Page 29 of The Witch's Orchard
“Hello?” I call. I hear some rustling of papers and then a woman comes out of a door in the foyer. She’s reed-thin with a white fluff of short, full curls that sweep away from her face. She is dressed in a skirt suit that,while simple, looks perfectly tailored from soft, gray wool. Probably a pattern from McCall’s, I think.
“May I help you?” she asks.
I tell her who I am, what I’m doing there.
“I’d like to speak to the preacher, if he’s around,” I say.
“Oh, I’m sorry. He’s not in at the moment. He’ll be here tonight for Bible study.”
She takes a pamphlet from a plastic rack on the wall and hands it to me. It’s the church schedule, and, sure enough, there’s Bible study with Brother Bob Ziegler, right there on the events for Monday night.
“He was in this morning to take care of some paperwork and then he left to do some visiting.”
“And you are?”
“Oh, I’m Rebecca Ziegler. I’m the church secretary, and Brother Bob’s wife.”
I look back at the pamphlet, read the schedule. “It looks like he’ll be in again tomorrow morning? For this… Promise Keepers thing? Could I come by then?”
“Promise Keepers is men only. But the meeting should be over around eight o’clock. It’s early but—” She looks me up and down, no doubt a little dubious about whether or not I’m capable of being awake before noon.
“I’ll be here,” I say. “Can you let him know?”
“I will. Do you have a card?”
She pulls on a pair of gold-rimmed glasses attached to a thin gold chain around her neck. While she’s reading my name and job title and phone number, I ask, “Can you tell me anything you remember about the disappearances of those three little girls?”
“Heavens,” she says, still looking at the card. “It was an awful thing, wasn’t it? Of course, the Andrews family attended here.”
That was confirmation, at least, that Max and his family were familiar with this place, the scene of the first crime, where Jessica went missing from the swing set.
“The Jacobses too?” I ask, wondering about Olivia’s family.
She nods.
“And the Hoyles?”
“No. They never have. Mandy’s come around a few times, requesting food from the food bank. Formula when her youngest two were still in diapers. We sent them Christmas dinner a couple times, but I got the feeling Tommy didn’t appreciate that so we stopped.”
“Jessica Hoyle was taken from here.”
She nods and says, “That’s right. Out on the playground in broad daylight.”
“Were you here?”
“Yes. There was a committee meeting that day. Quite a few of us were here to plan that year’s Vacation Bible School. I remember Mandy coming into the church, screaming that something had happened to her girl. We all started looking, trying to help. I think most of us figured the girl had wandered off or was maybe hiding somewhere. But we found no sign of her.”
“Can I get a list of everyone?”
She sighs, “Well, it’s been…”
“Ten years,” I say.
“Mercy,” she says, letting out a breath. “Has it really? We still keep those girls and their families on the prayer list.” She appears lost in thought for a while, like maybe she’s wondering whether, after all this time, those prayers are being wasted.
“About the planning committee list…” I nudge.
“Oh yes. If you’re coming by tomorrow, I could get you a list. But it might not be the most accurate. I’d just be guessing at who all was there. A lot of us are still on those committees but, you know, it’s been a while, like I said.”
