She sank to her knees in front of Amber, clutching her stomach.

“No, no, no, I’m afraid you can’t rest. We have a walk ahead of us.” Amber put the gun in her waistband and hoisted her up.

“Where are we going?” she said through the pain.

Amber smiled. “We’re going to the end.”

Chapter Fifty

Robin tried Sally again and again, but she wasn’t answering. It rang and rang, and then one time when he tried, it went straight to voice mail and did that every time after. Where was she? He had to tell her about Amber. He had to do something—and being in London wasn’t going to help anything.

Amber was with Sam when she had called Matthew? What did that mean? He knew what he thought it meant but didn’t want to glorify it by thinking it.

He quickly made a decision. He had to go back. He stumbled out of the room, grabbing his empty backpack and shoving in only the essentials. A change of clothes. A jacket. After a moment’s thought, he also shoved in his laptop and his notebook. And then the folder he had on Sam.

Thoughts rushed his head—none making any real sense. Amber hurt Sam? Matthew found out? Was Matthew helping Amber, or was Amber helping Matthew? The phone call was a great way to get Robin to help. But why would Matthew enlist Robin, if he knew he could find out what happened? And where did the disappearance of the Standedge Five fit into any of that?

It didn’t fit together. He felt like he was mashing together two puzzle pieces that had no business being together. He needed more pieces, and he wasn’t going to find them in London. He needed to be in Marsden five minutes ago.

He practically flew out of his flat and onto the street. He started walking toward the bus stop to get to the station but it was all too slow. The bus would take half an hour; the train would take three hours with the change he’d have to make. It wasn’t fast enough. No way. But what was the alternative?

He reached into his pocket and brought out his bunch of keys. He settled on a car key. Could he—Emma had given him a spare to her car. It’d be at the doctor’s office about fifteen minutes’ walk away.

He started off toward the center of Islington, dialing Emma’s number. He knew she wouldn’t pick up—she had work until late on a Thursday—but knew it would make him feel better to try.