Page 82 of Summer at Croftwood Cinema
Patsy stood up too and took the card. ‘I’m so sorry, Matt. You shouldn’t have been involved in any of this.’
He took her hand and lifted her fingers to his lips. ‘It’s not your fault. I riled him up by insisting on making sure he went on that bus. I should have left it.’
‘He’s angry with me though and you got the brunt of it.’
‘If he didn’t beat me up…it might have been you.’ He bent and gently kissed her cheek. ‘That would have been much worse.’
Although she’d feared Dan for years, it hadn’t reached the point where she thought he would have laid a finger on her. She had always been frightened of that possibility but there were other things he did to her which were worse. He’d very effectively driven a wedge between her and anyone she cared about. Her parents hadn’t understood why she’d kept putting them off when they wanted to visit and why she never visited them and eventually they had stopped suggesting anything like that. Their relationship was reduced to cards at birthdays and Christmas. In her heart, Patsy knew she could repair that relationship when she was ready but her friendships weren’t so easily mended. All of that seemed far worse than taking a beating that would heal in a couple of weeks so yes, it would have been better if it were her instead of Matt.
‘Sleep well. I’ll call them now.’
He headed upstairs while she took his spot on the sofa which was still warm and called the number he’d given her. Aside from confirming Dan’s name and current address, it was a conversation she wished she’d had when he first showed up in Croftwood. All of this might have been avoided. They said that any threatening behaviour or criminal activity could mean he may have to go back to prison for fourteen days because he was out on licence and this offence, if Matt wanted to press charges, could mean that at least was likely. After hearing her story, they also recommended that Patsy look into taking out a non-molestation order against him.
Oliver arrived with her things while Matt was still asleep and once he’d gone, she’d opened up the laptop and started searching again. An hour or so later, Matt came downstairs in search of food.
‘Takeaway?’ he asked, pulling a handful of menus out of the coffee table drawer and chucking them on the middle seat of the sofa.
‘I could eat a pizza,’ Patsy said. She was ravenous and that was a hole that only pizza could fill.
‘Pizza it is.’ Matt picked up his iPad and ordered on the app. ‘What are you so involved in?’
Patsy could feel her eyes had that quality of having looked at the screen for too long without a break. ‘I think there’s something on this laptop that Dan wants. I’ve looked and looked and so far, there’s nothing obvious.’
‘What do you think it could be? I have no idea about stuff like that. Do you?’
‘I used to be a software engineer.’ She’d been used to people looking surprised when she told them but it had been a while since she’d told anyone, so she’d forgotten. Besides, Matt’s expression also told her that he was impressed.
‘A constant surprise,’ he murmured, reminding her briefly of the night they’d spent together. ‘So if there’s something, you’ll be able to find it.’
‘I hope so. Knowing him, it has to be money.’
‘Like a bank account or something?’
‘Mmm. I don’t know. I was thinking a crypto currency wallet or something like that but there’s nothing.’
‘You mean Bitcoins?’
She nodded. ‘That’s what I was expecting. It has to be something that is stored on here, rather than something that could be accessed remotely from any computer.’
Matt gingerly settled back into the opposite corner of the sofa. ‘Could it be as simple as a password that’s stored on there?’
‘It could be but I’ve checked all the obvious things. I need to think outside the box. He’s always been good at hiding his tracks.’
‘Until he wasn’t and ended up in prison.’
Patsy giggled. ‘Good point. Perhaps I shouldn’t give him too much credit. I think I need a break from it though, maybe then it’ll come to me.’
‘Do you fancy watching a film?’
‘Can I light the fire?’
‘It’s August.’
‘It’s gone a bit chilly now the sun’s going down,’ she argued, desperate for it to be as cosy as she imagined it would be with the fire.
‘Go on then, but you’ll have to fetch some logs in. The log store’s by the back door.’
With the fire lit, the pizza on their laps and The Day After Tomorrow on the television, Patsy was in her element. But sharing all of it with Matt was the best part.
