Evil in My Town

by Karen Ann Hopkins

  “That’s what I thought we were doing. She called me out of the blue and asked if I’d drive her. I didn’t really consider her a friend yet—just a girl I’d met and liked. I thought we might eventually grow to be friends.”

  “I see. It’s sometimes difficult to be their friends. Our cultures are so different.”

  “Yeah, no kidding.” My heart began hammering again, and I rushed out the words before I lost my nerve. “Sarah brought me here instead. I was upset with her for deceiving me. I had no idea the boys would come.”

  Aunt Reni’s brow rose. “What was the purpose of their meeting?”

  My aunt was pretty slick. She’d calmed me down and convinced me that the school shooting wasn’t my fault, and now she was casually playing detective. But I didn’t care; I had to tell her everything.

  “They’re worried about another teenager in their community—a bad kid, someone who has been causing all kinds of trouble.” I met her intense gaze. “They wanted to hear my version of the events, to see if Matthew was telling them the truth…”

  I wrapped my arms around my body and told Aunt Reni about the night in the woods—about Danielle’s overdose and the drug dealer threatening me. I was careful not to leave anything out. When I was done talking, it felt like a heavy weight was lifted from my shoulders. For the first time in over two months, I was free.

  Aunt Reni tapped the steering wheel and then put her car in reverse. She backed around and pulled up alongside my car. “I’m going to follow you home, Taylor. I have to get back to the office, so I won’t be able to go in and chat with your mom.” I hesitated and then nodded. “You have to be a big girl and tell her exactly what you told me. She’s your biggest advocate, and she’ll understand. She’ll know just what to say to make you feel better.”

  “Are you mad at me?” I ventured.

  “Of course not. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It happens to a lot to teenagers.” She turned a harder look on me. “But you have to start being smarter, making your own decisions about what’s best for you, instead of following your friends’ leads. I know you were trying to be a good pal to Lindsey, but when those little warning bells go off in your head in the future, you have to heed them. Trust your instincts and you’ll be all right.”

  “Thank you,” I mumbled, feeling the tears pool in my eyes.

  “It’s okay to cry. You’ve been through a hell of a lot—seen atrocious things most people never face. It’s going to be a while before things are back to normal. That’s just the way it is.”

  “How can anything ever be normal again?”

  “Because life goes on for the living. Your spirit is strong and you will recover from this. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll never forget what you saw in that school or what happened to you in the woods. The pain and harshness of it all will fade in time so that it’s more like a bad dream, but don’t lock up your emotions inside. Talk to your parents, your brother, your friends, and of course, me, as much as you need to. Talking is the best way to deal with it.”

  “I will.” I pulled the handle and pushed open the door. Cold wind rushed into my face.

  “Taylor?” I looked over my shoulder at Aunt Reni. “Do you know the name of the Amish boy who sold Danielle the drugs and pulled the gun on you?”

  “Monroe Swarey.”

  The winter wind was no match for the chilling look on my aunt’s face. If I didn’t hate him so much, I would have felt sorry for the kid.

  22

  Serenity

  “You don’t have enough evidence that a crime was committed at the Swarey farm to get the judge to issue a search warrant,” Todd argued.

  He sat in one of the chairs across from my desk. Bobby sat in the other, and Toby leaned up against the file cabinet. The bags of food from Nancy’s Diner sat on the desk, untouched. The hamburgers and fries would have to wait.

  I took a sip of my coffee and stared out the window into the cold darkness. A couple hours ago I’d discovered my niece in the same barn I’d been held captive in. Sure, the trip back to the location of that strange and terrifying ordeal was a short one, but it had stirred up a mess of uncomfortable memories. Most of the Amish were good, God-fearing, law-abiding citizens. A few weren’t. Even though I had a lot on my plate with the shooting at the high school, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something very ominous going on in the Amish community.

  I turned back to the men. “That little punk threatened my niece, Todd.” I pointed a finger at him. “There must be some way to get that search warrant.”

  “Oh, there are several ways, Serenity, and you know all of them. You want to do it the right way, I assume—in a way that you’ll get a conviction that will keep the Swarey kid in prison for more than just a few months on drug charges.”

  “Drug charges that led to the death of a teenage girl,” Toby chimed in. “Isn’t he eighteen?”

  Todd flipped through the file on his lap. “Yeah, but he was still seventeen at the time the incident with Taylor took place.”

  I leaned over my desk. “Jackson Merritt was there that night, too. It was his foster sister who died. The white residue you found in his flannel pocket, Bobby, was heroin. Maybe we could use that angle. The judge would sign anything I asked him to if it was connected to the shooting. The town’s citizens want to strike out at someone, anyone, for what happened at the school.”

  Bobby straightened his glasses. “Monroe Swarey was on our peripheral during the serial killer case. He wasn’t directly involved, but he came on our radar when we learned he was dealing drugs to the Amish kids.” I nodded my head and motioned for him to continue. “It was at that time we discovered his mother was missing—and that she’d presumably run off.”

  Even on my best days I wasn’t a patient woman. “Yeah, we know all that. What are you getting at?”

  “Out of the blue, a couple months later, we have an inquiry about another missing woman—Charlene Noble.” Bobby twirled the corner of his mustache.

  Toby came over and spread his hands on the edge of the desk, beside Bobby. “Her sister from Indy contacted your office. She told me Charlene was a middle-aged wild child—the type of woman who was known to disappear for a while and then show back up again. But the sister thought two months was out of the ordinary for Charlene to not have contacted her at all. They have an elderly mother who has health problems. Even when Charlene was on one of her road trips, she checked in occasionally to see how her mother was doing.”

  “So Charlene Noble may or may not really be missing,” Bobby concluded. He turned sympathetic eyes on me. “I know you’ve had a rough year of it, Serenity, and many of the crimes were committed in the Amish settlement, but in this case, you might be paranoid.”

  I tilted my head and exhaled slowly. Todd quickly averted his gaze, looking down at the file in his lap. Toby raised a brow at me, waiting to see how I reacted.

  “Then what do you think happened to Erin Swarey and her friend, Charlene? Do you think it’s just coincidence they’re both missing?” I asked, trying not to sound offended.

  “Absolutely not. I would wager wherever they are, they are together,” Bobby replied.

  Toby beat me to the punch. “You think they just ran off somewhere?”

  “It’s a reasonable assumption. The little girl told you she saw the two women together at the market. If Nicolas was an abusive husband, and all evidence warrants that assumption, then perhaps Charlene helped get her friend away from the situation. Maybe they’re just laying low.”

  Bobby’s words swirled in my head. “So you think I’m over reacting?”

  “Not exactly. You and the Marshal should follow up on any leads that arise about the missing women, but”—he hesitated and softened his tone—“you have a more important investigation to worry about, here in town. The school shooting is national news. You should focus on that.” I began to open my
mouth and he raised his hands, interrupting me. “You mustn’t always jump to sinister conclusions when a case involves the Amish people. Surely, after everything that’s gone on in that community lately, they’re due some peace and quiet.”

  Bobby was usually the voice of wisdom and reason. I always respected what the town’s coroner had to say, and his expertise had helped solve many Blood Rock cases. But maybe he was being too optimistic, believing lightning couldn’t strike so many times in one place. Yeah, a lot of crazy shit had gone down in the community, and they were due a break, but that didn’t mean they were going to catch one.

  Toby eyed me, and I got the feeling he already knew what I was thinking. Todd looked up nervously.

  “I appreciate your frankness, Bobby. I really do. I am focused on the shooting case.”

  “I hear a but coming…” Bobby smiled slightly.

  “My gut is shouting at me that there’s more going on with the Swareys than just drugs and an abusive man. I pray I’m wrong, but I fear those women are in trouble. What kind of law officer would I be if I ignored my instincts?”

  “Amen, sister,” Toby pounded the desk, but I didn’t look his way. I was studying Bobby’s facial expressions. I wanted him to see why I was becoming obsessed with a case where we weren’t even sure if a crime had been committed. I wanted his approval that I was doing the right thing.

  “Are you sure it’s not just revenge you’re looking for? The Swarey kid threatened your niece and sold drugs to a girl that died. Since those two things happened while he was still a minor, you know it will probably only get him a short stint in prison. The father was abusive to his wife, but there’s no evidence that he did anything nefarious to the woman.” His gaze was unflinching. “If you were to discover that a more heinous crime had been committed, you could put the pair away for a hell of a long time.”

  I drank the last gulp of my coffee and opened the brown bag, pulling out a hamburger. For the first time in a few days I had an appetite. I had to keep my strength up and my mind sharp.

  I looked around the room, making sure each man was listening carefully. “I’m good at multi-tasking. Keep the coffee coming and I’ll get us through the school shooting case, and I’ll continue to follow the leads about the missing women. With any luck, they’re sipping margaritas on a beach down south somewhere. But if something ill-fated happened to them, I’m going to find out. As far as Monroe Swarey is concerned, I’m going to make sure he doesn’t hurt anyone else again. He’s going to pay for what he put Taylor through, too.”

  Silence settled in the office, like the snow falling outside.

  “Are we in agreement?”

  “I’ll make those calls right away, boss,” Todd said. He picked up his bag of food and left quickly.

  Bobby was a little slower getting up. He turned to me and said, “I would have been disappointed if it was any other way, but mind what I said, Serenity. As long as it’s not personal, it will stand up in court.”

  When I was alone with Toby, he took the seat Bobby had just vacated and dug into his bag. He popped a french fry into his mouth and grinned. “When it gets personal is when most of my cases are solved,” he said.

  I snorted. “My thoughts exactly.”

  23

  Taylor

  “You have company,” Mom said, peeking inside the doorway.

  “Who is it?” I tossed my tablet on the bed and slowly rose.

  Mom’s brows creased. “It’s that Amish girl, Sarah. She said she wanted to talk to you.” Mom spread her hands wide. “I hope you don’t mind. I invited her in.”

  I pulled my long hair back into a pony tail and slipped on my tennis shoes. I tried to sound casual when I asked, “How did she get here?”

  Mom crossed to the window and looked out. “There’s a white van in the driveway. I can’t see the driver, but it’s still running.”

  I was almost through the door when Mom called out. “Taylor, be careful around that girl. The way she deceived you last night was wrong. You have enough on your mind to worry about. Don’t let her drag you into her drama.”

  I stared back at Mom, realizing how different she was from Aunt Reni. They were both blonde and slender. Aunt Reni was a little taller than Mom, and where Mom had lines around her eyes and mouth from smiling a lot, Aunt Reni’s face was serious and smooth. Mom was optimistic and Aunt Reni usually expected the worst from people. My mother was cautious and lacked curiosity. Aunt Reni was always ready to jump head first into danger. I could see it in Mom’s eyes—she didn’t want me to talk Sarah. But if Aunt Reni was standing there, she’d probably want me to get information that might lead to Monroe’s arrest, or maybe even find out where his mother was.

  “I’ll be okay. She’s not that bad. I think she means well,” I said quietly.

  “Usually, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but after what happened with your brother and that poor girl, Naomi Beiler, I’m wary of those people. Your aunt has dealt with a lot of chaos in that community recently. I’m just not that open-minded about them.”

  I took a few steps and hugged her tightly. “You’re my mom. You’re supposed to worry about my friends. It’s part of the whole raising a teenager thing. But Sarah’s just a kid like me. I think she needs a friend.”

  I waited for Mom to nod and when she did, I was out the door and jogging down the staircase. I stepped into the kitchen and found Sarah standing next to the table, with fingers intertwined in front of her. Her white cap, maroon dress and black, laced up boots looked especially out of place in my house.

  “Is everything all right?” I moved closer to her. “Were your parents really mad?”

  “The bishop and ministers will decide my punishment next Sunday, and that will probably involve a couple of weeks of shunning. At least that’s what Mama thinks.” She frowned. “She wasn’t too upset, just disappointed that I hadn’t talked to her about what was going on with Monroe.”

  “That’s pretty much what my mom said too.”

  “Dad was another story. He hasn’t even spoken to me since he took me home.” She shrugged. “I guess silence is better than ranting.”

  The corner of her mouth quivered and I tilted my head. She giggled and I smiled back. Sarah had a lot of spirit, and at that moment I decided I really liked her.

  When she quieted, I whispered, “Why are you here?”

  She trailed her finger along the top of the kitchen chair and glanced around. “This is a beautiful house. No wonder Naomi wanted to run off with your brother.”

  “They were in love. If he had lived in a shack, she’d still have left with him,” I said forcefully. My skin tingled as I stared back at Sarah, but my anger was quickly replaced with pity. I saw in her eyes how much she wanted to be English.

  She put her hand on my shoulder. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I was just imagining how Naomi must have felt being here with your brother. She could have worn denim jeans and cute tops.” Her gaze drifted to the side as if she was looking at a picture of what she was describing. Her face came alive. “She would have been able to drive a car, and go wherever she wanted without a chaperone. No one would have judged her for the things she wanted to do. She might have even gone to college and become a professional working woman.” Her eyes clouded. “If David Lapp hadn’t killed her, that is.”

  It was difficult to breathe. I managed to push a breath out and slumped down in a chair. Sarah remained standing. She stared at nothing.

  “Naomi was my friend. I sometimes have nightmares about what happened to her. It was incredibly unfair.”

  “Yes, it was,” she mumbled.

  “Do you wish you could leave your community, the way Naomi tried to do?” I said carefully.

  Her frown returned. “Sometimes I want it more than anything in the world, although I don’t know what I’d do without Mama and my little sisters and brothers. I couldn�
��t leave them. I’d miss them all too much.” She fretted with her hands. “I’ve seen firsthand what my family does to those who leave our people—just look at what happened to Daniel. He went something like fifteen years without a relationship with them. I can only imagine how tough it was for him.”

  Heavy sadness settled around Sarah and my mind couldn’t help drifting back to the hallway and all those dead people. So many families would never see their kids again. It was hard to wrap my mind around a scenario where a family would eliminate their children just because they wanted to live a different lifestyle from them. Maybe if they saw what I saw in the school, they would act differently.

  I wanted to help Sarah, but I didn’t know what to do. Will had tried to save Naomi, and look what happened to her. Not that I thought Sarah would be murdered if she left the Amish, but I knew how hard it had been for Naomi to make the choice to leave. At the same time, it might be just as difficult to stay behind.

  I grasped for something that might raise her spirits. “Aren’t there any Amish boys you like?”

  Her cheeks reddened and the corner of her mouth shot up. “Why, have you heard gossip?”

  I snorted. “You’re the only Amish person I talk to, Sarah. My conversations with Matthew were pretty much limited to hi and bye.”

  She looked around again and then pulled the chair out beside me. She plopped down and scooted it closer. “There is someone I like, and I think he’s sweet on me, too.” She paused and her face was thoughtful. “At least he’s been more attentive lately.” I raised my brows and she went on. “He offered me and Christina a ride home in his buggy from the ball game the other night. He’s never done that before, and he kept staring at me during church service last week.”