In pursuit of Brian

Fatma continues to detail how her ex-lover scammed three women of nearly Sh2 million by pretending to date all of them at the same time.

“The first sign that something was up was when Brian stopped being as keen as he had been before I gave him the money,” Fatma sighs.

I look at her closely; I see her eyes start to glisten and I know the waterworks are about to come.

“Anyway,” she continues, “before that he had been so… present. I really thought I had found the perfect man.”

“Mmhmm,” I nod and take another sip of my wine.

“Then he changed. He used to take my calls immediately they rang. Now I would have to call him two, three times to get him to answer. He used to be so nice with the gifts – buying flowers, little things he knew I needed around the house… But after I gave him the cash, wapi?” she pulls one eyelid down with her index finger.

EVIDENCE

After a month of cat-and-mouse games, Fatma’s gut feeling that she had been tricked turned into a loud noise in her head.

“I was almost 100 per cent sure I had been played. But I needed to see the evidence for sure. I needed proof. I needed something that would jolt me into reality and make me stop having all these feelings for him.”

So, she hired a private investigator. “She followed him for a month. Oh my goodness, Liz… the things she found…” A tear escapes her eye. The pain in her aura is almost palpable.

Turns out Brian had been dating at least two other women the entire time he had been seeing her too.

And, as the investigator found out, they all thought it was a serious affair and he was soon going to pop the question. My eyes widen at that information.

“How exactly was he carrying on relationships with two other women when he never spent a minute away from you?” I ask Fatma.

CHEATER

She shrugs. “I guess because we spent so much time at work together, I never took it badly when he said he had sick parents upcountry he needed to go see.

"Or when he said he was going for a night [out] with the boys. It’s only later when I found out what he was up to, that I started to put two and two together and realise there were no sick parents; he didn’t really have any ‘boys’; and all the times he had told me he was running errands and stuff he was just meeting these other women.”

“…meeting them in your fancy car!” This time my jaw drops as more pieces of the puzzle start to fall into place. Fatma nods.

“Yes. In my Mercedes. The investigator talked to both of the women later and they said he had told them the car is his. They really thought they had angukiad a baller,” she smirks.

ONLINE BUSINESS

“Did he hit them up for cash too?” Fatma nods emphatically. The investigator supplied her with the necessary information.

“The first one is a young girl – in her early 20s. Ambitious. She runs an Instagram clothing store. She said Brian told her he needed Sh100,000 for his own online business.

"He told her since he was absolutely sure they were going to get married; she should consider it investing in her man – like good women should do.”

“Mmhmm,” I nod. I’ve seen too many women manipulated by men who use these ‘ride or die’ stories to fleece them of their coins.

“She was so heartbroken when she found out what had really been going on. And the second woman is a little older – mid-thirtees - an investment expert. He got her to give him close to a million.”

“Whoa!!” I yelp. “This young man is richer than all of us put together! I wonder what he does with all of that money?!”

MANHUNT

Fatma shrugs. “We’re looking for him but he seems to have gone underground.”

“But I spoke to him just the other day…” I remember him trying to get me to finance his business, and sending me multiple text messages to that effect.

“Yea, well, I can’t reach him on his number – I think he’s blocked me – and the investigator says he was last seen heading towards Tanzania. I think he’s crossed the border into Arusha.”

“Hmm,” I rub my chin. I suspect that in the coming days, there will be a lot of entertaining news coming from Fatma’s end of the world as the pursuit for Brian escalates.