A Lesson in Murder

by Nick Bishop

  “Let go!” Ellie said. “On what grounds.”

  “On the grounds that he’s interfering with the customs and beliefs of a large segment of the community.”

  “It doesn’t seem to me,” Ellie said, “that would possibly hold up. He’s done nothing illegal. In fact, I admire him for spending all the hours and all the effort he did on helping Mattie Yoder.”

  “You’re probably right that what he did isn’t grounds to terminate a teacher’s employment. But you’d better believe I’d have found another reason, and he would have been out of a job.”

  “I don’t understand,” Jed said. “Why would you do that? Why do you feel so strongly about this?”

  “Though it is not your business, you may know that my brother—my twin—joined the Amish religion.”

  “I see,” Jed answers.

  “And I respect the sect and what they believe in.”

  “But you aren’t a member yourself.”

  “I certainly am not.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jed said, “but I’m confused.”

  “I see no reason to speak further of this.”

  “You don’t believe Mr. Yoder could be the murderer.”

  “As I said, I do not. However, I do admit that anything’s a possibility.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Wow,” Jed said as he and Ellie walked down the hall to the stairs. “What set him off! I realize he’s not a particularly reasonable man, but I thought his reaction was—”

  “Extreme?”

  Jed nodded.

  “He does have strong opinions.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “He has a brother who’s Amish.”

  “That’s what he said, but how can that be?” Jed asked.

  “The family, the principal’s family is Mennonite…one of the more liberal arms of the religion. Remember, I said that there are gradations from Old Order Amish down to Mennonites who believe pretty much as Lutherans or other common sects, like Methodists, do.”

  “There’s a difference, though, between Lutheran and Methodist beliefs.”

  “I agree. But what I meant is that some Mennonites are pretty mainstream.”

  “But the principal isn’t? Is that what you mean?”

  “Not the most liberal, I suppose. I don’t know much about his beliefs. But he obviously believes in educating young people, or he wouldn’t be working in a public school.”

  They reached the exit, and Jed pushed open the door.

  “The thing is,” Ellie said, “and a lot of this is based on gossip—our principal’s brother decided to live a much simpler life. It seems he was also a principal. At a school in Holmes County. There are many Amish there, as you probably know. Many more than in Tuscarawas County. While there, Mr. Miller’s brother started interacting with the Amish population. The more he discovered about their beliefs, their sense of community, and their belief in helping those who are less fortunate, he decided he wanted to become a member.”

  “What a switch. And they obviously accepted him.”

  “Yes. So at the end of the school year, he resigned his position, sold his car and other “worldly” goods. That is, ‘worldly’ in Amish terms—computers, television sets, other things we think of as conveniences, and moved into an Amish community.”

  “That must have been a shock to Miller.”

  “I suppose it was. But then the brother—I don’t know his first name—tried to talk our Mr. Miller into joining him.”

  “But he wouldn’t.”

  “Apparently, he gave it some thought.”

  “With his personality, I really doubt he would have made a good Amishman!”

  “The sneaky jerk part of it, you mean?”

  “And his preoccupation with teachers doing a good job.”

  “Well, he didn’t join, obviously. But he is very sympathetic and, I might add, adamant about respecting Amish customs and values.”

  They started to walk toward the parking lot.

  “Extremely protective, it seems to me,” Jed said. “Overly so.”

  “So it would appear.”

  “At first he was adamant about Jacob Yoder’s not being the murderer. But then he did say it was a possibility.”

  “Again,” Ellie said, “I think this has to do with his overprotective attitude about the Amish.”

  “I just had a thought. Do you believe it’s possible that the principal had something to do with the murder? Because he feels so strongly about Joe’s helping Mattie Yoder.”

  “That hadn’t occurred to me,” Ellie said. “But as he himself stated, it’s a possibility.”

  “And it did seem he really had it in for Joe.”

  “Once more, however,” Ellie said, “it’s a matter of logistics. If Mr. Miller committed the murder, how would he have disposed of the bow, gotten back to school before the bell, and carried out his normal duties.”

  “But did he?”

  “He was in school, I’m pretty sure. At least no one mentioned he wasn’t.”

  “What if he arrived late.”

  “Being such a stickler for adhering to rules, it doesn’t seem logical he’d deliberately do that. But again, we have some checking to do.” She unlocked the door to her car and turned to Jed. “So Clark, what’s the next step.”

  “About time I donned my cape and flew over Metropol… I mean Sweet River to see what’s afoot. Seriously, when I was talking with the principal, trying to persuade him to see us, I told him that things often come up that didn’t in a first visit. People suddenly remember something they saw. A suspicious action, an object that didn’t belong where it was.”

  “So you’re saying we revisit some of those we’ve already talked to.”

  “I think that’s a good idea.”

  “Who first?” Ellie asked.

  “Though I agree with Miller that Yoder probably is innocent, let’s start with him again. Or maybe his wife. She says he was away from home at the time Joe was murdered. Maybe she isn’t telling everything she knows.”

  “Tomorrow then?” Ellie asked. “Have too many papers to grade tonight. Too many notebooks to wade through.”

  ***

  Unlike Ellie, Jed had no papers to grade. So he had the evening to do with as he pleased. He decided he fix himself a turkey ham sandwich…or two, because he knew he’d be sharing the turkey with two other beings. He thought they would be content to eat nothing but turkey ham every meal for the rest of their lives.

  Of course, he’d feed these other beings their regular diet first, and maybe give them cat treats for dessert. So their little tummies would already be pretty full. That meant maybe he could even have at least a small part of the second sandwich.

  As he washed dishes and cleaned up the clutter in the kitchen, he wondered if Sara were free for the evening. If so, maybe she could come over. He’d fix popcorn, and all four of them would cuddle on the couch. He couldn’t imagine a more enjoyable way to spend the evening.

  ***

  He had just turned up the flame on the gas stove and taken out the pot to pop the corn when the bell rang. “It’s unlocked,” he called. “Come on in.”

  Sara opened the door and came to the kitchen. “Looks like my timing was perfect,” she said. “How are you, Jed?”

  “Doing fine. How about you?”

  “Busy day. It will be good just to relax.”

  “Glad you could make it.” He picked up the bottle of oil and poured out enough to cover the bottom of the pot and then dumped in some popcorn. No microwave popping this evening. “Won’t be more than a minute or two.”

  By now both Sugar and Spice demanded Sara’s attention. Spice stood on hind legs, front paws on her thigh, while Sugar circled round and round her leg.

  “Good to see the two of you too!” she told them, stroking each of them behind the ears. “Goodness,” she said, “I’ve heard truck engines that are softer than those purrs.”

  Spice jumped onto her lap and rubbed his cheek agai
nst her chin. Not to be undone, Sugar tried to jump on her lap, as well, but found there wasn’t quite enough room.

  “I love you both,” Sara said, “so don’t worry, Sugar, you’ll have your time too.” She turned to Jed. “It’s good to see them again. The park doesn’t count because I couldn’t pet them there. But you know I love them both.”

  “Should get one of your own.”

  “As long as I can visit my two favorites, I’m happy.”

  The popping of the corn started out slowly and then increased until it was hard to distinguish one pop from the other. “You know you don’t have to hold the cats if you don’t want to.”

  “Are you kidding!? I missed them terribly, and now I want to make up for it.”

  Jed smiled. “Glad to hear it.” He jiggled the pot to divide the kernels more evenly. “Want to pick up Spice and go to the living room? I’ll bring the popcorn.”

  “Okay.” She picked up Spice and cuddled him against her as she walked through the archway and sat on one end of the couch.

  In a moment Jed placed a big bowl of popcorn on the coffee table.

  “Any movie you’d like to see. As you know, I have a collection, or we can find one on TV.”

  “Well, you know one of my old favorites…”

  “Let me guess,” Jed kidded. “It couldn’t be Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.”

  “I’m surprised you figured that out. It would be hard to guess—if we hadn’t already watched it half a dozen times.”

  “Gee,” Jed said, “who’s counting? And for your information, it was seven times.”

  Sara burst out laughing. “Really?”

  “But who’s counting?”

  “You don’t mind seeing it again?”

  “As you may remember, it’s one of my favorites too. Howard Keel’s singing; Russ Tamblyn’s dancing. Few people could match those two.”

  “So, are we going to keep talking about the movie,” Sara kidded, “or are we going to watch it?”

  “Entirely your choice.”

  “If I weren’t holding Spice, I might throw a piece of popcorn at you.”

  Jed laughed as he turned on the TV set, inserted the disk containing the movie, and sat down beside Sara. As soon as he did, Sugar jumped up beside him on the sofa and made it pointedly clear that she wanted some popcorn too.

  And Jed thought as society editors often loved to say, “A good time was had by everyone.” He often wondered how the editors could get inside everyone’s head to know that. But this evening he was certain it was true. He could tell Sara was enjoying herself. He certainly was, and two loud purrs seemed to attest to the fact that Sugar and Spice were too.

  Too soon for Jed “The End” appeared on the screen. He wished it hadn’t, but, he hoped, maybe this was the beginning of many such evenings to come. If they continued to see each other, who knew how things might progress from there?

  “Well,” Sara said, “that was certainly fun.”

  “It’s not that late. We could watch another one, if you like.”

  “These old bones are too tired for a marathon movie session.”

  “Old bones?”

  “Feels like it; it’s been a busy few days. All I want to do is go home, brush my teeth, and hop into bed.”

  “I’m certainly glad you enjoyed the evening.”

  “Me too.” She gently placed Spice beside her—the cat had never once ventured from her lap—and stood. “Thanks again, Jed. It was just the sort of evening I needed.”

  “I’ll walk you to the door.”

  He placed Sugar on the couch beside Spice and then stood.

  There were three steps from the living room down to the landing. He took her upper arm and led her down, as he always had. At the door she turned and gave him a hug. They still fit together like a perfect puzzle, he though.

  “You have a good night, Mr. Fredericks.”

  “You too.” He leaned forward to kiss her, but she placed her fingers over his lips. “It’s good to be seeing you again,” she said, “and I hope you understand. But I’m not quite ready.”

  Of course, he was disappointed, even feeling a little hurt. “You have a good night,” he said as he opened the door and then closed it behind her.

  Now what? he asked himself. It was still early, a few minutes past eight, and he wasn’t particularly tired. Maybe another movie. Should be one just starting now on one of the channels. He sat on the couch, turned on the TV and began to surf the channels. There was still some popcorn left, and Sugar and Spice snuggled up against him, one on either side.

  Chapter Sixteen

  On Monday morning the principal was waiting outside Jed’s classroom door. Oops, Jed thought, is he still angry about talking to him about the murder? And if he was as vindictive as he seemed to be, was Jed going to be out of a job at the end of the year?

  Jed felt just a bit apprehensive. He loved his job and wanted to stay with it. If his contract weren’t renewed, what on earth would he do? He knew he could always get a job as an investigative reporter—somewhere. But that would be going backwards, and besides he didn’t want to move away from Tuscarawas County.

  He sighed. He told himself he was thinking of worst case scenarios. He gnawed on the side of his lip as he climbed the few stairs to his room.

  “Good morning, Mr. Fredericks,” Miller said.

  Well, it didn’t seem like there was going to be a problem.

  “Morning, Mr. Miller.”

  “Do you have a minute?”

  “Sure.”

  “There’s something I want to talk to you about. Oh, and by the way, I want to apologize and get it out of the way. I admit I acted like a jerk with you and Mrs. Steiner. I suppose I should be more respectful of the dead. After all it is a tragedy. Mr. Johnstone was a young man, and to have his life cut off was a terrible thing. And I should not have let my feelings get in the way.

  “I know I came across as… I hate to use the term.” He glanced around, Jed figured, to see if anyone else were around. “What I started to say is I know I came across as an ass.

  “The problem is I’m very protective of my twin. I can’t imagine any two siblings being closer than we are. And when you and Mrs. Steiner mentioned talking with Jacob Yoder, to put it bluntly, I completely lost it. First, there was the thing with Mattie and second, the fact that my brother joined the Old Order Amish. I was angry and very defensive.

  “You didn’t accuse Yoder, but I jumped to the conclusion that you were blaming him and thus blaming all Amish for being the way they are.”

  “It’s no big thing. Sure, Ellie and I were both a little upset, but we got over it quickly. At least I did; I shouldn’t speak for her, but I’m sure it’s no big deal with her either.”

  The principal gave a sigh of relief. “It’s been bothering me ever since. I almost called you but didn’t want to bother you at home…besides the fact that—to use some dated slang—I chickened out. Then I told myself I had to get it over and done with the moment I saw you.”

  Wow, Jed thought, maybe the man isn’t as bad as he comes across. Jed would have to change his thinking about him.

  “The other reason I wanted to talk with you is I wonder if you’d have any objection to my hiring a substitute teacher for a few days to take over Mr. Staunton’s class and have him come and observe how you handle things.”

  “I’m surprised.”

  “You know Mr. Staunton got off to a very bad start, and things haven’t improved. He started out allowing his students to do pretty much as they liked. It seems that he thought the best approach to teaching was informality. That’s fine, but he didn’t seem to understand that with informality, there still needs to be someone in charge, an authority figure, so to speak.”

  “If you think it will help, I’ll be glad to do what I can,” Jed said, though he was far from certain how the experiment would work. Staunton was bound to feel uneasy about the whole thing. At the very least. There was a good chance that he would be resentful,
as well.

  “It’s the only thing I can think of to try. As I know you’re very well aware, his classroom has gotten totally out of hand. I even wonder if his students have learned anything worthwhile so far this year.”

  “It certainly is a big distraction. I do have a question,” Jed said.

  “It will be for only two or three days, probably just two.”

  “Can you get a substitute teacher who can maintain any kind of order?”

  “I think I know just the person. He’s a retired teacher from Canton and lives in Charm. We used him before, and he seems very effective.”

  “I hope you don’t mind my saying so, but I think at this point that anyone would have at least some trouble controlling the class.”

  “I hope it’s a matter of establishing the right atmosphere from the beginning.”

  “When would Mr. Staunton start observing my classes?”

  “Tomorrow. And I’d like him to spend the complete day with you, except, of course, for lunch. That’s up to you and him.”

  “Okay. But I’m a little apprehensive. I mean, this is my first year of teaching, and it’s been just over a month since I started.”

  “Well, from what I’ve seen,” the principal said, “you do a very effective job.” He paused and smiled. “Even when you don’t know Old Sneaky is there.”

  Jed felt his face flush. Had Miller somehow found out what Jed had said? “Big Brother is watching you.” That sort of thing.

  “Oh, don’t worry,” Miller said. “There’s not much that escapes my notice. I’m well aware that for years that’s what teachers call me. But it comes in handy. If no one realizes I’m in a classroom, they aren’t going to try to do anything differently, to be on their good behavior, so to speak.

  Jed chuckled. “I’m surprised you know. And it doesn’t bother you?”

  “Maybe it used to, but no more.”

  “I’m glad.” Jed hesitated for a moment. “Don’t know if I should say what I’m thinking.”

  “Go ahead. I promise no matter what it is that I won’t be offended.”

  “What I hesitated to say is that I’m discovering you’re a lot different than you often seem to be.”