Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 4

by Samantha Price

  “You think he might have had something to do with his brother’s death?” Ettie asked.

  “Maybe. Perhaps it was Carl who rented that house from Gertie and Simon.”

  “If Kelly could show Gertie a photo of him then we’d know.”

  “I hope she comes home soon.”

  Chapter 13

  Ettie and Elsa-May knocked on Amos' door, glad to be able to tell him some good news they found out about Gertie getting a taxi.

  He appeared from around the side of the house.

  "Good morning again."

  "Amos, there you are. We've got some news."

  "Good news?"

  "We still don't know where she is, but we have some hopeful news."

  "Let's sit down."

  He walked past them and opened his front door. They followed him into a small cluttered living room and past various pieces of half-made furniture. He indicated a pair of newer-looking chairs for them, and took a seat on an older chair.

  "What is it?" he asked, leaning forward.

  "The day she went missing, a taxi collected her from the house early in the morning."

  He rubbed the back of his neck.

  "It must've been before I woke."

  "So at least we know she's gone somewhere of her own accord," Ettie said, trying very hard to stop staring at all the odd things he had around the house. It looked as though he'd never thrown anything out. On the floor was a threadbare rug that had seen better days, yet a seemingly-new one was rolled up in the corner of the room. Several embroidered Scripture samplers were hung on the walls, and curious items covered the mantelpiece over the fireplace.

  "That's all we know so far but the detective is keeping us informed," Elsa-May said.

  "I didn't make much of a good impression on the detective. I think he thinks I've got something to do with her disappearance."

  "Nee, I'm sure he doesn't think that," Ettie said.

  "I think he does. I could tell by the way he looked at me. I have trouble with my words and sometimes I say the wrong ones. Can I make you a cup of kaffe?"

  Elsa-May looked over at Ettie. "Nee denke. We should be getting home; we haven't been there enough lately and there are many things to do around the place. We just wanted to let you know about the taxi."

  Ettie stood up and her eyes wandered again to the peculiar things on the mantelpiece. There was a dark-colored notebook that was severely blackened on the edges, a few pretty rocks that he probably had found in the stream that ran at the back of the property, and a glass vase of the kind that one would put flowers in. They made their way through all of the odd pieces of furniture and back to the front door, and said goodbye.

  Amos stood and adjusted his straw work hat. "Denke for telling me the good news. Now we have hope, but we must keep praying."

  "We’re doing that, too. Goodbye, Amos."

  They called for a taxi and waited down by the road.

  "Well, that was a strange haus."

  "There was nothing strange about the haus."

  "What was inside was strange," Ettie said correcting herself. "He needs to put half those things in the barn."

  "Perhaps all of those things hold special meaning to him."

  "Maybe, although I can't say why."

  Elsa-May heaved a sigh. "I’ll be so happy when Gertie returns."

  * * *

  Ettie and Elsa-May decided to enlist Ava’s help at the funeral. They collected her in a taxi on the way to St. Andrew's Church. Since Earl was being buried in the cemetery directly behind the church, Ettie thought they might have a good chance to talk with some people.

  "So what's the plan?" Ava asked.

  “We need to mingle,” Ettie said.

  "And who do you want me to mingle with?"

  "There's Julie, his first wife and then there's Carl, Earl’s criminal brother. Well, according to Earl's second wife, he’s a criminal, but we don't know that for certain. Although Kelly said he knows him, which makes it pretty certain."

  "And you know that he’ll be there at the funeral?"

  "I should imagine his brother would be there," Elsa-May said.

  "We don't even know what they look like yet, so that’s why we've got to mingle around with people and find out who's who.”

  “Ettie, do you know how many times you've said ‘mingle’?" Elsa-May asked.

  Ettie chuckled. "Well, that's the word for it, isn't it?"

  “Just say ‘talk to people.’ Mingling is a word that if you use it more often than necessary it becomes annoying."

  "Maybe to you, but it didn't annoy Ava. Did it, Ava?" Ettie looked over at Ava.

  "Let's just focus on what we’re about to do," Ava said.

  Elsa-May raised her hand. "Don't say it, Ettie."

  "I wasn't even going to say we’re about to mingle."

  Elsa-May cringed. "You just said it."

  "I was just answering you."

  Ava leaned toward the taxi driver "Are we nearly there?"

  "Around about five minutes away," he said.

  Ava leaned back in the seat. "That's the last time I'm sitting between the two of you."

  "That's fine. I'll sit by myself at the funeral and you two can sit somewhere else," Ettie said. “Anyway, with us spread out we’ll have a better chance of… talking to a lot more people."

  Ava sighed.

  They walked into the small stone church and all three slid into the back row. Ava found herself between the two sisters once again.

  "Weren’t you going to sit somewhere else?" Elsa-May whispered to Ettie as she leaned across Ava.

  "I was, but I didn't know how small this place would be."

  The church was already half full, and a few minutes later, Detective Kelly walked through the door with a plainclothes policeman. When he saw them his lips twitched and he gave a slight raise of his eyebrows before he sat a few rows in front of them.

  Ettie whispered, "He didn't look too pleased to see us."

  "Nee, but he didn't look too annoyed or surprised, either."

  "I suppose that’s something."

  Ava whispered, "Who's who?"

  "That lady in the dark blue dress, up at the front, with the straight brown hair is Mrs. Quinn."

  "The second Mrs. Quinn, the one he was married to when he died," Elsa-May added. "And I guess the teenagers sitting beside her are their two daughters."

  The coffin was at the head of the church with a large spray of white lilies resting on top. Two more white flower arrangements stood there, one on either side. To the right was a large white-framed photograph of Earl Quinn.

  A minister stood and opened the proceedings by having everyone stand to sing a hymn accompanied by the church organ. It was a slow depressing song, and the organ music made it more so. Ettie was pleased the singing at their Amish gatherings was unaccompanied by musical instruments. Although, she thought, it might have helped a few of their folk sing in tune.

  After the hymn, one of Earl's daughters said a few words about what she remembered of her father. Ettie thought she was remarkable the way she stopped as though she were about to cry, managed to control herself, and then kept going. When she sat down, a man said a few nice words and it was then that the ladies learned he was Carl, Earl’s brother.

  Ettie looked again at Detective Kelly. Throughout the proceedings, he’d kept looking toward someone to the left of him. Ettie finally worked out he was looking at an elderly gentleman in a dark blue suit. It had to be Appleby. She could only see the back of his head, but she’d know as soon as she saw his face if he was Harold Appleby.

  When the door behind them opened, the man turned to see who had walked in. It was Appleby. Somehow Ettie would try to talk with him, but she couldn’t do it while Kelly was around.

  Ettie stared back at Kelly. He’d been keeping things from them; she was surer than ever given the way he kept glancing at Appleby.

  When the minister got up and began to preach, Ettie wasn't listening because she was busy devisin
g a plan. She would target Appleby while Elsa-May and Ava talked to Julie and Mrs. Quinn. Something told Ettie that Julie, Earl’s first wife, was the woman sitting directly behind wife number two. For a start, she was the right age, and Ettie noticed that Mrs. Quinn was friendly with her but not over friendly.

  Ettie had a good look at everyone else there. All told, there were roughly fifty people in attendance.

  When the funeral service was over, everyone was invited to an adjoining room for refreshments. It was announced that the body would be buried later with only family present.

  Ettie kept her eyes fixed on the man Kelly was watching so closely. When Kelly and the man headed into the other room, along with most everyone in the church, Elsa-May poked her, prompting her to move off the pew. Being on the end of the row, the others couldn’t get out until she moved.

  Without waiting for Ava or Elsa-May, Ettie stood and walked into the adjacent room, heading straight to the food table. There were already people helping themselves to the small sandwiches and cupcakes. Ettie took a sandwich, and as far as she could tell, it only had lettuce between the bread. When she turned away from the table, she saw Mrs. Quinn walking toward her.

  "It was nice of you to come, thank you. How is your friend?"

  "She still hasn't come home. Hopefully, she'll come home soon."

  "I hope so, too. I hope she hasn’t fallen victim to anything bad."

  Ettie nodded. “We’re praying she’s just gone visiting and forgot to tell anyone. Were your daughters the young women sitting next to you?"

  "Yes. I don’t see them much these days. They’re both in college now.”

  “And that was Julie sitting behind you?"

  "Yes. You never got to see her when you left my house that day?"

  "No. We went there but she wasn't home and we never made it back."

  Mrs. Quinn turned around and glanced at wife number one and then looked back at Ettie. "We don't talk much. We’re civil, and generally we keep out of each other's way. Life is simpler that way."

  "Yes. It must be awkward."

  "You Amish people wouldn't have that problem would you?"

  "No. We only marry once and can only marry again if our husband dies. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to mention that on a day like this."

  "I'm not offended. And at least it's good to know where he is after all this time. It’s comforting and we’ll feel better yet when the police catch the person who killed him.”

  "I'm sure.” Ettie nodded her head toward the man she was sure was Appleby. “Do you know who that man is over there, the one that's talking to the detective?"

  "That's Earl's old boss, Harold Appleby."

  "Has he stayed in contact with you over the years?"

  "No. He had a big divorce. I think he lost his firm and things went bad for him.”

  “After Earl went missing?"

  “Before, I think.”

  "So does that mean he lost his job?"

  "Who, Earl? Or do you mean Appleby?”

  “Oh, sorry, Appleby.”

  “I think the firm stayed in place, but Appleby lost the job as director. He had some kind of a breakdown, or so I heard."

  When Ettie looked back, Kelly was nowhere to be seen and Appleby was talking to someone else.

  "Well, I better go and mingle," Mrs. Quinn said.

  "Yes, of course." Ettie could barely keep the smile off her face over the woman using the word that had irritated her sister. If only Elsa-May had been there to hear it.

  She took a bite of her lettuce sandwich and was disappointed that there wasn’t even any butter on the bread. As planned, Ava was now talking to the first wife and Elsa-May was talking to Carl. Ettie made herself a cup of tea from the help-yourself tea and coffee items, then took small steps closer to Harold Appleby while he was speaking to another man.

  As soon as the man stopped talking to Appleby, he turned around and started talking to somebody else. Something about the man unsettled Ettie. There was a deep coldness in his dark eyes. Maybe her hunch was right. Earl had given him his baby girl, thinking she’d have a better life, and then Appleby lost his job and was divorcing.

  Suddenly there was a break and Appleby was looking lost, as though he needed someone to talk to. This was Ettie’s perfect opportunity, but she froze to the spot. What if this man was the murderer?

  He could’ve killed Earl when Earl expressed his disappointment in the life his daughter had been forced into. Further scenarios ran through Ettie’s head. The man was once in a high-powered position. What if he had paid someone to lure Earl somewhere, to Simon and Gertie's rental house, and then Appleby killed him or had him killed. Simon had seen the killer and confronted him and then Simon was killed to silence him.

  Ettie turned around and walked away, choosing to pass up her opportunity altogether. A better option was to find out what Kelly had found out about the man. Kelly knew something about him, and it was more than him being Earl Quinn’s former boss.

  Chapter 14

  The drive back in the taxi was strangely silent, as Ettie and Elsa-May had decided they would all wait until they got back to their house to discuss what they had learned, so the taxi driver wouldn’t overhear.

  As soon as they walked in the house, Elsa-May leaned over and picked up Snowy and then sat on her chair while Ettie and Ava sat down on the couch.

  "That was quite eventful," Ettie said. Then she looked over from Ava to Elsa-May. "Well, what did you both learn?"

  "You go first, Ava," Elsa-May said.

  "As you know Harold Appleby was there and I saw Kelly talk to him before he left."

  "Before he left?"

  "Detective Kelly. He didn't stay long. As soon as he spoke to Appleby, he left. What did you find out from Appleby?" Ava asked Ettie.

  Ettie licked her lips. "I didn't get to talk to him."

  "Oh, that's too bad," said Ava. "I found out from Julie that when Earl disappeared he was going to Pittsburgh to speak to somebody about their daughter, just as you had wondered."

  "Did Julie know who her daughter was adopted out to?"

  "All she said was she knew that a lawyer arranged it, and she had left everything up to Earl. She said Earl was uneasy before he left on his last business trip. He told her he had a meeting with someone about their daughter. He wouldn’t tell her anything more than that."

  "If we’re right about Appleby having adopted their daughter, Julie didn't know him, because she didn’t speak to him today, and surely she would've."

  "You’d think so," Elsa-May said.

  “And what did you say the reason was that you were asking her?" Ettie asked Ava.

  "I just said what you told me to say, that a friend of ours had gone missing and we thought it might have had something to do with Earl's death."

  "Very good. And what about you, Elsa-May? What did you find out?"

  “I talked to Carl and asked him if he knew why his brother was going to Pittsburgh. He said he thought it was something to do with his work. He didn’t say much at all."

  "That's right, according to wife number two," Ettie said.

  “But not according to wife number one,” Ava said.

  "So you didn't really get any useful information out of Carl at all?" Ettie asked Elsa-May.

  "Nee. And that's perhaps because he didn't know anything."

  "I think we'll have to go back to see Detective Kelly tomorrow and find out what he knows about Appleby. I've got a hunch he knows something."

  Ava sprang to her feet. "I should go home now. I've got lots to do."

  "Thanks for helping out again today, Ava. We don’t want to keep you from your home duties."

  "You're welcome. Any time at all. I love helping with your mysteries."

  Ava said goodbye to the elderly ladies and then rubbed Snowy’s head before she headed out the door.

  "Jeremiah made a good choice there," Elsa-May said of her grandson.

  "Jah, they make a good pair."

  They sat in silen
ce, each mulling over the day's happenings.

  Just as Ettie rose to her feet to make them each a cup of tea, Snowy barked and rushed to the door. Ettie changed direction and headed to the door muttering to herself that she thought she’d heard a car. Kelly was standing on the other side of the door and Snowy bounded at him. After Ettie opened the door, Kelly bent down and picked Snowy up and held him out at arm’s length.

  "Take the dog would you, Mrs. Smith? I don't want to get fur on my suit."

  Worried about his stitches, Ettie carefully took Snowy from him and shut him in Elsa-May’s room.

  "Take a seat," Ettie said when she returned and saw him standing up while talking to Elsa-May, who was still seated. He sat down on a wooden chair opposite Ettie’s couch.

  "We were going to come see you tomorrow.”

  "What about?" he asked.

  "About Appleby," Elsa-May said.

  He narrowed his eyes at them. “What’s he done?”

  “You might be able to tell us that,” Ettie said.

  "You saw me talking to him at the funeral?"

  "Yes. Would I be right in thinking that he adopted Earl’s child? Is that why you were speaking with him?"

  "That is correct. He did indeed adopt Earl’s baby. She’s an adult now.”

  “Appleby was going through a divorce just before Earl disappeared," Ettie said.

  "And that’s something that Earl would’ve been upset about," Elsa-May added.

  "That's along the same lines as what I'm thinking. When Earl approached Appleby about his disappointment over his daughter’s life of stability being turned upside down, Appleby didn't want his own life disrupted further. Earl was seeing what he could do legally, and he probably told Appleby he was out to get his daughter back.”

  “So you suspect him?”

  “In my mind that's a motive for murder," Kelly said.

  "I can see that some people would think that to be true," Ettie said.

  "It's more vitally important than ever that you find your friend. We need to interview her if we’re ever to get justice for Earl Quinn."