Ettie let out a long deep breath. "You never married, Amos, because you were waiting for Gertie?"
"Put it this way; I never met another woman I liked better than Gertie."
"Well said, Amos," Elsa-May said. “It’s nice to know you stuck strongly to your affections.”
Ettie stared at Elsa-May. It had never done him any good to be in love with someone who didn’t return those feelings. As far as Ettie was concerned, he should’ve forgotten about Gertie and looked elsewhere for love. Now he was just a sad old man with no immediate family of his own.
"We should visit Ava and ask if she’ll help us ask around about Gertie. The sooner we do that the sooner we might find out where she is." Ettie pushed herself up off the couch.
Amos rose to his feet. "You'll let me know if you find anything out, won't you?"
"We'll let you know right away. Don’t you concern yourself with that.”
"And if we don't get word of where she is, we’ll find her through that address book over there," Elsa-May said.
"We'll be back tomorrow, Amos."
"Denke."
“Oh, and the police might be coming to look around the property.”
“What for?”
“In connection with the body Ettie stumbled across.”
He gave a slight nod. “Gertie told me about it.”
“What did she say?”
“That you were chasing your dog through the trees and found bones of a man who went missing years ago.”
“That’s right,” Ettie said.
“Why are the police looking here then, if it happened somewhere else?”
“They got a call and someone said it might have happened here.”
“The murder,” Elsa-May explained further.
He rubbed his neck. “Here?”
“It would’ve been many years ago, before you lived here.”
“I’ll wait for them,” he said.
“Oh, and don’t alarm them about Gertie being gone,” Elsa-May added.
“She’s not home at the moment. That’s all they need to know,” Ettie said.
Amos nodded.
Chapter Seven
After they called for a taxi from the shanty outside Gertie's house, they headed down to the road to wait for it.
"He's not so bad, Elsa-May. That's the most I’ve ever heard him talk. Even at the meetings he just stands around looking sort of menacing."
"It must be hard for him to love a woman all those years and not have it returned. And I agree, he seemed okay. Gertie has someone watching over her; it must be nice."
"You've got me," Ettie said.
Elsa-May looked over at her and raised her eyebrows.
"It wonders me why Gertie never mentioned the other day that she was married briefly to an Englischer who was also killed. Is it my imagination or does everyone around her die?”
"Yes, and that must be what she meant by everyone around her dying. That’s the very words she said. First Aaron and his accidental drowning, then her Englischer husband and then Simon."
"I wonder if she’s secretly in love with Amos but thinks if she marries him he'll die too."
Elsa-May gave a little chuckle. "I don't think that would be right."
"You never know."
"I just don't see the two of them together." Elsa-May dug Ettie in the ribs.
"Ow."
"Look, there's the taxi now. That was quick."
Ettie and Elsa-May got out at the house of their young friend who was married to Elsa-May’s grandson, Jeremiah.
"I hope Jeremiah isn’t home," Ettie said.
"That's a terrible thing to say."
"I didn't mean it like that. It's just that he never likes us doing what he calls meddling."
Elsa-May chuckled as she walked up the porch steps of Jeremiah and Ava's house. "He's always had a narrow view of things, but he means well."
Ava flung the door open before they could knock.
"Hello, come in." When she had shut the door behind her, she placed her hands on her hips. "I can tell the two of you are up to something. What is it?"
"Can we sit down first?" Ettie asked.
“It’s a long story,” Elsa-May said.
"Will we sit in the kitchen or the living room?" Ava asked.
"Living room," Ettie said at the same time that Elsa-May said she'd rather sit in the kitchen.
"It looks like it's up to you to decide where we sit," Elsa-May said.
"I'm not going to come in the middle of you two. Why don't we go into the kitchen while I put the kettle on to boil and get the tea made, then we can sit in the living room to drink it?"
"Good compromise," Ettie said. They followed Ava through to the kitchen. After she filled up the kettle and turned on the stove, she sat down with them.
"Now, what's going on?"
Ettie told her the whole story about finding the bones, and the mysterious 911 phone call, and then told her what Gertie had witnessed. "Now you can't tell another person she saw a man being murdered. We're only telling you so you'll know how important it is that she's found."
"That's if they haven't killed her already," Elsa-May said matter-of-factly.
"We can't think that way," Ettie said.
"Where do we start looking?" Ava asked.
"Ettie and I thought you could visit people and just casually ask around. Everyone knows Ettie’s friendly with a detective, but if you ask around they won't think anything of it."
"Okay, I can do that. When do you want to begin?"
"As soon as we finished the tea," Ettie said.
"Okay. I'll start with the most likely people who always know what's going on."
"That used to be you, Ettie," Elsa-May said.
"That's true. I did use to know if anything was going on, but now I don't know where Gertie is so I can't know everything."
"I didn't say you knew everything. It's obvious that you don't know everything. I simply meant that you used to get into everybody's business and you don't so much anymore."
Ettie kept quiet.
The kettle whistled and Ava got up to make the tea. "And what are you two going to do while I'm asking around?"
Ettie and Elsa-May looked at each other. "We haven't figured that out yet."
When everybody had a cup of tea, they carried them out to the living room and sat on the couch in front of the fireplace.
"Now this man that was murdered…"
"Jah?" Ettie said.
"Well, did you talk to his wife?"
"Nee, we couldn't do that."
"Why not?"
"She's upset; her husband has just been found dead."
"What is it we should talk to her about, Ava?"
"You said that Gertie thinks that these murders were linked. What if they were? Don't you need to find out if there was a connection between the killings?"
"Ava, people are dead and now Gertie's missing. I don't think we need to go poking about. That’s the last thing I want to do," Elsa-May said.
"Does she live close by?" Ava asked.
"Not too far away. At least when Earl Quinn was reported missing he didn’t live too far away, according to the detective."
Ava frowned at them. "Have you two lost your nerves?"
Ettie took a sip of tea. This was one investigation she would prefer to stay out of.
"I just don't see that it will do any good."
Elsa-May said, “Why would she even want to talk to us? We’re nothing to her. She doesn’t know a friend of ours saw her husband murdered, and we can’t tell her something like that.”
"You’ve charged in like bulls before—that’s all I’m saying.”
Elsa-May said, “I don't see any connection between the deaths. I think Gertie’s got it wrong. She was probably mulling it over in her head for years and then jumped to all the wrong conclusions. I think the only connection she had with the man that was killed was that she saw him being murdered and that's it.”
Ava said, “An
d you think that somehow now that the body has been discovered that the murderer thinks Gertie might have witnessed something?"
"It's possible," Ettie said. “Or, he might think that Simon told her what he saw. Because Gertie was almost certain Simon confronted the killer. The killer might have thought Simon told his wife.”
“Not knowing Gertie had seen the murder for herself,” Elsa-May added.
"Then why now? Why wouldn't the murderer have killed her a long time ago if he wanted to silence her for good?"
“He might have learned that the body’s been found.”
"Maybe it’s just that something scared her away and she’s safe somewhere," Ettie said.
“Or she could have opened her mouth and told more than just you and me, Ettie.”
“Like who?”
Elsa-May shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Ava drained the last of her tea. “Why don’t I take the two of you home and then I’ll start visiting people and see what I can find out.”
“Would you?”
Ava nodded. “And I’ll stop by on my way home and tell you what I’ve learned.”
“Gut girl. I knew we could rely on you.”
“Jah, denke, Ava.”
An hour later, at Elsa-May and Ettie’s home.
* * *
“I feel we’re sitting around just doing nothing.”
“That’s exactly what we are doing.”
Ettie sighed. “What if she’s being held captive somewhere?”
“Not likely. She hasn’t been found anywhere so that’s a good sign.”
“Elsa-May, that’s a dreadful thing to say.”
“I’m looking on the bright side of things. If she’d been murdered by someone, she might have been found by now. But I guess not necessarily. Considering…”
“Jah, considering Earl Quinn wasn’t found for all these years.”
“Simon was found by the side of the road.”
“Hmm.” Ettie tapped her finger on her chin. “Are you thinking that Earl and Simon weren’t murdered by the same person?”
Elsa-May dropped her knitting into her lap and looked over the top of her glasses. “I thought we decided that they were.”
“You just pointed out they were found in different places. One was hidden and not found for years, and one was found on the side of a road. Is it likely that a killer disposes of bodies in different ways?”
“Stop being so gruesome. I don’t even like to think about things like that.”
“Neither do I, but it is a good point.”
Elsa-May resumed her knitting. “I don’t know enough about killers to know what they’d do. The first thing we should do is find out why Earl Quinn was murdered in the first place. If we know that, then we’d know if Aaron, Simon, and Gertie’s Englischer husband were all… well, we’d know if similar things had happened to them.”
“That means that Ava’s right.”
“About?”
“About visiting Earl’s wife and finding out if she has any idea why he was in this area rather than in Pittsburgh like he was supposed to be,” Ettie said.
“If she knows something and hasn’t told the police, she’s hardly likely to tell us,” Elsa-May said.
“She could know something and doesn’t know that she knows. Then again, it could be a huge waste of time, and that’s if she even allows us in the door.”
“Well, you were the one complaining about sitting around doing nothing,” Elsa-May said.
“If Ava doesn’t come up with anything, and we don’t find out anything once we’ve called everyone in her address book, I think we should visit Mrs. Quinn,” Ettie said.
“Good idea.”
“Jah, I know.” Ettie grinned.
“It was Ava’s idea.”
“It was the logical thing to do. It was in my head. I just didn’t say it. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t thinking it.”
Elsa-May sighed.
“You know what?”
Elsa-May glared at her sister. “What, Ettie?”
“I feel sorry for Amos.”
“Jah, me too. He’s loved Gertie for so long and she’s passed him by more than once.”
“Three times, it seems. And yet he’s still hopeful.”
“You’re not thinking Amos killed anyone, are you?” Ettie asked. “To get them out of the way so he could have Gertie?”
“Nee. The thought barely crossed my mind. Although, it was weird about Aaron drowning. He was a good swimmer and everyone knew it. It’s not possible, I suppose. Amos wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Yeah, but he’s always been a little odd. Always keeps to himself and the way he was just watching the house when we were there yesterday.”
“It was all a little weird,” Elsa-May admitted.
Ettie nodded. “There are many weird people in the world, and it doesn’t make them bad people.”
Elsa-May clicked her tongue. “We’ll have to talk with Kelly again if we haven’t found Gertie by tomorrow.”
“He’ll be angry if he goes out there today and Amos tells him she’s gone. Then he’ll find out we knew and didn’t tell him”
“We’re not on his payroll.” Elsa-May pursed her lips.
“What does that mean?” Ettie asked.
“It simply means we’re not obliged to tell him every single thing.”
Ettie thought about that for a moment. “I don’t like the way he looks at me when he’s angry.”
“We’re on the same side. Don’t worry about it.”
"Do you think Ava is right, Elsa-May?"
"What would be the benefits of talking to Mrs. Quinn?"
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to get as much information as we can to help find Gertie."
"She witnessed the murder. I think we can say that now, but that doesn't mean she knew the man or had anything to do with him."
"We can't just sit around and do nothing."
"Do you even know her first name?"
"Penelope Quinn, and we can look her up in the phone book to see if she lives nearby.”
"Let's do it," Elsa-May said.
They pulled an old phonebook out of the cupboard and found an address for a P Quinn.
Chapter Eight
Looking up from the phone book, Ettie said, "This must be her. Starling Street. How far away would that be?"
Elsa-May looked on the map. "It's not too far away."
"I just hope we don't get the same taxi driver as the one when we found the body."
"If we do, I think he'll probably refuse to take us." Elsa-May chuckled.
When the taxi arrived, Elsa-May and Ettie were pleased that the taxi driver was one they hadn't had before. They gave him the address and he took them to a small white house with a red roof.
After they paid the driver, they asked him to stay for a moment until someone answered the door. Otherwise, if there wasn’t anyone home they would have to walk to the nearest payphone to get another taxi back home.
The taxi driver agreed and Elsa-May and Ettie made their way to the door of Mrs. Quinn's house.
"It looks a little run down," Ettie whispered.
"Be quiet, someone will hear you."
"No one can hear me. I'm speaking quietly."
Elsa-May knocked on the door. Just a few seconds later the door was opened by a smaller middle-aged woman with short brown hair.
"Hello, are you Penelope Quinn?"
She looked surprised. "Yes."
"We are wondering if we might have a word with you about your husband."
"What about him?"
"Firstly, we are very sorry for your loss."
She nodded and managed a little smile. "Thank you. Who are you?"
"I'm Elsa-May Lutz, and this is my sister, Ettie Smith. We’re here because a friend of ours has gone missing and we think it might have something to do with your husband's disappearance and—"
"We think the same person might be responsible." Ettie said.
"Oh, that's dre
adful.” She looked them up and down carefully. “Would you like to come in?"
"Yes please."
Ettie walked into the house while Elsa-May turned and waved to the taxi driver, letting him know that he could go.
Inside, the house was gloomy and seemed sad. Scuffed floorboards covered the floor and two family portraits hung on the wall of the living room. There was one of Mr. and Mrs. Quinn on their wedding day and one of them with two young girls. Ettie paused just for a moment to look at Earl.
"Please, take a seat." She showed them into a combined living-dining room. There was one armchair and one two-seater couch. After Mrs. Quinn sat in the armchair, Elsa-May and Ettie sat on the couch.
“How can I help you?”
“Well, do you mind if we ask you some things about your husband first?”
“Okay.”
“We heard he was supposed to be in Pittsburgh for work, but his car was found in Lancaster County.”
She nodded.
Ettie continued, “What was on his mind at that time. Was he having any issues with anyone or did he have any enemies?”
“This was nothing new. He was obsessed with the baby girl he’d adopted out years ago, back when he first got married to Julie, his first wife.” She shook her head. “Other than that, there was nothing on his mind that I know of.”
“That must’ve been hard for you to hear all the time.”
“It was. We had our own two children to look after. He chose to give his daughter away and that was a decision he couldn’t take back. I told him to forget about it and move forward, not to keep going back.”
“Did he ever find her?”
“Find her? He knew where she was. It was a private adoption. The worst thing about it was that he stayed in contact with Julie about it.”
“Who adopted her?”
“That’s something I can’t tell you. I never wanted to know. All I know is that the couple was wealthy and that gave Earl piece of mind. Whatever happened before we married was ancient history as far as I was concerned.”
“Was Julie living in Pittsburgh?”
“No. She only lives five miles from here. I told Earl I’d divorce him if he wouldn’t get the fixation out of his head about his daughter. She was gone and he had to face it. For some reason he thought a lawyer would overturn the adoption.” She shook her head. “I’ve never heard of that happening before.”
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