Though there is one other country where that suffix is fairly common, for obvious historical reasons.
Canada.
LAILA FURNESS
Canada?
JJ NORTON
Absolutely. And if you cross-reference towns with a name ending in –UGH with those with water towers, and then do an image search of those towers, this is what you find.
He taps his keyboard and a MONTAGE of Google images appears. It only takes the team a few seconds to recognize a photo on the second row.
LAILA FURNESS
(pointing)
Where is that?
JJ NORTON
That, Laila, is Flamborough, New Brunswick.
LAILA FURNESS
I confess my Canadian geography is a wee bit sketchy—
JJ NORTON
(smiling)
Don’t worry, so was mine.
He taps his keyboard and a MAP of Canada appears with Flamborough marked.
This is followed by a MONTAGE of images of Flamborough in the ’70s and ’80s. It’s clearly the same place as in the original photo.
MITCHELL CLARKE
That looks to me like a classic one-horse town—
HUGO FRASER
(under his breath)
One-moose town, more like.
JJ NORTON
(smiling)
Not far off, certainly. Even now the population is barely more than a thousand.
LAILA FURNESS
So we should be able to track down our man pretty easily?
JJ NORTON