The Good Thief: A Novel

Benjamin, Tom, and Ren reach North Umbrage at dusk. The town has "nothing of the chaos of the docks" (101); rather, the streets seem abandoned, save for "a pack of thin dogs" (101) fighting and a few people. The place smells of "rotting garbage" (101). Tom sets Benjamin's pistol on the seat beside him. Benjamin, once relaxed, now sits pressed to the edge of his seat. He turns his head at each window they pass, as though expecting to see someone he knew.

The wagon passes a large shadow covering the road. Ren looks up, expecting to see "a giant towering over them" (102); instead, he sees a large mousetrap factory with "a thick chimney spewing black smoke" (102). Benjamin tells Tom this was a mining town until an accident with explosives at the mine's entrance sealed it, leaving all the miners buried. Benjamin says the last time he passed through North Umbrage, women were still kneeling in the middle of the marketplace, listening for their buried husbands.

Under Benjamin's direction, Tom stops the wagon at a building on a dark, silent street with a sign advertising "Rooms to let" (103). Benjamin and Ren climb out of the wagon and Benjamin begins knocking at the front door.