by Anne Hagan
The place was quiet...the whole neighborhood was quiet. Hannah’s car wasn’t visible in front of the house or in the drive. I took the walkway up and started to step up on the little porch but then, figuring she was either at work or school and not home anyway, I turned to go.
I’d nearly reached the end of the walk when she called out to me from behind me, “Mel?”
I turned back and faced her but didn’t move toward her at first.
“I didn’t think you were home,” was all I could manage to say.
Even so young, she was quick to catch the gravity in my tone and in my stance. She knew without me having to say a word but I told her anyway. She sank onto her front step and cried.
Now I moved from the spot I’d been rooted too. Reaching out a hand, I took her arm under an elbow and applied light pressure until she stood. “Let’s go inside,” I said. “It’s cold and you’re not dressed for it.”
Several minutes passed while Hannah composed herself but then the questions started coming. I demurred and wouldn’t answer other than to tell her we’d found Katie in Dresden.
“Did she have family or friends there that you know of?” I asked.
“I don’t know, Mel. I don’t think so.” She sniffled and reached for another tissue.
“Has she ever said anything at all about going to Dresden or ever having been there?”
“No;” she shook her head, “never.”
“What about you; no work, no school today?”
“I don’t work again until tomorrow morning. I’m not going to class today; not now.”
###
Samuel and Rebecca Hershberger were exactly where I thought they’d be; working in their store. A teenage girl I hadn’t seen the day before took over the counter while I walked with them back to their home 50 yards away to tell them what had happened.
Rebecca was inconsolable. She started blaming herself for Katie leaving. Samuel remained stoic and reminded his wife that it was Katie’s choice to leave but it was obvious to me that he too was upset.
“I’m really sorry for your loss,” I told them again, once Rebecca regained some of her composure. “Given the circumstances, it’s necessary that I treat this like a murder investigation. Katie was found in Dresden. Do you have any idea how she would have gotten up there or who she might have known up there?”
They were both quiet for the better part of a minute. Samuel was the first to speak, “She’d never been there, before she left here. I don’t know about after she left but...” He trailed off and stared at the wall across from himself then. Finally, he repeated, “She’s never been there. She’s hardly been anywhere; Zanesville for a doctor once for high fever when she was younger.”
Realizing they knew nothing at all that could help me, I asked then, “The boy...young man...who was in your shop yesterday, Jonah Gingrich. He stopped me when I left and asked after Katie.”
“He’s a good boy. A fine young man,” Rebecca said.
Samuel pursed his lips but nodded his agreement.
“It seems he had some feelings for her at one time.”
“He asked me to court her,” Samuel admitted.
“Yes. He told me. Look,” I said, “I don’t want to get him into any sort of trouble and please, don’t think badly of him; He was concerned for Katie and her safety but he wouldn’t tell me why. He only said that she was safer out of the Order than in it. Why might he think that?”
They were both quiet. Martha looked away and stared off somewhere. Samuel kept his eyes on me but he held no discernable expression other than that of a polite listener.
I knew I had to find Jonah. He was the only one who seemed to have any sort of information that would be of help to me. “Can you tell me where Jonah lives, please?”
Samuel cleared his throat and stood up from his chair. “There’s no need to go and drag that boy into this.”
“Mr. Hershberger,” I took an edgier tone as I stood also, “your daughter is gone. Your grandson may be in some sort of danger. I need to find out if Katie’s death was an accident or if it was intentional and, if so, who was after her and why. She may have confided something to Jonah that could help.”
Martha finally looked back to me. “Where is the baby now?” she asked.
He’s safe with my family still.
“What will happen to him?”
“I honestly don’t know. Given Katie’s death, he’ll be a ward of the state. Children’s Services will have to get involved.”
“But, he’s one of us...” She looked at her husband who was now focused on her. “Sam,” she said to him softly.
Samuel Hershberger took a single step toward his wife but then he paused, turned to me and said, “The boy needs to come here.”
I had very mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, they were his blood relatives. On the other, there was the whole mystery surrounding who his father was and now his mother’s death. To them, I simply said, “I understand.”
The Hershbergers’ relented and told me where Jonah Gingrich lived. I left them and went straight there, a small farm about a half mile away as Jonah had said.
A young woman that I assumed to be Jonah’s sister met me at the door. She told me Jonah was working; that he worked as a carpenter, weather permitting, for a Mennonite business. They’d been doing an inside remodeling job somewhere but she didn’t know where; only that the business owner sent a car or a van around to pick Jonah up when jobs were too far to go by horse and buggy and Jonah had left with such a driver early that morning, just after 6:00 AM.
She didn’t know the name of the driving service and that didn’t surprise me. So many of the people that provided transportation for the Amish worked under the table and off the books that they were affectionately known in politically incorrect circles as ‘Yoder Toters’.
The girl did tell me the man Jonah worked for was an Alden Plett. At least I could narrow his potential employers down to about a dozen men within a 50-mile radius. Pletts are as common as Yoders, Bylers and Hershbergers in the county. I had my work cut out for me.
Chapter 8 - Torn
Dana
Tuesday Afternoon, February 17th
Morelville, Ohio
“He’s finally asleep,” Kris said, as she walked into the family room where Hannah and I were sitting. Hannah had shown up distraught and looking for answers. I didn’t have any to give her.
“I want to take Jef back with me tonight. He’s my responsibility now.
“Come again?” Kris asked.
“I promised Katie that I would help her no matter what when Katie told me early on that she was considering giving Jef up for adoption. I didn’t want her to do that and I talked her out of it. Now that she’s gone, someone has to take care of Jef and since I promised her, I’m going to keep my promise.”
“Sweetie,” I began, “It doesn’t work quite like that. Every state’s laws are different and I’m no expert on Ohio law but I expect that since Jef is now an orphan, he becomes a ward of the state. The state will seek a family member to take him or...”
She interrupted, “Katie’s family doesn’t want him. The state...or whoever...might as well give him to someone who really does.”
“We don’t really know what her parents want or don’t want for sure,” Kris told her gently. “I’m sure Mel or one of her deputies will tell them about Katie and then, when the courts get involved, they’re going to need to make the decision about custody of Jef and that’s their right to do. In most cases that I know of, a near blood relative got temporary custody right away.”
I nodded. “She’s right. I know it’s hard to think about because you loved your friend and you want to do what you think in your heart is the right thing but, even side from the legal questions here, you’re really in no position to take him right now yourself. You need to finish school and get yourself established...”
“And besides,” Kris jumped in, “If Katie was right, from what Dana’s told me – and obv
iously she may well have been – it might be dangerous for Jef to be in Zanesville. You have to think of that too.”
“She’s so sweet,” Kris was saying. “We should all have friends who will bend over backward to do anything for us without a thought for themselves.”
“You and Mel are both the same way. Your whole family is, so don’t even go there.”
“And, do tell, I know Mel wasn’t going to turn Katie out on the street but I also know she wouldn’t do a thing without talking to you first. You were all set to take the girl in here so don’t even go there.” She smiled then softening her assault and I smiled back.
My mirth was short lived. Jef let out a wail from the bedroom. I levered myself up off the couch. “My turn.”
“Girl, you’re exhausted. I’ll get him. He probably needs a fresh diaper anyway.”
While she was in the bedroom tending to him, I heard the kitchen door slam. Thinking Hannah had returned, I called out to her, “What did you forget?”
“It’s me Aunt Dana,” Beth called back. “Where is everybody?”
I got up again and made it as far as the archway between the family room and the more formal sitting room in time to converge with Kris and Jef emerging from the master bedroom and Hannah coming through from the kitchen.
“Ooo, mom, I didn’t know you were here!”
“Did you even stop at home?” Kris asked.
“Um, no. I wanted to see if Aunt Mel found Katie and...well, the baby.”
Kris swayed side to side a bit rocking Jef. She turned her gaze to his tiny little face but I caught her eyes just before she did. I could tell she was trying to figure out what to say to her daughter.
“Do you want me to tell her?”
“Tell me what?” Beth asked me.
Kris didn’t even look up so I took the lead. “Beth, honey, it’s not good.”
“What’s not?”
“Honey, Katie’s dead.”
“No she’s not! Why would you say something like that?” the 13 year old wailed. “She’s only 17! She can’t be dead!”
Kris moved toward me then and handed Jef to me and then went to her daughter. She took her by the shoulder and pulled her in close. “It’s true,” she said simply and then held Beth while she cried.
Once Beth calmed down, Jef started crying. Figuring he was hungry, I handed him off to Kris while I went into the kitchen to make him a bottle. By the time I got back not two minutes later, Beth was comfortable in a chair and holding him as he squalled. She smiled when he calmed as soon as the nipple of the bottle I handed her touched his lips.
“Dana,” Kris said to me, “You really do look beat.”
“It was a long night with him. I’m just not used to it.”
“What’s going to happen to him now, mom?” Beth asked.
“We don’t know. You’re aunt Mel’s probably going to have to do something.”
“I wish we could keep him with us. I’d take care of him.”
“Oh no, no,” Beth told her. “I’m not ready for you to be a mommy yet!”
“That’s not what I meant...just that...that...oh, never mind!” She squirmed around a little to maneuver Jef into a different position.
“Tell you what; just for now, how about we take Jef over to our house and we let Dana get some rest? He’s worn her out.”
###
Mel
Muskingum County Sheriff’s Department
“Sheriff Crane.”
“It’s me, babe.”
“I know. Holly told me. What’s up?”
“Your sister and Beth just left here with Jef. They’re going to watch him for a little while.”
“Okay.”
“What’s going to happen to him?”
I sighed and rubbed my temple.
“Mel?”
“Sorry. I don’t know for sure. I’m going to have to call Children’s Services. They’ll send a case worker out to pick him up and they’ll handle it from there.”
“Will they pass him off to the next of kin?”
“If they think that’s best for him; that or another relative that’s willing and capable of taking care of him.”
“I can’t believe that. You know her parents or someone in her immediate family may well be responsible for her death.”
“That’s a consideration, yes, but I talked to Katie’s mother and father yesterday and...and again today and my gut tells me no, they’re not.” I didn’t tell Dana what the Hershberger’s said about Katie leaving of her own accord. Now that the girl was dead, it didn’t seem worth it to cast stones at her.
Dana wasn’t done though. “They didn’t want anything to do with Katie,” she said. “Now that she’s gone, I’m betting they’ll want to take Jef and raise him in the order.”
“Okay, okay, look; there are two sides to that whole story and this isn’t the time for me to get into all of that with you.”
“Just tell me this then; would it be possible to ask Children’s Services to place Jef with us temporarily while they look at the ‘whole story’, as you put it?”
I could feel her anger and her fear, both for Jef and for what she was suggesting we take on now, sans his mother. I measured my words carefully. “There are a lot of things they consider when potential caretakers aren’t family members. We’re not certified as foster parents, for one. I can ask – if that’s what you really want – but I can’t make any promises. They have laws and procedures they have to follow just like I do.”
“Is there anything else you could do to keep him out of her families hands then, until...”
“Really, I don’t know. Maybe I can convince them to place him with foster parents for now that have lots of newborn experience.”
“Would we be able to see him?”
“Actually, I doubt it.” She was very quiet. “Look, I’ll make some calls and we’ll talk about it when I get home.”
Chapter 9 – Kin
5:55 PM, Tuesday Evening, February 17th
Morelville, Ohio
Marco Rossi was outside the store sweeping the front walk when he heard the clip-clop of a horse and the rumble of wagon wheels approaching from the street that ran alongside the building. When the sound stopped, he went to the corner of the shop where the sidewalk met the edge of his lot and looked down the street. He watched as an Amish man dressed all in black tied his horse and rig off to the hitching rail then turn to help a woman, also wearing all black, down from the buggy.
He remained standing in the same spot as they approached him then nodded to the woman when they neared. “Good evening folks. What brings you out so late in the evening on a night so chilly?”
“It will be dark soon, yes, but this was the earliest we could come,” the man spoke. “We don’t need to purchase anything today but some directions would be very helpful.”
“I’ll help if I can. I’m still pretty new to the area.”
“Aye. I’m looking for the home of the Sheriff.”
“Mel Crane?”
“The woman? Yes.”
“Her house is just a block or so down.” He turned and pointed it out to them. “I don’t think she’s home though. I haven’t seen or heard her truck go by but Dana’s probably there, unless,” he said, “there’s something I could help you with or a message I could get to her? She’s my daughter-in-law. I’d make sure she got it...wouldn’t want you folks having to wait around and then traveling home as cold as it is.”
“We’re here for our grandson,” the woman spoke now. “She told us this morning he was in her families’ care.”
“Ah, I see. Well you better go on down there and talk to Dana then.”
As they returned to their buggy, Marco hustled into the store.
“Who were you talking to out there?” Chloe asked him.
“I’m thinking they were that girls parents. They said they were the baby’s grandparents and, now that I think about it, they were dressed like they were in mourning.”
“Oh oh
!”
“What?”
“Marco, they’ve probably come for him! Where did they go?”
“I sent them down to Mel and Dana’s place.”
“Oh my heavens! Why on earth would you do that?” Chloe fired at him. “Quick, you turn around that closed sign. I’ll call Dana and warn her they’ll be there in a few seconds.”
“Mama,” he said to his wife, “Dana can handle them.”
###
Dana
“Yes Mama. Yes, I hear them now.”
I listened as my mother barked orders at my father on the other end of the line. When I thought I had her attention again I told her, “Mama, I don’t need you to come down here. Jef isn’t even here and Mel just called to say she’s on her way home. We got this. You just get the store closed up properly and I’ll call you if I need you.”
“Well, where is Jef?” she asked me.
“He’s fine Mama; I gotta go. They’re knocking.”
I hustled from the kitchen where I’d been trying to put something together for Mel for dinner, across the sitting room to the front door we rarely used. After jiggling the old skeleton key in the lock for several seconds before it decided to turn and then sliding back the nearly as ancient bolt that helped to keep it all secure, I was finally able to wrench the door open.
I cracked the screen door wide enough to stick my head around it. “Yes, may I help you?” I asked the man and woman standing there as though I hadn’t already been expecting them.
“We’re here to speak with Sheriff Crane,” the man said.
“I see. Well, she isn’t home yet but she’s on her way. Please, come in.”
I stepped back and let them pass by me into the sitting room. Instead of the usual blue tones typical for the Amish, they were both dressed all in black even down to the wool coat the man wore and the heavy cloak the woman had on. They both reeked of a mixture of mothballs and an acrid smoke smell that had my nose twitching in distaste. I tried not to breathe in too deeply.
