The girl was very pretty. Tall, a bit taller than I, and I was five nine. She stood very straight and her dark hair was tied back into the traditional Amish bun at the nape of her neck. A small white prayer cap was pinned to the top of her head. A wayward strand of hair fell over her brow as she bent down to fill the rabbit water dishes with a watering can.
I put the final piece of toffee on the rabbit and stepped back.
“It looks perfect, Bailey,” Charlotte said. “Like a real rabbit.”
I handed her the toffee tray. “Thanks. Can you take this back to the shop?”
She glanced over at Eli and smiled at me knowingly.
“Bailey,” Juliet said. “Are you even listening to me about the wedding?”
“Yes, Juliet,” I said.
Charlotte chuckled as she walked back to the shop. I think she might have been enjoying hearing Juliet pester me about marrying Aiden.
Juliet smoothed the sleeve of her pink-and-green polka-dotted wrap dress. “Have you thought about a wedding party yet?”
“Wedding party?” I squeaked. “Not at all.” This was the truth. I hadn’t thought of a wedding yet either, but I didn’t want to completely ruin her day. “Juliet, can we talk about this later? There’s someone I need to speak to.”
“I’m starting to think you don’t want to talk about the wedding, Bailey!” she called after me.
I didn’t bother to reply.
Chapter 25
“Eli?” I said as I approached Stephen’s son.
The young Amish man looked up at me from where he was crouched in the pen filling the last few remaining food bowls.
He stood up. “You told the police about the notes.”
“I told you that I would,” I said.
“Now, there is no way out of this.”
“No way out of what?”
The Amish man whom I had seen with Eli earlier stepped over to where we stood. “Is there anything else you would like Katey and me to do, Eli?”
“Nee, but danki. You have been a great help. My father would have been so pleased to see his neighbors helping like this.”
“It’s our pleasure,” the man said, and he glanced back at the young Amish woman standing a few feet away. She had a tote bag over her shoulder and a book clenched to her chest. Her round glasses perched on the end of her nose. She could not have looked more uncomfortable if she tried. The man studied me. “Who are you?” His question was blunt, which wasn’t unusual for the Amish, who weren’t fans of idle talk.
“Bailey King. I run Swissmen Sweets across the street from here with my grandmother.”
He nodded. “I heard there was an Englisch granddaughter who had come to stay.”
“And you are?” I asked, mimicking the Amish directness.
“Jud Beiler.”
I swallowed. Beiler. He had to be the Beiler whose tractor was vandalized the day before. I shot a glance at Katey. That must mean that Katey was the girl that Eli was courting, the one he trampled all over Zimmerman’s wildflowers to reach.
Katey stared down at her feet as if making eye contact with me was just too painful. I thought there was something more happening here than the general Amish shyness around strangers.
I turned back to her father. “I was sorry to hear about what happened to your tractor,” I said.
“How did you know about that?” His voice was sharp.
His harsh reaction surprised me. “You know how people talk in this village, and there are people in and out of the candy shop all the time telling us the news in the community.” For some reason, I didn’t want to tell him that I had heard it from the crime scene tech. I didn’t want the Amish to think the sheriff’s department gossiped about their affairs. Then, they would be even less likely to call the police for help.
He scowled.
I glanced at Eli. “I still have Puff.” Even as I said this, my heart ached just a little. There was something in me that didn’t like the idea of giving Puff back to Eli. At least not giving her back until I knew she would be well cared for. The rabbits I had seen at Raber’s Rabbits had been all right, but I was concerned for Puff to be there alone so often. She was a special bunny and needed extra care, and I thought tearing her away from Nutmeg might upset her. Inwardly, I rolled my eyes. Who was I kidding? I had grown attached to the white cotton ball.
Eli flushed. “I can’t take her today.”
“That’s all right,” I said quickly. I wondered if the relief showed in my voice. “I could keep her if you want. . . .”
Eli appeared pained. “Nee. I will take the rabbit when Easter Days are over.”
I frowned and told myself to worry about giving Puff back later.
Beiler looked me up and down, and I had the feeling that he was regarding my English clothing with disapproval. “I knew your grandfather. He was a gut man.”
“Thank you. Are you in the same district?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Nee. We are in Eli’s district. I respect your family, but their bishop is far too liberal.” He said this as if he had a bad taste in his mouth. “My daughter and I are here today to help Eli with the rabbits after the loss of his father. Our families are neighbors.”
The girl flipped through her book, and her father frowned. She must have noticed because she snapped the book closed.
“Are you a farmer too?” I asked.
He shook his head. “We grow vegetables, but I’m a carpenter by trade. I sell furniture to the stores that cater to Englischers. I can set my own hours that way, which is why we are able to be here today.”
“It’s very kind of you to help your friend,” I said.
“Eli’s more than a friend. Katey, my daughter, and Eli are set to marry in the summer. We have been waiting for this union for a long time. I’m sorry that Stephen won’t be here to see it.”
I glanced at Katey again, and a strange look passed over the young Amish woman’s face. She looked down at her book again as if to hide her reaction. Eli smiled at her, clearly not seeing her odd expression. It could be just me, but I didn’t think Katey was as enthusiastic about their marriage as he was.
I turned back to Jud. “You know the family for a long time?”
Jud nodded. “I knew Stephen when we were children. We ran around together.” He laughed. “We had some wild days during rumspringa, but we both put that behind us to do the right thing and be baptized.” When he said this, he looked at his daughter again, and annoyance crossed his creased and suntanned face.
If Jud had been Stephen’s friend while they were in rumspringa, he might also know what Stephen had done to receive those threatening notes. I wanted to ask him about the notes, but now wasn’t a good time. The green was filling up with English and Amish volunteers to set up for Easter Days. I didn’t know if the man who’d attacked me last night was among them. I shivered to think that man could be here. He could be any one of them.
As usual Margot had no shortage of volunteers. I really thought she was wasting her talents in our little village. She should recruit for the US Army or the Catholic Church so that there was never a shortage of soldiers or priests. I was certain they would have far more than they needed under her watch.
I was searching my mind for a way to bring up the notes without being overheard when I heard Juliet call my name. She waved at me from beside the toffee rabbit. Margot Rawlings stood next to her looking my creation up and down with a critical eye.
“It looks as if Margot would like to talk to you,” Eli said.
Probably so, I thought forlornly.
Juliet hurried over to me. “Bailey, Margot wants to speak to you about the rabbit you made.” She pulled up short. “Oh!” Juliet clasped her hands. “Look at all those adorable rabbits. Jethro just loves those little animals.” Before anyone could stop her, she set the pig inside the pen with the rabbits. “Go on, sweetie. Play with the bunnies.”
One of the smaller rabbits jumped toward him. Jethro scurried to the middle of the pen to g
et away. That’s when he realized his mistake. He was much farther away from any hope of escape from the pen, unless one of us went in there after him. I wasn’t willing to do that. The bunnies were harmless. I was pretty sure, mostly sure. But in my opinion, one or two bunnies were cute. Thirty bunnies were intimidating. I was sort of like Jethro in this regard.
Jethro stared at the cluster of rabbits all around him. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he passed out from terror.
“Juliet, I don’t think Jethro likes being in there,” I said.
She waved away my concern. “Don’t be silly. He loves being around animals of any kind. You know the friendship he had with Melchior, the camel that was here at Christmas.”
I didn’t think it was fair to compare one camel to a pile of rabbits. I had a feeling Jethro would agree with me on that point. The polka-dotted pig stood in the middle of the rabbits with a look of panic on his face.
“Aren’t they adorable together?” Juliet removed her phone from the pocket of her pink polka-dotted dress. Juliet almost always wore polka dots to match Jethro. She said it was part of their “look.” She had become even more obsessed with her pig when Jethro signed on to be in my cooking shows.
She snapped photos of Jethro and the rabbits, and one of the white bunnies walked over to the little pig and snuggled next to him. This seemed to calm Jethro, and he lay on the ground. Moments later he had five bunnies snuggled up next to him. “Oh! This will be perfect for his Instagram!” Juliet exclaimed, and snapped more shots. “We just started. Cass said it would be a good idea to build his social media platform.”
I suppressed a laugh. The last time Cass was in Harvest, she had appointed herself as the pig’s talent agent. Truth be told, I wasn’t the least bit surprised to hear that Jethro had an Instagram account. I would have been more surprised if Juliet said he didn’t have one.
Juliet noticed me staring at them and smiled. “We’re getting Jethro more social media outlets, so that he can get more acting jobs.” She frowned. “I’m not saying that your show isn’t a good start, but Jethro has so much to offer. He has so much star power to lend to companies and causes. The sky’s the limit. Cass said he really has the potential to be in the movies.” She waved her hand through the air. “Can you imagine, Jethro’s name in lights?” She sniffled. “It chokes me up just thinking about it.”
“You need to remove the pig from the pen,” Eli said with a scowl. “You must go in and get him.”
Juliet looked down at her pretty dress. “I can’t climb in there with this dress on. We’ll have to wait until he is ready to come out. From the looks of it, that won’t be anytime soon.” She shrugged as if this were of no matter.
Eli shook his head. “You have to remove the pig.”
I looked heavenward. I knew how this was going to end even before it started. “I’ll see if I can get him out.”
Juliet beamed at me. “Would you? Oh, you are the sweetest girl. I knew that Aiden made the right choice when he chose you.”
“Just get the pig out. I don’t have time for this.” Eli paced back and forth in front of the pen.
“Okay, give me a second.”
The side of the pen was only two feet from the ground. I stepped over it. So far, so good. No one moved. I didn’t breathe. I felt the collective eyes of the bunnies watching me. I could be wrong, but I felt the eyes of all the Amish on the square staring at me too. If Cass could see me now, she would never believe it.
“Hey, Jethro.” I gave the pig a little wave.
His bunny minions stared at him. It might just be my imagination, but they appeared to fluff up their fur a little bit. This was going to be even harder than I’d thought.
I waved at the bunny minions. “Hey, bunnies.”
They stared at me with their blue and red eyes. I found the ones with the red eyes the most disconcerting.
I took a step forward. The five bunnies around Jethro stood up. I took another step. They put their ears back against their heads. I didn’t know bunny language, but when Nutmeg did that, it was never good. I took another step, and they bared their teeth. Really not good.
“Jethro,” I said as soothingly as I could. “Can you tell your friends I’m harmless?” I swallowed. “Please.”
I took another step. Nothing happened this time. I was just inches from Jethro now. I could pick him up in one scoop. But I had to build up the nerve with all those sneering rabbits.
“Get him out!” Eli shouted.
It seemed to me that the young Amish man’s patience had hit its limit.
I leaned over to pick up the pig, and he took off. Ugh. I ran toward him and tripped over two of the bunnies and fell flat on my face. The bunnies hopped away unharmed. I groaned and spit grass out of my mouth. Jethro walked over to me and pressed his cold snout in my ear.
“Oh see,” Juliet cooed from somewhere overhead. “Jethro really loves you, Bailey.”
Sure he does, I thought.
Chapter 26
Margot Rawlings patted the mess of curls on the top of her head. “What happened to you?”
I couldn’t bring myself to look down at my clothes. If they looked as bad as they smelled, I knew it wasn’t pretty. “Jethro.” It was all I really had to say. Everyone in the village knew Jethro.
“Well, I’m glad that the toffee rabbit fared better. You know, Bailey, while you were playing with Jethro and the bunnies, I was looking at your sculpture.”
I winced and prepared myself for her critique. Would I have to wheel the giant candy rabbit back into Swissmen Sweets and start over? I couldn’t bear to ask my grandmother and Charlotte to make more toffee. They had already spent too much time on it. I waited.
Margot took a deep breath. “And I think it’s just wonderful!” She grinned. “I wouldn’t change a thing about it. A eight-foot rabbit. I should have known you would go above and beyond.”
“Ten with the platform,” I said with a smile.
“It’s so lifelike, and I love that you used the toffee to make it look like the rabbit has real fur.”
“Thank you,” I murmured, still surprised that Margot was happy with my creation.
“I like it so much that I think I will want you to make a sculpture like this for all our events on the square.”
“Umm . . .” I liked sculpting chocolate, but there was an event on the village square almost every weekend now that Margot had taken over the village social committee. Before I could explain to her how ill-advised that was, she said, “And I’m so sorry that you were there when Stephen died.” She cocked her head. “Or maybe he died because you were there?”
I gaped at her. “What are you talking about? I didn’t have a thing to do with Stephen’s death.”
She patted my hand. “I know that you weren’t the one who killed him, but you must admit, you are around quite often when someone gets killed.” She looked me up and down. “Should I be worried?”
I frowned.
“I’d known Stephen Raber for many years. I still can’t believe this happened to him.” She leaned in. “And between you and me, I don’t know what will happen to his farm.”
My brow shot up. “I guess I assumed that it will be Eli’s.”
“It will, of course. The Amish almost always pass property down through their children, but I don’t know if Eli will keep the farm. Stephen hinted to me that Eli didn’t enjoy taking care of all those rabbits.”
My mind immediately went to Puff. What would happen to her if Eli decided he didn’t want to farm rabbits any longer?
Margot shrugged as if it was no matter. “At least they will be here for the rest of Easter Days. I’m sure Eli will wait for our celebration to be over before making any dramatic decisions.”
“Did Stephen and his son get along?”
Margot shrugged. “They seemed to.”
That wasn’t a very convincing answer. I frowned. Should I be considering Eli as a suspect in his father’s murder? He had the most to gain from his father
’s death. He would inherit a farm and could potentially turn it from a rabbit farm into whatever he wanted it to be. He was getting married soon, so maybe he thought he needed the farm to impress or provide for his new wife. However, none of that changed the fact that he’d come to me for help in finding his father’s killer. In fact, he was the one who’d put it into my head that Stephen was murdered in the first place. Why would he give me those threatening notes if he was the one behind them? None of it made sense.
“I’m sure Eli will be fine,” Margot went on. I had been so preoccupied with my own spinning thoughts, I hadn’t realized that she was still talking. “He surely will be married soon, so that will alleviate some of the pain of losing his father.”
I wasn’t so sure about that, and I wasn’t so sure there would even be a wedding. Every time the wedding had come up in conversation, she had looked pained.
“Oh, there’s the reporter from the Millersburg paper. They are going to do a feature on Easter Days.” She wiggled her fingers at me. “Got to run. You take care, Bailey.”
I watched as she scurried across the green to an English man in a polo shirt. Her short curls bounced all the way.
Easter Days started at noon, so within the hour the green would be full of tourists. Juliet and Jethro had disappeared. I assumed they had gone back to the church to load the photos of Jethro and the bunnies into his Instagram account and to show them to Reverend Brook too. That reminded me of the break-in at the church.
I looked down at my clothes. The first thing I would have to do was get cleaned up. I left the square and stopped by the candy shop just long enough to tell my grandmother that I was running home to change.
Maami handed a last customer his change. After he walked through the door, she said, “Do you think that’s a gut idea? Can’t you just get cleaned up here?”
“I only packed one set of clothes and I forgot that I have to file a police report about what happened last night. I have to get cleaned up before I do that at the sheriff’s department. I’ll be back in two hours, tops. I promise. Besides, I don’t want to be afraid to go to my own home in broad daylight.”
Toxic Toffee Page 16