Instead he said, “If I were you, I wouldn’t hang around with that bunch. They’re older than you, and most of them are no good. Also, we’re pretty sure that some of them, or some like them, were involved in what happened to Stephanie Weber.”

“What happened to her?”

“Your folks will tell you.” The deputy turned to Jack. “There are tracks of several bikes in the woods near to where the girl was found. It’s close to an old logging road, so it would’ve been easy for them to get in there.” He looked at Duff again. “Considering who his friends are, your boy’s lucky he can prove where he was last night.”

I swallowed. “Can he?”

“The girl’s mother and her grandmother say he was at their house from eight ’til eleven. Mrs. Reddy and Mrs. Weber say they brought him home then.”

At eleven, I had been in the front room working on my mending. Was it around that time I dozed off? But even if Duff had come in the back way, surely the sound of the car and its lights would have awakened me.

The deputy closed his notebook. “Now if you’ll let us have a look at Miss Weber’s room, we can wind up our business here, at least for the moment.”

They inspected Stephanie’s belongings quickly, going through the pockets of her coats and uniforms and dumping the contents of her purse on the dresser.

“What do you think she was doing between the time she left here and the time she was killed?” I asked and instantly regretted it. If they began to wonder if the thing could have happened earlier, they might turn their attention on Duff again.

“Maybe she was out with one of the bikers,” said the older deputy. “She might’ve slipped out of here and met him down the road aways.” He swept the meager contents back into the purse. “I expect her folks will be sending for these things.”

I decided to risk asking it. “How did they take it—the news of Stephanie’s death?”

He stared. “How would you expect them to take it?”

“I’m sure they were upset.”

“They were more than upset. The mother had to leave the room and couldn’t even talk to the Sheriff.” He was angry now as he and his partner threw Stephanie’s lingerie back into the bureau drawers. I had offended him, I realized. I was a stranger, questioning the sincerity of some of the natives. All the same, I wondered if he shared Father Fogarty’s opinion of Mrs. Reddy.

Having gone so far, I went further. “Stephanie did tell me one time that her mother and grandmother were spiritualists. I thought maybe those people accepted the idea of death more calmly than the rest of us. You know, because they believe they can keep in touch, that sort of thing.”