Don't Trust, Verify.
— Advice From A Hoodie
I spotted our first official mark at a Saturday matinee for Godzilla vs. Kong, wearing a hoodie that said, "Don't Trust, Verify." That's solid advice, bro.
Movies were a decent way to find marks. I'd spot 'em in line and call Claire.
I found this guy on his way in. The trick for Claire was to spot him on his way out. She'd have to get him away from his friends long enough to convince him to ask her on a date. The date has to be the mark's idea.
Claire looked offended when I asked how she'd do it, as if I doubted her skills.
She rolled her eyes and said, "I got this."
"Tell me how."
"You're kidding."
"Come on. I told you how to spot him. How are you gonna get a date with some random guy walking out of a movie?"
"Seriously?" Claire asked, before she backed up ten paces and said, "C'mere, bitch."
As we walked toward each other, she collided with me, bumping me hard.
"What the..."
"Oh my God. I'm so sorry. I wasn't paying attention to... I... oh, hey. Hi. Uhm... You're... cute." She batted her eyelashes while running her fingers through her hair, twirling the ends that ran past her shoulder. That girl had legs that went all the way to the floor, if you know what I mean. As she licked her lips, I knew she could talk a guy into anything.
And she did.
I went home and nervously waited for an update. An hour later, Claire came triumphantly strolling through the front door. She said, "His name's Dave. We're meeting at a pub for happy hour tomorrow afternoon." She brought him back to the house that night. She's good.
When I heard them go to the garage for a dip in the hot tub, I went to Claire's bedroom and found his pants right where he left them, on her bed. I took a picture of his driver's license and snatched his keys.
His keychain had a quick release flippy thingamabob. It was easy to remove his keys and put them back on after I made a copy with my HPC Speedex. I stashed my copies of his keys in my desk and put his keychain back in his pants. My work for the night was done.
Claire's job of getting him out of the house was another matter. He stuck around for hours. I had the door to my basement workshop open, as I waited for her to lose him (Yo yo yo, gotta go gotta go). I finally heard Claire say "I just don't think we're a match." That's girl code for GTFO.
With the mark gone, it was time to talk.
"How'd it go?"
She said, "Fine."
"What does he do for a living?"
"Don't know. Don't care."
"Well, what did he talk about?"
"His dog. His car. The gym. That's all, but he wouldn't shut up about it."
Got a dog? Good to know.
"Any issues?" I asked.
"Nope. You?"
"Nope."
This was starting to feel too easy, and we were only on our first real mark. Shhhhh. She doesn't know Andre was a mark.
Our process for getting addresses and house keys for the marks was flawless. And living in the house with Claire was working out too. She was quiet and moody, but not like my mom. Claire didn't hide. If she was pissed about something, she'd read a book. She drank like a fish, but I did too. Only at night. Usually. And some afternoons, but why not? We earned it.
Things were going well. We celebrated a lot.
I made sure the fridge was always stocked and she always had money in her pocket, so she didn't ask questions.
I needed her to work on asking the marks more questions, though.
"Hey, so, Claire... I need you to pretend like you're genuinely interested in these guys. Try to find out stuff that'll be good for me to know when I hit their homes. It's easier to search for their Bitcoin seed words when I know what to expect before I get there."
"What do you want to know?"
"You mentioned this guy has a dog. That means I need treats when I go to his place. Is the dog friendly? Does he live with anybody? That kind of thing. And make up bullshit stories about your past. Use them to ask leading questions so he'll volunteer info without you needing to ask. Get him talking and let him ramble so you can tell me if there's anything I need to know."
"Fine. Got it."
Did she, though?