Amish Baby Mystery

by Samantha Price

  “But you will help us anyway?”

  “I said I would. We’ll have to hurry and plan what we’re going to do. Time is of the essence. Now, I always think better with coffee and cake,” Crowley said.

  Elsa-May pushed herself to her feet. “Coming right up.”

  Chapter 6

  Just as Crowley finished the last portion of his cake, his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the screen. “Ah, it's the station. I’ll take it outside.” The retired detective bounded to his feet and before he was outside, he answered the phone. “Crowley here.” He closed the front door behind him.

  Ettie and Elsa-May looked at each other.

  “Do you think we did the right thing involving Crowley?” Ettie asked her sister.

  “I think we had to, since that man came here looking for the baby.”

  “I suppose you're right.”

  Detective Crowley came back inside. “Okay, I found out the name of the man that was here today—Victor Lemonis. He’s a petty criminal and he’s been in and out of jail since he was sixteen. I’m waiting on my friend to send me a picture.” When his cell phone sounded he looked at it, and then showed the man’s image to Elsa-May. “Is this the man?”

  “Yes, that’s the one who was here today. Do you think he might be the father, or a kidnapper?” Elsa-May asked.

  “I think you two were right to doubt he was the father. I found out that he’s got several complaints against him for not paying child support. Lemonis has six children already, all with different mothers. I doubt that he’d be chasing a baby he thought was his when he’s not even looking after the ones he has.”

  “Six, to six different mothers?” Ettie raised her eyebrows. “He has been busy. He must have some involvement with something crooked, then, because it’s clear he’s not the father.”

  “I don't think you ladies are safe here. Is there anywhere else you can stay?”

  “Not without people finding out about the baby,” Elsa-May said.

  “I'll talk to someone and see if I can have a patrol car go past your home every so often.” He produced another phone out of his pocket. “This is my personal cell phone that I just use for friends and family. Needless to say, I don't get many calls on it except for my golf buddies. And since I just walked out on the game today, I don't think any of them will be likely to ring me any time soon. If the man comes back again, dial 911.”

  Elsa-May grabbed the phone. “Thank you.”

  “Do you know how to use it?” Crowley asked.

  Elsa-May looked down at the phone. “Yes I do.”

  He nodded. “Good.”

  “What are you going to do now?” Ettie asked Crowley.

  “I'm off to see Genevieve Cohen to ask her about the quilt she bought. And see what else I can find out.”

  “What do you want us to do?” Elsa-May asked.

  “Nothing for the moment. I’ll be back to let you know what I’ve found out.”

  When Crowley left, Ettie and Elsa-May walked into the kitchen while discussing how old the baby might be.

  “His head doesn’t look misshapen at all,” Ettie said. “They have an oval head for a while after birth.”

  “That might mean he was delivered by caesarean section. How long does the head stay misshapen after birth?”

  “I’m not certain, only a day or two I think.”

  “I don’t remember my babies’ heads being particularly oval-shaped or anything.”

  “He seems to be healthy and he’s got a good appetite,” Ettie said.

  “He does.”

  Ettie stared at the baby’s face. His tiny eyelashes and barely-there eyebrows were a wonder to behold. She picked up his blue blanket and peeped under it to see his tiny little hands with their perfect fingernails. “It always fills me with wonder when I see tiny babies like this. How detailed are they?”

  “Every boppli is a miracle. Gott’s little miracles.”

  “I hope this one will have a gut and happy life.”

  “We’ll pray that he does,” Elsa-May said smiling down at the baby.

  “Jah, we will. We’ll pray that everything turns out well for him and his whole familye.”

  They were interrupted by yet another knock on the door.

  “Quick, Ettie, look out the window and see who that is.”

  Ettie hurried to the window to see Ava. “It’s Ava. What shall we do? It’ll be all right if she knows, won’t it?”

  “We can’t risk it, Ettie. The more people who know, the more risk there is to the boppli.”

  “What do we do, then?”

  “I’ll hide the boppli in your room with Snowy, and if he cries, we can say it’s Snowy.”

  “We can’t put the dog in with the boppli. What if he bites him?”

  “He’s got so much fur I doubt he’d feel it.”

  “Nee! The dog might bite the boppli!” Ettie hissed.

  “Ach! I’ll lock Snowy outside, then I’ll put the boppli in your room and if he makes a sound we can say it’s the dog. Does that work?”

  “It’ll have to work. Quick!”

  While Elsa-May pushed Snowy out the back and locked the dog door and then put the boppli in Ettie’s room, Ettie tried to stall Ava. “I’m coming; I’m just tying my shoelace.”

  “That’s all right, Ettie. Take your time,” Ava said behind the locked door.

  When Elsa-May breathlessly gave Ettie a nod, Ettie unlocked the door and opened it to their young friend, Ava.

  “Come in, Ava. I’m sorry it took me so long to answer the door. I didn’t know it was you.” Ettie stepped aside to allow Ava in.

  “You don’t normally lock the door. What’s going on?”

  “Nothing, nothing at all. I didn’t realize it was locked.” Ettie nervously pushed some of her stray hairs back under her prayer kapp.

  Ava walked into the living room just as Elsa-May sat down in her usual chair. “Hello, Elsa-May.”

  “Nice to see you, Ava. Would you like a cup of hot tea?”

  “Nee denke. I just had one. Jeremiah wanted me to drop by and tell you that he’s nearly finished with the last couple of your chairs. He’s fixed the doweling on both of them, and now the glue is drying in the vice. I’m not certain what that means and I hope I said it correctly.”

  “That sounds correct,” Elsa-May said speaking a little too quickly. “The doweling is the little pieces of wood, usually cylindrical—well I think they’re always cylindrical—that hold the pieces of the chair together, and then they’re glued together for extra strength and held together in a vice while it’s drying.”

  When Ettie noticed Ava frowning at Elsa-May’s prattle, she said, “That was kind of him to fix them for us. Won’t you sit down?”

  “Jah, I haven’t seen either of you for a while. What have you been doing?”

  “I went into town this morning to visit Bethany. Seems her store is doing really well.”

  Elsa-May added, “I’ve just been at home not doing anything very much—nothing at all. We… we were having a very uneventful boring day until you showed up.”

  Ava looked from one sister to the other. “Is something going on?”

  “Nee, dear. Why would you say that?” Elsa-May asked, blinking too much.

  “It’s just that the both of you seem to be tense. I feel like you’re covering something up.”

  Ettie raised her eyebrows. “Tense? Us?” Ettie looked at Elsa-May who shook her head.

  “Come on. I know you both well enough to know something’s up. So, what is it? Has something happened?”

  Right on cue, the baby cried.

  Ava frowned. “What’s that?”

  “It’s Snowy. He knows we’ve got a visitor and he doesn’t like being left out especially when the weather is a bit cold like it is today.”

  “He’s a very sociable dog,” Ettie added. “He’s been crying a lot lately whenever someone comes to visit.”

  When the baby cried again, Ava asked, “
Why don’t you let him in? Snowy’s always inside.”

  “My dog trainer, Quinton, said that it won’t hurt him to be outside for a bit every day. He’s not a person, he’s a dog. He needs to know that he’s not the ‘top dog’. Dogs are pack animals and they follow a leader. I need to be his leader and I can’t do that if he’s inside under my feet all day, can I? Nee! I can’t.”

  The baby cried again.

  “Sounds like a baby.” Ava leaped to her feet and started toward the back door and Ettie’s bedroom, which was right next to it.

  Elsa-May hurried behind her and stood in front of Ettie’s bedroom door. “It was nice of you to stop by, Ava, but now Ettie and I are tired and need a nap.”

  Ettie was sure all was lost but tried to help as well. She hurried toward Ava telling her how tired she was from her trip to town.

  Ava folded her arms in front of her and leaned back. “I know there’s a boppli in there, and by the sounds of the cry it’s a newborn. Tell me what’s going on and why there’s a baby in there.”

  “We might as well tell her, Elsa-May.”

  Elsa-May opened Ettie’s door and Ava walked in. She stood over the basket. “It is a boppli.”

  “Good guess,” Elsa-May said, now glaring at Ettie.

  Ettie shrugged. “She guessed; I didn’t tell her.”

  “I was right about you not being able to keep a secret.”

  “It won’t matter if Ava knows.”

  “She didn’t keep that secret from Jeremiah did she?” Elsa-May said shaking her head.

  “What secret was that?” Ettie asked.

  “When we went over to her house that time when she was asking Jeremiah’s friend questions and we were there listening to the answers.”

  “That’s right, but she did keep it secret until Snowy rushed into the living room and gave us away. She didn’t want to keep secrets from Jeremiah. Ava felt bad about not telling Jeremiah the truth of the whole thing. You know how straight-laced Jeremiah can be and Ava knows that.”

  “Hey, I’m right here,” Ava said before she looked back at the boppli. “I’ll keep your secret whatever it is as long as I can hold him.”

  “You won’t tell Jeremiah?”

  “Nee, not unless he asks me if you’re hiding a boppli. If he asks me that, then I’ll have to tell him.”

  “Sounds fair, Elsa-May,” Ettie said.

  “All right. Pick him up, but mind his head. He’s likely only days old.”

  Ava picked the baby up and rocked him to and fro. “I’ve been praying for a boppli. Does this one have a mudder or can I have him?”

  Ava was joking, not realizing the baby had been left there.

  “I’ll heat up a bottle while Ettie tells you the whole story,” Elsa-May said.

  “She might be able to help us with something, Elsa-May.”

  “Jah, she could I suppose. As long as she doesn’t tell anyone.”

  “She said she wouldn’t,” Ettie said.

  “Again—I’m right here,” Ava said with her face against the baby’s.

  Chapter 7

  Ava sat on the couch giving the baby his bottle while Ettie explained all that had happened.

  “That’s so scary with the man coming to your door. And he’s a criminal you say?”

  “That’s what Crowley said.” Elsa-May nodded. “Crowley got one of his police friends to run his plates through their computer and send him the man's picture, and then he showed me the man’s photo on his cell phone. It was the very same man who came to the door.”

  “And the man said he’s coming back if he finds that the baby was not handed over to the authorities.”

  “The baby’s not safe here. That man could come back here any minute,” Ava said looking down at the baby.

  “He’s as safe here as anywhere,” Ettie said.

  “How can you say that, Ettie? That man could come back any time, force his way in, and take him. You two wouldn’t be able to stop him. I’ll have Jeremiah come over here to stay with you.”

  “I told you this would happen, Ettie.” Elsa-May glared at Ettie. “Pretty soon the whole community will find out.”

  Ettie shook her head at Ava. “You said you wouldn’t tell anyone.”

  “Jeremiah won’t say anything, and he’ll be able to protect the baby and both of you.”

  “But Crowley only gave us two days. No one will find out in two days. I’d feel much safer if Jeremiah were to stay here for two days—two nights. The man is unlikely to come here if he sees we have a man about the place.”

  “Ettie’s right,” Ava said to Elsa-May.

  Elsa-May let out a loud groan.

  “It will be a good idea to have an extra person about the place,” Ettie said.

  “Especially a man,” Ava added with a smile.

  “I suppose that’s best for the safety of the boppli,” Elsa-May admitted. “Just as well you came over here today, Ava.”

  “I wasn't going to, but something told me I should come here on my way home and let you know about your chairs.”

  “Everything works out for the best most often,” Ettie said.

  “That's what our vadder used to say, didn’t he Ettie? Now that would've been Jeremiah’s great-grandfather. Is that right?”

  “Jeremiah’s your grandson—jah, that's right—his great-grandfather,” Ettie said. “Well, don't tell Jeremiah why he's coming over here. Just tell him that we’ll tell him everything when he gets here. Okay?” Ettie asked.

  “Okay.”

  “Are you sure he won't mind coming here?” Elsa-May asked.

  “Of course he won't mind. He’d do anything for you two. And it’ll help him get used to having a boppli around.” Ava giggled.

  “So you have an agenda of your own?” Ettie asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

  “I might have.”

  “Do you want us to show him how to change diapers?” Elsa-May asked.

  “Don't bother. He already told me he won't be doing any of that.”

  Ettie giggled. “We’ll see about that.”

  “Are you going to have him change a diaper?” Ava asked with her eyes widened.

  “It won't hurt him to know how to do it,” Elsa-May said.

  “I suppose you can try to talk him into it.”

  Elsa-May laughed. “We won't give him a choice about it. That's usually the best way with men.”

  “Sounds like he’s in for a fun time. I’d better get home in time to fix his dinner and let him know he’ll be coming here. I’ll try to get him to leave home before it’s dark.”

  “Before dark would be good,” Ettie said, worried that the man might come back.

  “Denke, for coming here, Ava.”

  “You’re welcome, Elsa-May.” Ava kissed the baby on top of his head and then stood up cradling him in her arms. “Who wants him?”

  Elsa-May stood. “I'll take him.”

  Both ladies walked Ava to the door.

  When she was gone, Ettie said, “Well, we’d better rustle up something for dinner, Elsa-May, you know what an appetite Jeremiah’s got. Even though Ava said she’d give him a meal, that man can eat two dinners—no problem.”

  “I’ll take care of the boppli while you cook.”

  “Okay. Shall we give him a name rather than call him ‘the boppli’ all the time?”

  “Good idea. He looks like a ‘Luke’ to me,” Elsa-May stated.

  “You thought of that pretty quickly. Have you been thinking about a name for him?”

  “Nee. I looked at him just when you said it, and then I thought of the name ‘Luke.' He looks like a ‘Luke,’ don’t you think?”

  “All right, that’s as good a name as any. We’ll call him Luke,” Ettie said before she turned to rustle through the pantry. “I’ll need to bake more bread and I’ll make an apple pie for dessert.”

  “What about the main dish?”

  “Let’s see now.” Ettie moved some cans around in the pantry to get to the back. “I can make some ch
eesy chicken and rice.”

  “Gut! I love that. Why haven’t you made that more often?”

  “It’s a little time consuming, but I’m sure Jeremiah will like it.” Ettie knew that she’d gotten the raw end of the deal. With disposable diapers and feeding Luke every couple hours, Elsa-May had taken the easier option. As Ettie brought all the ingredients for the meal out of the cold box, she asked Elsa-May, “When do you think Crowley will come and tell us what Mrs. Cohen said?”

  “He should come back here today—that’s what he’d said he’d do.”

  “Would he come here today even if it’s later tonight?”

  “I’d say so.”

  Ettie looked at the food and knew she had to make certain she had enough so she could invite Crowley to stay for dinner if he came around the time of the evening meal.

  “You’d better make enough dinner for Crowley, too, if he arrives near dinner time.”

  “Jah, I was just thinking the very same thing. I hope he’s found something out. Do you think she might be Luke’s mudder?”

  “I do, but Crowley seems to think it’s a long shot.”

  * * *

  When Ettie was half an hour into cooking the dinner, a knock sounded on the door. “Elsa May, will you get the door? That should be Jeremiah now.” Ettie heard Elsa-May’s footsteps head to the door, and seconds later, she heard Jeremiah’s voice. Ettie was immediately relieved that it was Jeremiah and not that dreadful man back again. She hoped Elsa-May had looked out the window before she’d opened the door. Surely she would have.

  Minutes later, Jeremiah came into the kitchen and gave Ettie a kiss on the cheek. “Hello, Aunty.”

  She giggled at him calling her 'aunty' when for the past several years he’d dropped the ‘aunty’ and called her just ‘Ettie.’ “Hello Jeremiah, denke for staying with us. Ava has told you everything, has she?”

  “She has, and she told me how important it was that I keep quiet about it.”

  Elsa-May walked into the kitchen. “See, Ettie, no one can keep their gums from flapping.”

  “What? I haven’t said anything to anyone,” Jeremiah said.