"Since you're so right about everything, you make the phone call."
Elsa-May sighed. "Give it to me then."
After Elsa-May had taken her glasses from the top of her dress where she always hung them, she popped them onto the end of her nose. Once she had unfolded the paper, she picked up the phone's receiver and dialed the number.
Elsa-May told the receptionist it was vitally important that she speak with her boss. Finally, after much persuasion, the receptionist put her through to Mr. Southerland. After she explained she was calling about the man who’d gone missing, Earl Quinn, that got the lawyer talking.
"Yes, I remember that job well. I saw in the paper they found his body."
Elsa-May continued, "I was talking to his wife earlier this morning and she told me Earl had retained you and you were trying to undo the adoption or something."
"I told him it wasn’t possible. To whom am I speaking? Are you a relative?”
"No. You see, a friend of mine has gone missing and I have reason to believe that it's connected with the murder and disappearance of Earl Quinn."
"And you’d like to engage my services to find her? I can give you the name of a good private investigator if that’s what you’re after. Other than that, I don’t see how I can help you. Unless you had something to do with his disappearance and you're in need of a lawyer?"
"No. She's only been missing for a day and she could turn up at any time. The thing is to help find my friend, I need to know who adopted Earl Quinn’s daughter." Elsa-May heard a chuckle on the other end of the line.
“I can’t tell you anything like that.” His tone was now abrupt.
“It would really help us if you did.”
“If you’ll excuse me, my next appointment is here.”
The phone clicked in her ear.
"Thank you,” Elsa-May said full of sarcasm as she replaced the receiver.
“Nothing?” Ettie asked.
“He wouldn’t tell me anything and then he hung up on me.”
"Quinn’s wife said the family had a lot of money and if it was a private adoption, that means that there’s every possibility that Quinn and his first wife knew the couple who adopted the baby, or knew someone who knew them.”
“I see what you mean. These things aren’t generally advertised in the paper. Unless, the lawyer put the two couples together.”
“Hmm. There’s always that I suppose. I didn’t think of that,” Ettie said blinking rapidly.
Chapter 9
When they were back home, Elsa-May slumped into her chair with Snowy on her lap. “Hopefully, Ava will have good news for us later today. And then we’ll have to tell poor old Amos what’s going on.”
“Yes, he’ll be worried.”
A while later they heard a buggy coming toward the house. Ettie placed her needlework sampler beside her, got to her feet, and looked out the window. "It's Ava," she called over her shoulder at her sister.
Elsa-May finished her row of knitting and then pushed her knitting into the bag by her feet. As usual, Snowy was asleep on his bed in the corner of the room. Ettie opened the door, hoping that Ava would have some good news for them and that she'd found Gertie was visiting friends.
From the look on Ava's face as she walked to the door, Ettie knew Ava didn’t have good news.
Ettie stepped back. "Come in."
"Let’s go through to the kitchen and tell us what you found out. I'll put the tea kettle on," Elsa-May said.
“No one's heard anything, and even Vida didn't know Gertie was going anywhere. And Gertie and Vida are very close." Ava sat down at the kitchen table.
"Now I am worried," Ettie said.
"Me too," Elsa-May said as she put the kettle on the stove, and then she sat down with them.
"She didn't even tell Amos she was going away, and she usually does so that he knows to water her plants," Ettie added.
Elsa-May shook her head, looking downward.
"Tomorrow we’ll go through her address book and start calling people. That's all we can do," Ettie said. “We took your advice, Ava.”
“What advice was that?”
“We went to see Mrs. Quinn?”
“Did you?”
“Jah.”
Ettie and Elsa-May proceeded to tell Ava what they had found out from Earl Quinn's wife.
"What if he was killed to keep him away from his biological daughter?" Ava asked.
"You mean so they could keep the daughter all to themselves or something?"
Ava nodded.
"That thought occurred to me, too," Ettie said.
"You never said that, Ettie."
Ettie stared at her sister who was staring right back at her. "It was a fairly obvious thing to think. I didn't know I would have to say it out loud. Mrs. Quinn said her husband was fixated on that daughter."
"I think this is something that we should tell Detective Kelly," Elsa-May said.
"We haven't found Gertie, and we can't let him know she's missing because then we'll have to tell him she witnessed the killing."
Ava nodded. "Yes, and revealing that could potentially put her in danger. If she's not already in danger."
"Thanks for checking into things for us, Ava."
"Are you doing anything tomorrow?" Ettie asked Ava.
"Not that I know of. Just the usual."
"Will you take us to Gertie's place tomorrow? Then we’ll call everybody in her address book, and then will you take us to the library so we can get onto one of the computers and see just what we can find out about Earl Quinn’s boss, Harold Appleby? I’m following a hunch."
"Okay."
When the kettle whistled, Elsa-May got up to make a pot of tea. Just as she had gotten the cups and saucers out of the cupboard, Snowy barked loudly from the living room.
Ettie stood up. "I'll see what's upset him." When she saw him pawing at the front door, she was sure someone was just about to knock. She picked Snowy up, opened the door and saw Detective Kelly walking up the steps.
"Good afternoon, Detective."
"Hello, Mrs. Smith. You've got a good watchdog there."
Ettie gave a little chuckle. "Come in, we were just about to have a cup of tea."
"Perfect timing."
Ettie walked into the kitchen with Detective Kelly behind her. "Elsa-May, we’ll need another cup."
When everybody had exchanged greetings, Ava made the excuse that she should be getting home. Being mindful of Snowy’s stitches, Ettie popped him into Elsa-May’s bedroom before she walked Ava to the front door.
"You don't have to go, Ava."
"He probably wants to talk to the both of you in private."
Ettie nodded. "You're probably right."
"I'll see you tomorrow, Ettie. I'll come at around nine o'clock. Will that be all right?"
"Nine sounds good. Bye, Ava, give our love to Jeremiah." Ettie closed the door and went back to the kitchen and sat down.
"I hope I didn't scare her away," Kelly said.
"No, not at all. Now, what did you find out about Simon Fisher? Did you have a chance to look into that file that you were talking about?"
"Yes, I had a look and unfortunately there wasn't much information. There’s nothing in the file that would lead me to believe that it wasn't a random hit-and-run."
Elsa-May placed a cup of tea in front of the detective and one in front of Ettie and then sat down. "That's a shame. She's certain it wasn't accidental."
"And what did you find out from Gertie? Anything extra? She wasn’t home when we went to her property today."
“Did you found any clues?”
He shook his head. “Not while I was there. I’ve got men still out there combing the area. Well, any information from Gertie?”
Ettie looked at the table in front of her and took a sip of tea hoping that Elsa-May would answer. When Elsa-May stayed silent as well, Ettie had no choice but to answer his question.
"She wasn't home when we went there, either. We're going b
ack to visit her tomorrow."
"Very well. And if you find out anything don't waste time in letting me know."
"Getting back to the man who was murdered, not Simon Fisher, but the man that Ettie found."
"Yes?" Kelly asked.
"We talked to his wife today," Ettie said, and then she braced herself to be told off severely, or threatened with arrest for something such as obstructing justice.
After a moment of silence, Kelly said through gritted teeth, "And why would you do that?"
"We wanted to find out why he was in that area and we thought she might know something."
"She didn't know anything ten years ago according to the file. And when I spoke to her, I was giving her the news that her husband's body had finally been found."
"Maybe you should talk to her again."
"Why? What did she tell you?” The detective shook his head. "I don't know why you take it upon yourselves to do these stupid things."
Ettie couldn't tell him that it was because their friend was missing. But if Gertie didn't turn up in a day or two, she would have to tell him.
"You know what Ettie gets like; she just can't help herself."
"I count on you to be the voice of reason, Mrs. Lutz."
"I had to accompany Ettie to keep her out of trouble. That’s why I was there."
The detective shook his head. "Just give me the information you have. I know she said something to you or the both of you would not be acting this strange."
"Did the file mention anything about Earl finding his biological daughter that he had given up for adoption?
"Not a thing. What do you know about that?"
Ettie took over. "When Earl was married to a woman called Julie they had a baby and adopted her out to a wealthy couple. Elsa-May and I think that Earl, and his wife at the time, might have known the couple they allowed to adopt their baby. They used a lawyer to do the adoption, to handle it privately.”
Detective Kelly put his elbow on the table and rested his chin on his palm. "And I suppose you’re going to tell me next that the adoptive parents lived in Lancaster County?"
"No, maybe Pittsburgh," Elsa-May said.
"And I don't suppose you have the address of this lawyer?" Kelly asked.
"No. But we do have his phone number," Elsa-May said.
"I'll get that from you before I go. As much as I appreciate this information, I need to warn you that you are treading a fine line." He took a sip of tea. "That's the disadvantage of taking over this case and not having done it from the start.”
"Was it one of Crowley's cases?"
"No. Crowley would've gathered all the finer details like the one you've just supplied me with."
"It's a wonder the wife didn't mention anything at the time," Ettie said.
"The first wife or the second wife?" Kelly asked.
"Either one, I suppose," Ettie said.
"I think the second wife just wanted to ignore the fact that her husband had another child. She was clearly irritated by it, and still seems upset that he was spending time and money trying to find her." Elsa-May took a sip of tea.
"You think it was a case of 'out of sight, out of mind?' She didn’t want to think about him looking for his child so she failed to mention it to us?" Kelly asked.
"Perhaps. Earl didn't tell his second wife that he was going to Pittsburgh that day to find his daughter, in an effort to get her back. Or maybe he did, and she wanted to keep that from her children. They might not know they have a half-sister. If she told the police, then further information might have come out."
"I think the first thing Ettie said could be right. If she thought he was going to Pittsburgh for work, she wouldn't think to mention the other business to the police."
“We need facts. All you have are vague and wonderful assumptions,” Kelly said.
“Is your tea hot enough, Detective?”
Kelly looked at his tea and then took a sip. “Just right. It has occurred to me that your friend might have made the whole thing up. She didn’t want to accept that her husband died by accident, or at the hands of someone careless, so she made up a fantastical scenario.”
“No, she wouldn’t do that.”
“She might if she’s got too much time on her hands,” Kelly said. “We see things like that all the time. It’s amazing what the memory can do. Our memories are more subjective than you think and often influenced by outside factors such as suggestion.”
Ettie sipped her tea, mentally blocking her ears to what Kelly was saying. If Gertie said she and her husband had witnessed their tenant killing a man, then that’s exactly what had happened.
Chapter 10
The next day, Ava stopped the buggy and Elsa-May and Ettie were quick to hurry to Gertie's house, hoping to avoid Amos, but he was already right by the door before they got there.
“Do you know where she is?” he called out as they approached the house.
“Nee. We’ve had no word. We’re going to start calling some people.”
“I’ve been watering her plants even though she never asked me to.”
“That’s nice of you, Amos. I’m sure she’ll appreciate that.”
He leaned forward and opened the front door for them and then stepped back. While Amos stayed outside talking to Ava, Ettie and Elsa-May made their way to Gertie’s address book.
“What excuse will we have for calling them?”
“Tell them Gertie said she was going away, but you forgot where she said she was going.”
Ettie raised her eyebrows. There’d be a lot of people thinking she was losing her mind if she said that. “Why don’t you make the calls?”
“Nee. People like you better. You’re friendlier.”
“Okay. I’ll be back in a moment. You stay and look for anything that might tell us where she is.” Ettie took the small address book with her and headed to the shanty that housed the telephone. When she was on her fifth call, she was starting to feel like it was a waste of time. None of the people knew anything. If Gertie had been visiting someone, someone would’ve known something since news traveled around the community like wildfire.
It was useless. Heading back to the house, Ettie was more worried than ever and her legs felt like lead weights as she walked up the three porch steps.
“Well?” Elsa-May met her at the door.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing at all?”
“No one knew a thing.”
Elsa-May leaned forward and whispered so Amos couldn’t hear her. “We might have to talk to Kelly about Gertie. It's getting to be too long.”
Ettie nodded and hoped they hadn’t left things too late already. As she walked further into the house, she found Amos in the kitchen. “You can’t remember anything Gertie said to you that was out of the ordinary?”
He shook his head and then tipped his hat back further. “I didn’t talk to her after she spoke to you and Elsa-May. She was gone the next morning. I know that because I can look through from my kitchen window and see her having breakfast in the morning. She’s always there at seven."
“We’ll let you know when we know anything, Amos. And if she happens to come home, can you call Jeremiah and Ava?”
He nodded.
“You’ve got our number, Amos?” Ava asked.
“Jah.”
“Good. We should go,” Ava said to Ettie and Elsa-May.
* * *
Elsa-May and Ettie sat next to Ava at the library as their young friend scrolled through the search items on the Internet. They started with the place where Earl used to work.
“Now, what if Earl allowed someone he knew at work to adopt the baby?”
“It would have to be the owner, or one of the bosses because it was someone who was wealthy,” Ava said.
“Unless they won the lottery,” Elsa-May said.
Ettie stared at Elsa-May and blinked a couple of times. “Let’s just do the broad brush stroke first, before we start filling in around the corners.”
“Ah, good memory,” Ettie said.
“Denke.”
Ava entered the words in the search bar. “It says here the founding director of Parton Industries is a man called Harold Appleby.”
“Yes, that’s him. And what does Parton Industries do?” Elsa-May asked.
After a few seconds, and more tapping of the keys, Ava said, “They’re glass manufacturers.”
“That’s right.”
Ava turned around and stared at Elsa-May. “The point of the Internet is to look up things you don’t know.”
“I know.” Elsa-May looked at Ettie. “What shall we have Ava find out?”
“Earl was working in glass, as we know, so what you’ve found out is that we have our facts right, Ava. I’m wondering if Earl gave Appleby the baby? Mrs. Quinn mentioned a falling out between Earl and his boss. Perhaps Earl wanted to confront him face-to-face?”
“It’s possible, I suppose. Can you bring up a picture of Harold Appleby, Ava?”
A few seconds later, there were pictures of Harold Appleby on the screen. “Oh, he’s old,” Ava said. “For some reason I expected him to be younger.”
“If I’m right, he adopted Earl’s daughter many years ago and everyone was younger back then. But he does look old. How old would you say he looks, Elsa-May?” Ettie asked.
“Mid sixties to early seventies.”
“See if you can find out if he’s got children, Ava.”
After tapping on the keys, Ava said, “He’s divorced and has two children, he was divorced just over ten years ago.”
“Just before Earl was killed.” Ettie tapped a bony finger on her chin. “What are the children’s names?”
Ava scrolled through Facebook pages and then other social media accounts. “No, I can’t find anything about them. That’s all I can find, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry at all, Ava.”
“Jah, you’ve done a great job,” Ettie said.
“We’ll walk to the station from here thanks, Ava. You go home. I think we might be there for quite some time.”
“You think he’ll lock us up?” Ettie asked about Kelly.
Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 4 Page 27
