Sally scoffed. “Do you want my help or not?” She reached under the desk, pulled out a small ziplock bag and sealed the tuft of grass inside. Robin wanted to ask why she was doing that, but she continued, “You need me because I know the lay of the land here. I know not to piss off Martha Hobson. I know Benny Masterson runs his mouth and would talk to anyone given half the chance. I know Stanton works for Claypath, and Loamfield...well...he’s a snake. And I know Amber...”

“What about Amber?” Robin said.

Sally sighed. “Well, let’s just say that maybe you should watch yourself around her.”

“Why?”

“She tell you her surname? Amber Crusher.”

Crusher. Like Liz Crusher—the surname of the woman whose cat Tim Claypath allegedly skinned. But Amber said she had a crush on Tim Claypath—even though she had to have been around when the rumors started. Was she not telling him something? “What?”

“Keep on track, Robin.”

He switched gears. “This Incident. Standedge. Why are you so interested? Did you know them? The Standedge Five. You’re going to have to give me something more to go on than just your name.”

Sally shook her head, placed the bag of grass in a drawer and sat in the empty chair. “My father died. Back in London. Six months and some change ago. Drank himself to death. I didn’t even know he was doing it. High-functioning. That and we didn’t really spend any time together, despite living in the same house. He blamed himself for...something that happened. To me.

“I realized I had nothing keeping me in London. So I came here. Wanted to start up a website, so I did. Used the inheritance to buy the place, a couple of server towers, this stuff... And then one day, 26th June, Standedge happens. Six people go into a tunnel and one comes out. Right on my new doorstep. Right where I start a website about these kinds of things.”

Robin nodded. “Coincidence.”

Sally smiled but shook her head. “Or maybe it’s a sign that I’m exactly where I need to be.”

“No.” Robin laughed. “It’s a coincidence.”

“Whatever—it doesn’t stop the itching, the feeling to need to know what happened. The whole town seems to be under some kind of spell, like no one really wants to talk about the Five. Roger Claypath held this meeting, and after that, everyone shut up about Standedge. Even the people that worked there stopped mentioning it. No one’ll dare bring them up, even the local papers. That’s how The Red Door is the only place reporting on it.”

“How did Roger Claypath silence an entire town?”

“You don’t understand yet,” Sally said. “Things work differently round here. Community is still a part of the vocabulary. That’s why you need me.”

“Okay,” Robin said. “So what are you suggesting?”