Birnam Wood

Owen and Jill Darvish discuss the conversation with Tony. What he says about radiometric work arouses Owen’s suspicions. A survey done years ago by Autonomo’s drones on behalf of the government found nothing. Jill tries to explain it away and get her husband to eat his dinner and take a bath. While he does, she muses on their life together. She thinks about her own success as a businessperson and a mother; she feels that men are inferior to women and so tend to need coddling, something that her husband appreciates. She notes that since he’s met Lemoine, however, Owen seems different. He is unsatisfied, unsure, and unsettled. She doesn’t like that he took Tony’s information seriously. Later, Owen buys a plane ticket to check out for himself what is happening in Thorndike. His impulsive action is completely out of character and baffles her.

Lemoine is annoyed by Sir Darvish’s behavior toward his deal with Autonomo and considers ways to scuttle their agreement. He also doesn’t like that Darvish called his bluff during the original business deal and seemed to get the better of him until Lady Darvish stepped in. During a private conversation when her husband was in the bathroom, Jill confided to Lemoine that Owen just wanted to be sure that he didn’t look like he was neglecting the local Thorndike community and that Lemoine should leave it to her to move the project to a place more to Lemoine’s liking.