James entirely ignores that first comment and smirk, mostly because he finds it annoying and doesn't want to show that, focusing instead on the answer--and of course Hickey did indeed have an answer--to the question.

But he's not sure exactly what this answer really means. If everything is left behind, perhaps it does make sense that they'd just gone for a walk and gotten lost in the woods or elsewhere, even if it does seem unlikely that so many people would just disappear without a trace. Then again, if something more... Supernatural, in a sense, had happened, then there's no reason why possessions would be affected.

So, just like everything about this place, more questions than answered. But he supposes it's good to know, at least, that this is a possibility, and he'll have to ask others what they know about this subject and see how well it lines up with what Hickey has said.

"Well, this is all very interesting." James says, finally, in a tone indicating he's finished with this conversation. "You were going somewhere?" Before he'd stopped to answer James' question.