Secrets in the Grave

by Karen Ann Hopkins

  Done talking, I turned to leave, but Daniel reached out, grabbing my arm.

  “You should come with me to talk to Elayne—to see what she found out from Irene and Hannah.” He frowned. “Unless you’re dropping the case,” Daniel challenged in a low voice.

  I stared into Daniel’s dark brown eyes. I could see the spark of desperation there. He wanted to make things right. I could feel the pulsating strings between us, and I wanted things to be right. Should I listen to Todd and Katherine? Were they correct about Daniel’s virtue?

  I wasn’t ready to let it go. The tug of tiredness was making my eyelids heavy. I wanted this night to end, but I didn’t want to pass up an opportunity to find out what really happened to Fannie, either. I might be stubborn, but the job came first.

  “All right. I’ll go with you to talk to Elayne, but that’s it.” I pointed at Daniel. “You’re dropping me off at my place and then you’re heading back to yours. I’ve had a long day and I’m not in the mood for anything else tonight.”

  I caught a glimpse of Todd’s raised brows before he gripped the door handle and got into the cruiser. “Tomorrow, boss,” he called out, then cranked the engine.

  When I looked back at Daniel, he made a wide sweep of his hand towards Elayne’s car. I strode to the vehicle and got in.

  We rode in silence over the empty country roads, which suited me fine.

  I was having a difficult time concentrating on all the cases. I still had the aftermath of the bank robbery to deal with, and now it sounded as if I had a group of punk-ass young men terrorizing the Amish on my plate. I wasn’t sure what to think about Fannie Kuhns, after my interactions with the Peachey family and witnessing a miraculous healing, I was beginning to wonder if I was in over my head with that case. There wasn’t any proof of foul play in her death. Sure, it was weird and untimely, but it could have been natural, perhaps exacerbated by the use of clashing herbal remedies.

  I rubbed my forehead as we pulled up to the Kuhn’s residence.

  The only bright spot of the evening was seeing the look of complete shock on Elayne’s face when she saw me sitting in the front seat of her car.

  Her red cheeks and dark expression when I didn’t get out to accommodate her was priceless. The fact that she hadn’t gone to the driver’s side to displace Daniel first was her undoing. He remained planted in his seat, even after she finally glanced his way. She resorted to climbing in the back. I struggled to keep the grin off my face as Elayne leaned forward and told us what she’d learned that night.

  16

  SERENITY

  I stared at my bacon cheeseburger, not feeling especially hungry. The day beyond the window was cloudy and threatening rain. The weather matched my mood perfectly.

  “Do you want another sweet tea, darling?” Nancy’s voice slashed into my depression.

  I looked up at the diner’s owner and my friend. She hadn’t changed much since I’d worked part time at the diner as a teenager. She still had the same red hair, only now, it was from a box, and a sultry voice that most women only used in the bedroom.

  “No, I’m good,” I replied. Nancy gave Todd another cola and he thanked her. When she turned on her heel to leave, I found my voice again, “Nancy, have you had any experiences with spiritual healings?” I ventured, feeling stupid for asking.

  Nancy’s reaction caught me off guard. She flopped down in the seat, bumping into my side. “Funny you should ask. Just the other day, I was thinking about something I experienced a long time ago.” She glanced around the diner, emptying from the noon rush, and lowered her voice. “When I was a little girl, my folks took me down to Tennessee to visit kin who lived there. One Sunday morning, we ended up in a little cow-poke building in the middle of the woods. If I hadn’t been told it was a church, I never would have guessed it. It was nothing but a square, wooden building sitting beneath a stand of pine trees.

  “There was a mixture of whites and colored folk in the congregation and they sang out loud as if the spirit was with each and every one of them that day. Their hands were raised to the ceiling, swaying back and forth. They even stomped their feet. To be honest, their enthusiasm scared me. I remember clutching my momma’s dress tightly in my hands as I hid my face in the material.”

  Nancy paused and looked around again. Todd and I exchanged glances. His face was wide with curiosity as I’m sure mine was.

  When Nancy was satisfied there were no eavesdroppers, she returned her attention to us and continued. “There was a girl not much older than me at the service. She was slumped in a wheelchair and her poor legs were skinny and unused. Blonde hair hung in her face and she didn’t even bother to push it away. I watched as she was wheeled in front of the pews. The singing stopped. That room had been dead silent, everyone was holding their breath.

  “A colored woman walked up to the girl. She was wearing a long, rust-orange colored dress and her head was covered with a folded piece of material that matched her dress. She was tall, slender and old. When she had turned to the crowd, her eyes were white. The woman was blind, but she moved freely enough that you wouldn’t notice her handicap until you saw her ghost eyes.

  “She placed one hand on the girl’s legs and the other on her head and she began chanting in a language I didn’t recognize. The congregation began singing. At first it was slow, soft and steady, then gradually rising to a chorus of loud shouts that equaled that of the old blind woman.”

  Nancy took a deep breath and swallowed. She tilted her head to look into my eyes. I noticed hers were moist with unfallen tears. “That air in that room became heavy, almost oppressive with all the emotion of the congregation—and with something else. I felt its presence and sealed my eyes closed. I was terrified to see whatever it was that had entered that room. The chanting of the old woman and the boisterous singing of the people had filled my ears, vibrating the pews and floor around me. After what seemed like an eternity and my body cramped with fatigue, the singing died down. Cheers erupted and my eyes popped open. That blonde girl was standing. She took four steps to fall into the waiting arms of her mother. She had been healed.”

  The three of us sat in silence. I wasn’t sure what to say. Nancy’s experience was different in some ways to what I’d witnessed with Mervin’s healing, but there were enough similarities to make me squirm.

  “Did you ever see anything like that again?”

  “Nope, that was the only time,” Nancy said, slapping her hand down on the table as she leaned back. “To this day, I don’t know exactly what I saw.”

  I took a sip of my tea. “Are you aware the Amish call that sort of healing a laying of the hands? It’s not very common, but it does happen in their communities.”

  “No kidding,” Nancy exclaimed. “Does the entire congregation get involved?”

  “I don’t know for sure. But there’s a shaman-type person who initiates the healing while the family members gather around and pray.”

  “It’s kind of group hysteria if you ask me,” Todd finally spoke up. When Nancy and I stared at him, he went on to say, “That girl you thought you saw healed might not have been really crippled. It could have been a sham set up to get more donations for a backwoods church.” Todd’s gaze rested on me. “Mervin Lapp’s pain might have been his head. I asked Heather about it. She thought after this many months, he should have been feeling better anyway. The mind is an amazing thing. Sometimes sheer belief in something can make a person well. Look at all those people who beat cancer with a positive attitude. There’ve been studies about miracle healings and they usually come up with a scientific explanation.”

  “That still doesn’t explain what I felt in that room. Maybe it was all in my mind, I don’t know. But it sure felt real at the time,” Nancy replied.

  I touched her hand. “I believe you.”

  Nancy smiled back before she rose from the table and strutted to the counter.

  “I didn’t mean to piss her off,” Todd muttered.

  I rolled my eyes, abo
ut to respond when Bobby appeared at the end of the booth and took the seat Nancy had vacated. His brisk manner put me on high alert as he sifted through the files in his brief case. He pulled out a fax copy and handed it to me.

  “That’s the toxicology report on Fannie’s tea cup,” Bobby said.

  I scanned the paper and looked back at the coroner. “Tansy ragwort and pennyroyal traces found in the cup, along with parsley, peppermint and lavender? What does this mean?”

  “I’ve been online researching these herbs all morning. I even called a doctor friend of mine who practices internal medicine to verify my findings.” Bobby paused to take a sip of the cola Nancy had brought him.

  “What are you in the mood—?”

  Bobby waved her away like a pesky fly. “Nothing right now.”

  Nancy snorted and left the table. I didn’t comment.

  Bobby turned back to me. “Both tansy and pennyroyal have medicinal properties, but can be dangerous if the dosage is off or the flowers themselves are highly potent. They’re both abortifacients, used in the past to terminate unwanted pregnancy or regulate menstrual cycles. Combined, you have the makings for a lethal tea.”

  “What about the lavender and parsley?” I asked.

  “The parsley is also used to bring on menses and has been labeled as a possible cause of miscarriage, but it’s fairly benign as far as risk to the person taking it goes. Lavender has many uses, but one of those is a form of tranquilizer.”

  “What did your doctor friend think about the combination of ingredients?” I asked, already having a good idea what he was going to say.

  “He basically said that no one in their right mind would mix those ingredients up and serve it to someone—unless they were trying to hurt them. Having both tansy and pennyroyal in the tea was complete overkill. The lavender probably made the girl too drowsy to even realize she was bleeding to death. The parsley is a bit of a curiosity, though.”

  “What are you putting down as cause of death?”

  Bobby lifted his glasses from his nose and rubbed his eyes. “Did the girl know enough about herbs to make this concoction on her own?”

  “No. From the sounds of it, she had no training or experience with herbs.” I sighed. “But from what Elayne found out last night, she very well might have been attempting to end the pregnancy.”

  Bobby replaced his glasses and met my gaze. “What do you know?”

  “Supposedly, neither the mother, nor the younger sister knew who the father was. Hannah did have an idea her sister was pregnant right before Fannie died. It sounds like she was in shock about it and was afraid to discuss the matter with anyone, including Fannie.”

  “Do you know who provided the tea for Fannie?” Bobby asked.

  I shook my head. “Ada Mae Peachey confirmed that Jonas was treating Irene for her asthma and insomnia. She prepared the herbal treatments, but Jonas administered them. It’s going to take some more digging to find out if he added an ingredient that made it a lethal herbal tea.” I leaned back and glanced out the window as the first rain drops pelted the glass. “I still can’t figure out why he’d want to kill Fannie in the first place. We’re missing something.”

  “What about his wife—any information there that might help?”

  I thought back to my encounter with Wilma Gingerich and her granddaughter, Marissa. Something wasn’t sitting well with me about the visit, but there wasn’t any one thing I could put my finger on.

  “No, it seems like she bled out after delivering the baby. The hospital and death reports both listed it as natural causes stemming from childbirth.”

  “That’s the interesting thing with this case,” Bobby mused. “Women do occasionally die in pregnancy or during the course of delivery, even with our modern medical advancements. Sometimes nature fails a woman and the cost is her life or her child’s. It’s often difficult to know exactly what happened, so they’re lumped together in the natural causes basket. In actuality, something or someone could have contributed to the death and gotten away with it.”

  I became impatient. “Are you lumping Fannie’s death into that same basket?”

  Bobby met my hard gaze. “No. I believe the herbs she ingested sedated her and caused her to bleed out—contributing, if not causing, her death and that of the fetus. I’ll mark the death as questionable suicide with ongoing investigation.” He leaned closer. “We need to know where she got that drink from before I can upgrade it to a homicide. All those ingredients are common enough that even a simple woman could have mixed them together herself.”

  “I’ll see what I can do. If you’ve done all the analysis you can on the body, go ahead and release her to the family.”

  Bobby nodded, stuffing his files back into the briefcase. “I heard you got shot at in the Amish settlement last night.”

  “Not exactly. I just happened to be in the Peachey household when their house got shot at.”

  “Hmm.” He swirled the straw in his drink. “That’s unexpected. I wonder what brought it on.”

  “We might get our answer right now,” Todd said, lifting his chin toward the diner’s entrance.

  I looked over my shoulder at the four young men shaking off the rain from their jackets. With raised brows, I glanced back at Todd. “Are they our guys?”

  “None other than.” He smirked back at me.

  Bobby slid from the booth. For an older guy, he sometimes surprised me with his spryness. “I’ll leave you to it then. I’ve got to get back to the office. Ed is hounding me day and night to close the robbery file for the feds.”

  “Thanks, Bobby,” I offered.

  “Retirement is sounding better every day,” Bobby mumbled as he left the table.

  We waited until the four men were seated at a booth a couple down from us before we rose and joined them.

  “I’m Sheriff Serenity Adams. I think you’re all acquainted with Deputy Todd Roftin.” I addressed the group, but took my time looking at each young man individually.

  Two of the teens looked down at the table top and the other two met my gaze. None of them looked overly threatening, wearing jeans and t-shirts, a few tattoos visible, and some stubble. The scent of cigarette smoke clung to the one closest to me. The guy in the corner’s nose was hooked and his dark hair fell over the side of his face like a pirate.

  The pirate spoke for the group. “What can we do for you, Sheriff?” He swept his eyes over me.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Are you Arlo Thomas?” I guessed.

  “Sure am. Did I do something wrong?” He smirked, all mock innocence.

  “Is that navy blue sedan parked in front of the restaurant yours?”

  “Yeah. What of it?”

  “It matches the description of a vehicle that forced a buggy off the road the other day. That wouldn’t happen to be you, would it?” I kept my voice even, never taking my eyes from Arlo’s face.

  The guy who smelled like cigarette smoke began to stand, but Todd’s hand on his shoulder shoved him back down. “You’re not going anywhere just yet.”

  I glanced around. The few patrons scattered about the diner were pretending not to notice us, which was a good thing.

  I rested my hands on the table and leaned forward, making eye contact with each man in turn, ending with Arlo.

  “There will be no harassment of the Amish under my watch. I won’t tolerate it. If you boys don’t want to end up in the county jail, you’d best change your thinking and move on from any petty squabbles you may have with them.” I dropped my voice.

  The young man who had been trying to escape squeaked, “Yes, ma’am.”

  The other two nodded in unison, but not Arlo. He pushed the stray hairs from his face and stared back at me. His blatant disregard for authority didn’t surprise me. There was one in every group. The deep emotions swirling around in the depths of his brown eyes got my attention. For this guy, it was personal.

  “You can’t keep me out of the settlement. I’ve got just as much right to be t
here as anyone else,” he taunted.

  “Not if you’re breaking the law, you don’t,” I said.

  Arlo chuckled. “You have no idea what’s going on out there. Crazy shit that you wouldn’t believe.”

  “Try me,” I challenged.

  Arlo took a deep breath and looked away. When he faced me, his face was set in stone and his eyes glinted.

  “Whatever I’ve done was to protect my girl. No one else will,” Arlo breathed.

  I swallowed. “Who’s your girl?”

  “Hannah Kuhns.”

  17

  SERENITY

  Ten minutes later, Todd and I had Arlo Thomas inside the cruiser. Ethan, Davie, and Otis were waiting for his return in the diner.

  “Am I under arrest?” Arlo asked from the backseat. He was still playing the tough guy, but I’d heard the crack in his voice. Arlo was off balance now, just the way I wanted.

  “So tell me how you and Hannah Kuhns hooked up in the first place.” I shifted in my seat to get a better view of Arlo’s face.

  “She was at the stockyard with some of the Amish girls the same day I met Eli.” He shrugged and blushed at the same time. “I asked him to introduce us. He did and we sort of hit it off. She’s a lot quieter than the girls I’m used to. With her daddy gone, she needed a man in her life, if you know what I mean.”

  The smirk returned and I wanted to smack his face. I took a deeper breath. “No, I don’t know what you mean. Please explain.”

  Arlo met my gaze unflinchingly. “She wanted to fuck. I obliged her.”

  Todd made a growling noise and swiveled in the driver’s seat. “Watch your mouth or I’ll haul your ass into lockup for popping the Peachey house last night.”

  “What are talking about? I was at Charlie’s Pub. There’s at least a dozen people who saw me there,” Arlo said.

  I caught the surprised look on Arlo’s face at Todd’s accusation. He wasn’t lying. Todd licked his lips, raising his brows at me.