Hidden Identity

"It all happened so quickly; just as well because I’m not sure I could have dealt with a protracted affair. I can only marvel at the way the FBI executed their plan of action. And me? Well, I’m in a witness protection programme, somewhere in England. I can’t tell you where, that’s part of the deal. I will say that it it’s near the sea in a picturesque town large enough to absorb me virtually unnoticed into the community. I’ve a new name; not one I care for, but I had no choice in that matter. As far as my neighbours are concerned, they have been fed the rumour that I’m an ex city trader, a bit of a wide boy who made a lot of money but also made a few enemies and that I decided to get out before things got nasty. Not a million miles from the truth.

That’s the easy bit. The difficulty is getting close to people. I can’t afford to let my guard down. I wondered, was it like this for my Uncle Charles in the first years of his deception? The fear that hearing your real first name brings and the instinct to respond; a glance from someone you don’t know that suggests they know who you are; the fear of meeting someone who knows you from your past life; the worry, the intense sense of paranoia; all this precedes the sense that you really are someone new, a different person, a different persona.

Ingrid began a series of visits as soon as I was provided with my new home. She steered me away from talking about the Archers and the Mafia. She wanted to discuss what I felt about my new role – was it a deception I could live with? Was I comfortable playing the part? This eventually led to discussions along the lines of ‘Did I see any benefit in being someone else?’ Was there a distinction between playing the role and actually being a new and possibly different person?"