Having read everything on the wall twice over, Jackie broke the silence. “Let me do the talking, okay?”

“That’s fine,” Diane said.

“I mean, you can if you want to.”

“No, really, you do it.”

“You obviously want—”

“Hello.”

This last was from Leann, who had entered the room with her hatchet. Her voice sounded distant, like she was still in the other room even as she sat on a couch underneath the wall of hatchets and gestured for the two of them to sit across from her in the smooth, white chairs. (Were those ivory? Unlikely, especially since ivory had been outlawed, and even living elephants had had their tusks confiscated by strict regulators.) The chairs were tall and rigid with thin seat pads but were surprisingly comfortable. Diane and Jackie did their best not to move around much in them. (Definitely not ivory. Perhaps some kind of bone? The knots where the legs met seemed almost like joints.)

“Well?” said Leann. Her voice sounded even farther away, like she was shouting from down a long corridor.

Diane looked at Jackie, who was looking at Diane.

“Go ahead,” Diane said, and Jackie laid out the two news articles about King City.

“Hi, Leann. I’m Jackie, and this is Diane C——”

Leann snatched the articles from the table and held them to the light.

“Where did you get these?”

“The library.”

Leann widened her eyes and mouthed “Library.” It was not clear whether she was impressed or skeptical.

“King City, huh?” she said. “Quiet town. Suburban without the urban. Not much to say about it.”

She set the articles down on the coffee table. Jackie opened her mouth, but Diane spoke first.

“But what about this other article? Which article is telling the truth?”

Jackie closed her mouth and looked at Diane.

“A good journalist doesn’t have to discuss the truth,” said Leann, waving toward her diplomas. “Some details are secret or off the record.”

“What—” said Jackie

“So what stuck out to you about this mayor?” Diane asked. “You don’t mention his name in either article. You just say ‘Good mayor.’ You wrote that here as an entire paragraph: ‘Good mayor.’”

“Well, they have a good mayor,” said Leann.

“But—” said Jackie.

“Hang on, Jackie,” Diane said. “Leann, we need any information you have. This is important.”

“And why is it so important?” said Leann, testing the edge of the hatchet against her finger. It drew a dot of blood and she smiled.

“I don’t know who I am and I don’t understand the progression of time as it relates to me,” said Jackie.

Leann nodded. “We’ve all been there.”

“I lost my job,” said Diane. “I’ve distanced myself from my son. I’m teetering. I feel like the breath before a scream.”