Secrets in the Grave

by Karen Ann Hopkins

  “Why, if it isn’t Daniel Bachman! I never thought I’d see you again. Figured you would have moved on from this town ages ago,” she exclaimed, tucking her hair behind her ear in a quick motion.

  My head snapped in Daniel’s direction. He wasn’t looking at me at all. He was staring at Elayne.

  “How do you two know each other?” I asked, fearing the answer.

  “We grew up together. Elayne used to be Amish,” Daniel said in an awestruck manner.

  I took a deep breath and swallowed. Now my day is complete.

  7

  SERENITY

  “He just ditched me,” I grumbled, taking a bite of the bacon cheeseburger.

  “Now that’s not exactly what you said a moment ago,” Todd said. “You told the man to go on and eat without you—that you had work to do.”

  I glanced at Bobby. In one hand he held a French fry and in the other, a medical journal magazine. He seemed to be ignoring the conversation completely, but I wasn’t fooled. Every so often, he’d look up and make a comment.

  “What do you think, Bobby?” I leaned over the table. “Was it right for Daniel to go out to dinner with that woman?” I took another ripping bite of my sandwich. “I think that kind of behavior warrants being mad at him.”

  Bobby laid the magazine down and met my demanding gaze. “From what you already told us, Daniel asked you out to dinner first—and you didn’t answer—then the new DA showed up and he invited her to join the two of you for dinner. It was an understandable offer since Elayne Weaver was there to introduce herself to you in the first place. When you declined Daniel’s offer, you not only hurt his pride, you also opened the situation up for him to be alone with his long-lost Amish girlfriend.”

  I lowered my voice as I replied, “Ms. Weaver wasn’t his girlfriend. She’s actually a couple of years older than him. It was her little brother that Daniel was friends with.”

  Nancy’s Diner was packed for the lunchtime rush. I wasn’t exactly worried about someone overhearing our conversation, but you could never be too careful when gossiping.

  “Since they grew up in the same community and both left, I’d say they have a lot in common. She isn’t hard on the eyes, either,” Todd said, smirking with a faraway look on his face as if remembering the woman in detail.

  I smacked Todd’s shoulder. “How can you talk that way when Heather is seven months pregnant with your baby? You men are all the same. A pretty new woman shows up and you turn to braindead, cheating mush.”

  “That’s not true. I would never cheat on Heather. There’s nothing wrong with noticing an attractive woman. That happens all the time. Actually hooking up is another story altogether.” Todd had a sort of pleading, please-believe-me look on his face. “Even though the new DA is a beautiful woman, I can tell she doesn’t have the sick sense of humor my Heather does or the easy-going, laid-back manner, either. I would never risk losing Heather for someone as high maintenance and serious as that woman is. I bet neither would Daniel.”

  “I don’t know about that. You should have seen him staring awestruck at her, like she was an angel or something. Then she began asking him about these different Amish people and who they’d married and how many kids they had. I felt completely out of my element,” I admitted.

  “So! You should have stayed with your man. Now that woman has her claws sunk straight into him, especially since you aren’t very nice to him,” Todd said.

  “How have I not been nice to Daniel?” I demanded, glancing around. Everyone in the neighboring booths were turned our way, trying to listen. I stared hard back at them until their eyes dropped to their food.

  Todd raised his finger and was about to list all the ways when Bobby interrupted, shutting him up.

  “Now hold on, Todd. I’ve spent some time observing Serenity and Daniel’s interactions with each other. I have no doubt that Daniel is in love with Serenity, but Serenity isn’t sure about her feelings. She needs more time to work them out. She’s not the type of person to be forced into feeling something she isn’t sure about. I think her aloof behavior is acceptable under the circumstances.”

  Aloof behavior? I didn’t think that I I’d been aloof with Daniel. Most nights we ate dinner together, followed by passionate sex. Bobby nailed my feelings, though. I was torn about Daniel. A part of me wanted to surrender to him and the rest wanted to run away. I didn’t even like the idea of being in love. It scared the hell out of me.

  Todd raised his brows. “Besides the Amish heritage thing, Daniel seems like a good guy. He tries hard to please you. What’s the deal anyway?”

  I leaned back on the red plastic seat and sighed. “I’m not going to get into my personal relationship hang ups. We don’t have a long enough lunch break.”

  “I’m always available as your sounding board,” Todd offered.

  I wasn’t exactly sure how to respond. Luckily, Bobby saved me. “Why don’t you tell me more about the ritualistic healing you witnessed? You said it was weird. How so?”

  I looked out the diner’s window at the overcast day beyond. Main Street was busy, a constant stream of passing cars. There were a fair number of men in suits and women in skirts and heels walking along the tree lined sidewalk. The town of Blood Rock was growing—just like the Amish settlement on the edge of my jurisdiction. Sometimes it was hard to believe that only fifteen miles way lived a large number of people trapped in a time warp from the nineteenth century.

  I returned my gaze to Bobby. “Jonas Peachey was praying in German, mumbling really. It began to storm. He dipped his hands in a type of anointing oil and laid one hand on the boy’s forehead, and the other on his chest. The atmosphere in the room was thick for a moment, then Mervin gulped for air. I thought he was dying and pulled my gun on the medicine man.” Bobby’s eyes widened, but he didn’t interrupt me. I heard Todd’s intake of breath at my side. “When I checked Mervin, his pulse was fine and he was breathing. A few minutes later, he was up bouncing around the room on what appeared to be new legs.”

  “Hmm.” Bobby frowned.

  “How can the air be thick in a room?” Todd remarked.

  I thought, searching for the right words to describe the scene at the Amish house. “It was oppressive, almost as if something or someone else was there with us.”

  Todd whistled the Twilight Zone theme song. I rolled my eyes.

  “Were there candles or incense burning?” Bobby inquired.

  “Yeah, candles were lit around the room.”

  “I’ve heard that certain aromas can alter the mind’s perception and even induce mild hallucinations. The candles might be your answer,” Bobby mused.

  I was pondering what he said when my radio and Todd’s went off. I motioned for Todd to respond to his outside of the booth as I hit the button on mine. As Kristen, one of the local dispatch officers spoke, my mouth dropped and I stood to peer out the window better. A second later, Todd looked over my shoulder.

  Across the road was the Blood Rock Savings Bank. The front doors of the three story brick building were closed. There was some foot traffic going past the bank, but no one was coming out of it.

  “Todd and I are both at Nancy’s. We’re going to investigate. Bring in all available officers. Block off east and west Main Street, Sycamore Boulevard and Racing Road. Oh, and contact Sheriff Gilroy in Alma and notify him of the situation. If they somehow get past us, they’ll surely be heading toward the interstate and into his county.”

  Sirens blared, becoming louder by the second when I broke off contact with Kristen. “You stay here,” I told Bobby as I slid from the booth.

  Spotting Nancy, the owner of the diner, behind the counter, I waved her over. “We have a situation at the bank. Don’t let anyone leave the diner.” I looked over my shoulder, back at Bobby. “Help Nancy with an announcement,” I instructed him. He nodded with a tight expression.

  “Sure thing, kiddo. We’ll take care of business here,” Nancy said. I was turning away when her hand snaked out and she
grasped my arm. “Be careful.”

  “Always am.”

  Todd and I had our side arms out when we reached the cruiser. Todd wasted no time unlocking the door and reaching for his riot shotgun. He swapped weapons. I preferred my 9 MM, especially in tight places.

  “Can you believe this? These yahoos are damn ballsy to attempt an armed robbery at the bank,” Todd breathed.

  Jeremy was the first to park along the curb. Three more cruisers took positions behind him, across from the bank.

  Before Jeremy was out of the vehicle, I called out, “Clear the street of pedestrians. I want to see only uniforms on this block.”

  Jeremy went into action. I paused long enough to direct the other officers to take positions around the bank.

  “Or damn stupid,” I finally replied, glancing at Todd. With his military buzzed haircut, bulging biceps and aviator sunglasses, he looked every bit the Hollywood cop. “Everyone in this town knows that most of Blood Rock’s law enforcement eats a couple of meals a day at the diner.” I waved for him to follow me down the narrow alley along the east side of the building. The rock wall that paralleled the bank was covered with ivy and shaded by several enormous oak trees. There weren’t many windows on that side of the building, and if memory served me correctly, the bank’s offices were located on this side, too.

  “Are we going in?” Todd asked. The pitch of his voice was high. He was juiced up on adrenaline.

  “Sure are. There’s a door back here that leads out to the garbage bin. We’ll see if we can sneak in without being noticed. We need to know how many men there are.”

  “Good plan, boss,” Todd said with the kind of steady determination I appreciated in times like these.

  We stopped at the metal door, pressing our backs up against the brick wall. Todd was closer to the door. He looked sideways at me and I nodded. With fluid movement, he turned the handle, opening the door. I sprang around him, pointing my gun down the long, empty corridor.

  I motioned for Todd to follow and he let the door close behind us, blotting out the daylight and leaving only the dim illumination from the lightbulbs dangling from the ceiling. The building was historic and not built to repel armed robberies. Hell, the place smelled like mothballs. Perhaps that’s why this particular bank was picked in the first place.

  We silently bypassed several closed doors, making our way closer to the front of the building where the tellers, bank vault and lobby were. I paused beside a larger door and pressed my head to the wood. I heard muffled voices. Meeting Todd’s gaze, I made a quick decision.

  This time, I opened the door. Todd went in first, his shotgun poised in front of him, and I followed on his heels. The room was small, crammed with three wooden desks and several metal file cabinets. Four middle-aged women huddled in the corner. One of them clutched her chest when we came through the door.

  I instantly recognized Mabel Cunningham, the county clerk. She rushed forward.

  “Thank the Lord, you’re here,” Mabel whispered. Her pudgy face smiled.

  “Whoa, we’re not out of the woods. How many are there?” I said.

  “Four. And they’re all wearing black ski masks,” Mabel said.

  “Original thinkers,” Todd commented.

  “Are they all armed?” I asked Mabel.

  “Sure are.” She glanced back at the other women. “I think they were carrying rifles, weren’t they?” Two of the women nodded, and the other began crying. “If you go through that door—” Mabel pointed to one of the three doors in the room. “—and take a short hallway, you’ll come to glass doors that lead out into the lobby. The vault and tellers are on the other side. You might be able to safely get a peek for yourselves. I had just stepped into the hallway when it began. They got everyone down on the floor.”

  “How many patrons?”

  Mabel didn’t hesitate, shrugging. “I’d say fourteen, maybe fifteen all together. Thursday afternoons are one of the bank’s busiest times of the week.”

  I nodded at Mabel’s calm, clear and concise information. “You ladies take the backdoor. Keep your hands up. I have officers positioned out there. Tell them what you told me and remind them to wait to enter the building until I give the all clear or they hear gunshots.”

  Mabel nodded. She ushered the other woman out the door, only turning back to whisper, “Praying for you, Sheriff.”

  I hit the switch on my radio. “Turn off your radio,” I ordered. “We don’t want them going off at the wrong time.”

  Todd turned his off and followed me into the hallway. We stepped lightly over the long, Oriental rug covering the floor. The door with the glass windows was directly ahead of us.

  Todd raised his gun, but I stopped him. “Look first, attack later.”

  “I’ll follow your lead.”

  I had my gun up in front of me as I walked sideways down the hallway, my back against the wall. With each step, the voices grew louder. I separated the voices the best I could, trying to determine how spread out they were. Before I reached the glass panels, I suspected that two men were close together on one side of the lobby and the other two were spread out on the other side. I didn’t hear anyone else and that made my stomach clench.

  Todd pressed up against the wall and I ducked down, crawling over to the door. With my heart pounding, I rose up on my knees, peeking through the frosted edge of the lowest panel of glass. Inching higher, I had a view of most of the lobby.

  As I thought, one man was standing at the entrance doors and another was off to the side. Both men were average build and height, and they had their guns pointed at the men and woman lying on the floor. I glimpsed the prone form of a small girl beside her gray-haired grandmother.

  I couldn’t see the other two, but I could hear them. They were yelling at the tellers, demanding that they open the vault. When the voice levels rose, Todd began fidgeting. I held up my hand. Our eyes met. He took a purposeful breath, calming himself.

  One of the robbers jumped from the counter, coming into view. He took the butt end of his semiautomatic gun, and using it like a baseball bat, struck the legs of one of the men on the ground. The gray haired man shrieked, curling up into the fetal position. My eyes widened. The mayor. Then I noticed the long, silky dark hair next to him. It was none other than the new assistant DA, Elayne Weaver.

  At almost the same time the mayor was assaulted, a man on the other side of him rose, showing his face. He was holding a small handgun.

  When I saw Daniel, I muttered, “Dammit.”

  I looked at Todd. “We just ran out of time.”

  8

  DANIEL

  “Daniel remodeled our house last year, did an amazing job. I’m sure this loft of his will be first rate,” Mayor Ed said over his shoulder to Elayne.

  I looked away, my face heating. I didn’t mind the praise, but the mayor was putting it on a little too thick. Elayne grinned at me, sensing my discomfort. Maybe it was an Amish thing. We were raised not to enjoy being the center of attention.

  “I have no doubt that it will be perfect for my needs,” Elayne said.

  “It’s nothing fancy. Just the top floor of the Murphey building. When I bought the property last year, it was my intention to stay as true to its historical heritage as I could. I’ve only had time to finish the top unit.” I shrugged.

  The line for the teller moved up a person and I followed Elayne and the mayor another step forward.

  “Don’t be so damn modest, Daniel. You’ve done a wonderful job restoring that old building.” He turned to Elayne. “City council was seriously considering tearing it down. Kids were sneaking in to party and God-knows-what late at night. It wasn’t safe anymore. Daniel gave us a better option. The townspeople are thrilled, making me a happy mayor.”

  Elayne leaned in. “I really do appreciate you taking the time from your busy day to show me the apartment.”

  “It’s no problem. I had some errands to run in town anyway. The bank was the perfect place to meet up. After I make m
y deposit, I’ll take you there. When you’re finished looking, I’ll drop you back off at the mayor’s office,” I said with a guarded smile.

  Elayne smiled back, her brown eyes twinkling. She was still very much the same girl I’d once known. She’d always been flirty, but unlike the other girls, she had a curious mind. It didn’t surprise me that she left the Amish to pursue an education and career.

  I remembered when she got into trouble for sneaking in a pile of romance novels given to her by one of the English drivers. It had been quite the scandal. She’d sat on the splintery bench in front of the entire congregation while Aaron recited her sins. She’d been shunned for two weeks. Not a terrible punishment by Amish standards, but enough to help push her out the door.

  I couldn’t help noticing that Elayne was the polar opposite of Serenity. While Elayne was a tall brunette with dark eyes, my girlfriend was blonde, blue eyed and several inches shorter. Elayne was overly warm and friendly, compared to Serenity’s cool aloofness. Although Elayne was an intelligent woman and had grown up on a farm, she didn’t have a lot of common sense. Serenity overflowed with the ability to make decisions under fire. Elayne was more about showing off and Serenity was all about the cause. Even though they were both career women, Elayne had explained to me last night that she had a specific timeline to be married and have two children within four years. Serenity didn’t even want to broach the subject of a family.

  Strangely, the very things I wanted from Serenity, Elayne was searching for. She understood my upbringing and had struggled with her own shunning the same way I had. She wanted commitment and kids. We had a lot in common, but for all that, it didn’t make the dark-haired beauty appealing.

  After having been with a woman like Serenity, a person with so many layers I hadn’t even scratched the surface of, Elayne seemed boring. She wasn’t the challenge Serenity was. Being around Elayne had only hammered in how much I loved Serenity. I’d probably give up having a family to be with her. I certainly couldn’t imagine ever walking away, but in the end, I may not have a choice in the matter. Serenity’s fear of commitment could ruin everything.