Waking the Witch

I remembered the library and arrived there to find it had closed at four and wouldn’t reopen for two days. Someone was kind enough to suggest the real estate office—apparently they ran an unofficial copy shop on the side. But it had closed at four, too. In fact, except for the diner, the whole town seemed to have shut down.

When I called Jesse, he said that was fine—he’d pop by tomorrow on his way home from Portland. Next stop, Mr. Mulligan, retired teacher.

THE ADDRESS MR. Mulligan gave led to a place outside town. The sign on the mailbox read J&C Hogs. I checked the address, but it seemed right, so I started up the lane to a sprawling ranch with a massive detached garage. The garage door was open. Through it I could see three gleaming black motorcycles. Harley-Davidsons. Hogs.

I swung off my bike as a man walked out. His grease-stained shortsleeved shirt showed off an impressive set of muscles for a guy who had to be in his midsixties.

“Ms. Levine,” he said, wiping a hand before extending it. “Chuck Mulligan.”

I shook his hand. His gaze had already slid over to my bike, and our fingers hadn’t fully disco

“You didn’t really call me out here to wax nostalgic on past students, did you,” I said. “You heard what I was riding.”

He smiled, face creasing. “Guilty.”

“Only you realize I can’t stay and chat,” I said. “Not with a Harley man.”

“Those are clients’ bikes. Mine’s a BMW.”

“Even worse.”

He laughed and crouched beside my bike, checking it out.

“So you must be the C in J&C Hogs. Who’s the J?”

“Janice. My wife. She just put me on the sign so I’d feel special. It’s her business.” He paused. “Was her business, I should say. Still not used to that. She passed away last year. I took over after I retired.”

He pushed to his feet. “Let’s get inside. I’m sure you’ll be more comfortable there.”

“Actually, I’d be more comfortable there.” I pointed to the garage. “If that’s okay.”

“Certainly.”

We spent the next half-hour looking at bikes and talking about them. His wife’s business had been customizing Harleys—making them faster and fancier.

I’d have been tempted to move on to business a lot faster if I didn’t see how much he was enjoying the opportunity to talk about his wife and her work. I understood that, so I let it keep going until he steered things on track by saying, “Have you met Paula Thompson yet?”

“No, just Kayla. Cool kid.”

His gray eyes sparkled. “Cool. Yes, that’s a good word to describe Kayla. One of those little characters who don’t quite fit in, but you know, when they grow up, they’ll do better in life than all the popular kids. Paula brings her up once a week to go over her lessons, make sure she’s on track. I offer to help more, but Paula won’t even take the supervision work for nothing—insists on cleaning my house while I’m working with Kayla.”

“You taught her, too, didn’t you? Paula Thompson?”

He nodded and led me to a couple of chairs in a makeshift office space. “She started high school the same year I started teaching. I taught her, then Genevieve, and now Kayla. Three generations of Thompson girls. And three more different girls you couldn’t hope to find.”

“Tell me about Gi

He settled in his chair and took a moment, as if trying to decide how to start. “When I first started teaching, I was convinced every student could be helped. It’s a spark of idealism that fades fast. Some can, and you learn to concentrate on them. The others ... The others you can’t help because they just aren’t interested.”

Sounded familiar. I’d never had much use for school myself.

“I had Gi

“Did that help?”

He rubbed his chin and I could tell he wanted to say yes, but after a moment, gave a slow shake of his head. “Gi

“No father in the picture I take it?”

“Daddy was some loser Gi

“Did she?”

“The job? On and off, mostly off. She had a place, though, over one of the shops on Main Street. Kayla wasn’t neglected—Paula made sure of that. But like I said, those Thompson girls were very different. Having Gi

“And Gi

“I don’t think so. Paula had a string of boyfriends in ninth and tenth grade. Then she seemed to stop dating. Next thing you know, she’s pregnant.”

“Meaning she was dating. Just not anyone she could be seen with in public. There were rumors, though, I bet.”

“Plenty. Most of them involving married men, not surprisingly. A couple of names floated around. I don’t like spreading rumors, so I won’t give them to you, but I will say that neither of them killed Gi

We talked about Gi

“I barely remember the girl,” Mulligan said. “I felt bad about that, but when I went to the funeral, I remembered why. There wasn’t much to Brandi Degas. Nothing memorable. She was Gi

“They’d been friends a long time, I heard.”

“Since they were babies. Both had single moms and I think Paula and Carol went to the same support group.”

“Were they friends? Paula and Carol?”

“Close acquaintances more like. Carol was an alcoholic even back then, and Paula didn’t take with that. She helped out, though, looking after Brandi when she could.”

“Is Carol Degas still in town?”

“She is. And you can try talking to her, but don’t expect much. A lifetime of boozing has taken its toll. When Brandi died, Carol couldn’t even sober up for the funeral. She’s doing better, but her memory’s shot.”

“And Brandi’s father?”

“A kid who died in a drunk-driving accident a year after Brandi was born.”

“No dad in the picture for either. Those girls did have a lot in common.”

“Pretty much everything. Never finished school. Were into drugs and booze. Couldn’t hold a job. No kids for Brandi, though.”

“What about boyfriends? Did she have anyone like Cody Radu?”

He shook his head. “Brandi didn’t date. She hooked up with men at parties. Or so I hear. She ... wasn’t an attractive girl. She had a certain kind of smarts, though. Feral cu

“Was she jealous of Cody? Maybe tried to break them up?”

“No. Like I said, she had a certain kind of smarts, and she knew a good thing when she saw it. To her, Cody was a good thing. He had money and, from what I hear, kept Gi