They didn’t bring up the matter of the recent juvenile court action, but they did ask about Duff’s relationship with Stephanie. I said they had been friends, that’s all. Duff and Franny had both been very friendly with Stephanie.

Afterward Father Jackson came in and said there was a good chance I was going to be charged with involuntary manslaughter, if not something more serious. But it didn’t happen. I remained in the hospital for three weeks and the authorities didn’t bother me anymore. Maybe they thought that as a mother I’d had enough grief.

I was on the same floor as before and this time my room was even closer to Franny’s, but I didn’t go in to see her, didn’t even walk by her room. I didn’t know what to say to her. I visit her now in the nursing home and I’ve tried to explain what happened to Duff, although it doesn’t seem to matter to her.

I was trying not to think of any of the things that had happened and, to an extent, with the help of the drugs I was getting, I succeeded. At first I refused psychiatric care and there was no attempt to force it on me. However, Father Jackson said something one day that gave me second thoughts.

“There’s a possibility you may be declared insane, Maggie, or at least legally incompetent. Apparently you’ve been saying what the staff considers nutty things. Also, you attempted suicide and that’s enough to get you put away if it’s thought you’ll try it again.”

So I began to cooperate. I made it known that I would be willing to see the psychiatrist and when he came to visit me I answered all his questions. I told him that anything I might have said earlier about supernatural happenings was just the result of wild dreams. I said I had tried to commit suicide because of grief over the death of my husband, but now I realized I had made a terrible mistake and I would never do such a thing again.

After a week or so of that I was released from the hospital. Father Jackson came to drive me to the Cainesville motel where Duff had met with his brother. I promised everyone who seemed interested that I was going to leave for Albany and my sister’s home within a few days and would make arrangements to have Franny transferred to a medical facility near there.

As a matter of fact, I had no plans beyond the one of trying again to kill myself, but I didn’t have the energy to work on that immediately. Most of the time I just sat in front of the TV set in my motel room. Once in a while, mainly because it was expected of me, I’d go over to the coffee shop for a sandwich.