“Nee. But there was only ever the one man. I never heard anything from him, and never saw him again.”
“This man, how do you know he was unscrupulous?” Elsa-May asked.
“I’ve already told you.”
Ettie asked, “You don’t remember his name?”
“Nee, but over the years I’ve been trying to figure things out and this is my best guess. Jedidiah didn't know how fast he’d have to pay the money back that he’d borrowed to buy Rose Cottage. I know he didn’t think much of banks because he’d made a few comments about them. I think he borrowed money from a private lender and thought we could pay the money back over twenty or thirty years.” She shook her head. “I guess he wasn't good with that kind of thing. His parents, when they were alive, were very protective of him.”
“I can understand why they were, under the circumstances,” Ettie said, knowing about the miscarriages his mother had suffered. He was the only child who’d survived. “You need to tell us more, Nell. We need to know everything.”
“I'm not holding back anything, Ettie. You ask anything you need to know.”
“Do you have a loan on the cottage?”
“Nee. I own it free and clear.”
That told Ettie the man wasn’t there to have a loan paid off. Not a loan on the house at least. “What was happening around him the last day before he disappeared?” Ettie leaned forward to better hear Nell’s answer.
Loud knocking on their door interrupted them. Elsa-May opened it to see Jennifer, Nell’s older sister. “Jennifer, hello. Nell’s here.”
“I know. I figured she’d be here, by what she said yesterday.” Jennifer barged into the house, nearly stepping on Elsa-May’s toes as she went right through to the kitchen. Elsa-May had managed to move out of the way just in time, and followed Jennifer into the kitchen. Looking over at Nell, Jennifer said, “So. There you are.”
“Jah, I’m just talking to Ettie and Elsa-May—”
“About Jedidiah?”
“Jah.”
Elsa-May said, “Do sit down and join us, Jennifer.”
Jennifer pressed her lips together, gave Elsa-May a nod and sat down next to her sister. “If you’d told me you were coming out here, Nell, I could’ve come with you.”
“I didn’t want to bother you.”
“Anyway, continue what you were saying.” She stared at Nell almost as though she were daring her to continue. Jennifer wasn’t happy and everyone in the room knew it. Her presence had come with an atmosphere like a dark and threatening thundercloud.
“I was talking about Jedidiah, asking Ettie to help find him.”
“You think he’s alive, then?” Jennifer asked.
“I don’t. I should have said, 'to find out what happened to him.'“
“Continue, Nell,” Elsa-May said with a smile of encouragement.
“He was fixing up the place and our bruder was helping him.” She shrugged.
“Which one?” Ettie asked.
“Our youngest bruder, Titus.”
“We'll talk to him, if you don't mind,” Elsa-May said.
“Of course, I don't mind. You can talk to him any time you want.”
“And what else was Jedidiah doing?” Ettie asked.
“That was all. He worked on it all the time. He was always there apart from when he was at his job installing drywall.”
“And you can't think of anybody else who might have been angry with him? Was he having a feud with anyone?” Ettie asked.
“I had a feeling he couldn’t be trusted,” interrupted Jennifer. “Didn’t I always say that to you, Nell?”
“Please, Jennifer, this isn’t helping.” Nell looked pleadingly at her sister.
Jennifer placed her hands in her lap and looked straight ahead.
Nell thought for a while and then shook her head. “Nee. I don't think so.”
“Did you report him missing?” Ettie asked.
Her eyes grew wide. “Oh yes, everyone knew he was missing.”
“I mean officially, to the police.”
“Nee, I never went near them.”
“Why not?” Elsa-May asked.
“I told her not to,” Jennifer said.
Nell nodded. “We never had anything to do with the outside world. Things were different back then. Remember? We keep separate now, but I think things were much more that way back then.”
Elsa-May said, “We'll have to get Kelly to look into things to see if there was —” Ettie grimaced and signaled to Elsa-May to be quiet.
Nell said, “That's okay, Ettie. You and Elsa-May don't have to be careful what you say in front of me. I've already come to terms with the fact he’s dead. I feel he is dead, and you're right. I should've gone to the police to see if they had found an unidentified body. No police came around the community asking about a dead Amish man.”
Jennifer shook her head. “I don’t think he’s dead. He’s just gone away. He was a drifter. After his parents died there was nothing to keep him here. You’ve got to face it. If he cared for you he would’ve stayed.”
Ettie noticed that Nell was hurt by her sister's unfeeling words.
Jennifer continued, “If he was dead someone would’ve found his body, and the police never came around asking questions.”
“We’ll see what we can find out for you, Nell,” Ettie said.
“Jah, we will, and we’re sorry again that we didn’t go to Abraham's funeral yesterday,” Elsa-May said.
Nell slowly nodded. “That's okay, don't feel badly. But I do hope I find out what happened to Jedidiah. I’ve prepared myself for the worst news. It’s been awful never knowing. I thought about him every single day.” She sipped her tea.
“I wouldn’t go around saying that, Nell,” Jennifer said. “You’ll upset anyone who cared anything for Abraham, the vadder of your kinner, the man who stayed and faced his responsibilities.”
Nell stood. “I should go. I’ve got visitors this afternoon. People are stopping by before they go home.”
Ettie stood up and walked Nell to the door. “Don’t worry about a thing. We’ll visit you in a few days’ time after we’ve asked around.”
“Or before, if we have questions,” Elsa-May called out.
“Denke, for the tea and the cookies.”
“You’re most welcome,” Ettie said.
Jennifer stood. “I haven’t had any tea.”
Ettie turned around to look at Jennifer. She had hoped she’d leave at the same time as Nell.
“Do stay for some, won’t you?” Elsa-May asked sweetly.
“I’d love to.” Jennifer sat back down while Ettie finished saying goodbye to Nell at the door.
Ettie noticed that Nell hadn’t even said goodbye to her sister. Nell must’ve been dreadfully worked up by her sister's attitude, or upset with her for saying what she'd said about Jedidiah being unworthy of trust.
After Jennifer had a cup of tea in front of her and the attention of Ettie and Elsa-May, she said, “Tell me everything she said.”
“She just asked us to find out what happened to Jedidiah, and you heard the rest.”
“Cookie?” Elsa-May passed her the plate.
Jennifer looked down her nose. “What are they?”
“Peanut butter cookies.”
“Nee.” She took a sip of tea. “I’m sorry she came here to bother you. You must disregard anything she said. She’ll bring shame on the whole family if she carries on with this nonsense.”
“Aren’t you curious about what happened to him? I mean, to Jedidiah?”
“Nee. It’s none of my business except for him upsetting my schweschder. The reason I have never given two thoughts to his disappearance is because he simply ran away from the responsibility of marriage. I don’t know why other people don’t see that.”
“You never got along with him?”
“I did once, but that was back when we were young. The three of us used to play together, and then I was excluded.”
“That must’ve been hard on
you.”
“Nee, it wasn’t. I started to see his true colors.” She took another swallow of tea and then stood. “Denke. I must go. Just don’t waste your time on Jedidiah Shoneberger. He’s not worth it.”
Once Jennifer was gone, Ettie and Elsa-May cleared the cups, saucers, and leftover cookies, and then sat down again at their kitchen table. “Well, what do you think of that?” Ettie asked.
“What? The bossy older schweschder who was jealous of Jedidiah?”
“You think she liked Jedidiah too?”
Elsa-May shrugged her shoulders. “I’d say so. He was so handsome. Don’t you remember?”
“I suppose he was, now you say so. And, as I remember, Jennifer married a little later than usual, when she was in her mid-twenties. She could’ve liked Jedidiah or could’ve been jealous of her sister’s attention from him.”
Elsa-May picked up a cookie she'd saved for herself. “She didn’t even try a cookie. Did they taste all right to you?”
Ettie pulled a face. “Maybe the recipe’s wrong.”
Holding the cookie up higher, Elsa-May asked, “Do they look all right?”
“They do to me.”
Elsa-May bit into another cookie, chewed, and then swallowed. “I can’t taste much flavor.”
“We should add more peanut butter next time. Maybe that explains why Dat liked them; they don't taste much like peanut butter.”
After a huge sigh, Elsa-May said, “I always wondered what happened to Jedidiah.”
“So did everyone.”
“Where do we start?”
Ettie tapped her finger on her chin. “I think we should start by talking with Simon, Abraham’s brother.”
“Really? Why him? I thought you would’ve said Nell's bruder, Titus. He was working with him at the cottage.”
“The reason is, I have vague memories of him liking Nell.”
Elsa-May chortled. “I don’t know how you could remember something like that from so long ago.”
Ettie tapped her head. “I never forget a thing.”
“What makes you think he’d know anything?” asked Elsa-May, totally ignoring her sister's comment.
“What if he wanted Jedidiah out of the way so he could marry Nell?” Ettie asked.
Elsa-May shook her head. “It was too bad for him, then, since she ended up marrying his bruder, Abraham.”
“His plan didn’t work.”
“Ach, Ettie, you have a vivid imagination.” Elsa-May chuckled.
“We have to start somewhere. Anyway, his place is on the way to the police station.”
“Police?”
“Like you said, it won’t hurt to have Kelly on our side with this. He can go back over the police records. Maybe there’s an unclaimed body somewhere.”
“That’s true.”
“So, I thought, on our way there we could talk to Simon.”
“Ah, we’re questioning people on a geographical basis?”
“Jah.” Ettie scurried to the bureau in the living room, and pulled out paper and pen while Elsa-May let Snowy back in. “I’m writing down everything Nell said, so we can tell Kelly.”
Looking at Snowy, Elsa-May sat down and grunted. “You’d better be a good boy and not bark. We won’t be away for long. We don’t want the neighbors complaining about you again.”
“We sure don’t.” After writing for several minutes, Ettie folded the list and then poked it up inside her sleeve. “That’s the last thing we need.” Ettie walked to the front door, pulled on her coat, and took Elsa-May’s off the hook by the door. “Ready?”
“Jah.”
“Take Snowy out the back now to do his business, so he’ll last until we get home.”
“He’s just been out.”
“Take him out again. Now we’re getting our coats on he’ll know we’re going out. Just do it, Elsa-May, would you?”
Shaking her head, Elsa-May took Snowy out once more.
Ettie waited for Elsa-May and when she came back inside with the dog, Ettie passed Elsa-May her coat. They walked to the shanty to call for a taxi with Elsa-May complaining about taking Snowy out again, all the way there.
Chapter 4
The taxi pulled up in front of Simon’s house. They saw him sitting on the porch enjoying a midmorning mug of coffee. He stood up as they approached.
He gave a nod. “Guder mariye.”
“Morning,” Elsa-May said, as she strode in front of Ettie.
He fiddled with the neckline of his shirt. “Wie gehts?”
“We’re fine, and you?” Ettie asked.
“Gut. Maizie’s just gone out. You missed her by fifteen minutes.”
“It’s you we’ve come to see, Simon,” Ettie said.
His face slowly contorted into a frown and with his thumb, he pushed his hat back on his head. “Me?”
In that moment, Ettie saw how much he looked like his late brother, Abraham. And that reminded Ettie he too had lost someone close to him, just as Nell had. It was a bad time to be asking him questions, but they were there now. “Jah, we want to ask you a few questions about Jedidiah.”
“Jedidiah Shoneberger?”
“That’s the one,” Elsa-May said.
He tipped his head to one side, and looking from one lady to the other, asked, “Is he back?”
Elsa-May stepped onto the porch. “Nee, he’s not. Mind if we sit?”
“Of course I don't mind. Sit down. I’ll get another chair from inside.” He turned to go in the haus. “Can I get you a cool drink, or anything?”
“Nee, we just had hot tea, denke.”
Elsa-May and Ettie sat on the porch chairs and then Simon sat down on the dining chair he’d fetched from the house. “Why are you asking about Jedidiah? I haven’t even heard his name for years.”
“We’re trying to find out what happened to him. He was a good friend of yours, wasn’t he?” Elsa-May asked.
“He was. Did Nell put you up to this?” His tone was sterner now.
“Jah, she wants to know once and for all what happened to him.”
“She didn’t wait long, did she?” He rubbed his beard, clearly bothered by his sister-in-law’s timing.
“There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?” Elsa-May asked. “He was her first love. That’s not taking anything away from Abraham. They had a wunderbaar life together.”
“There’s normally a certain adjustment process a person goes through after losing their spouse. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Oh, we’re sorry. I think her grief over losing Abraham brought back the unresolved grief over Jedidiah. Is it too close to Abraham going home to Gott for you to talk about things like this?” Elsa-May asked.
He inhaled deeply. “Nee, it’s okay.”
“As I remember, you were keen on Nell, too, after Jedidiah disappeared, before Abraham made his intentions known.” Ettie felt Elsa-May staring at her, obviously annoyed for bringing that to his attention.
“It’s not a memory I’d like to go back to. I was interested in her, I won’t lie. I was also interested in a few other women well before I met Maizie.”
Ettie slowly nodded. “Do you know where Jedidiah got the money from to buy Rose Cottage?”
“His parents.”
Elsa-May and Ettie exchanged glances.
“Well, that's what I assumed. He had plenty of money.”
“Is that right? Nell thinks maybe he borrowed money to buy Rose Cottage.”
“Nee, he had money, and I’d say he’d inherited it. His grandparents on his mudder’s side ran a dairy with hundreds of acres of land, and sold it for a huge sum of money. They also owned a lot of property around the place. He wasn’t short of a dollar. He loaned people money, too. I’m surprised Nell doesn’t know that.”
Ettie’s interest piqued when she heard he’d loaned money. It seemed Jedidiah kept that information from Nell. Perhaps he thought she wouldn’t approve of him loaning people money. Had they gotten married, she would’ve known about his finances. A
lthough he might have chosen to discontinue making loans at that point.
“Do you have any idea what became of him?” Elsa-May asked.
He shook his head. “Nee, I don't.”
“I know you write things for The Budget from time to time. Would you write something asking that if anyone has any information on Jedidiah Shoneberger, would they please write to me? Could you arrange that?”
“Jah. I’ll get onto that immediately. I’ll write the facts about how he disappeared and that people with any information can write to you.”
Ettie gave him her address.
“I’ll remember it.”
“Denke.” Ettie got to thinking. If Jedidiah had been killed, and he didn’t like banks, where was all his money? Could that be a motive for murder? He had no family and he hadn’t married Nell before he’d disappeared. No one seemed to think about his missing money. And who had borrowed money from Jedidiah?
“Is there anything else you want to know?” Simon asked.
“Who borrowed money from him?” Elsa-May asked, taking the question that was on the tip of Ettie’s tongue.
“And, was it a lot?” Ettie asked.
“That’s something I’d rather not get into. It’s between Jedidiah and the people who borrowed the money.”
Elsa-May frowned. “It could be a clue to helping find him.”
He shook his head. “It wouldn’t help.”
Ettie gave him a disapproving scowl, and when that didn’t encourage him to give them the information, she asked, “Who else was he close with?”
“Titus and Moses. I know that both of them were helping him at Rose Cottage.”
“And Abraham?”
“Abraham was a good friend, too, but he couldn’t help him work on the cottage because he was working long hours six days a week.”
He was shying away from answering their questions directly. There was most likely no point trying to find out about something when so much time had passed. Ettie pushed herself to her feet. “We should keep moving. We’ve got to be in town for an appointment.”
He stood also. “I’ve got business in town today. I can drive you.”
“Are you sure?” Elsa-May asked.
“Jah. I was going in later, but it won’t hurt if I go earlier. If you’ll give me a moment, I’ll just write a note to Maizie telling her where I’m going.”
Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 6 Page 3
