A Plain Disappearance

by Amanda Flower

  “Chloe,” Ruth called from behind me.

  I closed my eyes for a moment because I didn’t want her to see how much her father’s words affected me. I inhaled slowly and turned.

  “What’s happened? Are you all right?”

  “I’ll be fine.” I gave her a weak smile. “I have to go to work and check on some things.”

  She placed a hand on my sleeve. “You will come back later, won’t you? To come with me to see Anna? We have to go. She will be waiting for us.”

  I blew out a breath, and a white cloud blurred my sight. “I’ll come back. Can you meet me here? In the driveway?”

  Confusion crossed over her expression. “Ya, if that’s what you want.”

  “See you then,” I said and jumped into the car.

  THE HARSHBERGER COLLEGE CAMPUS was like a graveyard, which wasn’t the best analogy to think of while still reeling from the morning’s events. I parked as close to the front entrance as possible and made sure I had my keys to the Dennis academic building where the computer service department was located. Inside, the building was still and quiet. It was hard to believe that in a few short weeks, the campus would be buzzing again with students and faculty.

  I hurried to the server room and unlocked the doors to the racks. All of the machines blinked happy green lights at me. I fired up the laptop and ran a few small tests on the system. Everything pinged back with no complaints. My shoulders sagged with relief as I turned the laptop off again and locked the door.

  I ran up the stairs and was outside of the building on the way to my car within five minutes. I cleared my throat and felt the scratchiness from Brock’s attack. I wished for some of Mrs. Troyer’s honey lemon tea, but considering what had just happened, would I ever be invited to drink it again?

  The parking lot outside of Dennis overlooked a small pond on the campus, and I made the mistake of glancing in its direction as I made my way to my car. A figure sat on one of the park benches beside the pond. Curt Fanning. He sat bent at the waist with his face buried in his hands. I hesitated. Even though I was over a hundred feet away, he must have sensed me because he lifted his head in my direction. His sad expression didn’t change when he saw that it was me.

  I bit my lip. I should leave. Something told me that I needed to see if Curt was okay.

  Was he okay? That wasn’t my problem. How many times over the last few months had he and Brock gone out of their way to make the Troyers’ lives and mine miserable? Too many to count. Yet again, I felt the nudge toward him. He looked like he needed someone to talk to. I glanced around the campus grounds. I was the only one there. Despite everything, how could I ignore him now?

  I groaned. I would check to see if he needed any help, but then I was out of there. I wasn’t going to be stupid about it though. I unlocked my car and tucked my purse under the passenger seat after slipping my cell phone into my coat pocket. I pushed the front seat forward and grabbed my ice scraper from the back. If Curt tried anything, I’d whack him one. I relocked the car and put the key into my other pocket. Slowly I made my way down the icy steps that led to the pond.

  Curt was alone. The geese and ducks that called the pond home during the warm months had gone for the winter to points south. A fresh pile of snow lay on the ground next to Curt’s feet. He held his father’s army dog tags in his hands and caressed them with his thumbs as if they were some type of talisman.

  I held my snow scraper in front of me.

  “Is this how you’re going to approach me from now on?” Curt asked hoarsely. When I had seen him on campus earlier in the week, I had been brandishing the same scraper. It almost came as a relief to hear some of the characteristic sarcasm in his voice.

  “Better safe than sorry,” I replied and lowered the scraper just a hair.

  His eyes grew sad. “I don’t blame you. I would be nervous around me too, if I were you.”

  I took another step forward, but still left over twenty feet between us, having no desire to move any closer than that.

  “I heard what Brock did.” Curt’s voice sounded gravelly. “Are you all right?”

  Reflexively, my free hand went to my throat and touched the sore spot. “I will be okay. Brock is a strong guy and he was very angry at me.”

  Curt turned his gaze back to the frozen pond. “Because of me.”

  “That’s what he said.”

  He made eye contact with me again. “He doesn’t like how I have changed since meeting you.”

  “How is that?”

  He sighed. “I’ve started asking questions, wondering if there is something more to life than causing trouble and just getting by.”

  “Is there?” My voice was barely above a whisper.

  “In your life there is. In my own life, I wasn’t so sure. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been thinking how you saved Brock last month. You could have left him to die in that freezing pond and gotten away from us, but you stayed and helped.” Curt’s shoulders rolled forward. “I would have never done it. I wanted to know what could possibly make you do that. Brock wasn’t curious about it at all.”

  I took two small steps forward. “What did you do?”

  “I knew you were a Christian, so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I found my dad’s old Bible in his knapsack from the war. Mom never even bothered to unpack the bag when the army sent it home. The Bible was dog-eared and written all over, like my dad spent hours and hours studying it.” His eyes glistened as he looked at me. “Do you think that means he was a Christian when he was killed?”

  My heart thundered in my chest. How could I possibly answer that? How could I answer that question for anyone other than myself? And yet, for some reason, I believed I knew the answer. “I do,” I said.

  His shoulders relaxed. “I read the part my dad underlined and that made sense when I thought of you and how you react to things like people being hurt or when Brock was in trouble.”

  “Then what happened?”

  He laughed softly. “You saw me at the Christmas Eve service. I have to say the look on your face when I sat next to you was priceless.” His tone became serious. “But you didn’t run away when I sat down. It meant a lot to me.”

  He had no idea how close I had been to bolting out of that pew.

  “I went back to the church the day after Christmas and spoke to the pastor. I asked him what I had to do to be like you. He told me, and we prayed together.”

  “And then?” I asked, choking back the emotion bubbling in my throat.

  “I waited and nothing happened. I thought it might feel like being struck by lightning or being filled with the force. I thought something big would happen, but nothing did.”

  I smiled. “I don’t think believing is like being struck by lightning. And having the force would certainly be nice sometimes, but that’s only a George Lucas fairy tale. Faith is a choice, and making that choice is more powerful than lightning. In your case, it is your choice to change your life.” I touched my throat again. “Considering how upset Brock was about it, I’d say that you changed a lot.”

  “I’m not like you, though. You would never turn your back on someone. You always reach out to help.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “I want to be the same way.”

  The truth was—I wasn’t as perfect as Curt made me out to be. I didn’t always reach out to help. I did turn my back on others. My father’s face dominated my mind. When he rejected me, I rejected him right back. I never gave my best effort to fix our relationship. My father wasn’t the only one. Even Billy had reached out to me to make peace, but I hadn’t been able to trust him again completely.

  Curt’s face flushed red. “Will you pray with me again? I know that I already prayed with the pastor, but I want to make sure it sticks.”

  “You don’t have to keep praying the sinner’s prayer over and over again. When you do it once, it sticks, but I’m happy to pray with you if it will bring you comfort.”

  He gave me a crooked grin. “I just think
that considering my checkered past, better safe than sorry, you know?”

  I smiled. “Okay.” I sat on the bench next to him and bowed my head, gripping the snow scraper the entire time.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  I was an emotional mess when I arrived at the Troyer farm a half hour later. Thoughts of Curt, my father, Sabrina, Becky, and the Troyers mixed with my fears of Brock and Caleb. I called Timothy on the way to his parents’ farm. “Are you home yet?”

  He laughed. “Miss me?”

  The sound of his laughter put me immediately at ease. There was so much to tell him. How would I begin? “You have no idea.”

  “I like the sound of that. I’m turning into your driveway now.”

  “I’m not at home. I’m on my way to your parents’ farm to meet Ruth.” I went on to tell him that Ruth and I were meeting Anna at the Gundy barn. Ruth wouldn’t be happy about this because she made me promise not to tell anyone about her and Anna’s secret meeting place, but after the day I had, I felt a whole lot better with someone knowing where we were.

  “You think Anna knows who did it?”

  “Maybe, but Chief Rose already made an arrest.” I related my adventure with Grandfather Zook at the warehouse. I left out the part about Brock. I wanted to tell him about my encounters with Brock, and later with Curt, face-to-face.

  “You promised not to go to the warehouse without me.” Timothy’s voice took on an edge to it.

  Another promise I’d broken that day. Not a great track record. “I know, but Grandfather Zook had a great excuse to go there. I thought it would be a lot more believable than if you and I showed up and randomly started asking questions. Can you meet Ruth and me on the side of the road closest to the barn?”

  “You want me to go with you to talk to Anna?”

  I turned into the Troyers’ driveway. “Yes.”

  “Ruth won’t like that.”

  He knew his sister well. “I know, but I need you to be there. I’m at your parents’ house.” I couldn’t tell him about his parents’ reaction to Becky’s hair. I decided to wait until after we spoke with Anna.

  “I’ll see you outside the Gundy barn,” he said and disconnected.

  Ruth waited for me outside of the Troyers’ barn. “Where have you been?” She jumped into my car. “We are going to be late. The walk from the road is only a quarter mile, but it’s still going to take some time in this deep snow.”

  I shifted the car into reverse. “Where did you tell your mother we were going?”

  She lifted her chin. “I told her the truth. I said that you promised to drive me to see Anna because it was too cold to walk there.”

  “Ah,” I said. Apparently, Ruth had already mastered the tried and true teenager trick of telling a half-truth. I backed onto the Troyers’ country road. “And she didn’t mind, considering what’s going on with Becky?”

  “She said it was nice, but not to be surprised if Anna’s parents turned us away.” Ruth wrinkled her nose. “She didn’t say I couldn’t go.”

  That wasn’t exactly the same thing as not minding.

  We drove in silence the rest of the way and stopped at the farthest spot where we could leave my car. I had beat Timothy to the meeting spot.

  Ruth unbuckled her seat belt. “Turn off the car and let’s go.”

  I pulled on my gloves and removed my cell phone from my purse, sticking it in my pocket. “We can wait for a minute.”

  “Wait for what? I’m sure Anna’s already there. She is going to think I’m not coming. I can’t do that to her.”

  I sighed. “We are going to wait until Timothy shows up, and we will all go see Anna together.”

  “Timothy?” she yelped. “You told Timothy about mine and Anna’s meeting place?”

  “Not exactly. I told him that we were meeting Anna at the Gundy barn. I didn’t tell him that you and Anna have met there before.”

  “What’s the difference? He will know and then so will everyone.”

  “Timothy won’t tell,” I said.

  “Like you didn’t?” She glared at me and threw open her door.

  I yanked the keys from the ignition and jumped out of the car. “Where are you going?”

  Tears rolled down her pale cheeks. “Where does it look like I’m going?”

  “You can’t go alone. It’s not safe.”

  “What do you know about it? I’ve come here every time by myself. This is the first time that I’ve brought anyone, and you betrayed me.”

  I locked my car with the key fob and jogged after her. “Ruth, I’m just being cautious.”

  She kept going, refusing to even look at me.

  We were still close enough to the road for my cell phone to have good reception. Timothy picked up on the first ring. “How far away are you?”

  “Ten minutes. Why?”

  “Your sister already took off for the barn, and I’m following her.”

  Timothy groaned. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. You’d better stick with her.”

  “I plan to,” I said and hung up. I tucked my cell back into my pocket.

  Ruth gave me a dirty look. “Were you calling your boyfriend?”

  “As a matter of fact, I was,” I replied. I wondered what her parents would think if they had heard me. If Becky’s haircut could derail their opinion of me so quickly, maybe they weren’t as at ease with Timothy courting me as I had thought.

  We walked the rest of the way in silence. Before long, the familiar stand of evergreen trees came into view and just behind them, the Gundy barn.

  A small figure stepped out from behind the Gundy’s barn. Ruth lifted her heavy winter skirts and broke into a run when she saw her friend. I followed at a much slower pace, the events of the day weighing heavily on me. The sun was low in the sky behind the Gundy barn, throwing shadows toward us. I wrinkled my forehead. Another shadow seemed to peek out from behind the barn, but it didn’t belong to Anna.

  “Ruth! Wait!” I cried and ran after her.

  The shadow moved. Levi Garner emerged from around the corner of the barn, his arms gripping Anna. He held a woodworker’s chisel under the young girl’s chin.

  Ruth froze as if she had smacked into an invisible wall. I sprinted to Ruth’s side and grabbed her arm. The cold air pumping into my mouth made my sore throat hurt that much more.

  Levi Garner’s lip curled. “I knew you would come back here. It’s where it all started, isn’t it? I knew the moment you said that you didn’t think Caleb was the killer that I would have to do something about you. Imagine my pleasure when I found this little girl waiting patiently for you.” He bent Anna’s arm behind her back, and she cried out in pain.

  I released Ruth’s arm. “Let her go. If I’m the one you’ve been waiting here for, then fine. The girls have nothing to do with this.”

  Despite the cold, sweat glistened on Levi’s forehead. He wasn’t wearing a hat. I hoped that he would catch a cold.

  “Ruth,” I whispered. “I want you to take my cell phone and keys and run back to the car.”

  Ruth began to sob. “I can’t. I can’t leave you and Anna.”

  “Listen to me. It is Anna’s best chance if you run back to the car, lock yourself inside of it, and call for help.”

  “I don’t know how to use your phone.”

  How did I give an Amish girl a crash course in smartphone use without attracting Levi’s attention?

  “What are you two talking about?” Levi’s voice thundered. “You better not think about leaving. The moment one of you is out of my sight, I stab her in the throat.”

  Ruth crumbled to the ground in tears.

  Okay, plan B. “Levi, you don’t want the girls. You can have me. Let Anna go, and you can hold the chisel to my throat. Isn’t that what you really want to do?”

  He relaxed some.

  I took three tentative steps toward him, and his hold on Anna tensed up again. I froze and looked Levi straight in the eyes. I needed to attract his attention away from Ann
a and onto me. If he became distracted enough, then maybe she would be able to wriggle away from him. It wasn’t a great plan, but it was the best I had until Timothy showed up. Where was he?

  “You killed Katie because she figured out that you were cheating the Amish craftsmen out of their fair share of their woodworking sales. You made a deal with them that they would receive sixty percent of the sale of their items, but you lied to them about the prices the items sold for and pocketed the difference.” My voice shook with anger as I spoke because I knew Grandfather Zook was also a victim. “How did she find out?”

  He closed his eyes for a moment. “All I had her do was file some of the receipts, and she started asking questions. I told her that she wasn’t supposed to be reading the receipts, just filing them. Later I caught her digging through the drawers as if she were looking for something. I would have strangled her right at that very moment if Nathan hadn’t stepped into the office.”

  Tears rolled down Anna cheeks as she listened to Levi give his reason for killing her sister as if it made perfect sense. Keep it together, Anna, I whispered in my head. Keep it together. We can still get out of this. Don’t give up.

  “I knew I shouldn’t have hired her, but my son begged me to. He said she wanted to leave the cheese shop because some Englischer wouldn’t leave her alone there. He knew the Englischer would never come to our warehouse.”

  “She told Nathan, didn’t she? She told your son that his father cheated the families in the district.”

  Levi dropped the chisel two inches from Anna’s throat. “Ya. The stupid girl. My son did the right thing, told her that she must be wrong, that I would never do anything like that. After talking sense into her, he told me. I denied it and told him that Katie must be confused. Before he left, I saw the glimmer of doubt in his eye, and I knew it was all over. I had no choice. I had to get rid of the girl before she made it even worse. What if she reported me to the deacon? Or to the police? I couldn’t have that.”

  A new shadow appeared on the side of the barn, and it was moving. I blinked, wondering what I was seeing. Was it Timothy? Had he heard us and snuck around the other side of the barn?