Manchester
7-30 a.m.
April 18th
The barking of a dog woke Cobb from his uncomfortable sleep in the car at the Daisy Nook Country Park up the motorway from Manchester. He uncurled from his cramped position on the back seat and squinted through the leaves of the branches he had pulled down to cover the car, even then he had parked it off road amongst trees.
A thin a pinched looking woman was throwing a ball for a Great Dane, but she was a good distance away and passed him by pursuing her dog into the park.
Sure that she was gone, Cobb got out of the car and removed the branches. The car quickly started and he drove into the car park and pulled up. He put the heaters on and laid out his collection of ‘gathered’ items on the passenger seat. He had cards, cash and ID. He looked again at Wally’s picture.
It crossed his mind that he was going to need a wig and that would take some organising. He knew that he needed to change his appearance at least a little to get around Manchester so that he could shop the items. He wasn’t going to use Wally’s card to shop, but if the drunk didn’t rise until late he might well get his needs met before that stolen card was cancelled.
On a whim he checked the boot and found a small bag with a scarf and a rain coat folded in it. There was a hood on it which would cover his close shaved hair until he could get a hat. Too his delight he found a laptop in its case complete with connections to the cell phone.
Cobb lit a cigarette and fired up the laptop. The user profile was password protected, but a trawl through the phone found a ‘wallet’ file with passwords and to his delight the pin numbers for the two cards in the wallet and the verified by visa password. The phone was contract and the signal was strong enough for internet. Cobb logged on and searched for the Manchester Airport booking website.
There was a flight at ten-thirty and he bought a ticket in the card holder’s name. That gave him three hours to get ready and get the flight. He felt sure that disguised as Wally he’d pass through check in quickly and he could easily pass off the booking name as his boss buying the ticket last minute.
He smoked a second cigarette looking for a wig shop and shops with the clothing items he noted Wally had been wearing. Fifteen minutes saw him done and as two cars arrived, spilling dogs onto the tarmac and off into the woods, Cobb decided to make a move. He drove onto the 62 and headed back into Manchester.