Lost

by Samantha Price

  “He can’t read," said Ettie. "We saw it there when we were at his house recently and today, when we saw him cleaning out his chimney, I remembered having seen the smoke-stained book.”

  “I see. I think we’ll have to have another talk with him.”

  “No, he wouldn’t have done anything.”

  He looked down at the book. “This suggests otherwise.”

  "The funny thing is that Gertie's first — well he wasn't her husband, but they would have married if he had lived. Anyway he's in there; his name was Aaron Fisher. He was Simon’s brother. He drowned when he was about eighteen. Earl Quinn's name is in there too. And Simon's."

  Detective Kelly turned to his computer and tapped on a few keys. Sitting in silence he turned the pages while referencing the screen. Then he’d turn a page and tap a few more keys. Finally, he looked over at them. "This is a log book of murders." He leaped to his feet. "Stay here." With great care, he picked up the book and took it out of the office with him.

  "Where’s he going?" Elsa-May frowned.

  "He'll be taking it for fingerprinting, I’d say.”

  "I guess we shouldn't have touched it. But we didn't really know what it was."

  “That’s true. I hope he understands that.”

  “He’s not in the best of moods, and that won’t help him to tell us anything.”

  Ettie shook her head. “He’s rarely in a good mood. Anyway, he needs us. We found the body, and now Gertie is missing. It’s in his interests to share his knowledge with us.”

  Pursing her lips, Elsa-May slowly nodded.

  When Kelly came back, he sat behind his desk. “Hopefully we’ll lift a fingerprint off it. Meanwhile we’re bringing in your friend, Amos, for questioning and there’s every possibility he’ll be arrested.”

  “No.” Ettie sprang to her feet. “He’s got nothing to do with this.”

  Kelly remained calm. “If that’s true, then he’s got nothing to worry about.”

  “You can’t.”

  “I can, ladies, I can, and that’s what’s happening. Someone’s on the way to fetch him now.”

  “He won’t be able to understand what’s going on. He can’t even read.”

  “There’s no reading required for killing someone.”

  "But how would he have been able to write in that book?"

  Elsa-May touched Ettie’s arm. “Sit down, Ettie. Everything will work out.”

  Ettie’s stomach churned at the thought of how Amos would feel. She had to get her thoughts straight if they were to be of any help to Gertie, and now to Amos. “The man you spoke with at the funeral, Harold Appleby—”

  “Earl Quinn’s boss,” Elsa-May added.

  “Yes?”

  “He might have paid someone to kill all these people,” Ettie said, convinced that Appleby was guilty, and certain that Earl was murdered for trying to get his daughter back.

  “We’re working on that and a few other scenarios.”

  Ettie continued, “You agreed with me when I said before that Harold had just been divorced, and when Earl came along Harold was afraid he’d lose his daughter’s affection. If indeed he really was the man who’d adopted Earl’s child.”

  Kelly leaned back in his chair. “All I want you to do is find your friend. How is that coming along?”

  “We found the book. We hoped that would help you find her.”

  He frowned at them. “We’ll ask your friend, Amos, what he did with her. How about this scenario? Since you’re throwing them around... Gertie lived in fear of Amos, the murderer living next door! He didn’t find the book because it was his book all along.”

  Ettie was sick to her stomach by now, and wished she’d never brought the book to him.

  Elsa-May said, “We’re going to call everyone in her address book again. Hopefully someone has heard something.”

  “Good,” Kelly said.

  “I think you should forget about Amos. What if Appleby is the one who killed Earl, and Simon, and he knows that Gertie knows? Are you having him followed? He could have kidnapped her or worse.”

  Ettie added. “Appleby didn’t have to do it himself. He could’ve paid someone to do it.”

  “Leave that with us, Ettie. Both of you do what you can do to find her, and leave the detective work to me. And be grateful I’ve said nothing about you putting your hands all over that piece of evidence.”

  Ettie glanced over at Elsa-May who had her eyes cast downward.

  “We didn’t know what it was,” Ettie explained, "until we saw the names inside."

  Kelly stood. “Thanks for coming in, ladies. I’ll be in touch as soon as I know more, and you go and find your friend, would you?”

  “We’ll do our best.” Ettie pushed herself to her feet and then they headed out of his office.

  “What do we do now, Ettie?” Elsa-May asked.

  “We call through this book as soon as we get home.” Ettie still had Gertie’s address book clutched in her hand.

  “What if that dreadful man has got her?”

  “Don’t think like that.”

  “I hope Amos will be okay.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Ettie and Elsa-May had just stepped outside of the taxi at their house when Detective Kelly's car pulled up behind the taxi.

  "When are you ladies going to get a phone?"

  “Weren’t you just about to interview Amos?” Elsa-May asked.

  “Change of plans,” Kelly said.

  Ettie was relieved that his focus was off Amos, at least for the time being. "Would you like to come in?"

  "No. I've just come to tell you that that book you brought in today..."

  "Yes?" Elsa-May asked, stepping forward.

  "We lifted a print. Which is quite amazing given the condition of the book. I had them make two comparisons and one of them was Harold Appleby and it was a match.”

  Ettie gasped and held her stomach. “Appleby?”

  Kelly kept talking. “He was in the military in his twenties, so his prints were in the system."

  Elsa-May patted Ettie on her arm. "Do you think he's done something to Gertie?"

  "Or got someone else to do something to Gertie?" Ettie asked.

  "We’ll soon know. I’ll get it out of him one way or another. He’s being picked up now. It’s all due to you for bringing the book to our attention."

  "I hope he tells us what he’s done with Gertie."

  Kelly started walking back to his car, and said over his shoulder. "I'm heading back now. He'll be arriving there soon."

  "Do your best to find Gertie for us?"

  "Of course," he said.

  Kelly got back into his car and drove away.

  "That'll be fifteen dollars," the impatient taxi driver yelled out.

  “Oh, I didn’t know you were still waiting,” Elsa-May said to the driver. “Pay him would you, Ettie?”

  “Nee.”

  Elsa-May jerked her head backward. “Why not? It’s your turn.”

  “Get back in. I know where Gertie is."

  "Where?"

  "Just get in.” Ettie gave the driver directions and in fifteen minutes time Elsa-May and Ettie stepped out of the taxi at a secluded park near the river’s edge.

  "Do you know where we are now?" Ettie asked.

  "At a river. Is this where Aaron drowned?"

  "Jah.”

  “And you think Gertie's around here somewhere?" Elsa-May asked.

  “She's gotta be. It's the only answer. Let's go." Ettie pulled on her sister’s sleeve and they made their way to the water’s edge and then walked a short distance along the bank. When they rounded a bend, Gertie came into view. She was sitting on a rock and staring out at the water.

  "Gertie!" Ettie called out.

  Gertie raised her hand but her face remained expressionless. When they were standing by her she said, "He was a strong swimmer. He shouldn't have drowned."

  Ettie said, "He had help to drown, it would seem."

  Gertie glan
ced up at Ettie. "Jah, he drowned him." She looked back to the water and her eyes glazed over again.

  "You knew the man who killed him, didn't you?" Ettie asked. “And you married him without knowing?”

  Gertie slowly nodded and out of the corner of Ettie's eye, she saw Elsa-May's mouth drop open in shock.

  "I married the man who drowned him, it’s true. I figured it out later when I worked out that he had drowned Aaron in a jealous rage. I told him he was dead to me. I was to find out later that he had killed anyone who got in his way."

  Ettie swallowed hard. "And that's when you returned to the community and married Simon."

  "Jah."

  "The man you married was Harold Appleby?" Elsa-May’s blue eyes were wide like saucers.

  Without taking her eyes off the water, Gertie softly uttered, “Jah.”

  Elsa-May stared at Gertie for a moment. "Was he the one who lived next door to you?”

  “Jah.”

  Elsa-May’s eyebrows flew up so high they nearly touched her prayer kapp. “How did he come to live beside you in the haus that you owned? You told him you didn’t want anything more to do with him."

  "Simon and I had the house to lease. We could only afford to own the property if we leased out the other haus on the land. It was empty for about three months. This particular day, I'd been out since the morning. Then I came home and Simon told me he'd leased the house. He’d struck a deal with a man who’d paid two months in advance. I was so pleased, until I saw who it was."

  “Simon didn’t know?” Elsa-May asked.

  She shook her head. "And I couldn't even say anything to Simon about it."

  "Why? Couldn’t you have told Appleby to leave?" Elsa-May asked.

  "I was a divorced woman. I never told Simon I’d been married before. I couldn't risk that he’d find out. Harold had killed Aaron, so how could I be sure he wouldn’t kill Simon? I waited for the next day when Simon was out all day and went to the haus and told Harold to leave.”

  “What did he say?” Ettie asked.

  “That's when he told me he was divorced from his second wife and we could have a new start if I divorced Simon. I told him no and he said he wouldn't leave but then he did leave. He left after he killed that man whose bones you found, and then he must've figured out Simon had seen him, or he was just crazy-jealous that Simon had married me and I didn't want anything to do with him, and then he killed Simon. After the police came to my door and told me about Simon, I’ve never seen Harold again."

  "What did you tell the police?" Ettie asked.

  "I didn't want to be next and I didn't want the ugly truth of my past to come out. I’d done so much wrong in my life. Gott had already punished me by making me childless. I not only married outside the faith, but I lied about it and covered it up. Before that, I thought Aaron was trying to talk to me from the grave. I went to mediums and fortune tellers. I just wanted to talk to him one last time. I hope Gott forgives me."

  "Well, I don't think you have to worry about that now. Things have happened since you’ve been gone. There was a book that was hidden in the chimney of the haus that Amos is living in. The detective thinks it’s got the names of everyone that Harold killed, and the dates.”

  "And they found Harold's fingerprint in it," Elsa-May added.

  "It was at the house you say?"

  "Hidden in the chimney. It came loose and fell out when Amos was cleaning the chimney years ago, and because he can't read, he had no idea what was in it."

  Elsa-May took over explaining, "When Ettie and I went over to tell him that you hadn't been abducted or kidnapped and you’d been driven away by taxi, we were in his house and that’s when we saw the book."

  "It didn't occur to me until later that the book might hold a clue," Ettie resumed. "It was later when I saw that Amos had been cleaning the fireplace that things just clicked."

  "You think it's all over?" Gertie looked up at them with wide eyes.

  "They're going to arrest Harold."

  She nodded. "How’s Amos?"

  "He's very worried about you," Ettie said. "He's been praying for your safety."

  Gertie chuckled. "I've missed him in a funny way. He's always around and trying to take care of me. Most of the time I ignore him."

  "Are you ready to go back home?" Ettie asked.

  "Just give me a minute. I'll say goodbye to my first love."

  "We'll be waiting up by the road."

  “I’ll need to get my things from the bed and breakfast where I’ve been staying.”

  “Okay.” Ettie nodded.

  “Before we go, Gertie, what did you mean by what you said before about trying to contact Aaron? Did the mediums pretend they were talking with him or something?”

  Gertie sighed and moved over. “Sit down and I’ll tell you about it.”

  Elsa-May and Ettie sat down and looked out over the water, ready to hear Gertie’s story.

  “I heard about a woman called Miranda, who was supposed to be able to talk to people on the other side—dead people. I was so desperate to be able to talk to Aaron just once more, that I got the name of Miranda from someone, I can’t even remember who, and then I went to see her.”

  A cool wind suddenly blew over the three of them and Ettie shivered as she pulled her shawl over the back of her bare neck.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Gertie continued her story. “Miranda seemed pleased to see me. It was as though she knew I’d knock on her door that day. She brought me into her home and walked me down a short hallway, ushering me into the first door on the right. The living room was modest, decorated in rich colors. Heavy plum-colored velvet curtains hung in the huge bay window, and they ended just above the highly polished wooden floors. It was around fifty years ago, but I remember it as if it were only yesterday. Miranda pointed to a small table and two chairs in the corner. We sat down.”

  “Was she a witch?” Elsa-May asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Let her speak, Elsa-May.”

  “Sorry, go on.”

  “My palms got sticky and my tongue got caught in my throat. Eventually I was able to tell her that I thought Aaron was trying to communicate with me.” She glanced at the two sisters. “Don’t judge me, either of you. I know we are not supposed to believe in that kind of thing, but after he died, I had strange things happen to me.”

  “Like what?” Ettie asked.

  “Things would move. Of course, I didn’t see anything move with my own eyes, but things weren’t where I left them. Other things would disappear completely and I’d search high and low and then I’d find them unexpectedly where I’d already looked.”

  “Could it have been your mind playing tricks on you because you were under so much stress?” Elsa-May asked.

  “I suppose that could be one explanation, but what if people could contact us after they died?”

  “Go on,” Ettie said to Gertie.

  "Miranda thought it was possible, but since he’d only just died, she didn’t think he’d be strong enough yet. She said most spirits never become strong enough. I told her I wanted to know if he’d been killed. If she was a witch, she should know a way to help me. I’d got to thinking that’s why Aaron was moving these things—trying to get my attention. At the time, I thought he might be trying to tell me who killed him.”

  After a long pause, Ettie asked, “What did she say?”

  “She rubbed her hands together and leaned forward and asked me to tell her what manifestations told me he was trying to connect with me. I didn’t know what she meant by manifestations.”

  “Tell me you don’t believe in all that, Gertie.”

  Gertie looked over at Elsa-May. “Let me get this off my chest. I haven’t told anyone this and it’s weighed heavy.”

  “Okay.”

  “I told her how things were moving—being in different places than they should’ve been. She smiled warmly and walked to a tall sideboard where she removed a few things and placed them on a tray to
carry them over to the table. She said, ‘Do you have anything of his, something he loved, or something he wore?’ Then I panicked, remembering the bishop always preached against this kind of thing—trying to communicate with the dead. Then she grabbed my arm and I stared into her green eyes and I was fearful. I said I had some things of his. She gave me some oil to take home, she said it was powerful, but had a putrid stench."

  “What was it?” Elsa-May asked.

  “I don't know the name of it; I think it was some kind of incense oil. She said I must burn it, breath it in, make sure I was somewhere quiet, where no one will interrupt me. Then she said it would open my mind to other dimensions, and might allow me to hear Aaron."

  Elsa-May shivered. “I don’t like the sound of that at all! It could’ve been some kind of hypnotic drug.”

  “I didn’t think even of that. Anyway, the whole thing scared me. I asked her how it would all happen. Even if it was scary I had to try it. If Aaron was trying to tell me who had murdered him, I had to listen for his sake. Miranda couldn’t tell me if it would work. I had hoped for certainties, like a guarantee, but that was stupid and naïve. When I told her I wanted something that would work, she told me it wasn’t magic, it was old wisdom and hypnotherapists do a similar thing using their own methods, to enter their patient's subconscious where they search out hidden experiences or plant more positive suggestions."

  “So you smell the oil, you relax and then truths you know in the back of your mind come to the fore?” Elsa-May asked.

  “Oh, Elsa-May, would you let Gertie finish?”

  “That’s okay, Ettie. I think it was more like a meditation that the old woman was trying to have me do. She said, There must be peace in your mind, in your surroundings, and you must feel safe from disturbances. And you must have him in your heart. When the conditions are right, he will find his way in. I grabbed the bottle of oil, paid her the fee, and left Miranda sitting there smiling on her hardwood chair.”

  “And did you go home and light the oil?” Ettie asked.

  “Jah. When I got home, my parents were on their way out to go visiting.”