by Debby Giusti
The hesitancy in her voice told him there was something more. Something she had not revealed. Something that frightened her or even worse, something she was not willing to admit.
The turnoff to the back path appeared on the left. “We must not take any unnecessary risks.”
“I’ll do whatever you say, Zeke, if that’s what you need to hear.”
What did he need to hear?
He needed to hear that Becca was an Amish woman who had been chased, but not because of anything she had done.
What if she had committed a crime?
He would have to walk away from her. Would he be strong enough? He looked at her pretty face. The way he felt, walking away from Becca would be impossible.
FIFTEEN
Turning onto the path unsettled Becca. She had been fine earlier. Now she was nervous and on edge. A sense of claustrophobia washed over her as the branches of the trees closed in around the buggy. She leaned back, wanting to climb into the rear and hide.
Instead she clenched her jaw, determined to face whatever they would find.
“The spot where we discovered the blue cloth is just ahead,” Zeke said. “From there on, we will leave the buggy and travel by foot. I will hold back the branches so you do not tear your dress.”
“Hattie was so good to give me this dress. She made it for Irene, didn’t she?”
He shrugged. “My aunt wanted to make certain Irene had Amish clothing to wear once she came back to the mountain.”
“Like the blue wedding dress?”
“That was a long time ago.”
“Two years is not long enough to get over losing someone you loved, Zeke.”
He pulled the mare to a stop and turned to look at her. His gaze was heavy with emotion, probably sorrow for his love lost.
Becca wondered about her own past. Had she loved and lost, as well?
“I fell in love with being in love, Becca. I was young and foolish. Irene made herself out to be someone she was not. She told me we would live Amish after she had a little time to experience the outside world. I should have known the plain life would never make her happy.”
“Did you think about leaving the Amish way, as well?”
“My mind was filled with all sorts of thoughts. Irene was not a lost love. She was a fickle confusion that happens to young men at times, especially young men who do not think with the wisdom of years.”
“Stopping by her home yesterday must have brought back memories that made it seem so real again.”
“Yah, it was real, but twisted and manipulative on her part, and a mistake on mine.” He pointed to the broken twigs and the place where they had found the swatch of fabric. “The day passes. We must explore this area and then get back to the safety of the farm.”
He climbed from the buggy and helped her down. She pulled the bottom of her skirt up just a bit and held the extra material around her knees so it would not snag on the branches.
True to his word, Zeke pushed aside anything that could scrape her skin or pull at her dress.
He went first, forging the way. The forest was eerily still as they trampled through the underbrush.
“I see a path of broken twigs, Becca. You were running through such dense bramble. No wonder you were scraped and scratched.”
The memory of that night returned full force. Her heart pounded as if it had just happened today. She grabbed Zeke’s hand.
He turned, concern evident in his gaze. “Are you all right?”
“Maybe we should go back to the buggy.”
“We are close to the ravine. There is not much farther to walk.”
“Ravine?”
“Did you not know? There is a waterfall and a steep drop-off.”
“I heard water before I fell. Sometime later, I wandered along the road, but that’s all I remember until I woke at Hattie’s house.”
“You might have fallen over the eastern edge of the ravine that winds down to the roadway below. That’s where I found you. Had you gone farther up the mountain and more to the west, you would have come to the waterfall. There is a road that winds to the top, but also a path not far from here. The drop-off is dangerously steep. An Englisch boy fell from there some years ago. His body was never found.”
She shivered, thinking of the dark night and not knowing which direction to turn.
“Perhaps the man who chased me was trying to warn me,” she mused.
“Why do you say that?”
“I believe he told me to stop, Zeke. If he knew of the steep drop-off, he could have been trying to protect me instead of doing me harm.”
“It is a possibility, yet something caused you to run in the first place.”
He was right. She had run to get away from something or someone, no matter why the man had chased after her.
Zeke squeezed her hand and ushered her forward. She sensed his support and concern. Her fear, while still in the back of her mind, became more manageable.
Although thankful to have returned in daylight, she shivered again, thinking of her plight during the dark night.
“Here, Becca.” Zeke pointed to a twisted branch. “Another piece of fabric, low to the ground. You came this way.”
She reached down to retrieve the small piece of blue cloth and heard the distant sound of falling water.
Her mouth went dry, and she clutched Zeke’s hand all the more tightly.
He shoved aside a large branch and pointed. “We are near the edge. Be careful.”
She stepped into the partial clearing and peered down, seeing the sloping mountain and the large ravine down which she must have fallen.
“Stay back while I check the edge,” Zeke said.
Releasing his hand, she struggled to control the fear that threatened to overtake her again. In her mind, she heard the man chasing after her and felt herself running toward the edge of the drop-off and then tumbling down.
Zeke approached the edge. Glancing down, he narrowed his gaze.
“What do you see?” she asked.
“What appears to be a roll of carpet that has lodged against one of the boulders far below.”
Her gut tightened. “What color carpet?”
“It is hard to say. The backing is beige.”
Could it be the carpet she saw in her dreams? If so, why was it on the side of the mountain where she had fallen? Had she seen the carpet that night? Was that the reason it kept playing over and over in her mind?
Instead of answering questions about who she was, the search through the woods was making her more confused.
She turned, holding her dress, ready to run back the way they had come.
“Becca,” Zeke called after her.
Just like the night in the woods. She was running from someone again. This time she was running away from Zeke.
* * *
Zeke raced after Becca and grabbed her arm. “Everything is okay. You do not need to run from me.”
She pulled in a deep breath, her eyes wide as she gazed up at him and then looked back to the edge of the ravine. “I’m scared.”
“It is only rolled carpet. I have rope in the buggy. Stay here and I will be back in a few minutes.”
“What do you plan to do?”
“I will go down the side of the hill to look at the carpet.”
“It’s too dangerous. You could slip and fall.”
“I rappelled down the mountain often as a boy and called it sport. Besides you tumbled down that same hill as far as we know.”
“I survived, but now I have no memory. This is not what you want.”
She peered at the ledge again. “I walked out of this area somehow because you found me on the roadway. Let’s go back to the road and see if we can find a path that leads to the lower outcrop.”
“I could lower myself without
problem, Becca.”
“And how would you get up here again? I could not pull you up, and I cannot drive the buggy. You would have to hike to the road and then climb up the way we came.”
Realizing she was right, he guided her back to the overhang, and together, they studied the terrain below. “What you said is true, Becca. It looks like a deer trail leads toward the road. We might be able to come to that area without much searching.”
They retraced their steps. The path Zeke had cleared earlier provided an easier way out, but they both sighed with relief when they arrived at the buggy.
The ride to the main road did not take long, and they soon found a turnoff and small clearing.
“I will cut a path for you, Becca. Unless you want to stay with Sophie.”
She rolled her eyes. “You know I want to go with you.”
He smiled. “I thought that is what you would say.”
After tethering Sophie to one of the trees and satisfied that the buggy would not be seen by anyone passing on the road, they began their ascent up the mountain.
“There,” he said, pointing ahead. “Do you see the trail through the forest?”
“A deer trail?” she asked.
“Probably. It is what I saw from above. The walk will be easier now. We will not have to worry about the bramble and branches.”
Sounds of a car on the roadway caused them to turn. Through the break in the trees, they saw the limousine racing up the mountain.
“It looks like the producer is returning to the studio.”
“His chauffeur is driving too fast,” Becca warned.
Zeke turned back to the path. “We must hurry. Some of the other movie personnel might follow the producer to the studio.”
The deer path eased their climb and before long they approached the area Zeke had spied from above.
“Where’s the carpet?” Becca asked, glancing around them. “It’s not here.”
“We cannot see it from this angle, yet we spied it from above. It must be close by.” He headed toward a cluster of rocks. “Perhaps it is hidden behind some of those boulders.”
She pulled at his arm and glanced up. “I can see the waterfall.”
“It is positioned a little to the west, but you can hear the falling water. Someone stumbling along at night could easily have gone the wrong direction and headed toward the falls.”
“You mean Gott was with me, directing my steps so I went to the best part of the mountain from which to topple?”
He nodded and smiled. “That is exactly what I am saying. It was Gott’s will that you survived that fall for which I am glad.”
She squeezed his hand. “I am, as well.”
“Now let us look for the roll of carpet.”
They searched behind the nearby boulders and found nothing. Zeke was disheartened and looked up again at the rim of the ravine where they had stood just a short time ago. The carpet could not have disappeared.
“Zeke, what’s that?” Becca pointed toward a stand of trees where the path continued to weave through the undergrowth.
“It looks like a continuation of the deer trail.” He smiled and pulled her along after him. “You have discovered the problem. This first clearing is not the one where the carpet was laying. We must travel farther along the path.”
They hurried through the dense trees until Becca gasped for breath. “You’re going too fast. I need to rest.”
He slowed down. “Sorry. I was not thinking.”
“You were thinking of finding what we came to see.” She pulled in a series of deep breaths. “Okay, I’m ready. But let’s go a bit more slowly.”
He kept her in mind as he led the way through the forest and was relieved when they exited into the daylight. He looked up, realizing this was directly below the place where they had stood.
“The carpet should be behind those boulders.”
Hurrying forward, he nodded as he spied the rolled rug.
Bending down, he pulled on the stiff backing. “Is this what you’ve been seeing in your dreams, Becca?”
She gasped. “The green trellis design. The exact pattern I see in my dreams. If we unroll it, we should find a large bloodstain.”
He tugged at the rope holding the carpet, released the knot and did the same with a second cord that held it bound.
Once the two ropes were free, he pulled back on the edge of the carpet.
Becca stepped closer.
“I don’t understand.”
They both looked down at the large spot. Not a dark black bloodstain. Instead, an area of the carpet was void of color.
“It looks like someone tried to clean the carpet with bleach that took out the color.”
“The bleach took something else out,” she whispered.
He leaned closer.
Becca’s eyes widened. “It took out the bloodstain.”
SIXTEEN
Becca’s dreams about the carpet had been real, but without the bloodstain, there was no evidence to provide the sheriff should he become involved.
“Someone hurled the carpet over the edge of the ravine in the same area where they thought I had fallen.” She tried to fit the pieces together. “Did they want my body to be found along with the rug or were they convinced no one would find either me or the rug?”
Zeke shook his head. “Maybe they hoped the sheriff would think you had fallen while throwing the rug over the edge.”
“How could I have moved the carpet?”
“It is not that large of a rug.” He glanced at the roll of carpet. “Probably six feet by eight feet in size. You could carry it, but it would have been a struggle. Or perhaps someone helped you?”
“The man chasing me?”
“It does not make sense,” Zeke agreed.
“Nothing makes sense.” She worried her fingers. “Now I’m even more convinced that something very, very bad happened to cause me to run scared that night. But what?”
“You were at the movie studio. You must know someone there or you worked there.”
“Perhaps Caleb will learn of someone from housekeeping who has not showed up for work these last few days.”
A sound came from above. Zeke grabbed her hand and pulled her under the overarching ledge.
“What are you—” she started to object.
He covered her mouth with his hand, making her pulse race. She wrinkled her brow and pulled free of his hold.
He held his finger to his lips. “Shhh.”
She shrugged and mouthed, What?
He pointed to the ledge above them.
Listen, he said silently.
She read his lips and turned her ear, struggling to comprehend what she was hearing. Voices?
A pebble fell from above, followed by a few more stones. Someone was standing on the ledge.
Zeke held up two fingers.
Two men? she mouthed.
He nodded, then pulled her back even farther.
“The carpet’s still there,” one man said. “Looks like the ropes binding the rug came undone.”
“Which probably happened when we tossed it over the ledge.”
“I told you not to worry. The cops will find it only when we want them to. First we need to stage the scene.”
“I’ve got everything we need.”
“Good. We can’t have any mistakes.”
The voices faded as the men left the ledge.
Zeke grabbed Becca’s hand. “We have to hurry back to the buggy. Follow me, but don’t make any noise.”
She nodded and started after him. When they were almost to the forested area, she accidently stepped on a brittle branch that broke with a loud snap.
Her heart stopped. She turned and glanced up. A man ran back to the ledge. Tall, with disheveled hair that hung around his neck
. His eyes widened when he saw her.
Becca remained frozen in place for half a second before she ran after Zeke and disappeared in the dense forest.
* * *
“Stop! I’ll find you. You can’t hide from me.”
Hearing the man shout, Zeke guided Becca through the underbrush, his pulse racing. “We need to hurry.”
The man on the ledge had seen Becca and would come looking for her. Could they get to the buggy and down the mountain in time?
They ran along the path, then slowed as they came into the initial clearing. Zeke glanced up and nodded before he motioned her forward.
Becca kept her eyes on the path as if she was worried about tripping and falling. Zeke did not need to tell her that sound carried in the forest. Any man-made noise would alert the men to their exact location.
Relieved when they arrived at the buggy, Zeke tied one of the carpet ropes around a tree set back about a yard from the roadway.
“The rope will alert us to the turn-off when we return.” He helped Becca into the buggy.
“We’re coming back?”
“If we need to retrieve the carpet for any reason.”
He grabbed the reins and encouraged Sophie forward. Before guiding her onto the roadway, Zeke glanced up the mountain, searching for any sign of the two men.
Once they were on the pavement, he urged Sophie to increase her pace. He glanced back, relieved that no one was following them.
“I will tell Caleb about the carpet, in case the studio realizes something criminal has happened,” he said as his focus turned back to the road. “The Amish do not usually get involved with the sheriff’s office unless law enforcement questions them, but if the sheriff starts an investigation, they will need to know what we found.”
“Law enforcement worries me, Zeke. If they are told, they might come looking for me.”
“I will not mention your involvement to Caleb, so there will be no reason for anyone to draw you into the investigation.”
“Do you think I am involved?”
“I know nothing at this point, Becca, and neither do you unless you have remembered something more.”
