My Stolen Identity (Complete)

Chapter 3 - The Promotion

***** Knox Hendrix's Point of View *****

"Hey Cynthia," I said, leaning on the reception desk. "I've got a guy coming in here in a little bit to talk to me. His name's Wade Daniels. Poor dude got catfished and scammed out of forty five grand."

"Ouch," she winced.

"Yeah. There'll be a woman named Elodie Masterson too. Send them both to room three when they get here and then shoot me a text so I know they're here. Would ya please?"

"Sure thing Knox," Cynthia smiled.

 "You're the best. Have I ever told you that?" 

"Only every day," she laughed.

I walked to my office and sat down at my desk, propping my feet up on top of it and leaning back in my chair, looking at the company email page pulled up on my laptop. There was an email from the chief saying he wanted to talk to me when I wasn't busy. I glanced over at the stack of client folders piled up on my desk and wondered if I would ever not be busy, but I would have to make time for the chief.  After answering a few emails I got a text from Cynthia. 

'I just sent Wade Daniels to Room 3.' 

I grabbed my laptop and headed in there. 

"Hey Wade," I smiled, shaking his hand. "Detective Knox Hendrix. I'm the one you talked to on the phone."

He looked down at my hand and shook it hesitantly with a weak grip before stepping back. "Wade Daniels," he said quietly, looking down and hugging his arms to his chest, keeping his eyes locked on the floor. "But I guess you already knew that," he said with an awkward laugh.

"It's okay Wade. You can relax. We're just gonna sit down and have a conversation. Do you want some coffee or a water or anything while we wait for Elodie?"

"No I'm fine," he said, pacing the floor.

"Okay, then why don't we sit down," I told him, watching how he paced the floor for a second before sitting in the chair I motioned to and I sat down too. 

As a detective I was very observant and tried to notice as much as I could about people; the choice of words they used, their body language, mannerisms, clothes, hygiene, attitude. Everything about them was a potential clue. I noticed right away that Wade seemed very nervous and fidgety and I could tell by his shortness of breath and lack of eye contact that he had severe social anxiety. He seemed like a guy that wouldn't have very much luck with the ladies, so he was the perfect target for a catfish. It was probably the first time a pretty girl had ever shown any interest in him. 

I had seen it so many times before. Over the last four years I had spent as a detective I had worked on probably a hundred or more catfishing cases where they met someone online and ended up getting scammed, robbed at gunpoint, had their house burglarized, got assaulted, or sometimes even murdered. These cyber crimes had been happening more and more often, which was why the chief decided six months ago that we needed to make a division specifically for cyber crimes and he put me in charge of it because I was the best at solving them. 

There was a knock at my door and I called out, "Yeah, come on in." 

The door opened slowly and a strikingly beautiful woman entered the room hesitantly, looking very timid. She was about 5'7 and had long straight brown hair that looked really soft and shiny and flawless pale skin without a single blemish. She had a feminine face with soft features and large green eyes surrounded by long, dark eyelashes. She was wearing a tight pair of jeans that hugged the curves of her hips and a spaghetti strap Washington State tank top that showed the top crease of her cleavage and a little bit of her flat stomach. She was thin but curvy in all the right places.