by Mary Alford
Noah promised to find Eva. As the hours slipped away, she struggled to hold on to that promise.
Holy Father in Heaven, please bring my schweschder home safely.
She’d lost so much in her life. Noah. Her daed. Daniel. The baby. At times, it felt as if the pain in her heart would be there to stay. She couldn’t lose her sister, too.
Against her will, she remembered that fateful day. She and Daniel were heading home from the bulk foods store. To this day, she still didn’t know what spooked the mare. Daniel was thrown. He’d died before he reached the hospital. When her doctor visited her some time later, he delivered another blow. Losing their unborn baby was just the beginning. He’d told her the damage to her body was too great. She would not likely be able to have another child.
Something brushed against her hand. Rachel’s eyes snapped open. A Styrofoam coffee cup sat next to her. She glanced up. Noah was there.
“I thought you could use a break.” He smiled, and she noticed his facial cuts from the glass had been bandaged. He pulled out the chair next to hers.
“Denki,” she murmured and took a sip. Strong coffee. Something she rarely drank anymore. Daniel was the coffee drinker in the family. Since his passing, she couldn’t bring herself to prepare it for herself.
“How are you holding up?” he asked, keeping a careful watch on her face.
Truthfully, she was barely hanging on. “I feel so helpless. I need to be doing something. I can’t sit here looking at these photos any longer while Eva is missing.” She shook her head. “She could be hurt, Noah. Maybe a car struck her on the way home, and she’s lying out there frightened and alone. I am supposed to watch out for her. My mamm entrusted her well-being to me.” Not since losing Daniel had she felt such turmoil in her heart.
Noah covered her hand with his. “We have all our people looking for her. They’re combing the road between the Lapp place and yours. We’ll find her.” His gentle answer washed over her, and she pulled in a breath. Gazing into his eyes, she believed him. Noah was a gut man. He would do what he could to fulfill his promise and bring Eva home.
As she studied his handsome face, the past and all its shattered dreams rose in her heart like a barrier between them. At seventeen, she had been so sure her future belonged with Noah. It didn’t matter how many times her mamm tried to get her to see the differences standing between them. She’d been so foolish back then, blinded to the truth while her heart had believed that with Noah at her side they could conquer any obstacle in their way, including their differences in faith.
But the past had no place between them anymore.
She studied his handsome face. While his blue eyes were as she remembered, fine lines fanned out around them. Grooves circled his mouth. She wondered about his life now. Was he married? Happy?
“I’ve been so worried about Eva that I haven’t thought to ask how you’ve been.”
Dark blond brows shot up. Time slipped by before he answered. “I’ve been okay, I guess. Busy. This job is fulfilling in many ways.” A strange answer. He stopped, and she wondered if perhaps in just as many ways it was not.
“I meant what I said earlier. I am sorry about Ezra. He was like a dad to me for a long time. I learned a lot about farming from Ezra when I was too stubborn to listen to my father.” A hint of a smile lifted the corners of his mouth, not reaching his eyes. “And I was sorry to hear about your husband, as well,” he added quietly.
The strain between them now was something the younger Rachel could not have imagined. They were like two strangers. She glanced at his hand on hers. He didn’t wear a wedding band. Had he ever married?
Rachel thought about her years with Daniel. At times, it was hard to believe he was gone. So many things changed forever with his death. The buggy accident that took his life scarred her deeply and she still struggled to accept Daniel’s death and her injuries as part of Gott’s plan. The future and its promises had evaporated that day.
When the silence between them grew uncomfortable, she asked the question she was curious about. “How did you know about Daniel?”
“Isaac. We still keep in touch. He and I go hunting together several times a year, and I help him with his planting like I used to with your dad.”
She looked away, surprised by the admission. When he’d left, Rachel had thought Noah had shut both her and the Amish ways out of his life, and yet he kept in touch with Isaac. He just hadn’t wanted her.
Before she could think of anything to say, someone came into the room. The sheriff motioned to Noah. From his grim expression, she was sure something terrible had happened.
Noah stepped out of the room. Her heart accelerated. Please, Gott, do not let it be Eva.
Time seemed to stop while her last conversation with Eva came to mind.
Can you believe it, Rachel? Soon, I will be teaching at the same shool where you and I attended as kinner. I cannot imagine doing anything else. Eva’s eyes lit up every time she spoke about the future.
Perhaps someday you will meet a man like Hannah Wagler did and fall in love, Rachel had teased.
Her sister had blushed and eventually giggled before changing the subject. At the time, Rachel hadn’t thought much about it. Now she wondered if perhaps Eva had kept parts of her life secret even from Rachel.
When Hannah first came to Eva and mentioned her plans to marry Isaac Yoder, the bishop’s sohn, come November, Eva could not believe that the community leaders would select her to train as Hannah’s replacement.
Her sister pored through all of Hannah’s past issues of the Blackboard Bulletin, an Amish teachers’ magazine. Eva could not wait to complete her apprenticeship.
Noah came back in. The sight of him had her jumping to her feet. “Is there news?” she asked while trying to glean something from his expression.
He hurried to her side. “We haven’t located her,” he said as if reading her thoughts.
“But you know something.” She could see it in his eyes.
“Yes, we found this.” He held up something in a plastic bag. Rachel’s hand covered her mouth. It was Eva’s quilted bag. She had had it with her at the church service.
“You recognize it,” Noah confirmed.
She nodded. “It belongs to Eva. I made it for her seventeenth birthday six months ago. She took it with her wherever she went. Where did you find it?”
“Not far from where the men forced us off the road.” He paused a moment. “Rachel, it’s looking more like the man who attacked you and ran us off the road took Eva against her will. I’m guessing they were waiting for her when she left the Lapps’ place, much like they were for us.”
Rachel sank back into the chair, covering her face with hands that shook. She should have insisted on picking her sister up at Anna’s. Eva had assured her everything would be fine, and Rachel was trying to give her sister more freedom, but she’d had doubts. Why hadn’t she listened to them?
“This isn’t your fault. You can’t blame yourself. These guys are ruthless.”
Tears filled her eyes. “Isn’t it? I should not have let her walk home alone. It was dark and cold. This is my fault.”
Noah clasped her hand once more. “Eva is growing up. She’s not that little girl who used to tag along all the time.”
He was right. Eva was scheduled to join the church in a few weeks’ time.
“What do we do now?” she asked because she had to do something to help.
“If you feel up to it, we could go to your place and take a look around. See if anything is missing. The crime scene unit finished a few hours ago. They didn’t find anything useful, I’m afraid, although we weren’t expecting any fingerprints since you said the man who attacked you wore gloves.”
Rachel rose. “Jah, I’m ready. I want to do something for Eva.”
Noah smiled at her. “Good. I’ll let Walker know, and then I’ll
come get you.”
Alone again, the plastic container holding Eva’s bag called out to her. She couldn’t take her eyes off it. Picking it up, Rachel examined the bag she’d lovingly quilted for her sister. Specks of dark red covered the broken shoulder strap. Blood.
The plastic bag slipped from her fingers. Drawing in a breath, she struggled to keep from being sick.
“What happened to you, Eva?” she whispered while all sorts of possibilities, none of which were good, raced through her head.
She closed her eyes. Nothing made sense. Someone had kidnapped Eva and tried to do the same to her. What could they possibly want?
The door opened. Rachel spun away and tried to reclaim her composure.
“What’s wrong?” Noah asked from near the door.
Squaring her shoulders, she faced him. She had to stay strong. “Nothing. I’m oke.”
He came to where she stood. “We don’t know anything for sure.”
She managed a nod and Noah pressed her hand before releasing it.
“We’re all set with the sheriff. Let’s get out of here.” He held the door open for her.
Noah stopped at the front desk where a woman around the same age as Rachel’s mamm answered phones. She’d been introduced to the woman earlier.
“Janine, we’re heading out to Rachel’s house to take a look around. If you need me, you can reach me on the radio.”
“Okay, Noah. I’ll let Stephanie know, as well. She’ll be starting her dispatcher shift in a few hours.” Janine smiled sympathetically at Rachel. “It was nice to meet you. I’ll say a prayer for your sister.”
Touched by the woman’s kindness, Rachel waved and followed Noah out into the dawning of a new day filled with threatening gray clouds. At this time of the year, the weather could turn from pleasant to winter cold without a moment’s notice.
Noah unlocked a new patrol car and caught her staring at it. “It’s the backup unit. It looks like mine is going to be out of commission for a while.” He opened the door for her, and she climbed inside.
Driving to the farm, Rachel couldn’t keep from glancing over her shoulder, expecting the men who ran them off the road to reappear. Her nerves were all but shattered.
“No one’s back there,” Noah said quietly, and she shifted in her seat to face him.
“I know,” she said but still couldn’t relax. Her sister’s welfare was foremost in her mind. The last time she’d seen Eva, she was excited about attending the youth group singing. Now Eva was missing. Would she ever see her sister again?
“How are your grandparents?” Noah asked, drawing her attention from her worried thoughts. Growing up close to her family, Noah knew her grandparents well.
“They are gut. They moved to the San Luis Valley community in Colorado several years back to live with Aenti Deborah. They said they couldn’t handle the Montana winters any longer.”
Her grossdaddi suffered from severe arthritis, and the cold became harder to endure with each passing year. He and Grossmammi moved to San Luis Valley because of its lower altitude.
Rachel thought about what her mamm’s reaction would be to learning her youngest daughter was missing.
“How am I going to tell my grandparents and mamm about Eva?”
He held her gaze. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. We’re still trying to piece together what happened to her.”
Slowing the car, he pulled onto her drive. As much as Rachel wanted to believe Eva would somehow turn up and this would prove to be some crazy misunderstanding, the little voice in her head assured her nothing could be further from the truth.
She’d lived all her life surrounded by hard work and peaceful family settings. She knew crime existed, but not in her community. At least not until now.
“You must miss Beth a lot.” He glanced her way curiously.
She swallowed deep. “I do.” The past year without Daniel had been a difficult one. Losing the baby. The news she would probably never be able to carry another child again threatened to destroy her. She’d relied on Beth’s strength to get through the long days. Her mamm understood Rachel’s crippling grief all too well.
“I’m sure it must have been hard on her to lose Ezra like she did,” Noah said. His cell phone rang before Rachel could answer. He spoke briefly to someone before ending the call.
“That was Walker. They found the vehicle that ran us off the road abandoned off Highway 37. It had been wiped clean, but there was some blood on the passenger seat.”
Her heart raced. There was blood on Eva’s bag, as well.
“It’s probably from the man I shot.” Noah’s calm voice interrupted her dark thoughts. “A shoulder wound could result in a lot of blood loss.”
Still, doubts crawled in. What was happening to her peaceful world? Why was someone trying to hurt her family?
Noah stopped in front of the house, and Rachel stared up at it. She’d lived here all her life. When she and Daniel wed, they moved in with her parents. Her mamm and daed took over the dawdi haus where her grandparents had lived before they moved to Colorado. These walls captured so many good memories, yet what stood out in her mind the most was what happened last night. She could almost feel the man’s hand covering her mouth once more, the hatred in his eyes. The last breaths leaving her body. Would she ever be able to get those horrific memories out of her head and feel safe here again?
She noticed something that sent a chill down her spine. The front door stood wide open. An accident? Or had her attacker come looking for her once more?
* * *
Noah was on alert the second he spotted the open door. “Wait here and lock the door behind me.” He drew his weapon and climbed out of the vehicle. The locks snapped into place. He moved toward the opening.
Had one of the officers from crime scene left the door open? The men and women in that unit were professionals. They wouldn’t have acted so carelessly.
Doubts wouldn’t go away as he slipped inside the house. What he saw there made it clear this was no accident.
Someone had tossed the place. Furniture was turned over. Chair cushions ripped open. Drawers emptied in a quest to locate something.
He stopped to listen. A noise of something being knocked over came from the dawdi haus. Someone was here.
Noah didn’t dare call for backup for fear of alerting the intruder. Slowly, he moved down the hall to the dawdi haus entrance. As he stood outside the door, not a sound came from inside. Easing the door open, the room in front of him appeared empty. The side door leading outside was cracked.
Rachel!
The noise of glass breaking sent him running through the house. He stepped out onto the porch. What he saw there scared the daylights out of him.
The patrol’s passenger window was broken. An armed man with his face obscured by a ski mask held Rachel close. A gun pointed at her head.
Noah reacted immediately. “Drop the gun. Now!” His eyes held Rachel’s. “Everything is going to be okay,” he tried to assure her.
The man shook his head. “She’s coming with me, Deputy. We need her.”
The man’s words mimicked what the others had said. What were these men after?
“You’re not going anywhere. Drop the weapon.” Noah kept his aim on the man’s head, the only clear shot he had.
The gunman grew increasingly nervous. He glanced down the drive. Was he alone or...? The thought barely cleared Noah’s head before a car’s engine roared to life. Tires squealed. The man’s partner had deserted him.
“Looks like you’re all alone. Drop the weapon now,” Noah ordered once more.
The man hesitated. His eyes darted from Rachel to Noah’s Glock. Without warning, he shoved Rachel away and opened fire. Rachel hit the ground, putting her hands over her head while Noah ducked behind the cruiser as bullets tinged off its side.
Silence f
ollowed. He peeked around the side of the vehicle. The shooter was getting away.
Noah ran after him. “Stop right there!” The man kept moving. Noah aimed for his leg and fired. With a bloodcurdling yelp, the man grabbed his leg and stumbled to the ground. The weapon flew from his hand and landed some distance away.
Securing the weapon behind his back, Noah kept the Glock trained on the man as he advanced.
“You shot me,” the man said in disbelief while holding his leg. Noah rolled him onto his stomach and secured his hands. A search of his pockets produced nothing of any use.
He radioed for help. “Janine, I need immediate assistance.” Noah briefly explained what took place.
“Are you both all right?” Janine asked in amazement.
“We’re fine, but we’ll need an ambulance. The perp’s been shot.”
Hauling the man up on his good leg, Noah helped him over to the porch where Rachel waited.
“Ouch. Are you trying to kill me? I’ve been shot.”
“Keep quiet,” he told the man. Noah turned to Rachel. “Are you okay?”
She managed to nod.
Taking off his belt, Noah secured it above the gunshot wound to slow the blood flow before removing the ski mask. He didn’t recognize the man. His voice wasn’t familiar, either. He wasn’t one of the two who ran them off the road. How did he fit into what was happening?
“Do you know him?” he asked Rachel, but could tell from her reaction she didn’t.
“What’s your name?” Noah asked.
The man glared at him. “Lawyer. I want a lawyer.” Without another word, he clamped his mouth shut. There would be no answers coming from this man.
Within minutes, two cruisers pulled onto the lane followed by an ambulance.
After exiting from their vehicles, Deputies Ryan Sinclair and Cole Underwood, along with Sheriff Collins, walked purposefully to Noah.
“When I went inside, the house had been ransacked.” Noah explained what happened. Next to him, he heard Rachel’s surprise. “I’m sorry.” He turned to her. “I’ll go with you to make sure nothing is missing.” Noah drew in a breath. “I heard glass breaking and ran outside. The man had smashed the passenger window and was holding Rachel at gunpoint.” He explained how he’d been forced to shoot the man. “There was someone else here. Whoever it was, he left his partner behind.”
