Chapter 56

Bus was amused when they got back three hours later.

“It is just as well you extended the closet space,” he said as he saw all of the packages. “You do both know that Sean added a lot of clothing options to the replicator don’t you?”

Tom snapped his fingers, “He added the scanner too.”

Tom went over to the bunks and placed his palm on a select area beside them. A platform lowered from under the top bunk and stopped just above the mattress on the bed below. A screen the size of a tablet lit up under his hand. One section on the screen displayed a large, square, green button.

“Here, Matilda, put each item out on the scanner’s bed, one at a time. Make sure all of the sales tags and stickers are removed else they will get scanned in too.”

“When you’re ready, press this green button here, and when it changes back to blue, swap items. If the item is already in the system, a yellow light will appear, and if it can’t be copied or it is contaminated, a red light will show. This machine won’t scan anything that has human or animal flesh on it.”

“Did you tell Nena about this?” Matilda asked as she started scanning the items into the replicator system as Tom unpacked them and removed tags.

Tom frowned, “I think I did, why?”

“Well, I know she has some items she wished could be replicated,” Matilda replied.

“Okay, if you know what they are you can do it for her, later. Here, place your hand here,” Tom replied and got Matilda to place her hand on the screen that was part of the scanner. “Accept Matte, also known as Matilda as a registered user, please,” Tom said.

The screen flashed green. Matilda grinned and went back to her scanning as Tom fed the packaging materials and shopping bags into the recycler. Matilda was amused when Tom just scooped up all of the clothes and just tossed them into the closet he had set aside for Nena and her.

Matilda changed clothes again and turned back into Matte.

Matte got back into the driver’s seat, and Bus took them for a tour of Cairns.

At Tom’s request, he took them where the other Matilda had lived and the general neighbourhood. “Hum, Matte we could have a problem,” Tom said as they slowly drove past the unit complex that the old Matilda lived in.

It was one of six, two-story apartments set out in an ‘L’ shape with four going down the block of land and two on the back that faced the street. The paved forecourt was used as a parking area, and Matilda had the first unit nearest the road.

“What problem is that?” Matte asked as he looked around the neighbourhood that the other Matilda had lived in, noting that the area had a lot of units since it was near the university that Matilda had attended.

“I just did a search and accessed Matilda’s Facebook page. She has a cat and a car, and we will need to do something with her flat and furniture. Damn, I never even gave any of that a thought.”

“Hum, I don’t know Tom, this may not be such a good idea,” Matte replied with worry.

“Bus, go around the block again, as I’m going to transport inside her flat. We need some more personal information on Matilda Jackson. Then go find somewhere to park.”

“While you wait, I want you and Matte, to go online and troll for any information you can find out about her. There is probably information that existed now that was later deleted that Lee couldn’t access,” Tom finished as he put his pad back on his arm after he shrunk it back down.

As the bus drove slowly past Matilda’s complex for the second time, Tom transported himself inside of her home.

Tom looked around the dimly lit room.

The first thing he noticed was the stacked-up packing boxes. He could see that Matilda had most of her home packed ready for shipping. The odd stuff left out would most likely go into the empty boxes and her car, to go with her when she drove down to the Gold Coast.

Tom wandered into the kitchen and found a whiteboard attached to the fridge. He smiled as he read through the list of ‘to-dos’. It was obvious that this Matilda was very organised.

Near the bottom was, ‘Put key under mat for Remo’s and cleaners.’ The next two were, ‘Mon -Remo’s - 7:00’ and ‘Clean - 10:00’.

He then found on the kitchen table a print-out of her itinerary and flights to and from Timor but nothing to do with where she planned to live. He did wonder if she was booked into the campus housing complex.

Tom also realised that she was supposed to have been back in town on Friday. However, the flat suggested that she had not been in it for many weeks.

With the itinerary was a pile of receipts that Matilda had printed. One was for the payment of the storage shed on the Gold Coast, and one for the cost of the furniture removalist, and the last was for the cleaners.

Tom then noticed a light flashing on an answering machine. He had to smile as he was surprised that she still had a landline. He pressed the play button and heard the message she had put on the machine to answer calls. “Matty’s phone. You know the drill.”

He liked the sound of her voice as it was rather sultry. He chuckled and thought that she’d have made a fortune if she had done phone sex for extra money while she was studying.

The first call was a woman. She was sobbing and repeatedly said the phrases, “Matty, please you have to forgive me ... it didn’t mean anything ... it was the heat of the moment ... it won’t happen again ... I was drunk ... Matty, please ... you have to talk to me ... I’m so sorry... , “ until the recording time stopped the call.

Tom grimaced as something had obviously gone wrong between the two women. The next two calls ran for about fifteen seconds of silence, and the third was a male voice, “Matty, pick up the damn phone, I know you’re home.”

Tom noted the call had been just after five the afternoon before. The caller had waited a while and then rung off. The next three calls also included more swearing and a threat to come over. They had happened at roughly hourly intervals from the first. Tom also suspected the person was very drunk by the last call.

Tom prowled around the spotless unit and even went out the back. He noticed the large wheely-bin was still full as the lid wouldn’t close. A picture frame was sticking out of the top of other things that Matilda had chucked out.

It looked like she had tossed out a lot of her old life. He noted the food dishes, cat-toys, and a kitty-litter tray. He speculated that the cat wasn’t a problem anymore. The wheely-bin even had wrapping paper from Christmas still in it. He could only guess that Matilda forgot to put it out front before she left.

In the photo was a striking red-head in a long royal-blue slinky dress that hugged her curves. It split up one side to halfway up her shapely thigh. Standing beside her was a taller, dark-haired man in a dove-grey morning suit; a yellow rose was in his buttonhole.