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Nope. No words. Matt had gone mad.
In the corner of her eye, she saw Rochelle dash out the door, and down the street, toward the police station. Tacey crossed her fingers they really wanted free coffee right now.
Matt leaned on the counter, towering over her like he was used to intimidating people. "I'll tell you how this is going to go. In two weeks' time, on a Saturday morning, I'm going to come back here to pick up my daughter. If you have any sense, or if you ever want to see her again, you'll come with us."
When hell froze over. Tacey opened her mouth to say so.
Matt held up a finger. "Now if you're stupid, or maybe just stubborn, we'll take this through the courts, and I'll tell the judge all about your paranoid delusions that got me locked up, and I'll also tell them about the fake PR you've been getting for your café with the guy in the suit. In fact, how about I tell the police about him, and have you charged for fraud. Then you'll go to prison, and you'll never see your daughter again. I'll make sure of it."
Court and delusions and...fraud? "Do you mean the Moth Man videos?" Tacey blurted out. "Because I didn't take those. I wasn't even here. Someone else took them through the café window and put them on the internet. All I did was offer free coffee to anyone who could film the creature again, and no one ever did, so..." She shrugged.
"Don't play stupid with me. I saw the guy in the suit right here inside, talking to you. I've got it all on film."
Now who was being delusional? Tacey had never talked to anyone dressed like the Moth Man.
"Two weeks. Saturday morning. Right here. And if she's not here, you'll wish you'd died in that car, years ago." He turned on his heel and stalked out.
It wasn't until the door had closed behind him that Tacey dared to breathe again.
FOURTEEN
Help. There's a monster here. A bad one.
The call summoned Wystan not to the café, but to the floor above, where he found Rory huddled beneath the couch. The only problem was...sunlight streamed through the windows into the room, trapping him within the walls.
He moved to the wall closest to her hiding place and said, "I'm here, Rory. Here to protect you. But I can't come out until it's dark. Sunlight hurts me. Can you close the curtains?"
"They're blinds, Mr Monster," Rory whispered.
"Those, then."
A long pause. "Maybe."
But she did crawl out from under the couch and head for the nearest window.
It took her a while, but she managed to close enough of them for the room to become surprisingly dark. Wystan stuck his hand out of the wall. When his fingers didn't turn to stone, he stepped out completely.
"Will you protect me from the monster?" Rory asked.
"Of course I will," Wystan said. "Where is it?"
Rory pointed at the floor. "Downstairs in the café. He was rude to Rochelle, and then he asked to see the manager. That's Mummy. But he's a monster. I know he is."
Curious, Wystan edged toward the stairs, so he might get a better look. He couldn't see much more than a man's broad back, clad in fine wool suit cloth, but he could hear just fine.
"How can I help you, sir?" Tacey asked, in her excessively polite but hard as nails tone that made the words sound surprisingly more like FUCK OFF. Words he'd never actually heard her say to a customer, but when the café was empty, in the privacy of the kitchen...
Wystan's mouth dropped open. The man Rory called a monster was claiming to be the girl's father, and demanding his rights as such.
Wystan's heart constricted in his chest at the thought of not being able to see his own child for five years. Of Effie stealing the baby away so he never saw her...it was almost as bad as losing them forever, knowing they were somewhere, but he couldn't see them...
Not to mention the man was wealthy, to be wearing such a fine suit. Wouldn't the child be better off with her father, who could provide her with every luxury? Wouldn't Tacey be better off with him, too, instead of working for a living like she did now?
The door closed downstairs, and the man was gone. A long moment passed, before the next sound he heard was feet thundering up the stairs.
"Rory, are you up here?" Tacey called.
Rory threw herself at Wystan's feet and wrapped her arms tightly around his legs. "You can't let the monster take me!"
