Matchmaking Can Be Murder

by Amanda Flower

  “Is something wrong?” I asked and looked over my shoulder. Through the window, I saw Bryan watching us so intently that it made me feel ill at ease. I turned my attention back to Uriah.

  “Nothing is wrong.” He shook his head. “It just seems odd to me that that young man can sit in this window day after day just . . . watching. He’s always watching. It’s unnerving.”

  “What’s he watching?” I asked.

  “It’s hard to say, but I know he’s had his eye on Darcy. Any man could tell you that by the way he watches her.”

  I shivered.

  “I’m so sorry. My wife used to say that I was given to an overactive imagination.”

  “Imagination can be a gut thing,” I said.

  He beamed at me. “I’m glad you think so, Millie, very glad.”

  I felt as if I had a wad of cotton in my mouth. “Ya, well . . .”

  “I should be getting back to the square. There is going to be a concert put on by the local school bands, and Margot wants everything to be perfect.”

  I smiled.

  He started to leave and then stopped. “Millie?”

  My breath caught. “Ya.”

  “I’m very glad our paths have crossed again.” With that, he left.

  “I’m very glad too,” I whispered and then went back into the café.

  Darcy let out a breath as soon as I stepped inside. “Oh my God.” She winced and glanced at me. “Sorry, Millie.”

  I smiled.

  “I just thought she would never leave. She was here for three hours and insisted on tasting everything. Thank goodness, I got that cheese I needed yesterday because she definitely ordered a grilled cheese. Two, in fact! She put them both away. I never knew that a tiny woman could eat so much.”

  Lois patted Darcy on the back. “You did well.”

  “Thanks, Grandma.” Her face fell as grief settled back down on her shoulders. Adrenaline had kept her moving while Margot was here, but now that the older woman was gone, she deflated.

  “Are you all right, my girl?” Lois asked and hugged her.

  “Not right now, but I know I will be. I just wish . . .”

  “What do you wish?” Lois asked.

  “I know it’s stupid. I just wish that Zeke was here to see it. We did a lot of this café together, and no matter how he treated me, he deserved to see how well received it has been so he could have been proud of this place too.”

  I bit my lip, trying to hold back the words, but in the end I said them. “I don’t know if it’s much comfort, but I do believe that Zeke cared for you.”

  She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “How do you know?”

  I told her about my last conversation with Edith, in which she’d said that Zeke almost seemed relieved she was calling off their wedding. “He felt that way because of you.” What I didn’t add was that it didn’t excuse the fact that Zeke had brought the greenhouse to the cusp of financial ruin. Nor that he’d been carrying on a relationship with two different women simultaneously. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Bryan was following our conversation very closely. I tried not to think about what Uriah had said concerning the young Englisch writer.

  “Thank you. That makes this a little easier to bear. I thought I wasn’t worthy of being loved.”

  “Everyone is,” I said. “Even Zeke.”

  She smiled. “I did love him. Maybe I fell for him too quickly. I know I did, but that doesn’t make the feelings any less real.”

  I shook my head. “It doesn’t.”

  “I’d like to come to the bonfire if you think that would be okay with Edith. Grandma was just telling me about it. I think I need to have some closure over what happened with Zeke.”

  “I think she would like to meet you.” I would have said more but Deputy Aiden and Deputy Little stepped into the café just then.

  “Millie,” Deputy Aiden said. “I thought I would find you here.”

  What had I done now? I wondered.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  “Deputy Aiden?” I asked. “You were looking for me?”

  He nodded. “I was.” He glanced at Lois. “I was looking for you both actually. I came by to tell you that you can stop poking your noses in the investigation.”

  “Now, you listen here just a minute,” Lois began, coming around the café counter. “We have every right to help the ones we love.”

  He held up his hand. “I’m telling you because the investigation is over.”

  Deputy Little stood behind the senior deputy and nodded as if everything he said was Gospel. Probably Deputy Little thought it was.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “It turns out that you were right. Reuben was the one running away from the greenhouse on Sunday morning. It seems that your recognition of the way he moved was spot-on.”

  “He was?” I could hardly believe it.

  “More than that, we believe he had motive, and he has been arrested for the murder of Zeke Miller.”

  “What?” Lois cried.

  Everyone in the café looked our way then. Deputy Aiden pressed his lips together and lowered his voice. “His footprints match the tracks that Deputy Little found Sunday morning running away from the greenhouse, and if that wasn’t enough, we found a pair of denim trousers in his home that are missing a part of their seat. They were a perfect match to the piece of fabric your goat took off the man running away.”

  I blinked at him. Could it be true? Could it be really over? It just seemed too easy. Zeke’s body had just been found Sunday.

  Deputy Aiden could tell I wasn’t convinced by what he’d said. “We found a wrench at the murder scene, and Reuben’s fingerprints are all over it. His prints are in the cactus room as well. He would have no reason for being there.”

  “What’s his motive?” I asked.

  “That’s right,” Lois whispered in my ear. “Get all the details.”

  I waved her away.

  “He told us that he, Jeremy Swartz of Swartz and Swartz Construction, and Zeke had been running a chop shop in the county. Zeke and Reuben stole the cars, and Jeremy unloaded them. I guess they had been doing it for years. Not many would look to the Amish as car thieves.”

  “That’s how he knew how to fix my car,” Darcy said in dismay.

  “It seems,” the deputy went on, “that Zeke had a change of heart recently and wanted to get out of the business. He said he met someone and wanted to leave both his Amish life and the life of crime.”

  Darcy gasped and covered her mouth.

  Deputy Aiden nodded. “This will be the harder part for you to hear, Millie.”

  I wasn’t sure how it could get worse, but I nodded for him to continue. “Jeremy said that he would let him out, but it could cost him money. That’s what he did with all the money from Edy’s Greenhouse. He used it to buy himself out of Jeremy’s criminal ring, but Jeremy wasn’t satisfied with the amounts that Zeke was giving him and sent Reuben to press the issue with Zeke. We believe that Reuben, who is known to have a short fuse, got carried away and killed Zeke while trying to pressure him to give Jeremy more money. He dropped the wrench while he was there, and he came back while you were there, Millie, to collect it before the murder could be discovered.”

  “Did he confess to the murder?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “He blamed Jeremy Swartz for it. We brought Jeremy in too. He was going to be arrested anyway for grand theft auto. He said Reuben was the one who killed Zeke. Since we have no evidence to put Jeremy at the scene of the crime, it appears that is the most likely scenario.”

  “But”—I wasn’t done just yet—“what about the note?”

  “What note?” Deputy Aiden asked.

  “The note that told Darcy about Zeke’s being engaged to Edith,” I said.

  “I don’t know anything about this,” the deputy said.

  I frowned. Darcy had never told the police about the note she’d received?

  “Can I see it?” Deputy A
iden asked.

  Darcy shook her head. “I burned it.”

  Deputy Aiden pressed his lips together. “You should not have done that, Darcy.”

  He looked as if he was going to lecture her more when there was a scraping sound as a chair was being pushed back from a table. “That was me. I wrote and gave her the note,” Bryan said uncertainly.

  “You?” I asked.

  He nodded. “I knew about Zeke and Edith. I knew that Darcy deserved to know, but I didn’t know how to tell her.” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “So I gave her the note.”

  Darcy looked at him, but instead of appearing upset by his news, she seemed pleased. Her eyes were shining.

  Lois noticed too because she shook her head and then whispered into my ear. “Hopeless romantic. It’s in our blood.”

  “We need to talk to you,” Deputy Aiden said sternly and walked toward him. Bryan backed away. The deputies spoke with Bryan a few minutes in low voices.

  “I wish we could hear what they are saying,” Lois complained. “Do you think they would notice if I went over there to refresh Bryan’s coffee?”

  “They will notice,” I said.

  A few minutes later, Bryan sat back down at his laptop with a red face and concentrated on the work in front of him as if nothing had happened.

  The deputies came back to us. “Darcy, I don’t believe the note you received has any direct bearing on the case,” Deputy Aiden said.”

  She swallowed.

  Deputy Aiden looked over his shoulder at Deputy Little. “We should be going. Lots of reports to file.”

  “Deputy,” I said. “Edith is having a bonfire Friday night at the greenhouse. We are inviting the whole community. We’d love it if you’d come.”

  He smiled. “If I can get away from work, I will. I know Bailey would enjoy it, but she left for New York this morning. She won’t be gone long this time. She will be back tomorrow.” His face broke into a bright smile, and the premature lines on his face smoothed at the very thought of seeing the woman he loved again. I knew he must be relieved that this case was closed before Bailey’s return. She had been known to poke her nose in his investigations a time or two.

  “You are welcome too, Deputy Little,” I said. Had we been alone, I might have said something about Charlotte Weaver to the younger deputy, but I held my tongue.

  Deputy Little nodded with a smile, and the two men left. After they went through the door, Lois said, “Wow.”

  “My thoughts exactly,” I added.

  She gave me a high five. It felt awkward.

  “We solved the case. Great job, Amish Marple.”

  “Did we?” I asked, looking out the window. “I can’t help thinking that something might still be missing. I don’t doubt that Reuben was there in the greenhouse. I saw the wrench under the table and I saw him run away from the greenhouse, but I’m just not convinced that he was the one who murdered Zeke.”

  “Then maybe it was Jeremy Swartz,” Lois said.

  “Maybe,” I mused, but that didn’t feel right either.

  “Does it matter now?” Lois asked. “We were looking into it because our girls were in danger of getting blamed for the crime because of their relationship with Zeke. Now, their names have been cleared. Shouldn’t we be happy about that and move on? It sounds to me like getting ready for the bonfire will be plenty of excitement to occupy us for the next few days.”

  “You want to help?” I asked.

  “Sure do!” she said. “I love a party. I should tell you about my trips to Vegas. They will knock your stockings off.”

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear about those parties, and then I groaned as I remembered something.

  “What? What is it? Do we have to keep investigating?” She sounded a little too eager at the idea for my taste.

  I shook my head. “Nee, I forgot that Double Stitch is meeting at my house this evening. Ruth thought it was a gut idea to put our heads together to solve the murder.”

  “Won’t she be disappointed that we already cracked the case?” Lois said.

  I knew that she would. In fact, I expected to get an earful from the bishop’s wife about not respecting her position in the community by not waiting for her help or some other ridiculous argument.

  After a beat, Lois asked, “Can I come?”

  “Do you quilt?” I asked.

  “Not a stitch, but I can talk.”

  She certainly could. “Ya, you can come.”

  “Excellent,” she said with a grin.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  I smiled at the members of my quilting circle. “Danki. Thank you all for coming. I know it has been a hard week for the community. The fact that you have taken time away from your homes and your families to come here and support both Edith and me, well, it means so much. It really warms my heart. This proves to me that coming back to Holmes County was the right thing for me to do, and despite what happened Sunday, I am glad that I did.”

  “It’s been a much harder week for your family, Millie,” Leah said as she smoothed her quilting over her lap.

  “Of course we are here for you in your family’s time of need, Millie,” Raellen said. “You would do the same for us if we needed it.”

  “I would,” I said. “I know coming out to my farm at the end of the day isn’t ideal with all the work you have to do.”

  “Oh, this is a fine time. The children are off to bed and the husbands have had their suppers. This might be the best time to come,” Raellen said. “We all want to know what we can do to find the killer.” She pressed a hand to her cheek. “I can’t even believe I said that.”

  “About that . . .”

  “Don’t tell me you don’t want to learn the truth, Millie,” said Ruth, who was sitting in a rocking chair beside my potbellied stove.

  Before I could answer, there was a knock on the door. I got up from my rocking chair just as Lois let herself inside.

  “Lois, what on earth are you doing here?” Ruth wanted to know.

  “I invited her,” I said. “Lois is going to be helping with the bonfire too.”

  “Also, I thought I would try my hand at quilting. If I am going to write a book about the Amish, I think I should work some of the handicrafts in. Quilting would be one of the top ones to incorporate. Who doesn’t love an Amish quilt!”

  “Write a book about the Amish!” Ruth shouted. “Millie, I thought we were here because you said Edith needed our help, and what’s this about a bonfire?”

  “Let’s all sit down and I will tell you.”

  After they were settled, I said, “Lois and I have been trying to find out what happened to Zeke.”

  “Amish Marple and I have been all over the county looking for answers,” Lois declared.

  “Amish Marple?” Ruth asked with a wrinkle to her nose.

  “That’s my code name for Millie.” Lois grabbed a cookie from the tray on my kitchen island and sat on the sofa between Iris and Leah. “I figured that you all can know it since you’re her friends, but it doesn’t leave this room.” She looked each one in the eye by turn.

  Ruth looked as if she wanted to say something more about that.

  “Let’s just focus on the task at hand,” I said. “It seems that according to the police, Lois and I have cracked the case.” I went on to tell about Zeke and Jeremey Swartz and Reuben and everything the police thought had happened leading up to Zeke’s murder.

  Raellen stared at me openmouthed when I was done. Finally, she snapped her mouth closed and said, “That is quite a story.” She looked at Lois. “It would make a nice addition to your book.”

  Lois tapped her cheek with her index finger. “I think you might be on to something there.”

  “Please, don’t encourage her,” I said. I couldn’t believe that Lois was still thinking of writing about the Amish.

  “Are the police absolutely sure?” Leah asked.

  “They seem to be,” I said.

  Leah cocked her head. “But you’re not.”r />
  “Maybe not, but I have no reason to be unsure.”

  “Never doubt a woman’s intuition,” Ruth said. “If something doesn’t ring true, it’s not.”

  It was one of those rare times when I was in agreement with Ruth.

  “What other suspects do you have?” Leah asked. “Maybe if we work through it, you will feel more confident with the police’s findings.”

  I glanced at Lois. “Well, you all know about Darcy and Edith, but Lois and I can vouch for each of them, respectively.”

  “Just because you want them to be innocent, doesn’t make them so,” Ruth said.

  “Darcy was working in the café,” Lois said.

  Ruth rocked in the chair. “All night?”

  Lois frowned.

  “Edith was home with the children,” I said before they could exchange heated words. “I know this because I asked Jacob and he said she was there. He would have no reason to lie. He’s only a child.”

  “Okay,” Leah said. “If it’s neither one of them, who else could it be?”

  “Well, it could still be the suspect the police have accused. I can’t rule that out,” I said. “There is Reuben, and Jeremy, the young man we met at Swartz and Swartz Construction. I’ve already told you their motive.”

  Iris pressed her lips together. “Carter told me about your visit to the warehouse and the police coming and taking Reuben away earlier today. He didn’t say anything about Jeremy. I wonder if he even knows yet.” She bit her lower lip. “And I wonder what this means for his job.”

  I felt a tiny bit of guilt when Iris said that. I didn’t want Carter to lose his job on account of me, but then again, Jeremy was the one behind the car stealing. It was really his fault.

  “What about Enoch?” Ruth asked.

  “You would love for the culprit to be a runaway Amish, wouldn’t you?” Lois said.

  Ruth scowled in return. “If Edith didn’t marry Zeke and Enoch returned to the faith, the greenhouse would be his, but if she married before that happened, the greenhouse would have been her husband’s.”

  This was something that I had thought of too, especially when it looked like Enoch wanted to tell Edith how to run the greenhouse when we were there.