by Amy Lillard
Kappy retrieved the book and started back to the table. “It has addresses in it, too, you know.”
Edie didn’t look quite convinced, but let it go. Not many Amish residents of Blue Sky or even the whole valley for that matter, had phones near their houses. Ruth was one of the lucky ones with a phone in the barn to take care of business, but most had to walk to a phone shanty near the main road in order to make a phone call.
“Remember to look for his last name first,” Edie advised.
Kappy shot her a look. “I know how the phone book works.”
Edie threw up her hands in surrender but smiled. “Just checking.”
With a shake of her head, Kappy went back to her search. “Carlton Brewer DVM out on Mills Road.” She pressed her finger to the spot where he was listed and met Edie’s gaze. “DVM?”
“That’s a vet.”
“An animal doctor? That makes sense,” Kappy said.
“Maybe we should pay him a visit.”
Kappy grabbed her arm as Edie started to stand. “It’s Sunday. He’s not going to be working today.”
Edie collapsed back into her seat once more. “Does it have his home address in there?”
Frustration came off her in waves. Kappy could only imagine how she would feel if her brother were locked up in jail for a crime he didn’t commit, but getting upset wasn’t going to correct anything. They had to keep level heads in order to figure this thing out. “Why don’t we tell Jack Jones? Let him investigate.”
Edie jumped to her feet. “Are you kidding? He’s not going to investigate this. Not unless we hand him some solid evidence.”
“Like an appointment book?” She pointed to the ledger still open there on the table.
Edie shook her head. “Not enough. We need more than that for him to go after a doctor.”
“Okay, fine. But I don’t think anybody needs to ‘go after’ this Dr. Brewer. How about we go over there tomorrow? Maybe poke around and see what we can find out. Maybe take one of the puppies with us.”
“And there’s not a home address listed?”
“We’re not bothering this man at home,” Kappy said. “How suspicious would that look?”
Edie stopped pacing. “Right.” She chewed on her thumbnail. “Okay. Fine. Tomorrow we’ll take one of the dogs over there and see what we can find out.”
It wasn’t a lot, but it was something. At least another lead in the case that seemed determined to go nowhere.
* * *
“I guess I should go.” Edie pushed up from the table and started to gather the books she’d brought with her. They hadn’t found any more clues as to who might be responsible for Ruth’s murder, but not for lack of trying. “It’s almost time to feed the dogs.”
Kappy sat back in her seat. “Do you want me to go out there with you?”
Edie frowned. “To feed the dogs? If you want to.”
“No,” Kappy scoffed. “To the vet’s office. You don’t need me. He’s not Amish. He’ll talk to you.”
Edie stopped rearranging the tomes in her arms and pinned Kappy with her gaze. “Of course I want you to go with me. I thought you were my partner in all this.”
Partner was not the best term. That seemed to indicate they had an equal stake in finding Ruth’s murderer, and it was so very obvious that it would mean more to Edie than it would to Kappy. That was only natural, of course.
“Unless you have kapps to make or something.” She looked away as if to allow Kappy an opportunity to tell her no.
She did have coverings to make. She even needed to make one for herself. But she had a feeling that Edie needed a friend more than she needed to make kapps. Or maybe Kappy herself was the one who needed a friend. Whatever, she wanted to go, as strange as the feeling was.
“I’ll go with you.” Her tone was as offhand as she could make it. Still, Edie grinned from ear to ear.
“Fantastic,” she said. “I’ll pick you up first thing.”
Kappy nodded. “I’ll be waiting.”
* * *
A knock sounded at the door. Kappy jumped and pricked her finger with the needle. “If you want a kapp, go around back,” she hollered, then stuck her injured finger in her mouth. Ow, that smarted.
“I don’t want a kapp.”
Then she remembered: It was Sunday. No one would be out shopping. Besides, she knew that voice. It sounded suspiciously like Edie.
“Just a minute.” She set the prayer kapp aside. She needed to finish it tonight. She needed a new one for tomorrow when they headed over to the vet’s office. Normally she wouldn’t be sewing a kapp on a Sunday, not even for herself, but this was something of an emergency.
She stood and brushed stray threads from her apron and headed for the door. She could never remember having this much company. It was a little unnerving, but after she and Edie figured out how to get Jimmy out of jail, she knew things would slow down and once again life in Blue Sky would return to normal. At least for her.
She opened the door to Edie standing on the other side of the threshold, a foil-covered casserole pan in her hands.
“You should have asked who it was before you opened the door.” She stepped past her and into the house.
“I recognized your voice.” Kappy shut the door and started after Edie. “By the way, what are you doing here?”
“Well, I decided I would make a casserole for supper. Then I realized it was too big for one person, so I thought I would come over here and share with you.” She smiled as if it were the grandest idea ever concocted.
“I see. And if I don’t really want to eat a casserole with you?”
Edie set the pan on the table and whirled around, hurt flashing in her brown eyes. “You don’t want to eat with me?”
Kappy shook her head. “I didn’t say that. What if I don’t want to?”
“But you want to, right?”
Kappy pinched the bridge of her nose. “What kind of casserole?”
“Chicken and rice. It takes two cans of soup to make it. That’s why there’s so much. But it’s good in the morning for breakfast, too.”
Kappy shook her head. “You’re not going to be here for breakfast.”
Edie just smiled. “Come on. It will be just like a slumber party.”
“No way.”
“Sourpuss.”
But Kappy grinned as Edie went into the kitchen to get a serving spoon and plates.
“Maybe another time,” she said as Edie came back to the room.
“Oh, I know. You have kapps to make, right?”
“A ton of them.”
They smiled at each other and a friendly sort of antagonistic peace settled across the table.
Edie scooped up a bite of casserole and surveyed the room at large. “I can remember coming here when I was a little girl and buying prayer kapps.”
“That was when Aunt Hettie made them.”
Edie snapped her fingers in remembrance. “That’s right. I remember her. She always smelled like peppermint and beef jerky.”
Kappy laughed. “You have a good memory.”
Edie smiled a bit to herself. “She’s memorable, you know. I mean, she was a little strange, but that’s why I liked her.”
Kappy nodded in agreement. She had loved her aunt on a strange level. Aside from the fact that Hettie King had taken her in when she had no one else, there was something about her that was a little on the special side. As if her peculiarity stemmed from an advanced relationship with God. As if she were somehow more than the rest of the people who lived in Blue Sky. Whatever it was that had affected her aunt, it seemed to have rubbed off on Kappy as well. Most times she didn’t mind at all. And other times . . .
“What made you leave?” Kappy hadn’t planned on saying those words. Somehow they jumped from her mouth without her brain knowing they were there. And once they were spoken they couldn’t be taken back.
Edie took a small sip of water and cleared her throat. It was obvious that she was stalling for tim
e, trying to come up with a suitable response, but Kappy figured she could allow her that much.
“I never felt like I belonged here.” Then what she said seemed to dawn on her. “I mean, some folks belong here and some folks belong here. I didn’t belong here either way.”
Kappy shook her head, trying to get her thoughts back in order. “You didn’t feel like you belonged here so you went off to live with strangers?”
Edie rolled her eyes. “When you say it like that, it sounds completely dumb.”
“It doesn’t seem like the smartest plan.”
Edie shrugged, then pushed her plate away. “It’s done now.”
But Kappy knew she meant her decision, not just her dinner. “And you’re happy living among the Englisch?”
The ghost of a shadow brushed across Edie’s face. “Happy is such a strong word.”
Her heart constricted in her chest. “Content?”
Edie shrugged. She picked up her fork and turned it over, twirling it in nothing at the edge of her placemat. “It’s hard when you don’t belong in the place where you were born, and you were born in a place and don’t belong anywhere else.”
So coming back wasn’t an option.
It was sad, really, when the decisions a person made in their life sometimes weren’t the best ones to make. But if there was one thing Kappy knew, it was that God had a plan for everybody. He had a plan for Jimmy. He had a plan for Kappy. And He had a plan for Edie. They just had to hold on until His plan was revealed.
Chapter 7
It was after dark when Edie took her clean casserole pan and headed back across the street. All in all, it was a good evening. Kappy hadn’t gotten her new prayer kapp made but vowed to do it first thing in the morning.
She washed her face and brushed her teeth, then used the tiny stairs to climb up into the big four-poster bed where she slept. Kappy wasn’t sure where such a monstrous piece of furniture had come from. She’d never seen anything like it at any of the other Amish houses in the valley. Just another piece of tangible proof that her aunt was different from most by far. The bed was big and fancy and since it had been in her aunt’s room when she had died, Kappy knew that the bishop had seen it. But he said nothing. So Kappy had said nothing and continued to sleep in the ornate bed.
She settled the covers around herself, turned onto her side, and punched her pillow into place. Tomorrow morning they would go visit Carlton Brewer, a local vet there in the valley. And hopefully, he would have some clues they could take to Jack Jones. Maybe some small piece of information that would tell them who had killed Ruth and why.
She supposed the why wasn’t all that important, but the who was monumental. The who was the most important thing, for that was what would lead to Jimmy’s release. And once Jimmy was released, Edie would leave the valley.
Kappy rolled over and sighed. As much as she hated to admit it, she was going to miss Edie when she went home.
And Jimmy, too. Maybe she should ask him if he wanted to live with her. Edie had insinuated that she wouldn’t stay in Blue Sky, and Kappy was smart enough to figure out that Jimmy wouldn’t make it in the Englisch world. If Edie couldn’t, Jimmy didn’t stand a chance. If he stayed with Kappy, then those times like . . . well, like now when the house seemed so quiet that every creak and every sigh could be heard, she would have company. But it had been so long since she had shared her living space with another.
She rolled over and punched her pillow a bit more.
Or maybe she would just get a dog.
* * *
Kappy was waiting on the front porch when Edie drove up the next day.
“Are you ready to go?” Edie called out the window.
“What took you so long to get here?” She grabbed her bag and headed for the car.
Kappy tossed her purse onto the floorboard, briefly noting that Edie had cleaned the trash out of her car. Most of it, anyway. She glanced in the back. The box of clothes remained, but the fast-food wrappers were missing. And so was the dog. “I thought you were going to bring a dog along.”
Edie waited until Kappy slid into the passenger seat and buckled her seat belt before backing out of the driveway. “I was. I am. I just couldn’t figure out which one.”
She turned onto the lane that led to Ruth’s house. “Plus I thought you might help me catch one.”
“Catch one? They bark at me whenever I get close.” It was next to impossible to feed them without stepping on one or two of the crazy hounds. But Kappy loved to watch them eat, their little ears spread out on either side of them as they ducked their heads into their food bowls.
“I don’t think they like me,” Edie said. She parked the car and got out, then headed for the barn.
Kappy followed obediently behind.
“Do you have any blue jeans?” Kappy asked.
Edie was dressed as colorfully today as she had been every day that she had been back in Blue Sky. Today’s jeans were the color of sunflowers and rolled up a bit at the bottom. Her shirt was black and had some sparkly design on it, and once again she had on those seen-better-days purple flip-flop shoes.
“I don’t like blue,” Edie threw over one shoulder as she approached the dog pen.
She didn’t like blue? Who didn’t like blue?
But Kappy supposed that blue was just another reminder of Blue Sky and the Amish of the valley.
“Watch,” Edie instructed as she let herself in with the dogs. She walked around, calling to them, but they barked and bounded away out of her reach. The puppies and the big dogs alike seemed almost afraid of her or . . .
“It’s your shoes,” Kappy called. “They don’t like your shoes.”
Edie stopped and propped her hands on her hips. “What are they, fashionistas?”
That definitely wasn’t on Kappy’s word-a-day calendar. “I’m not sure what that means.”
“Never mind.” Edie waved it away with one hand.
“Take off your shoes,” Kappy returned. “I think you’re scaring them.”
“For real?” Edie asked.
“Jah.”
With a shake of her head, Edie slipped off her flip-flops and tossed them back toward the pen’s entrance. She took a couple of cautious steps toward the dogs. They barked, but didn’t run.
“I can’t tell,” Edie called back. “It’s hard to walk in here with all the poop.”
Kappy shook her head. “You’re supposed to scoop that twice a day.”
Edie stared at her, mouth agape. “You were serious about that?”
“Very.” Kappy laughed, then retrieved the pooper-scooper from its place just inside the barn. She handed it and the recycled pickle bucket over the fence to Edie.
She wrinkled her nose in distaste. “If you say so,” she said.
“I do. If you’re going to be a puppy breeder, this is part of the job.”
They both stopped.
Edie had made her intentions clear. Once she got her brother out of jail she was leaving. Her days as a puppy owner were numbered.
“At least for now,” Kappy qualified.
Edie nodded, then ducked her head and got down to work.
* * *
Once the pen was clean and a puppy singled out for the trip to the vet, Edie looked down at her dirty bare feet.
“Now what shoes am I going to wear?”
The puppies had carted off her purple flip-flops long ago and the pieces had been nearly too small to pick up. They really didn’t like those shoes.
“You don’t have another pair of shoes?”
Edie pouted. “Those were my favorites.” She washed her feet in the back spigot, then let herself in the back door. A few moments later she came out the front wearing a pair of flip-flops identical to the first pair except for the color. These were green.
Kappy cleared her throat.
“What?” Edie asked.
“Nothing.”
Kappy lifted the puppy into her arms and got into the car. He really was a cute little
thing with long black ears and sad eyes. His tail was tucked between his legs, but he settled down in her lap as Edie came around to the other side of the car and got in.
“Are you ready?”
“I am, but I’m not sure Elmer here is.”
Edie started the car, but gave Kappy a look. One of her What are you talking about? looks. “Elmer?”
“That’s what I’ve been calling him. He has to have a name, doesn’t he?”
“I guess so.” She gave a one-armed shrug, then started toward town.
The Brewer Animal Clinic sat just off the main road between the bait shop and the bank. Kappy supposed she had passed the place a dozen times, but had never had need for the services and hadn’t paid it any mind.
Elmer braced his front feet on the dashboard as Edie cut the engine. His tail wagged back and forth, the little white tip like a sweeping light.
Edie smiled at the pup. “You don’t know what you’re in for, do you, little fella?”
Kappy scooped the pooch into her arms and kissed him on the top of the head. “Don’t listen to her,” she crooned. “She doesn’t know.”
Edie just laughed as they made their way into the small office.
The unmistakable smell of animal and cleaner met Kappy’s nose as they entered. Elmer must have sensed that something was up. He scrambled in Kappy’s arms, trying his best to get closer to her.
“Can I help you?” The middle-aged receptionist asked. Kappy had seen her once or twice, in the grocery store and maybe even once in Sundries and Sweets, but she didn’t know the woman’s name.
Kappy adjusted her hold on the squirmy puppy as Edie went to the counter. “Yes, ahem, we have a puppy and we would like an appointment with the doctor.”
“O-kay. Is there anything wrong with the puppy?”
“Oh, no.” Edie shook her head. “We just want to make sure he’s healthy.”
“Right.”
Kappy resisted the urge to roll her eyes. That had to be the dumbest excuse she had ever heard. They should have made a better plan before getting in the car and coming over here.
“Fill this out and I’ll get you back as soon as I can.” She handed Edie a clipboard over the counter and waved them away to the waiting area.
