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“I’m sorry to ask you these things,” said Mary. “Did you ever drive it yourself?”
“Once. I didn’t like it.”
“I know the feeling. I have a colleague with an Allegro I have to drive.”
“It wasn’t that. There was something else. Something malevolent about the car.”
Mary knew what she meant. “The odometer went backward, didn’t it?”
“Yes,” said Mrs. Aldiss quietly, “yes, it did.”
“What news?” asked Ashley, turning down the volume on “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time).”
Mary sat in the passenger seat and opened her phone. “The driver was killed and the car destroyed in an accident on the A329 three years ago. The odometer went backward on that car, too.”
She texted Jack: CAUTION ALLEGRO MILEAGE APPROACHES ZERO MARY, then snapped her cell phone shut.
“What does it mean?”
“I’ve no idea. Have a look at the other owners first thing tomorrow,” said Mary. “I’d like to know how many of them are still with us.”
“I’ll get onto it. So… back to my parents’ place?” he asked, positively — and literally — swelling with expectation.
“Yes,” said Mary a bit absently, “drive on.”
They drove the short distance to Pangbourne and pulled into a very ordinary-looking estate, the proliferation of seventies Japanese sedans giving it a very time-warped appearance.
“Is the whole neighborhood alien?” asked Mary.
“Pretty much,” he replied. “Very few people want to live next to us, although I’ve no idea why—we make good neighbors.”
Ashley got out, ran across the roof and opened the door for Mary before she could do it herself.
“Thank you,” she said graciously.
“My pleasure,” said Ashley, “and please don’t make fun of my parents’ attempts to be human.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”