Despite Neve’s parting comment to sort himself out, any desire on Kit’s part had well and truly disappeared. He sat on the edge of the bed and picked up his phone. He’d been unusually indecisive about his next move, but after what just happened, he felt justified.
Kit didn’t use Facebook for personal stuff, it wasn’t his style, but he couldn’t run the business Facebook page without a personal profile. As it happened, that personal profile was about to come in handy.
It only took him a few minutes to locate the right Scott Tansley after checking his profile, which Scott had been kind enough to complete with his place of birth, his education and where he was living now. It all tied in with the tiny bits of info he had gleaned from Neve over the years.
Scott was obviously a sharer in life, his privacy settings were probably the most lax possible. Kit was able to navigate his way through all of Scott’s photographs and, just out of curiosity, Kit had a quick look at the friends list too. Neve wasn’t on there which didn’t surprise Kit at all. That would go against the grain of keeping her past in the past.
Kit decided to send Scott a message, even though they weren’t friends. He had a vague notion that Scott would still be able to see the message despite the lack of friendship. He hoped it would pique Scott’s interest sufficiently to open the message and reply.
Hi, I’m Neve’s husband. Wondered if you could spare five minutes. Thanks.
He left it short and sweet. There was no point going into detail if the bloke wasn’t interested in talking to him.
Kit left his phone on the side and took a shower. He could do without having to go for dinner with the Harrisons, but it had been in the diary for several weeks now and Gary Harrison had been making noises about investing some cash into a boat. There was the potential to make a decent chunk of profit if Kit was able to persuade him to buy the new Sunseeker. Gary wasn’t a sailing or boating enthusiast, he was all about the image, something which Kit was prepared to overlook in the name of profit.
Having showered and dressed, Kit checked his phone and was surprised to see Scott Tansley had already replied.
Hi. What’s this about?
Well, that was to the point. Kit tapped out a reply.
Bit delicate. Neve’s struggling with things at the moment. Needed a bit of help joining up the dots.
Kit pressed send and kept the message open. He watched as three pulsating dots appeared below. Scott was obviously keen to know what it was all about.
What do you want to know exactly?
You and Neve used to hang out with a group of friends. Megan and Ashley? Neve said what happened, just wanted to know your take on it.
OK, that wasn’t exactly the truth, but Kit had to be clever here.
All that was another lifetime ago. I wasn’t there when it happened. It’s no secret that I thought Ash was involved somehow. He’s trouble. He’s like the proverbial bad penny. I’m sorry to hear Neve is still struggling with it all. Her and Megan were so close.
Kit studied the string of messages. He really wasn’t getting the info he needed. Something had clearly happened which involved the four of them, but other than that, he was none the wiser. Scott wasn’t giving anything away. Kit tried a different approach.
Any chance we could meet face to face? It’s tricky over messenger.
I don’t know. Not sure it’s a good idea.
I’d really appreciate it. I want to help Neve. She’s really falling apart over it. Please? I wouldn’t ask but I’m desperate. I could drive to you.
Several minutes passed without any reply from Scott. Kit wondered if he had over-egged it. Although, to be fair, what he’d said wasn’t a million miles from the truth. He dressed and was just splashing some aftershave on, when the message notification pinged on his phone.
Don’t want to meet but I’ll talk to you on the phone. Ring me on messenger tomorrow morning at ten.
Cheers, mate. Appreciate that.
Kit felt pleased with the outcome of what was a rather speculative message and congratulated himself on his success. Perhaps now he would finally know the secrets Neve held and he could then decide how he was going to use this information to (a) understand her better (b) to satisfy his desire to know everything there was to know about her and (c) to know as much, if not more, than the fucking art tutor. He hated the thought of Jake knowing more about Neve than he did.