Found

by Shelley Shepard Gray

  “Probably because everyone thinks I killed Perry?” Jacob said dryly. Of course it wasn’t a laughing matter, but he was so uneasy, he knew if he didn’t try to joke, other, darker emotions were going to get the best of him.

  “No one thinks that.”

  “Daed, the whole town now knows I was taken in for questioning.”

  “But not charged. That’s an important distinction, for sure.”

  His father was right. But he was tired of talking about it, and at the moment, he could care less about the day’s totals. “Daed, I don’t understand why you’re looking at the store’s receipts, anyway.”

  “I look at them every evening.”

  “But what would it hurt if you skipped one night?”

  “Jacob, I’m disappointed in you. I’ve grown this store all my life, so you’d have something to depend on when you built a family of your own.”

  “Daed, I appreciate all that you’ve done for me. You’ve been a mighty good father.”

  “There’s no need for thanks. You are my son.”

  “What would you have done if I hadn’t wanted to take over the store one day? What if I had wanted to do something else?”

  “Such as?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I would have wanted to be a farmer or something.”

  Taking off his glasses, he stared at Jacob in confusion. “Why would you have wanted to do that?”

  “Because it’s my life. Not yours.”

  He laughed dryly. “When you have a family, you’ll understand. My dreams are yours. I’ve lived my whole life preparing for the day when you would follow in my footsteps.”

  “But if I hadn’t wanted to follow?”

  “I would have stepped in and set you back on the right path.” Slipping on his glasses again, he added, “I have done it before. No way was I ever going to allow anything to get in the way of your bright future.”

  A twinge of alarm coursed down Jacob’s spine. “Daed . . . what do you mean by that?”

  “Nothing.”

  “No . . . it was something.” Looking at his father carefully, Jacob said, “What did you do? How did you ‘step in’? Were you speaking about Perry?”

  Staring at the receipts, his father smoothed the top one over and over again. “Perry passed away, son. He is no one you will ever need to worry about. He won’t harm you or the store.” Raising his head, he looked Jacob in the eye. “Plus, we’ve got your Mr. Meyer. He’s costing a pretty penny, but he’s sure to be worth every cent, don’tcha think? He’ll get you off.”

  Bitter foreboding hit Jacob hard. At last, everything made sense.

  And no sense at all.

  “Daed, did you have something to do with Perry’s death?”

  His father turned chalky white. “Jacob!”

  Feeling like he was stepping into another person’s dream, Jacob shook his head in shock, “Daed, when I was talking to Frannie on the front porch, and she told me about her argument with Perry on the Millers’ farm, you overheard. Didn’t you? ”

  “Don’t ask me to answer you.”

  “You did, didn’t you?” he pressed. “What did you do, Daed?” But with a sinking feeling, Jacob knew. He knew it as clearly as if he’d been watching his father’s actions on the kitchen wall. “You went out to the Millers’ farm and found Perry, didn’t you?” Feeling sick to his stomach, he asked the next question. “Daed, did you follow me?”

  Almost imperceptibly, he nodded. “That boy . . . that Perry, he was nothing but trouble. He was going to hurt you, he was going to hurt your reputation. So . . . I did follow you.”

  “Oh, Daed . . .”

  He raised a hand. “Oh, I wasn’t going to do anything, Jacob. I was just going to stand out of the way. Just in case you needed me, you know.”

  “You shouldn’t have done that.”

  “You’re my son, Jacob.” Frowning fiercely, as if it had happened only yesterday and not months before . . . his father continued. “After you two fought, and you ran off, I stood and watched Perry bleed. At first, I only stayed because I was sure he was going to stand up and run after you, and I didn’t want that. But then, he didn’t get up. He just kept bleeding. And eventually, he closed his eyes.”

  Jacob wanted to cover his ears, or run from the room. Anything to delay what seemed to be the inevitable. “What did you do, Daed?” he said, his voice hoarse.

  “I marched up to that boy and finally told him what I thought of him,” his father said. “Even though his eyes were closed and he wasn’t moving, I explained how he was shaming his family, and how he was an embarrassment to us all. I told him how he’d been hurting you.”

  “Oh, Daed.”

  “I did it, Jacob,” his father said, his eyes gleaming with pride. “I finally stopped holding my tongue and turning the other cheek. I stopped quoting well-meaning sayings. Stopped trying to turn everything that had happened into a positive. I yelled at Perry, Jacob.” His voice cracked. “I yelled at that boy while he sat there on the ground bleedin’ something awful.”

  “And then?” Jacob could hardly bear to say it.

  “And then? Nothing happened. Perry just sat there, motionless. He’d likely passed out. Or died. He could’ve very well been dead by then.” His father’s eyes filled with tears. He pursed his lips, frowning at the memory. “I couldn’t leave him there, Jacob. If I left him there, someone was going to find him. Then, all of the sudden, I realized he was leaning up against the well! It was like the Lord had placed it there, just for me.”

  “Daed . . .”

  “It wasn’t hard to put him down there. All I had to do was lift up his shoulders some, twist his body . . . and then let it fall.”

  Jacob felt stunned and scared and completely at a loss. “Father, you killed Perry.”

  If his father heard him, he didn’t let on. Instead, he continued with his account. “After I got him down, I noticed there was some blood on the rocks. You know, the rocks he’d been leaning on? So I tossed those down the well shaft, too. Then I went back home a different way and prayed for a good rain.”

  “Rain?” Jacob swallowed.

  “To cover up the tracks, you know? I didn’t want anyone to see the tracks and decide to start following them. Someone might have taken a peek down that well.”

  He swung his gaze toward Jacob. “But no one did. No one even guessed he was down there. I had done it! I had protected you.”

  “Me?”

  “Well, yes. To be sure. I didn’t want anything to happen to you, Jacob. And for months, nothing did. Why, everyone thought Perry had left.”

  With a sudden burst of memory, Jacob swallowed. “Daed, you’re the one who told me that Perry had left town.”

  He shrugged. “It was an easy enough rumor to start. No one wanted the boy to be here in Crittenden County, anyway. Not even his parents. See, they didn’t love Perry like parents should, Jacob. If they had, they would have tried harder with him. They would have given him more attention.”

  Gingerly, Jacob took a chair and wondered what to do. If he said nothing, he could very well be blamed for Perry’s death. But if he told the truth, he could be sending his father to prison.

  “Daed, I don’t understand your thinking. I don’t understand how you could have hid his body. You hurt so many people. You took another person’s life.”

  His father turned so that they were face-to-face. Looking at him with a solemn expression, he said, “That is what you don’t understand, Jacob.” Quietly he added, “See . . . all I had to do was think of you. I would have done anything in the world to save you pain, son.”

  Jacob believed his father completely.

  But unfortunately, it didn’t make him feel any better. Only a whole lot worse.

  Chapter 23

  “In the middle of the night, when I can’t sleep, I make up things.
I try to imagine what would have happened if I had never discovered Perry Borntrager’s body. There’s a part of me that feels like my whole life would be different if I’d never been there that rainy day.”

  ABBY ANDERSON

  Daed, we have to tell Sheriff Kramer,” Jacob said.

  “You can’t, son. If you tell him what I did, he could arrest me. And right now, the lawyer feels certain nothing will happen to you. They can’t prove you did anything wrong.”

  “What you did . . .”

  “I did it for you, Jacob. I did it because I love you.”

  “Daed, I love you, too. But we have to tell Sheriff Kramer the truth. You can’t keep this hidden.”

  His father stood up. His legs were shaking and his eyes were wide. It was obvious to Jacob that his father had never imagined that he wouldn’t be thanked for what he did. “Jacob, are you going against me?”

  “If telling the truth is going against you, then yes I am.”

  “Jacob, I forbid you to tell them. I will never forgive you if you betray this family.”

  “But the police think I did it. I could go to prison.”

  “Perry took lots of drugs, too, Jacob. Everyone knows that. I imagine no one will ever figure out how he really died. And because of that? You won’t be charged.”

  Jacob looked at the kitchen door. For a moment, he was tempted to run out of the room, and keep running until the memories of all that happened had faded.

  Then he remembered that he had his cell phone stuffed into his jacket pocket. “Telling lies won’t help anyone, Daed. I’m going to call Sheriff Kramer.”

  His father’s hand whipped out and gripped his arm hard. “Nee.”

  “I have to.”

  “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

  “Aaron, stop,” Jacob’s mother ordered from the doorway. Looking like a shadow of her former self, she was holding the doorframe like it was the greatest support. “I’ve been standing out here while you and Jacob have been talking. I heard every word.”

  His father leaned back against his chair. “Then you understand what I am saying, don’t you, Gloria?”

  “Not at all.” Turning to Jacob, she said, “Do you know how to get a hold of Sheriff Kramer?”

  “I have his card.”

  “Then you’d best go ahead and call.”

  Struggling to his feet, his father’s expression turned dark. “Gloria, you can’t let Jacob call! We can keep this hidden if none of us says a word.”

  “Oh, Aaron, you don’t know what you’re saying. I truly don’t think you do.” Shaking her head sorrowfully, she added, “We have no choice but to tell the police.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. There’s always a choice.”

  “Perhaps for you, Aaron. For me? There is no choice. There’s only one thing to do.”

  “Gloria, I beg of you . . . don’t let him do this.”

  A glazed look of despair washed over her face. “Jacob, go call.”

  About to turn, he looked at his parents warily. “Mamm, will you be all right?”

  “I’ll be just fine. Go now. Waiting won’t make things easier.”

  He left then, left the two of them staring at each other across a kitchen table where there’d always been three of them.

  Picking up his jacket, he pulled his cell phone and Mose’s business card from the pocket, and finally began to dial.

  “Crittenden County Sheriff,” a chipper voice answered. Jacob recognized the woman who had been sitting in the reception desk when he’d been brought in for questioning.

  Clearing his throat, he said, “This is Jacob Schrock. I need to speak with Sheriff Kramer, if I may.”

  “I’ll put you right through,” she said.

  His pulse raced.

  “Jacob?” Mose said from the other side of the line. “What can I do for you?”

  “Sheriff Kramer, I’m afraid I have something to tell you.” Taking a deep breath, he pushed through the pain and began.

  Luke looked up when Mose motioned for him to pick up the extension. Carefully, Luke picked it up and then closed his eyes briefly when he recognized the voice and understood what Jacob was saying.

  Aaron Schrock had watched Perry Borntrager die, then had deliberately hidden his body.

  As Mose carefully asked more questions, Luke wrote notes. Finally, it all made sense. He knew right then and there that they finally had the full, complete story. Just as he could sense when something was not right, he also had learned to recognize the signs of hearing the truth.

  After promising to be at their house in a few minutes, Mose hung up. “So it was Aaron Schrock. All along.” His voice was flat.

  Luke ached for Mose, and for everyone involved. This was going to rock this community. “I think the fact it was Aaron kind of makes sense,” he said as they grabbed their jackets and walked to Mose’s cruiser.

  “Unfortunately, it does,” Mose agreed. “It makes sense, but it breaks my heart. I always liked Aaron.”

  Luke had, too. “I guess this proves a man will do almost anything to protect his son.”

  “Almost anything,” Mose corrected. “That word makes all the difference, I think. Most men would offer their own lives for their children. But they’d draw the line at committing murder.” Slapping his hand on his steering wheel, Mose bellowed, “What a fool.” When he turned to Luke, his gaze was pain-filled. “Why didn’t Aaron come to me right away? I could have tried to help him. Now we’ll be lucky if he’s not charged with murder in the first degree.”

  “Who knows why he didn’t come to you. ”

  After backing out, Mose drove carefully across town and to the store. Jacob stood waiting for them in the parking lot, standing alone and looking dejected. As if the whole weight of the world was resting on his shoulders.

  When Luke got close, he patted the young man’s shoulders. “Who’s with your father, Jacob?”

  “My mamm. She told me to stay out here to wait for you.”

  “You doing okay?” Mose asked.

  Jacob shook his head. “Not really. I never would have thought my daed could do this. I keep thinking I’m going to wake up from a nightmare.”

  Luke glanced Mose’s way. The young man needed a helping hand. He really looked to be on the verge of collapsing.

  Mose nodded at Luke before wrapping an arm around Jacob’s shoulders. “Jacob, why don’t you sit down here and let Luke and me go in without you.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive. I promise, there’s nothing more you need to hear. We’ll take care of things now.”

  “I should warn you, my father is pretty upset.”

  “It’s okay, son. Your dad did the right thing by confessing to you,” Luke soothed. “And you did the right thing by calling Sheriff Kramer. But just because you did something right doesn’t mean it was easy. Stay out here, Jacob. No son wants to see his father like this.”

  Luke was thankful that Jacob sat down. Then, with Mose by his side, they walked the narrow path along the side of the store to the living quarters of the Schrocks.

  Mose knocked once. After a moment, Gloria Schrock answered it. “Sheriff Kramer, Detective Reynolds, I am mighty glad you are here.”

  Mose held out a hand and clasped Mrs. Schrock’s. “We got here as soon as we could. Where’s Aaron, Gloria?”

  “He’s sitting at the kitchen table.”

  Mose walked in, and Luke followed. When they got to the table, Aaron Schrock looked up at them with blank eyes. “I suppose you are going to arrest me?”

  Mose pulled out a pair of handcuffs. “I’m afraid I have no choice, Aaron.”

  Luke knew that was true. Even if Aaron couldn’t have saved Perry, he didn’t even try. And hiding a body was a criminal offense.

  As Mose clipped the handcuffs
around Aaron’s wrists, he recited the Miranda oath. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney . . .”

  As Mose Mirandized Aaron, Luke watched tears silently fall down Gloria Schrock’s cheeks.

  “I don’t know what to say or do,” she murmured.

  “You don’t have to do anything,” Luke reassured her. “Jacob is outside, ma’am. I’ll send him inside when we leave.” He stood quietly by her side while Mose gripped Aaron’s elbow, pulled him to his feet, then escorted him outside.

  With Aaron’s bigger-than-life personality gone, the kitchen seemed darker and smaller.

  “What’s next?” Gloria asked after she gingerly took a seat.

  “You’ll need to call back that lawyer,” he replied, doing his best to keep his voice even and without too much emotion. “I’m afraid your husband is going to need his services.”

  She shook her head. “No, Detective Reynolds. I mean, what happens to me now? My family is broken up. My husband is in jail. And my son? My son might never recover from this.”

  Luke had arrested dozens of people, some in the most horrifying of situations. He’d thought he’d seen it all.

  But not once had anyone asked how to put their lives back together.

  After a moment of thought, he replied. “You go on the best you can. You wake up, get through a day, and then you try to sleep.”

  “And then?”

  “And then you do it again the next day.” He paused, then said, “It’s going to be tough, but I have a feeling Jacob will recover.”

  Looking more determined, Gloria nodded. “I think he will. He’s a strong boy.”

  “Yes, he is. He did the right thing, calling Mose. And you did the right thing when you encouraged him to make the call.” Luke paused, then continued. “Though it had to have been painful, there’s something to be said for doing the right thing.”

  Looking up at him, tears welling in her light blue eyes, she nodded, “I do believe that’s so. A person can’t live a lifetime covering up lies. They’ll eat up a person’s heart and soul. My poor Aaron . . .” Her face crumbled. “Jacob will get through this. But right this minute? I don’t know how I’ll survive.”