Scam Read Online Free PDF

asked.
    She didn’t answer my question. “Aren’t you having fun?”
    I could feel the wine doing funny things to my head. “I guess so.”
    “Just relax and enjoy the party.”
    We wandered around the room some more. I followed Lindsey’s lead, nodding and smiling at the people we encountered. No one asked us who we were or why we were here.
    And then the bride and groom entered the hall. All eyes were on them. That’s when Lindsey grabbed me by my sleeve and led me back toward that table with the gifts. As everyone oohed and aahed at the wedding couple, Lindsey began picking up envelopes from the gift table and stashing them in her oversized purse.
    I couldn’t believe it. “What are you doing?” I whispered.
    “Be quiet,” she hissed as she grabbed another handful of envelopes and started walking casually to the door. Everyone was still making a fuss over the newly married couple, who looked like they had just stepped out of a magazine.
    As I followed Lindsey out into the sunlight, I was both shocked and angry. “That was a truly rotten thing to do.”
    “Just shut up and keep walking.”
    I thought about getting the hell away from her. I felt like I had been tricked into being part of this, her worst scam yet. “You’ve done this before?” I asked, the anger rising further in me.
    “No. First time,” she said nonchalantly.
    “Why?”
    She stopped in her tracks. “Get over it,” she said. “This is what I do. It’s my life, so don’t go judging me. It’s who I am. Take it or leave it.”
    We walked for ten minutes in complete silence. Lindsey stopped and sat down on a park bench by a wire trashcan. I sat down beside her. At first I just looked away. But then I turned toward her. I watched as she opened the first envelope, found a check inside and threw it and the card in the trashcan. The same thing happened with two more envelopes. Then she opened the next envelope and found two fifty-dollar bills. “Bingo,” she said. “At least some people still give cash. Here. Open a couple of these.”
    She tossed three envelopes in my lap, but I just stared at them.
    “Go on. Do it.”
    It’s hard to explain why I didn’t bail on her right then. I was really pissed off. I didn’t want any part of this. But then I remembered that this was the girl who had sat beside me through my mother’s funeral. I opened my first envelope and read the inscription inside:
    May your lives be filled with love and happiness.
    Love,
    Brett and Sybil
    And there was a hundred-dollar bill. Lindsey looked over, gave me a big goofy smile, took the hundred and stashed it in my shirt pocket and then threw the card into the trashcan. I handed the other envelopes back to her, tilted my head back and closed my eyes.
    Lindsey continued on like a kid on Christmas morning. When she had opened all the stolen envelopes, she announced, “Five hundred dollars. Not bad. Too bad we can’t use those checks.” “Now what?” I asked, feeling totally defeated.
    Lindsey tucked another $150 in my shirt pocket. “Even split,” she said. “Enough fun for today. This week we go on a spending spree though. I gotta go now.” She stood up, leaned over me and kissed me full on the lips. “Thanks for being such a good sidekick.” And she walked away.

Chapter Ten
    I couldn’t sleep that night. I couldn’t believe what I had allowed Lindsey to get me into. I’d never stolen anything in my life. Even my mother, hooked on drugs, hadn’t stolen. She’d sometimes spent welfare money on street drugs and we didn’t have enough to eat, but she hadn’t stolen.
    Noah couldn’t sleep either. I could tell by his breathing. So there we were, lying on beds on either side of the room, wide awake.
    “Noah,” I asked. “Can I run something past you?”
    “Sure.” He sat up and turned on a lamp.
    So I told him about my day.
    “Man,” he said. “You didn’t strike me as the criminal type.”
    “That’s just it. I’m not. It was her