Jake smiled. “You need to eat anyway, right? We’ll meet again when the Yoder brothers are free.”
Samuel slumped back in the booth and crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah, I guess.”
Rebecca approached the table, holding a pen and pad in her hands. “Ready to order or are you still waiting for more guests?”
“Change of plans. It’ll be just us.”
The three men placed their orders. Rebecca caught Jake’s eye and he smiled. “Thank you.”
Her pale cheeks flushed before she turned to put the orders in.
Jake took a sip of his water and watched Samuel over the rim of his glass. He wondered if they’d ever get to finish that conversation. Had Samuel been about to open up to him?
At a nearby table, a college student waved his hand eagerly, trying to get Rebecca’s attention. “Um, we’d like to order, like, sometime this week.”
“I hate that my mem has to work here,” Samuel said. “She shouldn’t have to. My father ruined everything.”
“You have to forgive him. Move on,” Jake suggested.
Samuel furrowed his brows. “Maybe it’s time I jumped the fence,” he said, using the term the Amish had for leaving the community. The distant look in his brown eyes suggested he was already envisioning it.
Jake watched Rebecca lift a hold-on-a-minute finger to the college student before tacking their order onto the silver wheel above the window leading into the kitchen of the old-fashioned diner. She then refilled the coffee mug of a gentleman sitting at the counter. She smiled and made small talk with the man before making her way over to the table of college students.
Jake smiled inwardly. She’d handled the rude customer with quiet aplomb.
He turned his attention back to Samuel. “Your mem would be devastated if you left.” Jake hated to heap guilt on this young man, but he needed to know. “Make sure your decisions are for the right reasons. Give it some time. You’re still grieving over your friend.”
“Leaving isn’t always the best answer.” Tommy tore off the wrapper to the straw, leaving the tip in place. “I mean,” he said, then blew the last bit of paper off his straw, “the grass ain’t always greener on the other side. I’ve had to work my butt off to make money to pay for college.”
Jake was ready to quip that he didn’t work Tommy that hard but decided to let it go. He wanted to hear what Tommy had to say as someone who had walked away from the Amish way of life.
Tommy took a sip of his water through the straw, watching Samuel carefully. “You have an eighth-grade education. What kind of job do you think you’re going to get—” he gestured with his chin toward the window “—out there? Do you know how hard it is to get a job? A good paying job?” He stabbed the ice with the straw. The ice clattered against the glass. “Even if you get a job, do you think you can support yourself and a family?” He laughed and shook his head.
“I can work with my hands,” Samuel said. “There are several successful Amish businesses in town.”
“But you won’t be Amish anymore,” Tommy said, twisting his lips. “Once you leave small-town Apple Creek, you’d be surprised at how many businesses require a four-year degree to allow you to work with your hands.”
Samuel groaned.
This was exactly the complaint Jake’s father had had after leaving the Amish. He hadn’t been able to get a decent job and what little money he had managed to make he spent on liquor.
“It was a lot of work for me to get my GED and then get into college. Do you think college is cheap?” Tommy shook his head dramatically. “Nope, now I gotta pay for college. Sure, I’ll be done in June, but it’s been a long road. Now I got loans to pay back. Don’t go thinking running away from home is going to solve your problems.”
Silence settled over the table. Jake was surprised to hear his assistant talk this bluntly. Normally, Tommy talked fondly about his experiences as an Englisher. How he was happy to escape the mind-numbing tedium of life on a farm.
To each his own, Jake supposed. Letting Samuel know the stark reality of leaving was a good idea.
Rebecca returned with their food and left just as quickly. Perhaps she was hoping her son was confiding in Jake so he could help him.
“How long have you been gone?” Samuel asked Tommy, genuine curiosity in his tone.
Tommy squirted ketchup onto his plate, picked up a French fry and swirled it in the red blob. “I left when I was eighteen. Had to work a bunch of meaningless jobs to pay the rent, buy food…” He took a bite out of his French fry “I studied for two years to get my high school GED. Another year to get accepted to Genwego State University. Now I’m a senior.” He exhaled. “It’s been a long road.”
“If you can do it, I can…” Samuel started. The desperation in his voice caught Jake off guard.
Tommy lifted his eyes to Rebecca, who was hustling from table to table in the busy dining room. “Like Professor Burke said, your mem would be devastated. Why don’t you lay low for a while? Really think about it. Like I said, the grass isn’t always greener.”
Samuel slouched into the booth again, seemingly agitated. “I need to get away. To protect my mem. My little sisters.” He lifted his backside off the bench and handed a wadded piece of paper to Jake. “Last night, someone stuck a knife into the front door.”
“Your mem told me,” Jake said.
Samuel nodded, as if this didn’t surprise him.
“This was left under the knife. I didn’t show her.”
Jake met the young man’s gaze, then smoothed out the piece of paper.
Keep your mouth shut.
Samuel bit his lower lip, struggling to contain his emotions.
“Are they referring to you or your mother?”
“I…I think me,” Samuel said. “I believe it was one of the Yoder brothers.”
Jake tugged on the collar of his shirt. “Is that why you were fighting this morning in the barn?”
Samuel nodded. “Uri denied he left the note. Told me I was crazy.”
Tommy’s expression remained placid.
“Why would the Yoder brothers want you to keep your mouth shut?” Jake watched Samuel carefully.
“They’re…” Samuel’s voice wavered as if he was having second thoughts. “…They’re growing marijuana on our farm.”
A loud crash made Jake spin around.
*
Rebecca’s scalp tingled as she stared down at the white shards of what had once been ceramic plates, mingled with French fries, buns and hamburger patties.
She bent over and scrambled to pick up the mess, her thoughts all jumbled. “I’m sorry. So, sorry,” she muttered to the patrons at the booth next to her son’s. The voices and sounds of the diner swirled around her, growing more distant and fuzzy. Blinking did nothing to tamp down the dizziness.
She glanced toward the kitchen, waiting for her boss to storm out in full rant mode. She had never dropped a platter of dishes before.
Had she misheard? Uri and Jonas were growing marijuana on her farm?
The few French fries she had snacked on earlier revolted in her stomach.
A solid hand cupped her elbow. Rebecca looked up into the professor’s warm brown eyes. “Come on.” He eased her to a standing position. “Come over here. Sit down.”
“I can’t. I have to clean up this mess.” She stared at the broken plate in one hand and the leaf of lettuce in the other. A throbbing pain started behind her eyes.
The professor took the piece of ceramic out of her hand. “It can wait.” He guided her to the seat he had vacated. She dropped the lettuce on a napkin and lifted her gaze to her son.
Rebecca threaded her fingers, leaned forward and whispered. “What did you say?” She fought the hysteria welling up inside her, unwilling to make more of a spectacle of herself. She was tired of being a spectacle.
Samuel leaned across the table, desperation in his voice. “Uri and Jonas are growing marijuana plants on our land.” He lowered his head and furtively
glanced around the diner.
Rebecca did the same. Several diners were staring at their table. A busboy was cleaning up the mess she had made. Rebecca leaned past the professor and touched the young man’s shoulder. “Thank you, Jason. I was clumsy.”
The young man smiled. “No problem, Mrs. Fisher. I got it.” He put the last remnant of the ruined dinner in a large gray bus tub. “I’ll sweep up the rest.”
Rebecca looked up, confusion swirling around her head. “Oh, I need to apologize to the table for dropping their food. I need—”
He touched her hand. “Hold on.”
She stared at him, but couldn’t really see him. Her mind was reeling.
Flo strolled over and smiled. “I’ll take care of the table. Don’t worry.”
Tears stung the back of Rebecca’s nose. “Thank you.”
As the other diners seemed to go back to their meals and the din in the diner returned to its normal level, Rebecca kept her voice low, confident no one would overhear her. “Why did you let them?” she asked Samuel.
Hurt lingered in her son’s eyes. “I didn’t. I only figured out what they were doing a few months ago. Shortly before Elmer’s accident.” He bowed his head, then looked back up. “That’s why I felt bad about Elmer. It wasn’t simply because I knew he was doing drugs. It was because I didn’t stop Uri and Jonas for providing him with drugs.”
All the color seemed to have drained out of Samuel’s face. “I’m sorry I wasn’t completely honest with you, Mem.”
“How did you figure out they were growing marijuana?” Tommy spoke for the first time.
“Elmer was living in our barn and he asked me for drugs.”
Rebecca pressed her fingers into her temples.
“I had no idea what he was talking about. Elmer told me the plants weren’t ready yet, but Uri had some drugs on him to sell,” Samuel continued. “I don’t know where he got them. Maybe they used someone else’s land before ours.”
“I don’t understand any of this.”
“I should have told someone. Maybe Elmer wouldn’t have died.”
“And you saw the plants?” Tommy asked.
Samuel scrubbed a hand across his face and frowned. “Elmer showed me. He led me through the cornfields. In the far back corner of the field, I found them. There were these plants, plants like I had never seen.”
“How did you know what they were?” Tommy asked, pushing his empty plate to the center of the table.
Samuel’s cheeks flushed. “I took a picture of them with my phone and then did a Google search.”
Rebecca ran a hand across her forehead. She had no idea what he was talking about. Her mouth grew dry. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“They told me they wouldn’t do it again. I had to keep quiet through harvest season.
“Then, a few days later Elmer died. They warned me if I told anyone about the marijuana, people would blame me for Elmer’s death. That law enforcement would take away our land.”
“Did they threaten you to keep you quiet?” the professor asked.
“They bribed me by giving me things.” Deep lines marred his forehead. “Like the laptop. My cell phone.” He averted his gaze. “They weren’t Elmer’s things. I wasn’t truthful last night, Mem. I just wanted all this to stop.”
Rebecca’s pulse beat loudly in her ears.
“I should have told you, but I got caught up in the lies and I was afraid. I’m sorry.” He pushed his hand through his hair, leaving it standing up, reminding Rebecca of the little boy who used to come downstairs in his night clothes asking for apple biscuits. What she wouldn’t do to go back to those days.
“But my conscience started to bother me. I thought I’d be no better than my…than Willard. I didn’t want to get Jonas and Uri in trouble. I told them they had to destroy the crops. Get them off our property.”
“How did they respond?” Tommy asked, pulling his cell phone out and checking the screen.
Samuel bowed his head. “They threatened Mem if I didn’t allow the plants to come to harvest. When you started asking around, they started scaring you. I fear they ran you off the road last night, but I promise you, I wasn’t in the car.”
How could these boys she’d welcomed into her home try to hurt her?
Rebecca closed her eyes briefly. Fear and confusion gave way to a strange sense of relief. “You did the right thing. Now I can go to Mr. and Mrs. Yoder. They’re good people. They’ll get their sons to listen. Get them to obey.”
Samuel looked up, an air of disbelief in his expression. “That’s not going to work.”
“We have to do something,” Rebecca said in a soft voice.
“We should call the sheriff,” the professor said.
Rebecca shook her head adamantly. “Neh. We can’t call the sheriff. I don’t want to get the boys in trouble with law enforcement. It’s not the Amish way.”
“What they did is illegal,” the professor said.
“We need to approach their parents first. Mr. Yoder will rein his sons in. I know it.”
The professor stared at her for a minute before nodding. “We’ll start with the parents, but I can’t promise you we won’t call the sheriff.”
SEVEN
Jake climbed into his truck and looked in the rearview mirror. He could see Samuel in the backseat of the extended cab, staring out the window, an unreadable expression on his face.
“It’s going to be okay, Samuel.” Rebecca buckled her seat belt and slumped into the seat next to Jake. The smell of French fries clung to her clothes. “You did the right thing by telling us. Everything is going to be okay.” Her statement sounded more like a question, suggesting she had no idea if everything was going to be okay. If only Jake could give her assurances.
Rebecca turned to Jake. “Thanks for the ride. It saves me paying the hired driver. Are you sure it’s not too much trouble to pick up my daughters after we speak to Mr. Yoder?”
“No trouble at all.”
When Tommy came out of the diner after paying the bill with Jake’s credit card, Jake lowered the driver’s side window. Tommy handed the card to him and said, “I’m going to bum a ride from one of my friends back to the university.” Tommy leaned in and smiled weakly at Samuel in the backseat. He lowered his voice. “I’d rather not get caught up in all this… I think if I keep some distance, we won’t jeopardize my association with the Amish.”
“Have a good night, then.” Jake watched Tommy, dressed in jeans and a university sweatshirt, stroll away. Jake had a hard time imagining Tommy growing up Amish. He had a worldly way about him.
Jake rolled up the window and pulled out onto Main Street. The silence in the truck was like a fourth occupant who couldn’t be ignored.
When his truck crested the country road, Jake glanced in the rearview mirror and studied an unsuspecting Samuel. The young Amish man took off his hat and scrubbed a hand over his hair. The lines around his eyes revealed his stress.
“I’m not sure I’m ready to talk to the Yoders. Are we doing the right thing?” Rebecca asked in a soft voice laced with concern and worry.
Jake wanted to reassure her, tell her everything was going to be fine, but he knew they had a rough road ahead of them. “It’s a start, but I’d feel better if we had called the sheriff.”
“Not yet. Let’s keep this matter among the Amish.” She gave Jake a pointed glare. Jake, who was clearly not Amish.
Samuel made a disagreeable noise. “What have I done?” he muttered. “I should have kept quiet.”
“You couldn’t keep going on this way. You haven’t been yourself. You’ve done the right thing. We’ll help you straighten out this mess. Without the sheriff,” Rebecca added for emphasis.
Jake parked in front of the Yoders’ farm. “You can wait here.” Jake felt strangely protective of Rebecca.
“No, I need to talk to the Yoders myself. I’ve known them for a long time. They’ve known my family.”
Samuel didn’t say anything as he climb
ed out of the truck.
A soft light glowed in the front window. Jake smiled at Samuel, trying to reassure him.
Jake knocked, and a few seconds later an older gentleman opened the door. “Yah? How can I help you?” The line between his eyes eased when he noticed Rebecca. “Rebecca, is something wrong?”
“Are Uri and Jonas home?” she asked, a hint of apology in her tone.
Mr. Yoder fingered his unkempt beard. “Yah, we’re finishing our meal.” He turned away from the door without inviting them in. From inside, Jake heard a lot of commotion, perhaps standard when a family had ten children.
Jake’s stomach pitched. It had been a little over three months ago when he pushed Elmer to go to his father regarding his drug use. Jake never could have imagined the series of events that would follow, ending in tragedy. And here he was, an outsider standing on his Amish neighbor’s stoop.
Uri appeared at the door with an innocent-looking expression. “What’s going on?”
“Where’s your brother?”
Uri grabbed the door and opened it wider. Jonas stood next to his father. His expression was less cocky than his brother’s.
“What’s going on?” Mr. Yoder asked with a strong Pennsylvania Dutch accent.
“We believe your sons have been growing marijuana on Rebecca’s farm.”
Mr. Yoder pulled his head back. A look of confusion and fear crossed his dark eyes. “Growing what?”
“Marijuana,” Samuel spoke up for the first time. “They plan on selling it and making a lot of money.”
A muscle ticked in Uri’s jaw and Jonas gave his brother a sideways glance.
Mr. Yoder turned to face his sons. “Is this true?” Without waiting for an answer, he turned back to Rebecca. “Who told you my sons planted this marijuana?”
“My son.” Rebecca played with the folds of her gown.
“Dat, me and Jonas had nothing to do with those crops.”
“You knew about the marijuana?” his father asked accusingly.
“I didn’t know what it was until Samuel told me.”
“That’s not true,” Samuel bit out. “That’s not true at all.”
Love Inspired Suspense September 2015 #1 Page 27
