Toxic Toffee

by Amanda Flower

  Maami pressed her lips together. “It seems that your mind is made up.”

  “You can wear one of my extra dresses,” Charlotte offered.

  I smiled at her. “That’s very sweet of you, but I’d feel much more comfortable in my jeans.”

  Before I left the candy shop, I went up to my grandmother’s apartment to check on Puff. I found Nutmeg and the rabbit sitting next to each other on the bed in a content half doze. If I thought it would be hard for me to hand Puff over to Eli, it was going to be just as hard for Nutmeg to give her up.

  I left the candy shop through the kitchen’s back door with the hope of not running into too many people. My clothes where muddy and grass-stained and I chose not to think of what else might be on me. The rabbits had been in that pen for days.

  As I snuck through the alley to avoid being seen on Main Street, the back door of Esh Family Pretzel opened, and Esther Esh stepped out with a bag of trash, headed toward the Dumpster. She saw me and pulled up short.

  “Hi, Esther,” I said.

  She frowned, but my words must have spurred her into action because she walked over to the Dumpster and dropped the sack inside. “What are you doing back here? Are you spying on me?”

  I raised my eyebrows at her. “No, I was just heading home to change.” I gestured at my clothes. “I had a little mishap.”

  “It seems to me that you have many mishaps, Bailey King.” She wrinkled her nose.

  Sometimes it was hard for me to remember that Emily and Esther were sisters. Emily was sweet and kind, and Esther, decidedly, was not.

  “I’ll just be on my way then.” I walked around her, giving her a lot of space.

  “I saw you across the street with Eli Raber,” she said.

  I turned. “Do you know Eli?”

  “Ya,” she said, and went through the back door of the pretzel shop without another word.

  I could be wrong, but from her reaction, I thought Esther might have known Eli very well indeed.

  Chapter 27

  “Bailey King! I need to talk to you!” a voice shouted from a buggy rolling down Apple Street.

  I lowered my head. At this rate I would never get home for a shower. I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and waited for the buggy to come to a halt. The bishop’s wife, Ruth Yoder, climbed out of the buggy. She was a broad woman in a plain blue dress and white prayer cap. Even though she was out for a drive, she didn’t have a bonnet on. “What happened to you?” she asked, and stared at my stained shirt and jeans.

  “Jethro,” I said, giving her the same answer that I had Margot.

  She nodded as if that was enough. She and Margot might be on opposite sides of every debate that came into the village, but they could both agree on Jethro being a troublemaking pig. Everyone in the village could except for Juliet, of course, who believed her pig was above reproach.

  “Can I help you with something, Ruth?”

  “I heard about what happened to Stephen Raber, and that you were there. I want to know.”

  “Margot was there too. She would be a good one for you to talk to,” I said, taking a little pleasure in that suggestion. It was well-known that Margot and the bishop’s wife didn’t care for each other.

  Ruth scowled at me. “Why would I talk to her, when I can come to you? There is no telling what that woman will say to get her way.”

  “Why are you so interested in Stephen Raber? He is not even a member of your district.”

  She frowned at me. “His wife was a gut friend of mine and a member of my quilting circle. It was a great loss to us all when she passed away two years ago.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “It still breaks my heart to even think about it.” She pressed her lips together. “I didn’t reach out to Stephen much after Carmela died. I regret that now, so I want to know what is going on. The rumor is he was murdered.”

  I nodded. There was no point in denying it. If Ruth knew, it was the talk of the Amish gossip mill, I was sure.

  “Since you knew Carmela so well, who do you think would do this to Stephen? Was there anyone who disliked the family?”

  She shook her head. “Everyone loved the Rabers. Stephen and Carmela were the perfect couple. After Carmela passed, Stephen was still well-liked. He took gut care of Carmela in her final days, and as her close friend, I was grateful for that.” She glanced away for a moment. “I’m wondering now what will happen to the farm. Now that both Carmela and Stephen are gone . . .”

  “I assume Eli will get it. He’s the only son.”

  “That’s the problem. Eli is not the only son. Stephen has another son.”

  I blinked at her. “I thought he had three daughters, all of whom were married and had families of their own.”

  “He does, and two sons. Eli and the three girls are from his second wife. He had one son with his first wife, Ethel. I would say that his eldest son must be in his thirties by now.”

  “Well, where is he? Does he work on the farm too?”

  She shook her head. “Nee. He’s Englisch now. He took off from the community when he was only twelve.”

  I blinked at her. “What happened to Stephen’s first wife?”

  She cleared her throat. “Terrible accident on the farm. She was killed in the grain silo. Something in the silo broke and the grain fell on her.” She looked down. “She was smothered to death. Stephen stopped farming crops after that and moved on to rabbits. He married Carmela three months after his first wife died.”

  I cringed. I remembered seeing the old silo on the Rabers’ farm. What a terrible reminder for the family of what had happened to his first wife. Also, I winced at how quickly Stephen had remarried. That marriage sounded awfully fast to me, but I knew things were different in rural Amish communities. Stephen would have needed someone to keep his home and care for his son while he worked his farm.

  Ruth must have seen the look of distaste on my face because she said, “Carmela and Stephen were very happy together. Many said that they were a better match than Stephen and Ethel.”

  “Did Stephen know where his first son went after he left the Amish?”

  She shook her head. “Not according to Carmela. They never heard from the boy again after he left. It got to the point that Stephen didn’t even want to hear his name.”

  “What was his first son’s name?”

  “Casey.”

  “Would Casey have a claim to the rabbit farm?”

  “I would think so,” she said.

  “Did Stephen have a will?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know, but I doubt it. It is not our way.”

  I bit the inside of my lip. It was true that most Amish didn’t bother to write a will. Perhaps it was because they put less value in material things. However, it made things that much more difficult for the family left behind if there was some kind of dispute.

  “Do you think that Casey will come back and claim the land as the eldest son?”

  “If he hears about it, he might.” She pressed her lips together as if the very idea made her ill.

  I wondered if Aiden knew any of this. It sounded to me like Casey, wherever he might be, was a prime suspect for the murder, but how would anyone find him? If he’d run away from the Amish when he was only twelve, no one would even know what he looked like now. Because he’d grown up Amish, there would be no photos of him from his childhood to age up using computer software. That was assuming he was still alive. I shivered to think what would happen to a young boy who ran away from the Amish. He would have left his community with nothing. How would he even know where to go or what to do at such a young age?

  “I want you to come to our quilting circle meeting tonight,” Ruth said, interrupting my thoughts. “So you can meet Carmela’s closest friends. I think it will be important for you to do that to understand the Raber family and to find out who did this to Stephen. As you can imagine, we’re all beside ourselves over it.”

  I stared at her. Ruth looked like she was about to cry. I had never seen the
softer side of this tough woman. “Ruth, are you all right?”

  She sniffed and straightened her back. Her face went back into its typical grimace as if she was angry with herself for allowing her mask to slip even for a second. “I’d like you to come to the meeting.”

  I wanted to go to the quilt circle meeting. I thought it would be a good way for me to find out who might have written those notes. If Carmela had been close friends with these women, she might have told them what Stephen had done to receive the threatening notes, but what I didn’t understand was why Ruth wanted me there. In the past, she hadn’t been pleased with my snooping into crimes that impacted the Amish communities in Holmes County. Why the sudden change of heart?

  “Why do you want me there?” I asked.

  “Because you have found several criminals before, and because Carmela was my friend and she loved Stephen very much. I would like to know what happened to him for her sake.”

  I nodded. “I’ll come.”

  She started to untie her horse from the hitching post. “Gut. We will be meeting at Millie’s. She lives on a little hobby farm on Pear Street here in Harvest.”

  I knew where the street was, but I didn’t know who Millie was. “Millie’s?” I asked.

  “Millie Fisher. She is a returning member of our quilting circle. She was a member for a long time but moved away after her husband died. She moved back to Harvest right after Christmas.” She recited the address to me. “It will be at seven o’clock sharp.” She stepped back to the buggy. “Be sure that you’re on time. We don’t abide lateness in the circle.”

  I didn’t think Ruth abided much at all.

  She flicked the reins and left me standing on the sidewalk, feeling confused by what had just happened. I had never expected Ruth Yoder to ask me for help. Ever.

  Chapter 28

  I walked the rest of the way home without incident, and the house was just as I had left it. I cleaned up fast, drove to the sheriff’s department, and filed my report about the attack. Aiden wasn’t there when I filed the report and the deputy who interviewed me wasn’t one for idle chitchat.

  I headed back to the candy shop. I was itching to go to the quilting circle meeting and learn all I could about the Raber family from the ladies, but that wouldn’t happen until this evening. As I wove through the tourists who were starting to crowd the walks of Main Street, I was happy to see that at least half a dozen people were admiring the toffee rabbit. Maybe I would make more of these for the village . . . just not every weekend.

  I stepped around a family stopped in front of the cheese shop. As I came around them, I saw Charlotte sitting on a milk can in front of the candy shop with Puff in her lap and Jethro at her feet. Happily, Jethro was attached to a leash.

  “What’s going on here?” I asked.

  “Juliet said that she had an important meeting to go to with Reverend Brook, so she dropped Jethro off.”

  “Where’s Nutmeg?” I asked, wondering if the little orange tabby was jealous that Puff had so quickly made a new friend.

  “Oh—” Charlotte waved my concern way. “He’s fine. Emily is working today so he wanted to stay inside with her.”

  That made sense. The little cat was very attached to Emily. That reminded me of the strange encounter with Emily’s sister in the back alley.

  “If you’re okay out here, I’ll go in.”

  She waved good-bye just as an English family walked up the street.

  “Mommy, can I pet the piggy?” a little girl asked.

  “If it’s okay with the lady,” the mother said back.

  “You can, and you can pet our special bunny too. This is Puff and she’s a sweetheart,” Charlotte said. “We have chocolate bunnies inside on sale that look just like Puff!” I heard Charlotte tell them.

  I smiled to myself. Just a few weeks in New York, and she was becoming quite the saleswoman. I might have created a monster.

  Maami was in the front of the shop when I went in, and there was a short line of customers. I stepped behind the counter, threw on my apron, and pitched in. When the last customer left, I turned to my grandmother. “Where’s Emily?”

  “We had a shortage of chocolate bunnies and she’s whipping up a few dozen of them.”

  I nodded and went through the swinging door into the kitchen. Emily sat on one of the stools around the giant stainless-steel island, pouring melted chocolate into plastic molds shaped like Easter bunnies. From there, the molds would be put into one of our three industrial refrigerators to set.

  “Do you have any more pig chocolate bars working?” I asked. “I think Charlotte would do well selling those outside the shop since Jethro is here.”

  Emily laughed, and I was so happy to hear the sound. There was a time when it was difficult even to get a smile out of her. “We can make some up quick. Charlotte’s training to be a mini-Bailey. Always selling, always trying new things, always hustling.”

  I winced. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing.”

  She looked up at me. “Some Amish would say it’s not, but Charlotte is Charlotte and she would be trying new things even if you weren’t here. She admires you. When you aren’t here, and we are working, she talks about you all the time.”

  I smiled. “I’m very lucky to be working with both of you. My grandmother and I both feel that way.”

  She shook her head and stirred the melted chocolate to keep it from sticking to the bowl. “Not lucky. Blessed. Luck is an Englisch idea, not an Amish one.”

  I smiled and filled my own bowl of chocolate from the large vat in the corner. “I can start on the pigs.” After I collected the chocolate into the bowl, I grabbed the plastic pig molds, sat on the stool opposite Emily, and set right to work as I said, “I went to see Daniel yesterday.”

  “He told me that too, and he told me that he sent Eli to you. I wish he hadn’t.” She didn’t look up from her task as she said this.

  “Why?”

  “Because I know you, and you will want to see if you can solve the murder.”

  “Of course, I want to solve the murder. I want to help Aiden the best way I can.”

  She studied me. “Do you think it’s a good idea to do this, Bailey? You’ve gotten yourself into much trouble before. I’m forever grateful for what you did for Daniel and me, but I don’t want to see you hurt.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I think you’ve said that before when you haven’t been fine, and Charlotte told me that someone attacked you last night.” She pointed at me. “And I can see the bruise on your face. You were hurt, Bailey. You could have been killed.”

  I grimaced. “That’s beside the point.”

  She arched her brow at me. “Is it? Maybe you should leave all of this to Aiden.”

  That was probably true, but I made no comment on it. Instead, I asked, “Do you know the Rabers well?”

  “Not too well,” she said, slowly and carefully pouring chocolate into the next mold. “Eli is Daniel’s friend, not mine.” She wouldn’t look at me as she said this.

  Silently, I poured chocolate into the pig molds for a few minutes. Emily got up and put her tray in the fridge and gathered up a second mold and more chocolate. When she was seated again, I said, “I saw your sister today in the alley.”

  Emily took in a quick breath. Her siblings hadn’t spoken to her since she’d left the pretzel shop and married Daniel. I knew it was a sore subject, but I had to find out what Esther’s connection was to the Rabers.

  “Esther told me that she knew Eli Raber.”

  “Everyone knows everyone else in the village. You should realize that by now,” she said, a little more defensively than the comment warranted. “I don’t want to talk about my sister,” she added quietly.

  “I can understand that, but if there is anything I should know about her and that family, I would appreciate hearing it.”

  “My sister didn’t have anything to do with what happened to Stephen.” She looked up from her mol
d with tears in her eyes.

  I set my bowl down. “Emily, what’s wrong?”

  “You can’t know what it’s like to be cut off from your family. Maybe they were unkind to me, but Abel and Esther were the only family I had for a long time. Daniel keeps telling me that I have his family now, but it’s not the same. They will always be his family, and I will always be different from them in some way.”

  I bit my lip. I had to think of a way to mend the broken Esh family. I hated seeing Emily like this. I pushed the thought aside. I was a fixer, and I wanted to fix everything. I thought that was how I ended up in most of the scrapes I found myself in, and likely why I was dealing with murder yet again. Heck, it was likely why I’d dealt with the men I dated before Aiden. But I couldn’t fix everything, and I shouldn’t try to fix a family that didn’t want my help. “Your family isn’t always determined by your blood relations. I consider Cass my family.”

  “It is different for the Englisch,” she said, and wiped her eyes with a paper towel.

  “It’s not,” I argued. “Isn’t that what being Amish is about? Community? Your district and the Amish community become your family. Daniel is right to say you have his family now, but you also have Charlotte, Maami, and me, and all your other friends in the district. Just because two people on the planet are too stupid to see what a wonderful person you are, that doesn’t make them right. Two shouldn’t outweigh the dozens of people who love you.”

  Tears gathered in Emily’s eyes again. “Do you really believe that?”

  “Of course I do.” I smiled. “And be careful not to get any tears in those chocolate rabbits.”

  She laughed and dabbed the paper towel on her eyes once more.

  We worked in silence for a few minutes. My pigs were coming out well. I was debating whether I should mix some white chocolate in to make them look more like Jethro but was afraid Juliet would say I was infringing on Jethro’s merchandising opportunities. Stardom had certainly gone to both of their heads. Juliet’s more so than the pig’s.

  “Esther wanted to marry Eli, and my brother forbade it because Eli was from another district,” she blurted out so fast I thought that I misheard her.