I walked around the side of the building. Light shone out from the greenhouse, which was lit up with lanterns for the night. Even though there would be no sales that night, it was important for the bonfire guests to see how healthy and well cared-for the plants were, so that they would come back and make a purchase. And Edith wasn’t going to turn any customers away if someone asked to buy something that night.
The ambient light coming from the greenhouse cast a sickly pea-green glow onto the back barn, which was about twenty yards away. I knew the cat was hiding her kittens in the barn this night to keep them away from all the commotion. Part of me wanted to stop in and see how Peaches was doing, but I kept walking, looking in all directions for Enoch. I came to the other side of the greenhouse and still didn’t find him. Had he gone to the barn or maybe already walked all the way around the greenhouse and was back in front of the fire?
I decided to check around the barn just to be sure. Then I would go back to the party. Maybe our conversation just wasn’t meant to be tonight. Disappointment fell heavily on my shoulders.
“I don’t know why you care that they are accused,” a male voice said. “They broke the law. They deserve to be in prison.”
“I know,” another male voice said. This one was higher, and I recognized it immediately as belonging to Tucker Leham. “I know that, but they didn’t kill anyone. Do you think Jeremy Swartz will go to prison for murder? It’s not going to happen. He will do everything he can to find out what really happened.”
“Then I will just disappear again.”
“What about Edith and the children? I thought you came back to take care of them.”
The first man laughed, and I now realized it was my nephew Enoch. “I came here to take my greenhouse back. Just because I left the Amish faith, I shouldn’t be disinherited the way I was. This is my property. It all should be mine. I’m the only son.”
“But you made the choice to leave the Amish.” Tucker’s voice came out in a whine.
There was the slamming sound of someone being tossed up against the outer wall of the barn. “I know that. Don’t you think I know that? What choice did I have when everyone here thought I was a criminal? So I left and became what they expected me to be. The Amish are all about following the straight path, aren’t they? And my path was straight to trouble.”
There was a scuffle, and I didn’t hear anyone speak for a long moment. I hesitated. Should I go and make sure Tucker was all right? But what match would I be for Enoch?
My heart broke for the boy, my nephew, for his innocence lost. I couldn’t help but feel that I’d failed him. Not that my lack of faith in him as a boy excused his actions as an adult. Nothing condoned murder, but I couldn’t help but think that if things had gone differently all those years ago, I wouldn’t be hearing this awful confession today.
I took a step forward, but what I heard next stopped me in my tracks. “If you care about Edith, you will keep your head down and your mouth shut.”
I heard movement behind me and spun around with my hands up to defend myself.
Lois cocked her head. “Do the Amish know karate?”
“Shhh!” I said and waited.
She inched toward me. “What are we shushing about?”
I pointed around the side of the barn.
“Oh! Are we sleuthing again? I thought you said that our investigating was over.”
“Shhh!” I gave her a look.
“You made me do it!” Tucker accused Enoch.
“I didn’t make you do anything.” Enoch’s voice was cold. “I just told you what would happen if Edith married that man. You made the choice to take his life.”
Beside me, Lois gasped so loudly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they could hear it on the village square. I clamped my hand over her mouth, but it was too late. Enoch had heard us. He looked in our direction. I don’t know if he saw us or just saw our shadows move as I grabbed Lois by the arm and dragged her into the bushes.
She yelped as the sharp branches poked at our skin and tore at our clothes.
The muffled sound of boots thumped over the lawn just outside the clump where we were hiding. The boots stopped a mere few feet from us.
“I didn’t hear anything,” Tucker said.
“I know I did.” Enoch’s voice was hard, harder than I had ever heard it.
“It’s probably just a child or a teenager who wandered off from the fire.”
“Are you a fool? Whoever it is might have heard what we were discussing.”
“Oh,” Tucker whispered. “See, this is what I was trying to get at. There is no way we aren’t going to be found out. Someone will discover what really happened to Zeke Miller. Then you will have to give this all up again.”
“Not if I can remove some of the variables.”
“What do you—”
There was a yelp and then silence.
Lois whimpered. I covered my mouth. I believed that Lois and I had just overheard another murder.
There was a rustle of leaves and large hands pulled me out of the bushes. The branches scraped at my arms as I was forced to my feet. “Aunt Millie. I guess I should have expected you to be where you aren’t welcome.”
“Enoch Lapp, you let go of me right now,” I said in my best angry-elder voice.
“Why? So you can go tell the police on me, just the way you did when I young?”
His words stung. “I made a mistake before, but there is no mistaking what you’ve done now. I heard what you and Tucker were saying. Where is he?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
I stared at Tucker’s body on the ground just a few feet away and felt sick.
“If you want Edith and the children to be safe, you need to keep your mouth shut for once in your life,” he said in that hard voice again.
“You’d hurt your own family?”
He grabbed my arm and wrenched it behind my back. “My family abandoned me when I needed them most. I didn’t do anything wrong, but still I suffered for it. You caused that suffering. Maybe now I can even the score.”
With my free hand I put two fingers in my mouth and whistled for all I was worth.
“What are you doing? Be quiet!” Enoch pulled harder on my arm. “No one is going to hear that over the commotion of the bonfire.”
“I wasn’t whistling for people to come,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Wha—”
He couldn’t finish his question because Peter ran at him full tilt with his head down. The goat rammed into Enoch’s hip. My nephew cried out and before he could recover, Phillip hit him with his horns. Enoch’s grip became weak enough that I was able to yank my arm free.
Lois popped out of the bushes like a jack-in-the-box.
Enoch swore. “What is going on?”
“The police are on their way,” Lois shouted. “Deputy Aiden should be coming around the house any second now.”
As if he heard her cue, Deputy Aiden ran around the side of the greenhouse with his gun drawn. “Freeze!”
Enoch held up his hands. “Don’t shoot. I didn’t do anything. I was just having a conversation with my aunt.”
“He’s lying.” I closed my eyes for a moment because the scene was so reminiscent of what had happened all those years ago when I told the police where Enoch was when they were searching for the stolen motorcycle. I opened my eyes again and found Phillip and Peter standing on either side of me like goat defenders. “Enoch was the one behind Zeke Miller’s death. It wasn’t Reuben or Jeremy. He goaded and encouraged Tucker to do it in order to protect Edith. What neither of them knew was she’d already ended her upcoming wedding to Zeke and protected herself.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Enoch spat. “You have already arrested the persons responsible for Zeke’s death. My aunt is tired. She doesn’t even know what she’s saying.”
“I think Millie knows exactly what she is saying,” Deputy Aiden said.
“How can you believe her as an eyewitness? She h
as made such mistakes before.”
“Tucker Leham is lying dead behind us because of him,” I said. “That’s no mistake.”
“Little, cover Lapp, and I will check on the victim.”
Deputy Little walked up to Enoch with his gun drawn. “Please stand over there, ma’am,” Deputy Little said to me.
I moved over to the bushes were Lois was standing, watching the proceedings with her mouth open. She wasn’t the only one. I saw that at least half the people from the bonfire were peeking around the side of the greenhouse to get a look at what had happened. “How did you know Deputy Aiden was coming?”
“I had my cell phone, Millie. See, there are perks of having an English person as a friend.”
I hugged her. “So many perks. Thank you.”
She hugged me back, and the goats gently headbutted her.
“I think the goats are thanking me,” Lois said.
“I know they are,” I said and then I saw Deputy Aiden kneeling beside Tucker, looking for a pulse. “Poor Tucker though.”
“I know,” she said. “I know he killed Zeke, but maybe he really did think he was doing the right thing.”
I glanced down at Tucker’s hand; was it just a trick of light? I thought I saw his fingers move. Deputy Aiden was still searching in vain for a pulse as I knelt on Tucker’s other side. I looked harder and his hand moved again. “He’s still alive!”
Deputy Aiden looked up. “What is it?”
“He’s still alive. I just saw his hand move.”
Deputy Aiden started CPR. Breathing hard, he said, “An ambulance is already on the way.”
As if he called the ambulance by just saying that, I heard sirens blare in the night, and the shouts of Deputy Little, warning the people at the bonfire to get back. I sat back on my heels while Deputy Aiden pumped Tucker’s chest, and I prayed.
Tucker moaned.
“He’s coming back to consciousness,” Deputy Aiden said as three EMTs ran around the greenhouse and took over.
The deputy helped me to my feet. “You did good, Millie.”
I looked from my nephew, who was handcuffed and arguing with Deputy Little, to the cluster of EMTs around Tucker. “That’s yet to be determined, Deputy Aiden.”
“How we’re all doing in this life is yet to be determined.”
I stood amazed that he understood so well. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought Deputy Aiden had some Amish in him.
EPILOGUE
Tucker Leham didn’t die the night of the bonfire. He was severely injured after Enoch hit him on the head and would be in rehab for a long time to help him adjust to getting around without the use of his right side. Enoch was arrested and awaiting trial for the attempted murder of Tucker while Tucker was awaiting trial for the murder of Zeke. Jeremy and Reuben, though cleared of the murders, were awaiting trial for stealing cars, dozens of them according to reports. Reuben was in jail, but Jeremy, a very rich man, was able to post bond until trial.
A small part of me couldn’t help but feel responsible for the way my nephew had turned out. Had my mistake all those years ago caused him to go bad? The very thought of it made my stomach turn. I could only ask Gott to take that guilt from me because I could no long bear it on my own.
A proverb came to mind when thinking about my part in Enoch’s life. “When you get to your wit’s end, you’ll find God lives there.”
“Aenti!” Micah yelled as I pulled my buggy to a stop at the greenhouse. “It’s kitten day. You get to take Peaches home.”
I smiled at the boy as I climbed out of my buggy and tethered Bessie to the hitching post. “I’m quite excited.”
“Your Englisch friends are already here!” Micah shouted in a way only a child thrilled about animals could.
I saw Lois and Darcy standing outside Lois’s car. Edith was holding Ginny in her arms and chatting with them.
“Has she seen her kitten yet?” I asked.
Micah shook his head. “But she will love her. How can you not love a kitten?”
“I have no idea,” I said with a smile. “I’m sure the goats will be quite excited when I bring Peaches home.”
“Do goats like cats?”
“These goats will,” I assured him.
He jumped and ran to tell his siblings the news. I hoped I was right about the goats liking Peaches, but I supposed if they didn’t, I could keep the kitten in the house. That would most likely make Phillip and Peter jealous, but that could not be helped.
Edith came to me. “Aenti.” She hugged me tight.
I knew that we were both thinking about the same thing. Enoch, the lost boy. I hugged her back. “Are you all right?”
She nodded. “Ya, I was just speaking to Darcy. She has no idea why they are here. Lois just told her it was a surprise.”
“That sounds like Lois,” I said. “She likes a surprise more than anyone I know.”
“I’m glad that you found your old friend again.” Edith smiled at Lois and Darcy across the yard.
“I am too.” I swallowed. “It’s a gift from a life lived long ago.”
Lois clapped her hands. “Let’s stop standing around here. To the kittens!”
Micah pumped his fist. “To the kittens!”
The three children took off toward the barn.
“I think I might have to watch Lois’s influence on Micah,” Edith said.
“She’s harmless,” I said with a grin.
Edith didn’t look as though she believed me on that point. She shook her head.
“Kittens?” Darcy asked.
“I picked out a kitten for you.” Lois held her arms up in the air. “Surprise!”
“What?” Darcy asked.
“You will love her,” Lois said with complete confidence.
“Darcy, let me tell you about the kittens before you see them,” Edith said.
Darcy smiled. “All right. I’ve never had a cat before. I’m not sure what to do.”
“I’ve had countless cats,” my niece replied. “That’s part of growing up way out here. I can tell you what to do.”
The two young women walked to the door of the greenhouse, arm in arm. Lois and I stayed back and let them walk on alone for a bit.
“I think you made a match, Millie Fisher.” She nodded at the two girls. “They are well suited for each other.”
I smiled. “It’s true. Not all the important matches in this life are romantic. A friend match is just as important.”
“Like us?” she asked.
I grinned. “Just like us, Lois, just like us.”
Have you tried Amanda Flower’s Amish Candy Shop Mystery series?
Please read on for an excerpt from Marshmallow Malice.
CHAPTER ONE
“This is supposed to be the best day of my life!” Juliet Brody wailed in the small library inside the large white church in Harvest, Ohio. She wore a pink and white polka-dotted silk robe and hugged her comfort animal, a black-and-white polka-dotted pig, Jethro, to her chest. Jethro, who was about the size of a toaster, stuck out his tongue, and his eyes rolled in their sockets as his mistress gave him another mighty squeeze.
Carefully, I reached for Juliet’s arms and loosened her grip. The pig let out a gasp. I didn’t tell her that she’d almost squeezed Jethro to death. If I did, it would send her into another bout of hysterics, and that wasn’t something we needed when she was going to be walking down the aisle in an hour to marry Reverend Brook, the pastor of the church we were sitting in.
She looked at me with watery eyes. “Oh, Bailey, you are so kind to me, but what am I going to do looking like this?”
“This” was a huge chunk of missing hair where her bangs should have been. The young hair stylist, Dylan Masters, stood a few feet away holding a curling iron in her hand with a chunk of Juliet’s blond hair hanging from it. The strands wrapped around the iron appeared to be a little crispy. The scent of burnt hair filled the room.
“Dylan,” I said. “Can you unplug the curling i
ron?”
“Oh, right.” She yanked the cord out of the wall. “I’m so sorry,” Dylan said for the fourteenth time. “I didn’t expect Jethro to be there.”
Dylan was in her late teens and a beauty school student who went to Reverend Brook’s church. To keep the church involved in the wedding, he and Juliet had decided to hire as many church members as they could to do all the various jobs that a wedding requires. I was willing to bet Juliet now wished that they’d picked someone other than Dylan to style her hair.
Not that I completely blamed Dylan for what had happened. Jethro was equally to blame. Unbeknownst to Dylan, Jethro had been hiding under the end of Juliet’s robe and when Dylan came around the front to curl Juliet’s bangs, she stepped on his hoof. The pig squealed bloody murder and took off. In the process, he scared Dylan, who had Juliet’s bangs wrapped around her curling iron. Dylan screamed and jumped back, taking a big chunk of Juliet’s hair with her.
Juliet sniffled. “It’s not your fault, Dylan. These things happen.”
I smiled at Juliet. It was just like her to try to make the other person feel better even when she was so distraught. It was a gift that she had bestowed on her son, Deputy Sheriff Aiden Brody, as well. I was the maid of honor at Juliet’s wedding and Aiden was the best man. He also happened to be my boyfriend. As quirky and silly as his mother could be, I had to thank her for raising such a wonderful son.
“We can handle this,” I told my best friend Cass, who was in Harvest by way of NYC for the wedding. Cass had proclaimed she wasn’t going to miss a wedding that had Amish ushers and a pig ring-bearer for all the chocolate in Manhattan, which was actually saying quite a lot since she was the head chocolatier at JP Chocolates, the most famous chocolate shop in all five boroughs, or at least that was what the founder, Jean Pierre, liked to say.
Cass shook her head. “It’s not looking good. She has a bald spot on the front of her head.”
“We have to do something,” I whispered back.
Matchmaking Can Be Murder Page 24
