Lost

by Samantha Price

  "The first wife or the second wife?" Kelly asked.

  "Either one, I suppose," Ettie said.

  "I think the second wife just wanted to ignore the fact that her husband had another child. She was clearly irritated by it, and still seems upset that he was spending time and money trying to find her." Elsa-May took a sip of tea.

  "You think it was a case of 'out of sight, out of mind?' She didn’t want to think about him looking for his child so she failed to mention it to us?" Kelly asked.

  "Perhaps. Earl didn't tell his second wife that he was going to Pittsburgh that day to find his daughter, in an effort to get her back. Or maybe he did, and she wanted to keep that from her children. They might not know they have a half-sister. If she told the police, then further information might have come out."

  "I think the first thing Ettie said could be right. If she thought he was going to Pittsburgh for work, she wouldn't think to mention the other business to the police."

  “We need facts. All you have are vague and wonderful assumptions,” Kelly said.

  “Is your tea hot enough, Detective?”

  Kelly looked at his tea and then took a sip. “Just right. It has occurred to me that your friend might have made the whole thing up. She didn’t want to accept that her husband died by accident, or at the hands of someone careless, so she made up a fantastical scenario.”

  “No, she wouldn’t do that.”

  “She might if she’s got too much time on her hands,” Kelly said. “We see things like that all the time. It’s amazing what the memory can do. Our memories are more subjective than you think and often influenced by outside factors such as suggestion.”

  Ettie sipped her tea, mentally blocking her ears to what Kelly was saying. If Gertie said she and her husband had witnessed their tenant killing a man, then that’s exactly what had happened.

  Chapter Ten

  The next day, Ava stopped the buggy and Elsa-May and Ettie were quick to hurry to Gertie's house, hoping to avoid Amos, but he was already right by the door before they got there.

  “Do you know where she is?” he called out as they approached the house.

  “Nee. We’ve had no word. We’re going to start calling some people.”

  “I’ve been watering her plants even though she never asked me to.”

  “That’s nice of you, Amos. I’m sure she’ll appreciate that.”

  He leaned forward and opened the front door for them and then stepped back. While Amos stayed outside talking to Ava, Ettie and Elsa-May made their way to Gertie’s address book.

  “What excuse will we have for calling them?”

  “Tell them Gertie said she was going away, but you forgot where she said she was going.”

  Ettie raised her eyebrows. There’d be a lot of people thinking she was losing her mind if she said that. “Why don’t you make the calls?”

  “Nee. People like you better. You’re friendlier.”

  “Okay. I’ll be back in a moment. You stay and look for anything that might tell us where she is.” Ettie took the small address book with her and headed to the shanty that housed the telephone. When she was on her fifth call, she was starting to feel like it was a waste of time. None of the people knew anything. If Gertie had been visiting someone, someone would’ve known something since news traveled around the community like wildfire.

  It was useless. Heading back to the house, Ettie was more worried than ever and her legs felt like lead weights as she walked up the three porch steps.

  “Well?” Elsa-May met her at the door.

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing at all?”

  “No one knew a thing.”

  Elsa-May leaned forward and whispered so Amos couldn’t hear her. “We might have to talk to Kelly about Gertie. It's getting to be too long.”

  Ettie nodded and hoped they hadn’t left things too late already. As she walked further into the house, she found Amos in the kitchen. “You can’t remember anything Gertie said to you that was out of the ordinary?”

  He shook his head and then tipped his hat back further. “I didn’t talk to her after she spoke to you and Elsa-May. She was gone the next morning. I know that because I can look through from my kitchen window and see her having breakfast in the morning. She’s always there at seven."

  “We’ll let you know when we know anything, Amos. And if she happens to come home, can you call Jeremiah and Ava?”

  He nodded.

  “You’ve got our number, Amos?” Ava asked.

  “Jah.”

  “Good. We should go,” Ava said to Ettie and Elsa-May.

  Elsa-May and Ettie sat next to Ava at the library as their young friend scrolled through the search items on the Internet. They started with the place where Earl used to work.

  “Now, what if Earl allowed someone he knew at work to adopt the baby?”

  “It would have to be the owner, or one of the bosses because it was someone who was wealthy,” Ava said.

  “Unless they won the lottery,” Elsa-May said.

  Ettie stared at Elsa-May and blinked a couple of times. “Let’s just do the broad brush stroke first, before we start filling in around the corners.”

  “Okay, look at the bosses of Parton Industries, Ava,” Elsa-May said.

  “Ah, good memory,” Ettie said.

  “Denke.”

  Ava entered the words in the search bar. “It says here the founding director of Parton Industries is a man called Harold Appleby.”

  “Yes, that’s him. And what does Parton Industries do?” Elsa-May asked.

  After a few seconds, and more tapping of the keys, Ava said, “They’re glass manufacturers.”

  “That’s right.”

  Ava turned around and stared at Elsa-May. “The point of the Internet is to look up things you don’t know.”

  “I know.” Elsa-May looked at Ettie. “What shall we have Ava find out?”

  “Earl was working in glass, as we know, so what you’ve found out is that we have our facts right, Ava. I’m wondering if Earl gave Appleby the baby? Mrs. Quinn mentioned a falling out between Earl and his boss. Perhaps Earl wanted to confront him face-to-face?”

  “It’s possible, I suppose. Can you bring up a picture of Harold Appleby, Ava?”

  A few seconds later, there were pictures of Harold Appleby on the screen. “Oh, he’s old,” Ava said. “For some reason I expected him to be younger.”

  “If I’m right, he adopted Earl’s daughter many years ago and everyone was younger back then. But he does look old. How old would you say he looks, Elsa-May?” Ettie asked.

  “Mid sixties to early seventies.”

  “See if you can find out if he’s got children, Ava.”

  After tapping on the keys, Ava said, “He’s divorced and has two children, he was divorced just over ten years ago.”

  “Just before Earl was killed.” Ettie tapped a bony finger on her chin. “What are the children’s names?”

  Ava scrolled through Facebook pages and then other social media accounts. “No, I can’t find anything about them. That’s all I can find, I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry at all, Ava.”

  “Jah, you’ve done a great job,” Ettie said.

  “We’ll walk to the station from here thanks, Ava. You go home. I think we might be there for quite some time.”

  “You think he’ll lock us up?” Ettie asked about Kelly.

  “He’ll certainly feel like it once he finds out Gertie’s missing and we kept it from him.”

  Ettie nodded.

  “I can wait. It’s okay,” Ava said.

  “Nee, we wouldn’t want you to be late getting home and have Jeremiah asking questions.”

  “That’s true, and he would.”

  Ettie and Elsa-May walked out of the library and headed to the police station while the midday sun warmed their skin.

  “What a lovely day,” Ettie said.

  “I hope it stays that way.”

  “I ho
pe we did the right thing not telling him yet that she was missing.”

  “Right or wrong, what’s done is done.”

  Elsa-May and Ettie walked up the steps of the police station.

  When they got to the front desk, the young uniformed officer asked, “Detective Kelly?”

  “Yes, please,” Elsa-May said.

  He picked up the phone and, a moment later, asked them to take a seat.

  When they sat down, Ettie whispered, “Do you notice that every time we’ve come here, he’s been here?”

  “Now you mention it, that’s true.”

  “He can’t be working too hard.”

  Ettie and Elsa-May chuckled and then stopped when they saw Kelly striding toward them.

  He beckoned to them to follow him. Once they were in his office, they sat down and he closed the door.

  “I’ve just come back from talking to Quinn’s wife.” He sat down behind his desk.

  “First or second?” Elsa-May asked.

  “Second. The first wasn’t home. Now do you have any information for me?”

  Ettie and Elsa-May looked at each other.

  He drew his eyebrows together. “What is it?”

  “Gertie is missing,” Elsa-May blurted out.

  If only Ettie had spoken first, she would’ve said it in a much nicer way.

  His eyes opened wide. “Since when?”

  “Yesterday. She wasn't home when we got there early in the morning.”

  Kelly rubbed his head. “This is no good. We’ll need to find her to talk with her.”

  Ettie hoped they were doing the right thing. It still wasn’t a good time to tell Kelly that Gertie was an eyewitness. There was no telling who would find out and then Gertie might get into more danger than she was possibly in already.

  “What’s the best way to approach this? Normally I’d turn to you for anything to do with you Amish people. I’m a little unnerved that you’ve turned to me to find her.”

  Ettie sighed. “I’ll make some more calls.”

  “I’ll have to go through her house and see what we can find. Her safety is paramount.” He leaped to his feet. “I’ll get a couple of officers, and you two can come with me so I can keep an eye on you. How do I get permission to enter her house?”

  “She doesn’t lock it.”

  He shook his head. “Perfect. Just perfect.” Looking over at them, he said, “That was me being sarcastic. I need to legally gain access. Who handles her affairs, or who’s her next-of-kin? A close relative?”

  Ettie and Elsa-May stared at each other.

  “We don’t know,” Ettie finally said. “She doesn’t have any children, and there are no living siblings.”

  “You think she might be in danger?”

  “She might be.”

  “Probably Amos is the nearest person to her because he waters her plants,” Ettie said.

  He picked up his phone, pressed a button and arranged for two officers with a squad car to follow him in his car. When he hung up, he said, “Let’s go.”

  Elsa-May sat in the front passenger seat while Ettie sat in the back.

  Ettie leaned over as soon as the car moved off. “What did Quinn’s wife have to say?”

  “She had some interesting things to tell me.”

  “About what?” Elsa-May asked.

  Kelly chuckled. “Nothing that should interest you.”

  “About Earl’s brother?”

  Kelly glanced at Ettie in the rearview mirror. “What do you know about his brother?”

  “That he was a criminal and that the police have never been able to arrest him for anything.”

  “Sounds like a challenge to me. Carl Quinn is known to us, I can tell you that much. And, I’m certain he has been arrested before.”

  When they arrived at the house, Ettie saw Amos peeping out his front window. Elsa-May and Ettie watched from a distance as Kelly talked with Amos. Then the two officers entered Gertie's home first, followed by Kelly. Ettie and Elsa-May stayed by the front door.

  They watched as Kelly sauntered over to where Ettie had left Gertie’s address book.

  He picked it up and flipped through it. “This would’ve been useful if it was a diary.”

  “Ettie made some calls, but no one knows where she is,” Elsa-May said.

  He ignored her and kept looking around. “No signs of a robbery and no sign of violence. I suppose you’ve spoken to the neighbors?”

  “There’s only Amos. He’s friendly with Gertie and she always lets him know when she’s going away and she didn’t this time.”

  “Are you going to look for prints?” Ettie asked.

  “She’s missing, let’s not jump the gun. I’ll have another word with Amos.” Kelly walked out of the house.

  Ettie watched Kelly knock on Amos’ door, and Amos opened the door and stepped outside. They spoke for only a few minutes before Ettie saw Kelly shake his hand and walk back to Gertie’s house.

  "Strange fellow," he said when he stepped back into Gertie’s house.

  "I suppose he seems that way at first. But he is a very good man," Ettie said.

  "Know him well, do you?"

  “He's been in the community all his life, the same community as we have always lived in, so while we're not extremely close we’ve known him all his life."

  "He couldn't tell me anything about the previous person who’d lived there." Kelly’s brow furrowed and he pressed his lips firmly together.

  “That’s not unusual. The man who lived there wasn’t Amish and he was well gone by the time Amos moved in.”

  Half an hour later, Kelly was finished at Gertie’s house and he drove Ettie and Elsa-May back home.

  Chapter Eleven

  The next morning, Ettie and Elsa-May sat in silence eating their breakfast of oatmeal and hot milk with a dash of honey. Elsa-May slurped her milk straining it through the cereal with her teeth. It set Ettie’s nerves on edge, but she tried to stop letting it bother her.

  "How’s Snowy this morning?" she asked instead of complaining.

  "Good. We'll have to go and get his stitches taken out in a couple of days."

  "Good. I'm pleased that he's recovering well."

  "I couldn't sleep last night. I was tossing and turning because I was worried about Gertie. If she was going to go away she would've said something to us when we were there. It was the very next day that she disappeared," Elsa-May said.

  "You shouldn't work yourself up about something that you've got no control over."

  "It's hard not to."

  "I know it is. I had trouble sleeping myself. Why don't we stop by her house and see if she's come home yet, and if she's not there we'll continue on to the station and see if Detective Kelly has found anything out," Ettie said.

  "Yes, let's do it."

  * * *

  They directed the taxi to stop right between Gertie's house and Amos’ house on the large driveway that separated the two places.

  "No windows are open; no doors are open. It looks like she's not here yet. You stay here, I'll go talk to Amos."

  Ettie sat in the taxi and watched her sister knock on Amos' front door. Her heart felt heavy when she saw Amos answer the door and then shake his head. Elsa-May didn't waste any time coming back to the taxi.

  She slid along the backseat beside Ettie. "Nothing."

  They continued on to the police station, hoping the detective had found something out but since Gertie still wasn't home, they were doubtful that he had any good news.

  As soon as they entered the station, they saw Kelly talking to the officer at the front desk.

  “Are you here to see me?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I can spare a couple of minutes.” He walked them through to his office and asked, “Any news on Gertie?”

  “No. We just stopped by at her house and Amos said she hasn’t shown up.”

  "They've released Quinn's remains," Kelly announced as soon as they were seated in his office.

&
nbsp; "Now his family will be able to have a funeral," Elsa-May said.

  "Yes, it’ll be a relief for the nearest and dearest."

  "I wonder what's become of the daughter he adopted out."

  "Happily living somewhere, totally oblivious to what's gone on and what's happened to her biological father, I'd say," Kelly said.

  "Yes, I hope so. He did come to a rather tragic end. And you still don't know why, do you, Detective Kelly?" Elsa-May asked.

  "We do know that he had several blows to his head."

  "That's exactly what… what Gertie said her husband saw."

  "Well, we can talk to her when she finally comes home. I do have some other news for you."

  "What is it?"

  "A taxi picked her up just before six o'clock in the morning, of the day you said she went missing, and took her to the train station."

  Ettie put a hand over her heart. "Oh, that’s such a relief. You could've told us that right away."

  "I should have. I've got so many things going on I can't remember what you do and don't know. Since you usually know everything."

  "Do you know what train she got on?" Elsa-May asked.

  "No. We don't even know yet if she got on a train at all. That’s just where the driver said he left her.”

  "At least we know she's all right, wherever she is," Ettie said.

  "Do you think his first wife will be at the funeral?"

  "I'd say it's more than likely. We did get in touch with her and she's coming in today. I'll have a talk with her and see if we can get down to the bottom of things. Now, can I ask you two to stop poking around in things?"

  "All we wanted to know is that Gertie’s safe. So, all we ask is that you’ll let us know—”

  “I’m not obliged to let you know anything.” He huffed agitatedly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t take my bad mood out on you two. There’s a lot going on before we can finally put this case to bed. It would’ve been a lot easier if your friend hadn’t wandered off in the middle of it.”

  “I know.”

  “Why would she do that if she thinks her husband was murdered? Wouldn’t she want to stick around and see the thing through? She should’ve come forward and talked to us in the first place rather than make a halfhearted attempt to call us.”