Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 4

by Samantha Price

  “From the bar. There was a group of us that hung out together there. But Alfie and I didn’t know Gillespie was a criminal.”

  “When did you find out?”

  He shook his head. “If you don’t know, I shouldn’t tell you.” He turned to Ettie. “Do you really know?”

  “I know a bit, and you can tell us the rest.”

  He puffed on his cigarette and blew the smoke into the air. “It was years ago. Gillespie asked Alfie to drive him and some men somewhere. Alfie was easy-going and did whatever anyone asked. Alfie grew wary when he drove Gillespie and three men down a dark alley. Then they pulled on black ski masks and Gillespie pulled out a gun and ordered Alfie to wait. Alfie told me he was scared stiff, so he waited. Gillespie came back an hour later with a large black bag, and he was by himself.”

  Ettie recalled the story about the bank job where the men were left dead in the bank. The pieces of the puzzle were fitting together. Alfie had been the reluctant driver of the getaway car.

  “When they got back to the bar, Gillespie pulled out a handful of notes from the bag and told Alfie to keep his mouth shut. Alfie gave the money to his wife and told her he'd won a competition and she could do whatever she liked with the money. He said he wanted no part of the money.”

  The diamond! Ettie thought.

  “Then what?” Elsa-May asked.

  “I knew something was bothering him and then Emily started talking about winning money and he didn’t seem excited about it. One night he was over here and we were both drinking. We often hung out together, watching TV or playing darts. He told me what had happened, and I remembered I was there that night when Gillespie asked him to drive him and some of his friends somewhere.”

  “Why did he kill him so long after it happened? Why not back then?”

  “Yes, he killed his other two friends in the bank,” Ettie said.

  Dave shrugged and grunted. “He went away soon after for some lesser robberies.”

  “While he was in jail he probably had time to think about it. Alfie was the only person who could link him to murdering his accomplices and to the bank robbery,” Ettie said.

  “Yeah, Alfie and whoever Alfie had told about it. I’m worried that Alfie told Gillespie he’d told me.”

  Ettie patted him on his shoulder. “If that was the case, he’d probably have killed you on the very same night.”

  “Do you think so?”

  “Yes. And just in case I’m wrong, you should really tell the police all you know.”

  He sniffed, leaned forward and stubbed his cigarette out onto a dirty dinner plate that sat on his coffee table. “I guess I’m damned either way—if I do or if I don’t.”

  Ettie and Elsa-May stayed silent.

  “I don’t wanna be a snitch.”

  “Well, you don’t want to be dead either, do you?”

  “Nah.” He sighed. “I’ll call the detective. He gave me his card.”

  Very good, thought Ettie.

  He stood and walked over to the kitchen, picked up a card and then grabbed his phone’s receiver.

  Ettie and Elsa-May waited while he called Detective Kelly. When he was finished he sat back down.

  “I told him it was urgent I speak with him and he said he’s coming here now.”

  Ettie stood. “We should leave.”

  “No. Can’t you wait with me until he comes?”

  “You want us to?” Elsa-May asked, pulling a face.

  Ettie knew Elsa-May wanted to get out of there fast before the detective saw them there. Kelly wouldn’t be too happy with them for what he called meddling.

  “Yeah.”

  Dave was fidgeting and so nervous Ettie had to agree to wait. “Okay, we’ll stay with you, but as soon as he arrives, he’ll want to speak with you in private.”

  He nodded. “Fair enough.”

  Ettie recalled Max said he’d worn gloves when handling the knife. “Was Max in the house when Gillespie murdered Alfie?”

  “He came soon after and then left in a hurry.”

  “Didn’t you think it strange his son-in-law visited him when he hadn't seen him for years?”

  “No. His daughter kept away from him, but Max called in every now and again to check that he was okay. Max told Alfie never to tell his daughter he visited—she’s got a temper.”

  “Tell us how you found Alfie.”

  “When the housekeeper didn’t show with dinner, I went to see if he had any. I was going to order us some pizza. That’s when I found him.” He shook his head. “I should’ve known what had happened when I saw Gillespie there. Last thing I heard about him he was in prison.”

  “Why did you tell us about Joe Mulligan selling the drugs when we came here?”

  “That happened. I wasn’t making it up.”

  When they saw the detective’s car pull up outside the house, Ettie asked to borrow the phone. She called for a taxi.

  Dave opened the door to greet the detective, and then Ettie and Elsa-May hurried past Kelly with him staring open-mouthed at them.

  “Hi, and goodbye, ladies. I’ll be in touch,” Kelly called after them as they hurried out into the front yard.

  They waited for the taxi at the front of the house.

  “What do you make of it all, Ettie?”

  “I think he’s telling the truth.”

  “What about Max saying he used gloves to hold the murder weapon?” Elsa-May said.

  “Yes, that’s odd. Perhaps he was covering up and hid the weapon thinking his wife did it?”

  “Hmm.”

  Ettie sniffed her clothes. “I can’t wait to get home and out of these clothes.”

  “Jah, you stink of smoke.”

  “So do you,” Ettie said.

  Elsa-May chuckled. "I suppose I do."

  Chapter 21

  I’d just finished feeding Tom his breakfast when I heard a car. When I looked out the window I saw Ettie and Elsa-May getting out of a taxi.

  I turned back to Tom, still eating in the kitchen. “We’ve got visitors. Be a good boy and stay in here.” When I leaned down to touch him, his fur bristled, so I figured I shouldn’t touch him when he was eating. Some cats don’t like that.

  When I opened the door, Ettie and Elsa-May stood there smiling, and Ettie held a tray in her hands.

  “We’ve brought something to say we’re sorry,” Ettie said.

  “Sorry for what?”

  “For ruining your night.”

  “Oh, don’t you worry about that. Come on in.”

  Ettie put a foot in the doorway and looked around. “Where’s the cat?”

  “Tom’s closed in the kitchen. Don’t worry, he won’t escape.”

  “Jah, that’s what I was concerned about,” Ettie said as she stepped inside. Elsa-May followed behind her.

  When Ettie passed me the tray, I lifted the tea towel and saw chocolate chip cookies—my favorite. “Wunderbaar! I love chocolate chip cookies. Sit down and I’ll put the kettle on.” I whizzed into the kitchen knowing Tom would be okay because the front door was shut. He sauntered out to see our visitors while I filled the teakettle and placed cups on a tray and filled the teapot with tea leaves.

  “Have you heard anything from the detective?” I asked them when I joined them in the living room.

  “Nothing new. We saw him yesterday.”

  “And we’re hoping for new developments.”

  “Like what? We already know that Max killed Uncle Alfie.”

  Ettie and Elsa-May looked at each other.

  “What is it?”

  Just as Ettie opened her mouth to speak I heard a car. “Who’s that?” I stood up and looked out the window to see Detective Kelly getting out. “It’s the detective.” I opened the door quickly, quite forgetting about Tom.

  Tom whizzed between my legs and down the steps at the front of the house. “Quick, catch him!" I yelled to the detective.

  Detective Kelly crouched down and Tom stopped running. Soon Tom was rubbing himself against
the detective and letting him stroke his fur.

  “He likes you,” I said, happy that Tom was calming down.

  Kelly scooped him into his arms and carried him inside. Once they were inside, I closed the door and Kelly placed Tom on the floor. When the detective saw Ettie and Elsa-May, he said, “I was hoping you two would be here. I have news.”

  At that moment, the kettle whistled. “Hold that thought. Hot tea, Detective Kelly?”

  He nodded. “Yes, please.”

  When I sat down with them and everyone had tea, the detective relayed a story about how Uncle Alfie was killed.

  “Alfie had unknowingly been the getaway driver for a friend, who paid him money after he’d done it. Alfie gave the money to his wife, telling her he’d won a competition and he wanted her to spend the money on herself. She’d bought a diamond, the one the housekeeper now has. Alfie’s son-in-law, Max, secretly used to visit Alfie to make sure he was okay. When he arrived to see Alfie murdered, he was certain his wife had done it so he put gloves on and tried to hide anything that might implicate his wife, and that included hiding the murder weapon.”

  Ettie interrupted, “Why would he have put gloves on?”

  “To hide his prints,” Kelly explained.

  “And how did Max and Marlene’s knife get there?” Elsa-May asked. “Wasn’t that the murder weapon?”

  “No. Like Max said he had told his wife, the knife was in his garage waiting for him to get around to sharpening it. He took the bloody knife he found in Alfie’s house and threw it in a dumpster, and he was wearing gloves when he did that.”

  “Oh, dear. I feel bad for what I said to him the other night,” Ettie said. “He must’ve got confused and ran out when he thought what he said sounded like he’d murdered Alfie.”

  “I’m the one to blame,” Detective Kelly said. “I thought he was guilty and I put you up to it.”

  Ettie sighed. “I was wrong when I told you about the knife, though.”

  “So Max is innocent?” I asked.

  “He tampered with evidence, but once we told him we had the real killer, Bruno Gillespie, he gave us a full statement, and we released him.”

  “Have you arrested Bruno Gillespie?” Ettie asked.

  “Yes. Thanks to Dave, the neighbor.”

  Ettie tapped a thin bony finger on her chin. “Jazeel told us his uncle told him he was hiding evidence about Gillespie.”

  “Things get mixed up slightly when they’re passed on from one person to another. The evidence was in Alfred’s head, he could have testified against him. Gillespie admitted to doing a little looking around for the cash he’d given Alfred all those years ago, thinking he might still have it hidden somewhere in the house.”

  Elsa-May asked, “What about Gillespie’s rock solid alibi?”

  “We checked a little further into that. He was with a parole officer most of the day. When we questioned the parole officer again, he admitted to blacking out. Gillespie had slipped him something, drugged his coffee, and the officer thought his job was on the line if he told us. He only admitted it when he knew we had Gillespie’s confession.”

  “So all’s well that ends well?” I said to the detective, hoping that everything was solved.

  “I think we can safely say that.”

  And all was well with me. I had my Tom and God had given me another chance with Jazeel. We were marrying in two months.

  Tom jumped onto the couch next to the detective.

  “I’ve rarely seen him get on the couch before. He almost always hides under it,” I said.

  “He’s such a lovely cat,” Kelly said, smoothing down his fur. “Look at those eyes.”

  Tom stared adoringly at Kelly and then leaned against him, purring all the while.

  I noticed Ettie and Elsa-May smiling at each other. I knew my new elderly friends were wishing they had a lovely cat like Tom rather than their fluffy, white yapping dog?

  * * *

  Lost: Amish Mystery

  Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Book 12

  Copyright © 2017 by Samantha Price

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents, are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Chapter 1

  “Is he still a boy?” Ettie asked her sister, speaking of Snowy.

  Elsa-May clutched Snowy, her small fluffy white dog, in the backseat of the taxi. “Well, what else would he be?”

  “He’s not a proper male now that he can’t—”

  “He’s just the same in every other way. What a strange thing to say. Do you think he should be called a female now?” Elsa-May rolled her eyes.

  “Not really.”

  “Oh, you poor little mite.” Elsa-May made kissing noises in Snowy’s ear, causing him to struggle to get away.

  ”See what you’ve done now?” Ettie said.

  “Snowy, stop it.” Elsa-May did her best to keep the small dog in her arms.

  The driver glanced in the rearview mirror. “I told you I don’t want the dog on the seats.”

  “He might need to relieve himself,” Ettie suggested. “I think that’s why he’s acting up.”

  The driver swerved the car off the road and stopped abruptly. “Take him out. I’ll even turn off the meter. I don’t want any accidents in my taxi. I only just had the seats steam cleaned.”

  “Thank you,” Ettie said while Elsa-May opened her door and put Snowy down on the ground.

  Then Elsa-May swiveled both legs out of the car and then maneuvered the rest of her body out. Leaning down, she said to the driver through the window. “Sorry about this. He’s just been to the vet.”

  “Here, give me the leash,” Ettie said, seeing Snowy was anxious to do his business. Once she’d tugged the leash out of Elsa-May’s hands, she let out an ear-splitting scream as Snowy bolted off, ripping the leash through her hands.

  Elsa-May straightened up, and when she saw the small white dog streaking through the countryside, she took off moving as quickly as she could after him. “Stop, Snowy, stop! Come on, Ettie, we’ve got to get him before he tears those stitches.”

  “He’s still drowsy because of the anesthetic,” Ettie managed to say as she tried to keep up with her older sister.

  “Does he look drowsy to you?”

  Ettie didn’t answer the question. “Something’s upset him, or he’s seen a rabbit or such.”

  When they came to a clearing, they stopped and looked around. Snowy was nowhere to be seen.

  Then, the taxi driver caught up with them. “I thought you were being murdered the way you let out that scream. It was enough to wake the dead.”

  “I don’t want him to bust his stitches. That’s what’ll happen if we don’t get him soon,” Elsa-May said, craning her neck as she looked for him.

  “Which direction did he go in?” he asked.

  “There he is!” When Ettie pointed him out, off to the far right, they all ran after him.

  Ettie and Elsa-May lifted up their long full dresses to enable them to run faster through the tall grass.

  “Maybe if we don’t chase him, he’ll come back,” the driver suggested as he overtook them.

  “No. He’s not concerned with us. He’s chasing something,” Elsa-May yelled ahead to the driver, who had by now passed them both and taken the lead.

  When Snowy stopped to paw at something in the ground, the driver caught up with him.

  “Don’t touch him. Just pick up his leash.” Elsa-May was still worried about his stitches.

  When she got closer, the driver handed her the end of the leash.

  “What’s he found that’s so interesting, Elsa-May?” a brea
thless Ettie asked.

  “I don’t know, but let’s get him back to the car.”

  Ettie turned around to head back when something caught her eye. Leaning down, she moved some undergrowth out of the way. She jumped back and let out a yelp, and as she did, she stepped on the driver’s foot.

  "Ouch!" he hollered.

  “What is it, Ettie?” Elsa-May asked.

  “Look! It’s a skull.”

  The driver frowned and then stepped forward to look, and then he too recoiled. “It certainly looks like it.”

  “And there!” Ettie pointed beyond them to a long bone and then she stared again at the skull that looked like a rock. It was covered in a layer of moss, and grass was growing through it. Intrigued, she took a step closer and crouched a little.

  Ettie couldn't believe they had come across a body out here in the middle of nowhere, where there wasn't even a walking trail. What had the person been doing out here? Could they have gotten trapped in a blizzard or a sudden downfall of snow in the wintertime? Or had the person come to a violent end? Perhaps he, or maybe she, suffered an asthma attack, a heart attack, heat stroke. "What do you think the person was doing out here? There’s nothing around."

  "Do you see any belongings anywhere? A backpack? Perhaps he was a birdwatcher; in that case shouldn't there be binoculars?"

  The driver looked around as Ettie and Elsa-May moved closer to one another.

  “We better get outta here and call the cops.” The driver strode briskly back in the direction of the car.

  “Come on, Ettie. There’s nothing we can do.”

  “Why on earth would a body be out here? It’s not far from the road, so it’s not as though he lost his way and starved to death.”

  “He? It could be a woman.”

  “Jah, it could be, but my guess is that it’s a man.”

  “Are you ladies coming, or what?” the driver called to them.

  “Yes, we’re coming.” Elsa-May carefully picked up Snowy. “It feels a little creepy around here now.”

  “How’s Snowy?”

  Elsa-May took a quick look at the stitches. “He seems okay. He’s got a few little scratches, but nowhere near the stitches. It’s a good thing he didn’t pull all of his stitches out completely, running like that so soon after the surgery. Let’s get out of here.”