…scrolling through his social media again, searching for anything—an ex-girlfriend post, a suspicious comment, a tag from someone I could question. But there was nothing. Aaron’s profile was clean. Too clean. Like it had been curated.
That’s when I had an idea.
I reached out to a friend from college who worked in HR at a major hotel chain. “Hey,” I texted. “Do you still have access to the employee background database?”
It took some convincing, but eventually, she agreed to run a basic check using the info I had: Aaron’s full name, birthdate, and the bakery where he supposedly worked.
The next evening, she called me.
“You’re right. Something’s off,” she said.
My stomach dropped. “What did you find?”
“He’s never worked at the bakery he claimed. In fact, he’s had three different jobs in the past two years, none of which lasted more than a few months. There’s also a small-claims court record—he was sued by a former roommate for unpaid rent last year.”
