by Katy Lee
Grace sat in an upholstered chair in the most luxurious room she’d ever seen. It was fancier than her imagination could concoct, with its velvety curtains and a carpet so thick she was tempted to take her boots off and sink her toes into it. Her feet had healed enough to feel the lush pile. The small ornate table in front of her would have been frowned upon by the Amish, with their simple and sturdy furniture designs, but Grace doubted any Amish furniture would suffice in this elegant room.
She reached out for the delicate china plate on the table and ran her finger around the gold edging. She wondered if was real and thought about the price of something so fine. Another thing she couldn’t fathom. As well as the gold fork beside the plate.
She picked it up and tested its weight, then turned it so that it was shielded in her palm. It might make for a potential weapon.
Guilt swamped her at the thought, but until she knew why she’d woken up in this place and who had brought her here after knocking her out, she felt like a little protection was called for. Jack would be proud of her, but she hated that she’d been put in this situation.
All she remembered was leaving the hospital room with Leroy, but how would Leroy know about this place? Was there more to him than she ever knew? Did he have a dark, evil side?
Across the small parlor a fire crackled in the fireplace, with a large chair positioned in front of it. It beckoned to her. Still in her neck brace, she stood carefully to walk over to it. But when she reached it, she saw three framed photographs on the mantel and bypassed the chair for a closer look.
Grace picked up one picture frame and gazed at a family of four staring back at her, a couple with two young children.
Being Amish, Grace never had pictures taken of herself. No graven images were allowed, but she had seen a few photographs of English people. Their still images were a moment frozen in time. Grace wondered who these people were and when it had been taken. Were these children still young? Or had they grown up since this picture was snapped?
She looked to the next photograph and believed she had her answer. Especially when it appeared the two children were teenagers in it. Grace looked first at the boy and remembered seeing him before.
It was a younger version of the man in the sports car who had stopped to yell at her and Jack the first day they came to the track.
Was that where she was? Was she in the house at Autumn Woods?
She looked around the room and thought it might belong in such a house. But the room had no windows, so there was no way to look out and see the ranch and track. There was one door in the corner that she’d already tried and found it locked. There was no way of escaping. Nothing to do but wait. But for what? Death?
Grace forced the thought from her mind and returned her attention back to the picture in her hand. She looked at the teenage girl to the left of the boy. She also looked familiar, but Grace wasn’t sure how she knew her.
In the next second, recognition hit Grace as hard as the ground had the day of the horse trial accident.
Slowly, Grace stepped back, in complete shock at who she was seeing. The back of her legs hit the chair, and she fell into it, clutching the frame in a tight grip.
“Mamm,” Grace said in a whisper. The girl in the photograph was a younger version of her mother, and an English one.
Grace always knew Amelia had once been English, even though they hadn’t spoken of it much. But she’d never thought of her mother looking any different from how Grace knew her.
As an Amish woman.
But Amelia Miller had once been a completely different person. She’d worn jewelry and makeup. Her clothes were fancy, and she’d smiled in pictures.
Grace looked around at the expensive room and realized her mamm also had money. She’d come from a wealthy home and gave it all up to become Amish and marry the man she loved.
Grace figured her mamm must have met Benjamin when he came to bid on the horses. They fell in love and she broke off ties with her family forever. Because she left, her father cut her off, never speaking to her again.
Had Amelia ever regretted leaving her family? She’d never let on if she did.
Grace studied her photo and took in her smile. It was pretty enough, but Grace remembered the joy in her mother’s eyes that this picture did not capture. Grace had to believe her mamm had been content with her decision and wouldn’t have changed a thing.
But perhaps someone here didn’t feel the same way.
Was that why she’d been brought here? Did someone want her to know the truth about her mother?
A locked clicked, and the doorknob turned, capturing Grace’s full attention. She rose to her feet, with the frame in one hand and the fork clutched tightly in the palm of the other.
She was about to find out the truth, but there was a chance she would have to fight for it.
The one thing she didn’t want to do.
FIFTEEN
Jack burst from the hospital’s main entrance with his phone in his hand. He’d called Nic twice now, with no answer, and couldn’t help but think something was wrong on her end, as well. With the phone to his ear, he scanned the parking lot for some sort of ride while he called again.
“Come on, pick up, Nic,” he said in frustration, and groaned when it went to voice mail again.
With no one in the parking lot, Jack ran out onto the street of downtown Rogues Ridge.
That’s when he saw the horse and buggy tethered to a hitching post.
Turning back around, he faced the small hospital and remembered what Dr. Reese had said. An Amish person had been shot.
Jack looked at his phone with the unfathomable at the forefront of his mind. He pressed his hand to the top of his head.
“No,” he said aloud, taking the first steps back toward the building. The emergency room entrance was off to the side, and he headed in that direction, his feet picking up in speed as he neared the sliding doors. Dr. Reese wouldn’t know Nic wasn’t really Amish. He wouldn’t know the clothes were only a cover and would think she was one of the community members.
But no one would come to help her.
Jack needed to find Grace, but he couldn’t leave without learning the status of his supervisor. Especially if she could die because she had come to his aid.
He pushed through the entrance and ran past the front desk for the ICU doors at the end of the hall. After a few painful minutes of waiting, the doors opened, and a nurse stepped out. Jack skirted past her and grabbed a door before it shut and locked on him. Slipping inside, he pulled the door closed and faced a corridor of glassed-in rooms.
Another nurse stepped out of a room to his right. When she caught sight of him, she approached him and whispered, “You shouldn’t be in here.”
“I know, but I need to know about the Amish woman who was shot. She was brought in this morning.” The last part was probably unnecessary. How many Amish women had come into this hospital lately with a GSW? Or ever?
The nurse eyed the room she’d just exited then looked back at Jack. “She’s out of surgery, but she has not regained consciousness. Would you like to see her? I can allow two in.”
“Two?” Jack looked around, but he stood alone. “It’s just me.”
“There’s another man with her now. The bishop, I believe.”
Jack stared at the glass walls as his mind raced with reasons Thomas Bontrager would be with Nic. “I’d like to see her, thank you.” He headed that way and found the white-haired elder sitting by her side.
Jack entered on quiet footsteps, his gaze zeroing in on the pale, sleeping face of his boss in the bed. She didn’t look alive, even though the machines said otherwise. An oxygen mask covered her nose and mouth, and life-saving air puffed into her lungs.
“Who is she?” Bishop Bontrager asked quietly, as Jack came up alongside the bed. “The hospital staff want to know, but I don’t have an answer for t
hem. She must have family who should be here.”
Jack’s chest tightened as he realized he didn’t know much about her family. She seldom spoke about them. “I think she has a father in New Mexico,” he said, drawing on a few conversations they’d had. “She works so much. The job is really her life.”
“And what job is that?” The elder angled a pointed stare his way. “The truth. I deserve that after having found her in a pool of her own blood.”
“You found her?” Jack asked. “What about Benjamin?” He looked back at the open door. “Did you bring him?”
“Benjamin was nowhere around.”
The world closed in on Jack, squeezing the air from his own lungs to the point he might need a respirator, too. “So he’s got them both,” he muttered, admitting his failure aloud. “I messed up again.” His knees threatened to buckle and bring him down.
Bishop Bontrager pursed his lips. “I’m still waiting for an answer.”
“She’s not Amish. And neither am I,” Jack stated abruptly. “She’s my boss. We’re FBI. I left my Amish community eight years ago and became a cop. I now work as an agent for Nic. Her name is Nicole Harrington, and she gave me a case to work on. I came to Rogues Ridge to investigate a horse theft ring at Autumn Woods that led me to the Millers. I know now they were being set up to take the fall, but things have gone from thefts to attempted murder, and I need your help.”
The bishop’s eyes squinted, and he looked at Nic’s still form.
“Did you hear me? Grace and Benjamin are missing. I was told Leroy Mast took Grace from the hospital this morning, but his unconscious body was just found in the elevator.”
The bishop turned to Jack, his impassive face and still body the picture of a calm leader. “An officer will be here at any minute. Deputy Cassie Shaw answered my call and helped phone the ambulance to bring... Nic in,” he explained. “Deputy Shaw will be back in a moment, and you can talk to her. I think it’s time to get the local law enforcement involved, don’t you?”
Jack frowned, but nodded. “I waited too long as it is.”
“So while we wait, please sit.” Bishop Bontrager invited Jack to the second chair in the small room. “I want you to finish your story about yourself. I’m stunned that we’ve had an ex-Amish Englisher in our midst this whole time. Looking at you, I would’ve never guessed it.”
“I do a lot of undercover work,” Jack said, and glanced out the wall of glass, willing the officer to arrive quickly. With a sigh, he did as the bishop asked and took the chair, sitting on the edge, ready to jump back up. “You’re not supposed to guess that I’m a fake. To do so would put my safety at risk.”
Jack looked at Nic and realized how her safety had been forfeited. “My boss may lose her life, and Grace and Benjamin may lose theirs if I don’t find them.”
“Marder,” the bishop said to himself. He spoke of murder as calmly as one does the weather. His hands were folded in his lap as though he had been praying. “I have a confession to make, and I hope you can forgive me.”
Jack sat motionless on the edge of his seat, stunned that this bishop would ask him for forgiveness. “I told you I’m not Amish anymore. Why would you want my forgiveness?”
“Your head may say you’re not Amish, but your heart says otherwise.”
“I once led with my heart, and that got me into trouble.” Jack thought of the girl who’d needed protection from an abusive boyfriend. “Ya, I didn’t think it through. I should have used my head. I met a girl on the run, and instead of going to the police, she wanted her father’s gun brought to her. I knew in my head it was wrong, but I did it anyway, leaving my prints all over that gun. Her abusive boyfriend got ahold of it and used it to rob a convenience store. He dressed like an Amish boy, and before I knew it, I was accused of the crime. The charges were soon dropped when the truth came out, but my community was a whole other trial and jury. To them, I had lost my way.”
“Well, I don’t think so,” Bishop Bontrager said. He sighed deeply. “Don’t ever regret following your heart, Jack. But if you do find yourself far off track, face your mistake head on and make amends. You can’t finish the race set before you by Gött if you avoid your mistakes. Throw off that baggage and keep moving forward. Which is why I need to ask for forgiveness. I, too, lost my way for a little while. I let my own wants get in the way of what my heart was telling me. So, before it goes so far that I can’t find my way back, I want to rectify this now. I am sorry I came between you and Grace.”
“What?” Jack questioned what he’d heard. “Grace and I could never be.”
“That’s your head talking again. Start listening to your heart, before you lose what’s important to you again.”
The double doors opened in the hall. They both glanced out the glass wall.
“It looks like the sheriff is here,” Bishop Bontrager said.
A few seconds later Sheriff Maddox and a woman deputy stepped through into the hallway. They wore their official business expressions, and Jack had never thought he would be glad to see the man.
“Before they get in here, I need to know, can you forgive me?” Bishop Bontrager asked Jack. “I will no longer push Grace into a marriage with Leroy. I will let her heart, also, decide.”
“Of course. But the main question is will you be able to forgive me if Grace and Benjamin can’t be found?” With that, Jack stood to go out and meet the sheriff and deputy. Time was wasting, and every second that went by was one second closer to losing Grace forever.
Jack fought a wave of pain at the thought. It made his stomach roil and tears fill his eyes. He pressed his palms to his eyelids, then stepped up to the two lawmen, ready to turn over the reins and ask for help. Anything to save Grace.
“I need to speak to you out in the waiting room,” he said and led the way to a private room for family. Thankfully it was empty, and he didn’t waste another second. “Grace is missing. Actually, she was kidnapped from the hospital,” he told them, then explained who Nic was and who he really was, and how an orderly had drugged him and taken Grace.
Hank sent Jack a heated stare after the explanation was finished. His jaw ticked. “FBI, you say. This is my jurisdiction. I don’t like not knowing when an investigation is going on under my nose. You could have alerted me.”
“I couldn’t risk it. I was undercover, and to blow it could have put other people in danger. Please, we don’t have time. We can hash this out later. My boss was already shot. Do you know where Benjamin is?”
The sheriff looked at him, obviously contemplating whether to believe him. Then he said, “Benjamin was nowhere on the property. Believe me, I looked. I still have my guys searching.” Hank squinted and asked, “But you say an orderly took Grace? Did you get a good look at this guy?”
“I only saw the one who drugged me. He had black hair, long and pulled back in a ponytail. Blue eyes, and he was in good shape, but still middle-aged, maybe.” Jack left off the part about the man having to lift him after he’d knocked Jack out with whatever was in that syringe. That couldn’t have been an easy task.
“Clothes?”
“He was in scrubs. His shoes were in surgical booties.”
Hank scoffed and waved at the nurses’ station ahead. “Great, that could be anyone here.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s someone at Autumn Woods. I know I’ve seen the face before. I believe it was there. A stable hand, maybe. I want to go search the place. I’d like your assistance to gain access.”
“Oh, now I’m supposed to help you, after you kept me in the dark?”
“Please, Sheriff,” Bishop Bontrager interjected from the opened door. “These are my flock. I would hate to have something horrible happen to them.”
Hank paused but nodded once to show he understood. He turned to Jack. “Okay, you can come in my cruiser, but don’t mess with my equipment. I like my things in a particular order.
And I do things my way. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Good. Deputy Shaw, stay behind in case the FBI agent wakes up. I want to know as soon as she does.” Hank leered at Jack. “I have a complaint against one of her men.”
Jack would let the man make as many complaints as he wanted, just as long as he helped him bring Grace and Benjamin home alive.
SIXTEEN
Grace braced herself at the sound of the doorknob turning. Someone was about to enter her elegant room of confinement. Slowly the door swung wide and revealed a cart with two covered plates, napkins and a single bloodred rose in a vase. Grace raised her gaze from the cart to the person wheeling it and shrank back.
“Liam?” she said. Her mind stalled as she attempted to process why the stable hand was delivering her a food cart. “What’s happening? Why am I here?”
The young man barely looked at her as he pushed the cart inside and focused on unloading the two meals.
“Are you staying to eat?” she asked and walked around the table to force him to face her. “Please answer me. What is going on? Why have I been kidnapped?”
His head shot up, and he shook it once as he eyed her neck brace and frowned. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.” He threw a glance at the opened door and busied himself with preparing the table.
“I’m not going to eat, so you might as well take this all away,” she informed him, but he took the covers off both plates and put them on the cart. Next, he backed the cart out into the hall and turned to shut the door.
Grace ran as fast as her injured body would let her to try and stop it from closing, and to make him tell her why she was there. “Don’t go. I need to know. Please.”
His face a mask of worry, Liam nodded at the table. “You’ll find out soon.” With that he pulled the door closed.
Grace walked the last few steps and placed her palm on the door. She leaned in, laid her head awkwardly against her hand and closed her eyes as tears welled up in them. She prayed for the strength to face whatever was coming her way. Whatever she was going to find out. God would never allow something to happen that He hadn’t determined to be His will. He would take this horrifying situation and turn it for gut. Grace had to believe in His promises...but she also wouldn’t be putting down the fork.
