by Marta Perry
Sarah put her hand over his, stopping him. “I’m safe now. It’s all right. We will forget.” Usually it was Jacob’s job to keep her calm. They seemed to have changed places.
“Ja.” His low voice was husky, his hand warm in her grasp. “Sarah…”
“I wouldn’t have believed it.” Leo Frost came in, shaking his head. “Donald McKay, of all people. What possessed him to do such a thing?”
Sarah could only shake her head, as well. She had no answer to that question.
“I suspect his tastes were more expensive than his income.” Chief Byler stood in the doorway. “He started off saying he didn’t mean to do it. That it was an accident. Then he backed up and said that he didn’t do anything wrong and had no idea that anything was missing from Strickland’s house.”
“But that’s not true.” She shouldn’t be surprised, she supposed. A man who would do what McKay had wouldn’t hesitate to lie about it.
“We know that, Sarah,” Leo said. “If it comes to testifying at a trial, all you have to do is tell what happened. Jacob saw McKay trying to push you, as well. No one will doubt you.”
“A trial.” She couldn’t help it if she sounded horrified at the thought.
Jacob squeezed her hand. “I will be there, too, don’t forget.”
“Ja.” The fear slid away when she met his steady gaze. Jacob would be with her.
“I’ve sent for a state police team to look into McKay’s shop and check out his business records,” the police chief said. “I suspect they’ll come up with enough evidence to convict him a couple of times over.” He shook his head. “I’m afraid the historical society will have to delay their plans for the property. The state police will want access until their investigation is complete, and I’ll have to insist that nothing be touched until the investigation into Richard’s death is finished. And then there are the charges against Hank Mitchell. Two bad guys caught in as many days, thanks to you, Sarah.”
“Not me,” she said quickly. “I didn’t do anything.” A question stirred in her mind. “But I still don’t understand about how Hank got into the house even after Jacob put the dead bolts on.”
“Somehow he’d gotten hold of the new key. It was found on him when he was caught.” The chief looked at her quizzically.
Sarah felt her cheeks grow red. “That morning when he was going to stop at the store for me, he came in the house. I had put the new keys on the shelf in the back hall. If he was quick enough, he could have taken one while my back was turned.”
“I’m sure he was an expert at that kind of thing,” the chief said. “Don’t blame yourself, Sarah.”
Maybe not for the keys, but she did feel ashamed of having let Hank’s innocent face and friendly smile deceive her.
“What about the car that hit us?” Jacob was frowning, as if he found it hard to believe so much wrongdoing.
“Neither is admitting to it, but now that we’re fairly sure it was one of them, trying to keep you away from the house for a while, we’ll find someone who saw them where they shouldn’t have been that day. It will just take time.” Chief Byler looked from her to Jacob. “I think you’ve both had as much of this as you can stand for now. I’ll have someone drive you home.”
“Danki, Chief, but I have Bess and the buggy,” Jacob said, rising.
“Take a look outside.” Chief Byler jerked his head toward the window. “There’s a crowd of the curious out there. You don’t want to go through that. I’ll have the horse taken care of and returned to you this evening, once the curiosity has died down.”
Sarah glanced out the window. People crowded along the wrought-iron fence, many with cameras. One man even had a pair of binoculars trained on the house. She drew back, shuddering.
Jacob nodded. “We will get Sarah’s jacket, and then we’ll be ready. We are grateful for your kindness.”
For once Sarah was glad to let Jacob speak for both of them. She hurried toward the hallway, relieved to be away from the prying gazes.
Jacob took the jacket from its peg before she could reach for it. He helped her slip it on and then paused, his hands on her shoulders and his face very close to hers.
“Thank the good Lord that you are safe. When I saw you hanging from that railing…” His voice choked. “If you had fallen, I don’t know how I could have gone on.”
She couldn’t bear the pain in his eyes. “It’s all right.” She touched his face, the movement tentative. His skin was warm and alive, reassuring her. “I knew you were there. I knew you would not let me fall.”
His gaze was so intense it was as if he was stroking her. “Sarah, I cannot wait any longer to say this to you. I don’t want to be your big brother anymore. I love you with all my heart. I want to be your husband.”
She hesitated a moment, wondering at herself. All her doubts seemed to have vanished, all her thoughts of independence seeming foolish now. Loving someone was about depending on each other, and that was surely a better way to live.
“I love you, too,” she said, knowing it was true deep in her heart. “And I stopped thinking of you as a brother the moment you kissed me.”
A smile lit Jacob’s face, and love shone in his eyes. “My Sarah,” he said gently, and then he kissed her again.
They stood together in the privacy of the small space, and Sarah wanted this moment to go on forever. But it couldn’t, she knew. The chief would come, they’d be rushed away from those who would question them, and when they reached home, there would be more questions waiting. But at least now the truth had come out.
She rested her cheek against Jacob’s chest and listened to the steady beating of his heart. “Poor Mr. Strickland,” she said softly. “Two people he trusted were out to harm him. They could only do that because he was so alone, with no one to love and protect him.”
“Ja. But he is at peace now, and you must let that comfort you.” Jacob dropped a kiss on the top of her head, and his arms tightened around her. “That will never happen to us, Sarah. We will have each other.”
She nodded, knowing what he said was true. That sort of loneliness didn’t happen in the close-knit Amish community, even to someone as fussy and cantankerous as Richard Strickland had been.
As Jacob said, the man was at peace now. And she was ready to move on to a new life with Jacob. She smiled. Mamm would say she’d been right all along.
EPILOGUE
SARAH SAT AT THE KITCHEN table in the Strickland house, a tablet open in front of her. Soon she would stop thinking of it as Richard Strickland’s house, she supposed. It belonged to the historical society now, and they would start moving things in next week. The police had finished their investigation; all the sorting and clearing had been done. Some items had gone to the historical society, according to Mr. Strickland’s will, while others had been sold.
To her astonishment, the will had provided a money gift for her. She’d been reluctant to accept, but Leo said that it had made Mr. Strickland happy to leave it to her. And Daad, always practical, said the money would help her and Jacob to build a house of their own.
So now she waited, hearing the tramp of feet upstairs as the last few pieces of furniture for the auction house were carried out. Once the men were finished, she was to check the house, lock the doors and turn the keys over to Leo. Then her job would be done, and Jacob would be waiting for her.
In the meantime, she had a letter to write to her dear friends, with news that would surprise them.
* * * * *
Outside the Circle
Patricia Davids
This book is dedicated to my dear departed husband. Thanks, honey, for a lifetime of deer-hunting adventures.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Epilogue
CHAPTER ONE
LENA TROYER SPOTTED the man with a rifle seconds after the magnificent deer she called Goliath stepped from the cover of the dense woods. Three smaller bucks had entered the hay meadow to graze a good ten minutes before Goliath followed them. The wily old buck never came into the open first.
From her vantage point in the cramped bell tower of her Amish school, Lena had a perfect view of the fields below. She held her breath, praying the deer would spot the hunter and flee before it was too late.
She had sketched many animals from this spot, but Goliath was her favorite subject. She’d once watched the stately buck completely lose his dignity when he slipped on a patch of ice. He’d floundered wildly for several minutes before regaining his feet. Then he’d glanced around as if to see who might have witnessed his ignoble fall. She couldn’t help but laugh at his expression.
From the size of his massive antlers, she knew Goliath had eluded hunters for a dozen or more years, but he was oblivious to the danger standing fifty yards away behind the fencerow. He put his head down to graze. It was the hunter’s perfect opportunity.
She expected a shot to ring out any second. Deer season didn’t open for another month, but few hunters would ever have their sights on a buck the size of Goliath. Even if the season were open, the animals stood on land that belonged to Wilfred Cummings. He never allowed hunting on his property.
The hunter wore Amish clothing, a dark coat, dark trousers and a wide-brimmed black hat, but she didn’t recognize him. Tall and broad-shouldered, he appeared to be a giant of a man. She was sure she’d never met him. He wasn’t a member of her church district. She knew everyone in the twenty-three families that made up her Amish congregation. She wished she could see his face. The sun had gone down twenty minutes before and twilight was quickly fading to darkness.
Slowly, he raised his gun and steadied it on the fence post. Leaning forward, he sighted through his scope. A stand of low shrubs hid him from the deer. She had to do something.
Thinking quickly, Lena waved her sketchbook in the air. To her chagrin, one of the loose pages fluttered out into the evening air, but her tactic worked. Catching the flash of movement, the bucks bounded into the forest with amazing speed, their white tails held high, signaling danger to others of their kind. In a second, they were gone, and safe. Lena grinned with relief.
After all, it was illegal to hunt deer out of season. The Amish hunters she knew were law-abiding men. Her father and brothers frequently hunted wild game in the woods and fields surrounding their farms. She’d helped her older sister can venison, wild pig, quail and rabbit many times, but her family hunted only in season and only after purchasing their licenses and deer permits as required by the state. They never took more than their limit, and almost nothing from the animals went to waste.
The hunter below Lena straightened and looked in her direction. She ducked below the edge of the railing that framed the bottom of the bell tower, not wanting him to know she had spoiled his shot. The sound of his footsteps approaching the building made her cringe.
“Is someone there?” His deep voice matched his big size and sent a chill skittering over Lena’s skin. She didn’t answer.
It suddenly occurred to her that he might be hunting meat for his family’s table. Had his sights been on one of the smaller deer? Had she taken food from his children’s mouths because of a silly, sentimental attachment to a wild animal? She bit the corner of her lip as she considered the harm she might have inadvertently caused.
After a few moments of silence, Lena rose to look over the wooden railing. To her dismay, the stranger stood right below her. He bent to pick up something from the ground. She sucked in a quick breath when she saw he held her sketchbook page.
He glanced up and she drew back quickly. Had he seen her? She held still and hoped he didn’t notice her shadow behind the thick pickets. Would he come inside the school to investigate? She closed her eyes and prayed he would move on. How embarrassed she would be if he found her standing in the attic with her head and shoulders poking through the trapdoor in the bell tower like some unruly child. She was a grown woman of twenty-four, not a schoolgirl. What made her behavior worse was the fact that she was the teacher. She itched to go back downstairs, but was afraid she would make too much noise and give herself away.
When the hunter’s footsteps moved off, she breathed a sigh of relief. God had surely smiled on her plight. Waiting a full five minutes more, she quietly left her cramped quarters, taking her binoculars and the forbidden romance novel she’d been reading until the deer appeared. She closed the trapdoor, making sure not to disturb the bell, and descended the wooden ladder to the attic.
After taking down the ladder, she left the book in her hiding place and made her way past dusty old desks, benches and stacks of miscellaneous items stored there to the narrow flight of stairs at the opposite end of the building.
Down in the schoolroom, she grabbed her bonnet from the hook and placed it over her black prayer kapp, grateful to cover her chilly ears. The October days were growing cooler, but it was downright cold tonight.
She opened the front door and checked the schoolyard. There was no one in sight. Once more thankful that she had escaped detection by the foiled hunter, she rushed down the narrow track that led to a covered bridge over the creek. A stone’s throw past the bridge, the school lane intersected with a paved road. Going north would take her to the village of Mount Hope. Her father’s farm lay the other way. She hurried along the narrow blacktop as it wound through the woods. It was fully dark now. Her family would start to worry soon.
She’d gone only a quarter of a mile when a bright light blossomed in the woods off to one side. Surprised, she stopped in her tracks. What on earth? A loud shot rang out, followed by thrashing, then silence. The light went out.
With her heart hammering in her chest, Lena ran the rest of the way home.
* * *
ISAAC BOWMAN KEPT his face carefully blank as he offered his hand to his ten-year-old daughter. Ruby ignored him and jumped down from the buggy. She moved quickly away and stood waiting with her eyes downcast, holding her erasable board clutched in front of her like a shield.
He couldn’t suppress the sigh that escaped him. Would she ever look him in the eyes? Would she ever speak to him? A simple smile would be enough.
She looked so much like her mother with her red-gold hair pulled back beneath a white prayer kapp. She had the same sky-blue eyes, delicate arched eyebrows, even her mother’s stubborn chin. He would forever see his first love in their daughter’s face.
Today, Ruby wore her best Sunday dress and new shoes. It wasn’t her normal school attire
, but he hadn’t objected when she came down from her room. He’d gently reminded her the shoes weren’t broken in and would likely hurt her feet before the day was through. When she sat at the kitchen table without changing, he decided they would drive instead of walk the mile and a half to Forestview School.
As usual, he pretended her indifference didn’t hurt. “First day at a new school, eh, Ruby? What do you think of it? It’s bigger than your last schoolhouse, isn’t it?”
She glanced at the building and nodded.
Isaac had so many hopes pinned on this change. Pulling up roots to leave his family and his community in Indiana went against the very fiber of his Amish being. A new home, a new job, a new school for his child, all his sacrifices in coming to Mount Hope, Ohio, would be worth it if only she would smile at him.
He shook off his somber thoughts. It was best not to dwell on what might come to pass. It was better to trust that the Lord would care for them both.
Smoke rose from the chimney of the tall, narrow schoolhouse. No horses or buggies stood at the hitching rails, but there were a dozen or more children playing outside. A small barn sat behind the school. Since he planned to spend the entire day at school, he decided to let his mare spend the day in relative comfort. He unhitched his horse and led her inside, to find a brown pony munching hay in one stall. Isaac placed his mare inside the other stall. The pair whinnied a greeting and sniffed noses over the stall divider. When Isaac came out, Ruby was exactly where he’d left her.
“Let’s go in and meet your new teacher.” He approached the door and held it open for Ruby. She didn’t move.
He motioned with his head. “Come on. It won’t get any easier standing out here in the cold.”
