Material Witness

by Vannetta Chapman

  While Callie grabbed her jacket, found her purse, and stopped by the bathroom, Shane peeked in on Aaron. The boys appeared to be asleep, but that didn’t fool him for a minute. He’d heard them whispering before he opened the door.

  At least they were safe though. They were safe for now.

  It would have to be enough.

  Aaron tried holding his breath while Shane stood in the doorway. Then he realized he should look like he was sleeping, and sleeping boys were probably in the habit of breathing. So he took deep breaths, hoping the covers would rise and fall and convince the detective he was out cold.

  He’d played possum before. Wasn’t like this was his first time, but it had been a while. Now that he was older, his mamm and dat helped him to his room, helped him out of his chair, and didn’t check on him again.

  They trusted him to stay put.

  Unlike many of his freinden’s houses, Aaron’s house was a single story. Hannah’s room was near the front of the house, next to his parents’. He shared a room with his bruder at the back of the house — past the kitchen. Some nights, when he couldn’t sleep, he’d hear his parents walking back and forth, between their own room and Hannah’s. They’d left him a special bell next to his bed in case he ever needed anything, but he’d never used it.

  For one thing, Matt was always in the bed across from his. If he needed anything, Matt was there for him. Aaron didn’t need a bell. He’d tried explaining that to his mamm. She’d smiled and said she felt better leaving the bell there all the same. He could no more have understood the reasons for the things his mamm insisted on than he could have understood why the chickens walked in a circular motion when he threw out the food or why Creeper had chosen Fall Festival to disrupt their lives.

  “Are you asleep?” Matt asked.

  “‘Course not.”

  “Sure sounded like it to me.” Joseph began laughing and threw something at Jacob, starting a pillow fight — albeit a somewhat quiet one.

  “Any idea why Shane would be checking on us?” Aaron asked.

  “Guess he wanted to be sure Creeper hadn’t snuck into the room and snatched you.”

  Now that his eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the room, Aaron could make out that everyone was sitting up in their beds — everyone except Joshua, who was snoring in a crib in the corner. Aaron struggled to a sitting position and studied the play of shadow and light coming in through the window. Surely the killer couldn’t find a way into the house.

  “That’s impossible,” Jacob said as he whacked Joseph over the head with his pillow. “My dat’s right outside the window. I saw him not ten minutes ago.”

  “Yup. No one gets past Dat. I tried sneaking out once.” Joseph dodged a hit to his right shoulder. “He caught me before I had one leg out the window.”

  “Aren’t you too young to be sneaking out the windows? And isn’t your room upstairs at your house?” Matthew looked at Joseph with what Aaron thought was a mixture of annoyance and admiration, sort of like John Wayne usually looked at his sidekick.

  Why was that movie stuck in his head?

  “Ya, we’re upstairs,” Jacob said. “But there’s a gut trellis running down the wall for Mamm’s flowers. Built nice and sturdy too.”

  “It was a few months ago. I’d already turned seven.” Joseph shrugged as if that explained everything, but when he turned toward Matthew and Aaron, Jacob landed a shot directly on the top of his head. Joseph fell over as if he were knocked out.

  “The pigs are why he was leaving. He’s always worried about those pigs.” Jacob shook his head as if he couldn’t understand the ways of his twin brother, which was when Joseph leapt up and attacked from behind.

  While the counterattack was occurring, Aaron turned to Matthew. “Are we all set for tomorrow morning?”

  “I think so. Talked to Martha before she took the younger girls into the other room. Her mamm already asked if she wanted to go into town to help in her aenti’s booth. She’ll have no problem sneaking away to meet us.”

  “And the phone?”

  “Says it won’t be a problem.”

  “Who has a phone?” The twins were suddenly no longer interested in the pillow fight. They plopped down on either side of Aaron, all eyes and ears.

  Aaron tried to be aggravated with their listening in on the conversation, but it was impossible to be irritated with Jacob and Joseph. The two had been his friends for as long as he could remember. They were as loyal as Matt, and they’d never once let his sickness come in the way of a good time.

  In fact, more than once he’d found himself in trouble because of them. Freinden didn’t come any better.

  He looked to Matt, who nodded.

  “We’re going after Creeper tomorrow.”

  “Using my bruder here as bait,” Matt added. “And this time we’re going to catch him.”

  “Martha’s bringing a phone, so we can call Shane if we need him.”

  The twins looked at each other, silent for the space of a few seconds as the sound of their dat walking a patrol outside the window filled the night. When his footsteps had faded, a grin spread across each face.

  “Awesome,” Jacob said. “I seriously doubt this man knows what he’s in for.”

  Joseph picked up his pillow, held it over his shoulder like a bat. “Ya. And if you need any help, I’ll sic my pigs on him.”

  Chapter 19

  CALLIE FOUND HERSELF BACK in Shane’s old Buick. Once again he made no pretense of wanting her anywhere other than tucked up beside him.

  “Have to keep you close,” he murmured, opening the driver’s side door so she could scoot in past the wheel, but not too far past. He left the door open long enough for her to find the middle lap belt by the glow of the dome light.

  While she was fumbling with the seat belt, he checked in on the radio that was attached under the dash and talked to Captain Taylor. Before he slammed the door shut, she caught a glimpse of his grin. It settled the fireflies swirling in her stomach. She couldn’t imagine what might be waiting for them at the end of the lane, but something told her it was no match for Shane.

  When he cranked the ignition of the old car, she winced at the sound of the motor splitting the quiet of the evening.

  “We’re not going to sneak up on anyone in this car.”

  “If we need to sneak we’ll walk or borrow someone’s horse.” He pulled out down the lane at a reasonably slow speed, waving once to someone she didn’t see. “If we need to catch them though, this car will work fine.”

  “What gives with the old car, Shane? Surely you can afford a new one.”

  Shane gave her the slow smile that melted something deep inside her. “New car? Like that mini-SUV you bought?”

  “You’re not ragging on my car, are you? I like my car, and you’re the one who suggested I lose the rental.”

  “Those were good times. Remember when I first hauled you into the interrogation room?”

  She relaxed against the leather seat. It felt good to banter back and forth with him. The conversation was safe, taking her mind off her feelings and helping her forget their assailant for a few minutes.

  “Yeah. I was having a little trouble accepting that I was here for good.”

  Shane didn’t respond immediately. Just when she thought he wouldn’t, he glanced at her. “Have you decided now? Decided if you’re here for good?”

  “This is my home, Shane. Deborah and Melinda and Esther — even you and Gavin and Trent — you’re my friends.” She hesitated then pushed on, perhaps because the night stole all pretenses. Or maybe because she knew their relationship had leapt past the friend point in the last twenty-four hours. “I don’t have anyone I’m this close to back in Texas. I don’t have any reason to return there.”

  Shane nodded. “And then there’s Max.”

  This needed to end soon. She missed her dog. Missed having him in the house with her, sprawled across her feet, a nice, warm lump like house shoes with a heartbeat.

 
“Where’d you go?” Shane asked.

  “Hmm?”

  “You left for a few minutes.”

  “Thinking that I’ll appreciate normal after this.”

  She didn’t pull away when he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and tucked her in closer. He ran his hand up and down her arm, leaving a trail of goose bumps.

  Would her life return to normal?

  “I miss Max.” She sighed dramatically. “I still think he would have fit in the backseat of this car.”

  “We will have to be going steady before I allow Max in the backseat of my car.”

  It was crazy, because she would turn thirty soon and Shane had just said the words going steady as if they were in high school. But when he did, her pulse had kicked up a notch and her palms had actually started to sweat.

  “Going back to your question about the car, it was my dad’s.”

  “Was?”

  “He bought it before I was born. It’s a 1971 Buick GSX.”

  Callie ran her hand over the black leather seats. More than forty years old, but it looked like it had come off the factory floor yesterday. “Why do you have it?”

  “Growing up, we worked on it together every weekend — changed the oil, checked the brakes, even pulled the engine if we needed to. Buick made one hundred and twenty-four of these. ‘Course Dad didn’t realize that when he ordered it, but it quickly became a collector’s item. Each year it became worth more, and each year he hung on to it. Drove it on weekends. Kept it in top shape.”

  “Some hobby.” Callie was beginning to realize the vehicle she was riding in was more than a car. It was a connection to Shane’s childhood, to his past.

  “When I made detective, he handed me the keys.”

  “Wow.”

  “Yeah. Wow.”

  He slowed and turned down the lane that led to Levi Hochstetler’s house.

  “Must be worth a lot.”

  “More than a new mini-SUV.” Shane ran his fingers through the back of her hair.

  “Ever think about selling?”

  “Not even once.”

  He pulled next to the barn and shut off the engine. The light from a kerosene lantern shone from the kitchen window, and another came on in the sitting room.

  “Do you see your parents often?” She had never imagined him with parents. He’d always been Shane — the big, bad detective who was intent on making her life miserable.

  Which wasn’t completely true.

  She’d always been afraid to acknowledge the other side of him, the human side. To do so would end what was left of their adversarial relationship, and where would she be then? Was she ready to commit to what he wanted? The thought frightened her and at the same time sent her pulse racing.

  She was afraid to commit to Shane, like she’d been afraid to commit herself to Shipshewana. Correction, she was terrified of stepping any closer to the intimate side of Shane Black.

  When he tipped her face up to his and kissed her lips softly, she realized it was too late to fight those fears.

  “I see them twice a month,” he whispered.

  “See who?” Callie’s mind was fuzzy from his kiss.

  “My parents.”

  “You have parents?”

  He kissed her again, then removed his keys from the ignition, walked around the car, and opened her door. “Come on, Callie Grace. Help me with these quilts. Let’s see if we can put this treasure map question to rest. We have a killer to catch, and the sun will be up in another seven hours. We need to have you back at the shop before then.”

  Shane hated the expression on Levi and Sadie Hochstetler’s face when they opened the door — cold, naked fear. It might last a second, might last longer, but he was rarely greeted by anything other than fear initially. When families opened the front door and saw him, the county detective, the first response was generally the same.

  Shane’s reaction to their fear might appear cold, definitely emotionless. Despite what most people thought, the veneer that looked to others like a block of ice was no more than that — a veneer. Invariably his mind would flash back to the night when he was eleven years old.

  The night he had opened the door to find an officer standing on his own front porch.

  The night his life had changed irrevocably.

  Instead of allowing his personal feelings to intrude, he locked them down. The past was history. That past was ancient history serving ninety-nine years to life. He wouldn’t allow it to intrude on this family’s needs.

  “Shane.”

  “Levi, I was wondering if we could speak with you.”

  “It’s late.”

  “Yes, it is. I wouldn’t have come by if it wasn’t important.”

  Levi’s eyes hesitated on Callie, took in the quilts they both were carrying, then peered past them, as if he might find answers in the darkness. Finally he nodded, taking his wife’s arm and pulling her farther inside as he opened the door wider.

  They stepped into a room that was typically Amish. Shane had grown up in the community, gone to school there, and played baseball there. He was well acquainted with plain ways and customs. Still the starkness of the Hochstetler home struck him as he walked inside, removing his Cubs cap because he knew they didn’t abide wearing hats indoors.

  He could have been stepping into any of a dozen homes within the Shipshewana district that he had visited in the recent past — they looked that much alike to him. Did they not miss the family photos and the drapes that softened a home against the night’s darkness?

  “Would you like some kaffi?” Sadie asked.

  “No, thank you. We had dinner at Reuben’s, but it might be good if we all sat down to talk this thing through.”

  Moving into the kitchen, they took their places around the table. Shane took the quilt Callie was carrying and set it on top of the two he had, placing them all in the empty chair next to him. He noticed a half-full cup of coffee in front of Levi’s seat. Levi and Sadie had been up late discussing something before they’d arrived.

  Was it related to Mrs. Knepp’s murder?

  How could it be?

  Perhaps there was something they knew, something they hadn’t reported?

  Dismissing the questions, Shane quickly ran through the recent developments in the case. Sadie and Levi remained silent until he was finished.

  “We saw the posters in town today,” Levi admitted. “Can’t say I see how this would involve us in any way.”

  “For whatever reason, the person we’re looking for has targeted Callie. He seems to have the idea that she’s come into a large sum of money. When we did a search on recent news articles, one came up with her name. It was a short piece regarding your mother’s will.”

  Levi took his time responding. Finally he cleared his throat and glanced at his wife.

  “It’s all right, Levi.” Sadie reached out and covered Levi’s sun-aged hand with her own. “Callie will understand.”

  Sadie and Callie exchanged a look.

  Shane had meant to ask Callie how well the two women were acquainted — but he’d allowed himself to become distracted on the way over. One more reason he needed to bottle up his emotions, to resist his feelings for Callie — at least until this case was solved.

  “We thought it odd when Mamm named her in the will,” Levi admitted. “No offense, Callie.”

  “None taken. I was surprised too.”

  “Mamm visited the shop, of course. All the women in my family do, but it seemed …” Levi stared down into the coffee, didn’t look up until he’d found the word he needed. “It seemed eccentric to actually leave something to an Englischer when she’d had little personal dealings with you.”

  “I understand,” Callie said. “Your mother was a beautiful person and a valued customer, but I only knew her casually.”

  “Deborah, Melinda, and Esther knew her better?” Shane asked.

  “Ya, of course. We’re in the same district, meet together for church.” Levi sat back in his chair, a
s if this were safer ground to cover.

  “Elizabeth was particularly close to Melinda.” Sadie picked up the thread. “She took a real interest in her younger son, Aaron. Always asked after him and how he was doing.”

  “What about the quilts, Levi? How did you feel about your mother leaving those to Callie and the girls?”

  Levi’s eyes flickered to the stack of quilts. “Didn’t bother me so much. They’re just quilts. Again, it seemed strange, but they were Mamm’s to do with as she pleased. I didn’t even realize they were in that old trunk. Don’t remember ever having seen them.”

  “They’re actually antiques,” Callie explained. “The oldest was quilted over fifty years ago.”

  Levi merely shrugged, so Callie stood and walked over to the stack of quilts. She unfolded one in order to reveal the top. “As you can see it’s not a traditional pattern. We believe it might be a code of sorts. That your mother might have been trying to tell us something.”

  Levi shook his head. “Don’t know why she’d do that, or why she’d use a different quilt pattern than the other women.”

  “The borders fit together like a puzzle, and they’re German script, Amish proverbs actually. But the pictures are what we were hoping you could help us with. Do these pictures mean anything to you? There’s a woman here boarding a bus, for instance. Is there anything in your family history about an important trip she took?”

  Sadie had been staring at the quilt intently. “There was —”

  “I don’t know what you’re looking for. Don’t know what the quilts could mean or why she would sew them this way. Now if there are no other questions, tomorrow’s Saturday and a workday for us.”

  Sadie looked at her husband as if he’d grown an extra pair of ears, but she held her peace.

  Shane nodded to Callie, and she refolded the quilt before setting it on top of the other two.

  They’d almost made it to the door when Shane turned. He could have done it at the table, but he was hoping to catch Levi off guard. By this point he was convinced the man was hiding something, though it may have been totally unrelated.

  “There is one other thing,” he said, as if it had totally slipped his mind. He handed the three quilts to Callie, though they reached to her chin and she looked as if she might topple backward under the weight of them. “The drawings in town are from Aaron’s description. We had an artist work with him to come up with a rendering.”