“We’re going to the library.”
“What for?”
“Ava wanted to use the computer and we’re going along for the ride.”
“Jah, we don’t get out much these days now that we don’t have a buggy of our own,” Elsa-May added.
“So, you’ll tell your detective friend about all the lights every night in the barn, Ettie?”
“I most certainly will. Denke; you’ve been a wunderbaar help.”
Doris’ face beamed with delight. “I’ll see you all on Sunday.” Doris clicked her horse onward.
Ettie got back into the buggy. “What do you think of that?”
“We should go to the police station to see who got killed and who did it.”
“That’s right. There’s no use looking anything up on the Internet unless we know more,” Ava said. “He could have the killer, or killers, arrested already.”
“Okay, I guess the library’s not that far from the police station. Let’s go.”
When they arrived close to the station, and Ava parked the buggy, she said, “I’ll stay here. I find the detective a little intimidating.”
“So do we,” Ettie said with a laugh.
“We won’t be long,” Elsa-May said as she got out of the buggy.
As they walked along the sidewalk toward the station, Ettie asked her sister, “Why did you say we mightn’t be long? You know we have to wait a long time for him sometimes.”
“Ava’s a big girl. If we’re too long, I’m sure she’ll come looking for us.”
“I suppose so.”
“I wonder who could’ve been murdered,” Elsa-May said.
“I hope it wasn’t any more of Thomas’ familye. How would Samuel and Wilma cope with another of their kinner being taken from them?”
“Let’s just find out. There’s no use putting the cow before the horse. Or, the bull before the plow. Goat before the cart? Or is it the…”
“Stop! You’re grating on my last nerve,” Elsa-May blurted out.
“That’s not very nice,” Ettie murmured to herself.
“It’s the cart before the horse.”
“Are you sure?” Ettie asked.
“Jah!” snapped Elsa-May.
Ettie and Elsa-May walked up the steps of the police station, and once they were inside, they stopped in front of the officer at the front desk.
“Good morning,” the young man said after he glanced up at them.
“Good morning. I wonder if we might have a word with Detective Kelly.”
“Have a seat and I’ll tell him you’re here.”
Ettie and Elsa-May headed over to the row of chairs. Most of the officers knew them by now and didn’t need to ask their names.
Minutes later, a frazzled looking Detective Kelly appeared at the end of the corridor and waved them into his office.
When Ettie sat down opposite him, she noticed that he looked worried and pale. “Are you all right? You look dreadful.”
“I’ve been better.”
He laced his fingers together and placed them on the desk in front of him. “I’m guessing you’ve heard there’s been another murder at the Strongberg farm?”
Elsa-May nodded. “We did, but we don’t know any of the details.”
“A man was hit over the head in the barn last night. Samuel Strongberg called us after finding the body.”
“Who was killed?” Ettie asked, hoping it wasn’t another of the Strongberg family.
“It was Bart Crittenden.”
“Thomas’ friend?” Ettie asked.
“The one in prison?” Elsa-May added.
“That’s the one.”
“How did he get out? Did he escape?” Ettie asked.
“No. He was just released on parole yesterday.”
Ettie pushed her lips together. “What was he doing there in the barn?”
“That’s what we don’t know yet,” Kelly answered. “According to Mr. Strongberg, his wife insisted he go to the barn because she’d seen lights flickering around in the barn at night for the past several weeks. When he looked out the window, he saw nothing but darkness. To make Mrs. Strongberg feel better, he went out to investigate. That’s when he found the body lying in the barn and he caught the two people red-handed and you’ll be surprised to find out who they are.”
“Who?” Ettie and Elsa-May chorused.
“Thea Hersh and Austin Hoag.”
“Nee, that’s not possible. Thea would never…”
“Thea would have no reason to…”
“It seems as though Thea has gotten involved with Austin and has gone down a bad path.”
“What do you mean?” Ettie asked, knowing without a doubt in her mind that Thea was innocent.
“Austin has a record a mile long. Minor drug charges, petty theft, and the list goes on.”
“That’s awful,” Elsa-May said.
“Thea trusted him and thought he was such a nice young man.”
“Well, now they’re both under arrest on murder charges. They’re both sticking to the same story about finding the body there when they got there.”
“Perhaps it’s the truth,” Elsa-May said.
“Neither of them will say why they were there.”
“Oh, poor Thea,” Ettie said, shaking her head.
“Can we see her?” Elsa-May asked.
Kelly said, “She’s still being questioned.”
“Do her parents know she’s here?”
“She refused a phone call.”
“We’ll have to call her father right away,” Elsa-May said.
“Be my guest. You can talk to Simkiss on the front desk, and he’ll find the number for you.”
Elsa-May hurried out to call Thea’s parents, and Ettie leaned over the desk toward Kelly. “I’m sure this is just a terrible mistake.”
“It’s possible, but until they tell us why they were in the barn on the exact night that a man was murdered, I can’t help either of them.” He shook his head. “It’s not looking good for Austin with all his priors.”
Ettie straightened up. “That shouldn’t matter.”
Kelly held up his hands. “They were caught with the man’s blood on them—literally.”
Ettie huffed and folded her arms in front of her. “I’ve watched Thea grow up. She wouldn’t have been involved in anything bad, no matter what company she kept. Now, come to think of it, you mentioned lights in the barn before tonight. Doris was telling me about the lights earlier today, too. I wonder why there were lights in the barn. Do you think there were drugs hidden in the barn?”
“What makes you say that?”
“You said that this man, Bart something or other, was in jail for smuggling drugs. What if he had a lot of drugs and had to hide them before he went to prison and he hid them in Strongbergs' barn? Or, perhaps he had someone else hide them there. Drugs are worth a lot of money, aren’t they? And people kill for money.”
The detective nodded. “That’s one theory and we’re already looking into that.”
“Ettie, are you saying Thomas would be involved in something like that? Do you think Thomas knowingly hid the drugs in the barn?” Elsa-May asked.
Ettie turned around to see her sister heading back into the room.
“I didn’t see you there. What did Levi say?”
“He found Thea missing this morning. They’ve been everywhere looking for her and he was just in the barn getting a fresh horse when I called him. The poor man is distraught. He’s coming here right now.” Elsa-May sat down. “You think Thomas could’ve been involved in something, Ettie?”
“Maybe,” Ettie said. “There is that possibility. He had been acting strangely.”
“I don’t think so.” Elsa-May shook her head in disgust at her sister.
“In my experience, you can’t really know someone and what they would and wouldn’t do.”
“I quite agree, Ettie,” Detective Kelly said.
Elsa-May sighed. “Well, you would wouldn’t you, Detec
tive? You don’t trust anyone. You’ve told us that before.”
“In my profession, I can’t afford to trust anyone.”
“Have you had a chance to look into those names Ava mentioned last night?” Ettie asked Detective Kelly while studiously ignoring her sister.
“I’ve got people working on it. I should know more later today.” He leaned across the desk, and asked them, “How did you hear about the murder so fast?”
“We heard it from Doris, who heard it from…”
He held up his hand. “Stop! Spare me the details. I should’ve known better than to ask.”
Elsa-May chortled.
“We better go now, Elsa-May.” Ettie remembered that Ava was waiting for them.
“I’ll be in touch to let you know if we find out what Bart Crittenden was doing in the barn. And, I know you’ll be anxious to hear about Thea and her friend.”
“Would you mind letting us know?” Elsa-May asked.
“Of course I will. This is proving to be more than someone accidently falling to his death.”
“Good,” Elsa-May said. “I don’t mean about Thomas falling; I meant good about you letting us know and keeping us informed. Did you hear that, Ettie?”
“No. I wasn’t listening.”
“I corrected myself before you could do it.”
Ettie scrunched up her nose. There was no need for Elsa-May to say things like that in front of the detective. She remained quiet, burying her annoyance.
Kelly nodded, then he pushed out his chair and stood up. “That’s all I can tell you ladies today.” When they were nearly out his door, Kelly added, “Please don’t do anything silly. All I want the two of you to do is keep ‘these’ open.” He tugged at the bottom of his ears.
Ettie and Elsa-May nodded before they turned and headed out of his office and hurried out to tell Ava the dreadful news about Thea and her young friend being arrested. They knew it was more important than ever to find out if there might be someone else the detective and the police department could turn their attention to.
Chapter 13
At the library, Ava prepared to look up the names that Doris had given them.
“Let’s see.” Ava glanced at her notes. “Let’s see what we can find out about the woman who was stalking Thomas.”
“Doris didn’t know about that one, did she?” Elsa-May said with a chuckle.
“Nee, or if she did, she didn’t think to tell us.”
“Oh, she would’ve told us if she’d heard about it, don’t you worry about that.”
Ettie peered at the screen as Ava typed the name of Breanna Taylor into the search bar. The first thing that came up was an online news article with her picture.
“Is that the same Breanna Taylor? There could be other people with that name,” Ettie said.
“We’ll soon know.” Ava scrolled through the article. "This is from two years ago; she was arrested in connection to a drug ring.”
“I’m guessing that has something to do with drug smuggling?”
“Quite possibly,” Ava answered. “A drug ring is a group of people involved in distributing drugs, possibly smuggling, or selling, and maybe both.”
“I suppose they would have to sell them after they smuggle them, otherwise what would be the point?” Ettie asked.
“What else are you finding out, Ava?” Elsa-May asked.
“This is not the woman who was at the funeral. I’m sure of it. Although, it could be.”
“That’s not much help,” Ettie blurted out. “I’m sorry, Ava. I know you’re doing your best.”
“I don’t know. It could’ve been her.”
“We’ll worry about that later. See what else you can find out, Ava.”
Ettie saw Elsa-May glaring at her shaking her head behind Ava’s back and Ettie knew she should keep her mouth closed and not be so discouraging to their young friend. After all, Ava was only trying to help them.
“It mentions some other names here, but no one we know of.”
Elsa-May peered at the screen. “Write them down anyway.”
“I will.”
Once Ava was through reading that article, she went back to the search page. “That’s all I can find on her.”
Ettie frowned. She was hoping to find out a whole lot more. “Could your friend from the DMV find out where she lives?”
“Sure. I can call him when we finish here.”
“What about the man, William Spreed?” Elsa-May asked.
“I’ll look him up. Now, I asked Jeremiah and found out that Thomas had gotten into the roofing business.”
“On his own?”
“I think so. Jeremiah would’ve mentioned if he were in business with someone else. You know what he’s like about things like that, and the bishop wouldn’t approve of Thomas going into business with Englischers. So we know he wasn’t in business with Englischers.”
“That’s true,” Ettie said. “Did Jeremiah mention anything else about Thomas?”
“I couldn’t ask too much. I asked if he knew if he had gotten any large orders for work and he said he’d heard that he gotten a contract to do all the roofs in a new housing development on the edge of town.”
“I guess that would be worth a lot of money,” Elsa-May said.
“Enough to kill for?” Ettie shook her head. “That doesn’t sound right to me.”
“Well, what if Thomas beat out William Spreed, won that contract, and then had an argument with the man? Thomas had many disagreements with people lately, as we’ve found out,” Elsa-May said.
“I’ve found William Spreed’s photo and it’s not the man who was at the funeral,” Ava announced as she scrolled through some news articles.
After they had read about William Spreed and his roofing business on the screen, they found a website and scrolled through the staff photos.
“Look there!” Ava pointed at the screen.
“I can’t see without my knitting glasses,” Elsa-May said.
Ettie peered at the screen, moving closer. “Is that Thomas?”
“Jah, it looks like Thomas. This is an old photo of William Spreed’s staff. It seems that Thomas once worked for Spreed.”
“Ah, some pieces are coming together,” Elsa-May said. “Then, Thomas set up shop on his own and stole some business away from Spreed.”
“That could be a reason to want Thomas out of the way, but that doesn’t explain why Bart was found dead in the barn.”
“Nee, it doesn’t, Ettie, but I feel we’re one step closer,” Elsa-May said.
Ava, still staring at the screen asked, “Should we pay Mr. Spreed a visit?”
“Jah, I think we should,” Ettie said.
Ava and Ettie both looked at Elsa-May. “Jah, that’s the logical thing to do. Right after we find Breanna Thomas’ address.”
“I’ll take down the address of his business.” After Ava had scribbled down some notes from the computer screen, she said, “I’ll phone my friend now.” Ava stood up and made her way to the public phone out at the front of the library.
“What good will having Breanna’s address be? Are you thinking we should say something to her?”
“I’m not sure yet,” Elsa-May said. “It wouldn’t hurt to have it just in case. I hope Ava’s friend doesn’t get into trouble.”
“Jah, he would if anyone knew he was giving out addresses.”
“We’ll have to hope his bosses don’t find out.”
Ettie was looking forward to talking to Mr. Spreed to see what he’d have to say.
Ava headed back toward Ettie and Elsa-May holding up a piece of paper. "I've got it; I've got her address."
“Gut!" Elsa-May said with a sharp nod of her head.
"Shall we go to Spreed’s place of business first?"
"Jah, we will. But it's going to be too far for the horse, and it'll take too long. I'll have to take the buggy back home and then we can call for a taxi from there."
"Sounds like a plan,” Ettie said. “Ava, didn’t
you have to help your mudder today?”
“I did, but I was able to change it to later in the week.”
“Very good.” Elsa-May said. “Now we’ll see what Mr. Spreed has to say.”
Chapter 14
After the taxi had pulled up in at an industrial area, the three ladies got out and looked around.
"Are you sure that this is the right address?" Ettie asked.
"Look over there."
The three of them looked to where Ava was pointing. There was a colorful sign that read, ‘Spreed Roofing.’
"I guess this must be the place,” Ettie said hurrying over to the tall wire fence behind the sign.
They walked through the gates in a high double fence that enclosed many sheds. In the distance, they saw a couple of men carrying large sheets of metal. They walked into the first building and were pleased to find a lady behind a desk. She was an elderly lady with silver-streaked dark hair pulled back into a bun.
"Can I help you, ladies?"
Elsa-May spoke, "We’re looking for William Spreed."
"I'm sorry, but Mr. Spreed died well over a year ago. Can anyone else help you?
Ava spoke up. "We thought William Spreed was the owner of this place. We must've had the wrong information."
"He used to be the owner, but now the owner is Roy Strongberg. He's out at the moment, but I can have him call you.”
Ettie was stunned. She didn’t know what to think about Roy being the new owner. She stood there with her mouth open and was glad that Ava was able to speak.
“Perhaps we’ll call back later," Ava said.
"Are you sure someone else can't help you? Did you want a quote on something?"
"We’ll call back. Thank you." Elsa-May was the first to walk out the door.
They hurried out of the gates before they even spoke to one another.
"Did you know that, Ava?"
"Do you mean did I know Roy had a roofing business?" She shook her head. "Nee, I knew nothing of the kind. I didn't know what he did. This is a huge surprise and it means that Roy and his brother were in competition to one another."
"Were the brothers enemies or friends?" Ettie searched her memory banks for clues. “They were in direct business competition as you said, Ava.”
Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 3 Page 25
