Money Talks
When a con man learns hypnosis to steal from unsuspecting clients, the stakes become higher than he could ever have imagined.
By Eric W. Gershman
Mystery, 10 minutes | Courtesy of Otherwise Engaged Literary Arts Journal
I was talking to my handler in the back booth of a Panera Bread. I could actually smell the bathroom from where I sat.
"We're going to train you to become a hypnotist," he said. "You're going to mine pin codes off people with fat wallets. There's $25K in it for you. Any questions?"
"Does it come with a pocket watch?" I joked. He didn't laugh.
"Just tell me where and when," I said. $25K was a down payment on a house I wanted to buy in Key Largo. Live out my nights and days with Kate sailing around the Keys. We met at the marina where I drydock my 32' Catalina. I was getting tired of the Life, but people like me just don't have a lot of choices.
My handler's name is Robert. Don't ask me his last name, because I honestly do not know. We've been doing business for about 6 years. He has that healthy look with the good bones and all, but he whips out this sleazy smile whenever he makes a point.
Robert showed up one day at Fishkill State Penitentiary, where I was living at the time. I was doing twelve years for stealing $1.8 million from retirees. It was an income-for-life scam concerning copper mines in Argentina that I hardly understood myself. I'm pretty good with computers and I have a face that people trust.