“Exactly.”
“Excuse me, ladies.”
They both looked up to see Simkiss.
“Detective Kelly said he’d speak to you both later today. He had to go out on urgent business. I’ll take you home.”
“Thank you,” Ettie said while Elsa-May grunted. Apparently, Detective Kelly had forgotten about the recorded phone call.
* * *
At four o’clock that afternoon, Kelly walked through their open door. “Knock, knock,” he called out.
“Come in,” Ettie said coming out of the kitchen. “Elsa-May’s just out taking Snowy for a walk.” Seeing the smugness on his face, Ettie said, “Have you solved the case? You know who murdered Thomas and Bart?”
“I do.”
“Have a seat. Don’t say anything until Elsa-May gets back.”
He chuckled.
“Would you like a cup of coffee and a slice of cake?”
“That goes without saying.”
“Take a seat in the living room. I’ll be right back.”
Ten minutes later, Elsa-May walked in the door with a panting Snowy. Snowy perked up when he saw Detective Kelly.
“Hello, Detective,” Elsa-May said.
“Afternoon.”
“He’s solved the case, Elsa-May.”
“Why didn’t you wait for me to hear it?”
“We have. I don’t know anything yet. I’m waiting for you to sit down to hear it.”
“Oh goodie. I’ll just put Snowy outside.”
“Yes, that would be a good idea,” Kelly said before he took another mouthful of coffee.
When Elsa-May had Snowy safely outside, she sat down and folded her arms. “Okay, I’m ready.”
Kelly looked at Elsa-May and then looked at Ettie.
“What do you think happened, Ettie?”
“I don’t know.”
“If you had to give it your best guess what would you say?”
Ettie pulled a face. “Well, let’s see now.”
Elsa-May chuckled.
“Quiet, Elsa-May! I need to concentrate.”
“Sorry.”
“My best guess would be Austin is the killer. Roy found out his brother, Thomas, was involved in things he shouldn’t have been involved in and that’s why he didn’t want to go into business with him. So Roy cut Thomas out of the deal after giving him some kind of ultimatum. Possibly Roy found out that Thomas’ friends were using the family barn for things they shouldn’t have been and Roy told Thomas to make them stop. Thomas didn’t.” Ettie looked at the detective.
“Go on,” he said.
“Austin gave Thomas instructions to have someone put money into his account if something happened to him. You see, Austin would’ve only given that instruction because he knew he was going to kill Thomas.”
“But why kill him at all?” Elsa-May asked.
“Maybe he thought Thomas was going to talk. He was getting pressure from his brother.”
“Go on,” Kelly said once more.
“And the money went into an account because if someone had handed Austin cash, they’d know he was involved. Putting money into an account would keep Austin anonymous.”
“But not to the police when they checked his bank account,” Elsa-May added. “It doesn’t make sense that Austin would want money in his account if he were guilty, Ettie.”
Ettie scratched her chin. She couldn’t work out why Austin would have a large sum of money placed in his account. “I’ve got it!” Ettie shouted. “Thomas wasn’t instructed to put the money into Austin’s account at all. That was Thomas’ idea so the police would know Austin had killed him. Thomas asked Thea if anything ever happened to him, to put the money into Austin’s account thereby pointing the finger directly at Austin.”
“Good work, Mrs. Smith.” Detective Kelly clapped his hands.
“Am I right?” Ettie stared at Kelly.
“We got a confession out of Austin today. I told him we were looking into Thea as the murderer, and then he caved and told us everything. He confessed to hitting Thomas over the head and making it look like an accident. Then he told us he knew Bart would come looking for his money, which Austin thought was still hidden in the barn. He killed Bart and then looked for the money. He couldn’t find it, and he went home planning to try again another night, and immediately Thea knocked on his door and wanted to go to Thomas’ barn looking for clues. To save Thea the trauma of finding a dead body, he had no choice but to go back to the barn with her.”
“It was Austin all along,” Elsa-May said.
“Yes, it was.”
“It was nice of him to go with Thea so she wouldn’t find the body alone.”
“A nice killer. You do think in a strange way, Mrs. Smith.”
Ettie raised her eyebrows. “He might be a killer, but he was also protective of Thea, which is a good trait.”
“Well, his one, and maybe only, ‘good trait’ is not going to save him from going to jail for double homicide.”
“Does Thea know?”
“I’ve just come from her house. She’s quite distressed, but she understands that Austin was guilty. I told her exactly what he told us and she said it all fitted in with what she knew.”
“We’ll go and see her tomorrow,” Elsa-May said.
“The poor girl. Thomas was a good friend and now he’s gone, and then she became friendly with Austin.”
“She can do without friends like Austin. If it weren’t for him, she’d still have Thomas.” Kelly reached for another slice of cake.
“What about Roy? Did you find out why he made up that story about him being at the market with Thomas on the day he died?” Elsa-May asked the detective. “And who made that anonymous phone call?”
“Roy was trying to protect his brother because he knew he was into some bad things. Roy had no involvement at all.” Detective Kelly continued, "Austin admitted he made the call after killing Thomas."
“Thank you for coming over and letting us know.”
He smiled at them. “You’re welcome. Our little arrangement is working out well. We’ve been able to help one another. You helped me and then you were able to help Thea keep out of any trouble and that led to Austin’s confession.”
“And what of Austin’s sister who was helping him at the market?”
“Austin has no siblings or any family. He grew up in foster homes. She was probably someone helping him sell the drugs. We can’t catch them all, I’m afraid, but at least we’ve got Austin who was a major player.”
“All’s well that ends well?” Elsa-May asked the detective.
“I hope your Amish folk don’t get themselves into any more trouble,” Detective Kelly said.
“Can you stay on for dinner?”
“Do I smell roasted chicken?”
Ettie smiled. “We have roasted chicken and roasted vegetables, but shouldn’t it be our company you stay for?”
With a twinkle of mischief in his eyes, he said, “Yes, I would love to stay. And you’re right; it is the company I’d like to stay for most of all, even though a roast is my favorite meal.”
Ettie and Elsa-May exchanged smiles while Snowy scratched at the locked dog door trying to get inside to Detective Kelly.
* * *
Thank you for reading
‘Amish Barn Murders.’
* * *
The next book in the series is:
Amish Christmas Mystery.
An Amish Christmas and murder!
Ettie is surprised when guests arrive at her house claiming they've been invited to a 'Christmas dinner they'll never forget.'
Among the guests are Ettie's estranged daughter, Myra, and the retired Detective Crowley.
When a man is found dead in Ettie’s front yard, Crowley determines the man has been murdered.
Crowley soon learns that the man was an enemy of Myra's.
Is the murder linked to the Christmas dinner invitations, and if so, is the killer lurking among the guests?
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Samantha Price
Other books by Samantha Price:
Stand-Alone Christmas novel:
In Time For An Amish Christmas
* * *
AMISH MISFTIS
Book 1 The Amish Girl Who Never Belonged
Book 2 The Amish Spinster
Book 3 The Amish Bishop’s Daughter
Book 4 The Amish Single Mother
Book 5 The Temporary Amish Nanny
Book 6 Jeremiah’s Daughter
Book 7 My Brother’s Keeper
* * *
SEVEN AMISH BACHELORS
Book 1 The Amish Bachelor
Book 2 His Amish Romance
Book 3 Joshua’s Choice
Book 4 Forbidden Amish Romance
Book 5 The Quiet Amish Bachelor
Book 6 The Determined Amish Bachelor
Book 7 Amish Bachelor’s Secret
* * *
EXPECTANT AMISH WIDOWS series.
Book 1 Amish Widow's Hope
Book 2 The Pregnant Amish Widow
Book 3 Amish Widow's Faith
Book 4 Their Son's Amish Baby
Book 5 Amish Widow's Proposal
Book 6 The Pregnant Amish Nanny
Book 7 A Pregnant Widow's Amish Vacation
Book 8 The Amish Firefighter's Widow
Book 9 Amish Widow's Secret
Book 10 The Middle-Aged Amish Widow
Book 11 Amish Widow's Escape
Book 12 Amish Widow's Christmas
Book 13 Amish Widow’s New Hope
Book 14 Amish Widow’s Story
Book 15 Amish Widow’s Decision
Book 16 Amish Widow’s Trust
Book 17 The Amish Potato Farmer’s Widow
* * *
For a full list of Samantha Price’s books visit:
www.SamanthaPriceAuthor.com
About Samantha Price
A prolific author of Amish fiction, Samantha Price wrote stories from a young age, but it wasn't until later in life that she took up writing full time. Formally an artist, she exchanged her paintbrush for the computer and, many best-selling book series later, has never looked back.
Samantha is happiest on her computer lost in the world of her characters.
She is best known for the Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries series and the Expectant Amish Widows series.
To learn more about Samantha Price and her books visit:
www.samanthapriceauthor.com
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