"You’ve charged in like bulls before—that’s all I’m saying.”
Elsa-May said, “I don't see any connection between the deaths. I think Gertie’s got it wrong. She was probably mulling it over in her head for years and then jumped to all the wrong conclusions. I think the only connection she had with the man that was killed was that she saw him being murdered and that's it.”
Ava said, “And you think that somehow now that the body has been discovered that the murderer thinks Gertie might have witnessed something?"
"It's possible," Ettie said. “Or, he might think that Simon told her what he saw. Because Gertie was almost certain Simon confronted the killer. The killer might have thought Simon told his wife.”
“Not knowing Gertie had seen the murder for herself,” Elsa-May added.
"Then why now? Why wouldn't the murderer have killed her a long time ago if he wanted to silence her for good?"
“He might have learned that the body’s been found.”
"Maybe it’s just that something scared her away and she’s safe somewhere," Ettie said.
“Or she could have opened her mouth and told more than just you and me, Ettie.”
“Like who?”
Elsa-May shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Ava drained the last of her tea. “Why don’t I take the two of you home and then I’ll start visiting people and see what I can find out.”
“Would you?”
Ava nodded. “And I’ll stop by on my way home and tell you what I’ve learned.”
“Gut girl. I knew we could rely on you.”
“Jah, denke, Ava.”
* * *
An hour later, at Elsa-May and Ettie’s home.
“I feel we’re sitting around just doing nothing.”
“That’s exactly what we are doing.”
Ettie sighed. “What if she’s being held captive somewhere?”
“Not likely. She hasn’t been found anywhere so that’s a good sign.”
“Elsa-May, that’s a dreadful thing to say.”
“I’m looking on the bright side of things. If she’d been murdered by someone, she might have been found by now. But I guess not necessarily. Considering…”
“Jah, considering Earl Quinn wasn’t found for all these years.”
“Simon was found by the side of the road.”
“Hmm.” Ettie tapped her finger on her chin. “Are you thinking that Earl and Simon weren’t murdered by the same person?”
Elsa-May dropped her knitting into her lap and looked over the top of her glasses. “I thought we decided that they were.”
“You just pointed out they were found in different places. One was hidden and not found for years, and one was found on the side of a road. Is it likely that a killer disposes of bodies in different ways?”
“Stop being so gruesome. I don’t even like to think about things like that.”
“Neither do I, but it is a good point.”
Elsa-May resumed her knitting. “I don’t know enough about killers to know what they’d do. The first thing we should do is find out why Earl Quinn was murdered in the first place. If we know that, then we’d know if Aaron, Simon, and Gertie’s Englischer husband were all… well, we’d know if similar things had happened to them.”
“That means that Ava’s right.”
“About?”
“About visiting Earl’s wife and finding out if she has any idea why he was in this area rather than in Pittsburgh like he was supposed to be,” Ettie said.
“If she knows something and hasn’t told the police, she’s hardly likely to tell us,” Elsa-May said.
“She could know something and doesn’t know that she knows. Then again, it could be a huge waste of time, and that’s if she even allows us in the door.”
“Well, you were the one complaining about sitting around doing nothing,” Elsa-May said.
“If Ava doesn’t come up with anything, and we don’t find out anything once we’ve called everyone in her address book, I think we should visit Mrs. Quinn,” Ettie said.
“Good idea.”
“Jah, I know.” Ettie grinned.
“It was Ava’s idea.”
“It was the logical thing to do. It was in my head. I just didn’t say it. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t thinking it.”
Elsa-May sighed.
“You know what?”
Elsa-May glared at her sister. “What, Ettie?”
“I feel sorry for Amos.”
“Jah, me too. He’s loved Gertie for so long and she’s passed him by more than once.”
“Three times, it seems. And yet he’s still hopeful.”
“You’re not thinking Amos killed anyone, are you?” Ettie asked. “To get them out of the way so he could have Gertie?”
“Nee. The thought barely crossed my mind. Although, it was weird about Aaron drowning. He was a good swimmer and everyone knew it. It’s not possible, I suppose. Amos wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Yeah, but he’s always been a little odd. Always keeps to himself and the way he was just watching the house when we were there yesterday.”
“It was all a little weird,” Elsa-May admitted.
Ettie nodded. “There are many weird people in the world, and it doesn’t make them bad people.”
Elsa-May clicked her tongue. “We’ll have to talk with Kelly again if we haven’t found Gertie by tomorrow.”
“He’ll be angry if he goes out there today and Amos tells him she’s gone. Then he’ll find out we knew and didn’t tell him”
“We’re not on his payroll.” Elsa-May pursed her lips.
“What does that mean?” Ettie asked.
“It simply means we’re not obliged to tell him every single thing.”
Ettie thought about that for a moment. “I don’t like the way he looks at me when he’s angry.”
“We’re on the same side. Don’t worry about it.”
"Do you think Ava is right, Elsa-May?"
"What would be the benefits of talking to Mrs. Quinn?"
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to get as much information as we can to help find Gertie."
"She witnessed the murder. I think we can say that now, but that doesn't mean she knew the man or had anything to do with him."
"We can't just sit around and do nothing."
"Do you even know her first name?"
"Penelope Quinn, and we can look her up in the phone book to see if she lives nearby.”
"Let's do it," Elsa-May said.
They pulled an old phonebook out of the cupboard and found an address for a P Quinn.
Chapter 8
Looking up from the phone book, Ettie said, "This must be her. Starling Street. How far away would that be?"
Elsa-May looked on the map. "It's not too far away."
"I just hope we don't get the same taxi driver as the one when we found the body."
"If we do, I think he'll probably refuse to take us." Elsa-May chuckled.
When the taxi arrived, Elsa-May and Ettie were pleased that the taxi driver was one they hadn't had before. They gave him the address and he took them to a small white house with a red roof.
After they paid the driver, they asked him to stay for a moment until someone answered the door. Otherwise, if there wasn’t anyone home they would have to walk to the nearest payphone to get another taxi back home.
The taxi driver agreed and Elsa-May and Ettie made their way to the door of Mrs. Quinn's house.
"It looks a little run down," Ettie whispered.
"Be quiet, someone will hear you."
"No one can hear me. I'm speaking quietly."
Elsa-May knocked on the door. Just a few seconds later the door was opened by a smaller middle-aged woman with short brown hair.
"Hello, are you Penelope Quinn?"
She looked surprised. "Yes."
"We are wondering if we might have a word with you about your husband."
"What about him?"
"Firstly, we are very sorry for your loss."
She nodded and managed a little smile. "Thank you. Who are you?"
"I'm Elsa-May Lutz, and this is my sister, Ettie Smith. We’re here because a friend of ours has gone missing and we think it might have something to do with your husband's disappearance and—"
"We think the same person might be responsible." Ettie said.
"Oh, that's dreadful.” She looked them up and down carefully. “Would you like to come in?"
"Yes please."
Ettie walked into the house while Elsa-May turned and waved to the taxi driver, letting him know that he could go.
Inside, the house was gloomy and seemed sad. Scuffed floorboards covered the floor and two family portraits hung on the wall of the living room. There was one of Mr. and Mrs. Quinn on their wedding day and one of them with two young girls. Ettie paused just for a moment to look at Earl.
"Please, take a seat." She showed them into a combined living-dining room. There was one armchair and one two-seater couch. After Mrs. Quinn sat in the armchair, Elsa-May and Ettie sat on the couch.
“How can I help you?”
“Well, do you mind if we ask you some things about your husband first?”
“Okay.”
“We heard he was supposed to be in Pittsburgh for work, but his car was found in Lancaster County.”
She nodded.
Ettie continued, “What was on his mind at that time. Was he having any issues with anyone or did he have any enemies?”
“This was nothing new. He was obsessed with the baby girl he’d adopted out years ago, back when he first got married to Julie, his first wife.” She shook her head. “Other than that, there was nothing on his mind that I know of.”
“That must’ve been hard for you to hear all the time.”
“It was. We had our own two children to look after. He chose to give his daughter away and that was a decision he couldn’t take back. I told him to forget about it and move forward, not to keep going back.”
“Did he ever find her?”
“Find her? He knew where she was. It was a private adoption. The worst thing about it was that he stayed in contact with Julie about it.”
“Who adopted her?”
“That’s something I can’t tell you. I never wanted to know. All I know is that the couple was wealthy and that gave Earl piece of mind. Whatever happened before we married was ancient history as far as I was concerned.”
“Was Julie living in Pittsburgh?”
“No. She only lives five miles from here. I told Earl I’d divorce him if he wouldn’t get the fixation out of his head about his daughter. She was gone and he had to face it. For some reason he thought a lawyer would overturn the adoption.” She shook her head. “I’ve never heard of that happening before.”
Ettie and Elsa-May exchanged glances.
“He saw a lawyer about it?”
“Yes. Cost us a lot of money, too.”
“Do you remember the lawyer’s name?”
“No. Maybe Sutherby or Southerland or something like that.”
“Where was he from?”
“I’m not sure. Sorry. What’s this about again? Do you know where his daughter is? Is that what you’ve come to tell me?”
“No. We’re asking questions for a friend of ours. She thinks her husband was killed by the same man who murdered your husband.”
“Yes, that’s right. You did tell me that.”
“Now she’s disappeared and we’re trying to find out all we can about the circumstances of your husband’s death in case it has anything to do with our friend’s disappearance.”
“Is your friend Amish too?”
“Yes she is, and she’s around our age.”
“She’s actually several years younger to be accurate,” Elsa-May said.
“In that case, I can probably get the name of that lawyer from one of our old checkbooks, if that’ll help.”
“That would be marvelous,” Ettie said.
Mrs. Quinn stood up. “I won’t be long.”
She came back a few minutes later with his name on a piece of paper. “That’s him there. Have you spoken to Julie, Earl’s first wife?”
“No, but we would like to.”
She scribbled a name and address on the other side of the paper and handed it to Ettie. “There.”
“Thank you.”
When she sat back down, she said, “Now at last I can have a funeral for Earl.”
“It must be a relief after all this time.”
“It was hard not knowing what happened to him. We thought he was dead, the girls and I. He would never have stayed away from the girls for that long if he’d been alive. The not knowing is the hardest part. Now there’s a sense of relief. We can put him to rest in many ways.”
“When is the funeral?”
“Soon I hope. They haven’t released him yet. They said it could happen tomorrow.”
“Ettie and I would like to attend.”
“Oh, that’s very kind. I’m having it at St. Andrew's. It’s not far from here and there’s a lawn cemetery behind it.”
Ettie passed the paper back to her. “Please write the address down if you wouldn’t mind.” Ettie remembered that the detective once told her that murderers often attend the funerals of the people they killed.
Mrs. Quinn scribbled the address and handed the paper back to Ettie.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how did Julie and Earl go about having their baby adopted? You said they adopted the baby out privately?” Elsa-May asked.
“Yes.”
Ettie could see by the way the woman’s face went cold at the mention of the baby that she didn’t want to continue that topic of conversation.
Mrs. Quinn continued, “If you want to know more you’ll have to ask Julie. I never talked to Earl about it. I just wanted him to forget about it. What was done was done. It was a useless thing for him to devote that much time and energy. He wasn’t giving the girls and me as much attention as he should’ve been while he was looking for her.”
Elsa-May nodded, Ettie caught her eye and frowned at her hoping she would take the hint to change the conversation.
“What’s wrong with your eye, Ettie?”
Mrs. Quinn swung around to look at her.
“Nothing, I think I might have had an eyelash in it.”
“Oh, that’s good luck I think,” Mrs. Quinn said.
Ettie blinked hard a couple of times to make out as though she had a stray eyelash in her eye. “All better now.” Why couldn’t Elsa-May take the hint?
“Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“Do you know if your husband knew a man called Simon Fisher?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. Earl never mentioned anyone by that name, as far as I remember.”
“Who did Earl work for again?”
“A company called Parton Industries.”
“And he was supposed to be in Pittsburgh doing things with his job?”
“He had a meeting with someone. Something to do with a new system they were incorporating, and then he never came home. Never even called me to let me know he got there, like he normally did when he went away.”
“Did he have any enemies?”
She shook her head slowly. “None that I know of. Except he did have a falling out with his boss over something. Harold Appleby is … was, his boss. Then there was Carl, Earl’s brother. They never really got along. Carl’s a criminal.”
“Does he live close by?” Ettie asked.
“Yes, he lives not too far away,” Mrs. Quinn said.
“What has Carl been arrested for?”
“Robbery mostly.”
“Would anyone have benefited by having your husband out of the way?”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t think so.
“Thank you for your time." Elsa-May turned to Ettie. "What do you say we try to talk to Julie now?"
"I think that would be a good i
dea." Ettie turned to Mrs. Quinn. "Do you mind if we use your phone to call a taxi?”
She picked up her phone. “I'll call one for you."
After they said goodbye to Mrs. Quinn, they headed outside her house to wait for the taxi.
“That was some useful information."
"Yes it was," Ettie agreed. "I wonder if he made a detour before he got to Pittsburgh, something to do with his daughter."
"It's worth following that line of thought. His first wife should know more."
They got out of the taxi at the address Mrs. Quinn had given them and, seeing no sign of anyone about, Ettie asked the driver to wait for them.
The house was small, with an overgrown garden, and the lawn was also too long. They knocked on the front door and waited.
Ettie peered through the small window near the front door to see if she could see movement within the house. "I don't think anyone's home."
"Give her a minute. She might be at the back of the house."
"The house is as small as ours. If she'd been at the back, she would've had enough time to get here."
"Well, knock again," Elsa-May ordered.
Ettie knocked on the door, louder this time. "She's not home."
"And we’ve come all this way."
"We'll have to come back another day. Meanwhile, we can talk to Detective Kelly.”
They got into the waiting taxi and headed home. They had the driver stop at the shanty that housed the telephone closest to their home. After they paid the driver, they walked to the telephone and Elsa-May put some coins in the tin.
"I hope you haven't lost that number."
"Nee, of course I haven't lost it." Ettie checked her right sleeve and it wasn't there. She was sure that was where she had put it. She shook her arm hoping the piece of paper would fall out but it didn't.
"Check your other sleeve."
"I never put anything up that one."
"Just have a look."
Ettie put a hand up the other sleeve and then felt the paper. She gave a little laugh as she pulled it out and handed it to Elsa-May. "What do you know?"
"I told you that's where it would be."
"You said I lost it."
"I didn't. I said, 'I hope you haven't lost' it and then I told you to check your other sleeve."
Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 4 Page 26