by Nancy Mehl
C.J. chuckled. “That’s the truth. Two different families who live nearby have already offered to help.” He pointed to a pile of lumber lying next to the house. “One of them brought this by, along with a case of nails, and the other has offered me some white paint when I’m ready for it.”
I laughed. “That’s Harmony. Don’t be surprised if a truckload of people show up to help with the work. No one is an island here.” I put my hand up to shield my eyes from the sun and stared at the house again. “In fact, I’m surprised people haven’t been by before now to help your mother get the house in shape.”
“Oh, they tried, but Mom shooed them off. Like I said, she’s pretty independent.”
The dilapidated screen door suddenly opened. An old woman dressed in black and in a wheelchair appeared in the doorway. She wore a black prayer covering over her gray hair. “C.J., who is that you’re talking to?” she asked in a thin, reedy voice.
“Hello, Mrs. Bradley,” I called out. “I’m Gracie Temple, Daniel Temple’s daughter. Ida Turnbauer asked me to check on you.”
“Daniel Temple,” she hollered, her tone rising. “Benjamin’s brother?”
“Yes ma’am.”
C.J. put his foot on the bottom step. “Mama,” he said sternly, “don’t come out on the porch. It won’t support you and that wheelchair.”
“But I want to talk to this girl,” she whined.
“I told you it’s not safe.”
Abigail moved her wheelchair back and angrily slammed the door shut. C.J. looked embarrassed. “If you have time to visit, you can use the back door. Until I support the porch and replace the rotten boards, she can’t come out here.”
“I totally understand.” I looked at my watch. “I don’t have much time right now, but maybe I could come back some other time for a visit?”
He smiled. “Mom would love that. Give me a few days to make some improvements, then come by anytime. I’d tell you to call, but my cell phone doesn’t seem to work very well out here, and Mom doesn’t have a phone.” He sighed. “Or air-conditioning. I’m not used to this heat.”
“You should come into town. The restaurant has great food, and it’s nice and cool.”
“Sounds wonderful. I’ll do it.” He stuck his hand out once again. “I’m glad to meet you, Gracie, and I hope to see you again soon.”
I shook his hand and smiled at him. “Same here.”
As I headed to my car, I looked back to see Abigail sitting at the front window, watching me. I waved to her, but she just closed the curtain. Ida’s description of Abigail Bradley was right on the button. She was definitely strange, but at least Ida could stop worrying about her now.
The temperature had continued to climb, and the interior of my car felt like an oven. I rolled down the windows, but all I managed to do was let in more hot air. As I headed back onto the dirt road that led to Abigail’s house, I had no choice but to roll the windows up again. Driving on unpaved roads meant dust—and lots of it. The air conditioner blew hot air at first, but after driving a few minutes, a little cool air started to eke out of the vents.
I couldn’t help but think about C.J. and his attempts to fix his mother’s house. Noble sentiments, but in this heat, not such a good idea. When I got home, I’d tell Sam about it, and see if he could find some people to help. Unfortunately, Sam and Sweetie were picking fruit right now and had very little extra time. What few hours Sam could find were being spent with me and my family.
I’d just started to turn onto Faith Road and head for home when something shiny in the road caught the rays of the sun. The light hit my windshield, and the reflection was so bright it made it hard to see for a moment. I pulled over and got out, wondering what it could possibly be. It took me a minute to find it, but when I did, the discovery took my breath away. Lying in the dirt by the side of the road was a silver bracelet with colored beads. A silver heart hung from a chain, and the three inserts were engraved with Love, Friend, and Forever.
Hannah’s bracelet.
Chapter Ten
Sam put the phone down and shook his head. “Pat’s been called out on another case, Gracie. It will be a while before he can get here. He can’t make it to lunch today and asked that we explain the situation to your parents. He also said to remind you that he’s got the whole county to take care of and can’t keep running to Harmony for every little thing.”
“Every little thing!” I snapped. “Finding Hannah’s bracelet proves something’s wrong, Sam. We’ve got to find her. She’s in real trouble!”
We sat at the table in his kitchen. Sweetie was out in the orchard working alone. My frantic cries had brought Sam inside to find out what was going on.
He ran his hand through his sun-bleached hair and sighed with frustration. “Explain to me why you’re so convinced this means something. So Hannah dropped her bracelet. In my book, it proves she really did take off on her own. She changed into her new outfit, walked out to the road, and probably found a ride. Her bracelet fell off by accident.”
I started to say something, but he held up his hand and shushed me.
“Before you go off on a tangent, I totally understand that she shouldn’t be out there by herself. There are dangerous people who would be more than willing to pick her up for all the wrong reasons. But at least we know she wasn’t abducted like the girl in Topeka. Hannah left under her own power.”
“You’re missing the entire point!” I held up the bracelet for him to see. “Don’t you notice anything odd?”
Sam stared at the silver jewelry in my hand. Finally he shook his head. “No, Grace. It looks like a bracelet. Nothing more.”
I flung it down on the table. “Would you like to explain to me just how it fell off when the clasp is still fastened?”
“Obviously it slid off her wrist.”
I picked the bracelet up and held it out to him. “Hannah’s tiny, I grant you. But this bracelet is too small to slide off anyone’s wrist—even hers.” I unclasped the catch, put the bracelet on my own wrist, and snapped it shut again. I grasped it with my other hand, showing him there wasn’t any wiggle room at all. “I’m not big either, and even though my wrists may be a little wider than Hannah’s, there’s not that much difference. Look at this. Can you see that there’s no earthly way this bracelet could have fallen off accidentally?”
He stared at my wrist with a dubious expression. He even reached over and pulled at the bracelet to see just how tight it fit. After a brief silence, he let out a deep breath. “Okay. I see your point. So how did it come off?”
I snapped the clasp open and took the bracelet off, putting it on the table in front of us. “Hannah purposely removed it and dropped it on the ground.” My voice quivered with emotion. “She left it behind so we’d know she needed help, Sam. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
I watched his expression as he turned this information over in his mind. “What if she just didn’t want to wear it for some reason? Maybe it was uncomfortable. Or maybe she decided she didn’t like it.”
“No,” I said emphatically. “She loved that bracelet because Robin gave it to her. And I saw it on her wrist. It fit perfectly.”
“Maybe she had it in her pocket, and it fell out accidentally.”
I shook my head. “Those jeans are tight, and the pockets are more for looks than for function. If she could have gotten the bracelet inside one of them, there’s no way it could have just fallen out.”
His frown only deepened as he considered the possibilities. “Are you certain this is Hannah’s bracelet? Maybe it belongs to someone else in Harmony.”
“Oh sure,” I said with a snort. “Lots of conservative Mennonite girls wear bracelets like this. The odds are astronomical that anyone else in Harmony would have a bracelet sold at an upscale shop in Wichita. Give me a break.”
“Okay,” he said finally, “I see what you mean. It’s probably Hannah’s bracelet. She wouldn’t have just tossed it away because she didn’t want it anymore; it c
ouldn’t have fallen off her wrist or out of her pocket. She probably took it off on purpose. But why close the clasp again? Why not just drop the open bracelet on the ground?”
“Because then it would look like it actually had slipped off,” I said, trying to keep the impatience I felt out of my voice. “She was trying to leave a clue behind that would let us know she needs help.”
“You think she’d have the presence of mind to think that through?”
“Yes, I do,” I responded quickly. “Hannah is extremely intelligent. With the time she had available, this was the only thing she could come up with.”
“But who would know about this bracelet?” he asked. “You’re the only one. How could she know you’d find it?”
“This is Harmony. People don’t steal from each other here. Whoever found it would take it to town and show it around, hoping to find the owner. Of course it would eventually get around to me.”
He raised an eyebrow. “And you think Hannah thought all that out in what was probably a matter of seconds?”
I shook my head. “No. I think she only had a short amount of time, and the bracelet was the only thing at her disposal. Hannah played a Hail Mary—and it worked. That’s all that matters.”
“I guess …”
“Look, Sam. You have to admit this bears looking into.”
His gray eyes peered into mine. “Okay. Yeah, I guess so. But if you start insisting that Hannah really has been abducted, and she shows up at her boyfriend’s, you’re going to have a lot of explaining to do. This is a very serious conclusion to reach—that Hannah really was taken against her will.”
I scowled at him. “You think? I’ve been trying to get someone to listen to me since she first went missing.”
“Yeah, but that’s because you thought some guy had been abducting young women from around here. Now we know that at least two of those women weren’t kidnapped.”
I rubbed my temples to try to relieve the beginnings of a tension headache. “Oh, do we? We actually only know that one wasn’t abducted. The police think the other girl in Topeka was taken by her ex-boyfriend. But until they find her with him, they don’t actually know for sure, do they?”
“I guess that’s true.” He was quiet for a moment while he pondered my argument. “Oh by the way,” he said finally, “I decided not to bug Jonathan Vogler or his family. Sounds like Pat’s already checked out his story. I don’t want to scare the Voglers or make them feel responsible for what’s happened.”
I shrugged. “That’s fine. I doubt there’s much more he can tell us at this point. I’d rather have you help me convince Pat that he needs to take finding Hannah’s bracelet seriously.”
He grunted. “We’d better leave that to you. When it comes to getting Pat to do something, you seem to have more influence than I do.” His gaze swung to the clock on the kitchen wall. “We’re supposed to meet at Mary’s at eleven thirty, right?”
I nodded and looked at my watch. “Shoot. It’s already a few minutes after eleven. I’ve got to get home and round everyone up. I also need to call Ida and tell her Abigail’s okay.” I started toward the kitchen doorway but stopped and turned back. “I know you think I have some kind of magic influence over Pat, but it’s not true. He listens to you. Will you please call him one more time? Explain to him that the bracelet is important new evidence.”
Once again Sam’s eyebrows disappeared under his long bangs. “New evidence? Can I put it another way? You know how he hates it when you act all Nancy Drew.”
“Put it however you want. Please, just convince him to talk to me, okay?”
Sam smirked and gave me a snappy salute. “Yes, Miss Marple. I am ever your loyal Mr. Stringer.”
“I shouldn’t have introduced you to those Miss Marple movies,” I retorted. “You’ve been throwing Miss Marple in my face ever since.”
“You do remind me of her in many ways,” he said with a grin. “But I am grateful you don’t actually look like Margaret Rutherford.”
“That would make two of us.” I waved good-bye, hurried out of his house, and headed back to my own. When I got there I called Ida to let her know Abigail had broken her leg but that her son was staying with her. She was upset to find out about her friend’s accident. Probably feeling guilty that she hadn’t checked on her sooner. Although last night I’d asked her to go with us, today she’d turned me down because of all the walking we planned to do. I checked with her once more.
“Ach, thank you, Gracie, but this leg of mine would only slow you down. I believe I will stay in today and rest. All the excitement from last night wore me out. But thank you for wanting me.”
After the phone call, I cleaned up a bit. Then we all piled into my dad’s Crown Vic since my Bug would have been a tight fit, and we drove into town. We ran a little late because my parents had an argument about Dad’s cane. At first he refused to take it even though my mother insisted. Probably a pride thing. Eventually he gave in and tossed it in the car under protest.
On the way to town I told my parents about finding Hannah’s bracelet. They agreed with me that the discovery was troubling. “We’ll keep Hannah in our prayers,” my mother said. “God is an expert at leading the lost home.”
When we pulled up in front of the restaurant, Sam’s truck was already there. As we got out of the car, I noticed my mother’s tears.
“Mom, are you okay? Is something wrong?”
She closed the car door and reached into her purse, pulling out a tissue. “Oh Gracie,” she said, dabbing at her eyes, “it’s been thirty years since I’ve been in this town. In all that time, I never allowed myself to miss Harmony. But now that I’m here …” She stood next to the car and gazed around at the shops and the people, a good number of them wearing the simple clothing worn by many of the Mennonite townspeople. Next to us sat a buggy and a horse, tied up to a post. “I can hardly believe it, but it looks almost the same. I mean, the names of some of the shops are different, and there wasn’t any restaurant back then, but the buildings all look just like they used to. And the wooden sidewalks …” She blew her nose into her tissue. “And the people. I’d almost forgotten the beauty of long skirts and prayer coverings. It’s been so long …”
“Oh for crying out loud, Beverly,” my father grumbled. “It’s just a town.” But I noticed that as he helped Papa Joe from the car, his eyes swept the scene around him. Although he refused to meet my gaze, the emotion on his face was obvious.
We finally made it inside the restaurant, although it took some time due to my dad’s leg and Papa’s slow gait. Sweetie and Sam already had a table and waved us over. As we sat down and greeted each other, Sweetie watched Papa Joe carefully, probably concerned after the scene last night. Thankfully, Papa seemed to be fine this morning, although he was rather quiet.
I spotted Jessie heading our way. She smiled when she saw me. “Hey, I heard you were back,” she said as she came up to the table. I introduced her to everyone. She put her hand on my shoulder. “Everyone’s heard about Hannah. Anything new?”
“Not that I know of. Sheriff Taylor put out an APB, but so far she hasn’t been found.”
“Well, kids run away. It happens all the time.” She shook her head. “I did it once myself, but when I found out there was no place to go, I came home. Hannah will show up before long. I’m sure she’s okay.”
Knowing about Jessie’s abusive father, I would have been surprised if she hadn’t tried to leave home. “I hope you’re right,” I said. “We’re praying for a good outcome.”
“Everyone is, Gracie,” she said seriously. “I’ve seen this town pray together before. Incredible things happen.” She turned her attention to the other people at the table. “If you folks will tell me what you want to drink, I’ll get it while you look over the menu.”
Everyone gave her their drink order, and she shared Hector’s daily specials, which were fried catfish nuggets and chicken and noodles. I watched as she walked away, still amazed by the difference in he
r since her father died. Jessie would be all right, as would her daughter, Trinity. I was sure of it.
“So what’s good here?” my dad asked.
“Everything is top-notch,” Sweetie said. “I consider myself pretty good in the kitchen, but Hector gives me a run for my money.” She glanced at the menu, although it wasn’t necessary. Everyone in Harmony had already memorized the available dishes. When you only have one restaurant, it’s not hard. “I like the steaks. Hector uses a steak rub that makes ‘em tender and delicious. And his fried chicken is somethin’ to write home about.”
“And Dad, he makes really good fried liver and onions,” I said.
Although my mom hates liver, my dad and I love it. Really good liver, fried, with crispy edges and tender in the middle, can’t be beat when surrounded by a pile of onions browned in the same grease. My mother just sighed, and Sam looked at me with a puzzled expression.
“I didn’t know you like liver. I don’t remember you ever ordering it.”
“I’ve got news for you, big boy. There are a few things I do without you sometimes. Eating liver and onions is one of them.”
“Well, it’s a fine time to learn that your fiancée likes liver a week and a half before the wedding. Seems the husband-to-be is always the last to know.”
“Very funny.”
“Okay you two,” Dad said, laughing. “Let’s knock it off about the liver. I want to concentrate on the menu.”
“And I want to concentrate on the wedding,” Mom said. “Sweetie, now that I’m here, I’m ready to help you.”
“That’s great, Bevie. Why don’t you come to the house for a while after we’re done in town, and we’ll go over everything. I could surely use the help.”
Now that was a surprise. Sweetie actually allowing someone else to be a part of her plans. Sweetie was a lone wolf who usually didn’t like anyone near her projects. Of course, planning a wedding takes more work than cooking a meal or decorating a room—both endeavors I’d been shooed away from in the past. But Mom was the bride’s mother, and she had every right to be involved in the wedding plans. Apparently even Sweetie recognized this.
