by Amy Lillard
Edie sat back in her seat. “Oh.” The one word was small.
“Take me to see the vandalism.”
Edie turned on the couch and stretched out lengthwise. She waved a hand toward the back door. “I haven’t moved it. Everything’s around back.”
“Just stay right here. No bother, I can find it myself.” Jack made his way to the kitchen and out the back door.
He returned a few moments later, a can of spray paint held by two fingers of one gloved hand. “He spelled welcome wrong.”
“It’s Dutch.” Edie didn’t bother to open her eyes as she spoke.
“Where did you get gloves?” Kappy asked. It might not have been the most pressing question, but what did he do? Walk around with a pocket full of them?
“Do you have a paper sack?” Jack asked.
“In the kitchen,” Kappy and Edie said at the same time.
Kappy propped her feet on the coffee table. Elmer stirred just a bit, then started snoring once again.
“Don’t get up,” Jack said. “Really. I can get it myself.”
“Good man,” Edie replied.
Jack returned a few moments later. In one hand, he held a brown paper sack that presumably contained the can of spray paint. “Why did you have to unload hundreds of pounds of dog food?”
“Just one hundred,” Edie clarified.
Jack shifted in place. “Okay, why did you have to lift one hundred pounds of dog food?”
“Because somebody dumped all of ours out,” Kappy answered.
“Dumped it out?”
“Scattered it everywhere,” Edie said, eyes still closed.
“When was this?”
“This afternoon when we got back from visiting with John David Peight.”
“About that,” Jack started, “you cannot go around questioning people.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Edie said.
“I’m serious.”
“We have to do something,” Kappy said. “The protesters are leaving, but things around here are getting worse.”
“I know it looks bad, but the paint on the house is common vandalism. The problem with the feed is probably a prank. In case it’s not, you have to be careful. You have to leave it up to us. We are professionals, after all.”
“If you’re so professional, why am I still missing two dogs?” Edie said.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Someone let all the dogs out,” Kappy explained.
“I swear, Jack, if you start singing . . .” Edie said.
“I might have, if this wasn’t so serious.”
Kappy could only imagine Edie was referencing some sort of Englisch song because she had no idea what letting dogs out and singing had to do with each other. Honestly, she was a little too tired to care tonight. She rubbed Elmer’s ear between her thumb and her forefinger, loving the silky feel. He seemed to like it as well and released a shuddering puppy sigh in his sleep.
“If this is so serious, then you need to catch this guy,” Edie said.
“And let Jimmy out of jail,” Kappy added.
“That’s not up to me,” Jack said. “The DA thinks we have enough evidence to try him. If that’s the case, he’ll have to stay in jail until—”
“Until what?” Edie pushed herself up into a sitting position, most likely tired of Jack towering over her.
“Until we catch the real killer.”
Edie stood, turned him around, and marched him toward the door, both her hands planted in the center of his back as she urged him forward.
“What are you waiting for? Get out there and get the killer before he knocks down the mailboxes or sets the house on fire.”
“Whoa,” Jack said. “We don’t know that the killer is also our vandal.”
“But it’s possible, right?” Edie asked.
“Anything is possible.”
And that was what they were counting on.
* * *
As expected, Kappy and Edie spent the better part of the night filling out police reports, making statements, and trying to explain to the uniformed officers what had happened.
They were told repeatedly how lucky they were that they hadn’t come home sooner and caught the vandal before he got away.
“It’s almost like whoever’s doing this knows when we’re not here,” Edie said the next morning.
As soon as the officers left, they had gone to bed, but Kappy had been so tired she didn’t rest well. She would love nothing more than to take a couple hours’ nap immediately, if not sooner. But they had too much to do. Aside from needing to replenish all the pet food on the farm, Kappy was very behind in her sewing. All this running around and trying to solve a murder was taking its toll on her inventory. And she promised herself she would devote the afternoon to sewing kapps.
“Maybe it’s one of the protesters,” Kappy said.
“None of the protesters are Amish.”
“Maybe one of the protesters is calling someone or radioing them or something and telling them that we’re leaving.”
Edie thought about it a moment. “I don’t think that’s it. We’ve been leaving out the back and walking across Jay Glick’s yard to get our car. The protesters are in the front. How would they know when we left?”
Well, it sounded like a good idea. But somehow they were finding out when Kappy and Edie were gone and that was when they made their move.
“Maybe one of us should stay here,” Kappy suggested.
Edie shook her head. “I need you to go with me in case someone Amish won’t talk to me.”
“Good point.” Besides, Kappy wasn’t looking forward to being left behind at Ruth’s house.
“Maybe we could set a trap for them.” Edie’s brown eyes lit with excitement.
“What kind of trap?”
“We’ll make a big show out of leaving,” Edie said. “But instead of going to town, we’ll drive around, park at Jay’s house, then walk across the fields.”
“I am so tired of walking across the fields,” Kappy said.
“It’s the only way this will work,” Edie said. “Chin up, Buttercup.”
Kappy stared at her blankly.
“It means ‘Deal with it.’ ”
“Then what?” Kappy asked.
“Then we hide and watch to see who comes.”
“Just watch?”
Edie held up her phone. “We take pictures.”
* * *
Edie and Kappy stepped out onto the front porch an hour or so later. They both carried their purses as part of the cover.
“How long do you think we’ll be gone?” Kappy asked in an over-loud voice.
Edie locked the door. “You’re a terrible actress, you know that?” she whispered.
“I’m doing the best I can,” Kappy whispered in return.
“Only about an hour or so,” Edie said, her voice raised to carry across the yard.
“Never make fun of my acting skills,” Kappy whispered. “Yours are just as bad.”
“Yeah,” Edie said as they walked to the car. “It might take even longer than that. We have to get the critter food and arrange for it all to be delivered.”
“Jah, we will be lucky if that takes less than an hour for sure. Maybe even two.”
“Not too thick,” Edie coached.
They got in the car and pulled out, waving to a couple of the protesters as they drove by.
“Do you think we should go toward town?” Kappy asked. “What if whoever’s coming doesn’t see us and thinks that we didn’t leave?”
Edie shook her head. “They could be coming from either direction. Let’s just drive over to Jay’s and get in place in case they come quickly.”
Kappy’s heart was pounding in her chest by the time they pulled into Jay Glick’s driveway. Edie parked her car on the side, as had been agreed upon, and the two got out.
“Back again, are you?” Jay Glick came out of the barn. “When you didn’t leave your car here last night, I figured
that mess was over.”
“We just need to leave it here for an hour or so,” Edie said.
Jay trained his gaze on Kappy. “Are you going to leave that here all afternoon?”
“Only for about an hour,” Kappy said.
Edie rolled her eyes. “Honestly,” she growled.
“See that you don’t leave it here longer than that.” He turned on his heel and disappeared back into the dim interior of his barn.
“One of these days,” Edie said as they started across the fields. “One of these days I’m going to give that man a piece of my mind.”
Kappy smiled. “Go right ahead,” she said. “He won’t be listening.”
They made their way to the edge of the cornfield and pushed between the stalks about three rows in and four plants down. With any luck the thick stalks would hide them from view, or perhaps their culprit would be in such a hurry he wouldn’t notice a flash of blue or yellow in the middle of the cornfield.
“How long do we have to wait here?” Kappy said.
“Just an hour,” Edie said. “We said we would be back then, so if he doesn’t come within an hour we know he’s not coming after that.”
Kappy nodded. “Right.”
But an hour sitting in the cornfield with nothing to do but stare at the back of the Peacheys’ house was more boring than Kappy could’ve ever imagined.
Edie wanted to play video games on her phone but knew that if she did and she ran the battery down, they wouldn’t be able to take pictures should the vandal show up today. So they sat and watched birds peck at bugs and the clouds blow across the sky. They listened to the cornstalks rustle in the breeze. For Kappy it was a special kind of torture.
“How long have we been sitting here?” she asked.
Edie checked her phone. “Fifteen minutes.”
“Fifteen minutes? Are you serious?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
The minutes ticked by like hours, maybe even days. Kappy was sure she’d aged a month just sitting and staring at the back door.
Finally, Edie called time.
“I guess he’s not coming today,” she said. Her disappointment was palpable.
“I guess not,” Kappy replied. “Wait. Are you saying we’re going to have to do this again tomorrow?”
“I don’t see why not.”
Kappy bit back her sigh. “Fantastic.”
Edie gave her a hand up from their sitting position amid the rows of corn. “Sarcasm is not a good look for you.”
“Neither is sitting in a cornfield,” Kappy said.
“Jimmy doesn’t look good in orange,” Edie said.
“Point taken.” Together they walked back to Edie’s car and drove to the co-op.
* * *
Jack called later that same afternoon. “Do you want the good news or the bad news?” he asked.
Edie had put him on speakerphone so Kappy could hear the conversation as well. They had gone to the co-op and bought all the things they needed with a promise of delivery the next day. Then they swung by the jail to visit with Jimmy. Kappy could only imagine how hard it was for Edie to go every day, see her brother, and know that she couldn’t do anything to help him. Or that she was doing everything she could and it wasn’t quite enough. But Jimmy appeared none the worse for wear. Heather evidently had been treating him very well, even sneaking him in a couple of grape Popsicles, his favorite.
“I want the good news first.”
“We were able to lift a good set of prints off the paint can.”
“That’s awesome,” Edie said.
Kappy shook her head and mouthed, Don’t say that.
Edie shot her a look. “What’s the bad news?”
“They don’t match anyone.”
“I told you, he was Amish,” Edie said.
“So you did.”
“What about the paint can? Can we track down the store where he bought the paint?”
“Edie, this isn’t television. That paint is sold in every hardware store, Walmart, Target, and art-supply shop in the country.”
“And?”
“And there’s no way of knowing where he got the paint. It’s just too broad of a clue.”
Edie plopped back on the couch, then sat up straight. “So you admit it is a clue?”
“It’s evidence, Edie. We’re doing everything with it we can.”
Chapter 18
Kappy and Edie finished feeding the dogs somewhere around eight thirty the next morning. They were both still exhausted from the day before, but chores went on. Always.
“Good morning.”
They both turned as Jack Jones came around the side of the house. He had a leash in each hand, a beagle at the end of both.
“You found them.” Edie rushed to greet him, dropping to her knees in front of the two dogs, Daisy and Lulu, a mother-daughter team Ruth had used for breeding. Daisy had gotten on up in years and hadn’t been bred in a couple of cycles, Lulu taking her place in the lineup. They were two of Kappy’s favorites. Edie’s, too.
Kappy trailed behind Edie, glad to see the dogs return.
“Mama is so glad to have you home,” Edie gushed. She rubbed the dogs behind the ears, let them lick her face, and laughed as they danced around. It seemed they were just as happy to be home.
Jack handed the leashes to Edie. “And in other news, there’s only a handful of protesters out front this morning. They look worn-out. I have a feeling by this afternoon you will be HABID free.”
Kappy’s wide grin matched Edie’s. “That is good news,” Edie said.
“How did you find them?” Kappy asked.
Jack jerked one thumb over his shoulder. “I was over talking to Nathaniel. He found them but hadn’t had a chance to bring them back over.”
Thank heaven for good neighbors.
“I guess I should be going.” He seemed reluctant to leave. “Got lots of investigating to do still.”
Edie nodded. “Thanks again.”
Jack smiled, and Kappy wondered how at eight thirty in the morning the man still had five o’clock shadow. His beard must grow in immediately after he shaved it. “My pleasure.” He turned as if to walk away, then stopped and whirled around. “One other thing,” he said, “when you get ready to go see Jimmy today, let me know. I’ll be the one taking you over there.”
Edie’s happy expression fell. “What? Why?”
“The sheriff feels it would be . . . better that way.”
Edie propped her hands on her hips, and Kappy winced. She knew what was coming next. “Better? He’s just trying to keep tabs on us.”
“It would be better to not have to worry about you while I’m trying to conduct this investigation.”
“Maybe if you gave the investigation top priority, I wouldn’t have to be doing all the work for you.”
Kappy would’ve never thought it possible, but Jack Jones’s eyes darkened. “I’ll be by to pick you up around noon.”
* * *
Edie stomped around the rest of the morning. The delivery truck arrived from the co-op, and the driver, along with another employee, graciously unloaded the large canisters of food. They even placed them in the barn where they had previously been.
“You want us to take the other cans away?” the Mennonite driver asked.
“We recycle them,” his young helper explained.
“Yeah, sure,” Edie said. “That would be great.”
The man nodded. “It’ll take you a while to get through this food, but when we come back out we’ll take these canisters, too.”
Edie opened her mouth to respond, then shut it instead. “That would be good. Thanks.” She signed their invoice, then they climbed back into the truck and disappeared down the road.
“Does that mean you’re thinking about staying?” Kappy asked.
Edie shook her head. “I don’t know. I can’t go anywhere until Jimmy’s home, you know?”
Guilt stabbed through Kappy. She shouldn’t have even asked, but s
he’d sort of gotten used to having Edie underfoot and jumping in her car and running all over the valley. She was just trying to prepare herself for the time when life in Blue Sky went back to normal.
“The thing that gets me the most,” Edie mused, “is we’re no further now than we were when all this started.”
“True dat,” Kappy said.
Edie shot her a look.
Kappy flashed an innocent smile. She had to say something to break up the heavy turn of the conversation. It was true they were no further than when they had started. They had scoured the valley, talked to people, found clues, and run their own type of investigation. But all they were left with was an Amish man in a green shirt and the red button that had no value at all.
What had happened to their previous optimism?
“You don’t suppose that more than one person is responsible?” Edie asked. “I mean, all this time we’ve been looking for one person, right?”
“Go on,” Kappy urged.
“Well, what if we can’t find one person because there’s really not just one person?”
“Are you saying that more than one person killed your mother?”
Edie shook her head. “No, I think one person is responsible for that. But what if another person is responsible for the dogs and another person is responsible for the food being scattered around and another person is responsible for the spray-painted message?”
Kappy thought about it a moment. “I don’t know. I guess it could be true. But why would so many people target Ruth all at the same time?”
“I don’t know.”
“And it didn’t seem that Ruth had any problems before now. If she did, she certainly didn’t write about it in her daily journal.”
Edie blew her bangs out of her face with a frustrated growl. “It was just an idea.”
And that was where they had ended up. Searching for far-fetched ideas in order to figure out how to get her brother out of jail. If it wasn’t so important, Kappy had a feeling Edie would’ve given up long ago. But it was important. Jimmy was doing okay now that he was in the county jail, separated from the rest of the prisoners, and given preferential treatment by staff. What happened if they couldn’t free him? What happened if he was tried, convicted, and sent to prison? He would be all alone then. Kappy swallowed hard. A large lump clogged her throat.
