IN PLAIN View

by Olivia Newport

  “You have Jacob. He shares your sympathies.”

  “I had hoped you and I had a bond that transcended wartime sympathies.”

  Magdalena listened to feet shuffling in the hay.

  “You can’t stay, Maria. That is my final word. You have admitted your history with the Patriots.”

  “And if I were supporting the British?”

  “It would make no difference.”

  Magdalena pressed a fist against her lips. Her aunt was the enemy. There was no more gentle way to put it.

  Her father, of course, had no enemies. The war had nothing to do with him.

  But it had plenty to do with Magdalena.

  And it had plenty to do with Maria.

  Magdalena wished her aunt no harm. But she could never be on the side of people who had stolen her future with Nathanael. She was glad to hear her daed be so firm that Maria must leave.

  Magdalena had lived her whole life without knowing her aunti Maria. She saw no reason to change course now.

  Forty

  Franey rode with the Friesens in their car, leaving Lydia, Sophie, and Jacob to take the buggy home. Annie sat in the backseat beside Franey. Every effort her mother made at polite conversation stabbed. Franey reached over and squeezed Annie’s hand. Annie appreciated the gesture but withdrew her hand quickly, lest her mother turn her head and see.

  Brad turned off the highway into the Beilers’ long driveway and parked the car close to the house. As the foursome went up the steps to the front porch, Franey chattered about what she planned for supper and how pleased she was the Friesens were joining them. Franey pushed open the front door. Annie saw the split-second halt before Franey continued into the house and held the door open for the others.

  “It looks like we’ll have a roomful of guests,” Franey said, motioning to the young men in the living room. “I would like you to meet the sons of our dear friends, the Stutzmans. This is Mark and Luke, with my son Joel.”

  Annie swallowed hard. Joel. Sitting between Mark and Luke on the sofa, the brims of their three identical black felt hats forming a stiff line. Joel held a bundle in his hands, and Mark and Luke looked far from pleased to be sitting in the Beilers’ living room.

  “Ike and Edna are on their way over,” Joel said. He glanced at Annie, who transferred the glance to her parents.

  “Is something wrong, Joel?” Franey asked.

  Annie nudged her mother’s elbow. “Why don’t you sit over here?” She gestured to two comfortable chairs positioned apart from the main seating area and breathed relief when her parents complied. Annie watched Franey’s face, her heart racing in anticipation of Joel’s revelation.

  “Mark and Luke have something they need to say.” Joel measured his words. “Let’s wait for Ike and Edna.”

  “We have guests,” Franey said. “Annalise’s parents. I wonder if Ike and Edna might come another time.”

  “It can’t wait,” Joel answered.

  Annie perched on the arm of the chair her mother occupied and wondered if the tremble of her veins would pulse through the furniture.

  She wanted Rufus to be there. If the boys were going to confess, she wanted him to hear for himself. And she wanted his strength in the room when the explosion came—when truth collided with expectations.

  What had Rufus heard about her baptism classes? she wondered. Would he be pleased, as his mother was, or would he wonder why she had not told him herself?

  Sitting beside and slightly behind her mother, Annie could not see Myra’s face. But she recognized the posture, the tightness of concentration in the way Myra leaned her neck forward a few inches and held her head straight up. She did not intend to miss anything.

  Rufus, where are you?

  Annie heard the back door open, and she turned her head to listen for steps coming through the kitchen. Eli appeared in the dining room and stilled his steps to take in the scene in his living room. Annie heard another set of footsteps—the right ones now. Rufus entered and stood beside his father. She breathed a measure of relief.

  Eli and Rufus roused at the same moment and moved across the rooms to greet Annie’s parents with warm handshakes and kind greetings. Rufus glanced across the room at Annie again. He started to move toward her, and her breath caught.

  A vehicle roared to a stop outside. At the sound of slamming car doors, Rufus detoured to the front door and pulled it open. Tom Reynolds stomped up the porch steps. Behind him, Carter Reynolds was less enthusiastic about this visit to the Beilers’. Annie watched the boy carefully. When he stepped inside the house and saw the Stutzman brothers, his eyes widened and his shoulders tensed.

  “Good,” Tom said. “All the perpetrators are here.”

  “Perpetrators?” Eli said. “That’s a strong word, Tom. Come in and sit down, please.”

  “You’ll understand in a minute, Eli.” Tom sat in Eli’s favorite armchair and pointed for Carter to sit in its twin. They faced the sofa, where Mark and Luke both began tapping their feet in jerking rhythms.

  “What is it, Tom?” Franey asked. She stood behind the sofa, facing Tom.

  Rufus, at last, moved to stand beside Annie.

  “I looked at my cell phone account online,” Tom said. “I always look over the lines my kids are using just to be sure no one is abusing the privilege of having a phone. Usually I’m flabbergasted at how many texts Carter sends or how much data he uses. This time there was practically nothing. Carter’s line hasn’t been used all week.”

  Tom reached into a pocket and pulled out a phone, a simple old-fashioned phone that flipped closed.

  “Carter,” he said, “why don’t you tell everyone what you told me about this phone.”

  Carter looked at his lap. “It’s Annie’s. I found it in my dad’s truck. She left it there when he brought her home from the hospital the day of the explosion.”

  Tom waved the phone in the air. “This is the phone I’ve seen lying around the house. I thought Carter was being forgetful about carrying it.”

  At the sound of a buggy clattering to a stop outside, Annie dipped her head to look out the window. “It’s the Stutzmans.”

  “Perfect timing.” Tom crossed his arms across his chest. “Perhaps we’ll wait for them before we continue.”

  Franey opened the door. As soon as Ike stepped inside, with Edna right behind him, he demanded, “What is going on here? An English drove up to our house in his car and said he was your neighbor. He handed me a message practically ordering us to come.”

  “I sent that,” Joel said from the sofa.

  Annie leaned forward and whispered to her parents, “Maybe we should move to the dining room, out of the way.”

  “What is that boy doing with your phone?” Myra wanted to know, but she surrendered her chair to Edna Stutzman and moved with her husband to the dining room table. Annie leaned against the partial wall that separated the dining room from the living room. Once again, she met Rufus’s gaze across the room.

  Tom Reynolds continued his inquest. “Some of you know that Carter and Annie Friesen have the same model phone. They got them confused once before. I’m going to let Carter tell you what happened to his phone and why he tried to pass Annie’s off as his.”

  Every set of eyes in the room fixed on Carter Reynolds. He worked his lips in and out for a good twenty seconds before he formed any words.

  “We used mine as the alarm for the bomb.”

  The gasp that went up did not include Annie. Her shoulders sagged with the truth that she had been right.

  “Joel tried to tell me not to get involved,” Carter said, “but I wouldn’t listen.”

  “Get involved with what?” Eli Beiler asked.

  Carter pointed limply at the boys on the sofa. “They wanted to blast out the rock. They said they knew how to do it, that they’d done it before in Pennsylvania.”

  “We have done it before,” Mark Stutzman said.

  Ike’s fingers were working his beard. “We once blew a boulder out o
f a wheat field. Is that what you are referring to?”

  Mark nodded. “We watched carefully.”

  “It was Duncan’s idea,” Luke said. “He dared us. He didn’t think Amish boys would be smart enough.”

  “Duncan Spangler?” Tom said. “Carter, you didn’t mention Duncan earlier.”

  “He always says mean things about the Amish.”

  “He dared us,” Luke repeated.

  “I didn’t want to do it,” Mark said. “Luke is the one who stole the tools. And the fertilizer.”

  Annie let her breath out as Joel unwrapped Rufus’s missing tools.

  “Luke!” Ike barked. “Explain yourself!”

  Luke picked at a worn spot in his trousers. “I just wanted to look at the tools. I was going to put them back. Then I realized I could use them to attach wires to the phone.”

  “Where did you get the wires?” Ike asked.

  Mark glanced at Tom.

  “From my hardware store,” Tom said. “They didn’t need very many feet. It would be easy enough to snip a length off the roll in the back of the store.”

  Luke nodded.

  Annie straightened up and faced the boys on the sofa. “So you did steal Karl Kramer’s fertilizer?”

  “It was the easiest way,” Luke said. “We wouldn’t have to answer any questions about what we needed it for, and his storage was already halfway out to the rock.”

  “Annalise,” Rufus said, “the small chisel?”

  She swallowed, moistened her lips, and nodded. “Yes, I have it. I found the whole set in Karl Kramer’s storage area. I told Joel… well, the truth had to come out.”

  Myra Friesen cleared her throat. “Annie, what is this all about?”

  Annie met her mother’s eyes then moved her glance to Rufus before continuing.

  “When Carter and I mixed up our phones a few weeks ago, I saw his Internet history. He was looking at ways to make bombs. I know it was wrong of me to look at his phone, and maybe I should have said something, but just looking at the Internet didn’t mean he was going to do anything.”

  “It wasn’t me!” Carter slid forward in his chair. “They took my phone. They said they were allowed to use the Internet because they haven’t joined the church. I didn’t know what they looked up.”

  Annie believed Carter—almost. “But you knew about the fertilizer, and you knew they wanted to use your phone to set off the explosion.”

  Carter nodded.

  “So why didn’t you get your phone back?” Tom wanted to know.

  “I didn’t realize they meant the phone would be part of the explosion. Then I didn’t know how to get it back. I was afraid I would accidentally do something to set off the bomb.”

  “We should never have let you run around with these English boys,” Edna Stutzman said. “We never dreamed they would influence you this way.”

  Annie rolled her eyes. “Somebody got hurt,” she said. “Karl Kramer is recovering from burns.”

  Rufus cleared his throat. “And the messages to Karl and me?”

  “We wanted witnesses that it worked. That’s all.” Luke’s voice had flattened. “You and Karl are in charge of the project. We figured you were going to take the rock out anyway.”

  “We had made no such decision,” Rufus said quietly.

  “And why does Kramer keep those supplies out in the middle of nowhere, anyway?” Luke asked, his voice finding its edge again. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were all illegal. Stolen.”

  “Contractors always have leftover supplies. And that is not the subject of this conversation,” Tom said with surprising calm. He turned to Annie. “Perhaps you should continue, Annie.”

  Around the room, faces crunched in puzzlement.

  “I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t have all the pieces,” Annie said. “I couldn’t tie anyone to the fertilizer, for instance. And you can’t accuse someone based only on Internet search history. I used to look up all kinds of crazy stuff. It didn’t mean I was a terrible person. But people were saying I had something to do with the accident, so I went to Karl’s storage site looking for clues to find the truth. Ruth and I discovered the tools wrapped in Joel’s old shirt.”

  “Ruth has something to do with this?” Franey burst out.

  “No.” Annie’s answer was immediate and final. “She knew nothing about it. I just asked her for a ride that day, and to help me look for clues. She recognized the fabric as Joel’s shirt. Otherwise, I would not have known who to go to. I confronted Joel, and he asked me to trust him.”

  “We’ll have to call the sheriff ’s office, of course.” Tom was not leaving room for discussion. “If no one had been hurt, that might be different, but even Karl Kramer deserves justice.”

  “It’s only a rumschpringe prank,” Edna Stutzman said, though she glared at her sons.

  Tom’s expression did not bend. “It’s a crime.”

  Outside, another car squealed to a stop and a car door slammed.

  Forty-One

  This time it was Franey who went to the window. “It’s Mo.” She pulled open the front door once again, and the innkeeper stomped in.

  “Where’s Rufus?” Mo’s progress stopped as she swept the room with her eyes. “Well, this is an odd bunch to find together in the Beiler house.”

  Ike Stutzman stood up. “Our visit is concluded.” His wife and two sons rose and followed him, wordless, out to their buggy.

  Annie glanced at her stunned parents, still sitting at the dining room table, before she crossed to the window at the front of the house. “I think he’s angry, but it’s hard to tell.”

  “Ike Stutzman would never let anyone be sure of the answer to that question,” Rufus said.

  “What does he have to be angry about?” Mo asked.

  Annie glanced at Rufus.

  “Let’s not concern ourselves with that at the moment,” Rufus said. “Why have you come all the way out here, Mo?”

  Mo pointed a finger at Rufus. “Because of you! And I warn you, I am probably not as skilled as Ike Stutzman at disguising my anger.”

  “Why don’t you have a seat?” Rufus suggested.

  “No. I’ll do a better job of staying mad if I stand up!” Mo’s hands went to her hips. “You’ve got to get off your high horse and get this project moving.”

  Rufus calmly took a seat next to Joel on the sofa. Annie watched him from the window.

  “I plan to go visit Karl soon and see what his progress is,” Rufus said. “Perhaps his doctor has said when he will be well enough to work.”

  “That could still be weeks. We can’t wait that long.” Mo gestured toward Tom. “Speak up, Tom. I know you agree with me.”

  Tom cleared his throat. “I do agree with you, Mo. But it’s Rufus’s decision to make.”

  “Oh, come on, Tom, you can be more persuasive than that!”

  Silent, Tom held his palms up.

  “The police will figure out who is behind that explosion,” Mo said. “The important thing is that we don’t let an unfortunate event stop our momentum. I’ve heard nothing to suggest it would be dangerous to keep moving, but of course we can be more vigilant if that will make people feel better.”

  Annie saw the glances being exchanged around the room. Some of them were aimed at her.

  “I want some answers, Rufus Beiler,” Mo said. “I’m not leaving until I get them.”

  Annie grimaced and caught her mother’s eye. Crossing back to the dining room, she leaned in and whispered to her parents, “Let’s go into the kitchen.”

  “Perhaps we should just be on our way,” her father suggested once they were behind the closed kitchen door. “It hasn’t turned out to be a good time to visit.”

  “I’m so sorry about all this,” Annie said. “I had no idea it would all come to a head this way. I’m sure this is not what Franey had in mind when she invited you to supper.”

  “It’s all right,” Brad said, “but we are in the way, and I would not want to hold Franey
to her invitation under these circumstances. Another time.”

  Annie nodded. “I’m sure she would understand. I’ll speak to her after everything calms down.”

  Myra drew her spine straight. “You two have lost your minds if you think I’m leaving now.”

  “But, Myra—”

  Myra cut off her husband’s thought. “I am not expecting supper, of course. But look what our daughter has been in the middle of. How can we just walk out before we know the outcome?”

  “I’ll call you,” Annie said, “later tonight.”

  “And where is your phone?”

  “I’ll get it from Tom. I’ll tell you everything.”

  Myra calmly pulled a chair out from under the kitchen table, sat down, and scooted the chair in.

  Annie swallowed. “Okay, then. I’ll start some coffee.”

  Annie found the pieces of the stainless steel stovetop drip coffeemaker in the dish rack and assembled it, placing it on the stove. She reached into a cupboard for the coffee.

  “You seem to know your way around another woman’s kitchen,” Myra observed.

  Annie opened the coffee. “They always tell me to make myself at home.” I’m one of the family, she wanted to say but had the good sense not to.

  The back door opened and Lydia, Sophie, and Jacob tumbled in.

  “What’s going on?” Sophie asked. “We just saw the Stutzmans leaving. Ike was driving a little fast, I thought.”

  “There are three English cars in front of the house,” Jacob pointed out. He looked at Myra and Brad with wide eyes. “And two English people at the table.”

  “These are my parents, Jacob,” Annie said. “Mr. and Mrs. Friesen. You’ve met them before.”

  “Oh. Nice to see you again.”

  “Mom, Dad, you remember Rufus’s sisters, Sophie and Lydia. Jacob is their littlest brother.”

  Myra smiled pleasantly, and Brad offered a handshake to Jacob, who returned it with manly enthusiasm.

  “Annalise,” Sophie said, “what is all this commotion about?”

  “There’s no short answer,” Annie said softly. “I’m sure you’ll get the whole story.”