Ok, he resented being the pity party and instead of finding a sympathetic reporter to give some anonymous background or quotes to, he goes cross-country, leaves

Ok, he resented being the pity party and instead of finding a sympathetic reporter to give some anonymous background or quotes to, he goes cross-country, leaves a laptop in a tiny repair shop, and crosses his fingers that it somehow comes out without making him look like a dick? I mean, this is sillier than the current explanation.