that he may be a criminal? But he’s like a doctor or a shrink or something.”
    Her voice had risen to such a shrill pitch Thomas was surprised that the window behind him did not shatter.
    “I don’t know yet who or what Alex Rhodes is,” he said. “But I think it’s safe to assume that any man who would hire a nineteen-year-old student to go through someone’s personal effects in search of identification data is probably not a very nice guy.”

    Julie started to weep again.
    Leonora touched her shoulder. “Calm down. Mr. Walker and I will handle this from here on in. But in the meantime, I think he’s right. It’s probably best if you don’t have any more contact with Alex Rhodes.”
    Julie looked up at her with wet, doleful eyes. “But what about my fifty dollars?”
    “I’ll tell you what.” Leonora reached down to unclasp her satchel. She took out her wallet. “I’ll give you the fifty dollars that Rhodes owes you.”
    “Uh, Leonora,” Thomas said.
    She paid no attention. Instead she opened the wallet, took out some cash and handed the bills to Julie.
    “Thanks.” Julie took the cash with alacrity, counted it swiftly and stuffed it into the pocket of her jeans. “Don’t worry, I won’t go to see Mr. Rhodes again.”
    “We appreciate your assistance in this matter,” Leonora said.
    “Sure.” Julie hurried to open the door. “Well, I’d better get going. I’ve got a ten o’clock English Lit class.”
    Thomas followed Leonora to the door. “With any luck,” he said casually, “this will be the end of it for you.”
    Julie frowned. “What do you mean, with any luck?”
    “In the end, we might be forced to bring in the police.” He moved out into the hall and turned to smile at her. “You never can tell.”
    Julie threw him another traumatized look and shut the