Amish Baby Mystery

by Samantha Price

  “There was something that seemed a little strange, but nothing to do with the kidnapping case.”

  Elsa-May leaned forward. “What was it?”

  “There were thousands of dollars spent at a furniture store. I followed up with the store and found it had all been delivered to an address in Canada, which may have been her sister’s address. I haven't looked into things any further.”

  “So she gave her sister a gift of furniture?” Ettie asked.

  Crowley rubbed his chin. “Was it a gift or was it blackmail for the sister keeping silent about the baby and not telling Craig Cohen?”

  “If that were the case, I would feel very sorry for Mrs. Cohen. She wouldn't have felt safe anywhere,” Elsa-May said.

  “She spoke of her sister as though they were very close, remember, Elsa-May? She said something along the lines of they had 'both kept each other's secrets.'”

  Elsa-May scoffed. “Whatever that means.”

  Crowley shook his head. “She might have simply spent $30,000 on her sister as a gift to show her appreciation.”

  “$30,000?” Ettie gasped.

  “The Cohens are very rich, Ettie. $30,000 to them would probably be like $300 to us.”

  “$300 is a lot to us,” Elsa-May said.

  Crowley stared at Elsa-May. “Cup of tea?”

  “Of course. Why don't we all go and sit in the kitchen? It'll be a lot warmer in there with the oven on.”

  They all moved to the kitchen and as Ettie filled up the pot with water, she said to Crowley, “I suppose you're not having much chance to play golf in this weather?”

  “We still play when it’s raining. I don't personally like to, but my golf friends still play in the rain.” He chuckled.

  “You've got a girlfriend?” Elsa-May asked, looking surprised.

  Crowley looked shocked and then Ettie said to Elsa-May, “He said golf friends, not girlfriend.” Ettie frowned at her older sister.

  “I don't know why you look so shocked about the idea that I might have a girlfriend, Elsa-May. I'm not dead yet.”

  She leaned toward him. “You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but I've always wondered what happened between you and Ettie’s daughter, Myra?”

  “Elsa-May! That's none of our business.” Ettie had just put the pot on to boil and then she sat down at the table with them, glaring at Elsa-May.

  “That's all right. I don't mind answering your question. I expected one of you to ask me about her sooner or later. The thing is, everything seemed to be going fine and then all of a sudden she disappeared. I hadn't heard from her in months, and she wasn’t taking my calls. When she finally answered her phone, she told me she’d been overseas on a retreat.”

  “On a retreat? What kind of a retreat?” Elsa-May asked with her chin held high noticeably not liking the sound of whatever it was.

  “A meditation one, from what I could gather. She was talking about meditating and talking to some guru—it was a new-age thing.” He looked at Ettie. “You haven’t heard from her?”

  Ettie shook her head. “The only time I hear from Myra is when she's in trouble. When I don't hear from her, I know she’s all right. Wherever she is, whatever she's doing, I just have to trust God that she is okay.”

  “It must be hard,” he said. “I've never had any children of my own, as you know. That's one thing I regret in my life. Anyway, I must admit that Myra was one woman who turned my head and that hasn't happened to me since.”

  “Have you told her so?” Elsa-May asked.

  “I would've thought she knew how I felt.”

  Ettie glared at her sister not believing she was being so intrusive into Crowley’s life. Sure, they’d known him for a long time, but they’d never delved into his personal life like this.

  Crowley shrugged his shoulders. “The last thing she said to me was that she couldn’t speak to me about our relationship until her chakras were aligned.”

  Thinking Myra’s problem was the distance they lived apart, Ettie was certain that a chakra must have been a car-part. “She had a fairly new car, but I suppose things can still go wrong. Surely you could’ve given her the name of a good mechanic?”

  Crowley laughed. “Ettie, chakras haven’t anything to do with cars. It’s to do with some points on our bodies that you can’t see and these points are called chakras.”

  “So, she’s not well?” Elsa-May asked.

  Crowley grimaced. “She’s well physically, but she thinks she’s messed up spiritually—no offense to you Ettie since you’re her mother. These chakra points, I think, are some kind of spiritual points. That’s the best I could find out anyway. I tried to find out about them and I’m still left uncertain.” He shook his head.

  “So she’s on some kind of spiritual quest. Is that what you’re saying?”

  “Exactly, Ettie. And when she finishes what she's doing and whatever journey she's on, I just have to think if it's meant to be she'll come back to me, and if she doesn't, it wasn't to be.”

  “Well, it's none of our business, but I hope things work out for you both,” Ettie said.

  “That's the water boiling, Ettie,” Elsa-May said.

  When Ettie got up to make the hot tea, she heard Elsa-May ask Crowley to stay for dinner.

  “Are you certain?” he asked. “I don’t want to put you out.”

  “Yes, we’re certain. We’ve got more than enough.

  Chapter 19

  After dinner, Ettie and Elsa-May whispered together about whether they should tell Crowley what they had planned for the next day. Crowley sat in the living room, and the sisters were discussing their options in the kitchen.

  When Ettie and Elsa-May came out with a tray of tea, Crowley said, “Are you two up to something?”

  Ettie licked her lips and looked at Elsa-May. “Well, we were discussing if we should tell you something.”

  “And the way you let our secret out last time makes us think that maybe we shouldn’t.”

  “Nonsense! Whatever it is, I’ll be able to help you. You’d never have been able to keep that baby a secret, and look at him now. He’s at home with his mother and father where he was meant to be. I’d say that was a pretty good outcome.”

  Elsa-May shook her head. “But we still don’t know for certain who did the original kidnapping.”

  “We’ve got leads. All’s not lost,” Crowley said.

  Ettie and Elsa-May stared at each other, and then Elsa-May looked back at Crowley and said, “Okay. This is what we’re planning on doing…”

  Crowley sat forward in his chair. “Go on.”

  “We found out that Mrs. Cohen’s personal secretary who has worked for her for years has the same last name as someone who was implicated in a kidnapping case.”

  “How did you find this out?”

  “We found him on the Internet the same as we found George Cousins. Mrs. Cohen didn’t recognize his photo, of course, but what do you think about her secretary having the same name as a suspected kidnapper?”

  “Is she married?”

  “We don’t think so.” Ettie looked at Elsa-May who shook her head.

  “We thought we’d tell Kelly early tomorrow morning, and then we figure he’ll go and question the secretary, and then we’d follow her to see where she goes.”

  “You’re assuming a lot of things. You’re assuming that this person who has the same last name is guilty. Also, that they are related, and that the secretary will withhold information. Exactly how are you going to follow her? In a buggy?”

  Ettie giggled. “Nee. One of Ava’s friends said she’d drive us around for the day.”

  He shook his head. “No one else should be involved. Cancel Ava’s friend and I’ll drive you.”

  “Nee! Would you?”

  “That seems to be the only way to control you two. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

  Ettie looked at Elsa-May. “We could call Ava now and have her call her friend. Ava and Jeremiah do have a phone in their ba
rn.”

  “Okay, I’ll go and call her now, and you fill him in on anything that we’ve left out.”

  Elsa-May wrapped her black shawl around her shoulders and hurried out the door. Snowy ran inside through the dog door and scratched on the front door, whining.

  “She’ll be back soon, Snowy.”

  Snowy ran and jumped on his dog bed in the corner of the room, looking none too happy.

  “What else do you need to tell me?” Crowley asked.

  “I can’t think of anything else. What will Kelly think of us following someone?”

  “He won’t mind if he doesn’t find out. If he does, then that means we’re on to something.”

  “I didn’t think of that. That’s true.”

  “What is the woman’s name—the secretary?”

  “Nerida Flower, and the man we found is Kel Flower.”

  “It’s not an uncommon name—Flower.”

  “I’ve never heard it before.”

  “I have. And does Kel Flower live around these parts?”

  “I’m fairly certain he does. The kidnapping he was implicated in was close by here. Are you able to get a tap on Nerida’s phone?”

  Crowley’s jaw dropped open. “Absolutely not! For something like that, we’d need evidence that she’s involved. Right now what you’ve got is virtually nothing. If your hunch pays off, it’d be like me getting a hole in one next time I play golf.”

  “And what exactly does that mean?”

  He shook his head. “Let’s just say it’s highly unlikely.”

  “I just feel that we have to do something and that Nerida woman—there’s something about her that’s just not right. Anyway, drink your tea before it gets cold.”

  Crowley sipped his hot tea.

  Snowy rushed to the door just before Elsa-May opened it and then he pawed at her.

  “Get back,” Elsa-May said.

  “He was worried that you went without him.”

  “I thought he would’ve been asleep in his kennel outside.”

  “Dogs have a sixth sense as far as their owners’ movements are concerned, I’m certain of it,” Crowley said.

  “Is that your chakra telling you that?” Elsa-May asked, as she replaced her shawl on the peg by the door.

  “I’ll just keep quiet and drink my tea,” Crowley said with a laugh.

  Elsa-May sat back down. “Ava said she would cancel her friend and she’d be here early in the morning.”

  “Ava’s coming too?” Crowley asked.

  “She was in on it from the beginning,” Ettie said. “We can’t tell her not to come now.”

  “Okay, I’m just the driver keeping you all out of trouble.”

  “You did say you’d help us,” Elsa-May pointed out.

  “I am helping you. I’ve called in several favors for you already.”

  “Thank you; that’s true. It’ll be good to see how a professional follows someone,” Ettie said to Elsa-May.

  “You don’t expect to do this again, do you?” Crowley asked.

  “Nee!” Elsa-May shook her head. “We just want a quiet life. We didn’t ask Mrs. Cohen to put her baby at our door.”

  He placed his teacup down on the table in front of him. “You both have a way of finding trouble.”

  Ettie’s eyes opened wide. “We don’t find it, it finds us.”

  Chapter 20

  Just as Elsa-May and Ettie had planned, Ettie phoned Detective Kelly on his cell phone early the next morning and told him what she had found out about a possible link between Nerida Flower and Kel Flower. Detective Kelly had told her that he’d definitely look into things.

  Ava arrived at Elsa-May and Ettie’s house at seven thirty and Crowley arrived not long after. Elsa-May had packed a bag of goodies, food and drink, in case they were following someone and couldn’t leave the car.

  “This is quite exciting,” Elsa-May said to Ettie as they walked to the car.

  “Don't get too excited, we could be in the car all day waiting outside Mrs. Cohen's house,” Ettie said.

  “I hope Nerida’s not sick in bed. She might be too sick to leave the house,” Elsa-May said.

  “There is only one way to find out.” Ava got into the back seat of the car.

  Elsa-May slipped into the front seat of Crowley’s car, while Ettie climbed in the back with Ava.

  When everyone had clipped their seat belts on, Crowley turned around and looked at them all. “I just want to say before we get there, that you ladies are going to stand out like a sore thumb. If we have to follow someone, you might have to be ready to duck down when I say so.”

  “We can do that,” Ava said, and then looked at Elsa-May and Ettie. “Will you two be able to do that?”

  “Yes, of course, we can,” Elsa-May said.

  “Off we go, then.” Crowley started the engine.

  They arrived at the Cohens’ house just before eight in the morning. Crowley had parked up the road where they had a clear view of who was coming and going, but not close enough so they would be seen.

  “What do we do now?” Elsa-May asked.

  Crowley frowned. “We talked about this; it’s a waiting game. I thought you understood that we could be waiting here all day.”

  “Yes I realize that, but it's quite boring just sitting here watching the house. This kind of work is tiresome, just waiting around.”

  Crowley sighed. “I'll wait until nine o'clock and if nothing has happened by then, I’ll give Kelly a call and see where he's up to with things. If he doesn’t think it’s worth speaking with Nerida at all, then we’re wasting our time.”

  “That's a good idea,” Elsa-May said. “That way, we’ll know if he’s going to talk with Nerida this morning.”

  “Maybe we should’ve done that first?” Ava suggested.

  “Down! All of you!” Crowley slid down in the seat the best he could. “That’s Kelly’s car. I hope he doesn’t know my car.”

  “That’s good; things are happening,” Ava said. “We’re a fair distance away, so he shouldn’t notice us.”

  “I hope not.” Crowley sat up a little. “I can see him talking into the intercom. Now the gates are opening, and now he’s driving through. At least we know now that Nerida isn’t going to the station to talk to Kelly. He’s come to her,” Crowley said.

  Ettie raised her head enough so she could peep out the window. “It’ll be interesting to see where she goes after this.”

  “If she does go somewhere at all, that is,” Ava said.

  “Can we get up now?” Elsa-May asked.

  “Oh, yes, sorry about that. But you'll have to get down again when he drives out.”

  Elsa-May slid back up to a comfortable seated position. “That’s good, then.”

  “We’ll have to wait and see,” Crowley said.

  Kelly was in the house for half an hour before he drove out.

  “Here he comes! Everyone get down again,” Crowley ordered.

  Once Detective Kelly drove away, they only had to wait fifteen minutes before they saw a car drive through the gates. Once again, Crowley ordered the Amish women to duck down before he picked up a newspaper that he’d had pushed between the seats, to look as though he was reading.

  “Has the car gone?” Ettie asked after a minute.

  “Yes, you can get up now.” He started the engine. “I’m guessing that was Nerida, that is, if she’s a middle-aged woman with deathly pale skin and dark hair pulled back tightly.”

  “That'll be her,” Ettie said.

  “She’s in that light blue car just turning the corner now,” he said.

  “Don't lose her,” Elsa-May blurted out.

  “I can't get too close, or she’ll know she's being followed. I'll have to keep a fair distance back. There will be a chance that I'll risk losing her by doing so, but this is the best way. If I do lose her, I don’t want any grumbling or complaining. If I was still on the force, we’d have three cars tailing her, and we’d be able to communicate with each other.
This is the best I can do.”

  “We trust you,” Ava said.

  “Do whatever you have to do,” Ettie said, while Elsa-May was silent.

  They followed Nerida for fifteen minutes before Crowley noticed her pick up a cell phone. She drove another fifteen minutes before she stopped at a diner. When she parked the car, she got out, looked around, and then hurried inside.

  “What do we do now?” Ettie asked.

  “Is she just going there for breakfast or is she meeting someone?” Ava asked.

  “She wouldn't go so far away to have breakfast here. It looks like a fairly ordinary diner. She must be meeting someone. And if our guess is right, she’s meeting Kel Flower.”

  “I guess I should call Kelly to see where he’s up to with things.” He stared at each lady in turn. “Now, you’ll all have to be quiet. I’ll put him on speaker.”

  They nodded in agreement.

  Detective Kelly answered Crowley’s call. “Crowley, how are you doing?”

  “Not bad, not bad.”

  “I hope those old Amish ladies aren't giving you too much grief.” Kelly laughed.

  Elsa-May opened her mouth in horror and both Ava and Ettie leaned forward and covered her mouth so she wouldn’t speak.

  Crowley shook his head at Elsa-May and held up his hand in an effort to communicate to her to keep silent. “They're okay. I'm just calling to see where you're up to with things in this kidnapping cold case.”

  Kelly rattled off the latest, and then he’d checked to see if there was any connection between the suspected kidnapper and criminal, Kel Flower, and Nerida Flower who work for the Cohens. Kelly went on to say, “Turns out, Nerida has a cousin called Kel Flower, but she says she hasn't seen him in years and doesn't know his whereabouts.”

  “That's interesting,” Crowley said. “If I can be any help with anything let me know. I'm not doing much these days.”

  “Thanks. I’ll keep it in mind.”

  “Okay.” Crowley ended the call.

  “Did you hear what Kelly said about us Ettie?”

  “I certainly did, but that's not what I'm concerned about right now, Elsa-May. Just ignore it. What he said wasn’t too bad.”