The little man's face darkened. "What's up? The train's about to take off." Grumbling under his breath, he pushed the door open and entered the office. "This sort of thing has never happened before. It's certainly getting hard to purchase a commute book. If I miss the train I'm going to hold your company—"
"Sit down," Paine said, indicating the chair across from his desk. "You're the gentleman who wants a commute book to Macon Heights?"
"Is there something strange about that? What's the matter with all of you? Why can't you sell me a commute book like you always do?"
"Like—like we always do?"
The little man held himself in check with great effort. "Last December my wife and I moved out to Macon Heights. I've been riding your train ten times a week, twice a day, for six months. Every month I buy a new commute book."
Paine leaned toward him. "Exactly which one of our trains do you take, Mr.—"
"Critchet. Ernest Critchet. The B train. Don't you know your own schedules?"
"The B train?" Paine consulted a B train chart, running his pencil along it. No Macon Heights was listed. "How long is the trip? How long does it take?"
"Exactly forty-nine minutes." Critchet looked up at the wall clock. "If I ever get on it."
Paine calculated mentally. Forty-nine minutes. About thirty miles from the city. He got up and crossed to the big wall map.
"What's wrong?" Critchet asked with marked suspicion.
Paine drew a thirty-mile circle on the map. The circle crossed a number of towns, but none of them was Macon Heights. And on the B line there was nothing at all.
"What sort of place is Macon Heights?" Paine asked. "How many people, would you say?"
"I don't know. Five thousand, maybe. I spend most of my time in the city. I'm a bookkeeper over at Bradshaw Insurance."
"Is Macon Heights a fairly new place?"
"It's modern enough. We have a little two-bedroom house, a couple years old." Critchet stirred restlessly. "How about my commute book?"
"I'm afraid," Paine said slowly, "I can't sell you a commute book."
"What? Why not?"
"We don't have any service to Macon Heights."
Critchet leaped up. "What do you mean?" "There's no such place. Look at the map yourself."
Critched gaped, his face working. Then he turned angrily to the wall map, glaring at it intently.
"This is a curious situation, Mr. Critchet," Paine murmured. "It isn't on the map, and the State city directory doesn't list it. We have no schedule that includes it. There are no commute books made up for it. We don't—"
He broke off. Critchet had vanished. One moment he was there, studying the wall map. The next moment he was gone. Vanished. Puffed out.
"Jacobson!" Paine barked. "He's gone!"
Jacobson's eyes grew large. Sweat stood out on his forehead. "So he is," he murmured.
Paine was deep in thought, gazing at the empty spot Ernest Critchet had occupied. "Something's going on," he muttered. "Something damn strange." Abruptly he grabbed his overcoat and headed for the door.
"Don't leave me alone!" Jacobson begged.
"If you need me I'll be at Laura's apartment. The number's some place in my desk."
"This is no time for games with girls."
Paine pushed open the door to the lobby. "I doubt," he said grimly, "if this is a game."
Paine climbed the stairs to Laura Nichols' apartment two at a time. He leaned on the buzzer until the door opened.
"Bob!" Laura blinked in surprise. "To what do I owe this—"
Paine pushed past her, inside the apartment. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything."
"No, but—"
"Big doings. I'm going to need some help. Can I count on you?"
"On me?" Laura closed the door after him. Her attractively furnished apartment lay in half shadow. At the end of the deep green couch a single table lamp burned. The heavy drapes were pulled. The phonograph was on low in the corner.
"Maybe I'm going crazy." Paine threw himself down on the luxuriant green couch. "That's what I want to find out."
"How can I help?" Laura came languidly over, her arms folded, a cigarette between her lips. She shook her long hair back out of her eyes. "Just what did you have in mind?"
Paine grinned at the girl appreciatively. "You'll be surprised. I want you to go downtown tomorrow morning bright and early and—"
"Tomorrow morning! I have a job, remember? And the office starts a whole new string of reports this week."
"The hell with that. Take the morning off. Go downtown to the main library. If you can't get the information there, go over to the county courthouse and start looking through the back tax records. Keep looking until you find it."
"It? Find what?"
Paine lit a cigarette thoughtfully. "Mention of a place called Macon Heights. I know I've heard the name before. Years ago. Got the picture? Go through the old atlases. Old newspapers in the reading room. Old magazines. Reports. City proposals. Propositions before the State legislature."
Laura sat down slowly on the arm of the couch. "Are you kidding?"
"No."
"How far back?"
"Maybe ten years—if necessary."
"Good Lord! I might have to-"
"Stay there until you find it." Paine got up abruptly. "I'll see you later."
"You're leaving? You're not taking me out to dinner?"
"Sorry." Paine moved toward the door. "I'll be busy. Real busy."
"Doing what?"
"Visiting Macon Heights."
Outside the train endless fields stretched off, broken by an occasional farm building. Bleak telephone poles jutted up toward the evening sky.
Paine glanced at his wristwatch. Not far, now. The train passed through a small town. A couple of gas stations, roadside stands, television store. It stopped at the station, brakes grinding. Lewisburg. A few commuters got off, men in overcoats with evening papers. The doors slammed and the train started up.
Paine settled back against his seat, deep in thought. Critchet had vanished while looking at the wall map. He had vanished the first time when Jacobson showed him the chart board... . When he had been shown there was no such place as Macon Heights. Was there some sort of clue there? The whole thing was unreal, dreamlike.
Paine peered out. He was almost there—if there were such a place. Outside the train the brown fields stretched off endlessly. Hills and level fields. Telephone poles. Cars racing along the State highway, tiny black specks hurrying through the twilight.
But no sign of Macon Heights.
The train roared on its way. Paine consulted his watch. Fifty-one minutes had passed. And he had seen nothing. Nothing but fields.
He walked up the car and sat down beside the conductor, a white-haired old gentleman. "Ever heard of a place called Macon Heights?" Paine asked.
"No, sir."
Paine showed his identification. "You're sure you never heard of any place by that name?"
"Positive, Mr. Paine."
"How long have you been on this run?"
"Eleven years, Mr. Paine."
Paine rode on until the next stop, Jacksonville. He got off and transferred to a B train heading back to the city. The sun had set. The sky was almost black. Dimly, he could make out the scenery out there beyond the window.
He tensed, holding his breath. One minute to go. Forty seconds. Was there anything? Level fields. Bleak telephone poles. A barren, wasted landscape between towns.
Between? The train rushed on, hurtling through the gloom. Paine gazed out fixedly. Was there something out there? Something beside the fields?