“He’ll be pronounced dead officially,” said Skully.
“You have reason to believe he was killed?” asked Burns once more.
“I do. He told me himself someone was going to kill him for his money.”
“Excuse us a minute.” The two officers walked a couple of paces away, and then she heard Burns say to Skully, “Call Kelly.”
Skully nodded and headed to the police car.
Burns walked back to her. “Why don’t you leave your buggy here and we’ll have an officer take you to the station?”
“Nee, I can drive the buggy there.”
“You’ve had a nasty shock.”
“I’m fine. If you don’t mind, I’ll wait and talk to Detective Kelly myself.”
He raised his eyebrows. “You know Detective Kelly?”
“I do.”
“We’ll still need a statement.”
“I understand. I’ll wait for him.”
While Florence waited, she saw many people coming and going. One man arrived in white coveralls and she hoped he was the medical examiner.
At last, Kelly arrived. Just as he opened his car door, the two officers, Skully and Burns, had words with him. They were talking about her, she thought, and it was confirmed when Kelly looked over at her. After he finished talking to the officers, he closed his car door and walked over to her. “You’re Ettie and Elsa-May’s sister, right?”
“Correct.”
“I met you before when your house burned down. Your gun was missing and—”
“Yes, that’s right. Something like that is hard to forget.”
“I can imagine. No need to get your sisters involved in all this.”
“The cookies!” Florence said.
Kelly frowned at her. “The what?”
“He died after he ate the cookies.” She looked back at the house and started walking to the porch.
“You can’t go in there just yet.”
Florence stopped still and turned to face Kelly. “They’re in the top cupboard in a box. He said someone left them on his doorstep.” She clutched at her throat. “I very nearly ate one.”
Kelly put both his hands up. “Wait here, please.” She sank onto the top step.
When he finally came out, he said, “There’ll be an autopsy.”
“Isn’t there always when someone is murdered?”
He sighed. “Yes. Even when murder is suspected.”
“That’s what I meant.”
“I’ll drive you to the station, so we can record your statement.”
“I’ve got my buggy.”
He pressed his lips firmly together. “How about I follow you to your house, and then we can go from there? I’ll even have someone drive you home again.”
She slowly nodded. “I haven’t had anything to eat. I was going to have lunch before I did my weekly shopping.”
“I’ll call ahead and have something ready for you at the station.”
“That’s very kind of you.”
Kelly smirked. “I know.”
“A toasted cheese sandwich and a caramel latte?”
“Humph. I think that could be arranged.”
“Well, don’t follow me too close behind in case I have to stop suddenly.”
“I understand. On second thought, I’ll have Officer Simons follow you instead and he’ll bring you in to the station.” Florence stared at him. “That way I can supervise your food delivery.”
Her face softened into a smile. “Perfect.”
* * *
After Florence had called the bishop of the Amish community to let him know what had happened, she ate her toasted sandwich and caramel latte in the barren gray interview room. The bread was white and had no flavor. It wasn’t nearly as nice as the sourdough bread she was used to from her regular café. She’d have to delay her lunch plans until the next day. The coffee, on the other hand, was passable, but only just. It could’ve done with more of a caramel flavor.
Detective Kelly walked in. “Nearly finished, I see?”
“Yes, delicious. Thank you.”
“Do you have any objection to this interview being recorded?”
“No, none at all.”
“Good. I’ve got a few questions to ask you.”
“About who killed Levi?”
“If you don’t mind, we’ll start with your name. State your full name and address for the record.”
She told him what he wanted to know, and that was everything from the time she got to Levi’s house until the time she left. “It had to be the cookies.” She drained the last mouthful of latte.
“Thank you. We’ll have this typed out and you’ll need to sign it. That’s all we need from you today.”
“But you haven’t even asked me about Levi’s enemies. He’s got quite a few.”
“If we find he’s been murdered, we’ll get you back in and ask you more questions. It’s only early in the process.”
Florence opened her mouth to speak.
“You weren’t about to leave town, were you, Mrs. Lapp?”
“No, I wasn’t. But don’t you want to know while it’s still fresh in my mind?”
Kelly sighed. “From the size of the man, it was probably just a heart attack.”
“And is that your medical opinion, Detective Kelly? I didn’t know you’d been to medical school as well as police school.”
“Well, I haven’t. That’s what the initial findings indicate.”
“I think I should tell you about all his enemies.”
Detective Kelly glanced at his watch. “How many did you say he had?”
“These are all the people he mentioned to me: the nurse; the man next door who was angry with him; his son who wanted his money; and the man he was going to go into business with, but decided not to. That was many years ago, though, so it probably wasn’t him.”
“I see. And did Mr. Hochstetler have a lot of money? Was he a man of wealth?”
“Not that I know of, but he had the orchard.”
“Ah yes, the apple orchard.”
“That’s right.”
“If we need to know any more about any of those people, I’m sure you’ll be able to tell us all about them. Thank you for coming in, Mrs. Lapp.”
“Is that it?”
“Yes, but as I said, we could very well have questions for you later.”
By his attitude, Florence knew Kelly didn’t think Levi had been murdered and was merely following routine procedure, covering his bases just on the off chance that Levi had been murdered. “I don’t think you’ve been very thorough.”
“You’ve told me everything in minute detail from the time you arrived there today until the time the paramedics arrived, haven’t you?”
“Yes, except you don’t seem very interested in the people who might have killed him.”
“I’ve got other cases, Mrs. Lapp. If I need to know more, I promise you, you’ll be the first person I’ll call. For now, it’s all under control.”
“When will you find out what killed him?”
“Possibly later today. I’ll let you know.”
“Will you? I don’t have a phone anymore. I did have one in the barn, but the phone company kept overcharging me, so I told them I wouldn’t pay the outrageous amount they wanted and they disconnected it.”
“I’ll stop by your house and give you an update. How’s that?”
“I’d like an update as soon as you know anything. I was the one who found him lying there. It’s been very stressful.” Florence wiped a tear from her eye. She normally wasn’t one to cry, but it had been an emotional day.
“I know it has. It was unfortunate you were there when he died. I’ll have someone drive you home.”
“Thank you.”
* * *
It was a different officer from the one who had followed her buggy to her house and then driven her to the police station. Instead of telling him where she lived, Florence gave the officer Ettie and Elsa-May’s address. If anyone
knew what to do about the situation she’d found herself in, it would be them.
Chapter 3
Elsa-May had finally taken her small fluffy dog, Snowy, out for his daily walk. Ettie settled down on the couch with a cup of hot tea. Her favorite time of day was whenever Elsa-May was out of the house. She liked to use the fine bone china teacup that Elsa-May had given her for Christmas. She’d told her oldest sister it was the nicest thing she’d ever seen and she’d meant it. She brought the cup to her lips, holding it with both hands, and hesitated before she took that first sip.
What were those sounds? She listened hard with delight. Silence!
There were no annoying knitting needles clicking together, no slurping of tea, no talking about nothing in particular, and no Snowy pawing on her leg to get up on the couch.
Just as she took a sip of the hot liquid, a loud knock on the door shattered her treasured alone time. The suddenness of the noise had caused Ettie to slop tea down the front of her white apron. She was fuming that Elsa-May had come back too early and startled her like that. Neither of them ever locked the door, so why was her sister knocking at all, let alone so loudly?
Angry words formed in Ettie’s head. She was going to let Elsa-May know exactly what she thought of her. Before she had time to get off the couch to confront her, the door opened and someone stuck her head through. It wasn’t Elsa-May at all, but it was her sister.
“Florence!” Florence was one of Ettie and Elsa-May’s sisters. She used to live a distance away but had moved closer so she could live next door to a good friend of hers, Morrie. Ettie suspected that one day they’d marry, but nothing had been mentioned. Was Florence there to tell them a wedding was finally going to take place?
“Ettie, you’ll never guess what happened.” She rushed toward Ettie and, seeing the cup of tea balanced in her hands, took it from her and placed it on the saucer on the small table beside her.
And just like that, the few precious moments that Ettie only got once a day were ruined and forever lost.
“What is it, Florence?”
“It’s Levi. He’s dead.”
“Lousy Levi?”
“Jah. He died today. I was there.”
Ettie gasped. “Nee!”
“I was. And what’s more, he told me if he was to die, that he would’ve been killed. Someone was out to get him and he knew it. He tried to tell me and I kind of laughed it off and paid him no mind, but it wasn’t a joke because where is he now?”
“Dead.”
“That’s right.”
“Who killed him?” Ettie asked.
“He had a list of people who wanted him dead. Well, four of them, so it wasn’t a long list.”
Ettie rubbed her forehead. “Let’s go back to the beginning. You were with him today?”
“Jah.”
“Where?”
“At his haus. As you know, I visited him every few weeks because I don’t think anybody else did. You remember that he was my husband’s friend, don’t you? Just like he usually did, he made me a cup of tea, and when we sat down and I started drinking the tea, he told me that he thought someone was going to kill him.”
Ettie shook her head. “I should’ve asked this first. How did he die?”
“They don’t know for sure, but it had to be poison.” Florence told her exactly how things had played out. “I’ve just come back from the police station. Your nice Detective Kelly made me a sandwich and a cup of coffee and I told him all about it.”
“You had to make a statement?”
“Jah, and now there’s an autopsy and they’re testing the cookies too.”
“Cookies? What cookies? You never mentioned cookies.”
“Didn’t I? That’s the most important part. He had cookies. He said someone left them on the step outside his front door, and he tried to make me eat one. I wouldn’t, and I was shocked that he did since he thought someone was going to kill him.”
“He might’ve been thinking someone was going to shoot him with a gun, or something like that. He might not have thought of poison,” Ettie said.
Florence looked around. “Where’s Elsa-May?”
“She’s out walking Snowy. She should be back soon.”
“Your nice detective asked me not to bother you, but you’d find out that Levi died. Everyone will know soon and it would be weird of me not to tell you, wouldn’t it?”
“Of course it would. You say they’re testing the cookies?”
“They are.”
Ettie nibbled on a fingernail. “He was the type of man to have a lot of enemies.”
“No one liked him,” Florence said.
Ettie slowly nodded. “He was so cranky all the time.”
“And he cheated people, but he always had an excuse to justify it to himself.”
“So I’ve heard.” Ettie looked longingly at her hot tea, which was growing cold.
“He didn’t know how to make friends. I don’t know how his wife put up with him for all those years. Or how my husband ever came to be his friend.”
When Elsa-May came back from her walk, she was surprised to see Florence. Elsa-May let Snowy go and he ran over to Florence to say hello.
“Hello, Snowy.” Florence leaned down and ruffled his furry head.
“Elsa-May, Lousy Levi’s dead,” Ettie told her.
“He was murdered,” Florence added.
Elsa-May’s jaw dropped open. Florence filled her in on everything that had happened.
“Did the police say they think it’s suspicious?” Elsa-May leaned down and unclipped Snowy’s lead, and, satisfied with having received attention from their visitor, the dog went to his bed in the corner of the room.
“They’re doing an autopsy,” Ettie said, “which is proof that they think there is a possibility it was murder.”
“Did John want an autopsy?” Elsa-May sat down in her usual chair.
Florence tipped her head to the side. “John?”
“His son,” Ettie said to Florence.
“Oh, right. I’d forgotten that was his name. I haven’t talked to him. I called the bishop from the police station. He would be tracking him down. Detective Kelly suspects that Levi had a heart attack because of his size. He said that was the medical examiner’s initial findings without doing the full autopsy thing. When I told the detective that Levi said someone was going to kill him, that made him investigate further.”
“It’s too much of a coincidence that he thought he was going to be killed and then he died on that very day,” Ettie said.
“Who would’ve benefited from his death, Florence?” Elsa-May asked.
“I don’t think you’re asking the right question,” Ettie said to Elsa-May.
“What are your thoughts, Ettie?” Florence asked.
“Levi angered so many people and maybe that’s why he was killed, out of hate or out of revenge.”
“Good point,” Elsa-May said. “As well as finding someone who benefited, we also need to look at who he had wronged.”
Florence shook her head. “We could come up with an awfully long list.”
“Let’s just wait and see what the autopsy turns up, shall we?” Elsa-May asked. “That would be the smart thing to do. No point wasting effort and time.”
Florence looked between the two of them. “So does that mean you’ll both help me?”
“Help you to do what?” Elsa-May blinked rapidly.
“Find out who killed Levi, of course.”
“That’s what the police do,” Elsa-May said. “Detective Kelly doesn’t like it when we interfere.”
Florence pouted. “You’ve done it before.”
“But only when we … only when …”
“What Ettie is trying to say is that sometimes Kelly asks for our help. Other times, we just slipped into things by accident.”
Florence pressed her back into the chair. “You won’t help me?”
“We’re not saying that. Why don’t we just wait and see what the testing results
are?” Elsa-May picked up her knitting from the bag by her feet.
“I suppose that’s the most sensible thing to do.” Florence nodded.
“Exactly,” Elsa-May agreed, popping her knitting glasses onto her nose.
When Florence finally left just before dinnertime, Ettie was bothered by the whole thing. “What do you make of it all?”
Elsa-May continued to click her knitting needles together. “He could have died from natural causes. He was old and he was overweight. The doctor had to give me a stern warning about carrying too much weight, remember?”
“Jah, and you have lost a little bit of weight since then.”
“A little? I’ve lost quite a few pounds. Several in fact.”
Ettie stared at her, wondering from where those pounds had been shed.
Elsa-May now glared at Ettie over the top of her glasses. “Don’t you think so?”
“Undoubtedly,” Ettie said, not daring to disagree with her older sister. “I wonder if he died from natural causes or whether somebody did him in.”
“As we said before, if he was killed there would be a long line of suspects. It might be hard to figure out who did it.”
“I know. I remember going back years ago there being complaints that he never paid his workers fairly.”
Elsa-May chuckled.
“It’s not funny.”
“He’d tell them he’d pay a certain amount and he’d never give them that amount.”
“I know. He was dreadful like that,” Ettie said.
Elsa-May nodded and kept knitting. She was so practiced at it that she never had to look at what she was doing until she got to the end of the row. “The worst thing was that he gave Amish apple growers a bad name.”
“Who will take over his orchard?”
“John, I guess. John’s his only relative—that I know of, anyway.”
* * *
A few days later, Ettie was again settling herself down with a cup of hot tea. She went through the same ritual that she normally did when Snowy and Elsa-May were on their daily walk. She listened carefully to the beautiful sounds of silence and wholeheartedly appreciated hearing nothing at all. Slowly, she brought the cup up to her lips ... and then Florence burst through the door without even knocking.
Amish Cover-Up Page 2
