Robyn leaned back in her chair, massaging her temples. Reading was not one of her strong suits, that was for sure, especially the thick historical tomes that probably no other resident had ever looked at. The pile of books surrounding Robyn's workspace ranged from such titles as: Life under the Saviour Satellites, an A-Z encyclopaedia of Myths and Legends, The History of Hearthome and its Family, Ancient Origins: From Egypt to Mesopotamia, Modern Figures of the 21st Century, and many more that Robyn had found and thought might be of interest. Sitting atop one pile was her camcorder, pointing straight at her, its always comfortable gaze washing over her.
She had told both Professor Schneider and Jason Ryan that she wanted to research the List – felt like it could be a good use of her time – and indeed, she was keeping an open mind out as she researched. Both men had told her it was likely a fruitless effort but had admitted that much like many other parts of Hearthome, a lot of money had gone into the library and it rivalled many a large bookstore. It hosted fiction books, non-fiction books, autobiographies, old newspapers, magazines, recipe books, how-to's and self-help books and so much more. It was the history books that Robyn had wanted, and it wasn't actually the List she was researching.
It was the DHP, the Department of Human Protection, formerly known as the Department of Supernatural Investigation, that Robyn was researching but her research had been fruitless thus far. When she had sat in that meeting with Jason telling them all about the List, Robyn found herself attached to this idea of a secret company acting in shadows behind the scenes of human history. People loved to call Robyn a conspiracy theorist or a conspiracy nut but Robyn didn't see it like that. She believed in finding the stories behind the stories, the meanings behind the meanings, no matter how crazy it sounded. This was why she had been able to accept what Noah had told her about the List so easily, and why she was suspicious of the most benign people, and yes, even why she had a nagging feeling that when the full moon was up that Conner Shepherd would show his secret. In fact, the full moon was three nights away and Robyn was waiting eagerly for the chance to discover the truth behind that particular theory.
However, trying to find information about the DSI was like trying to find a specific needle in a haystack of needles that looked entirely the same, and then realising the needle you were looking for was actually in the other haystack on the other side of town. Robyn groaned, still massaging her head. There were many unexplained phenomena in history and many questions that had been posed: Who was the Zodiac Killer, where was Cleopatra's tomb, what exactly happened in the murder of John F. Kennedy, the phenomena of the 2017 floating skull in London, what happened to the Holy Grail, who was behind the Jack the Ripper murders (Conner had referred to himself as the Ripper, Robyn had already made a mental note of that). The world was full of mysteries, Hearthome equally so – the masked men were still strong on Robyn's mind – but there was something particularly interesting about Hearthome.
No one had left or entered Hearthome for three months, either resident or staff member. No police or ambulance service had come for the deaths of Charles Evans and Finley Sullivan, or for the gruesome injury of Noah, it had been the investigators or as Robyn now knew them as the DHP. Robyn was a smart girl, she enjoyed asking questions, and both Johann and Jason had been tight lipped about questions relating to the outside world as it stands now. They kept telling her to focus in on Hearthome but when she offered that the masked men might be coming from outside, they had told her it was highly unlikely. None of the orderlies she was friendly with could answer it either, with holidays being cancelled and being unable to leave the grounds fully. One orderly had said it was because Theodore Hearthome was understaffed but Robyn wasn't certain about all of that.
If only Conner were here, he had a good brain on his shoulders, Robyn knew that much.
She had invited Noah to help her research but Noah had taken one look at her collection of books and bid her farewell with a smile. It was good to see him with a smile as Robyn knew he must have been feeling particularly stressed with everything that was going on. She often had lunch with him, Penelope, and Owen now which was nice. Robyn found it easy to talk to people, but hard to make proper friends. It almost felt like she was in a clique at school, something she had never experienced.
"My God, I don't think I've ever seen a resident read so much in one day," from behind a stack of books, one of Robyn's favourite orderlies, Spinner, or rather, Paulie as he liked to be known, grinned with an unlit cigarette in his mouth. "How's it hanging, Robyn?"
"Hey," Robyn said brightly. "I think my head is gonna explode."
"Well, that's no good. Take a break." Paulie moved a pile of books from a chair and sat down, kicking his boots up on the table. "Why so obsessed? I've been talking with some of the other orderlies who pulled library duty over the last couple'a days and they've been nattering on about Robyn Wright and her apparent desire to become a historian." Paulie grabbed a book and glanced at it. "Eight Expeditions of the Crusades: The Holy War. Urgh. Talk about bringing me back to school-days." He threw the book back down.
Paulie was an orderly who enjoyed to talk much like Robyn did, and enjoyed entertaining her ideas – although Robyn could never figure out whether that was because he believed it or because he found it amusing – but either way, she appreciated having someone to bounce off of. Yes, Robyn knew that he had a little reputation for handing out cigarettes to residents but in the great scale of bad orderlies, he certainly wasn't an Imogen Banks. Robyn had more people she got on with in the orderlies than she did in the residents, and Paulie certainly was one of them.
"It's not too bad. Well, apart from the headaches and the nightmares of being pulled along in a chariot while firing muskets at a nazi on the other chariot," Robyn grinned. "To be fair, it makes a nice distraction. Things have been a bit all over the place recently. Feels like its getting back to normal but its like there's a referee standing there with a firing gun, ready to get the race going again." She shrugged. "But hey, it's good, all good. If it's weird to find me in the library, it feels weirder to find you here."
Paulie shared Robyn's grin. "I wouldn't have chosen the duty if I had a choice. Nah, I'm covering Sullivan's shift."
"Ah," Robyn's smile faded. "That makes sense."
"So, ah, I know I'm not your doctor but how are you getting by with that?" Paulie asked, the question serious enough for him to take out the rolled cigarette.
"Sad, I guess, still." Robyn shrugged. "I don't like thinking about it but I don't really shake anymore when I do. I think a lot of us miss him. Sullivan was a great guy."
"Sure was, sure was. Will you be going to the memorial in a couple of days? We just had ours and I know the warden is going to start building the stage up tomorrow."
"Yeah, I think I will. A lot of us owe a lot to Sullivan. In a place like this, Sullivan was a real helping hand," Robyn looked apologetic. "No offense to the rest of you."
"None taken. Finley was a guiding light for all of us," he leaned in close, ever the opportunist in giving Robyn a new morsel of rumour, "even Imogen, so I hear."
"No way!" Robyn's eyes widened. "I refuse to believe she has any positive feelings for anyone."
"That's just what I heard," Paulie shrugged.
Robyn shook her head in disbelief before refocusing in on Paulie. "Hey, can I ask you a question?"
"Is it one of those ones I can answer, or one of the ones I can't answer?"
"Is there any update on Conner?"
Paulie sighed, popping his cigarette back in and clasping it with his teeth. "That's the latter, I'm afraid, Robyn, you know that. And I know you've been asking other orderlies as well. No one's gonna tell you anything even if we knew."
"So you haven't found him yet! That's good news!" Robyn beamed.
"The man's suspected for crimes, Robyn. We have to find him for the safety of Hearthome. What about you, have you seen him since?"
"Nope," Robyn answered. "I wouldn't be asking you about him if I had, would I?"
"Guess not. Well, I better let you get back to your… whatever this is. Try not to overwork your brain. I think I can already see it coming out of ears." Paulie stood up.
"Wait, I have one more question." Paulie raised an eyebrow. Robyn realised that he was one of the orderlies she hadn't asked, and Paulie always knew a lot. "Do you know what's going on with people not being able to come and go from Hearthome?"
Paulie chewed on his cigarette for a moment before sitting back down. "I should have guessed you'd have noticed something like that, Robyn."
"So you do know something about it?"
"I just know that it isn't anything to do with the warden," Paulie leaned in close, the way he always did when sharing a juicy rumour with Robyn. "Apparently it's to do with that Ryan fella leading the investigators. Three months ago, shut everything down. The investigators are the only ones who go in and out. Food deliveries, medical supplies, it's all done by the investigators."
"And Hearthome isn't taking any more patients."
"Nope, Conner was the last one. And no, don't look at me like that, I'm not telling you anything about that. In terms of Hearthome though…" Paulie shrugged. "We used to be a bustling hub of outside interaction. We're a private hospital, certainly, but rumour has it that the warden hasn't been able to get a hold of any of his financial supports."
"Doesn't the warden come and go?" Robyn asked.
"Well, that's the secret, and don't let anyone know it was me who told you," Paulie leaned in closer, saying the same phrase he always said. For he and Robyn it was like ritual at this point. "He's currently staying his own place in the corner of the grounds, right next to the walls. The investigators brought in this caravan-like home for it. The warden wasn't happy but that Ryan fella has him under his thumb. But that can only go on for so long. Whatever it is the investigators want to hide, it's gonna get found out, and it's just a matter of time. Secrets don't last for very long, Robyn, you and I both know that. Right, that's enough of that."
Paulie stood again and his knee suddenly clunked against the bottom of the desk, knocking the piles of books over like dominoes. Robyn's camcorder teetered over and fell under the desk. "Ah crap, sorry, sorry, I got it." Paulie ducked down as Robyn tried to hold back a chuckle – it wasn't the first time Paulie had knocked over her camera with his clumsiness – and after a moment he climbed back to his feet, placing the camera delicately back on the table. "Sorry 'bout that."
"Every time, Paulie, every time."
"You know me, mama didn't raise a ballerina," Paulie smiled and waved. "See you Robyn."
"Bye Paulie." As Robyn put her nose back into the books, Paulie's smile seemed to stretch slightly when he was out of her sight. He popped his hands into his pockets as he walked back to the desk at the entrance of the library. However, when he got there, there was a small folded piece of paper sitting on the desk, reading simply 'SPINNER'. Paulie's smile slowly faded as he picked up the piece of paper. Something immediately fell out – something long and black, something that looked suspiciously like a lock of wet black hair that had stained the inside of the paper. Paulie held it up and shivered at the familiarity of the length of the lock. He looked at the back of the paper but there was nothing. He unfolded it and the smile completely disappeared, his teeth clamping shut so hard it split the cigarette in two. The words, damp from the lock of hair, read:
'I KNOW WHAT YOU DID, YOU FUCKING COWARD.'