Elsa-May screwed up her nose. “I might as well go when you’re out with Florence.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to go when I get back?”
“Do you want me to wait until then, Ettie?”
Ettie smiled, pleased that it was that easy. “Jah, I would like that. Denke.”
“Nee! I’m not going to wait, because it makes absolutely no sense.”
Just then, Ettie heard a buggy.
“Here she is now. Are you ready?”
“Jah.” As Ettie headed to Florence’s buggy, she put out of her mind that her favorite time of day had gone and she’d have to wait another day for a chance to be alone. Ettie climbed into the buggy and asked, “Do we know when the funeral is yet?”
“Not yet. I haven’t heard. We could go to Levi’s house and see if John’s there yet.”
“Is that before or after we talk to the neighbor?” Ettie asked.
“We might find out what we can from the neighbor before we attempt to talk with John. I’m sure he’ll stay at his father’s house.”
“Good idea.”
Ettie settled back in the buggy. It was nice going in a buggy for a change. Because she and her sister lived in a small house with very little land, they didn’t have a buggy. People in the community collected them for meetings, and when they were running their own personal errands, they traveled by taxi. As Florence hummed a hymn, Ettie closed her eyes and enjoyed the rumbling sounds of the buggy wheels and the rhythmic clip-clopping of the horse’s hooves while a gentle breeze tickled her face.
“Ettie, Ettie.”
Ettie felt someone poking her in the shoulder. She’d fallen asleep. She straightened up and looked around. They were near Levi’s orchard. “Oh, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I had enough sleep last night.”
Florence chortled. “Never mind. We’re here now.”
Ettie looked around again as she woke more fully. “Do you have a plan? What are you going to say?”
“I haven’t thought about it yet.”
“Quick, think about it now before we go in. We can’t ask him if he gave Levi a batch of poisoned cookies, or if he killed him, so what are we going to say?”
“I’ll think of something.”
Both ladies stepped down from the buggy, and then Florence strode toward the neighbor’s house with such a sense of purpose that Ettie guessed her sister had already figured out something to say.
Ettie hurried to catch up. “Have you remembered his name at least?”
“His first name is Eric.”
When they got closer to the house, they saw a man to one side painting a section of the porch. He looked up at them and carried the paintbrush as he walked toward them. “Hello.”
“Hello. Are you the owner here?”
“I am. Who’s asking?”
“I’m Florence Lapp and this is my sister, Ettie Smith.”
He looked from Florence to Ettie and then back to Florence. “Is this about Levi?”
“It is. I wonder if we might take a moment of your time.”
“I’m listening.” He looked down and held the paintbrush out. “I’ll just put this aside for now.” He went around the side of the house and came back a few moments later, dusting off his hands on the sides of his pants.
Florence continued as though there’d been no interruption. “I was with him when he died the other day. He mentioned you wanted to buy the orchard from him.”
His face lit up. “Is his son going to sell it to me?”
“You’ll have to ask him that. I think he’s arriving here soon. He’s coming for the funeral, of course.”
“Well, I’ve got a complaint about Levi. He took money off me and I need it back. I’ve been watching and waiting, hoping his son will get here soon, so I can see what he’ll do about it.”
The news didn’t surprise Ettie and she wondered if that was going to be a familiar theme as people gathered, asking to get paid back for Levi’s questionable actions. She wouldn’t want to be in John’s shoes.
At that moment, a red sports car squealed up the driveway of Levi’s property next door.
“Could that be John now?” Ettie asked Florence, as the three of them stared at the red car.
When a middle-aged man with a mop of dark hair got out of the car, Florence knew it was John. He was much older than when she’d last seen him. “That’s him.” A woman got out of the passenger-side door and together they walked up to the front door of the house. “That’ll be John’s wife, Connie,” Florence added. “I’m pretty sure that’s her name.”
“We should talk to them.” Ettie wanted to get away from Eric and find out if John knew about the money Eric had just accused Lousy Levi of taking.
“You better tell them I’ll be over to see them before too long as well. I need to get what’s owed me.”
They said goodbye to Eric and headed over to Levi’s house.
Ettie whispered, “We still didn’t get his full name, but he got ours.”
“Come to think of it, you’re right.”
Chapter 6
The door of Levi’s house closed when Ettie and Florence approached.
“Hello,” Florence called out when she saw movement through one of the windows.
“Here are the vultures now. It didn’t take them long,” a woman’s voice said from within the house.
They heard a man’s voice reply, “Be quiet!” The door opened and John stood there smiling at them. “Mrs. Lapp, and is it … Mrs. Smith?”
“That’s right,” Florence said.
“Hello, John,” Ettie said, “It’s been a long time.”
“How are you feeling? This must’ve come as quite a shock for you.”
John patted his chest. “It came right out of the blue. I just talked to him a couple of weeks ago.” A woman appeared at his shoulder. “Mrs. Lapp and Mrs. Smith, this is my wife, Connie.”
They smiled and nodded at Connie.
“It’s Florence and Ettie,” Ettie said. “I think we can dispense with the formalities now that you’re all grown up.”
John chuckled. “Ettie and Florence it is. Would you like to come in?”
“No, we won’t bother you,” Florence said.
He fixed his gaze onto Florence. “They told me you were there when my father died?”
“I was. It happened quite suddenly—out of the blue, like you said.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what were his last words?”
“His last words, or his last conversation?”
Ettie stepped forward. “He was disturbed and spoke about some enemies he had.”
Florence whipped her head around and stared at Ettie. “Ettie!”
Ettie knew Florence was disappointed, but where would they get if they sugar-coated everything? Besides, the father and son weren’t close.
He gave a small laugh. “It’s okay. My father always had enemies. He didn’t have many friends. I think you were his only friend anymore, Florence.”
Florence exhaled deeply. “I kept telling him he needed to be more friendly with people, but he also had a problem with listening.”
“I want to thank you for keeping him company the way that you did.”
“I didn’t do much. I only visited him every now and again. I should tell you that the man next door seems particularly unhappy. He’s talking about a debt he needs to settle with you or something. No doubt he’ll stop by to see you soon.”
John rolled his eyes. “I was expecting this kind of thing. The bishop told me of two people already who’ve got their hands out.”
“Did your father have a lot of money?” Ettie asked.
Florence was visibly shocked. “Ettie, you don’t ask things like that!”
“I was hoping he had a lot if John has to pay people back, that’s all.”
John chuckled. “It’s okay. I’m not offended or anything. I don’t know the specifics of my father’s finances. I’m just hoping I don’t have too many problems with the fo
lks around here.”
Connie took a step forward. “If you’ll excuse us, we’ve had a very long drive and we’d like to rest.”
Florence stepped back. “Oh, I’m sorry. Well, we might talk to you at the funeral then, John.”
“Yes, we’ll talk then. I’ll walk you to your buggy.” When they were nearly at the buggy, he said, “I’m sorry for what my wife said about vultures. I know you heard her. She’s got it in her mind that my father was worth a lot of money. I suppose I’ll get quite a bit for the orchard, that is, if he left it to me. I still don’t know what’s in his will.”
“He had no one else to leave it to, so he would have left the orchard to you,” Florence assured him.
“Maybe, or he could have left it to a charity, or someone in the community. I’m not assuming anything.”
When they got to the buggy, Florence stopped still. “I wasn’t going to say this because I didn’t want to upset you, but your father was convinced that someone was trying to kill him. He specifically said that if he died and it seemed like an accident, it wouldn’t have been and he would’ve been killed.”
“That’s an odd thing for him to say. Anyway, it wasn’t an accident. They told me it was a heart attack.”
“I know, but it seemed odd that the very day he was telling me all this he died—on that same day. Just moments later, really.”
John rubbed his chin.
“He’d never mentioned anything like that before?” Ettie asked. “That someone might be angry enough with him to kill him?”
John drew his dark eyebrows together and looked up at the sky for a moment. “No, never.”
“I wonder if someone had threatened him,” Ettie said.
Florence shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. He didn’t say anything like that to me.”
“When was the last time you talked to him, John?” Ettie asked.
“Only a couple of weeks ago. He was complaining about the nurse taking his money and he wanted me to put in a formal complaint.” John laughed and shook his head. “The old man never had much money in the house. It would’ve been what he’d saved in his cookie jar and that wouldn’t have been much.”
“Did you complain?” Florence asked.
“No. I said I’d file a complaint, but I didn’t. He had no proof and I didn’t want to risk the woman losing her job over a misunderstanding. He could’ve put his money somewhere and forgotten where he put it.”
“That’s understandable,” Florence said.
John rubbed his chin. “Because he was so upset, I eventually got my friend in the police department to see if she had a record. I didn’t think she’d have the job of going into people’s homes if she’d had one. Turns out, she had no record of a criminal history, but somehow my friend managed to find out she’d had a charge against her some time ago and it had been dropped.”
“What charge?” Florence asked.
“Something to do with negligence, I think he said. Because it had been dropped, he couldn’t tell me too much about it.”
“Did that make you worried about your father?” Florence asked.
“No. What he had wasn’t life threatening and he wasn’t incapacitated.”
“And why did he have a nurse come to the house?” Ettie asked.
“He had a bad leg. Bad circulation due to him being a diabetic.”
“I didn’t know that diabetes caused bad circulation,” Florence said.
“You’d be surprised about all the side effects. I think it was a mixture of that and gout. He was a big drinker.”
“I wasn’t aware of that,” Florence said. “He was never intoxicated when I was visiting.”
“I don’t know. He might have reformed, then. He drank a lot on my last visit a couple of years back.”
“And your father never found out that the nurse had been charged for something in the past?”
“No. He would’ve made a big deal out of it. I wasn’t going to bring the police into it over a handful of change.”
“How much was missing?” Ettie asked.
“He didn’t say.” John glanced back at the house and Ettie could see he was growing impatient and had to get back to his wife.
“We won’t hold you up, John.”
He smiled at them. “It was nice to see both of you again.”
Chapter 7
“Another funeral, Elsa-May,” Ettie said as she sat down at the breakfast table with her sister on the day of Levi’s funeral.
“Are you still convinced he was killed?”
“I never was convinced. It was Florence that was sure he was killed because of what he told her.”
“I wonder if anyone would miss us if we didn’t go to the funeral,” Elsa-May said with a wicked gleam in her eyes.
Ettie gasped. “Don’t you want to go?”
“Not especially.”
“I think they would miss us, especially Florence. We need to be there to support her. And Jeremiah and Ava would miss us because they’re collecting us and taking us there.”
“I know.” Elsa-May hunched her shoulders, picked up a piece of toast, and munched on it.
“If you don’t feel like going, stay here. I’ll go instead for the both of us.”
“I suppose I should go. It’s just a little bit depressing now that I’ve gotten to my age. At every funeral I go to, I wonder if mine will be next.”
“One time you’ll be right.”
“Denke.”
Ettie looked across at her sister to see her glum face. “What does it matter? We’ve lived a long time and everyone’s got to go sometime. It’ll just be like moving to another haus. A bigger and better one. He says He has created mansions for us. It’s got to be bigger than this small place.” Ettie chuckled.
“That will be something to look forward to. Although, I like this little haus. And what will become of Snowy? He’s only a young dog, so I’ll probably go before he does.”
“Don’t worry about Snowy. He’s the last of your problems.”
“Okay, let’s just think about this for a moment. If I die tomorrow, what would you do with Snowy?”
“He can go back to the dog shelter he came from.”
“Ettie!” Elsa-May gasped. “You wouldn’t do that, would you?”
Ettie chuckled. “Of course not. I’m only teasing you. I’ll look after him and he’ll become my dog. He’s always liked me better anyway.”
Elsa-May’s brow furrowed. “What makes you say that?”
“Do you remember why we put his dog bed in the corner over there?”
“Because he likes to keep warm by the fire.”
“Nee. He likes it there because he’s closer to me.”
“Well, if he likes you better, then perhaps you should take him for a walk every day.”
“I was only joking. Of course he likes you better and always has. Anyway, it’s good for you to get some exercise.”
“It would be just as good for you even though you don’t need to lose any weight. I don’t know how you’ve always managed to stay so stick-thin.”
“I don’t eat much.”
“You eat the same amount as I do.”
Ettie knew her sister ate three times the amount she did. A change of subject was needed. “I wonder if Detective Kelly will be at the funeral.”
“He won’t. Florence said he wiped his hands of the whole thing. He said Levi died of natural causes. He’d be too busy to go to every funeral in town.”
“Who do you think will be there?”
“Not many people, that’s for sure and for certain. It’ll just be the bare minimum of the community members who go to all the funerals. There won’t be a big turnout.”
Ettie drained the last of her tea. “I think you might be right.”
“You will look after Snowy after I’m gone, won’t you?”
“You know that I will.”
“It seems to me that you think I’ll die first?” Elsa-May asked.
“It only makes sense t
hat you would. You’re the oldest. Now hurry along. Jeremiah and Ava will be here soon. You know how Jeremiah doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”
“I’m always ready on time.”
Ettie made a start of clearing the breakfast dishes off the table. “Don’t let today be any different. Look! I’m dressed and ready to go and you’re still in your dressing gown.” Ettie tilted her head to one side. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. It won’t take me long to get dressed, just two minutes.” Elsa-May stood and walked out of the room.
“Hmmm, we’ll see.”
Jeremiah said he would come to collect them at ten minutes to ten. Right at that time, Ettie looked out the window and saw Jeremiah and Ava’s buggy heading toward the house.
“They’re here, Elsa-May.” Ettie heard loud coughing coming from her sister’s bedroom. “Are you okay?”
“I think I’m getting a cold. I should stay home.”
Ettie peeped into Elsa-May’s bedroom to see her still in her dressing gown. “Jah, you should if you’re not feeling well.”
“I’ll stay; you go on ahead.”
“You made no effort to get ready.”
Elsa-May looked up at her. “That’s because I’m not feeling well.”
“Do you want me to stay here and look after you?”
“Nee, you go and tell me about it when you get back.”
“Are you sure?”
Elsa-May nodded and then wiped her nose with her handkerchief. “Jah. You go.”
“Do you want me to bring anything back for you?”
Elsa-May shook her head. “I’ll stay here and have a rest.”
“Okay.”
“You better go now because Jeremiah is waiting. Bye. Have a nice time.”
“I’ll try.”
Ettie pulled on her black over-bonnet over her white prayer kapp. Then she pulled on her black cape. “Have a nice time?” she muttered, thinking about her sister’s words. You couldn’t exactly have a nice time at a funeral. After she had closed the door behind her, Ettie made her way out to the waiting buggy.
“Isn’t Elsa-May coming?” Ava asked.
“She wasn’t feeling too well. She’s had a cold and she’s getting a bad cough.”
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