Page 67 of The Society of Unknowable Objects
“Men like that you have to take seriously,” Henry said, nodding to herself. “Whenever I’m going to steal from dangerous people, I make sure I know everything I can about them. I spend weeks researching them, understanding them, finding their weak spots. Knowledge is power and all that.”
Magda considered the advice, feeling defeated. “We don’thaveweeks to learn about him.”
Again Henry’s eyes flicked up to Magda in the rearview mirror. “No, we don’t,” she conceded. “But we’re not helpless either, are we?”
Magda said nothing, waiting to be convinced.
“I can make us intangible so nothing can harm us,” Henry continued. “The handsome fellow next to me can’t die, it seems. Certainly not by gunshot. And you can fly, can’t you? Between the three of us I think we make for pretty intimidating opposition.”
Magda did not feel reassured. The memory of Owen’s hands around her neck was all-consuming. She opened her window a crack to get some fresh air into her lungs. She sat back and closed her eyes, smelling the hot asphalt, letting herself doze, because her worries and fears receded when she slept.
Then James spoke, rousing her: “Next exit, I think.”
Magda saw Henrietta nod an acknowledgement.
Five miles later they slowed, and Henry pulled the car off the interstate and then through a sequence of turns onto a small state road that shifted them north and east, with the sun behind them and the shadow of their car stretching out ahead of them. They drove in silence, the tension growing as they neared their target.
The town of Masters appeared before them in the last light of day as shadows swelled. It was a small place, a handful of streets around a main road heading north and south through the woods. Magda studied the place as they rolled through, the houses and garages and empty lots. She saw teenagers shooting hoops on a cracked driveway, a dog on a chain tied to a stake in another front lawn, barking and running after them before the chain tightened and halted it. There was an animal feed business in a large shed set back from the road, and a collection of rusting old cars parked nose to tail in an abandoned lot. It was just a small town, struggling to survive, and Magda had no idea what could have possibly drawn Owen Maddox there.
They reached a crossroads, which seemed to be the centre. There was a church on one corner, a diner opposite that appeared open, and a pizza place on the third corner. The fourth corner was an empty lot, a square of rough ground where a few cars were parked or abandoned. Henrietta pulled into the lot and switched off the engine, the three of them staring across the road at the diner. An electric sign in its window, a cup and the word “coffee,” created a stain of bright blue light in the glowing darkness. A woman in a T-shirt and ripped jeans crossed the street in front of them, a cigarette between the fingers of one hand and a trail of smoke in the air behind her. No other cars passed.
“It’s not the most happening place, is it?” Henry reflected. “A picture of the death of small-town America.”
“Let’s get some coffee,” Magda said, pointing between them to the diner. “Maybe someone in there will know something.”
She doubted it, but she wanted the comfort of bright lights and other people. She didn’t want to go looking for Owen Maddox as the shadows gathered.
You’re just delaying the inevitable. It’s going to get darker, isn’t it? You can’t sit in the diner all night.
She ignored the dissent in her mind and stepped out into thick, warm air. Immediately she was surrounded by the furious buzzing of insects going about their evening business, mosquitos gathering to welcome her to Masters. Magda waved a hand to chase them away and glanced across at Henry, who seemed entirely unbothered by the insects. She was looking as fabulous as ever, apparently unaffected by the transatlantic flight and the impending peril.
How does she always look so immaculate?
They strolled across the road and entered the diner, where they were met by cool, clean air and the sizzle and scent of burgers cooking on a hot griddle. The place was exactly as Magda wanted it to be, with a long counter on one side with stools lined in front of it, and booths along the windows looking out onto the street. There were two other customers, a teenage boy in the farthest booth, and a middle-aged man in a plaid shirt and faded jeans on one of the stools, his face hidden beneath the brim of his baseball cap. The diner appeared faded and run-down, with cracked vinyl on the bench seats and chipped veneer on the table, but it was spotlessly clean. It felt like a well-used place, and Magda reflected that it probably had to be to survive in a town like Masters.
Henry led them into the first booth by the window and James pulled the menu out of the holder and opened it. A young girl in an apron and white running shoes scurried out from behind the counter and greeted them with a beaming smile. Her brown hair was in a ponytail that bounced as she moved, and the badge pinned to her shirt said that her name was Annie.
“Hi y’all,” she said. “What can I get you?”
Her voice was a singsong lilt, and her smile was infectious. Magda loved the girl immediately.
“Just a coffee for me,” Henrietta said, smiling back at the girl. “Black.”
Magda ordered some waffles and bacon, even though she wasn’t sure that she was hungry, and a coffee. Then James ordered fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy and a side of vegetables.
“And a coffee as well, with milk and sugar,” he added. Magda watched the girl as she scribbled down the order on her pad, biting her bottom lip as if having to concentrate. Then she looked up at them and smiled brightly.
“Coming right up!”
“You can’t eat like that normally.” Henrietta said to James. “Not with a waist that thin; I don’t believe it.”
Magda wanted to talk about Owen Maddox and what they were about to do, but it was also nicenotto, just for a moment. Henrietta glanced across at her and winked, and Magda wondered if she was purposefully trying to ease the tension and distract them.
James shrugged in response to Henry’s question. “I am living a long and healthy life.”
“The pill?” Henry asked, realising what he meant.
James patted his flat stomach with two hands, grinning. “It’s one of the fringe benefits, perhaps?”
