In Plain View (Amish Safe House, Book 2)

by Ruth Hartzler

  As the fear of discovery rose inside her, a strange sound started behind her. At first it sounded like water spraying from a nozzle, and then it sounded like hissing. Her eyes sharpened and her mind froze. She turned around, and as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she saw the form of a large, tan snake with a triangular shaped head distinct from the neck.

  The cage was locked from the top, but the snake watched her closely; the flashlight outlined the predator as he stalked his prey from inside his glass box. The doorknob stopped jittering as fear gripped her lungs. Not even a breath was allowed to escape as she knew the cop was listening closely. “Anyone in there? Oh, there it is.”

  Suddenly, the doorknob sprang back to life and the door began to open. Kate slid between the wall and tank and hid behind the large enclosure. She was out of sight for now, but she was literally inches away from her newly acquainted friend. The snake hissed at her before turning his attention to the cop.

  “Oh no!” Ryan exclaimed.

  From Kate’s hiding place she could see the outline of Ryan’s face as he grabbed his radio and pressed it to his face. “Dispatch, it’s a 10-26. Just a snake. Negative on the information retrieval; heading back to 10-20.”

  “10-4,” the radio replied.

  “And what’s happening with the girlfriend?” Ryan barked, his voice now receding. “She was supposed to come and collect the snake. Get onto her, will you?” His voice trailed away.

  What was Ryan doing there? And what information was he trying to retrieve? Kate thought carefully, wondering if he was after evidence of the victim’s crime history as well. Without warning, the hissing of the snake startled her from her thoughts, causing her to slightly jump. She hit something with her shoulder, causing the shelf above her to clatter loudly to life. Suddenly, something crashed onto the tank, shattering the lock and releasing the top of the tank. The top slowly opened, as Ryan opened the door again and trained the flashlight on the snake.

  “Oh, boy,” Ryan said, slowly stepping backward. With the flashlight still highlighting the snake’s scaly presence, the snake slowly slithered toward Kate, still contained inside its now-topless cage. Ryan stepped forward while it crawled around the bottom of the tank, trying to close the hinged cage top. As his fingers nearly touched the lock, Kate watched when the snake quickly turned back, scaring the cop into a temporary surrender.

  Kate lightly tapped on the glass. She made sure to keep it quiet to avoid Ryan’s suspicion, but she knew the slimy predator heard the noise. It slowly wrapped its body in a way to allow it to strike. As it watched her intently, the snake got closer. Kate’s eyes followed upward as the snake continued its ascent. Suddenly, the cover came crashing down, and Ryan secured the lock. “Snakes, why’d it have to be snakes?” he muttered as he exited the room.

  Kate slouched to a sitting position behind the tank. What a relief. She waited until she was sure that Ryan had left. As she stood up, and tried to stretch her aching, cramped limbs, something long and slimy fell over her shoulders. Kate jumped to her feet, bumping her head on the shelf above, knocking an assortment of fake snakes and pet toys onto the top of the snake’s tank and all over the floor.

  I just experienced enough fear to last a lifetime, Kate thought in dismay.

  Kate walked back out into the living room, and then saw that a yellow sticky note was stuck to her shoe. She pulled it from her shoe and read it. The scrawled writing read: Lucy’s Diner.

  “Lucy’s Diner. I wonder if that place holds any clues, but I doubt it,” Kate said softly. As she made her way to the window, she noticed a calendar hanging from the wall near the window. It had a large, red X circled on a particular date. Intrigued, she looked closer. It read: Moved in. It struck her as strange, since the circled date was only a few months back, and this man’s apartment and room indicated that the victim had likely lived there for years. “Who moved in?” she asked herself.

  Kate opened the window again and slipped one leg out, when the victim’s phone started to ring. It sounded like a house phone, so she pulled herself back inside and walked into the living room. The phone buzzed and lights flashed, and within a few seconds, an old-fashioned answering machine beeped to life. “Please leave your message.” There was silence, and then the sound of a disconnect. Then the machine kept speaking. “Saved message,” it said. That was followed by a shaky voice filled with fear. “Hey man, it’s me. Where have you been? Ever since you told me what you were planning, I haven’t heard from you or seen you at all. You have me worried. Please, call me back. Maybe we can meet at that diner again. I just need to know you’re okay.”

  Lucy’s Diner. Maybe it would be of some value after all. Kate grabbed the sticky note. She slid down the ladder and climbed down into the street, her Amish dress flapping around her.

  Proverbs 1:33.

  But whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.

  Chapter 9.

  Kate approached Lucy’s Diner. She clicked on the horse and took the first right into the parking lot. Surveying the area, she noticed the amount of customers must be minimal; there were only four cars in the large parking area.

  A bell rang as she opened the door. Kate shot a practiced look around the diner. It resembled a typical breakfast restaurant; there were several booths lining the walls of the eating area, a center isle of tables and chairs, and a large kitchen, filled with staff. Despite the lack of customers, the place was vibrant.

  Kate walked toward the hostess, a young woman with blonde hair styled in a bun, which sat atop her head like a nest in a tall tree. “How many?” she asked Kate.

  “Just one, please,” Kate said with a smile. The hostess motioned her to follow and sat her in the corner, at a slightly smaller booth than the rest.

  “Would you like some coffee or tea to start your morning?”

  “Yes, some coffee, please,” Kate said.

  The waitress pulled out a large menu, placed it on the table, and told Kate she would be back soon for her order. Before Kate could ask the waitress to wait, she had disappeared into the back of the diner’s kitchen. The smell of eggs and bacon tickled Kate’s senses as she did her best to resist the urge to place an order. She kept telling herself she was only there for information. While she flipped through the menu, Kate thought about how best to approach the questioning of the waitress.

  The waitress reappeared from the kitchen and walked toward Kate with a pot of coffee in her hand. “Are you ready to place your order?”

  Kate smiled and looked up from the menu. “I actually think I’m going to just have this coffee, but the food does smell delicious.”

  The waitress smiled back and continued filling Kate’s mug with the dark, potent beverage. “Your coffee smells wonderful,” she said.

  “Many of our customers come just for our coffee,” the waitress said.

  As she turned to leave, Kate called out. “Excuse me, miss.”

  The waitress turned back.

  “I’m actually here looking for my friend’s uncle,” Kate said. “He used to tell us all the time that this was his favorite breakfast place and that he was a regular. We haven’t been able to get in touch with him for weeks. I was hoping maybe you or someone on staff knew him.”

  The waitress’s face grew pale, and a sad frown overtook her previously happy demeanor. “Do you mean Ethan Jackson?”

  Kate nodded.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry. I’m not quite sure how to say this, but Ethan was found murdered recently.”

  Kate reacted to the news like a heartbroken friend hearing it for the first time. “Oh my gosh, do you know what happened? No wonder we couldn’t get a hold of him.”

  The waitress patted her on the shoulder. “I’m so sorry you had to find out this way.”

  “If only we could get in touch with some of his friends and find out what happened.”

  The waitress nodded. “Actually, Ethan used to come here alone mostly, but in the last couple of months I’ve seen
another man with him – many times, actually. He seemed to be a nice guy, too. I figured they must’ve been very good friends when they were young or something. The first time I ever saw this man meeting him here, they were hugging and acting like they hadn’t spoken in years.”

  Kate listened carefully as the waitress spoke. “Do you by chance know his name? Or could you describe him to me?”

  “He was probably in his mid or early thirties, and I never saw a ring on any of his fingers, so he’s probably not married. He had brown, short-cropped hair, and he wore a pair of glasses. Let me go check the records and see if I can’t find his name for you.”

  Kate smiled. “Thank you, so much. If we can at least find out what happened to him from his friends, it would be wonderful.” She rubbed her eyes.

  The waitress nodded and vanished to find the man’s name.

  When the waitress returned to the booth, she had a piece of notebook paper folded up in her hands. “It’s against company policy to give out any personal information about our customers, but this one time I’ll make an exception. I’m so sorry for your loss.” She handed Kate the piece of paper.

  “Thanks so much,” Kate said. She finished her coffee and paid at the cashier before leaving a twenty dollar tip for the waitress.

  When she reached the buggy, she pulled out the note and unfolded it. Two words were scrawled on the paper. It read: Lucas Caden.

  The name Lucas resonated with her for some reason. As she tried to place his identity, it hit her out of the blue. Lucas was the last person Ethan Jackson had called before he died.

  As Kate had no laptop, smartphone, or WiFi, all she could do was head to the public library to use the internet. It was only a short drive, and when Kate pulled into the parking lot, she suppressed a shudder when she looked at the building. The library was an old, drab building that looked as if it had been lost and forgotten. It was nearly dilapidated. Kate thought it a marvel that the thing was still standing.

  Kate walked up to the front door and walked in. As she approached the front desk, the old-fashioned hanging lights flickered off for a brief moment. When the lights were back on, Kate saw an old woman with an unkind expression on her face, sitting at the counter. Kate was disappointed to see that it was the same woman who had been here on her one and only previous visit.

  The woman did not speak, but fixed Kate with a cold glare as she approached the desk. “Excuse me, I was hoping to look at some old records -”

  The woman silenced her with a quick finger across her lips. “Shhhhhh.”

  Kate inched closer and whispered. “I need to look through some of the old phonebooks for this area.”

  The woman jabbed her index finger to her left. “Upstairs. Second hall,” she muttered.

  Kate nodded and followed the finger upstairs. After the second isle of books, she noticed a large shelf full of old, dusty phonebooks. Kate looked through the sections until she found one of the more recent books. She flipped through the pages, using her index finger to highlight the names until she reached the Cadens. James A Caden, Thomas E. Caden, Bruce B. Caden, and several others lined the section, but no Lucas was to be seen. With a sigh, Kate set to work searching through the mountain of phonebooks.

  Kate grew increasingly frustrated. She sat in the middle of the isle, which was enclosed by two long walls of books. Beside her sat at least twenty to thirty half-opened phonebooks. She dropped her face into her hands and sat in silence. How could this man not exist? Well, he did exist, she told herself, but she was just having trouble finding him. With cell phones eliminating landlines almost completely and what with so much more privacy these days, it was beginning to get more and more difficult for her to stay off the grid and still stick to this investigation. As she pulled herself to her feet, she stumbled and fell backward into the opposite wall of shelves.

  “Ouch!” she yelled as her elbow slammed into the shelf, knocking some books loose, which simultaneously fell over her head, nearly collapsing her back to a sitting position.

  “Quiet up there!” the voice boomed.

  Kate muttered under her breath. The sting of the elbow hurt, but the knock on her head was a bigger pain. Kate started picking up the phonebooks, when she noticed one said, “Bristol County.”

  That must be outside city limits, because she had never even heard of that county before. Kate flipped through the pages to the C section. Her finger touched the name, Caden. She went down the list of names that began with C until she reached Lucas F. Caden.

  That was why she had been unable find his name in any of the other phonebooks. The victim might have lived in this town, but he wasn’t from here. He was from the next county, and that’s where his friend Lucas must be. The record was only a few months old, so she was holding onto the hope that Lucas Caden still resided at 126 Walden Road. Kate had neither pen nor paper, so she hurried downstairs to the librarian.

  The librarian’s eyes slowly rolled upward. “Find what you need?” she whispered.

  “Yes, I did, actually. I was wondering if you -”

  Again the stern librarian lifted her finger to her lips. “Shhhhhh.”

  Kate whispered, “Pen and paper, please.” The woman reached under her desk and slammed a small, blank sheet of paper and a pencil on the counter. “Thank you,” Kate whispered before returning upstairs.

  Kate jotted down the address and county, and smiled. She knew she was now one step closer to finding out what was going on and who killed Mr. Jackson, and why. Kate neatly returned each of the books to its shelf and made her way back downstairs. She strolled up to the desk and smiled politely, reaching out her hand to return the pencil. She nodded and turned to leave.

  “Wait,” the voice growled.

  Surprised, Kate turned back to see the woman now standing in front of the desk. Both her hands were resting on her hips, and a mean look covered her face. Confused, Kate stepped closer and asked, “Yes, what is it?”

  “That will be fifteen cents, please,” the librarian said, in a louder tone this time.

  Kate was puzzled. “Excuse me?”

  “The pencil. It is fifteen cents to borrow one.” The old, irritable woman pointed toward a plastic bin labeled, Pencils: 15¢ per use.

  Kate frowned. She dug though her purse, and brought out a quarter.

  “Keep the change,” she said angrily. She spun on her heel and walked away, having no intention of returning to that dreadful place ever again. As she got into the buggy, she felt bad for being angry. “An Amish woman wouldn’t have been angry,” she said aloud, thinking of the long talk on turning the other check that one of the ministers had given at the last church meeting.

  Philippians 2:1-30.

  So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.

  Chapter 10.

  Kate paced back and forth in her cottage, trying to think of a clever way to go and see Lucas. The words of her boss played over and over in her mind, but she just could not completely ignore the investigation. She needed to know what was going on, and why the man with the same tattoo as the hitmen she had relocated had ended up as a corpse in an Amish neighbor’s pond.

  Kate walked toward the Kauffman haus, where Beth was weeding the garden. She leaned over the fence. “Hi, Beth. Do you need anything in town? It’s such a lovely day – I thought a buggy ride would do me some good and I could do your grocery shopping.”

  “Wunderbaar!” Beth exclaimed. “Well, if you are sure you wouldn’t mind, I do have a list that I’ve have been meaning to take care of. Stop by the house, and I’ll have the list and money ready for you. I appreciate it. Isaac is always
so busy working around the farm, so it’s lovely having someone close to us that is so willing to help out here and there.”

  After picking up the grocery list and cash, Kate left the farm and drove to town. She tied the horse and then headed for the nearest Goodwill.

  To her relief, the staff at Goodwill showed no interest in an Amish woman buying a navy blue blazer and pants, and white blouse, along with a pair of black shoes and a large tote.

  Kate paid for her purchases – but now, where to change? Kate hurried to the public toilets in the park. It was an overcast day, and the wind was increasing in ferocity, and consequently, no one was around to witness her transformation.

  Soon Kate was heading toward Lucas Caden’s residence in a taxi. She had no idea how this would play out – if only she had her badge and her gun. She knew the man would not speak to her willingly, and she was aware how the scenario would play out if she simply blindly approached him.

  As the taxi pulled up to the nearly dilapidated Victorian home, Kate rehearsed her lines in her mind. Her plan was to offer Lucas Caden immunity from prosecution as long as he was forthcoming with information that led to an arrest in the case. She wasn’t entirely certain how she would be able to keep that promise, but she stayed optimistic that the police investigating the case would not stumble onto Lucas’s tracks the way she had. Kate had the taxi wait for her down the road, out of sight.

  The sound of her knuckles colliding with the oak door reminded Kate of her time as a U.S. Marshal. Life out here wasn’t so bad, but she did miss being an agent. Now she was simply a former agent playing some roles. She playing a role, but she would never gain fame or praise for doing so – the sole function her acting played was that of saving her own life.

  The door swung open suddenly, and then disappeared from view as a middle-aged man adorned the doorway. “Yes, can I help you?”