Toxin Alert

by Tyler Anne Snell

  “That’s me. Call me Carly.”

  He extended his hand, not something the men behind them had done, and gave the first smile she’d seen since they’d gotten off of the plane. It didn’t last through their handshake.

  “You can call me Noah.”

  He must have picked up on the fact that she was already in work mode so there was no point in dillydallying.

  “So I hear that you don’t want to work with us, Noah. I’m curious as to why you don’t want help.”

  That did the trick. The man switched from stoic to tense.

  “Like I told Ms. Clark on the phone, I don’t think I’m your best option for open communication with the community. I never said I wouldn’t help. I just pointed out I don’t think I’ll be that much to you all.”

  Carly crossed her arms over her chest. The cold was no doubt turning her nose a bit red, but the jacket she’d had stashed in the back of her closet for half a year was right on the money for warmth.

  “You’re former Amish. Does that mean you were kicked out? Is that why you don’t think you can help? Because you’re an outsider, too?”

  Noah didn’t seem to like that line of questioning. Yet, he answered without hesitation.

  “I chose to leave when I was sixteen,” he said. “That decision isn’t one many people around here understand or like.”

  Carly didn’t know the man, but she’d bet every dime and nickel in her bank account that he was doing his best not to side-eye the group of men.

  “Which can make communication more difficult, especially in trying times. I just don’t think I’m the right guy for the job.”

  Carly took a small moment to consider the man. He’d chosen to leave. As she’d gone through her knowledge of anthrax on the plane, Axel had skimmed through Amish customs and beliefs. Some of them Carly had already known, others she’d been surprised by. Among the things she’d known about was the tradition of Rumspringa. It was a period of time where teens were allowed greater personal freedom and the ability to live outside and explore the world without Amish restrictions. After that time ended, they had to make the decision if they wanted to come back to the community or not.

  What she didn’t know was why Noah had been one of the few who had decided not to come back.

  So she asked.

  “Why did you leave? Don’t you have family here?”

  This time his frustration was immediate and aimed solely at her.

  “That’s extremely personal and, no offense, I don’t have to be Amish anymore to distrust strangers.” He squared his shoulders even more if it was possible, physically strengthening the wall that was him. An invisible barrier between her questions and his past.

  Carly knew enough about those kinds of walls to dissuade herself from any attempt to climb the one that was Noah Miller.

  She had no doubt she’d have better luck at convincing Bishop Raber to take a selfie with her. So, Carly doubled down on her conviction to get to the bottom of what was happening in Potter’s Creek and dove right in to her bottom line.

  “Yes. I’m a stranger and honestly, although I’ve spent time in St. Joseph County and picked up a thing or two in the last few years, I’m not familiar with Potter’s Creek. Or you for that matter. So, no disrespect right back at you, but that’s why I’m asking you these questions. I’m on a case and, from where I’m standing, you’re in either one of two camps.” She ticked off her index and middle fingers at each point. “You know something or did something that caused the death of human and cattle alike or you can help us figure out who else knows something or did something that has resulted in the death of human and cattle in this community. Anything less than either of those would be wasting both of our time.”

  Carly put her hands back into her coat pockets and noted, while it was warm within its folds, her breath misted out in front of her when she spoke again.

  “Since I know already that you have been seen tending your own farm not far from here around the times the pastures would have had to be poisoned, I still have to ask—Did you perpetrate this attack, Mr. Miller, or know who did?” Noah shook his head. His jaw was hard. He was gritting his teeth. Carly kept on. “And do you have any interest in temporarily being a liaison for us with the Amish community?”

  This time he spoke.

  It was low. One syllable filled with a lifetime of something Carly didn’t understand or have the patience to get to the bottom of while standing there in Potter’s Creek, outside of their community barn.

  “No.”

  Carly nodded, ignoring the ping of disappointment that went off in her at his answer.

  “Then I’ll do us both a favor and stop wasting each other’s time,” she said, making sure her finality rang through just as true. “Goodbye, Mr. Miller.”

  And then Carly walked away.

  Chapter Three

  The doctor was kind and straightforward. His name was Carson and he was eager to help in any way that he could.

  He was also tired.

  Carly could spot that before she ever made it across the barn, and knew it to be true before he finished his recounting of what had happened on the Yoder and Graber farms.

  Opaline had already done a quick workup of the man before they’d even left Traverse City. He was respected and good at what he did. Smart and skilled. But Carly knew better than most that there were some situations that got their hooks into you and didn’t let up. At least, not for a while. It could beat a person down, make every part of them tired and ready for the madness to stop.

  Carson might have been a good area doctor for Potter’s Creek, but he was ready to go home. After Carly got the information she wanted, she obliged the man and watched him leave their temporary headquarters.

  Then it was time for her to step up and call some more shots.

  “Aria, Max,” she started, pitching her voice so it was easier to hear in the spacious barn. Both agents snapped to attention, pausing whatever conversation they’d been having with Bishop Raber. Or, maybe trying to have. Aria looked frustrated. Though she did have a baby at home and had shown up to work more tired than not recently. The cold that had followed them into the barn probably wasn’t helping her mood, either. They’d once joked about loading up the band and heading to Hawaii for a much-needed vacation where sunshine and warmth year-round was guaranteed.

  “I need you two to go out and look for any evidence that the CDC or CSI might have missed. So far no one’s found anything out of the ordinary, but it wouldn’t hurt to check again. Start with the Graber farm and work your way back to the Yoder farm.” Carly shifted her gaze to Selena, then Axel. They’d been in their own conversation and looked as enthused about it as Aria had. Selena was absently stroking Blanca’s fur just behind her head, but there almost seemed to be some tension between her and Axel. Maybe everyone needed to get some more sleep.

  “Selena and Axel, I need you two to focus on how the anthrax may have been purchased,” Carly continued. “Use Opaline for whatever support you need. She’s stationed at Headquarters until we say otherwise. As for Blanca, I don’t want to pull her in until we have a clearer picture of what’s going on.”

  There was no sense in sending her out into “the field” when that actually encompassed hundreds of acres of real fields and hundreds of people. Not to mention the possibility of that land being laced with more anthrax.

  She’d rather have timid boots than brave snoots, as Selena often called Blanca’s impeccable sense of smell, doing their first pass over.

  “Aye aye, boss,” Selena said. Her voice was tight. Axel glanced at her before nodding that he understood. Something strange definitely was going on between them but there was no time to dig into that now.

  “Mitigation efforts have been ongoing and are almost over. But before everyone leaves, just as a precaution, I want you to have a designated pair of work shoes for
when we’re out in the fields,” Carly continued. “Also, make sure you have at least one pair of gloves on you, keep your set of protective eyewear I brought with us in your vehicle, and if you have a cut or get one anywhere on you, then you immediately go to a first aid kit and disinfect and bandage. And, even though it should go without saying, if you come in contact with any powder, do not inhale or touch. Instead call Rihanna, who will be coordinating with the CDC, and then me. That sound good?” Her team nodded. “Rock on, everyone.”

  They started to leave but Selena caught Carly before she followed.

  “What are you going to do?” she asked. “Perp duty?”

  Carly nodded.

  “They don’t realize it now, but they’ve won themselves an all-expenses-paid vacation to Carly Island. All my time and energy is about to shift solely onto them.”

  “You’re Carly Town and they’re the only resident,” Selena said. “And the mayor.”

  Carly gave her a friend a quick smile. They did this sometimes. Whistled in the dark. Took a moment or two to talk nonsense to lighten the mood. Smiled and laughed and said silly things to remind themselves that there was more in the world than senseless acts of violence and murder.

  Whistling in the dark.

  “I’m the only member in the audience of a one-man show and I’m ready to write a scathing review,” Carly pitched.

  “Before you were both marooned on an island, you were allowed to bring only one item each. They brought a weapon, you are the weapon,” Selena gave back.

  “They’re up the creek without a paddle...because I have all the paddles.”

  “And you’re not giving them back.”

  Carly snorted.

  “No way, Jose. No paddles for our perp.”

  Selena’s grin grew. She shook her head.

  “We’re so lame.”

  “But that doesn’t mean we aren’t professionals.”

  Selena conceded to that. Then her voice went low and any amusement disappeared. She leaned in a little. Blanca brushed against Carly’s leg at the new closeness.

  “Heads up, I don’t think our Amish buddies care if we’re professional or not,” she said. “I overheard Aria trying to ask some questions and they went tight-lipped.”

  “But we’re here to help them. By them not helping us they’re only hurting themselves.”

  Selena shrugged.

  “Just because we have badges doesn’t mean they trust us. I think our best bet might really be that tall drink of water you were talking to before we came in. The farmer.”

  Carly felt her lips purse in response.

  “And just because I don’t think he had anything to do with the attacks doesn’t mean I trust him to help.”

  “It’s your call, boss.” Selena gave Blanca an absent pat on the head before pulling her gloves from her pocket. “Just make sure you keep an eye out. Cell service sucks out here and if something happens we have a lot of ground to cover. Be safe.”

  Carly softened momentarily at that.

  “You, too.”

  Selena and Blanca left the barn. Carly went to Rihanna to have a quick word, even as she mentally started listing the questions she’d ask the Amish men in her drive for more information.

  Yet, when she turned around, the men were gone.

  Carly swore beneath her breath and hurried out of the barn.

  “Excuse me,” she called out. The bishop was no longer with them, but the other three were in the process of talking to another man.

  Noah.

  Why hadn’t he left already?

  “Excuse me,” she repeated, pushing through her curiosity and right into their group. She knew the men by their first names—Samuel, his son Thomas, and one of the victim’s, Isaiah Yoder’s, son Isaac—but past that they were strangers.

  Just like she was an outsider.

  Which, by how quickly they zipped their mouths shut because of her presence, was going to be a problem.

  Still, Carly hoped that wouldn’t be the case.

  “Like my colleague said earlier, I’m the lead agent investigating what happened and need to get started immediately,” she said in greeting, careful not to let her gaze stray over to the farmer. She focused instead on Yoder’s son. He didn’t yet have a beard, but there was a hardness to his eyes. One that settled when worry or fear refused to go away. “If you don’t mind, I’ll need a list of people who might want to harm the families whose farms were affected. Anyone who might want to hurt the community as a whole, too.”

  Where she expected an answer, Carly only got silence.

  She felt her eyebrow pull up, waiting.

  The men were all still, tight-lipped.

  “Um, hello? Did you hear me?”

  Then the Amish men did something she absolutely hadn’t expected.

  They turned away from her and started to walk off.

  Every instinct in Carly’s body was about to show those men the mistake they’d made, but Noah cleared his throat. Carly must have had heat in her eyes, because Noah held up one hand and gave a small sigh.

  “Don’t shoot the messenger, but they’ve decided all questions and concerns you have should go through me if you want answers.”

  Carly rolled her eyes.

  “Seriously? Is it because I’m a woman?” she asked. “Because you want to know what isn’t sexist? Anthrax.”

  She might have imagined it but a smile looked like it was trying to pull up the corner of his lips.

  “No, it’s not because you’re a woman,” he said. “They’re not sexist, just Amish.”

  Carly blew out a frustrated breath.

  “And I’m just trying to help them.”

  “They don’t trust ‘Englishers.’ It’s just their way.”

  Noah joined her in watching the group walk away. Snow melted beneath her boots and the wind picked up enough that she had to fight a small shiver.

  Usually Carly dealt with bad guys being a pain, not so much the victims.

  “Listen, I can get you that list, but I’m warning you now that it’ll be short.” Carly heard the defeat in Noah’s voice before she saw it in his expression. He didn’t want to help, but he would.

  “I thought you said that wouldn’t work? For either you or them?”

  The man kept his gaze on the retreating backs of the group.

  “They might not like or understand me, but they’ve come to respect me over the last twelve years,” he answered. “They’ll answer my questions. You just need to tell me what to ask.”

  Carly held back a new surge of emotion at his words. It was as odd as the disappointment she’d felt at his earlier refusal to help. She still didn’t have time to figure out what it was or why she was feeling it. Instead, she nodded to him and flashed what she hoped was an appreciative smile.

  “The list is what I’ll need first. Then I’d like a tour of the community, if that’s something you can swing. They might be reluctant to finger a neighbor, but I need to know if anyone showed signs of murderous rage.” They might have both been outsiders, but Carly was betting on the fact that Noah still had an ear to the ground of the community within Potter’s Creek. At least way more than what she could probably get from other locals.

  Noah didn’t outright refuse, but he did check his watch.

  “I can swing it but I suggest that’s something we put on tomorrow’s list of things to do.” He motioned to the sky. “We’ve got maybe three hours left of sunlight, then this place gets as dark as the inside of a paper bag. I can still take you around, but you won’t see much.”

  Carly actually smiled at that.

  “Well we don’t want to be stuck inside of a paper bag, now do we?” she asked, amused. “Tomorrow will be fine.”

  They exchanged numbers and he agreed to pick her up from the bed-and-breakfast they were
staying at just outside of Potter’s Creek the next morning. Now that he’d agreed to help, the tension had somewhat lessened in his shoulders, yet Carly could tell he was still ruminating about something in the back of his head.

  And she found herself wanting to get to the bottom of it.

  They said a quick goodbye, but Carly called out to him before he could get into his truck.

  “Hey, Noah?”

  The man paused. Then two forest green eyes were on her.

  “Yeah?”

  Carly closed the space between them and lowered her voice.

  Despite her daily attempts to keep her past in the past, she knew what she said next only partially came from what was happening in the present. The rest?

  A lesson she learned what felt like a lifetime ago.

  “Don’t let the belief that you know the people who live here cloud the fact that one of them very well could be responsible for what’s happened. Knowing someone doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of violence, malicious intent or even murder. Sometimes the people closest to us are really only there to hide in our blind spots.” She tried to give him a cheering smile to lighten what she had just said, but her heart wouldn’t let her do it. The pain that hadn’t left in over two decades was a constant reminder that there were some things so low that not even light could touch them. “We need to catch who did this and that starts with that list. Amish or not, someone here has to have an idea of who might be behind it, or at least a theory.”

  Noah took off his cowboy hat and thumped it against his chest, almost like he was saluting her.

  Only a hard rumble that stirred something else within Carly.

  “I’ll do my best. You have my word.”

  * * *

  ALMOST EXACTLY THREE hours later, the Tactical Crime Division team were standing at the fence line of one of the pastures on the Yoder farm. The sun was setting, promising darkness and a close to their first day on the case.

  Their first day of more questions.

  Their first day of no answers.

  “We didn’t find anything,” had been Max’s greeting when he and Aria had shown up. Now Max was leaning against the slightly warped wood of the fence and looking out at the trees in the distance.