Lost

by Samantha Price

  Ettie and Elsa-May exchanged glances.

  “He saw a lawyer about it?”

  “Yes. Cost us a lot of money, too.”

  “Do you remember the lawyer’s name?”

  “No. Maybe Sutherby or Southerland or something like that.”

  “Where was he from?”

  “I’m not sure. Sorry. What’s this about again? Do you know where his daughter is? Is that what you’ve come to tell me?”

  “No. We’re asking questions for a friend of ours. She thinks her husband was killed by the same man who murdered your husband.”

  “Yes, that’s right. You did tell me that.”

  “Now she’s disappeared and we’re trying to find out all we can about the circumstances of your husband’s death in case it has anything to do with our friend’s disappearance.”

  “Is your friend Amish too?”

  “Yes she is, and she’s around our age.”

  “She’s actually several years younger to be accurate,” Elsa-May said.

  “In that case, I can probably get the name of that lawyer from one of our old checkbooks, if that’ll help.”

  “That would be marvelous,” Ettie said.

  Mrs. Quinn stood up. “I won’t be long.”

  She came back a few minutes later with his name on a piece of paper. “That’s him there. Have you spoken to Julie, Earl’s first wife?”

  “No, but we would like to.”

  She scribbled a name and address on the other side of the paper and handed it to Ettie. “There.”

  “Thank you.”

  When she sat back down, she said, “Now at last I can have a funeral for Earl.”

  “It must be a relief after all this time.”

  “It was hard not knowing what happened to him. We thought he was dead, the girls and I. He would never have stayed away from the girls for that long if he’d been alive. The not knowing is the hardest part. Now there’s a sense of relief. We can put him to rest in many ways.”

  “When is the funeral?”

  “Soon I hope. They haven’t released him yet. They said it could happen tomorrow.”

  “Ettie and I would like to attend.”

  “Oh, that’s very kind. I’m having it at St. Andrew's. It’s not far from here and there’s a lawn cemetery behind it.”

  Ettie passed the paper back to her. “Please write the address down if you wouldn’t mind.” Ettie remembered that the detective once told her that murderers often attend the funerals of the people they killed.

  Mrs. Quinn scribbled the address and handed the paper back to Ettie.

  “If you don’t mind me asking, how did Julie and Earl go about having their baby adopted? You said they adopted the baby out privately?” Elsa-May asked.

  “Yes.”

  Ettie could see by the way the woman’s face went cold at the mention of the baby that she didn’t want to continue that topic of conversation.

  Mrs. Quinn continued, “If you want to know more you’ll have to ask Julie. I never talked to Earl about it. I just wanted him to forget about it. What was done was done. It was a useless thing for him to devote that much time and energy. He wasn’t giving the girls and me as much attention as he should’ve been while he was looking for her.”

  Elsa-May nodded, Ettie caught her eye and frowned at her hoping she would take the hint to change the conversation.

  “What’s wrong with your eye, Ettie?”

  Mrs. Quinn swung around to look at her.

  “Nothing, I think I might have had an eyelash in it.”

  “Oh, that’s good luck I think,” Mrs. Quinn said.

  Ettie blinked hard a couple of times to make out as though she had a stray eyelash in her eye. “All better now.” Why couldn’t Elsa-May take the hint?

  “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

  “Do you know if your husband knew a man called Simon Fisher?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t think so. Earl never mentioned anyone by that name, as far as I remember.”

  “Who did Earl work for again?”

  “A company called Parton Industries.”

  “And he was supposed to be in Pittsburgh doing things with his job?”

  “He had a meeting with someone. Something to do with a new system they were incorporating, and then he never came home. Never even called me to let me know he got there, like he normally did when he went away.”

  “Did he have any enemies?”

  She shook her head slowly. “None that I know of. Except he did have a falling out with his boss over something. Harold Appleby is … was, his boss. Then there was Carl, Earl’s brother. They never really got along. Carl’s a criminal.”

  “Does he live close by?” Ettie asked.

  “Yes, he lives not too far away,” Mrs. Quinn said.

  “What has Carl been arrested for?”

  “Robbery mostly.”

  “Would anyone have benefited by having your husband out of the way?”

  She shook her head. “No, I don’t think so.

  “Thank you for your time." Elsa-May turned to Ettie. "What do you say we try to talk to Julie now?"

  "I think that would be a good idea." Ettie turned to Mrs. Quinn. "Do you mind if we use your phone to call a taxi?”

  She picked up her phone. “I'll call one for you."

  After they said goodbye to Mrs. Quinn, they headed outside her house to wait for the taxi.

  “That was some useful information."

  "Yes it was," Ettie agreed. "I wonder if he made a detour before he got to Pittsburgh, something to do with his daughter."

  "It's worth following that line of thought. His first wife should know more."

  They got out of the taxi at the address Mrs. Quinn had given them and, seeing no sign of anyone about, Ettie asked the driver to wait for them.

  The house was small, with an overgrown garden, and the lawn was also too long. They knocked on the front door and waited.

  Ettie peered through the small window near the front door to see if she could see movement within the house. "I don't think anyone's home."

  "Give her a minute. She might be at the back of the house."

  "The house is as small as ours. If she'd been at the back, she would've had enough time to get here."

  "Well, knock again," Elsa-May ordered.

  Ettie knocked on the door, louder this time. "She's not home."

  "And we’ve come all this way."

  "We'll have to come back another day. Meanwhile, we can talk to Detective Kelly.”

  They got into the waiting taxi and headed home. They had the driver stop at the shanty that housed the telephone closest to their home. After they paid the driver, they walked to the telephone and Elsa-May put some coins in the tin.

  "I hope you haven't lost that number."

  "Nee, of course I haven't lost it." Ettie checked her right sleeve and it wasn't there. She was sure that was where she had put it. She shook her arm hoping the piece of paper would fall out but it didn't.

  "Check your other sleeve."

  "I never put anything up that one."

  "Just have a look."

  Ettie put a hand up the other sleeve and then felt the paper. She gave a little laugh as she pulled it out and handed it to Elsa-May. "What do you know?"

  "I told you that's where it would be."

  "You said I lost it."

  "I didn't. I said, 'I hope you haven't lost' it and then I told you to check your other sleeve."

  "Since you're so right about everything, you make the phone call."

  Elsa-May sighed. "Give it to me then."

  After Elsa-May had taken her glasses from the top of her dress where she always hung them, she popped them onto the end of her nose. Once she had unfolded the paper, she picked up the phone's receiver and dialed the number.

  Elsa-May told the receptionist it was vitally important that she speak with her boss. Finally, after much persuasion, the receptionist put her through to Mr. Southerla
nd. After she explained she was calling about the man who’d gone missing, Earl Quinn, that got the lawyer talking.

  "Yes, I remember that job well. I saw in the paper they found his body."

  Elsa-May continued, "I was talking to his wife earlier this morning and she told me Earl had retained you and you were trying to undo the adoption or something."

  "I told him it wasn’t possible. To whom am I speaking? Are you a relative?”

  "No. You see, a friend of mine has gone missing and I have reason to believe that it's connected with the murder and disappearance of Earl Quinn."

  "And you’d like to engage my services to find her? I can give you the name of a good private investigator if that’s what you’re after. Other than that, I don’t see how I can help you. Unless you had something to do with his disappearance and you're in need of a lawyer?"

  "No. She's only been missing for a day and she could turn up at any time. The thing is to help find my friend, I need to know who adopted Earl Quinn’s daughter." Elsa-May heard a chuckle on the other end of the line.

  “I can’t tell you anything like that.” His tone was now abrupt.

  “It would really help us if you did.”

  “If you’ll excuse me, my next appointment is here.”

  The phone clicked in her ear.

  "Thank you,” Elsa-May said full of sarcasm as she replaced the receiver.

  “Nothing?” Ettie asked.

  “He wouldn’t tell me anything and then he hung up on me.”

  "Quinn’s wife said the family had a lot of money and if it was a private adoption, that means that there’s every possibility that Quinn and his first wife knew the couple who adopted the baby, or knew someone who knew them.”

  “I see what you mean. These things aren’t generally advertised in the paper. Unless, the lawyer put the two couples together.”

  “Hmm. There’s always that I suppose. I didn’t think of that,” Ettie said blinking rapidly.

  Chapter Nine

  When they were back home, Elsa-May slumped into her chair with Snowy on her lap. “Hopefully, Ava will have good news for us later today. And then we’ll have to tell poor old Amos what’s going on.”

  “Yes, he’ll be worried.”

  A while later they heard a buggy coming toward the house. Ettie placed her needlework sampler beside her, got to her feet, and looked out the window. "It's Ava," she called over her shoulder at her sister.

  Elsa-May finished her row of knitting and then pushed her knitting into the bag by her feet. As usual, Snowy was asleep on his bed in the corner of the room. Ettie opened the door, hoping that Ava would have some good news for them and that she'd found Gertie was visiting friends.

  From the look on Ava's face as she walked to the door, Ettie knew Ava didn’t have good news.

  Ettie stepped back. "Come in."

  "Let’s go through to the kitchen and tell us what you found out. I'll put the tea kettle on," Elsa-May said.

  “No one's heard anything, and even Vida didn't know Gertie was going anywhere. And Gertie and Vida are very close." Ava sat down at the kitchen table.

  "Now I am worried," Ettie said.

  "Me too," Elsa-May said as she put the kettle on the stove, and then she sat down with them.

  "She didn't even tell Amos she was going away, and she usually does so that he knows to water her plants," Ettie added.

  Elsa-May shook her head, looking downward.

  "Tomorrow we’ll go through her address book and start calling people. That's all we can do," Ettie said. “We took your advice, Ava.”

  “What advice was that?”

  “We went to see Mrs. Quinn?”

  “Did you?”

  “Jah.”

  Ettie and Elsa-May proceeded to tell Ava what they had found out from Earl Quinn's wife.

  "What if he was killed to keep him away from his biological daughter?" Ava asked.

  "You mean so they could keep the daughter all to themselves or something?"

  Ava nodded.

  "That thought occurred to me, too," Ettie said.

  "You never said that, Ettie."

  Ettie stared at her sister who was staring right back at her. "It was a fairly obvious thing to think. I didn't know I would have to say it out loud. Mrs. Quinn said her husband was fixated on that daughter."

  "I think this is something that we should tell Detective Kelly," Elsa-May said.

  "We haven't found Gertie, and we can't let him know she's missing because then we'll have to tell him she witnessed the killing."

  Ava nodded. "Yes, and revealing that could potentially put her in danger. If she's not already in danger."

  "Thanks for checking into things for us, Ava."

  "Are you doing anything tomorrow?" Ettie asked Ava.

  "Not that I know of. Just the usual."

  "Will you take us to Gertie's place tomorrow? Then we’ll call everybody in her address book, and then will you take us to the library so we can get onto one of the computers and see just what we can find out about Earl Quinn’s boss, Harold Appleby? I’m following a hunch."

  "Okay."

  When the kettle whistled, Elsa-May got up to make a pot of tea. Just as she had gotten the cups and saucers out of the cupboard, Snowy barked loudly from the living room.

  Ettie stood up. "I'll see what's upset him." When she saw him pawing at the front door, she was sure someone was just about to knock. She picked Snowy up, opened the door and saw Detective Kelly walking up the steps.

  "Good afternoon, Detective."

  "Hello, Mrs. Smith. You've got a good watchdog there."

  Ettie gave a little chuckle. "Come in, we were just about to have a cup of tea."

  "Perfect timing."

  Ettie walked into the kitchen with Detective Kelly behind her. "Elsa-May, we’ll need another cup."

  When everybody had exchanged greetings, Ava made the excuse that she should be getting home. Being mindful of Snowy’s stitches, Ettie popped him into Elsa-May’s bedroom before she walked Ava to the front door.

  "You don't have to go, Ava."

  "He probably wants to talk to the both of you in private."

  Ettie nodded. "You're probably right."

  "I'll see you tomorrow, Ettie. I'll come at around nine o'clock. Will that be all right?"

  "Nine sounds good. Bye, Ava, give our love to Jeremiah." Ettie closed the door and went back to the kitchen and sat down.

  "I hope I didn't scare her away," Kelly said.

  "No, not at all. Now, what did you find out about Simon Fisher? Did you have a chance to look into that file that you were talking about?"

  "Yes, I had a look and unfortunately there wasn't much information. There’s nothing in the file that would lead me to believe that it wasn't a random hit-and-run."

  Elsa-May placed a cup of tea in front of the detective and one in front of Ettie and then sat down. "That's a shame. She's certain it wasn't accidental."

  "And what did you find out from Gertie? Anything extra? She wasn’t home when we went to her property today."

  “Did you found any clues?”

  He shook his head. “Not while I was there. I’ve got men still out there combing the area. Well, any information from Gertie?”

  Ettie looked at the table in front of her and took a sip of tea hoping that Elsa-May would answer. When Elsa-May stayed silent as well, Ettie had no choice but to answer his question.

  "She wasn't home when we went there, either. We're going back to visit her tomorrow."

  "Very well. And if you find out anything don't waste time in letting me know."

  "Getting back to the man who was murdered, not Simon Fisher, but the man that Ettie found."

  "Yes?" Kelly asked.

  "We talked to his wife today," Ettie said, and then she braced herself to be told off severely, or threatened with arrest for something such as obstructing justice.

  After a moment of silence, Kelly said through gritted teeth, "And why would you do that?" />
  "We wanted to find out why he was in that area and we thought she might know something."

  "She didn't know anything ten years ago according to the file. And when I spoke to her, I was giving her the news that her husband's body had finally been found."

  "Maybe you should talk to her again."

  "Why? What did she tell you?” The detective shook his head. "I don't know why you take it upon yourselves to do these stupid things."

  Ettie couldn't tell him that it was because their friend was missing. But if Gertie didn't turn up in a day or two, she would have to tell him.

  "You know what Ettie gets like; she just can't help herself."

  "I count on you to be the voice of reason, Mrs. Lutz."

  "I had to accompany Ettie to keep her out of trouble. That’s why I was there."

  The detective shook his head. "Just give me the information you have. I know she said something to you or the both of you would not be acting this strange."

  "Did the file mention anything about Earl finding his biological daughter that he had given up for adoption?

  "Not a thing. What do you know about that?"

  Ettie took over. "When Earl was married to a woman called Julie they had a baby and adopted her out to a wealthy couple. Elsa-May and I think that Earl, and his wife at the time, might have known the couple they allowed to adopt their baby. They used a lawyer to do the adoption, to handle it privately.”

  Detective Kelly put his elbow on the table and rested his chin on his palm. "And I suppose you’re going to tell me next that the adoptive parents lived in Lancaster County?"

  "No, maybe Pittsburgh," Elsa-May said.

  "And I don't suppose you have the address of this lawyer?" Kelly asked.

  "No. But we do have his phone number," Elsa-May said.

  "I'll get that from you before I go. As much as I appreciate this information, I need to warn you that you are treading a fine line." He took a sip of tea. "That's the disadvantage of taking over this case and not having done it from the start.”

  "Was it one of Crowley's cases?"

  "No. Crowley would've gathered all the finer details like the one you've just supplied me with."

  "It's a wonder the wife didn't mention anything at the time," Ettie said.