The Last of the Moon Girls

Lizzy goes to where Fred works, at Mason Electric. The woman at the front desk says that Fred is out on a job, and his coworker Jake starts harassing Lizzy. After the front-desk woman shoos Jake away, Lizzy goes out to her car. She sees Fred return, go inside, and come out with Jake. When Fred drives away, Lizzy follows him. Once he is home, she knocks on his door. He doesn’t want to talk to her, but he gives her one minute to speak. She says that her grandmother wasn’t involved in the murders and asks if he remembers anything that might help prove her innocence. Angrily, he tells Lizzy that Althea got “what was coming to her” and that Lizzy will as well (108). Fred also warns Lizzy not to talk to his ex, Susan.

Lizzy drives to Andrew’s house and tells him what happened. They eat, and Lizzy shares that she’s a vegetarian. Andrew encourages Lizzy to wait to hear back from Roger before talking to Susan. Lizzy apologizes for involving Andrew, and they discuss how he rescued her from the men who harassed her as a teenager. She remains embarrassed by his apparent pity, but he confesses that he did not pity her: Instead, he had a crush on her, and he still does. She leaves abruptly and awkwardly.

Andrew regrets confessing his crush and thinks about how many people disliked the Moons for being different. He was always inventing reasons to stop by the farm when Lizzy was in town because she seemed like a puzzle to solve. Only after she left did he also leave town, to attend the Illinois School of Architecture.

Over breakfast, Lizzy tells Evvie about her dinner with Andrew and her meeting with Fred. When Lizzy goes out to get the newspaper, she finds a straw doll in a witch’s outfit strung up by a noose in a tree with a piece of paper that contains the Bible verse “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (118). Evvie is upset about the noose, but Lizzy doesn’t want to call the police. She takes the doll out to the mudroom.

Lizzy researches articles about the murder on her phone and is haunted by the photos, but she learns nothing new. Andrew arrives, thinks that the doll is related to Lizzy talking to Fred, and says that she should contact the police. She refuses, noting that Summers closed the case, and goes to work on the wildflower garden.

To pay the parking meter near the realtor’s office, Lizzy has to go into the coffeeshop where her mother, Rhanna, made a scene shortly after the discovery of the bodies. Rhanna cursed the town for its prejudice against her family, and the police investigated it as a threat. Shortly afterward, she left town. The barista, Judith, offers condolences about Althea’s death and says that she never thought Althea was involved in the murders. Judith was one of Althea’s customers and is in contact with Susan. Lizzy gives Judith her cell number to give to Susan.

The meeting with the realtor, Chuck, goes badly. He says that the farm will be hard to sell and gives her a rundown of the things she needs to do. Susan calls Lizzy, and the two meet for coffee in the nearby town of Peabody. Susan has heard that Lizzy talked to Fred. She tells Lizzy that Fred was emotionally abusive, which is why she left. He doted on their daughters and refused to let her discipline them. They were Susan’s stepdaughters, their mother having died in a fire when they were very young. Heather was drinking, being intimate with boys, and breaking curfew.

Fred refused to call the police the night they disappeared, believing that they were out having fun. Susan found condoms in Heather’s room, and Fred admitted that he had bought them for her. Susan doesn’t think Fred killed his daughters; they reminded him of his dead wife, and he would let them get away with anything. When the police and press interviewed Susan, she agreed with Fred’s assertion that Althea was the murderer. Susan explains that she was drinking and that Fred manipulated her. Finally, Susan gives Lizzy the names of Heather’s friends: Cynthia and Jenny.

Andrew comes by the house to tell Lizzy that he’s heading to Boston, Massachusetts, for a job. He shows her some improvements he’s made but warns her that the barn’s loft is still unsafe. Lizzy tells Andrew about her meeting with Susan. Andrew is jealous of Luc, especially after Lizzy hesitates to say that he is only her boss. After Andrew leaves, the realtor’s secretary says that he can’t make their meeting today because his son is in the hospital.

Lizzy looks up Heather’s friend Jenny on Facebook and finds contact information for her. When Lizzy calls Jenny, Jenny says that Heather stopped talking to her and their other friends one day. Before that, she saw Fred buying Heather revealing clothes and Heather wanting to avoid her father. Heather dated a boy named Brian, but she stopped seeing him when she stopped spending time with Jenny. Jenny also says that Cynthia, Heather’s other friend, died of cancer two years prior. Before they hang up, Jenny offers condolences about Althea.

Lizzy tries to call Roger, but it goes to voicemail. A woman named Penny comes to the farm, hoping to find a migraine tea that Althea used to sell. Lizzy says that she’s just there to sell the farm. Evvie comes back from the store after Penny leaves, and Lizzy tells her about the visit, including how she is surprised to discover several people who thought fondly of Althea. Then, Lizzy reads another entry in the Book of Remembrances.

It begins with a pressed calendula, which represents the healing of scars. Althea remembers how Lizzy struggled because she didn’t fit in and how the murders made her even more of an outsider. Lizzy would cry alone into her pillow and shut herself off. Being back means revisiting those feelings of not belonging, and Althea advises that people fear what they can’t easily categorize. Lizzy must forgive and love; love is never something to regret.

Lizzy thinks about the journal entry and how people have spoken kindly to her about Althea; these thoughts give her hope. Evvie, wearing lipstick and earrings, is making more jars of honey to sell at the hardware store. Lizzy thinks that Evvie is romantically involved with the owner, Ben. Evvie says that she hasn’t been out to Althea’s shop recently, but there might be some of the migraine tea there. Lizzy goes to Althea’s apothecary, a converted cider house, and finds it dusty and dirty. When Lizzy picks up Althea’s remedy book, she smells Althea’s perfume.

There are some packets of the migraine tea stored in a cool, dark place. She also takes some lavender and clary sage oils and writes instructions on how to use them to aromatically compliment the tea. Lizzy brings these to Penny in the drugstore. Penny says that Althea would be proud of Lizzy. Next, Lizzy goes to the grocery store to get some ice cream that Evvie mentioned liking. The cashier, Helen, stares at Lizzy.

Lizzy completes some of the paperwork for the sale at the county registrar’s office. The realtor’s son is still in the hospital, so he hasn’t come out to the farm. Roger calls her, and they discuss her meetings with Susan and Fred, as well as her call with Jenny. Roger warns Lizzy against doing more interviews; Andrew told Roger about the doll with the noose. Lizzy says that if she contacts any other classmates of Heather’s, she’ll allow Roger to also question them. Roger warns her that there will be more trouble.

Lizzy goes to the high school and convinces the librarian to allow her to take a yearbook to the cafeteria. There, she talks to the cafeteria worker, Louise, who recognizes her. Louise looks through the yearbook to see if she can remember who Heather’s other friends were. After 20 minutes, Louise says that she doesn’t recognize anyone. Lizzy stood out, which is why she remembered her. Lizzy tells Louise to call if she remembers anything else. Louise asks if there is any of the baby soap that helps with sleep still in Althea’s shop. Lizzy didn’t see any when she was there, but she offers to make a new batch for Louise’s granddaughter. Louise gives Lizzy her favorite cookie.