Finally he found the last room with anyone in it. He looked through the small window to see an empty round of chairs, and a table at the back with assorted cakes on it, and a man with his back turned.

Robin opened the door as quietly as he could and entered the room. It was a pale classroom-type setup and there was no indication of what he had just walked in on. The man seemed to be doing something at the table at the back and didn’t show that he had heard Robin. Sally was leaning against the window, looking out. She didn’t hear him either.

“Hi,” Robin said, and they both turned.

“Where the hell did you go?” Sally said.

Edmund Sunderland was the spitting image of his father. James Sunderland was taller, slightly more rugged and weathered, but he was definitely his son’s father. He was middle-aged, with a gray streak through his unkempt hair. That coupled with the dark bags under his eyes and his thin frame made him look a lot older than he actually was. It didn’t help that he wore small circular glasses that looked incredibly old-fashioned. Robin’s mind, rather cruelly, went to a walking corpse. “Hello, friend.”

Robin tried to smile. “Hello. I was expecting more people to be here.” He gestured at the empty circle of chairs—a sure sign of absentees.

James looked at the circle with a mix of sadness and tiring anger. “No. They’re all gone, I’m afraid. Have been for a while now.”

Robin looked to Sally to see she had turned back to the window. “Do you mean we’re late or...?”

“No.” James reached behind him and picked up a biscuit. He got it halfway to his mouth before he decided against it and put it down again. “Unless you mean late by about two months. The Ghosts of Marsden are dead.” He laughed flatly. “There’s nothing left here for anyone. Just silly old me.” He reached up and took off his glasses, wiping them on a handkerchief. Robin saw his eyes were tearing up. “I’m sorry,” Sunderland said, replacing his glasses. “Sally has told me why you are here. I just want to say thank you for trying to find out what happened to my son. I don’t suppose anyone else in this godforsaken place has offered you such a courtesy.”

Robin shook his head, but said, “Where is everyone else?”