“Yeah, but I can’t have this dragged into court. If anyone knows about it, I’m done. At least by resigning, I can leave with my reputation intact.”
To reassure him, I tell him about the other institutions who have already contacted me about potential jobs. This news mollifies him a little, though by mutual agreement we agree not to tell my mother until everything is settled.
When I get off the phone, I listen to another message from Louise Butler. My curiosity finally wins out, and I return her call.
She asks to meet me in person, so the next day I make the three-hour drive to Clearview, figuring I have nothing to lose except time. We sit in the corner booth of a downtown deli, and the mysteriousness of our meeting makes me feel vaguely like a spy in a war movie.
“They had an affair.” Louise Butler is a slender woman in her mid-forties who has a tight, compressed look about her. “Maggie Hamilton and Jeffrey.”
Though I’m not surprised to hear this, I am surprised that Louise is so blunt about it.
“Since Jeffrey was her advisor, an affair would have been against university regulations,” I say, for lack of knowing how else to respond.
Louise nods. “Of course it was. Not only that, it ruined my family.”
“I’m sorry.” But again, I’m not surprised. I know all about how affairs can ruin a family. I take a swallow of coffee, shoving aside an unexpected thought of my brother.
“We have children, Dr. West,” Louise continues. “Their lives were wrecked because of the affair and the terrible divorce that followed. That girl destroyed us.”
“It sounds like Jeffrey was equally culpable.”
“Oh, I know. But she was the one who instigated the whole thing.”
“What whole thing?”
“Maggie claimed that Jeffrey had promised to divorce me and marry her,” Louise says. “When he didn’t, she took her revenge by sending me videos they’d taken of their… sexual activities, and threatening to charge him with abuse. Jeffrey got scared that she’d go to the university administration with them, so he took early retirement before she could ruin his career. I divorced him shortly afterward and moved my children out of the area so we could try to start again. But the damage to my family was already done.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I ask.
“When I heard that you were resigning from King’s after just a few years, I checked to see if Maggie Hamilton was still a student. And when I found out she was, I suspected she might be responsible for your resignation.”
“I wasn’t having an affair with her,” I say. “She filed a false allegation of sexual harassment against me. I couldn’t risk the investigation going to the board and becoming public.”
“I’m sorry, Dr. West.” Louise sits back, her mouth tightening. “I don’t trust Maggie Hamilton to let the whole issue drop. And if this comes to light, if she blames Jeffrey and drags him into it, my children will—”
She stops and shakes her head, her eyes flashing with hurt and anger. “That little home-wrecker has destroyed enough lives as it is.”
“Maggie Hamilton doesn’t have enough power to destroy my life,” I tell her. “She and her father just forced me out of a job.”
“Edward Hamilton.” Bitterness threads Louise’s voice. “I know all about him too. Maggie was scared her father would find out about the affair, especially after she realized Jeffrey wasn’t going to marry her.”
“She does seem… controlled by her father.”
“He’s even more of a threat than she is,” Louise says. “And I swear to God, Dr. West, I will do anything to keep them from hurting my family again.”
Though I have a feeling Louise Butler is motivated more by revenge on Maggie Hamilton than concern for my career, I thank her for telling me all this.
“The Hamiltons need to be stopped.” She picks up her purse and slides out of the booth. “Both of them.”
After she’s gone, I head out to my car and drive back to Mirror Lake. I stop at the Wonderland Café, my defenses kicking into gear when I see Crystal Winter on the front porch.
“Thought you’d be gone by now,” I tell her.
“I’m waiting for my car to be repaired.”
“Seems to be taking a while.”
Crystal shrugs. “I heard you resigned from your job. Because of that girl, I assume.”
I stop to look at her. “It wouldn’t have happened, Crystal, whether I resigned or not. Liv would never have gone anywhere with you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do. Your daughter is stronger than you’ll ever be. She’s never run away from anything.”
Before she can speak again, I go past her into the café. I find Liv upstairs in the Wicked Witch’s Castle room, which is painted silver and black with black-topped tables and crystal-ball lights, high-backed chairs, and a mural of a dark mountain landscape with silhouettes of flying monkeys against a full moon.
Liv is arranging a display of a black witch’s hat surrounded by a pool of acrylic water. She turns at the sound of my footsteps, and her smile washes away the unpleasantness of the afternoon.