Benny scratched his chin, leaving a small amount of animal blood mixed in with his stubble. “Liz Crusher maybe.”

Liz Crusher. The name rang a bell and it took Robin a second to remember where he’d heard it. The woman who had had an argument with Tim Claypath on the side of the Huddersfield Narrow the day of the Incident, according to Matthew’s story. Robin wrote her name down. “Why Liz Crusher?”

“Well, that’s the easiest question you’ve asked me yet,” Benny said, smiling. “It was her cat.”

Robin raised an eyebrow. “The cat that Tim Claypath skinned?”

“Allegedly,” Benny added.

Robin nodded and closed his book. Benny had finished loading the counter and had come out around into the shop. “Thank you, Benny. You’ve been a great help.”

“Anytime,” said Benny. “Just, you know, make sure to cite me. Spot in the acknowledgments wouldn’t go amiss either.” He went to clap Robin on the back but mercifully thought better of it, given he was still wearing the gloves covered in blood.

“Acknowledg—” Then it dawned on Robin what Benny was talking about and what Amber had said two nights ago.

“I told you—gossip.” Benny beamed and Robin took his leave.

Benny shut the door behind him and Robin looked back as the young man turned the Closed sign to Open. Their eyes met through the glass, and they nodded to each other.

For them both, the day had just begun.

Chapter Twenty

“Standedge is closed for the season. I’m afraid there are no tours going through the tunnel now until after the winter. Good day.” The small, frumpy woman in the blue polo shirt emblazoned with the Canal & River Trust insignia went to close the door, but Robin shot out a hand and stopped it.

He was standing outside the Visitor Centre with the tunnel, chained and gated, looming off to his left. The canal was deathly silent—no traffic, not even ducks. The Visitor Centre was similarly devoid of life, standing empty and dark. Robin wouldn’t have known anyone was in there if he hadn’t seen the woman arrive.

She clearly wished he hadn’t.

“Can I just ask a few questions at least?” Robin said through the open crack in the door.

The woman sighed. “I need to clean the cobwebs out of this place, and then go to my other two jobs, so you’ll have to be quick.”

“That’s fine,” Robin said, “of course.”

The woman opened the door to let Robin in, and quickly shut it behind him, as though there were a thousand other people demanding entry. Then she went round a corner and disappeared.