Secrets in the Grave

by Karen Ann Hopkins

  I changed tactics. “Listen, Arlo, someone took a shot at the Peachy house last night. I was there and saw a sedan, similar to yours, speeding away. Given your involvement with Hannah and the bad blood between you and Eli, I have enough to take you in for formal questioning.” I exhaled, putting on a show of hesitancy. “Or, if you have any information that might help us out, you can avoid that kind of trouble.”

  Arlo laughed and then sighed. “One of the Amish drivers drives a car like mine, only it’s black. You might want to talk to her about it. That’s all I got for you. If you’re going to arrest me, then read me my rights. Otherwise, I’m out of here.”

  “We know where to find you,” was all I said.

  Todd got out of the cruiser and opened the door for Arlo. When Todd climbed back into the driver’s seat, I watched Arlo saunter back into the diner like he didn’t have a care in the world, even though the rain was pouring down onto his head.

  The rain came down harder and a few seconds later, Todd had to turn up the wiper blades to see out the windshield at all.

  “What a prick. A guy has to be a lowlife to go and do that to an Amish girl,” Todd commented, not putting the car into gear yet.

  “She’s eighteen, old enough to decide who she wants to sleep with,” I replied, too distracted to focus entirely on my partner. The streaks of water making paths down the glass darkened my mood.

  “Hopefully, she can move on and forget about him. That would be the best thing for a girl like her. If the bishop finds out she was screwing around with an outsider like that, she’ll be in a lot of trouble.”

  “She might already be in trouble.” I glanced away, but not before I saw the look of shock cross over Todd’s face.

  “Oh, shit. That would be really bad,” Todd commented.

  “Maybe even more so than you can imagine.” I met Todd’s gaze. “You know what happened to her sister.”

  Todd put the car into gear. “Are we tracking down the Amish driver with the black sedan or visiting some other Amish folk?”

  I was contemplating his question when Rosie’s voice came over the radio asking for assistance with a vehicular accident on Route 48.

  I smiled at Todd. “You take the wreck. My tires should be ready by now. If you don’t mind dropping me off at my brother-in-law’s repair shop, I’ll be good to go.”

  Todd snorted. “You get to have all the fun.”

  The rain turned to drizzle and the sky opened up to reveal a rainbow in the distance.

  Ironically, it appeared to be dropping from the sky right into the Amish settlement. I wasn’t sure whether that was a good sign or not.

  The roads were still slick when I entered the settlement, but faint sunshine sprinkled out through the clouds. A stiff breeze bent the trees down, indicating the rain would soon be returning.

  Stuck behind a buggy going about five miles per hour, I backed off, not wanting to push the driver to work the brown, sweaty horse any harder than it already was.

  As we rounded the bend, I noticed a crowd gathered at the end of Moses and Anna Bachman’s driveway. A few were boys mounted on fidgeting horses, the rest were women and children. Their colorful dresses whipped around their legs in the wind, catching my eye. I recognized Anna, David’s mother at once. The buggy pulled to a stop when it reached the crowd and was swamped by the onlookers.

  I eased on the brakes, leaning out the window for a better look. Aaron Esch stepped out of the buggy, blocking the road. I pulled off into a little stretch of grass and cut my engine. I’d barely stepped out of the car when Anna spotted me. Her hand shot up and she hurried towards me, Aaron right behind her.

  “Sheriff, we need your help,” Anna called out.

  I ran to them. We came together in the middle of the road.

  “What’s the emergency?” I pulled my cell phone from my pocket.

  “It’s my little granddaughter, Christina, and her friend, Lucy. They’ve been poisoned by cowbane,” Anna reached out and grabbed my hand. You must take them to the hospital or they’ll die.”

  I didn’t even know what cowbane was, and the distance to the hospital was timely, even if I drove the children there myself. “Where are the girls?”

  Anna pointed up the road. “At the next farm. Lucy’s brother rode over to tell us. Aaron just happened to be passing by.”

  I looked up at the bishop and saw the hesitancy in his eyes. “The time it takes to get them to the hospital might be too much.” He tugged on his long, white beard. “There is another option.”

  I held my breath, waiting for him to say it.

  “I just left Jonas’ place. He’s there and so is Ada Mae. They might be able to help.” The bishop’s words lacked firmness.

  “No, I don’t want his hands on my granddaughter,” Anna protested.

  I looked back at the bishop and saw the intense conflict on his face. “It might be the only way to save them.” He turned to me. “Go to the Peachey’s, tell them that the girls were blowing whistles made from the hollow stems of water hemlock. They’ll understand and know what to bring. Call your English ambulance on the way there. If the children survive, they’ll need hospital care.”

  Aaron Esch was an intelligent man, I knew that. His commanding presence couldn’t be taken lightly either. His plan was as sound as any that I could come up with.

  I ran back to my car and shouted over my shoulder, “Clear the road, bishop. I don’t want another tragedy on my hands.”

  As I made the U-turn, the bishop waved his hands, getting everyone away from the road. My heart pounded as I hit the gas pedal and dialed central dispatch.

  Once again, a simple visit to the settlement to ask a few questions had turned into a race to save someone’s life.

  The thought trickled away when I pictured Daniel’s little niece, Christina. I’d saved her life the previous fall when the child had slipped into a hole dug for a new ice house that had filled with rainwater. If I hadn’t done CPR on her, she would have died.

  Her life was one again in jeopardy. It made me question the workings of the universe.

  I said a silent prayer for the girl as I pressed the gas pedal harder.

  18

  DANIEL

  Ma’s recorded message on my cellphone had been a jumbled mess of German and English. When I pulled in the Stolzfus’ driveway, I wasn’t sure what was going on other than that my niece and her friend had been poisoned. Luckily, I had been only a few miles away giving an estimate for new construction on a house when she’d called.

  Seeing Serenity’s car, along with several buggies, made my stomach clench. My girlfriend seemed to be a magnet for emergencies.

  I squeezed through a small crowd of women and children waiting on the porch, slipping through the screen door without bothering to knock. The empty kitchen was dimly lit from the natural light of the rainy day outside.

  I followed the sound of muted voices to the wooden staircase around the corner. Taking the steps two at a time, I made my way to the second floor. Holding my breath, I peeked into the room where the voices were coming from.

  I made eye contact with Serenity. Her face was tight. My sister, Rebecca, was on one side of the bed, holding Christina upright in her lap. My niece was soaked in sweat and visibly shaking. Mrs. Stolzfus was beside Rebecca, holding her own little girl in her arms in the same manner. A quick glance showed her to be in the same state as Christina.

  Ada Mae shook a glass bottle in her hand and poured its contents into two cups. Ma dropped a straw into each cup. She took one of them and thrusted it at Rebecca, who forced the straw into Christina’s mouth. Ada Mae brought the other cup close to second girl’s lips, mumbling encouraging words.

  My heart raced as the scene unfolded. I was unable to do anything to help and that bothered me. Jonas raised his hand above his head and prayed out loud. The women in the room alternated from offering words of encouragement to praying. My gaze drifted back to Serenity.

  She was staring at Christina, her mouth
set in a grim line. When Jonas’ voice grew louder, her eyes shifted to him.

  There was a mesmerizing quality to the man’s voice. He had evangelistic flare, a kind of charisma that most people weren’t born with. He was confident in his words, like he believed someone was listening.

  A gush of warm, stormy wind blew in from the opened window, but no one turned their heads to acknowledge it. The light rain tapped on the tin roof, giving the attempt to save the girls’ lives a quieter, less urgent feel.

  One of the words I had recognized over the phone call from Ma was cowbane, otherwise known as water hemlock. It was a highly poisonous weed that grew freely in many pastures in the area. Oftentimes, livestock were poisoned by ingesting the plants. Depending on the part of the plant and how much they ate, they’d show signs of poisoning within minutes. Abdominal pain, tremors and seizures soon followed. Usually the animal died.

  When I was growing up, a boy in the community had taken a bite out of the root of the plant on a dare. The roots held the most poison. The boy died a few hours later. Even the doctors in the hospital couldn’t save him.

  The Stolzfus girl was the first to begin coughing. Ada Mae was ready with a towel to catch the girl’s vomit when she began throwing up. Her mother cried and thanked God. The child wasn’t out of the woods, but throwing up some of the poison would help.

  Serenity’s hand curled around mine when I reached her side, and looked down at her. She forced a smile and rubbed my hand. I put my arm around her shoulders and squeezed. Our gazes returned to little Christina.

  Ma sat on the edge of the bed, her eyes closed and her mouth working in silent prayer. Rebecca continued to urge Christina to drink the dark liquid.

  Sirens blared in the distance and Serenity looked up. She let go of my hand and disappeared through the doorway. Her footsteps pounded down the staircase.

  Even though I barely knew my niece, my heart clenched at the sight of her possibly dying right in front of me. The combination of my sister’s and mother’s grief wafted around them, like a punch of solidness in the air.

  Christina shook, bouncing in her mother’s arms. Jonas prayed louder, asking the Lord to leave the girl with her family, but allowing that if Christina was to be at his side this day, that her delivery be painless and brief.

  The words echoed in my mind. What if it were my child lying there? Could I so easily give her up if that’s what God intended?

  The coughing fit that followed Christina’s shaking caused her to throw up into Ma’s apron. The smile that spread onto Ma’s face showed her pleasure that the drink had worked.

  Serenity burst into the room with the two paramedics I’d seen at the Kuhns’ farm days earlier.

  Ada Mae spoke up, directing her words to the female paramedic. “We gave the girls activated charcoal. They both threw up. It’s water hemlock poisoning. Seems they were using the stems as blowing whistles.”

  The paramedics went to work, splitting up to check the vital signs of each girl. “How long ago did they have the plant in their mouths?” the man asked as he checked Christina’s pupils with a small flashlight.

  “It’s been about fifteen minutes since the girls came in complaining of belly aches. They were drooling, too. That’s when I asked what they got into,” Mrs. Stoltzfus answered.

  “Raymond, how bad is it?” Serenity asked.

  Raymond exhaled, glancing from Serenity to Ada Mae. “It looks like these folks have saved the little girls with their quick thinking. We would have administered the charcoal at the hospital, but it might have been too late.” His gaze fell on Ada Mae. “Good job.”

  She nodded curtly. Before she turned away, her face flushed.

  The paramedics, with the help of the Amish women, loaded the girls into the ambulance with their mothers. I watched the vehicle carefully maneuver around the fidgeting horses, waiting until it reached the roadway before blaring their sirens. I figured the local authorities were used to dealing with emergency situations arising in the Amish settlement. From what I’d witnessed, they were doing a fine job adjusting to the cultural differences.

  “That was insane,” Serenity mumbled. She’d walked up quietly behind me to stand at the porch railing.

  I placed my hand over hers. “Never a dull moment.”

  Jonas and Ada Mae came through the front door together. Standing side-by-side, I saw the sibling resemblance. They were both tall, proud people. Looking at them now, I had a difficult time feeling anything except respect for them. Their knowledge and ways had saved my niece and another child.

  “Thank you for what you did in there,” I said, extending my hand to Jonas. He grasped it quickly, with a small smile.

  “It’s what we were born to do. The Lord gave us the ability to heal. We are under his guidance always.”

  I didn’t bother to reach for Ada Mae’s hand. I knew the Amish ways. She’d be uncomfortable with such contact. I met her gaze and nodded my thanks. She smiled back weakly and glanced away.

  “Mr. Peachey, do you have a few minutes to answer some more questions about the Kuhns’ case?” Serenity asked.

  I glanced at her, thinking it wasn’t the right time for another interrogation.

  “Sure.” Jonas looked at Ada Mae, who shrugged back at him. “We can spare that much time, I think.”

  We waited for the crowd to disperse as we stood beside Jonas’ horse and buggy. Verna had driven the buggy to the Stolzfus’ farm after her father and aunt had been spirited away by Serenity in her car. The Amish girl stood a little ways down the hill, talking to Mervin. He had been one of the boys who’d ridden throughout the neighborhood spreading news of the girls’ poisoning. His limp was gone and something about his straight-backed posture made me confident that the injuries to his heart from Naomi’s death were healing, too.

  I smiled. It was amazing what a girl could do for a boy.

  Serenity saw the look on my face and raised her brows. I lifted my chin and her gaze followed the direction to the love-struck teens. Now that the emergency had passed and the stormy skies were lifting, exposing shards of bright sunlight, I felt hopeful again. Serenity and I would be all right.

  The area around the buggy fell quiet, and Serenity pulled out her notebook from her pocket. She flipped through the pages, reading briefly to herself. She looked at Jonas.

  “Mr. Peachey, do you have tansy ragwort and pennyroyal among the herbs you keep?” Serenity asked.

  Jonas turned to Ada Mae, who answered the question. “Yes, we keep all kinds of herbs in supply.” She pointed back to the Stoltzfus house. “You never know what you’re going to face on any given day. Those girls would be dying, beyond help right now, if I had to take the time to search out the ingredients needed to force them to regurgitate the plant.”

  It made sense. I glanced at Serenity, anxious at her narrowed gaze.

  “What do you personally use those two herbs for?” Serenity continued.

  Ada Mae didn’t hesitate. “The tansy I give for worms. Sometimes I make a concoction to keep the insects away. Pennyroyal helps keep a woman’s bleeding regular and less painful. It soothes PMS symptoms,” she said.

  Serenity took a deep breath. Her gaze swept between Jonas and Ada Mae, but landed squarely on the woman when she said, “Do you have any idea why those two ingredients would be mixed together and drank as a tea?”

  Ada Mae’s eyes widened. “Why, no one in their right mind would drink those two together. They are tricky on their own. Combined, they might be very dangerous indeed.”

  “Were either of you aware that Fannie was five months pregnant?” Serenity plowed on.

  Jonas reddened with embarrassment, glancing away. He mumbled. “No. That’s not something I knew of.”

  Ada Mae frowned. The expression made me stare harder at her.

  “I suspected she was,” Ada Mae admitted. “For my people, it’s not expected that an unmarried woman will be pregnant. She complained of belly aches in the morning and I gave her peppermint tea to calm
her stomach.” Ada Mae shifted on her feet, taking a sharp breath. “She told me that her menses were off and asked what herbal remedy might help. I told her to try a small amount of parsley in her tea.”

  Serenity digested Ada Mae’s words and then shut her notebook. “We’re still working on the person who shot out your window. We have an idea who it might be, but don’t have anything definitive. If you see any cars, especially dark colored, four door types parking near your farm, please call me immediately.” Serenity handed Ada Mae a business card.

  Ada Mae flicked her hand over her shoulder. “Like that one?”

  “Yeah, exactly,” Serenity said smoothly. She tipped her hat at Jonas and Ada Mae before nodding her head for me to follow her down the driveway.

  When we got close enough to see inside the black, four door sedan, my chest tightened.

  Eli Bender sat in the front passenger seat.

  19

  SERENITY

  Seriously? Eli Bender’s lips were pinched and a wavy fold of thick, brown hair dropped down from his straw hat to almost cover one of his eyes. He was a good looking young man and the arrogant lift of his chin told me he knew it. It was the same attitude that had made me suspicious that he’d been the one who shot Naomi. She’d been pregnant with his child at the time. Combine that with the teen’s defensive posture and he’d been a main suspect.

  When I leaned into the vehicle, I studied the driver as well. I guessed her to be in her thirties. She was a heavy-set woman with short cropped, blond hair and thin lips. I couldn’t see her eyes from the wide brimmed sunglasses she wore, but she smiled at me.

  “Hi there, Sheriff. Are the girls going to be okay?” the woman asked in an overly familiar fashion.

  Her outgoing manner bugged me. She was trying too hard.

  “They’re on their way to Blood Rock Regional Hospital,” I said. “What’s your name?”

  “Jenny Reynolds. I drive the Amish to make some extra cash,” she answered.

  I tilted my head to look at Eli. He pushed the hair from his brow and stared back.