Material Witness

by Vannetta Chapman

  “It’s been a busy afternoon,” Shane admitted. “You called from Callie’s shop just as I was leaving the barn —”

  “Where the girl was murdered.” Callie’s tone was grim.

  Esther stopped even pretending to wash the dishes. Turning and resting against the sink, she watched her friends, which included Shane. And when had he joined that circle? Strangely enough, she could admit to herself that somehow he had — sometime in the last forty-eight hours Shane had become part of their circle of friends.

  “You couldn’t have saved her, Callie. Even if you had tackled her and managed to stop her today, he would have killed her later. No doubt he’d always planned on doing it. The question was when.”

  “But why?” Esther asked. She could in no way imagine any reason for one person to take the life of another. This woman, this Jolene Dowden, was apparently Thomas’ friend. So why would he kill her?

  “Maybe he didn’t want to share the money. Maybe she knows too much, and he doesn’t trust her. Maybe Thomas is mentally unbalanced and she angered him in some way.” Shane ran his hand around the back of his neck, massaging the muscles as he did. “We might never know, but he was careless this time, which indicates he was in a hurry. The bite marks in the apple match his dental records.”

  “Bite-mark analysis?” Callie’s voice rose in disbelief.

  “It’s questionable evidence in some cases, but Thomas had a capped tooth on the front right side. With Shipshe being a small town and given the emergency nature of the investigation, we were able to check with his dentist this afternoon. The bite marks match some dental work he had done as a teen — fairly conclusive evidence I believe a judge would accept.”

  Silence settled like a blanket over the group as they all considered the implications of Shane’s words.

  “Many Amish still don’t see a dentist, but Mrs. Hochstetler insisted her children go.” Melinda glanced around the room. “She was very modern about some things.”

  “The records were a perfect match,” Shane reiterated.

  “And you knew to check because of the conversation I told you about?” Melinda looked miserable.

  Esther thought of making her a cup of tea, but something told her this was an ache tea wouldn’t fix.

  “Actually I was already checking into Levi’s family. I had a man following him, but pulled him off for a moment when we were chasing Jolene. That was a mistake, as I lost Levi just before he went to meet with Thomas.”

  “You couldn’t have known,” Callie offered, but Shane stopped her.

  “Last night when we showed Levi the pictures, I realized he knew our perp.”

  “If you all could have seen Levi’s face.” Callie ran her finger in a circle on the map. “He turned whiter than the cloth you used on Melinda’s finger.”

  “When you repeated the conversation to me, when you remembered Thomas calling him brother, it helped speed up who we were looking for within our search parameters.”

  “It’s been years since any of us have seen him.” Deborah stepped around Esther and began washing the dishes. “I thought maybe Aaron’s sketch looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him. He’s changed so much.”

  Shane continued rubbing the muscle along the right side of his neck. “What’s odder is that he was so careful to cover his tracks one moment — wearing gloves and a mask — then almost arrogant and cavalier the next — leaving an apple with a bite taken out of it. I’m having a hard time getting a handle on Thomas.”

  Melinda and Deborah exchanged looks and Esther knew in that moment what they were remembering, because suddenly she remembered it too.

  Melinda spoke up first. “Shane, just before Thomas left the community, his parents tried to convince him to stay in Rest Haven, over in Goshen.”

  Shane stared at the women. “That didn’t show on his record.”

  “Because he refused to go.” Esther spoke up, knowing the telling would be difficult for Melinda, who was closest to Elizabeth. It had been a hard time for the Hochstetler family. “By that time, Thomas was older —”

  “At least eighteen,” Deborah said.

  “His mood swings were dramatic. They had seen several doctors.” Deborah spoke quietly, those years coming back in full color now.

  “Elizabeth often asked us to pray for him.” Melinda stared down at her bandaged finger. “He’d be fine when he took the medicines the doctors gave him, but often he’d forget or refuse to do so. Then the moods would grow worse. Sometimes he’d become violent. Finally Adam, Thomas’ dat, told him he either had to go to Rest Haven or leave. He chose to leave.”

  Shane pulled out his notepad and added a few notes. “He must have met Jolene after he moved to the city.”

  “Did she have a criminal record?” Callie asked.

  “Misdemeanors, but her fingerprints showed up in the database. It’ll help build our case once we’re able to connect the two through apartment leases, phone records, that sort of thing.”

  “So you have a gut case.” Esther looked straight at Shane. It wasn’t a question. She respected his work. Respected what he’d been able to do and the way he’d done it.

  “Yes, we do. All that’s left is to catch him, and we’ll do that tomorrow, if not sooner.”

  The words had barely left his mouth when Callie’s cell phone began to ring.

  She reached to answer it, but Shane’s hand covered hers. “Tomorrow morning, ten o’clock, this spot.” He tapped the map.

  Curling her left hand into a fist, she answered the phone with her right.

  Esther wasn’t sure if anyone else noticed the difference in Callie’s attitude between now and twenty-four hours ago. Esther did. Maybe because she’d been through the grieving process herself, because she’d had someone die nearly in front of her eyes. So she recognized what was happening to Callie. What she saw as she watched Callie was something she’d felt personally.

  Callie wasn’t afraid anymore.

  Now she was angry.

  Chapter 24

  AS CALLIE PUSHED Talk on her cell phone, she had trouble separating the different emotions she was feeling. When this had all started, when she’d come back to her shop and found Mrs. Knepp dead in her parking lot, she’d felt shame. When she’d seen Max slump to the ground, she’d experienced real fear. And throughout this entire ordeal when she’d considered the possibility that anything might happen to Aaron, she’d faced absolute terror.

  Perhaps then it was the exhaustion kicking in that would explain the anger coursing through her veins now.

  She’d had it with this guy.

  Who exactly was he to think he could walk into their town and turn their lives upside down?

  “‘Bout time, Harper. I was beginning to wonder if you were actually there.”

  “Of course, I’m here.” She glanced at Shane, who was prepared to text Perla. She was again ensconced in Callie’s apartment.

  “I’m tired of waiting.”

  “Is that why you killed Jolene?” The words shot out of Callie’s mouth before she had a chance to consider how Thomas might react.

  “That’s none of your business.” Thomas’ tone chilled considerably.

  Shane began writing her a message. He pushed the paper toward her.

  Don’t antagonize him.

  She turned the sheet over and pushed it back.

  “Seems like it is my business, since I could be next.”

  The string of expletives that followed caused Callie to hold the phone away from her ear. Thomas finally calmed down enough to say, “Tell me where my money is, or your dog and your friends won’t see their next festival.”

  “Is that the best you can do? Threaten my dog and my friends?”

  Shane began scribbling madly and playing charades at the same time, but Callie couldn’t have stopped if he’d slapped duct tape over her mouth. Her blood was pounding through her veins. All she could picture was the lady, first in her shop, then running through the festival tents, then dead, draped o
ver the apple barrel.

  Shane had brought her a picture to identify Jolene’s body rather than have her leave the shop and go to the barn. It was a sight she wouldn’t forget anytime soon, and it was one more reason she had stopped fearing Thomas and started planning a way to get even.

  “I won’t shoot your dog this time. I’ll cut him open while you watch. I’ll —”

  “Ten a.m. tomorrow.” She gave him the crossroads for the abandoned farm.

  “What’s to stop me from going there without you?”

  “Have at it. The place is two hundred acres.”

  As she was about to hit End, he threw her one final curveball.

  “Ten won’t work for me, Harper. I’ll be there at six tomorrow evening, and don’t even think about bringing anyone with you. I don’t know what’s gotten into your Texan boots, but you better clean them out before we meet, or I’ll take care of you the same way I took care of Jolene.”

  The line went dead before she could think of a retort or hang up on the sociopath herself. Or was he a psychopath? She hadn’t decided. Determined to hurl the phone across the room, which would have at least eased the rage pounding in her temples, she pulled her arm back, but Shane was suddenly behind her — one one arm around her waist. His other hand he closed around her fingers, which were still wrapped around the phone.

  “Breathe, Callie. Don’t let him win.” His words in her ear were the sound of a fall breeze outside her bedroom window, calling her back, but she could barely make them out. “Breathe. That’s it. Relax.”

  She turned around, buried herself in his arms, and — in spite of her bravado with Thomas — she realized that was where she’d like to stay.

  Twenty minutes later all of the adults were once again around the table, and Captain Taylor had joined them. Callie had calmed some. Having Taylor in the room helped. She’d come to think of him as a grandfather. She couldn’t help but relax when he smiled at her.

  “I want to thank you all for your help and your patience during this investigation. We could have proceeded another way, could have gone with more assistance from outside authorities, brought in SWAT teams and taken a very heavy hand, but Shane wanted to do it this way. He trusted using your help, and I think he was right. Shane, why don’t you outline the next twenty-four hours.”

  “Basically your portion is done. I’d advise the women and children to stay here again tonight, as a precaution. Thomas has agreed to meet us at the abandoned farm at six p.m. tomorrow.”

  “Thought it was supposed to be in the morning,” Reuben said. He glanced at Callie, but she shrugged and said nothing.

  “Yes, that was what I was hoping, but now it’s in the evening.” Shane met Reuben’s gaze, then glanced down at the map that was still spread out on the table.

  “Why would that be?” Reuben asked quietly. “Why would he choose later if he’s so interested in the money? Seems like he’d want to grab it and be on his way.”

  Callie glanced up in time to see the muscle in Shane’s jaw tick. Reuben’s question was a good one though. She had wondered the same thing.

  “Two reasons I can think of. One is control — he doesn’t like to be told what to do or when to do it. The other is that he wants to leave under the cover of darkness. Probably it’s both.” When no one argued Shane continued, “Since there’s no church meeting tomorrow, you’re free to go about your regular visiting.”

  “Where will Callie be?” Melinda asked.

  “I’ve asked her not to go back to the shop until we actually have Thomas in custody.”

  “Stay with us, Callie. Stay as long as you need.” Esther reached across the table and squeezed her hand.

  “Thank you.” The words seemed inadequate, but she didn’t know what else to say.

  “Perla is at the shop now and will stay there overnight. She’ll leave early in the morning, before daylight, so she can’t be spotted. At approximately five-thirty in the morning, she’ll drive Callie’s car to the abandoned farm.”

  “And you’ll be there?” Jonas asked.

  “I’ll have men on the perimeter, and by midday I’ll be stationed in the middle.” Shane once again pointed to the map. “There’s an old windmill here. We’ve already checked it out. The platform is good. He won’t see me unless he looks straight up, but I’ll have a good view of anyone coming or going. We have two guards stationed around the clock now, in case he tries to go in early.”

  “What about Andrew Gavin?” Noah asked.

  Captain Taylor shook his head. “I put him on forty-eight-hour leave. The concussion was more severe than we thought.”

  “Gavin probably fought you on that decision.” Reuben crossed his arms.

  Callie hadn’t had the chance to call Andrew. She would later. She felt terrible about the fact that he’d been hurt. Her anger against Thomas flared again, and she took a deep breath to calm it.

  “You’re right,” Taylor admitted. “Gavin was upset, but in the end it was my decision. He’s suffered a concussion and needed twelve stitches in his head. We have plenty of personnel, especially when you include the county officers who have been helping.”

  Callie studied each person in the room as Shane finished up the meeting. They’d been her friends before this nightmare had started on Thursday evening, a little over forty-eight hours ago. Now they were family.

  Max rolled over, settling his head on the tops of her feet where they were placed under the table.

  She owed them all so much: her life, her dog’s life, the success of her business.

  Now Shane was saying they were done. He was giving them a free pass, except something didn’t feel right.

  This had all begun with Mrs. Hochstetler, Levi and Thomas’ mother, and she had involved them for a reason. Glancing up, she caught Deborah staring at her.

  Was Deborah thinking the same thing she was?

  Deborah nodded toward the door. As everyone stood and small conversations started, they slipped out into the night.

  Maybe their part in this wasn’t over after all.

  Deborah pulled her around the corner of the building. “I know you’re plotting something. What is it?”

  “Mrs. Hochstetler involved us for a reason.”

  “The mystery of the quilts.”

  “Exactly.”

  “It’s still not solved.” Deborah pulled the strings of her kapp through her fingers. “Kept me awake last night, even after we studied them over an hour. I think she did put something away for her family and …”

  “Hurry and say it. We’re nearly out of time, and Shane is clinging to me like flypaper.”

  “I think maybe she put some money back for Aaron. She seemed especially close to Melinda. Maybe she felt a kinship to Aaron.”

  “Because of his handicap?”

  “That — yes, but also because of the son she lost. She recognized the fear Melinda lives with daily.”

  Callie was quiet for a moment, chewing on her thumbnail as she considered Deborah’s words. “That angle actually makes sense. I hadn’t thought of it.”

  A blackbird began singing loudly in the trees lining Esther’s yard. Deborah was reminded that in spite of the complications in their lives, most of the world continued on its normal course.

  “What are we going to do about it?” Deborah asked.

  “I say we go over there.”

  “What?” Deborah had known from the moment Callie lost her temper on the phone that she was about to step off the path Shane had so carefully constructed for her. She didn’t know Callie had something this crazy in mind. “Go where?”

  “To Levi’s. He lives in the original farmhouse, the farmhouse where Mrs. Hochstetler lived when she sewed the quilts. The answers are there. I’m sure of it.”

  “Callie. That’s dangerous.”

  “How can it be dangerous? Thomas is going to be at the abandoned farm — surrounded by Shane and every police officer they’ve rounded up for this operation.”

  “Ya. I suppose tha
t’s true.”

  “We don’t have to stay long. We’ll go tomorrow afternoon, while everyone else is visiting. I’ve had so many casseroles the last two days I’m having trouble buttoning my pants.”

  Deborah looked down at her dress, smoothed it over her stomach to check her own waistline. It was nearly dark, but Callie must have seen the gesture because she started laughing. Then Deborah started laughing. Then they were both leaning against the side of the barn trying to catch their breath and quiet themselves.

  “You’re going to get us caught,” Callie gasped.

  “And you are acting like a child.” Deborah wiped at the tears stinging the corner of her eyes, but she did feel better. Tears — even tears from desperate laughter — felt better than worrying. “So we go over in the afternoon?”

  “For a few minutes, with the quilts.” Callie glanced back toward the barn door. “Long enough to look around.”

  Everyone was walking out into the yard now. Deborah could see Shane from the light spilling out of the doorway, looking for Callie. “I don’t suppose that would be considered trespassing. Would it?”

  “I hope not. Shane’s probably looking for a reason to pull out the cuffs so he can keep a closer eye on me.”

  “Didn’t look like you minded the attention last night when you two were cuddling in the yard.” Deborah hooked her arm through Callie’s and began walking her back toward the group.

  “I know I’m a hypocrite. You don’t have to point it out to me.”

  “What are freinden for if not to provide a mirror?”

  “Please tell me that’s not a proverb.”

  “Nope. I made it up.” They began giggling again, a sound that was equal parts exhaustion, fear, and silliness. Deborah noticed both Jonas and Shane gave them an odd look.

  Didn’t much matter. They had a plan, and it felt better than doing nothing. It also felt like the right thing.

  The mystery of the quilts had been bothering her.

  Chapter 25

  THE NEXT AFTERNOON, everyone had cleared out of Reuben and Tobias’ farm.