by Dana R. Lynn
“I wonder where you learned to make the dumplings. It’s not a recipe most Englischers would know.”
“I have no idea.”
Ben continued to consider the information long after she returned to the house. He imagined that Nathaniel had probably met her at the door. Several times in the past few days, he had stopped just to listen to the sound of Nathaniel’s laughter. His son sure did enjoy having the attention of a woman. They both did. Best not get too comfortable, he warned himself. As soon as the danger was past, she’d be gone, back to where she belonged.
For she would return. There was nothing Nathaniel, or he, could do to change that fact. She was an Englischer, just like her brother. And as much as he liked and respected both of them, there was no place for a woman like her in his Amish world.
* * *
What was taking Nathaniel so long?
Sadie paced the length of the front room, keeping away from the large window, though her eyes continually strayed to it, straining to see outside.
Nathaniel had run upstairs to gather his spelling homework. He had come in after school yesterday waving his new words at her. His teacher gave them new vocabulary every Monday. This morning Sadie had promised that she would help him practice it after he finished his chores. The moment they were done, he had bounded up the stairs, yelling that he was ready to practice.
She grinned at the memory. She knew that she should not allow Nathaniel to worm his way into her heart. It wasn’t fair to any of them. She was only there for a short time. Until Kurt was found and had enough evidence to go to the police.
And then she would leave.
She caught her breath at the ache the thought caused. Of leaving adorable Nathaniel, who held her heart in his small hand. Also, she realized, she was sad at the knowledge that she would be saying farewell to Ben, no doubt forever. The man could drive her nuts with his calm logic and his unflappable demeanor. Except she had caught him watching her a time or two. Could he sense the attraction between them? She smiled. Then she shook her head, hard.
She was a fool. Why on earth would she want any attraction, any sense of true emotion, to develop between her and the brave and faithful Amish father? A future between them was impossible.
She paced again, stopping at the bottom of the stairs.
Finally, Nathaniel ran down. His spelling words were not in his hands.
“I thought we were going to study,” she chided gently.
The smile slid from her face as she took in the paleness of his face, the wideness of his brown eyes, as he stared up at her.
“Nathaniel! What’s wrong? What happened?” She was vaguely aware that Ruth’s singing in the kitchen paused. She didn’t want the woman to know what was happening. She motioned for Nathaniel to join her on the other side of the room and indicated that he should keep his voice down.
Her heart thudded in her chest as fear spiked in her soul.
“I was looking out the window with these,” he whispered, holding out a pair of binoculars. For the briefest second, she was distracted by the fact that he would use binoculars. “I saw a man with a gun. He looked mad. Sadie, I got scared.”
The breath in her lungs seemed to grow heavy. Her head felt light. Could she have been found? She forced herself to be calm so that she would not make the child even more afraid than he was. Pressing her hand to her stomach to ease the twisting sensation inside, she focused on him.
“It’s October. Maybe he was a hunter. Isn’t it small game season right now?” She seemed to possess some basic knowledge of the sport and its timelines. She didn’t think she was a hunter, but maybe Kurt was.
Nathaniel wasn’t impressed. He gave her a look that would have amused her at any other time. At the moment, however, all she could think about was the cloud of danger she had brought to this peaceful household.
“Ain’t no hunting rifle he was carrying. Hunters use rifles. This was one of those small guns, the size you might see an Englisch police officer carrying around. It didn’t look like a police officer, though.”
A chill settled over her. Somehow, she didn’t think it was a cop, either.
“Nathaniel, what did he look like?”
“What did who look like?” Ben asked behind them. She had not heard him come home. Spinning, she came face-to-face with the man who was starting to take up way too much space in her thoughts. At his shoulder, Ruth was peeking into the room, her mouth pursed and her arms crossed. The option of keeping her out of what was really happened had just vanished.
“Dat!” Nathaniel dashed around Sadie and threw himself at his father’s legs, the binoculars held tight in his fist. “I saw a bad man with my ’noculars. Maybe the man who wants to hurt Sadie.”
The adults were silent. Sadie saw the same shock that was ricocheting through her stamped on Ben’s face. They had thought they’d kept the truth from Nathaniel. Obviously he had been paying closer attention than they knew.
“A man is trying to hurt Sadie?” Ruth surged into the room, hands on her hips. “Ben Mast, what is your son talking about? I thought this girl was in an accident and lost her memory.”
Oh, this had the potential to be bad. Sadie clenched her fists at her sides. Ben, fortunately, seemed to take the question in stride, although his jaw did tighten slightly.
“Jah, Sadie was in an accident, Ruth. Her memory is gone, hopefully only for a short time. All that is true. Also, her brother is a friend of mine who asked me if I could help out since he didn’t want her to be home alone.” His gaze flickered in Sadie’s direction before returning to Ruth’s stony countenance. “What I didn’t tell you is that someone may or may not be trying to hurt her to get to her brother. We cannot confirm that.”
“Ben.” Sadie began to pace, unable to stand still, to keep the fear from becoming a solid mass in her gut. “I should never have come here. I will call Braden—”
“Nee!” The objection shot out of Ben so fast, so sharply, she stilled. Her eyes were wide as she turned to stare at her host. His jaw was set and his brow was lowered over fierce brown eyes that glared at her. “You are my guest. You are also the sister of a friend who asked for my assistance. The friend who stood by me when I buried my wife and Nathaniel’s mamm.”
She’d had no idea that he and Kurt were so close.
Ruth had opened her mouth, but at his words, her disapproving expression melted like chocolate left in the sun, and her eyes misted. “Jah, he sounds like a wonderbar gut friend, Ben.”
Ben turned to the older woman. “One of the best friends a man could ask for. I would like to continue to assist him. He would never ask it of me if it was not important. And I cannot turn my back on someone in need, Ruth.”
She nodded, understanding deep in her eyes.
Well, that was fine and good for them, but had they forgotten the little boy?
“Ben, I understand what you’re saying, but Nathaniel.”
His eyes met her, silencing her protest. The connection she had started to feel for this man bubbled up and filled the space between them. “Jah, Nathaniel needs to be protected, too.”
He turned to face his son. Nathaniel stood straight, his young body tense. He should have still been afraid, but Sadie could detect the excitement vibrating off him. Now that his father was in the room, the boy no longer feared what was coming, but seemed to sense an adventure was about to commence. What was it about boys?
“How?” She voiced the question that had been bothering her. “How will we protect Nathaniel?”
He turned from her to watch out the window. “Nathaniel, can you describe the man you saw?”
He ignored her question. She held her silence for a moment, because she had learned that Ben was a deliberate man. He wasn’t ignoring her to be rude. Chances were that Nathaniel’s answers would be factored into his response.
Nathaniel shrugged, but his face was
avid. “He was an Englischer, Dat.”
The sigh that left Ben made her want to smile, but she didn’t. “I know that. What else did you notice? Hair color? Clothing?”
Nathaniel thought a moment. When he finally answered, Sadie paid close attention, the fist around her gut clenching tighter with each word. Blond hair cut close, angry face, a scar on his neck, she knew that Nathaniel had been right; the man was not a police officer. She knew because this was the same man she had seen at the hospital. And somewhere tucked in the memories she was trying so hard to access, she believed she would find more about him. He was so familiar.
“That’s the man I saw the day I left the hospital. The man that answered Kurt’s phone.” She needed to tell them everything. “I don’t remember the details, but I think I know him from somewhere. And everything in me tells me that he means me harm and will not hesitate to harm those around me.”
Ben nodded, his face giving nothing away.
Ruth spoke up. “Plain folk don’t get involved with the problems of the Englisch world, but you have given your word to help, Ben. I don’t like this mess Sadie is in. Gott is strong.” She nodded to herself. “Gott can help you with this.”
Sadie appreciated the woman’s confidence, but she wasn’t sure that she agreed. Somehow she didn’t feel like she was one who relied on God for much. She would never tell Ruth that, though she suspected that Ben had guessed her faith wasn’t very strong.
“Sadie, I think it’s time you contacted the police and told them that Kurt is missing.”
“He didn’t want them involved.”
“Jah, but that was when he couldn’t prove your life was in danger. I think it’s clear now that both of you are in danger. If this is true, they may be able to find him.”
It made sense. She left the others and went to her room to contact the police on her cell phone. When they insisted on coming to the farm to talk to her, she didn’t feel she had a choice.
An hour later, a police cruiser arrived. A single officer emerged from the vehicle. His dark hair was nearly black. She guessed him to be in his late twenties. He knocked on the door. Ben answered, and although it had been his idea to contact the police, she could sense the reticence in his manner. She rolled her eyes.
“Ma’am.” The officer greeted her. “I’m Sergeant Ryder Howard with the Waylan Grove Police Department. I was the officer you spoke with earlier. I went by your house. You live with your brother, correct?”
She hesitated. “I don’t know what I can tell you, sergeant. I was in a car accident a few days ago and have lost my memory. Kurt asked me to come here because he and Ben are friends, and he believed his latest assignment may have put me at risk.” Briefly she outlined having seen the man at the hospital and Nathaniel’s seeing him in the area.
Concern shadowed the officer’s eyes, even as his face remained neutral.
“Oh. Well, that’s too bad. I can tell you that nothing looked out of place. There was no sign of forced entry. No sign of upheaval. What was odd was that the front door was unlocked. When I contacted the paper, his editor said that Kurt was on assignment. He didn’t feel there was anything odd about him being out of touch.”
Sadie’s shoulders slumped. Dejection welled up inside her. Was there nothing they could do?
“Miss Standings?”
“Yes, sergeant?”
“The fact that your brother was concerned and from what you have told me about the man you and the youngster have seen leads me to say, err on the side of caution. Come to the station, look through the profiles. If the man you saw is in them, it might help us. Either way, I would say you might want to find a different hiding place. We could probably locate one for you.”
She blinked.
The police wanted her to go into hiding. She had hoped that her brother was being overprotective. But he hadn’t been. Danger was, indeed, stalking her.
FIVE
Sadie sat beside Sergeant Howard in the cruiser, wishing that she had taken Ben up his offer to accompany her to the police station. He had done so much for her, though, and she knew that being in such a place would be uncomfortable for him. So she had told him that she would be fine.
As she had gotten into the car, he had watched her. She couldn’t help but wonder if he was secretly glad to be rid of her, even if it was only for a few hours. She didn’t think so. While he had accepted her decision, she sensed he was frustrated with it. Unhappy, even.
It made no sense, so she tucked it away and strove to focus on the task at hand.
Which was difficult, considering she couldn’t help watching out for the man she’d seen at the hospital. A soft snort escaped her. Surely she didn’t expect him to jump out at her, or to chase after a police car?
But she couldn’t stop herself from scanning the roads around them and peering in the side mirror every minute or so to see if she could spot a man with close-cropped blond hair following them.
“We’ll be there in under five,” Sergeant Howard commented beside her. Apparently, she was transmitting her trepidation. For the fiftieth time since she’d entered the car, Sadie wished for the sturdy, reassuring presence of Ben beside her.
Stop it! It would be stupid to grow dependent on an Amish man.
She forced herself to put Ben out of her mind. When they pulled into the police station, she sucked in a deep breath and pasted a small smile on her face, attempting to project a calm and confidence that she definitely was not feeling.
Sergeant Howard led her into a room where he told her to take her time. For the next hour, she sat in front of a computer screen and poured over images.
And, suddenly, there he was. The man she had seen, his face angry and hard as his cold eyes stared out from the screen. She shivered. Deep in the recesses of her mind, she could hear a voice snarl. An image formed of this man standing over a body, a gun in his hand.
She squeezed her eyes tight to get the image to come into focus, but it was gone.
“This is the man,” she said in a strangled rasp.
Sergeant Howard sat beside her. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. Now that she had seen the picture, she knew that she had seen him before. If only her memories would return.
“Mason Green. Hmm. He has a record for assault with a deadly weapon.”
Sadie could well believe that. “I think he killed someone.”
The police officer beside her sat up straight. “Why do you say that?”
It was too late to call back the words. The memory she had was so faint, she hesitated to tell him. But she knew she had to. Even if she was in error. “I could be wrong. My memory is weak, and I only get snatches at times. I have an image in my mind, and it looks as though he is standing over a body. I can’t give you any more than that.”
Still, he tried to pull more information from her until he was sure that she had given him all that she knew.
“It may not be a full memory, and it might not be accurate,” he mused. “But I won’t discount it, either. The fact that you may have seen him in your past and that he now seems to be following you is concerning.”
She couldn’t deny that. She was feeling a bit concerned herself.
The drive back to the Mast farm seemed to take much longer than the drive to the station. When they arrived, she drummed her fingers against the edge of the seat until the car was in Park. Then she was out of the car like a shot and up the stairs. By the time she arrived at the door, Ben was there holding it open for her.
His deep brown eyes searched her face, his frown growing fiercer, obviously not liking whatever he saw. “You found something.”
“More than that. Ben, I think I remembered something.”
At that statement, his brows rose.
She entered the house, aware of Ben and the officer behind her. Before beginning, she glanced cautiously around the room. This wa
s not a conversation she wanted seven-year-old ears to hear. Ben seemed to understand.
“Ruth wanted to visit with Caleb and Lovina while you were gone. I sent Nathaniel with her. He was happy to get the opportunity to play with the other kinner.”
It struck her suddenly that it may have been odd that she never needed an interpretation of any of the German terms that peppered the speech of her new Amish friends. Maybe she had other Amish friends she couldn’t remember. Or maybe she worked with Amish people at one point in her life.
Not wanting to be distracted, she pushed the observation aside as unimportant and quickly related to Ben what she had learned at the station.
“This man has been in jail before?” he asked.
She was glad he was speaking. When she had finished telling him about the man she’d identified and her recovered partial memory, he had stood silent for a long moment, digesting the information. Too long. She had been close to asking if he was all right when he finally spoke.
She looked to Sergeant Howard for the answer to his question.
“Yes, Mason Green has been in and out of jail several times. Minor things, mostly. But the last time, he had assaulted someone and put them in the hospital. He was sent to jail but has been out for a year now. If he’s out and about with a gun, though, he’s in violation of his parole. That means he’ll go in again when we catch him.”
“If you catch him.” Ben sighed and scraped his hands over his face.
Sadie ached at the trouble she was bringing to his door.
The officer didn’t deny it, either, which was disturbing.
“Sadie.” Ben broke into her thoughts. When she looked at him, his eyes appeared to be shuttered. She couldn’t help but regret that he was withdrawing from her. Whatever connection there was between them, he plainly wished to break it.
“Yes?”
“This man you think he killed, are you sure you do not know who it is?”
Frustrated, she stalked away a few feet. “Don’t you think I would tell you? Honestly, Ben, I’ve been racking my brains trying to figure it out. I just can’t get a good sense of what’s going on. It’s driving me crazy, not being able to answer the simplest questions. And then there’s all the things I seem to know but have no idea why I know them.”
