Plain Jeopardy

by Alison Stone

  As if sensing she had been called, Boots scooted out from wherever she had been hiding in all the commotion and brushed up against Grace’s leg. If she wasn’t worried about her eyes itching all day, she would pick up the cat and cuddle her. It wasn’t Boots’s fault that Grace had recklessly failed to reset the alarm. “I should have been more careful. I will be from now on.”

  Conner stood, planted his palms on the table and stared out over the yard. Grace turned to see whatever had captured his attention. Streaks of purple and pink stretched across the sky behind the barn. Today was going to be a very long day.

  He pushed off the table and crossed his arms, ready to press his point. “I can’t let you stay here alone.”

  Let her?

  “I said I’d set the alarm. I won’t forget again.” She gritted her teeth to avoid saying something she knew she’d regret.

  “Okay, you set the alarm,” he said, his tone suggesting he was about to point out all the holes in her simple plan. “What do you do once someone breaks in again? The alarm’s going off, blaring in the basement. You’re out here alone. How long do you think it will take my department to respond? Do you know how many false alarms we get each day?”

  “I’ll call 9-1-1. Let them know it is an emergency,” she bit out, frustrated that they even needed to have this conversation.

  “Who knows what could happen while you’re waiting for help?”

  Grace fisted her hands. “I don’t know. I’ll get a gun!” she quickly added, determined not to be forced out of the bed & breakfast, despite her fear of guns. She had covered far too many stories where a gun in the wrong hands had changed someone’s life with the pull of a trigger.

  Conner closed the distance between them and glared down at her, using his height to intimidate her. “Do you know how to use a gun?”

  “I can learn,” she said with a trace of indignation, standing her ground.

  “What do you do in the meantime?” Conner had a question for everything.

  “I said I’d set the alarm.”

  “It seems we’re talking in circles.”

  A quiet knock sounded on the door. Grace was relieved for the distraction and took a step toward it.

  “Let me get it.” Conner brushed past her and opened the door. A part of her wanted to bump him out of the way and tell him that it was her door. Someone had come to see her. A cooler head prevailed and she didn’t act on her childish instincts, despite feeling humiliated.

  Instead, she forced a cheery smile at the young Amish man standing at the door.

  “Morning, Eli.” Then, noticing the concerned look on his face, she added, “Is everything okay?” Perhaps he had seen something—or someone—in the barn.

  “Um...” Eli palmed the top of his black knit winter hat. Blunt bangs jutted out, skimming the tops of his eyebrows. “Everything’s okay. It’s just...” His nose twitched. “Maybe...”

  Grace slipped in front of Conner, thinking perhaps Eli was reluctant to talk to someone in law enforcement. Eli took a step backward, and Grace hoped she wouldn’t have to follow him out into the snow. Clutching her collar closed, she blinked against the blowing snow. How did he work in these conditions? “Wait, Eli. Please come in. Conner is leaving if you’d prefer to talk in private.”

  “Um...” Something like regret, or maybe doubt, flashed across the man’s face.

  Curiosity had made Grace’s nerve endings buzz, like when a story was about to break wide open.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Conner muttered, standing directly behind her. Grace had to will herself not to nudge him with her elbow, fearing Eli would forget the whole thing and run off.

  Eli flipped up his collar against the wind and tucked in his chin. Grace wished he’d come in the house already. “The horse needs to be fed.” He mumbled a few words, then said, “I heard something.”

  “In the barn?” Conner’s watchful gaze scanned the snow-covered field and stopped at the new barn.

  “Neh, not in the barn.”

  “Come in.” Grace pushed the door open wider, and Eli finally accepted her invitation. The Amish man didn’t take off his hat or indicate that he had any intention of taking off his coat or coming in farther than the back mudroom. Conner must have also sensed the young man’s apprehension, and he and Grace both waited for Eli to speak.

  The worried young man studied the room, barely making eye contact. “I heard some guys talking at the hardware store yesterday.” Eli bit his thumbnail, clearly more comfortable with the horses he tended than the people who owned them.

  “Go on,” Grace encouraged.

  “They were laughing about the lady who got run down at the gas station.”

  Grace shot a look at Conner, who seemed more interested in watching Eli. Anticipation vibrated through her entire body.

  “Do you know these guys?” Conner asked.

  Eli shook his head. “Neh. I’ve seen them around, but I don’t know them. The way they were talking, it made me wonder if they knew what happened to Miss Heather’s car at the gas station.”

  “What else did you hear?” asked Grace.

  “They said they heard the truck that hit you was parked behind Katy Weaver’s barn.”

  “Katy? The young Amish woman who was hurt in the accident after the drinking party?” Grace’s heart raced in her ears.

  “Yah, that’s why I had to come forward. Katy’s a gut friend of my sister’s. Their family has been through a lot.” Eli turned to Conner. “Maybe you can move the truck to spare the family finding it.”

  “Yes, absolutely,” Conner said. “Are there any other males living in the Weaver household?”

  Grace wondered if Conner’s thoughts were heading down the same path as hers. Had someone in Katy’s house been driving the truck? It all seemed a bit too coincidental.

  “Yah, Katy’s dat and her brother.” Eli fisted and unfisted his gloved hands, before he stuffed them under his armpits and rocked up on the balls of his heavy work boots. “Levi.”

  A blanket of goosebumps raced across her arms, and her mouth grew dry.

  Eli reached for the door handle, having said what he came to say. “I better feed the horses and get back home to my chores.”

  “Wait,” Conner said, while Grace tried to process what she had heard. A part of her was ashamed that her brain automatically turned to crafting the first few lines of the post that would have her readers gasping: Truck that narrowly missed me found behind the barn of the Amish girl fighting for her life after a separate accident.

  She stopped mentally composing her prose and said a quiet prayer that Katy’s brother had nothing to do with the incident at the fuel pumps. They’d seemed like a close-knit family when she briefly met them, before they told her they wanted their privacy.

  Grace ran a hand over her forehead. What purpose would it serve for Levi to hurt her? What was Grace missing about the night of the accident?

  She snapped out of her wandering thoughts. “Would you recognize these guys from the hardware store if you saw them again?” she asked Eli.

  “Yah, well, the way they were talking, it sounded like they were repeating what they had heard. Probably at school.” He shrugged, the edges of his collar brushing against his cheeks. “I don’t want to get into trouble. With everything else that’s going on, I don’t want to bring any shame to my family or my Amish neighbors.” The Amish might not watch TV, but they had been well aware of the news reports that painted their community in an unflattering light.

  “Thanks, Eli. You won’t get into trouble,” Grace said reassuringly.

  The amount of information Grace gleaned because people failed to keep their mouths shut never ceased to amaze her. Far more criminals would get away with things if they didn’t feel the need to boast, like whoever had bragged about parking the truck on the Weavers’ property.

 
“I need to do my chores here and then get back home.”

  Conner nodded. “I appreciate your coming forward. I can’t imagine it was easy.”

  “I had to. I saw you in the kitchen through the window. I hardly slept last night.” Eli scratched his forehead under his bangs. “The outside world is evil.” Then his eyes flared wide, realizing he may have offended them. “I hope they find whoever tried to hurt you.” He flicked a look in her direction, then ducked his head and opened the door. Cold air filled the small space.

  “Thank you, Eli,” Grace quickly added, to reassure him. “You did the right thing.” He took large steps across the deep snow to the barn. She closed the door and leaned against the cool wood, meeting Conner’s gaze. “We have to go to the Weavers’ house now. See if the truck is really there.”

  SEVEN

  “Eli said the Weavers live three houses from the intersection of County and Pautler. It should be...” Grace tugged on her seat belt and leaned forward, straining to see past the wipers whooshing on high to keep up with the falling snow. Were they about to find out who rammed her car?

  What if it’s Katy’s brother? The family would be devastated all over again.

  “What are you going to say to Levi?” Grace asked, trying to focus on something productive and not all the what-ifs.

  “Let’s approach him and see what he knows about the truck.” Conner adjusted the wipers to a lower speed.

  “How likely is it that Levi’s parents would allow him to store a truck at their home, even if it is his running-around years?” The irony that Grace had been born to Amish parents and had to ask Conner these questions wasn’t lost on her.

  Keeping his narrowed gaze on the disappearing road markers ahead, Conner said, “Some teens do drive cars, but their parents would hardly condone it by allowing them to keep the vehicle on their property. More often than not, if an abandoned vehicle is reported, it belongs to a young Amish man who has nowhere to park it but is eager to see what all the fuss is about. However, once they’re baptized into the Amish faith, they have to give up cars and driving. It’s a big decision for young adults to be baptized. In the end, most do choose to be baptized. It’s what they know.”

  “That might explain why my dad knew how to drive when we left to live in Buffalo.” She blinked the thought away, better left to explore on another day.

  She pointed at a simple farmhouse with a long porch and no railings. “The Weaver house should be right here.”

  “Before we knock on the door,” Conner said, “I want you to know I only agreed to bring you along because I didn’t want you wandering over here alone.”

  She knew he didn’t have to accommodate her. “I appreciate it. I’d really like to know who rammed my car—my sister’s car—at the gas station.”

  “I need you to promise me you won’t publish online any information we uncover here today until after we have things wrapped up.”

  “What constitutes wrapped up?” An edge of annoyance seeped into her tone. Some cases were never wrapped up, and she wasn’t going to wait forever.

  “Sit on the information until I give you the okay.”

  She leaned back in her seat, feeling like she was being confined by more than a seat belt. She worked alone. She preferred it that way. “I won’t compromise the investigation,” she said, unable to keep the defensive tone from her voice.

  Conner nodded in agreement. He had called the tip about the truck into the station, and the sheriff agreed that he could go to the Amish residence out of uniform in hopes they’d be more receptive to talk to him.

  They parked in the Weavers’ snow-covered driveway. A fresh footpath in the newly fallen snow connected the house to the barn. Even in the dead of winter, the animals needed to be cared for.

  “Do you think Katy’s parents saw the truck? Where did Eli say it was parked?” Grace wrapped her hand around the door release. “Behind the barn, right?”

  “Yes, that’s what he heard. And I doubt the Weavers know it’s there otherwise they would have had it removed.” Conner flipped up the collar on his coat, bracing for the cold. “Let me do the talking. See what’s going on.”

  She opened her mouth to protest, and he cut her a sideways look. “Work with me, please.”

  Grace nodded. She decided she’d get more information if Conner was on her side. Up until now, the sheriff’s department had blocked all her attempts at getting any information that wasn’t already public knowledge.

  “You ready?” he asked.

  Grace wrapped her scarf around her neck and made sure her hat covered her ears. She’d never get used to this weather. “Ready.”

  They both climbed out of his truck. The snow made a squeaky, crunching noise under their hurried footsteps. Neither seemed willing to prolong this errand. Part of Grace hoped they found the truck—it would be a big lead—and another part of her prayed the Weaver family didn’t have to face any more bad news.

  “Before we upset the family, let’s wander around behind the barn and see if we can find the truck. If there’s nothing there, we can get out of here.” Conner gently took her by the elbow.

  He had read her mind. She had no interest in causing the family any more distress.

  They moved past the well-worn path between the house and barn, through snowdrifts up to her knees. “Remind me why people live here?” she joked between chattering teeth.

  A white cloud of vapor exhaled from his nose. He muttered something about taking up skiing.

  When they reached the corner of the barn, they were met by a field of pristine snow. Grace fell back on the heels of her boots, and a clump of snow slipped into her boot. She tugged on the ends of her scarf, pulling it tighter. “There’s nothing here.” Grace wasn’t sure what to feel beyond a growing eagerness to slip off her boots and warm her feet by the stove.

  She sniffed. “Maybe Eli misunderstood what he overheard. We should talk to him again.” She shoved her gloved hands into the pockets of her jacket. A snowflake landed on her eyelash and she blinked it away.

  “There’s another outbuilding across the field.” Conner pointed to a dilapidated shed further back on the property.

  Grace groaned. “The snow has to be two feet with drifts.” She lifted one boot, then the other, already imagining her toes turning into ice chunks inside her boots—technically, her sister’s boots. She hoped to never have a need for winter gear again.

  “I’ll go. Wait here or—” he handed her the keys “—inside the truck. Stay warm.” Without waiting for an answer, Conner strode toward the building that had seen better days. It was the only other spot on the property where someone could hide a truck.

  Disheartened, Grace turned to head toward Conner’s truck, already envisioning the warm heat pumping from the vents. She didn’t relish wet socks, but it’d be better than frozen toes. When she passed the barn, a young Amish man about Eli’s age came out, a curious look on his clean-shaven face.

  Levi Weaver.

  Grace wasn’t sure who was more surprised. A look of worry flashed in his eyes. Before he had a chance to speak, she said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to surprise you. You’re Katy’s brother.” She had met him previously and he had chased her away. She hoped time had made him more receptive to talk to her.

  “Yah.” The young man looked around, sensing that she wasn’t alone. “Did something happen? My parents are inside. They were going to visit Katy today until the snow came.”

  “No, no...” She drew in a quick breath and measured her words. Her limbs instantly went heavy. He must have thought she’d come here with news of his sister’s condition. She had tremendous empathy for the young man. She knew what it was like to have your family ripped apart by tragedy.

  But what if he wasn’t innocent?

  Grace pointed toward the footsteps in the snow. Conner had disappeared behind the shed at this point.
“Captain Gates is looking to see if a truck is parked behind the shed. Do you know anything about that?”

  The young man fidgeted with the cuffs on his coat. “Neh.” He lifted his gaze to his home. His family was inside. Everyone except his sister. What had made him so jittery all of a sudden?

  “Several nights ago,” she started, “I went to the gas station to talk to someone about the party that took place the night your sister was injured. I wanted to find out what happened. Someone rammed my car with a big truck.” She took a step closer to him. His downcast eyes were hidden under his long bangs made straighter by his snug-fitting knit hat. Snowflakes landed and melted from the heat of his head.

  “My sister has been in the hospital ever since her accident.”

  “How is she doing?” Grace asked, encouraged that he was opening up.

  A sad smile curved his mouth as he continued to study the snow. Soon he’d get married and a long beard would cover his jaw. “The doctors are encouraged. She woke up last night.”

  “That’s wonderful.” Grace reached out to touch his arm in a show of support, then let it drop, deciding it might not be welcomed.

  “They’re not sure when she’ll be able to come home.”

  “I’ll keep her in my prayers.”

  Levi finally lifted his weary eyes to meet hers. Didn’t he believe she’d pray for her?

  “Had you gone out the night of your sister’s accident?”

  “Yah, I took my courting wagon to the singing.” Grace imagined it was exactly as it sounded. He hadn’t been with his sister because he had been bringing a girl home. His words dripped with regret. “My sister had dropped off her friends, two sisters who live not far from the accident. It was a very gut thing they weren’t hurt, too.” His voice grew soft.

  “I’m so sorry.” The pain etched in his features broke her heart.

  A dark intensity suddenly lit his eyes. “You need to leave before my parents see you.”