Yes, great, I can hear you perfectly. So can we just go over how you know Jamie Reynolds?

 

Stella:

I . . . um, I don’t . . . know him.

 

Connor:

[INAUDIBLE]

 

Pip:

Connor, you can’t talk while we’re recording.

 

Connor:

[INAUDIBLE]

 

Stella:

Um . . . I . . . I . . .

 

Pip:

Actually, Connor, why don’t you go on ahead to lunch? I’ll see you there.

 

Connor:

[INAUDIBLE]

 

Pip:

Oh no, really, I insist. Connor. I’ll meet you there. Go on. Oh, close the door please. Thank you. Sorry about that, he’s just worried about his brother.

 

Stella:

Yeah, that’s OK, I get it. I just didn’t want to talk about his brother right in front of him, y’know? It’s weird.

 

Pip:

I understand. It’s better this way. So, how do you know Jamie?

 

Stella:

I really don’t know him. At all. That time on Friday, that was the first time I ever spoke to him. I didn’t know who he was until I saw the posters on my way to school this morning.

 

Pip:

Let me play this clip for you. Ignore Hannah’s face. You see, in the background, you walk away from Katya and then Jamie comes over to you.

 

Stella:

Yeah, he did. It was, um . . . strange. Really strange. I think there must have been a misunderstanding or something. Or he was confused.

 

Pip:

What do you mean? What did he want to talk to you about?

 

Stella:

Well, like you can see there, he tapped me on the shoulder, so I turned to him and he said, ‘Leila, it’s you.’ And so I was like, ‘No, I’m Stella.’ But he carried on, he was like: ‘Leila, it’s really you,’ and he wasn’t listening when I said, ‘No, that’s not me.’

 

Pip:

Leila?

 

Stella:

Yeah. He was pretty insistent so then I was like, ‘Sorry, I don’t know you,’ and began to walk away and he said something like, ‘Leila, it’s me, Jamie. I almost didn’t recognize you because you’ve changed your hair.’ So, I was really confused at this point. And he also looked really confused, and then he asked me what I was doing at a high-school party anyway. By this point he was freaking me out a bit, so I said to him, ‘I’m not called Leila, my name’s Stella and I don’t know who you are or what you’re talking about. Leave me alone or I’ll scream.’ And then I walked away. That was it. He didn’t say anything else or follow me. He actually looked really sad when I left, but I don’t know why. I still don’t understand what was going on, what he meant. If it was some like weird creepy pick-up tactic, I dunno. He’s older, right?

 

Pip:

Yes, he’s twenty-four. So wait, let me get this straight: he calls you Leila, multiple times, saying, ‘It’s me, Jamie,’ when you don’t seem to recognize him. Then he comments that you’ve changed your hair –

 

Stella:

Which I haven’t, my hair’s been the same since, like, forever.

 

Pip:

Right, and then he also asks you: ‘What are you doing at a high-school party?’

 

Stella:

Yeah, basically those exact words. Why? What are you thinking?

 

Pip:

Stella . . . on your social media, like on Insta, do you have a lot of pictures of yourself? Like selfies, or photos where it’s just you in the shot?

 

Stella:

Well, yeah, I do. Most of them. What’s wrong with that?

 

Pip:

Nothing. How many photos have you posted of just you?

 

Stella:

I don’t know, loads. Why?

 

Pip:

How many followers do you have?

 

Stella:

Not that many. Around eight hundred-ish? Why, Pip? What’s wrong?

 

Pip:

I, um, I think . . . it sounds to me like Jamie might have been talking to a catfish.

 

Stella:

A catfish?

 

Pip:

Someone who’s been using your photos, calls themselves Leila.

 

Stella:

Oh. You know, that actually makes a lot of sense, now you’ve said it. Yeah, it definitely seemed as though Jamie thought he knew me, and the way he was talking like he expected me to know him too. As if we’d spoken many times before. Clearly never in real life, though.

 

Pip:

Yes. And if it is a catfish, maybe they’ve edited your photos somehow, hence the ‘changed your hair’ comment. I think Jamie spotted you at the memorial, well . . . he spotted who he thought was Leila, and it was the first time he’d seen her in real life, but he was confused because you looked different. I think he then followed you when you walked to the calamity party, waiting for an opportunity to speak to you. But he was also confused about why you were there, at a high-school party, hanging round with eighteen-year-olds, so I’m guessing this Leila told him she was older, in her twenties.

 

Stella:

Yes, that makes total sense. That all fits. A catfish. That’s so obvious now. Oh god, I feel bad about what I said, now I know he wasn’t trying to be creepy. And he looked so crushed afterwards. He must have worked it out, right? Realized then that Leila wasn’t real, that she’d been lying to him?

 

Pip:

Seems like it.

 

Stella:

So, he’s missing now? Like missing missing?

 

Pip:

Yeah, he’s missing missing. Right after he found out someone’s been catfishing him.

From: [email protected] 2:41 p.m.

To: [email protected]

 

Subject: Sighting of Jamie Reynolds

 

Dear Pippa Fitz-Amobi

Hello, my name’s Harry Scythe. I’m a big fan of your podcast

– great job with the first season! So I live in Kilton and currently

work at the bookshop (where I’m emailing from now). I was

working Friday afternoon and after we closed up, me and a few

work friends went to the memorial – didn’t really know Andie or

Sal, but it’s nice to show up, I think. And then we went to my

mate’s house on Wyvil Road for some takeaway / beers.

Anyway, when we were leaving at the end of the night, I’m

pretty sure we saw your guy, Jamie Reynolds, walking past. I’m

like, 98% sure it was him, and since seeing your posters up this

morning, I spoke to my friends and they think it was him too.

So I thought I should let you know ASAP. Me and two of my

friends who were also there are working now, so feel free to

contact us / come in and talk, if this information is at all useful

to your investigation.

Yours sincerely,

Harry