Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 6

by Samantha Price

  “No because I only remember my brother telling me about it and that’s all.”

  “Thank you for your help,” Elsa-May said.

  “It’s awful he went that way, but he wouldn’t listen to any of us.”

  “Any of us?” Ettie asked.

  “Yes, my sister and I.”

  “Ah yes, Jill James. We have her on the list to speak with next.”

  “Did he have any friends we can speak to?” Selena asked.

  He shook his head. “He didn’t have friends, really. He had plenty of girlfriends.”

  “Well, thank you for your time,” Ettie said pushing herself to her feet. “No need to get up. We’ll close the door behind us.”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  Chapter 11

  When they were all seated in the buggy, Selena pulled out her cell phone and started tapping on it.

  “What are you doing?” Ettie asked.

  “I'm making notes in my iPhone, so I don’t forget anything.”

  “Why don’t you use a book and a pen?”

  She laughed. “I don't know. I'm just used to using this. I can also email it to myself when I'm done and I won't lose it like I could lose a book.”

  “You might lose it if you don’t always put it in the same place when you finish with it.”

  Selena smiled at Ettie. “Thanks for the tip. What next?”

  “Next on this list is the sister, Jill James. She and Wayne lived in the same house until Jill kicked him out and kept the dog. You see, both wanted the same dog.” Ettie looked down at her notes. “At least, I think that’s what my notes say.”

  “You think the sister killed him for the dog?” Selena asked.

  “No, although some would kill over a pet, but that wasn’t the case here, I don’t think. If the sister killed him it might not have been over a dog; it's often not about any one thing when someone gets murdered. It can be something small and that adds with all the other annoying things that the person’s ever done until the potential killer can’t take it anymore.”

  “It sounds like you’ve had experience?”

  “With people who irritate me?” Ettie asked, giving Elsa-May a sideways glance.

  Selena shook her head. “No, with murderers.”

  “Unfortunately, I have.”

  “I’d like to hear about it, but another day. How far to Jill’s place?”

  “I think an early night’s in order,” Elsa-May said.

  Selena stared at Elsa-May. “Night? It’s only early afternoon.”

  “Yes, we can start again tomorrow,” Ettie said. “We’ll go to Jill’s first.”

  Selena held her head in her hands. With the slowness of the buggy and the unhurried pace of these elderly ladies, she felt she was going nowhere—fast. “Can I have a look at your notes, Ettie?” Things would be much more efficient if she investigated by herself.

  Ettie hugged the book to herself. “It wouldn’t help. My writing’s too bad for anyone else to read.”

  “I could try.”

  “No!” Elsa-May turned around from the front seat. “You don’t want to look at her messy handwriting. There’s nothing in there anyway.”

  “Elsa-May’s right. Just a list of possible people for us to visit again. Like Jill James.”

  “Okay. We’ll speak with her tomorrow, then?”

  Ettie nodded still hugging the book to her chest. “Yes. First thing tomorrow.”

  Selena had to agree.

  “I can drive us tomorrow, too, if you’d like,” Gabriel suggested.

  Elsa-May patted him on his shoulder. “Thank you, Gabriel.”

  “No,” Selena said. “It would be much faster if I drove the car.”

  “We don’t like the cars,” Ettie said.

  “But I thought you could ride in cars, just that you couldn’t own them or be the one behind the wheel.”

  Elsa-May frowned at her. “That’s right, but why would we go in a car when we can travel in this lovely buggy of Gabriel’s? Where is Jill’s place, Ettie?”

  Ettie opened her book. “It’s not too far. Close enough for the buggy. At least, it was where she was living last time we visited her. She might have moved, but her brother didn’t mention she had.”

  “All we can do is knock on the door,” Elsa-May said. “Tomorrow, I meant.”

  Selena nodded. “I’d like to talk with the sister since his brother didn’t seem to know too much about Wayne’s life.”

  Ettie stared at the passing scenery with the book clutched close to her. She’d have to leave it home tomorrow. She couldn’t risk Selena looking in it because of what it said about Kate, Selena’s mother.

  When Ettie and Elsa-May got home, they stood on their porch waving at Gabriel’s buggy as it left.

  “Elsa-May, we’re going to have to go back to the brother and see what he says without Selena being there. I’m certain he knows more than he’s letting on.”

  “Okay. When will we do that?”

  “Maybe this afternoon, or maybe tomorrow.”

  Elsa-May nodded. “How about now?”

  “Are you up to it?”

  “Sure.” Elsa-May smiled.

  “What about all that ‘early night’ business?”

  “I was just delaying things, like you were with the long lunch.”

  Ettie nodded. “Good idea.”

  They called a taxi and arrived back at Terrence’s house.

  He opened the door surprised to see them there. “Oh, you’re back.”

  Elsa-May said, “I hope you don’t mind, but we came back without Abner’s granddaughter.”

  “Well, come in.” He adjusted the crutches under his arms and took a step back.

  “We’re sorry to have you hobble to the door again,” Elsa-May said as she walked in ahead of Ettie.

  He chuckled. “That’s okay. I’m not supposed to sit around all day.”

  Once they were in the lounge room, Ettie said, “We want to get to the bottom of things about this accident with your brother. We thought you might not have been able to talk freely in front of Selena.”

  He nodded. “That's right I didn't tell you that the world would be a better place if he wasn’t around.” He chuckled again. “But seriously, I didn’t know if she knew about her mother’s relationship with Wayne, so I kept quiet about it. Apart from throwing out a hint.”

  That was something Ettie didn’t know, but had often wondered.

  Elsa-May’s eyes grew wide. “Did you tell us that last time?”

  “Probably not. The secret doesn’t seem to matter so much now. It was forbidden on her part of course, since he wasn’t Amish like she was.”

  “So as far as you were aware, Kate Troyer was definitely having a relationship with Wayne?” Ettie asked.

  “That's right.”

  “And how did it end?”

  He shook his head. “Another dreadful ding dong fight. They always had dreadful fights. I know because I used to live with Jill and Wayne. I moved out and Wayne and Jill were left.”

  “How bad were the fights?”

  “Nothing physical just a lot of screaming. Now, since I’ve told you that, I might as well tell you something else. I know that Wayne was blackmailing someone.”

  Ettie and Elsa-May looked at each other. That was something they’d never heard.

  “Who?” Ettie asked.

  “A man, that’s all I know.”

  “And that was the man who, you told us, was furious with Wayne?”

  “That’s right. I was throwing you out a hint.”

  “Another one? Hmm. Thank you.”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “That’s all I know.”

  “We appreciate that. Is there anything else you haven’t told us?” Elsa-May asked.

  He scratched his nose. “That’s it.”

  “What about alpacas?” Elsa-May asked.

  Ettie stared at her sister wondering why she was asking. She must’ve believed Patricia had her animals go missing.

&n
bsp; Terrence chuckled. “Are you talking about Pat?”

  “Patricia Langerfield.”

  “That’s the one. She’s our cousin. Wayne and she never got along. It went way back. She accused him of stealing her alpacas, and she accused him of cutting the brake lines to her car.”

  Ettie and Elsa-May stared at one another and then Ettie asked, “How are you related? She was talking to us like she barely knew Wayne.”

  “Our fathers were brothers. There was an inheritance from my grandfather and it went to Patricia’s side of the family. Wayne never got over it.”

  “And he harassed her?”

  He nodded. “He called it ‘harmless fun.’”

  Ettie and Elsa-May soon left when they figured they’d found out everything from him.

  Chapter 12

  An hour later, Ettie and Elsa-May were seated in front of Detective Kelly in his office.

  “I know why you’re here. You’re trying to prove a friend of yours wasn’t guilty of a hit-and-run incident.”

  “That's right,” Ettie said while Elsa-May nodded.

  Kelly leaned back. “As I said to the young lady when she came to ask me to look into it—”

  “She came here?”

  “Yes. I had a young woman here early this morning, by the name of Selena Troyer.”

  “And have you?” Ettie asked.

  He frowned at Ettie. “Have I what?”

  “Looked into it?”

  “Not yet. I haven't had a spare moment. You've managed to catch me between appointments, so it was good timing on your part.”

  “Ettie and I were wondering if there's anything in the file about Wayne Robinson, the man who died, having a relationship with two Amish women, or even one?”

  Ettie added, “Because we’re fairly certain Abner’s daughter was having a relationship with Wayne. And we think that’s why Abner took the blame.”

  “To protect the daughter?” he asked.

  Both ladies nodded.

  He pulled a face. “Why is this all being dredged up now?”

  “Selena wants to clear his name.”

  “Very well, I’ll see what I can do. I might have some time later this afternoon.” He looked from one sister to the other and breathed out heavily. “Okay, I’ll have a quick look now.”

  Ettie smiled. “Would you?”

  “Yes. I'd like to get to the bottom of things too, if it’ll keep you both out of my hair. I don’t have much of it left.” Kelly chuckled.

  Ettie looked at his hair, and saw that he was right about that.

  Kelly then turned to one side and angled the screen of his desktop computer toward himself. He took a moment and then tapped and paused to read what was on the screen.

  “Looks as though he was hit from behind while he walked a lonely stretch of road. Says here he had been at a bar, and a lady friend took him home. She noticed he didn’t go inside, but walked away from the house. Now, I’m just looking at the autopsy paperwork. He had abrasions on him, and he appeared to have rolled down the slight embankment to the side of the road, all consistent with being hit by a motor vehicle. His shoes were found yards away. His socks and shoes had been literally knocked off him.”

  “Amazing.” Elsa-May shook her head.

  “It’s common in these kind of impacts. From the evidence at the scene, it appears he was walking on the side of the road, not close to the edge and not on the road. There were no skid marks before or after the scene, so the driver made no attempt to avoid him or slow down after the impact. There were broken pieces of glass and plastic. Several tiny light blue paint chips, and a broken side view mirror. Because of the condition of these pieces it was clear they were deposited at the time of the impact. Meaning, they weren’t there from a past crash.”

  “Is that all?” Elsa-May asked.

  Kelly turned to them and interlaced the fingers of both of his hands before he placed them on the desk in front of him. “It’s a fact that most hit-and-run accidents go unsolved. From his injuries, we know he was facing the direction opposite to the car when he was hit. He wouldn’t have seen it coming. Toxicology tests for drugs and alcohol came back negative.”

  “But he was at a bar,” Ettie said. “Surely he would’ve been drinking.”

  He looked back at the screen. “No. From what I just read in the report, the barman said he didn’t have one drink. What’s more, he said Wayne never drank. He used to come in for the ladies.”

  “So, why wasn’t he driving his own car if he wasn’t drinking?” Ettie asked.

  “I’m not certain he had a car,” Kelly said.

  “Why was he walking late at night after he’d been driven home?” Elsa-May asked.

  He pinched his eyebrows together and looked back at the screen. “It’s possible he could’ve met someone who asked him to meet him somewhere. He died only one quarter of a mile from his home.”

  “Someone must’ve called him and said meet them out on that road and then they were going to go somewhere together,” Ettie said. “That’s what we surmised last time.”

  “Yes, something like that.” Kelly nodded.

  “Did you check his phone history from the phone company?”

  “Just give me a moment.” He looked back at the computer. “I’m sorry, this wasn’t my case when they were re-investigating it and the original case was before my time. Looks like nothing came from his phone history. Back then mobile phones weren’t in use. Not like they are now. He only had a landline, so those kinds of searches aren’t as useful as they are these days. You see back then, many people had access to any one phone. With mobile phones, generally only one person uses them.” The phone on his desk rang, and he picked up the receiver. “I’ll be right there.” He hung up. “Excuse me a moment. I’ll be two minutes.” He walked out of the office buttoning up his jacket.

  Ettie gave Elsa-May her notebook and then quickly moved around to sit in Kelly’s seat.

  “Ettie, what are you doing?” Elsa-May hissed.

  “Looking up dates. Write this down.” Kelly still had the screen open and she read out the date of the accident, and the date of Abner admitting to the crime years later. She scrolled down further, she knew how to do that from using the computer in the library.

  “Hurry up, would you?” Elsa-May urged.

  “I’m just getting this to fill in the blanks in my book. I don’t have the dates written down.” Ettie moved away and when she was nearly back in her seat, Kelly walked through the door and glared at her.

  “I just dropped my pen,” she said before she sat back down next to Elsa-May.

  “I’ve got to interview someone now, so I’ll have to ask you to leave. I will be in touch soon.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Yes, we appreciate your help,” Ettie said.

  They headed out of the station and as Elsa-May walked down the steps, she said, “What were you doing back there, Ettie? Don’t ever make me so scared again. What would’ve happened if he’d seen you doing that? He’d never help us again.”

  “Sometimes in life, Elsa-May, you’ve got to take a risk.”

  Elsa-May shook her head with her lips clamped together.

  “I’m working on a few things,” Ettie said.

  Chapter 13

  Earlier that day

  “Thank you, Gabriel. I really do appreciate you taking the time to drive us around today,” Selena stepped down from the buggy when they arrived at her bed-and-breakfast.

  “I enjoyed it. And I'll pick you up tomorrow morning, okay?”

  “Oh, I forgot my car. It’s still at your place.”

  “That's okay. It’ll be safe there.”

  “Okay, thanks.” She preferred to keep the car garaged, but it wouldn’t have been garaged even if she’d had it with her. It would have spent the night in the parking lot along with the other guests’ cars. It made sense to leave it at his house. Anyway, she was too tired to go back and get it now. “What time tomorrow?”

  “Nine?”


  “Perfect.”

  “What are you doing for dinner? I’ll take you out somewhere.”

  She smiled at the offer. “That's okay. I think they do meals here for dinner.”

  “You sure? I won’t cook it myself.” He laughed. “I’ll take you somewhere nice.”

  “That's fine. I'll see you tomorrow.”

  “Okay. Bye, Selena.”

  She stepped away from the buggy and the horse clip-clopped away.

  When she was back in the safety of her room, she pulled out her phone to call Eugene. She was taken aback when a woman answered the phone. “Hi, it's Selena …”

  “Hi, Selena, it’s Elga. Eugene’s in a meeting right now.”

  “Oh, okay. Can you have him call me back?”

  “Sure.”

  “Thanks, bye.” She ended the call. Normally, he allowed his calls on his private cell phone to go to voicemail.

  She shook her head and told herself not to be so suspicious about the lack of background noise. She still found it hard to believe her luck that a man like Eugene could be interested in somebody like her. She imagined he would have some socialite type of woman with a great figure and an outgoing personality. When her phone beeped she looked to see a few text messages from him. Looking at the times they’d been sent, she realized she’d only just gotten into the network reception range and he’d sent all those messages earlier.

  The place she was staying only provided breakfast. She had told Gabriel they served dinner as an easy way to get out of his invitation.

  Soon, she found the only place that delivered food was a pizzeria. Now she missed her car. She ended up getting a pizza delivered even though it was one of her least favorite foods.

  When Selena woke up the next morning, she grabbed her phone. There were no missed calls from Eugene. She sent a text message. Are you awake? There was no reply, so she called him.

  He answered with an angry, “What are you doing? Do you know the time?”

  “Six o'clock. You always wake up at this time.”

  “I had a meeting last night that went on until after midnight.”