“That’s right.” Ettie nodded, and then turned to Patricia. “What was all that about?”
Jack Simpson yelled out. “She was trying to make us look as though we had something to do with it. My wife never trusted her.”
“You’re all ridiculous and I’m not going to stay here another moment and listen to this ridiculousness.” She hurried to the door and was met by Detective Kelly who was on the other side.
“Patricia Stuart, you’re under arrest for the murder of Ebenezer Fuller. For starters. There's also burglary, elder abuse, forgery and identity theft—and anything else we can dig up.”
“I didn’t! There’s some mistake.”
A female officer stepped forward and snapped cuffs on Patricia and, as they took her to the car, Kelly read out her rights.
Everyone was silent, and Elsa-May hurried over to Ettie. “You were right all the time.”
“I know. I don’t know why no one listened to me. I also didn’t get a chance to ask her why she let Gabriel’s horses out that day.” Ettie looked over at Gabriel to see his mouth turned down at the corners.
“If only I’d gone there after I got the horses back,” Gabriel said.
“Can’t be helped,” Elsa-May said.
“She must’ve planned to keep you away that day, Gabriel. I’m thinking she was preparing to have a difficult conversation with Ebenezer to make excuses for the missing money. Possibly, she was going to blame you. Maybe when he didn’t believe her lies that’s when she resorted to murder.” Ettie looked over at the neighbors. “You knew him better than you let on, didn’t you?”
“We did, but we didn’t want to admit it and get involved. That’s why we said we didn’t know him. We didn’t know who killed him, so we saw no harm in zipping our lips.”
The wife added, “We moved here to get away from the crime in the city. The last thing we expected was for our own neighbor to be killed. One good thing that came out of all this was meeting Pete at the funeral. We're having him deliver our groceries now. He's a fine young fellow.”
Pete looked at them and smiled.
Ettie looked at Blythe. “Why are you so hostile toward Patricia? How did you know she was being harmful to Ebenezer?”
“Ebenezer repeated some of the things she’d said about us and we knew she was poisoning his mind against us.”
“What was she saying?” asked Elsa-May.
“We look like people not to be trusted and then she said she was sure my husband was the same man who staggered through the town drunk every Friday night. She told him he was better off to keep to himself.”
Gabriel nodded. “I know she didn’t like me being there at his house either. She didn’t say anything, but I could feel the hostility.”
Ettie leaned against a wall glad everything was over. She was a little annoyed with Kelly for having constantly insisted Patricia had nothing to do with it. Hopefully, next time he saw them he would admit he overlooked some things that were obvious.
Chapter 29
The next evening, Detective Kelly came to visit the sisters and they were anxious to hear if Patricia had confessed. He sat down in their living room.
“The investigation’s over. She eventually confessed when she found out we had evidence.”
Ettie heaved a sigh of relief.
“Ebenezer confronted her when he realized she’d taken his money. It was more than fifty thousand dollars that he’d managed to save over the years. He grabbed her arm and wouldn’t let her go. To get away from him, she grabbed a knife and stabbed him. Then she dragged him out into the woods behind the barn. I think she was intending to move the body away so it would look like he’d simply disappeared, but he was found before she could do it.”
“That’s why the house was so clean, Elsa-May. Remember how Helga said it was so neat and even had fresh flowers?”
“I do.”
Ettie frowned. “One thing I can’t understand is the blood samples. Didn’t you ask her for a DNA sample in the first instance?”
“We did, but the DNA sample she gave us and the one we took now that she’s in jail, don’t match. It seems she switched samples somehow right after the first test was performed.”
“So she’s the missing blood match?”
“That’s right, and she booked herself into the hospital pretending to be Ebenezer’s wife. The intake nurse identified her from a photo.”
“Just like you thought, Ettie.”
“I know.” Ettie stared at Kelly. “I told you she was always wearing gloves. That was to cover up her wounds. If you’d listened to me at the beginning you would’ve saved yourself time.”
Kelly pressed his lips together. “Don’t think you’re so smart, Ettie.”
Ettie’s mouth fell open. “I don’t.”
“Ettie was right though,” Elsa-May said in her sister’s defense.
“You thought it was her to start with, and then you were convinced it was Elaine.” He smiled smugly.
That made Ettie upset. She had only dismissed Patricia because of the false evidence and surely that was Kelly’s fault. “Detective Kelly, let’s play a little game.”
“A game?”
“Yes. Would you rather have cake or cookies?”
He frowned and then said, “Cake. Depending on what kind it is and what kind of cookies.”
Ettie shook her head. “That’s not how this works. You have to pick one or the other.”
“Well, then … cake.”
“Would you rather it rain on one of your days off or be sunny?”
“I hardly ever have a day off as you know.”
“One or the other,” Ettie repeated.
He eyed them both carefully. “What’s going on here?”
“Would you rather the rest of your hair fall out or lose all your teeth?” Elsa-May asked.
He slowly rose to his feet. “I just remembered I’ve got somewhere I need to be.” He hurried to the door and opened it, took a look over his shoulder at them, and closed the door behind him.
Ettie giggled. She held her stomach and laughed so hard she slid off the couch and thought she’d be ill. Elsa-May held her belly, laughing too, and laughed even harder when she saw Ettie on the floor. Ettie wiped her eyes and picked herself up off the rug. “I haven’t laughed so much for a long time.”
“Did you see his face?”
“I did.” Ettie giggled again and had to wipe a tear from her eye.
“It’s amazing the lessons the young can teach us. That game has some uses after all. Now, on a different subject I have something I was going to give you on Christmas, but it’s close enough.”
Ettie sat up straight. “A gift?”
“Kind of.” Elsa-May went into her room and came back with a cardboard box and stretched out her hands to Ettie. “I haven’t had time to wrap it.”
Ettie looked at the box, and Elsa-May placed it into her hands. “What could it be?”
“Open it and see.”
When Ettie opened it, she saw the very thing for which she was hoping. She pulled out a white china teacup with small pink rosebuds. “It’s exactly the same.” Then she pulled out the saucer and set them both on the table in front of her. “Denke, Elsa-May. This is truly thoughtful.”
“I’ll make you a cup of hot tea right now.”
“That would be wunderbaar.” Ettie sat looking at the flames flickering in the stone surrounds of the fireplace. What more could she want right at this moment? Hot tea in a favorite cup, made by someone other than her, sitting warm by the fire, and Snowy cuddled up asleep in the corner.
Elsa-May placed the tea down in front of Ettie. “I’d say the cup and saucer could be your Christmas present, but I know you’ll want something to open on our gift-giving day.”
Ettie giggled, reaching for the tea. Her sister knew her far too well.
* * *
Thank you for reading Amish Winter Murder Mystery.
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Blessings,
Samantha Price
The next in the series is:
Amish Scarecrow Murders
Elderly Amish woman, Ettie Smith, has hurt her back and is consumed with the pain until she learns two people with close ties to her Amish community have been murdered.
When fear runs through the entire community, Ettie is determined to find out who the killer is and why he leaves a scarecrow in the front yard of his victims. Is this a copycat crime modeled on the unsolved scarecrow murders from the sixties, or could it be the same killer on another murderous spree?
Ettie's investigations lead her to one man.
When the local detective disregards her opinion, Ettie goes it alone.
How close can Ettie get to the murderer without finding herself on his radar?
Is Ettie about to make the biggest mistake of her life?
You will love this cozy mystery, full of twists, turns, and sisterly interactions.
ETTIE SMITH AMISH MYSTERIES
Book 1 Secrets Come Home
Book 2 Amish Murder
Book 3 Murder in the Amish Bakery
Book 4 Amish Murder Too Close
Book 5 Amish Quilt Shop Mystery
Book 6 Amish Baby Mystery
Book 7 Betrayed
Book 8: Amish False Witness
Book 9: Amish Barn Murders
Book 10 Amish Christmas Mystery
Book 11 Who Killed Uncle Alfie?
Book 12 Lost: Amish Mystery
Book 13 Amish Cover-Up
Book 14 Amish Crossword Murder
Book 15 Old Promises
Book 16 Amish Mystery at Rose Cottage
Book 17 Amish Mystery: Plain Secrets
Book 18 Amish Mystery: Fear Thy Neighbor
Book 19 Amish Winter Murder Mystery
Book 20 Amish Scarecrow Murders
Book 21 Threadly Secret
Also by Samantha Price:
Stand-Alone Christmas novel:
In Time For An Amish Christmas
* * *
AMISH MAIDS TRILOGY
Book 1 His Amish Nanny
Book 2 The Amish Maid’s Sweetheart
Book 3 The Amish Deacon’s Daughter
* * *
AMISH MISFTIS
Book 1 The Amish Girl Who Never Belonged
Book 2 The Amish Spinster
Book 3 The Amish Bishop’s Daughter
Book 4 The Amish Single Mother
Book 5 The Temporary Amish Nanny
Book 6 Jeremiah’s Daughter
Book 7 My Brother’s Keeper
* * *
SEVEN AMISH BACHELORS
Book 1 The Amish Bachelor
Book 2 His Amish Romance
Book 3 Joshua’s Choice
Book 4 Forbidden Amish Romance
Book 5 The Quiet Amish Bachelor
Book 6 The Determined Amish Bachelor
Book 7 Amish Bachelor’s Secret
* * *
EXPECTANT AMISH WIDOWS
Book 1 Amish Widow's Hope
Book 2 The Pregnant Amish Widow
Book 3 Amish Widow's Faith
Book 4 Their Son's Amish Baby
Book 5 Amish Widow's Proposal
Book 6 The Pregnant Amish Nanny
Book 7 A Pregnant Widow's Amish Vacation
Book 8 The Amish Firefighter's Widow
Book 9 Amish Widow's Secret
Book 10 The Middle-Aged Amish Widow
Book 11 Amish Widow's Escape
Book 12 Amish Widow's Christmas
Book 13 Amish Widow’s New Hope
Book 14 Amish Widow’s Story
Book 15 Amish Widow’s Decision
Book 16 Amish Widow’s Trust
Book 17 The Amish Potato Farmer’s Widow
Book 18 Amish Widow’s Tears
* * *
For a full list of Samantha Price’s books visit:
www.SamanthaPriceAuthor.com
About Samantha Price
USA Today Bestselling author, Samantha Price, wrote stories from a young age, but it wasn't until later in life that she took up writing full time. Formally an artist, she exchanged her paintbrush for the computer and, many best-selling book series later, has never looked back.
Samantha is happiest on her computer lost in the world of her characters. She is best known for the Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries series and the Expectant Amish Widows series.
www.SamanthaPriceAuthor.com
Samantha loves to hear from her readers. Connect with her at:
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