The Morelville Mysteries Collection

by Anne Hagan

  “Are you the babysitter?” the woman asked me then.

  “No. I live here,” I told them without volunteering any more. They might have been dressed like they were mourning someone they cared about but I wasn’t ready to give them an inch; not yet.

  “Pardon me,” he began, “when do you expect the Sheriff?”

  “Soon. She’s on her way. Please, have a seat. Can I get either of you anything?”

  “No thank you,” he said. “We would like to see the baby; Jef I believe it is?”

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t even know the two of you.”

  “I’m Samuel Hershberger and this is my wife. The infant is our grandchild.”

  “The Sheriff told us he was in the hands of her family this morning. We’ve come for him,” she said to me then as she nodded to her husband. “Now that Katie is gone, it’s our obligation to see to his care and raise him.” Her tone was polite but insistent.

  “I do beg your pardon but you must have misunderstood Mel when you spoke with her. Jef isn’t here.”

  “He’s not?” she asked.

  “Where is he?” he asked at the same time.

  “Bear with me just a moment, please. I need to check on dinner and then I’ll be right back.” Now it was my turn to be polite but firm.

  In the kitchen, I quickly turned a skillet of chops I’d dug out of the freezer and managed to thaw and get on the stove just before Mama called, down to low and then I covered them. They’d just have to simmer for a bit, I thought. Then, I grabbed my cell and hustled through the little hallway off the back of the kitchen that led to the laundry room and the main bathroom.

  Once I was safely closed into the bathroom, I called Mel.

  “Where are you?” I begged, as soon as she answered.

  “I’m six or seven minutes out and I’m driving so I really don’t want to be on the phone, babe.”

  “Well hurry, then.”

  “Is something wrong?”

  “Katie’s parents are here. They came for Jef. He’s still at your sisters but they think he’s here.”

  “Hang tight, I’m on the way.”

  ###

  “Mr. and Mrs. Hershberger, again, my condolences on your loss.”

  Mel must have broken speed records getting home after my call. Her truck had crunched into the driveway and around the horse and buggy and then she had maneuvered into her usual parking spot just a few minutes later.

  As she took over with the Hershberger’s, I pretended to excuse myself and retreated past the stairs at the edge of the sitting room and back and around the corner into the kitchen again where I could listen in, unobserved.

  “I’m sorry to have to do this with you right now, but I expect that the Coroner will try and release Katie’s body tomorrow or early Thursday so, if you would want to, you could have her back for a traditional funeral.”

  “There isn’t any need to rush,” Samuel said. “Given the circumstances of Katie’s excommunication, there will only be a small private funeral at our home, on Friday.”

  “What’s this?” I heard Mel ask.

  “A coffin is being prepared for her. The name and number of a driver is on that paper. He’ll transport Katie back to us.”

  “I’ll see that the Coroner’s staff gets this,” Mel told him.

  Mrs. Hershberger was of one mind. As soon as Mel invited Samuel to sit again, she said, “We’re here for Jef, Sheriff. You told us he was in the care of your family. We thank you for that but now it’s our obligation to raise the child.”

  “I appreciate that but, that’s not how this works. Katie had emancipated herself from you. She was on her own at the time of her death. Her son becomes a ward of the state, however temporarily, and the state will decide where he should go.”

  “Aye, if we were English, that might be true, but we don’t follow English law. We follow God’s law,” Samuel said.

  “Your customs, Mr. Hershberger, don’t trump state law in this case. The infant will be turned over to the proper authorities and you’ll have the opportunity to make your case with them.”

  “So he’s still with you then?” the woman asked Mel.

  The skillet of chops on the stove popped and sputtered and I missed Mel’s response to them. Realizing I needed to pay attention to our dinner before it burned, I covered the couple of steps to the stove and took the lid off the pan. Grease from the fat continued to pop and hiss at me. I turned the meat over, recovered the pan, and checked to see that the flame was still set on low.

  By the time I crept back to my listening post, Mel had all but convinced the Hershbergers that the baby was safe and she’d see to it that they were treated fairly by the county courts. I kicked myself for not turning the chops off entirely when I first had the chance.

  We were eating dinner about 20 minutes later when Kris knocked and then let herself in. I figured she’d seen the Hershbergers and came by to be nosy. I was right.

  “Were those Katie’s parents here just a bit ago?

  Mel, chop bone poised in the air, her mouth full, just nodded at her sister.

  “Oh, I thought so,” she said. “That’s why I waited.”

  “Waited for what?” I asked her.

  “Well, I uh figured maybe you two would want a break tonight. Lance is on the road and, really, Jef is already asleep...I can just keep him for the night if it’s all right with you two but, if I do, I need formula. We only took the bottle Beth was already feeding him when we left before.

  ###

  “The news is reporting her death now and showing the same picture,” I called out to Mel who was in our ensuite brushing her teeth.

  She stepped out, brush still in hand and foam on her lips, and watched the local newscaster as he talked about where Katie was last seen and gave the hotline number for anyone with any information.

  “Where does that ring to?”

  “Shane’s desk,” she mumbled around a mouthful of the paste and then retreated to the bathroom to spit.

  “How long have they been putting that number out?” I called to her.

  She came back out and moved toward the bed. “Since the noon newscasts, today.”

  “Have you gotten any leads?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing worthwhile yet. Mostly wannabe psychics and assorted prank callers.”

  Chapter 10 – Nap Time

  Tuesday Night, February 17th

  Morelville, Ohio

  “It already seems weird without him being here.”

  “I know,” Mel replied. “But, we have to get used to it. I talked to a friend at Children’s Services today. Jef will be placed with a foster family certified in newborn and infant care. I’m going to turn him over tomorrow.”

  “For how long?”

  “That depends on how many petitions they get from relatives that want to care for him who have the means to do so. If Katie’s parents petition, they’ll probably get temporary custody fairly quickly and they’ll begin the process for a full adoption.”

  “But, what if they or someone in Katie’s immediate family is responsible for her death?” I was nearly panicked at the thought.

  She closed her eyes and held them that way for a couple of seconds before opening them and speaking. “Babe, I doubt those two people did anything to her and, frankly, I don’t even know that she was murdered yet. The way she was found...” She trailed off, shaking her head.

  I thought of something else then. “What about the birth certificate? I mean, he still doesn’t have one, right?”

  “Right. I explained all of that to my buddy at Children’s Services. It’s a concern, yes. I have to get with Hannah and we have to find that midwife. She’s responsible for certifying the instance of the birth and the date and time. They’ll also want to do a DNA match against Katie. Once all that’s done, they’re going to try to speed his records through and get his certificate issued.”

  “What’s the rush, at this point?”

  “Honestly? Jef’s never
seen a doctor. He needs a two-week checkup, minimum. He’s going to need shots...”

  “I didn’t think the Amish believed in those.”

  “Some of them do. They get the key ones, at least, around here they do. But, before he can be moved to a foster family, he’ll have to have them.”

  “You know, just let me say this one thing,” I pleaded to her.

  She took my hand and looked me in the eye. “What babe? Tell me.”

  “Something just isn’t right about this whole thing. Someone got that girl pregnant. Someone killed her; I know it. I can feel it. Call it intuition or whatever you want but I feel that down deep. It might be the same person, it might not be. Please promise me that you’ll talk to that agency and convince them to find a good foster home for Jef that’s well away from here until you can get this whole mess gets sorted out? Please?”

  She leaned over and kissed the tip of my nose. “Okay, I promise,” she said. With that, she dropped my hand, stretched her arm back and turned off the bedside lamp and then wished me goodnight.

  ###

  Late Tuesday Night, February 17th

  Kris Miller’s House, Morelville, Ohio

  “Ughhh, ughhh, helllll...”

  “Shh! Quiet! You cooperate and you live. Any more noise and you die!” the man hissed at Kris lying on her back on her queen sized bed.

  She nodded against the hand he held over her mouth. As much as she could in his grip, she turned her head towards Jef, still sleeping soundly, a foot or so away and then looked back up at two men, dressed all in black, as they hovered over the side of her bed.

  Moments later she felt the pinch of a needle and then the world went black.

  When she woke, fuzzy headed, about 20 minutes after they drugged her, she was still in her room but gagged and tied to a straight backed kitchen chair with cotton rope. Twisting her head toward the bed, she saw that Jef was gone.

  She strained against the rope and bounced around on the chair as much as she could, trying to stretch it enough to get an arm or a hand loose. As her head started to clear more, she managed to bounce enough to get the chair near the wall that separated her bedroom from Beth’s and then she yelled through the gag as loud as she could and bumped against the wall while she prayed that Beth was there and okay and would come to help.

  After a couple of minutes of that, Beth knocked on her door. “Mom? Mom? What’s going on? Mom? Should I come in there?” Kris just kept banging against the wall and finally, Beth opened the door and stepped into the room.

  Kris could make her out plainly since she was backlit by the nightlight in the hallway but, in the dim light of the room, Beth couldn’t see her. She tried yelling through the gag again and that’s when Beth turned from gazing at the empty bed to see her tied in the chair, up against a sidewall of the room.

  “Oh my God, mom!” Beth screamed. She flipped on the overhead light and ran to her mother.

  Kris jerked her head violently, trying to get her daughter to realize she wanted her to take her gag off. Beth didn’t see it as she moved around behind her to try and untie her hands instead.

  “Who did this? Who did this?” she wailed and then, when she couldn’t loosen the ropes, her voice shook with fear and frustration as she said, “These are really tied tight. I need to get scissors or something!”

  Kris tossed her head backwards then and Beth finally reached for the gag and removed it.

  “Call your Aunt Mel right now and get her over here! Worry about me after you do that.”

  Beth stopped then and stood scared, rooted to the spot.

  Cole, hearing all the commotion, finally woke up and stumbled sleepily into the room.

  “Cole; call Aunt Mel right now! Get her over here quick. Two men came and took Jef.”

  He moved quickly out of the room at the last only to reappear moments later with his cell phone and a baseball bat. Beth finally calmed down enough to try working on the ropes again as Cole paced agitatedly and waited for his aunt to pick up the phone.

  ###

  Mel

  “I’m so sorry...so sorry.” Kris cried. Tears poured down her face.

  I bent over here where she was still sitting in the chair she’d been tied to, the ropes now surrounding it on the floor. “You need to calm down and just tell me what happened.”

  “I don’t really remember a whole lot,” she said, her lower lip quivering. “We were sleeping...both of us, on the bed. I don’t know how they got in here or when.”

  “How many were there?”

  “Two...I think just two. I don’t know. That’s all I saw. Oh, poor Jef!”

  “Kris, think, I need you to concentrate. Did you recognize them?”

  “N...no. They were both dressed in black clothes and even hats. Their faces weren’t covered though but I only saw them for a second...it was dark and then, and then they drugged me with something.”

  Dana came into the room then. “I called in the 911. Dispatch is rolling units and I told them they might want to roust one of your detectives too and get them down here.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Kris, how are you doing?”

  “Oh....” She started crying anew.

  My wife moved toward her, pulled her up out of the chair and took her in her arms, trying to comfort her. I’d never been much for the touchy feely stuff myself but Dana seemed to pick up on just what people needed instinctively.

  When Kris’s breathing became more controlled, Dana pulled back just a little and told her, “Mel and her deputies can find Jef sweetie but you have to give her everything you know, okay?”

  “I don’t know what else I could tell you that would help.” She backed away from Dana then and sat down on the edge of her bed.

  “Did either one talk,” I asked her.

  She nodded. “One told me to be quiet or I’d die. I was so scared...”

  “I know; I understand. Think about his voice for a minute. Did it sound familiar?”

  She screwed up her face in concentration but then shook her head no.

  “Did he have any sort of an accent?”

  “Yeah...no...I don’t know. I think so. He didn’t say a lot and I was scared and...”

  I put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it for now. Let’s just let that one stew in the back of your brain. Can you tell me if either one of them had any identifying features?”

  “There was nothing. They were all in black except for their faces; I told you.”

  “Think hard Kris,” Dana said. “Any scars? Were they bearded like Amish men?”

  “I know one thing for sure; they weren’t Amish.”

  “How do you know?” Dana asked.

  “They didn’t smell like Amish.”

  Dana seemed confused by that. She gave my twin an odd look as she asked her, “Do the Amish have a certain smell?”

  “Every day but Sunday. Most of them only bathe on Saturday night for Sunday church.”

  “And,” I added to Kris’s explanation, “Don’t you remember how the Hershberger’s smelled earlier? You have to add wood smoke or coal smoke to the mix this time of year.”

  “They didn’t smell like any of that,” Kris said sadly.

  Chapter 11 - Canvass

  Mel

  12:20 AM, Wednesday, February 18th

  Morelville, Ohio

  Since Kris had been knocked out, I had no way of knowing exactly when the kidnapping happened or how long the perps had been gone. They may have had an hour or more head start before she woke from whatever sedative drug they’d given her. I called for an ambulance and I was with her in her living room waiting for it to arrive. Over her objections, I was sending her to the hospital for testing. That’s where our mom and dad found us when they showed up. It wasn’t a surprise at all to see that they were followed shortly by the Rossi’s.

  “Cole called us,” dad offered by way of explanation. “He said Kris was hurt and someone done took that baby.”

  “Yes.
I need to Kris to go get checked out. They shot her up with something and I want to make sure she’s not in any danger.” I didn’t say that I was worried that she may have been given something like Katie was probably given when she disappeared. My mind was running through all sorts of scenarios and looking at all of the possible connections, none of them pretty.

  “I’ll ride in with Kris,” my mother said.

  Dad nodded at her, “That’d be best. You watch her close now. I don’t always trust those medics to keep an eye out.” My dad didn’t trust medical personnel, period, but that was beside the point.

  “What do you want us to do?” Chloe Rossi, asked me.

  “I’m getting road blocks set up and an Amber alert sent out but, unfortunately, we don’t know what sort of vehicle we’re looking for. I need you two,” I looked from her to Marco and back, “to think about anything you might have seen in town today that looked odd or out of place. Anybody milling around? Any unusual vehicles hanging around...”

  “You don’t think it was that Amish couple, Katie’s parents, do you?” Marco Rossi’s eyes probed mine.

  “No,” Kris answered him for me. “It was two men, neither Amish.”

  “Let me find them!” my dad said. “Just let me!”

  “You two think on it since you were around most of the day, okay?” They both nodded their understanding and then Marco took Chloe’s elbow and they moved over to the sofa to sit and talk about it.

  My dad stayed by my side, near Kris who was now perched like a coiled spring on the edge of Lance’s favorite recliner. I knew I had to back him down, but easily. He wasn’t normally a man of many words but he didn’t take kindly to anyone messing with his family.

  “Dad,” I began, “I have deputies out there scouring the yard already and we’re going to start a door to door canvass. We’ve got this. If you want to ride in the ambulance with mom and Kris...”

  “Hell no, I don’t want to go to that hospital! I’ll stay right here and help.”

  “I can’t let you go door to door with us...” I trailed off, not knowing how to finish the sentence. I couldn’t say it was dangerous. He’d known everyone in town far longer than I had. I was the Sheriff sure, but I felt powerless to stop my own father when he got on one of his tears.