hit the power button. It’s asking for a password. Shit. I forgot about that. Maybe it’s Shay. No. Laura. No. ShayLaura. No. Laurashay. No.
Ah well, worth a try. I’ll ask him for the password tomorrow.
Before closing down the computer, I take one last chance to see if it’s written on something. It wouldn’t surprise me; Conor is so trusting.
I open the drawer closest to me. It’s full of computer games and bits and pieces but nothing that looks like a password. The second drawer is much the same but with a few leaflets added. When I open the third and last drawer I find a batch of DVDs: Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Star Trek.
I’m about to close the drawer when I notice a key lying in the corner. I take it in my hand. It’s not like any of the other bits and bobs in the drawers. It’s old. Very old. Old enough to open the door of an old cottage maybe. I wonder, is it?
Footsteps shuffle on the floor above my head. With the key and USB in my dressing gown pocket, I quietly close the door and walk up the stairs. Conor is about to lift Shay when I walk into the room.
‘I thought you’d made another attempt to escape,’ he whispers, his arms stretched out, ready to take Shay. Is he never going to let me forget that?
‘I’ll get Shay,’ I whisper back. ‘You go back to bed. I just needed some water.’
Conor lies down, pulls the duvet around his shoulder and is fast asleep by the time I have the bottle in Shay’s mouth.
Chapter Sixty-Two
My eyes are fixed on the forest, on the trail of smoke puffing out from the trees. Pat hasn’t left to go to the village yet. I hope he does so I can check if the key I have in my jeans pocket will open the door. If Pat is so sure Conor had a motive, there might be something in that cottage to shine a light on his theory.
It’s not every day he makes the trip to the village. Sometimes it’s late into the night but Conor will be home then and I can’t very well tell Conor that I’m going to break into Pat’s cottage. He’ll think I’ve completely gone over the edge. So here’s hoping Pat’s milk has gone sour or something, and he has to go down to the shop.
Amanda phoned on her way to work asking if I’d found anything else of interest on the USB. I told her I couldn’t open it so she suggested emailing it to her and she would get someone at Imanage to have a look at it. She thinks Simon in IT will be able to do it. She also said she had a mad busy day ahead of her at work but she would get to it as soon as possible.
It’s been a long time since I had a mad busy day ahead of me. Minding Shay keeps me busy and I love it but it’s a different kind of busy. I know what to expect: when he’ll eat, sleep and have his bath. Excitement is delivered in the form of a new sound coming from his mouth or a previously undetected movement.
Grey clouds race across the sky. The trees at the end of the garden are blowing from side to side. It’s a dark gloomy day and on these days the large open wild spaces are not at all welcoming. I wonder if the weather will keep Pat locked inside or pottering in his wood-shed instead of venturing down to the village. I take one last glance out the window but there’s no sign of him.
I wonder what my mam would say if she could see the beautiful life I’ve carved out for myself. She might even be proud of me. She might be able to forgive me. Amanda has told her all the details of my new beginning but as we agreed, Amanda and I don’t talk about her anymore. It was putting Amanda under too much pressure. Telling me she’d told mam about Shay was hard enough for her.
I did try to ring my mother a few months after the trial. I rang her a couple of times. I wanted to hear her voice to tell her how sorry I was and beg her forgiveness. But she never answered. Maybe I should try again. It’s been such a long time. But that just makes it harder