The only thing Robin didn’t—and no doubt wouldn’t—find among the articles was Matthew’s link to Sam. If Matthew was telling the truth about Sam, she had called him out of the blue. He didn’t know her. He had said she was “flustered.” Why hadn’t Sam called Robin? If she was in trouble, why hadn’t she called him?

Robin spent the rest of the day and evening on the internet. When Emma rang him, he ignored it. He started to print out the important articles he found and opened a folder to put them in. The Standedge Incident seemed to be somewhat of an anomaly—an unusual crime that was not covered by the national news. Most of the information he found was on The Red Door, a site that only got weirder the longer he spent on it. Why were no official outlets covering this? When he did find a more official article—newspapers and websites—the snippets were always short and vague.

Robin found a group picture of the missing students with one of The Red Door articles. They were standing by Standedge Canal Tunnel—Robin recognized it from the Visitor Centre website. In the foreground stood Tim Claypath, a dominant force in the picture with everyone else seemingly gravitating toward him. He was youthful, attractive, alive. His eyes seemed to glint, even on the screen. Next to him was his sister, Rachel. Robin could tell, even without the caption. She shared the same eyes as her brother, the same fire, the same beauty. Beside the Claypath twins were three more young people. Edmund Sunderland, sandy haired and tall, stood close to Tim, looking into the camera with a strong intensity that made Robin feel his slight smile was deliberate. On Rachel’s side, two people stood, slightly turned into each other as though in conversation just before the photo was taken. This was Pru Pack and Robert Frost, and their beaming smiles indicated their sheer joy at just being there. If Robin had to guess, Pru and Robert were in a relationship, and weren’t exactly hiding it. At the front of them all, jumping up to fit in the frame and therefore being immortalized a little fuzzily, was a gray Bedlington terrier. The caption said: Amygdala (Amy). The date of the picture was June 26, 2018. The day of the voyage, and the day these people (minus the dog) vanished.