Amish Baby Mystery

by Samantha Price

  “Thank you.” Ettie pressed the ‘end call’ button, and then turned the phone off and placed it back in the drawer of the bureau where they had been keeping it.

  When the social worker and the police officer drove away with Luke, Ava burst into tears. “I'm sorry for sniveling like this. It’s just that I grew attached to him.”

  “Why don’t we go into the kitchen,” Ettie said. “I'll make you a nice cup of hot tea.”

  “Denke, Ettie. I thought I'd be able to have all day with him and now he's gone.”

  “I understand. We’ll all miss him.”

  “While you two drink tea, I'll take Snowy for a walk.”

  “You do that, Elsa-May,” Ettie said with her arm around a sobbing Ava as she guided her to the kitchen.

  Chapter 13

  Twenty minutes later, when Elsa-May walked back through the door with Snowy, she had two large pumpkins in her arms.

  Ettie looked up from her seated position in the kitchen. “Pumpkins!”

  “Where did they come from?” Ava asked.

  “From the man next door. He often gives us fruit or vegetables when he has too many.”

  “I guess it's pumpkin pie and pumpkin soup for dinner?” Elsa-May asked.

  “That sounds nice,” Ettie said. “Why don't you and Jeremiah stay here for dinner, Ava?”

  “You don't mind?”

  “Of course, not. We'd love you to join us.”

  “Well that will save me cooking, and I asked Jeremiah to pick me up when he finishes work, which would be about six or six thirty.”

  “Sounds perfect. I’ll have dinner ready and waiting,” Ettie said.

  “I don't think I've ever made pumpkin pie,” Ava said.

  “You can help me then and that way you'll learn.”

  Ettie tried her best to take Ava’s mind off the baby and what kind of life he’d have. She’d certainly grown attached to Luke in a short space of time.

  * * *

  When Jeremiah came to collect Ava that evening, they had dinner and then dessert.

  Just as Ava and Jeremiah were about to leave, Crowley came to the door.

  “Come in,” Elsa-May said to Crowley.

  After he’d greeted everyone, he sat down in one of their wooden chairs next to Jeremiah and Ava, who were already seated. “Ah, you’ve had them fixed.” He hit the side of the chair.

  “Yes, didn’t we tell you that?” Elsa-May replied. “Jeremiah fixed them.”

  Crowley managed a smile in Jeremiah’s direction.

  “What’s wrong?” Ettie asked from the couch.

  He looked up at Elsa-May who was still standing. “Sit down, Elsa-May, I’ve got an update.”

  “You don’t look too happy,” Ettie said.

  “Is Luke all right?” Ava asked.

  Crowley nodded. “The baby’s fine. Kelly told me the baby was returned to his mother and father. Anyway, I stopped in at the station to see what they’d found out so far. When the kidnapping was being investigated years ago, I was at the station, but it wasn’t my case, and then it was taken over by the FBI.”

  “Yes, we know all that. What do you know that’s new?” Elsa-May asked.

  “That’s the problem. So far they’ve turned up nothing. Kelly’s got a team on it, going through Lemonis' phone and his computer. They haven’t found a single solitary thing to link him to the kidnapping of the Cohen baby.”

  “Would he have another phone like you do?” Ettie asked.

  “If he did have one, he’s thrown it away or hidden it. They’ve contacted all the service providers—phone companies—and there are no other phones in his name. At this stage of the game, it looks like all his secrets might have died with him. It’s a real blow to the case. Now we could very well have nothing, unless one of the evidence technicians finds something from his apartment, but so far there’s nothing.”

  “That would be a real disappointment to Genevieve Cohen.”

  “Yes. Anyway, Kelly asked me to stop by and keep you informed. He’ll have patrol cars going by your house for the next few nights just to keep an eye on the place.”

  “I’m sure that’s not necessary. Shouldn’t they be patrolling the Cohen household?”

  “Mrs. Cohen and the house are being watched closely in case there is another kidnap attempt.”

  “So you do think the man came here with the intention to take the baby?” Elsa-May asked.

  “He asked you for the baby. And that’s the only reason we have for assuming he had something to do with the Cohen kidnapping.”

  Elsa-May stared into space.

  “What are you thinking, Elsa-May?” Ettie asked.

  “What if he didn't have anything to do with it?”

  “Then why did he kill himself?” Ettie asked her sister. “And why did he come here asking for the baby pretending to be his father?”

  “Kelly told us that many people don’t need a good reason to do away with themselves. What if he thought the kidnapping was going to be pinned on him and no one would believe his innocence. Detective Crowley, you said once that there are many innocent people in jail—that the system often gets things wrong.”

  Crowley raised his eyebrows. “Elsa-May could be right. Someone could’ve paid him money to say he was the father and collect the baby and that was as far as it went. To prove his innocence, he might have had to point the finger at the guilty people. He might have feared them even more than he feared death.”

  “It’s a possibility, but where does that leave things? And, if he wasn’t guilty of the first kidnapping, what possible reason would he have to turn up on our doorstep demanding the baby?” Ettie asked.

  “Didn’t you hear what Crowley just said? He said that someone could’ve paid him to get the baby and say he was the father. Like the man they found taking the money in the first kidnapping, he might not have known anything,” Elsa-May said.

  Ettie nodded. “I see.”

  “It’s a very different thing—collecting money and taking a baby,” Crowley said. “But I think it has to be considered.”

  “Hasn’t it been a short amount of time to go through his phone and his computer? I thought that would take days and days.”

  “There is a team of people working on it. If there’s a good lead, they should’ve come across it quicker than that. The man had only been out of jail for eight weeks. So they would’ve only had eight weeks' worth of telephone data and emails to go through.”

  “What was the length of the term he was imprisoned for?” Ava asked.

  “Three years.”

  “So was he out of jail at the time of the kidnapping of their first child?” Ava inquired.

  “He was, yes.”

  “Would you like a slice of pumpkin pie?” Elsa-May asked Crowley.

  His face lighted up. “I’d love some. I’ve missed your cooking.”

  “Ettie made it.”

  He chuckled. “Your cooking is good too, Ettie. More than good.”

  Jeremiah stood up. “We should go, Ava.” He touched Ava on her arm and she stood, too.

  “I might stop over tomorrow and see how things are going,” Ava said.

  After they both left and Elsa-May was cutting the pie, Ettie leaned over toward Crowley. “Was there anything you couldn’t tell us in front of them?”

  He shook his head. “No. It’s a huge disappointment and a frustration that we can no longer ask Lemonis questions. I mean ‘they,’ since I’m now retired. Even though I’m retired, cases like this still pull me in. I’m sure the Cohens will want to find where their baby is so they can lay him to rest properly.”

  “You think he’s dead?”

  “It’s unlikely they’ll find him alive. That’s what happens, unfortunately, when kidnappers don’t get their money.”

  Ettie shook her head. “Who could kill an innocent baby?”

  “These people aren’t wired the same as you and me.”

  “Who’s not?” Elsa-May came out of the kitchen with a plate o
f pie and handed it to Crowley.

  “Thank you, Elsa-May. Ettie was just asking about the baby who was kidnapped four years ago. I said he would be dead and she found it hard to believe someone could harm an innocent child, but I’m afraid awful things do happen.”

  Elsa-May sat heavily in her chair. “That’s worse than awful. I don’t like to think about it.”

  “The Cohens had to come to terms with it, but knowing that his remains are out there somewhere would be a strange feeling. They’ll feel a sense of peace if we can at least find out what happened to him. Finding his remains would be the best outcome.”

  “It’s not looking likely that you’ll find out, though, is it? There are no other leads?”

  “What about the people Lemonis was in prison with?”

  “That’s being looked into, but there are many people that he would’ve come in contact with, so it’s a slow process.”

  “I do hope they’ll find some kind of clue amongst his things,” Ettie said biting the end of a fingernail.

  Crowley had a mouthful of pumpkin pie so could only nod in agreement. “It’s certainly a mystery,” he said once he’d swallowed.

  Once Crowley left, Ettie said goodnight to Elsa-May and went to her bedroom. In her room, she saw that the baby basket was still on top of her dresser. It was the same baby basket that his mother had left him in on their doorstep.

  Ettie untied her prayer kapp and tossed it on her nightstand, hoping that young Luke would be okay. Had his mother simply made an error in judgment? What she did was not the actions of a sane woman. And what did Mr. Cohen think of suddenly finding out he was a father for a second time? He must’ve adjusted well to demand the baby back unexpectedly like that.

  Ettie unwound the braids that kept her hair in place under her kapp and then she brushed out her gray hair. Once she changed into her nightgown, she slipped between the covers. Had anyone asked any questions of Mr. Cohen? What if he were somehow involved? Was it an elaborate plot to hide money from the IRS? No money was taken, though. But maybe he’d planned that it was to have been and he hadn’t meant for his baby to be harmed.

  “Nee, if he’d had any involvement he would’ve seen that his baby was returned.”

  Elsa-May stuck her head through Ettie’s door. “Did you say something?”

  “I was just thinking out loud.”

  “You can’t ‘think’ out loud, Ettie, that’s called talking.”

  Ettie giggled. “I was thinking and then talking—to myself.”

  “Are you all right?”

  “Nee.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Elsa-May said.

  “I’m just worried about Luke.”

  “We can pray for Luke and his family.”

  “Jah, I’ll be doing that. And praying that they’ll find out what happened to their first baby.”

  Elsa-May shuddered and leaned against the door. “It’s so awful thinking about things like that.”

  “It must be dreadful for the Cohens, not knowing what became of Langley. It’s been four years already. Now the only person the police have found that might know something about him has gone.”

  “Not ‘might know,’ Ettie, he would know something about it. If he wasn’t directly involved, he would know who told him to come here to get the baby.”

  “I suppose that’s right.”

  Elsa-May sighed heavily. “We’ll just have to wait and hope that they find some evidence soon.”

  Ettie pulled her covers up higher.

  “I’m off to bed as soon as I clean those last dishes.”

  “Sorry, I completely forgot about them.”

  “I’ll do them; I’m not ready to go to sleep yet,” Elsa-May said.

  “Good night.”

  Elsa-May turned away and waved a hand in the air as she left the room.

  Ettie didn’t like to admit it, but she couldn’t help feeling scared about intruders coming into her home after the fright Lemonis had given her. Part of her wondered if Elsa-May felt the same and that’s why she was staying up later than normal. To give voice to her fears would’ve made her feel a whole lot worse, so she pulled the covers over her head and prayed in the darkness.

  Chapter 14

  Early the next morning when Ettie and Elsa-May were having breakfast, there was a knock on their door.

  “I hope that’s Kelly telling us they found something,” Ettie said. “You stay here; I’ll go and see.”

  “Be careful,” Elsa-May said.

  “I will,” Ettie sang out just as she reached the window. It was Ava and Jeremiah.

  Ettie opened the door. “Hello, you two.”

  “I’m sorry to visit again so soon, but Ava wanted to stop by and see if the police have found anything out.”

  Elsa-May came out of the kitchen. “Good to see you both again. Have you eaten?”

  Jeremiah walked forward, “We have.”

  “Come and talk to us in the kitchen.”

  They all sat around the kitchen table.

  “All we can do now is wait to see what they find out,” Ettie said before she slurped her tea.

  “Ettie, you’re slurping again.”

  “Well, you do it too.”

  “Not since you told me to stop because it irritates you.”

  “All right. I’ll stop then since you’ve been good enough to stop.”

  Elsa-May nodded. “Gut!”

  “I didn’t take time off from work to hear about slurping,” Jeremiah said.

  Elsa-May raised her eyebrows and fastened her eyes on Jeremiah. “You’re still my grandson, Jeremiah, even if you are fully grown. If I want to talk about slurping, I will.”

  “Sorry, Elsa-May,” he said with a hint of a smirk on his face. He looked at Ava. “I’ve been told.”

  Ava giggled and then said to Ettie, “You never wait—I mean—you’ve never waited around before when you found dead people.”

  Ettie pushed her lips out. “I don’t know what I can do.”

  “Investigate like you did on the murders.”

  “She’s right, Ettie. We’ve never waited around before; we’ve always been more active. Except that time I was in the hospital and you had to find out things yourself. Then there were the times I had to stay home with Snowy. But all those times you found things out by yourself.”

  “Ettie can’t do anything dangerous like that,” Jeremiah said.

  “We’ll help, won’t we, Elsa-May?” Ava said.

  “Of course we will. Now let’s figure this out with the information we have so far.”

  Jeremiah folded his arms. “Can I make myself a cup of tea while you all talk?”

  “Go ahead,” Elsa-May said pointing to the pot. “We’ve just boiled the water. You’ll need to put it on the stove again but it won’t take long.”

  Since everyone seemed confident in her, Ettie took the lead. “Here’s what we know so far. The Cohens' baby was kidnapped four years ago. No one knows who did it and the only lead they have was the man who said he was paid to pick up the money. They caught him at the drop-off zone with the money, and then when they questioned him, he knew nothing and the Cohens never got their baby back.”

  Elsa-May took over, “Then Mrs. Cohen found she was expecting again, against her husband’s wishes. Without telling him about the pregnancy, she went to her sister’s place in Canada to have the baby. When she came back, she left him at our door. That very day, a man came asking for the baby, saying he was the father, and then we found out he was Victor Lemonis.”

  Ettie took over again, “He was found, questioned and when he was released, he tried to break into our house—presumably to steal the baby.”

  “He broke in—he didn’t try to break in,” Elsa-May corrected her.

  “What would you know? You slept through the whole thing,” Ettie said.

  “Snoring too,” Jeremiah added with a teasing smile as he sat back down at the kitchen table.

  Elsa-May frowned at Jeremiah, and he looked away from
her and took a sip of tea.

  “Those details aren’t important. Anyway, after he broke in here, he was arrested and taken back to the station where he was placed in a cell, and then he killed himself. Have I left anything out?” Elsa-May looked around at everyone. They all shook their heads.

  Ettie breathed out heavily. “It looks like Lemonis is not guilty of the kidnapping, and it looks like he had no reason to come here and ask for the baby, so why did he?”

  “He must’ve met with someone in person who instructed him to come here to steal the baby,” Jeremiah suggested.

  “Possibly he was innocent like the first man the kidnappers paid to collect the money for them,” Ava said.

  “That is an option,” Ettie said. “Anyone else got any ideas?” Everyone remained silent. “We’ll have to look at what Jeremiah said. Who would’ve been likely to have Lemonis come and take the baby?”

  “The same people who took the first baby?” Ava asked.

  “Could be likely,” Ettie said. “What if we try to find people who’ve committed other kidnapping crimes?”

  “That would be a point to start with,” Elsa-May said.

  “How could we do that? We don’t have all the crime information that the police can tap into,” Jeremiah said.

  “I thought you were staying out of this, Jeremiah.” Elsa-May stared at her grandson.

  “I am. I’m just offering a suggestion. Well, not really a suggestion, more of a comment.”

  Ava said, “We do have court case information on the Internet. When I was in college, I did a law course and we had a site where we could access court records. Now that I’m not a student, though, the only access I’ll have is information arranged by date, so it would take forever to go through them all.”

  Jeremiah frowned at Ava. “You went to college?”

  Ava’s lips turned down at the corners. “Jah, I’m sure I told you that.”

  “Nee, I don’t think you did.” He shook his head.

  “You two can argue about that later. What about newspaper articles?” Elsa-May suggested.

  “I like it,” Ettie said.

  “Most of those should be on the Internet,” Ava said.