The Imposter Page #2

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I look at it, black and white picture,

old picture.

Well, missing for three or four years,

guarantee one thing,

there will be a change.

If there is a change, there will be doubt.

If there is doubt, then I got a chance.

Something in my head decided

I could do it, that I had to try.

I took the phone and I told her

that this is Nicholas.

We got him, it's him.

It's incredible, it's him.

My mom called me

and she says, "Are you sitting down?

You're not gonna believe this."

And I said, "What, Mom?" She goes,

"The police department called me

and they think they found Nicholas

in Linares."

So I'm like, "OK,

where in Texas is Linares?"

Because Texas has a lot of small towns.

And then she was like, "No, Spain."

I'm like, "Spain?"

Oh, God, how to explain the emotions.

It's like all these different emotions,

from excitement to bewilderment,

to what do we do?

What's the next step? How do we get him?

When do we get to talk to him?

I knew that after that

they would contact me.

They would try to verify, to call,

to see, to... Is it true? Is it here?

Is it, you know...

Carey, the family and all that.

Well, when I first got, you know,

got a hold of the shelter,

they put me on the phone

with Jonathan Dorian

who said that he worked

for the, a shelter,

and that he was the one

who was talking with Nicholas

and had got the information from Nicholas

on who he really was.

When she called, I said that Nicholas

was seated next to me.

But he was very scared,

he was very traumatized

and he didn't want to talk to no-one.

He sounded very responsible,

very concerned.

Er, he claims that he has been abused,

that he's been hurt,

that erm... certainly he's been abducted.

I kind of thought he was like

a social worker type of person.

Um, very reassuring.

She said, "Is he saying anything?

Is he talking about us? Does he remember?"

Well, actually, I think he forgot

about everything, you know.

He doesn't remember very much.

He remember you but not very much.

We were told he was held by

some kind of like a sex slave kind of ring,

and that he had escaped from there and

that he was found wandering the streets.

She was heartbroken

but at the same time she was very happy.

I wanted to hear his voice.

No!

Absolutely, there was no way I was going

to talk to her pretending to be Nicholas

because I wasn't Nicholas

and she was his sister,

so er... it would have been a risk,

too big a risk for me,

but I did say a few words.

She said:
"Hello, Nicholas.

You hear me, Nicholas?"

Nothing.

"I love you, Nicholas.

I want to take you back home with me.

I'm gonna take you, baby.

I'm gonna come and get you and..."

And maybe you hear "Love you"

or something like that, you know.

Very far away. It, it...

And then she say: "Was it him?"

I said, "Yeah. He said 'I love you."'

Oh. And then she started crying

on the phone.

You start crying, you tell him, "We're

going to come and get you, bring you home.

We'll get there, we're going to bring

you home, and I love you too."

I erm... I washed her brain.

I didn't stop,

because I didn't think of stopping.

I didn't watch myself in the mirror

and say, "What the f*** are you doing?

Stop that immediately."

I realized that I've crossed the line.

I wasn't pretending no more

to have another identity. I stole one.

I got a phone call: "Would you please

call a Carey Gibson?"

Well, I was astounded by what Carey said,

so one of the first things I said to her was,

when the FBI

and the US State Department assist you

and uh... get you and your brother back here,

I have to interview him immediately.

When the welfare of a minor,

er... is in jeopardy,

our reaction has to be very quick,

er... very responsive.

We have to put ourselves

in the position of the child

or the child's parents or guardians.

Generally when a child is missing for years,

either the child is dead or the child is not found

and to find that child in another country

is extremely rare.

That made it all the more compelling for us

to make sure that we did everything right

in terms of er...

establishing who he was

and getting him back to his family.

My main concern was getting him back,

so that my part could start,

the investigation could start...

we could find out

what had happened to this child.

I sent somebody out there

as quickly as possible.

The next day...

The next day, it got beyond my control.

The centre for missing

and exploited children sent me a flyer.

There was the picture of Nicholas

at the time of his disappearance...

And I saw what real Nicholas looked like,

really with colors and everything.

He was very blond, very...

He had blue eyes.

He looked nothing like me!

Nothing!

There's, you know, the only thing

he had in common with me

was that he had five fingers

at each hands.

Then I said, f***, let's burn myself.

You know, I burned the flyer.

If I could have burned the identity that I said

and every word that had been

out of my mouth for the past few days,

I would have burned them too!

When everyone tells me

that the American Embassy is coming

and er... everybody's, you know...

and don't worry, Nicholas,

we're gonna take care of you.

Well, yeah, OK,

you know, I... I couldn't do nothing.

The only thing I could do

was think of how was going to be the prison

where I was going to be.

I didn't know what to do.

I really didn't know what to do.

When the Vice Consul

first arrived in Linares,

he got to the centre and found

Nicholas Barclay had disappeared.

I said, you've got to find him.

So he essentially,

with somebody from the Linares Centre,

went around looking for him.

Our priority was his safety and to make sure

he was reunited with the family.

I tried to run away

like I would do anywhere else.

Nicholas Barclay?

God didn't want me to leave this place.

I spoke with the vice consul and asked him

about his interactions with Nicholas.

He reported at the time

that he spoke English,

that he, he was,

he was at least at that moment

convinced that this was an American.

When I woke up the next morning,

everything was normal.

Then I saw the director of the shelter

that said,

"Well, you know, you must be happy,

your sister is on the way."

So I said, "What do you mean?"

He say, "Well, your sister,

you know, from San Antonio,

she's on the plane,

she's coming to get you."

F***, you know. F***! F***!

F***! F***! F***!

I'd never left the country.

I didn't know even what it entailed.

I knew Mom couldn't handle the flight.

She can't, she couldn't do it.

I have to do this.

I just gotta go get him

and get him back here where he's safe.

I should have thought of that.

I should have thought of the consequences.

If you do that, imagine for a second

that you're the father of a kid that's

been missing for three years, four months,

and that they find him in Columbia,

er... what would you do?

What would be the first thing you'd do?

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