“It’s Ian Whitmore,” Ettie corrected her sister.
“Isn’t that what I said?”
“Nee, you said Whitmire.”
“Jah, Whitmire.”
“Well, it’s not Whitmire, it’s Whitmore.”
Bethany did her best to contain a little giggle. “Your dog’s sleeping a long time, Elsa-May.”
“Once I put the meat in the oven to cook, we went for a long walk. He’s quite exhausted.”
“I thought the smell of the food would’ve woken him.”
Elsa-May shook her head. “Nothing wakes him up; he sleeps solidly.”
Bethany was pleased that the change of subject was enough to stop the sisters’ squabbling. “Do you think Creighton will blame me for the police coming to get him?”
“Nee. Not when he finds out why they want to question him,” Elsa-May said.
“Or if he is guilty, he might think that the detective was having him followed,” Ettie suggested. “I’ll visit the detective tomorrow and see what he’s found out. I know you can’t do it, Bethany, because you’ll be busy at your store.”
“Denke, Ettie. I’m anxious to find out everything.”
“Did you have time to make any dessert, Elsa-May?” Ettie asked, licking the gravy off her fork.
“Nee, I didn’t. I thought you would’ve brought a cake back with you since you would’ve gone right past our favorite bakery.”
“I do have other things on my mind. I had to go to the detective and then go see Bethany at the store. I can’t do everything around here.”
“I don’t expect you to do everything around here. It would be nice if you could just do some things.”
“I don’t need any dessert,” Bethany blurted out.
“Why not?” Elsa-May pursed her lips. “Surely you’re not worried about getting fat. Look how tiny you are.”
Bethany giggled. “Nee, I’m not worried about anything like that. I’m just not a big eater.”
“Fruit! We do have fruit,” Ettie suggested.
“Not for me. I’m fine.” Bethany sat at the dining table while Elsa-May and Ettie fixed themselves some fruit. After that, she helped them wash the dishes, and then stayed and talked for another hour before she made her excuses to leave.
Ettie suggested that Elsa-May walk with Bethany to the shanty to call for a taxi.Bethany held her breath, hoping there wouldn’t be more arguing about who should walk with her. To her relief, Elsa-May was happy to go with her.
“I’ll just put the leash on Snowy. The obedience trainer said that the more tired he is, the more receptive he’d be to training. It works, too, because when he hasn’t been for his walk, all he wants to do is play. He doesn’t listen to a thing I say.”
After the taxi had been called, Elsa-May and Snowy waited outside with Bethany until the taxi arrived.
Although it had been nice to have a lovely dinner cooked for her, it had worn Bethany out listening to Ettie and Elsa-May. Ten minutes later, she was glad to be home. The first thing she did when she walked through the front door was kick off her shoes, and then she lay down on the couch, covering herself with a warm blanket. Closing her eyes, scenes of the previous few days flashed before her and soon she fell asleep.
Chapter 18
When Bethany woke, she was surprised to see light outside. It was morning already. She hadn’t intended to stay the whole night on the couch. Stretching her arms over her head, she wondered what the day would bring. Surely she’d find out more about Creighton.
As Bethany was making herself a breakfast of oatmeal she’d found at the back of the cupboard, it occurred to her that the detective would know by now whether there was someone called Cheryl amongst the Whitmore family. Creighton had denied Cheryl’s existence, but how could she trust anything he said? Ettie hadn’t said so, but surely she’d stop by the store as soon as she spoke with the detective. There were so many things that didn’t make sense.
Just as Bethany had finished the washing up, she heard a car horn sound. She’d arranged a taxi to collect her at the same time Monday through Friday. Bethany hurried outside, careful to lock the door behind her just in case she got some unwelcome visitors. Now she bitterly regretted giving Cheryl her home address.
As the taxi took her along the usual route, she ignored the music, which jarred her nerves, and concentrated on Ettie’s advice. Her true family was made up of her brothers and sisters in the Lord. Maybe the hole in her heart would not be filled by her earthly family. The way everything was turning out with Creighton, it certainly seemed that way.
After she had paid the driver, she hurried down the alleyway, unlocked the back door and stepped inside. Once she’d closed the door behind her, she heard hoofbeats. She hoped it was Jabez, but saw it wasn’t when she peered out the window. In her heart, it felt like she hadn’t seen him in weeks when in reality she’d only seen him the day before.
The day wore on, and she hadn’t heard from Ettie, Jabez, or the detective. It was just before closing time when Ettie walked through the door.
“Ettie! Have you been to see the detective? I’ve heard from no one all day.”
“I’ve just left him. The news is that Cheryl doesn’t fit with the description of anybody in the family. Can I sit down?”
“Jah, of course.” Bethany pulled the chair out from behind the counter.
When Ettie sat down, she continued, “Not one of them knows anyone called Cheryl.”
“That makes me feel sick to the stomach.”
“I know how you feel. How could we be so deceived? I’m usually more accurate with my estimations of people.”
Bethany held her hand over her stomach. “What did he find out from talking to Creighton?”
“Creighton admitted he left soon after his uncle on the night in question, but he claims he went to a friend’s house. The detective checked with his friend, and he verified that it was true. He does have an alibi for his whereabouts when Ian Whitmore was murdered.”
“I feel so bad now. Creighton won’t trust me.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that. How do you know that he can be trusted? I don’t know if you should trust anyone. We believed Cheryl and look what happened. Someone’s been murdered, don’t forget that.”
“I’m reminded of that every minute of the day when I look at the floor where he was found.”
Ettie nodded.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s all a lie and my father didn’t want me to be left anything. That woman who was calling herself Cheryl could’ve told me anything and I would’ve believed her. How dumb am I?”
“It’s not dumb to be trusting, Bethany. We should be able to trust people, but it’s not always a smart thing to do when you meet someone you don’t know.”
Bethany sighed.
“The detective has an interesting theory about Cheryl. She must’ve had some claim over the Whitmore estate, or had some connection to someone who did, to try to throw you off like that.”
“Isn’t that what you said last night, Ettie?”
“Jah. My theories often become the detective’s theories. Funny how it works that way.”
Bethany couldn’t quite figure Ettie out. Sometimes Ettie was vague and hard to understand and at other times, she didn’t miss a thing that was going on. “Does the detective have any other suspects?”
“If he does he’s keeping the information very much to himself. Which means we’ll have to find things out for ourselves.”
“We?”
Ettie looked down, straightened the top of her apron and grinned.
“And just how are we going to do that?”
“We could pay Creighton a visit. He visited you, now it’s your turn to visit him. We’ll ask him some things.”
“He’s not in jail?”
“No. The detective just questioned him. There was no reason to keep him at the station.”
“Oh. I don’t know how these things go. If we do ask Creighton questions how do we know we can believe the thin
gs he says?”
“We don’t.”
“Then what will we ask when we get there? I don’t know if this is a good idea at all, Ettie.”
“We can go there to find out why he came to visit you. He came to discuss things with you and hadn’t finished what he was saying since the police interrupted.”
“Nee he hadn’t, and I thought he was telling me lies. I’m never good at knowing if people are telling me the truth. I believe everything people say to me.”
“Detective Kelly never believes anybody.”
“Ach nee! It’s raining.”
“Wunderbaar, my garden will be watered. I’ve been waiting for it to rain; it’s been so dry for this time of year.” Ettie stared at Bethany. “Don’t you like the rain?”
“I do, but only when I’m at home in front of the fire cuddled up with a blanket. I don’t like having to go out in it.”
“Just call a taxi and have him pull up right out front. You’ll only have a few steps to get into it. While you’re at it, call one for me.”
“I’ll call one for you now, Ettie. I have a bit of tidying to do before I go home.”
When Ettie’s taxi drove away, Bethany locked the front door and made sure it was well and truly bolted. She logged off the credit card terminal and counted out the day’s takings. A soft scratching sound behind her sent ripples of fear through her. She stood still and listened hard to hear where it was coming from. The back door! Had she locked it? She hurried to make certain it was locked but just as she had a hand on the door it pushed open and she stood face-to-face with her half-brother, Creighton Whitmore.
From his scowling expression, she knew his visit was not a friendly one. She took a step back. Had he come to kill her? Her escalating heart rate quickened further when he held up a gloved hand.
Chapter 19
Scrambling through her mind were ways to fend Creighton off. Helping out on a neighboring farm the past two years had made her strong, but would she be strong enough?
Creighton took two steps toward her, smirking all the while.
Deep in her mind she called on God, screaming out silently for Him to save her. Right now she needed Him more than ever. Surely this wouldn’t be the end for her. She didn’t want to die before she had a chance to marry and have a houseful of children.
“Where is it?” His voice was one of controlled rage.
“Get out of my store immediately or I’ll call the police!”
“You’ve already done that, and it didn’t work for you.”
“Get out!” she called again, mustering all the courage she could.
He tossed his head back and laughed. “I’ll get out when you hand it over.”
“Hand what over?”
“Tell me where it is and you won’t end up like dear old Uncle Ian.”
Bethany decided right then and there she wasn’t going to die. She’d fight for the right to live her life. “You killed him?”
“Where is it?” he repeated.
“I don’t know what you want. Where’s what?”
“I warn you, don’t play games with me.”
She took another step back, and he matched it with a step forward.
“Just tell me what you want!”
“I need what my uncle left here.”
“He didn’t leave anything here—nothing.”
He eyed her carefully and pulled a knife from his jacket pocket. Now the gleaming blade was pointing right at her. “Are you telling the truth?”
“I don’t want to die. I am telling you the truth. He didn’t leave anything here. I didn’t even know he was my uncle until I went to the funeral. Think about it—if he’d left something here for me wouldn’t I know who he was?”
“How did you find out?”
“I didn’t find out until the police told me the dead man was a Whitmore. I wondered then if he was my father. I didn’t know my father was already dead. I told you everything before.”
“I was seeing if your story had changed.”
“It’s not a story. It’s the truth.” Tears streamed down Bethany’s face.
“Quit the waterworks.” He kept the knife pointed at her while he looked around the store. “If you’re telling the truth, maybe he hid it in here somewhere hoping you’d find it.”
“Find what?”
“Shut up!”
“There’s nothing to find. The whole place was stripped of everything and washed when the body was taken out. There’s nothing here. If there had been anything here that wasn’t supposed to have been here, I would’ve found it by now.”
“I’m gonna pull this place apart until I find it.” He pushed her out into the center of the store while keeping the knife pointed at her. “Strip everything off the shelves.”
Bethany had no choice but to do as he ordered. Once she had a bundle of fabric in her arms, she placed it neatly on the floor.
“Not like that! Like this!” In two seconds, he emptied three shelves by sweeping everything onto the floor with his arm.
It pained Bethany to see a mess when she’d spent hours arranging everything just so. “What is it that you’re looking for? If you’re looking for the will, it’s not here.”
“Just do what I tell you and stop talking.”
She mimicked his actions and swept everything onto the floor. Soon the floor was covered with fabric.
“Now we’ll take a look at those back cupboards,” he said.
“Why are you doing this to me? We have the same father. That makes us family. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“You’re not my family. I’m the legitimate son and the only son. You’re just a kid born out of wedlock at a time when my father was young and stupid. If he’d been in his right mind at the time, he never would’ve gotten involved with a woman like your mother.”
She spun around to stare at him, hurt by his words, and suddenly felt protective of her mother. “What do you know about my mother?”
Police sirens sounded. He held the knife up. “I’ll be back!” He lunged at her with the knife and slashed her arm before he ran through the back door.
Holding her arm, she watched helplessly while blood dripped onto her white apron. Remembering the unlocked door, she ran to the back door and bolted it. When she walked back into the store, she grasped the nearest piece of fabric and wound it around her wound. After she summoned enough courage, she looked out the window to see that the police car was up the road a little and Creighton Whitmore was being pushed into the back of it.
A uniformed policewoman knocked on her window. With one hand, Bethany unbolted the front door to let her in.
“Are you injured, Ma’am?” the officer asked.
“He cut me.” Bethany barely recognized the squeak that came out of her mouth.
The officer immediately called for the paramedics on her two-way radio. When she ended the call, she looked around the store. “He did this?”
“He made me do it. He had a knife, and he was looking for something. How did you know he was here?”
“We had a 911 call. Someone driving past saw a man wielding a knife.”
When the paramedics arrived, they tended her wound and insisted they take her to the hospital to be treated for shock.
While she was lying on the hospital bed, Detective Kelly came to see her. She filled the detective in on everything that happened when Creighton attacked her and told him that Creighton had been looking for something that Ian might have left in her store.
“It seems everyone thinks that Ian brought me the new will.” She told the detective about the visit from her father’s lawyer and the fact that she was also asking about what Ian brought her.
“What was the lawyer’s name? I’ll contact her.”
“I can’t recall, but she did give me her card.”
“Where is it?”
“In the store somewhere. I think I put it in the drawer under the till.”
“I will have to get her number from you tomorrow. The
y tell me you’re ready to go. Can I call anyone for you? Please don’t say two women’s names to me.”
“I’d heard you often ask Ettie for help.”
“That’s true, and Mrs. Smith is invaluable when I need her, but when I haven’t asked her—well, never mind. Who can I call? I’ll call ‘them’ if I have to.”
Bethany giggled. “They don’t have a phone, but I do have someone else in mind.”
Chapter 20
Bethany was pleased to see Jabez waiting for her outside her house when the officer drove her home. He was leaning against his buggy, and walked closer when the car approached.
“Thank you for driving me here,” she said to the officer before she got out of the car. “It was good of the detective to arrange to have me driven home.”
“Are you all right from here?” The officer pointed to Jabez. “Is that the person who the detective called to look after you?”
“Yes, that’s him. Thank you so much once again.” She closed the car door and Jabez put his hands on her shoulders.
“Bethany, are you alright? The detective asked me to meet you here.” He looked at her bandaged arm. “What happened to your arm?”
“Don’t panic. Everything’s okay. Didn’t the man who called you tell you anything?”
“He told me to meet you here and that there had been an incident. I tried to get more information out of him, but he said he was too busy to chitchat.”
“It’s all a long story; I don’t know where to start.”
Jabez put his arm around her. “Come inside and I’ll put the fire on. You can tell me everything.”
After Jabez lit the fire and made her a cup of hot tea, she told him everything that had happened over the past days.
“You could’ve been killed, Bethany.”
“I’m okay. Don’t look so worried.”
He shook his head. “You had a close call. I don’t think you should be working in that store alone until they find out who killed that man. You’re still in danger.”
“The police have got him now.”
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