Murder in the Amish Bakery (Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Book 3)

by Samantha Price

  “You’ve been here before, haven’t you?” Ruth asked.

  “I haven’t been back here, nee. I’ve been to the store section out in the front to buy bread and the other goodies that you make so well.” Ettie looked up at the wooden vaulted ceilings and her gaze lowered to the rows of stainless steel ovens and steel countertops. “It all looks modern and so shiny.”

  “I’ve got the latest equipment. I have to have it, with the volume of bread we put out.”

  Is having the latest technology the key to making her bread? Nee! She’s been making the same bread for years. “You can still produce the same bread with all this new equipment?”

  “Jah, of course, I can.”

  Ettie was hoping that Ruth would take her on a tour to show her what all the equipment was used for.

  “Tea, Ettie?”

  “Jah, denke. I’d love some. It was too early to have some when I left. Tea would go down quite nicely.”

  Ruth smiled and beckoned her to follow. “Come with me into the lunchroom.” After Ruth put the kettle on to boil, she sat down at the small table with Ettie.

  “How many workers do you have?”

  “I have thirty employees. Not all of them are full-time; some are part-time. I’m branching into other things. I make chocolate chip cookies, brandy snaps pinwheels, cheese torts, cheese tarts, cream sticks, and lots of other things. Bread is still my main seller.”

  “Jah, that’s what you’re best known for.”

  “So tell me the problem you’re having with your bread, Ettie. I didn’t have time to listen on the phone yesterday.”

  “I’m making the bread in the same way that I always do. The temperature of the kitchen and the temperature the oven are exactly the same, and I’ve been using the same amount of ingredients.”

  “Do you measure exactly, or do you just measured by sight? A bit of this and a bit of that?” Ruth made pouring motions with her hands.

  “I measure by sight. I know the measures. I’ve been making bread since I was a maidel. I’ve always done it that way, as my mudder before me did.”

  “Tell me what you do exactly. Wait a minute, I’ll make the tea.” Ruth rose to her feet, and then placed a tea-bag into each cup before she poured hot water into the cups. “Milk, Ettie?”

  “No milk for me.”

  “I have it that way too.” Ruth placed the cups on the table in front of them. When she took a sip of tea, Ruth leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. “Go on, Ettie. You were telling me exactly what you’ve been doing,”

  Ettie launched into explaining exactly what ingredients she used and what she did with them. She finished by saying, “And then I knead it on a floured surface, by pushing with the heels of my hands, away from me as I’m adding in the rest of the flour.” Ettie hoped Ruth hadn’t fallen asleep, but who could blame her if she had? It was time for sleeping not time for baking. Even the cows weren’t awake at this time.

  Ruth opened her eyes. “That sounds about right, but unless I’m there watching what you do I simply can’t say what’s going wrong.”

  Normally, Ettie would’ve invited Ruth over to her house, but by the sounds of things Ruth was too busy. Ettie didn’t want to be a bother and neither did she want to upset Elsa-May, so she simply nodded at what Ruth said.

  “The only thing I can say is that it must be too hot in your kitchen. The yeast consumes the starches in the flour and converts them into carbon dioxide and alcohol, which is what causes the bread to rise. The activity level of the yeast is dependent upon the temperature in the room, so if it’s too hot the yeast will become overactive.”

  Ettie sighed. “I don’t think the temperature’s any different to normal.”

  “Why not try a pinch of salt in your mixture next time? See if that works. It’ll slow down the fermentation and enzyme activity in your mixture.”

  “Denke, Ruth, I’ll try that.” Ettie looked out the door of the tea room into the bakery. “You certainly must keep busy, especially when you’re got all the other goods to make now too.”

  “It does keep me busy, and I love working in the store and meeting people. I’ve made such good friends over the years. If I didn’t have the bakery, I don’t know what I’d do. I guess I would just waste away sitting in a chair all day. That’s what I saw my mudder do when she got older and I don’t want to turn out like her. She had nothing to be excited or happy about.”

  Ettie’s thoughts turned to Elsa-May who sat in a chair all day knitting despite the doctor telling her to get some exercise. Perhaps she should get Elsa-May a dog as the neighbor had suggested.

  “I’m seventy seven now, Ettie. People keep telling me to retire but why would I do that? I feel the same now as what I did when I was forty. I might look different, but I feel young. I really don’t feel old.”

  Ettie said, “I know what you mean. We don’t look the same on the outside, but we’re the same on the inside.” Ettie took a mouthful of tea. “Am I keeping you from your work?”

  Ruth shook her head. “I always come in at this time to have a quiet time by myself. I make a cup of tea, and sometimes I’ll look over the books or do paperwork. When the others get here, it’s so noisy I can’t even hear myself think.”

  “And what time did you say the others arrive?”

  “The bakery staff arrive at four and the staff who run the store come in at seven. This place will soon be buzzing.”

  “I imagine it will.”

  “So what have you been doing with yourself, Ettie?”

  “Besides trying to make a decent loaf of bread, not a lot.”

  “Have you decided what to do with Agatha’s haus yet?”

  “I’m nearly through with repairs, then I’ll lease it. Ava Glick’s already leasing the attached grossdaddi haus. She’s a lovely girl.”

  “She seems to be. I don’t know her very well. Couldn’t you and Elsa-May move into it and lease out the one you’re living in now? From what I can remember, Agatha’s haus is a lot bigger than yours.”

  “I was thinking of moving into it at one stage, but the dreadful business with Horace being murdered and his body hidden under the floor for so many years made me rethink the idea.”

  “I can understand that. There’s no one living in it now?”

  “Nee not in the main house. Elsa-May’s grandson, Jeremiah, is finishing the repairs and then I’ll lease it out to a nice familye.”

  “Good idea.”

  “I would sell, but in her will, Agatha requested that I leave Ava in the grossdaddi haus for as long as she wanted. Besides, I don’t need to sell.”

  When they finished their tea, Ruth said, “I’ll show you the place.”

  “I’d love to have a look around. I’d like to know what all those big machines are for.”

  “Come on, then.”

  Ettie said, “It’s gleaming and clean, not a speck of dust anywhere.”

  “It takes a good hour to clean up every night. I insist on the place being spotless and we have to abide by all the health regulations. We have inspectors over here all the time.”

  “Jah, of course, you would have to stick to all the rules.”

  Once they’d had a look around the bakery, Ruth said, “Now I’ll take you through to the older section where my office is.” As they walked to the front of the bakery, Ruth pointed to a door. “That leads to the store, and this one here is my office.” She pushed open another door. “This is where I do all my paperwork.”

  “Don’t you have someone to do that for you? With a business this size I’d imagine there’s a lot of paperwork.”

  Ruth laughed. “I do have a bookkeeper, but it’s quite a job to arrange the paperwork to send off to him.”

  Ettie followed her into the office.

  “That’s strange. I always turn the light off and I was the last one out.” Ruth took two steps into the room and screamed.

  Ettie froze in place and then looked to where Ruth was staring. She stepped next to Ruth and it was then
that she saw the body. A man who looked to be quite dead lay on the floor behind Ruth’s desk.

  “Is he…?” Ruth asked.

  Ettie stepped over to have a closer look. The man was face down on the floor in a puddle of darkened blood. There was a large knife in his back, and he had a large Bible clutched in one hand. “I’ll see if he’s breathing. You call 911.”

  Chapter 3.

  While Ruth picked up the phone, Ettie crouched down beside the man and put two fingers on his neck to feel for a pulse. Ettie was familiar with the stale stench of death that hung in the air, so she knew that the soul of the man stretched out before her had gone to meet his maker. There was no pulse, not even a faint one. “He’s dead,” Ettie announced so Ruth could relay that to the operator.

  Ettie touched the lifeless wrist beside her foot, knowing that the neck was the better place to find a pulse but hoping for a sign of life none-the-less. Ettie put her hands on the desk, and pulled herself to her feet and waited for Ruth to get off the phone.

  When Ruth hung up the phone she walked closer to take another look at the man.

  “Nasty way to go,” Ettie said. When Ruth remained silent, Ettie looked at her to see that her mouth had fallen open. “Did you know him?”

  Ruth slowly nodded.

  “Who is he?”

  Ruth sat down. “He’s a customer. He had a permanent order for bread. His name is Alan Avery and he’s got a busy café not far from here.” She looked up at Ettie. “What was he doing here and why is he dead?”

  Ettie shook her head. “I’ve no idea, but we know he wasn’t here alone.”

  Ettie looked down at the knife sticking out of Alan Avery’s back. “Is that one of your knives?”

  Ruth raised herself a little in her chair. “Nee. We don’t have knives like that. It looks like a butcher’s knife.”

  “Is that your Bible?” Ettie asked.

  Ruth looked at the Bible and covered her face with her hands. “It is. It’s my Bible. Why is he holding it? Take it out of his hands, would you, Ettie?”

  Ettie frowned. “I can’t. The police will need to have things just as we found them. Where had you left your Bible?”

  She pointed to a bureau. “I always leave it in that.”

  Ettie nodded. “Does he pick up the bread? Could he have come to collect his order?”

  Ruth shook her head. “He always comes at seven-thirty. It’s either him or one of his workers, but recently I refused to supply him anymore.”

  Ettie raised her eyebrows. “Really? Go on.”

  “We had a falling out when I found out he was opening a bakery right down the road. He was calling it ‘The Amish Bakery.’ What do you think of that? He’s not even Amish.”

  Ettie rubbed her chin.

  “Of course, I stopped supplying him after that.”

  “Jah, I suppose it was only a matter of time before he’d be making his own. It would never be as good as yours, of course.”

  “Nee, it wouldn’t and that’s why he’s been trying to buy me out for the past three years.”

  A loud buzzer sounded.

  “That’ll be the staff at the back door. I’ll have to go and let them in.”

  While Ruth hurried away, Ettie wondered what was keeping the police. Right at that moment, Ettie heard a loud pounding coming from somewhere. She opened the door to the retail store attached to the bakery and looked through the store windows to see the police and the paramedics out on the street. She hurried through and unlatched the deadbolts on the door.

  “He’s through this way,” Ettie said as she hurried back to Ruth’s office.

  Ettie stayed out of the room to let the paramedics and the police do their jobs.

  “Mrs. Smith?”

  Ettie turned around to see Detective Kelly.

  “Detective Kelly, I wondered if I’d see you today.”

  “The 911 call came from a Ruth Fuller. Is she here?”

  “That’s my friend. She owns the bakery and she’s just gone to let her staff in through the back.” Ruth walking toward her distracted Ettie. “Detective Kelly, this is Ruth Fuller.”

  “Hello. You made the call?” The detective flipped a notebook open and drew a pen out of his inner coat pocket.

  Ruth nodded. “I did.”

  “She knows him, the dead man,” Ettie interrupted.

  “And who is he?”

  Someone came up to the detective, and said, “I’d estimate he’s been dead for roughly four hours.”

  When the man who’d been talking to the detective went back into the office, Ruth said, “His name is Alan Avery. He’s got a café where he sells sandwiches not far from here.”

  “And you were the one to find the body, Mrs. Fuller?”

  “I did. I was showing Ettie around, and then we saw him right there on the floor. He’s holding my Bible. Do you think I could have it back? And, I’ve got policemen in my bakery. I can’t make the bread when they’re around.”

  Detective Kelly shook his head. “I’ll need both of you to come down to the station. We’ll need your prints for elimination.” He looked directly at Ruth. “You’ll have to tell your staff to go home. We’ll need to shut the whole place down while we have a good look around.”

  A policeman stood very close to the detective, and said in a quiet voice, “There’s no immediate sign of forced entry.” When Kelly nodded, the policeman walked away.

  Ruth wrung her hands. “I don’t like losing a day.”

  “See if your insurance will cover it. Call them, tell them what happened, and they’ll send someone to clean up the blood. When we’re finished here, of course. Now who had access to the place? How many people have a key?”

  “Just me. I was telling Ettie when we came in that I have the only two keys. One is hidden at home and the other one is here with me now.”

  “I want you to call me if that hidden key is missing.”

  “Yes, I will.”

  “Do you have any idea what the man might have been doing here?”

  “It’s obvious he was after my bread recipe.” Ruth stared at the detective and looked away when deep furrows appeared in his forehead. “I’ll have to tell my staff to leave now before they begin. I hope they haven’t started already.” Ruth hurried away.

  “What do you make of it, Detective?” Ettie asked.

  “All I can make of it so far is that at least two men made it in, and one man - or more - made it out after killing Mr. Avery. It’s not a suicide, we know that much from the knife in his back.”

  Ettie tapped a finger on her chin. “I wonder why he had Ruth’s Bible in his hand.”

  “He could’ve been stabbed and knew he was going to die, saw the Bible and thought he’d make amends with the man upstairs before it was too late.”

  “Perhaps, but it wasn’t left out on the desk or anything. Ruth said she always kept it in the bureau, so unless he had been through it and opened the cupboard, he wouldn’t have known where it was.”

  “Funny you should be here, Mrs. Smith. Almost like you knew there was going to be a murder.”

  Ettie frowned. “I was having bread problems and Ruth offered to help.”

  “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll need to go in and see him for myself.”

  Ettie stood and watched the detective walk into Ruth’s office. Ruth returned to stand next to Ettie while yellow crime scene tape was crisscrossed over her doorway.

  When Ruth saw one of the evidence technicians pop her Bible into a plastic bag, she called out “That’s my Bible. Don’t touch it.”

  Kelly came to the doorway. “I’m going to need it for a while. Once the technicians are finished in here, they’ll make their way through the rest of the building. You could wait here, Mrs. Fuller, or I can take your key, lock up when we’re finished, and drop the key back to you.”

  Ettie looked at Ruth when she didn’t answer. “Come on, Ruth, we shouldn’t stay here. I’ll walk you home.”

  “Don’t we have to go to the statio
n and have our fingerprints taken?”

  Kelly glanced at his watch. “After nine; there’s no immediate hurry.”

  Ruth nodded, and handed Kelly the key. She told him where she lived and the detective said he’d deliver it to her when they were through.

  Before she left, Ruth asked the detective, “Will we be open for business tomorrow?”

  “Hopefully.”

  “I must call all the cafes and restaurants I supply bread to and tell them that there’ll be no bread today.”

  Kelly said, “Don’t you have someone else who could do that for you?”

  “I did have but I just sent everybody home. All the phone numbers of my customers are in the office there. Can I get them?”

  Kelly shook his head. “No. You can’t go in there now, I’m afraid.”

  “People will be coming to get their orders and there won’t be any.”

  “Let’s make a sign to put on the door, Ruth,” Ettie suggested.

  “I suppose that will have to do.” She turned to Ettie. “I’ll put a sign on the front door and another on the back door. People often go to the back door to pick up the deliveries. And the people who just want one or two loaves come to the store.”

  Ettie and Ruth entered the store where they found paper and pens to write the signs. Once they’d taped one to the front and one to the back door, they set off to Ruth’s house.

  When Ruth pushed her front door open, Ettie said, “You should check to see if that spare key is still here.”

  “Jah. I hope someone hasn’t been in here and taken it. I wouldn’t feel safe in my own home if someone’s been here without me knowing.”

  Ettie followed Ruth into the kitchen and watched her open the canister that was on the kitchen counter. She reached her hand in and pulled out the key. “It’s still here.”

  “Well we know they didn’t get in that way,” Ettie said.

  “I wonder whether the police will find out how they got in. I hope so anyway. I’ve got eggs. How would you like them, Ettie?”