Irish Colleen ran a finger down her daughter’s sweaty face and regarded the results in pure disgust, as if sweat alone could mortally offend. “Answer me, Madeline, or so help me God, I will call in every last one of your father’s relatives to pull the answer right out of your head.”
“I’m remembering Jimi and Janis tonight,” Madeline said, which she clearly expected to explain away everything.
“Jimi and Janis? Are these some of your junkie friends? You’ll forgive me if I can’t remember them all, their personalities blend together.”
“Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin,” Madeline slurred. She giggled at something in the corner and ran her hands across the air in front of her.
“And they are?”
“Incredible musicians! They’re now gone… gone, and I’m so sad. So, so sad.” But Madeline’s face was an ear-to-ear smile, and Irish Colleen slapped it away.
“Oh, yes, now I know who you’re talking about. I read the paper!” Irish Colleen’s hands were a fixture on her hips now. “Both of them died of some kind of drug overdose. The same path you’re heading down if you don’t pull your life together, Madeline!”
Madeline’s smile failed, replaced by the comically serious look of someone trying especially hard to appear sober. “You know nothing about my life, Mama. Nothing.”
Irish Colleen reached into her apron. In her fist was a crinkled sheet of paper. “I know you’re already failing all but one of your classes and if you don’t fix this in the next couple weeks, you’ve already killed your chance of graduating at the end of your senior year!”
Madeline frowned in a confused way. She lost her footing, stumbling back. When she reached for the paper, Irish Colleen yanked it away and out of reach.
“Why do I even bother when you’re like this? Why? God only knows! Your father in heaven knows, but he couldn’t be troubled to stay with us and see you through your difficult years. The Good Lord knows I’ve tried.” She looked up. “I never asked for this.”
“No? I guess that’s what happens when you marry a desperate widower and shoot out babies like a spring rabbit!” Madeline exclaimed. She grasped the bannister for support, but she seemed clear for the first moment since her arrival. “Failure doesn’t get whisked away because you insist to God you never asked for the job in the first place.”
Irish Colleen balked. “Are you saying I’ve failed as your mother?”
“You say it, Mama, every day. Every day. Except you say it like I’m the failure. You’ve done everything you could, right? Everything except try and understand who I am and why I am this way!” Madeline’s footsteps rang against the hardwood flooring, and Evangeline crept to the doorway for a better view. “You never asked for defective children, huh? But we did? We asked for it? I asked to feel every drop of pain and sadness for everyone around me? Augustus asked to be used, over and over, to get us what we want? Lizzy asked to see everyone’s fate? Maureen asked to talk to the dead?”
“Maureen does not talk to the dead!”
Madeline threw back her head and laughed. “Okay, Mama. You’re right. You know all of us so well.”
Irish Colleen turned away and snorted. “Why am I arguing with you? You won’t even remember this conversation. You never do. Nothing ever changes.”
“You never change, so why would anything else?” Madeline’s joy had faded entirely. Her eyes clouded with tears.
Irish Colleen stormed from the room without another word. Madeline choked back a sob in her throat. She reached for her messy, sweaty hair and pulled it into a tight knot at the back of her neck, and then released it, rolling forward, hands to her knees, with a gasp.
Evangeline didn’t understand her sister. She never had. Madeline’s heart was big, but her priorities were out of whack, and she refused to listen to reason. In this, she agreed with her mother.
But she couldn’t be aligned with Irish Colleen in this moment. Her mother was the one in the wrong now, the immovable force pushing her daughter further from the love and support that might eventually lead her down the right path. Irish Colleen, in her own stubbornness, was too blind to see how her righteous anger enabled Madeline’s descent into madness.
Madeline was alone. Even Augustus had a falling out with her, though Evangeline knew nothing of the details.
“She doesn’t understand you,” Evangeline said. She held her breath at the announcement of herself, for she knew it wasn’t right to eavesdrop.
“No shit,” Madeline murmured, sniffling. “I can’t stay here, Evie. I’m sorry. You understand, right? I’ve tried, but no one, no one, knows how to hurt me like she does, and I’ll die if I don’t get out soon.”
Evangeline nodded, not because she understood exactly, but because she suspected Madeline wasn’t wrong about her future if she didn’t make some kind of change. “I know, Maddy, but please don’t leave. Where would you even go? You don’t have any money, or any…” She almost said friends, but that seemed a cruel point to stick on the end.
“Does it matter? Is it so much better here that a little uncertainty is so scary?”
Evangeline shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“You could come with me, you know.”
“Me?”
“Why not?” Madeline snatched her bag from the chair. It grazed the floor as it dangled. “Really, why not? No one even pays attention to you, Evie. You’re the most normal of all of us, the absolute smartest and most talented, and where that should count for something, it counts for exactly nothing in the Deschanel household. Whoever is most fucked up at the moment has always gotten all the love, or all the hate in this house, and if you think that’ll change when I’m gone, well, I have some oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you.”
Evangeline tensed at the brutal honesty. Of course she knew all this. It wasn’t exactly breaking news. But it still hurt to hear it aloud. “You’d really want me to come with you and slow you down?”
Madeline threw her arms out. Her bag shimmered as it came up, the handles still wrapped around her hands. “I’ve got nothing but time, Ev. I don’t care about school. I never did. I only stayed for Aggie, and now…” She rubbed her hand over her nose. “And now, nothing. There’s nothing for me here. So you wanna come? Find some real meaning in this world, with someone who won’t treat you like you’re a freak of nature?”
Evangeline pursed her lips. Thinking. “Did you really get high because of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix?”
“I get high because it’s the only time my mind is free of the pain,” Madeline replied without missing a beat. “It’s the only way I know to block out all the feelings and experiences of the world. To blunt them. I know you all think I’m a crisis junkie, but I’ve just learned how to live with who I am. And that answer is, I either help solve the world’s problems, or I lose myself. According to Mama, both make me a failure. So you tell me, Evangeline, where is the win in any of this?”
An acute sadness stole over Evangeline, and she wanted to hug her sister, hug her tight and squeeze their sadness until it spilled over, but she didn’t. “Colleen is too busy for me lately. I’m alone, too.”
“Who said I was alone?”
Evangeline said nothing.
Madeline sniffled. “Yeah, okay, you dope, I guess I am. I guess I am alone, and if you wanna come with me, I ‘spose that solves two problems, yeah?”
Evangeline nodded. She swallowed a hard breath and then nodded again. “Okay. I need to pack a bag. I have stuff that’s important to me that I can’t leave here.”
“Sure. Pack one me for one, too, will ya?” Madeline smiled through her tears, and Evangeline had never realized until then how beautiful her strange older sister was.
“Yeah, okay. You’ll pick me up?”
“No, darlin’. I can’t come back here. Meet me at the train station tonight around nine. There’s a train to D.C. leaving around ten, and if you can manage to filch some cash, we can be on it.”
Evangeline supposed this was always what Mad
eline meant by leaving, but it still opened a pit in her stomach to think of leaving the only town she’d ever known, for one that, at least according to the news channels her mother watched, was rife with crime and protests and other dangers completely foreign to her. She’d committed to it without really giving it much thought at all.
“Nine,” she repeated, already wishing she’d just kissed her sister goodbye and left it at that.
“Nine. Be there or be square,” Madeline said, and then she was gone.
* * *
No matter how many times Maureen blinked her eyes, the dark spots didn’t go away. The tingling in her hands, which was now also in her feet, only intensified as her heartbeat pulsed into her vision, her breaths. The police officer sitting across from her wore the appropriate level of concern and gentle handling for someone of her age, but he didn’t know what she knew. What she had done.
The body of Peter Evers had been found, and now, and now…
“I’m sorry, Maureen, would you like me to repeat the question?”
She struggled to swallow through her dry mouth. Colleen squeezed her hand in encouragement, but this didn’t help, not at all. Colleen was just like Charles. She wasn’t her friend, or even her sister, not right now.
“Yes, sir. Please.”
Officer Beauregard smiled patiently. He looked at Colleen. “Are you sure we shouldn’t wait for your mother to return?”
Colleen shook her head. “No, Officer, it’s fine. She won’t be back until she’s finished her errands, which could be quite late depending on traffic.”
That was a lie, at least in how confident the words rolled off Colleen’s tongue. No one knew when Irish Colleen would be back, because she and Charles were off looking for Madeline, a peculiar and emotionally charged situation Maureen hadn’t even begun to think about. Not with her heartbeat shoving her shirt out from her skin in violent thrusts, a phenomenon surely this nice police officer could see.
“Very well.” He flipped the page in his small, tattered notepad. With another smile to Maureen, he said, “Can you tell me again when you last saw Mr. Evers for help with your studies?”
Maureen squinted, hoping this was a convincing show in how little regard she gave such a memory. Her tongue was molten lava, burning the back of her teeth. “It would be right before school let out, sir.”
“You don’t remember exactly when?”
“No, sir.”
“Perhaps if you think about the final events of your eighth grade, that might help with the recollection. For example, did you stop going to see him before or after your final tests?”
Colleen’s hand came down over hers in a subtle command. She’d been picking at the skin around her nails so hard she’d started to bleed. Maureen shoved them under her fidgeting legs. “Um… before?”
“Are you certain, or is that a guess?”
“Officer, Maureen is barely fourteen. She doesn’t keep a calendar, or a planner, or we could check that for you. She was getting help from other teachers as well, not only Mr. Evers.”
The officer, though, ignored Colleen and awaited Maureen’s reply.
“A guess,” Maureen said.
“Would there have been any need for you to get help from Mr. Evers after your final tests?”
“No, sir, I suppose not, with all schoolwork being done and grades posted.”
“Then your last session with Mr. Evers would have been before finals? Is that correct?”
“Yes, sir, now that you say it that way, I’m quite sure I never saw him after finals. There was no need.”
Colleen tensed.
Officer Beauregard scribbled notes. His mouth twisted in thought as he tapped the pencil eraser against the paper. When he looked up, his smile had dissolved. “Several of your classmates have said they saw you with Mr. Evers after finals.”
Maureen’s face exploded with heat. “Oh? I suppose… I mean, maybe, yes, I probably also saw him after finals just like I saw all my other teachers after finals, to say goodbye.”
“Do you typically see your teachers outside of school?”
“Well, no, I mean, unless we run into them at Schwegmann’s or something.” Maureen’s hands turned to fists under her legs and she was absolutely positive the sweat rolling down her forehead was about to drop into her eyes.
Officer Beauregard nodded. “Of course, but I’m not talking about incidental run-ins. I’m asking if you ever had occasion to see your teachers outside of school intentionally. Say, for dinner, or just to hang out.”
Colleen chimed in. “Our mother is known to host dinner parties, Officer. It’s possible we’ve had many of our teachers over at the house. Perhaps even Mr. Evers.”
“I’m not talking about here at your home, Miss Deschanel,” he replied without taking his eyes off Maureen. He flipped back a few pages in his notes and said, “Specifically, some of your classmates noted they’ve seen you in his car with him. Just the two of you.”
If Maureen didn’t throw up it would be a Christmas miracle. “I… uh…”
“He’d given you a ride home a few times, isn’t that right, Maureen?” Colleen urged.
“Yes,” Maureen said quickly. “A few times.”
The officer checked his notes again. “One of them said you were seen together merging onto I-10 from Mid-City, and another down by the old Daigle’s fish treatment plant, on the river. Those are both in the complete opposite direction of the school or home, so there must have been another reason you were with Mr. Evers in his car.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Colleen said with a laugh. “How would people even be in the right place to make such sightings? This sounds like a lot of nonsense.”
The officer didn’t seem to find this as humorous. “Those are just two of five occurrences of the two of you being sighted together, and the others are questionable locales as well. Now, Maureen, I’m sure there’s a very reasonable explanation for these, and if you’ll explain it to me, that will help me a good lot.”
Colleen jumped to her feet. Maureen felt the heat radiating from her sister. “Can we take a quick break? I need to use the ladies’ room.”
Officer Beauregard folded his hands over his notebook and sat back, with a mild look of disappointment. “Of course.”
Five minutes passed. The officer hardly looked at Maureen, which was a small blessing, but his scrutiny of his notes during this period didn’t put her at ease. People had seen her with Peter. Seen them in places there was no reasonable explanation for. And this officer, he was a smart guy. He knew more than he’d revealed, and there was no telling what else he’d held back on. This was his third visit to the house, and even Maureen understood that was not just simple protocol.
When Colleen returned, she was not alone. Augustus shuffled in behind her, and Maureen went rigid as she processed what his presence meant.
Augustus introduced himself to the officer, who remarked how much Augustus resembled his father. Augustus moved subtly into a fighter’s stance, one leg in front of the other, and his fingers twitched.
“We appreciate you coming to see us and questioning Maureen. It’s safe to say, you’re satisfied now and won’t be needing anything more from Maureen.” He reached forward and pulled the notebook from the officer’s hands. After a quick scan, he tore out a few pages and handed it back. “In fact, I’m sure you weren’t even here today.”
“No, sir. I sure wasn’t,” Officer Beauregard replied. He rose and thanked Augustus for his time, then left without another word.
“Hell’s bells,” Maureen whispered.
Augustus stared stone-faced until he heard the officer’s car fire up. Then he turned to Colleen and said, “Never again. If this is how you all see my contribution to the family, fixing every problem by wiping away all semblance of consequence, then count me out.”
“I know, Aggie, I wouldn’t have asked if I thought there was any other way.”
“There’s always another way, Colleen.”
“I won�
�t ask again.”
Augustus laughed. “Oh. You will.” He shook his head and left them standing there.
* * *
Nine came and went. Ten passed as well, and by eleven, Madeline stopped checking her watch.
It was possible Evangeline was caught. Irish Colleen, Charles, Augustus, they were all bullies of a different flavor, and Colleen could ignore Evangeline and still hold sway over her. Her spell was that strong.
She hadn’t really expected Evangeline to show up, anyway. Why would she? She had no strong reason to stay, but she also had no reason to leave. She was ignored for the most part, but that also meant she wasn’t living in constant turmoil. If Madeline were Evangeline, she probably wouldn’t leave, either. She was passionate enough to decry comfort, but practical enough to appreciate it.
Outside, the rain picked up. The weather often served to punctuate her choices, and the symbolism was never lost on Madeline. But after the storm was always the blossom of new life, and new experiences. She’d given up her creature comforts, but once she got on her feet, things would be okay.
With a sad look back at the station, she shoved her hands in her pockets and trudged down the flooded sidewalk, destination unknown.
Fourteen
One Less Witch
No one in Oak Haven had slept well since Madeline ran off.
The worry shifted from sibling to sibling. Irish Colleen spun herself into a frenzy for days, calling every hospital, forcing a vow from the Chief of Police to keep an eye out for Madeline, and then switched to a subdued daze where worry lived on the outside of the bubble pushing her forward. Charles declared Madeline a drama queen on day one, but by the second day was pounding the pavement night and day in search of her. Colleen found him huddled by the hearth one night, shaking, and she pieced together that he’d been too busy to satiate his cocaine fix and was jonesing from the oversight.
Maureen and Evangeline joined the search, but Irish Colleen put a swift end to their involvement when it occurred to her the impact this might have on their schooling. Elizabeth stressed quietly in her room, but kept her own counsel. Everyone wanted to ask her what she might know, but no one dared. She could help keep hope alive, yes, but she could also destroy it forever.
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