My Wife Reported A Scammer Years Ago — Then He Showed Up At Our BBQ Holding Our Baby
Part 1
The Fourth of July party was in full swing when Megan nudged my elbow.
She pointed toward the far corner of our backyard near the old oak tree.
Her voice dropped to a barely audible whisper.
“Why is that strange man cradling our baby?”
I turned away from the grill.
A thin, bearded man in a wrinkled dress shirt was swaying back and forth on our patio.
He held our six-month-old daughter against his chest.
I didn’t recognize him at all.
A cold prickle of adrenaline washed over my shoulders.
I handed the metal spatula to Megan.
We crossed the grass together.
He was bouncing on his heels and making high-pitched cooing noises.
His eyes never left my daughter’s face.
I stopped a few feet away and squared my shoulders.
“Hey, would you mind putting our baby back into her crib?”
The man didn’t look up right away.
A small, raspy giggle escaped his lips.
“Nah, I don’t think so.”
My jaw tightened.
The casual dismissal sent a jolt of panic straight through my chest.
I stepped closer.
Megan grabbed the back of my shirt and squeezed the fabric.
“Put our baby down right now,” I told him.
The music still played, but the conversations around us suddenly died out.
The surrounding guests sensed the sudden shift in the atmosphere.
The man finally lifted his head and met my gaze.
“I don’t think I will.”
A heavy silence fell over the immediate area.
My fists slowly clenched at my sides.
The man’s lips curled into a slow, uneven smirk.
“Today’s going to end really badly for both of you, and there’s literally nothing you can do about it.”
I kept my voice dangerously level.
“How about you tell us who the hell you are?”
His smirk widened, exposing a chipped front tooth.
“I’d love to.”
Balancing the baby on one hip, he shifted his weight slightly.
“You can call me Todd.”
Without breaking his grin, his gaze darted directly toward Megan.
“Does that name mean anything to you?”
Caught completely off guard, Megan simply stared back at him.
Instead of answering, she slowly shook her head.
With a mocking grin, Todd tilted his head to the side.
“Come on now, think real long and hard.”
Stepping protectively forward, Megan positioned herself slightly in front of me.
“I don’t know who the hell you are.”
Refusing to let her stand alone, I moved up right beside her.
“And we don’t care, because as soon as you put my baby down, you will get the absolute beating of your life.”
To my absolute horror, he didn’t even flinch.
“Okay, fine.”
Letting out a long, dramatic sigh, he rolled his eyes.
“Since your memory is complete crap, I’ll remind you.”
Thrusting a dirty fingernail into the space between us, he pointed at Megan.
“You received a phone call about two years ago from someone claiming to be the IRS.”
For a brief moment, he paused to let the words hang in the humid air.
“You figured out it was a scam pretty early on.”
He raised his eyebrows in mock curiosity.
“Ring any bells?”
Megan blinked rapidly.
Recognition flashed across her features.
“Yes, I remember.”
Todd nodded slowly.
“Good.”
He adjusted his grip on my daughter.
“That man was me.”
Megan swallowed hard.
I kept my eyes glued to his hands.
“You somehow tracked my number and were able to find my address,” Todd continued.
He leaned forward slightly.
“Do you remember doing that?”
He wasn’t lying.
Megan’s uncle worked in cybersecurity for the federal government.
She had used some borrowed tracking software to pinpoint the scammer’s location after he threatened her over the phone.
Megan stood her ground.
“Yeah, I reported your dumb ass because you’re a lowlife scammer.”
Todd’s face instantly flushed a dark, violent red.
“If you had come from what I have, you would understand why I must do what I do.”
I stepped slightly forward, blocking his view of Megan.
“No one ever said you couldn’t get a real job that actually helps people.”
The crowd of party guests had quietly formed a half-circle behind us.
Everyone was slowly inching closer.
Todd noticed the wall of angry faces boxing him in.
He backed up until his shoulders hit the trunk of the oak tree.
He hoisted the baby higher against his chest.
“Here’s what is going to happen,” Todd said.
His voice shook with sudden, erratic energy.
“You will pay me exactly forty thousand dollars.”
He gripped my daughter tighter.
“Because that is what it cost to bail me out of that hellhole you call a prison.”
A bead of sweat dripped down his nose.
“I had to serve six months because of your stupid wife, and that was my father’s entire life savings.”
I glanced at Megan.
We communicated entire paragraphs in a single look.
I gave her a tiny, almost imperceptible nod.
“Okay, that’s fine,” I said.
I held my hands up in a placating gesture.
“Put the baby down, and we’ll get it for you.”
Todd let out a sharp, barking laugh.
“Do you really think I’m that stupid?”
He started pacing along the fence line.
His movements grew frantic and unpredictable.
He held our baby up in the air away from his body.
She started wailing.
The sound tore right through my chest.
“You will wire me that money right now,” Todd demanded.
I took a slow breath.
“I have it in cash.”
I pointed toward the open sliding glass door.
“It’s inside the house in a safe.”
I took a slow step backward.
“We’ll get it for you right now, just don’t hurt our baby.”
I turned around and grabbed Megan’s arm.
We hurried into the house together.
I closed the sliding door behind us.
The second the glass shut, I pulled her close and whispered exactly what we were going to do.
