"I have no idea!" He produces the key. "Only got the one."

The man sheltering his head under his cap shudders.

The girl glances his way, but glares at Kaede skeptically. 

"C'mon, you can't expect me to believe that."

"Hmm, maybe not." He reaches inside a backpack and gets a flashlight. Points it at the table where the napkin holder is, puts one hand under the table, turns the flashlight on, and grabs the holder from where it fell through the table before turning the flashlight off again. "But then again, maybe I do."

Man in hat stands and ambles out of the diner.

"Oh my god, that's- do you know who's doing this? Sending people here, making the hotel seem haunted- there are so many screams..."

"—tell me about the screams on my way after that guy?" he asks, getting up to follow him.

"Well, everyone who's been near the motel knows that there's something weird going on in room 9, but we figured it was just...I don't know, everything sounds stupid now."

The man quickens his pace, but he's not faster than Kaede.

"A jolly afternoon, sir, isn't it?" Kaede asks brightly when he catches up.

"Is it? I must have missed all the frolicking schoolchildren and the worldwide peace treaty."

"I said 'jolly' not 'absolutely perfect,'" he points out. "Why do I have this strangest sensation I might be interested in speaking with you?"

"I couldn't say. I know you've been asking everyone here questions, but I promise I haven't felt left out."

"Ah, but see, I have a very good reason beyond general curiosity to be asking questions. Well, two, one of them much better than the other but less directly emotionally important to me."

"Convince me."

"My mother is in a coma after being shot while we were rescuing someone who got kidnapped because of the Objects, and I want to fix her. That's the emotionally important one. The really important one is figuring out how to use these Objects for large-scale good like eradicating death."

"Why do you think you can resist the temptation? Most collectors aren't as...altruistic."

"I don't think I can resist the temptation, actually—I haven't. But I was already working on it, I made rather a lot of money by tapping a pencil against a flat surface and then spent a lot of it in charities and funding research, and the rest of it in making more money. I am irrationally attached to my bar of soap and somewhat less to the other Objects—but I'm fundamentally the sort of person who wants things to help others."

"The bar of soap? Interesting choice."

He shrugs.

"I'm not sure I can help you. Depends on what you want to know."

"I want to know more about the motel, about what happened there."

"There were ten rooms. Something terrible happened in room 9. A woman is trapped there. People who visit can hear her screams. She was once part of a group of early Object collectors, until they tried something. It didn't work out."

"—trapped? Trapped how?"

"I don't know for sure. There was some kind of incident, but the few people I've met who know something haven't been forthcoming."

"Is there anything you do know that could help me?"

"Most of what I have is rumors."

"More than what I do."