“And are there any more scenarios?” Elsa-May asked.
The former detective shook his head. “That’s actually the only two I can think of that make sense. If Norman was growing tired of Margaret, he could’ve broken the engagement and legally he would’ve been entitled to get the ring back since the marriage hadn’t taken place.”
“You’re saying if he wanted the ring back he wouldn’t have to kill her? Neither would he need to have someone kill her to take the ring whether she was wearing the fake one or not.”
“Correct,” Crowley said. “If he’s involved in this illegally, the scenario would be she was wearing a fake ring, and he’s going to make a claim.”
“I’d think he would be too upset to do anything like that. You should’ve seen him at the funeral,” Elsa-May said.
Crowley chuckled. “Don’t be fooled by things like that. I’ve seen many good actors in my time. When I started out in my young days, I used to believe what people told me. If someone looked me in the eye and said something, I believed them. That didn’t last long. Now I let the evidence speak, and I’m not swayed by how people act.”
Ettie tilted her head to one side. “And what about the daughter? Could she have killed Margaret and stolen the ring to make it look like a robbery and a homicide?”
“That’s possible, but I say all this without knowing what evidence Kelly’s sitting on. From what you’ve said, Margaret sounds like she was a woman with few friends. Maybe that’s why she carried on a friendship with her former fiancé from your community. Does the daughter have a mother somewhere? Does Cartwright have an ex-wife? She might not be too happy about her daughter losing out on an inheritance.”
“We’ve not given much thought to Paisley’s mother. She lives in California or somewhere far away.”
“What do you make of Josh lying to us saying he had no contact with her? Kelly told us that they had regular phone conversations, and then Ava said her husband told her that Josh had even met with Margaret.”
“No one likes to be jilted, Ettie, and it most likely made him feel a fool. Why would he admit his shortcomings?” Crowley stared at the two sisters.
“Elsa-May and I are going to take Josh a pie and mention that we heard he met Margaret in town.”
“We have to be careful not to mention that the detective knows about the phone calls because we’re not supposed to know about that,” Elsa-May said.
”We’re going to find out why he didn’t mention that he met her in town.”
“When did Detective Kelly say he would speak to him?” Crowley asked.
“After we find out a few things from him. He’s never had any success talking to people in the community. They just clam up on him.”
“He shouldn’t let that stand in his way of finding things out. It’s a shame Margaret didn’t have any close friends,” Crowley said.
“Yes, it is.”
Elsa-May leaned forward. “From what we’ve told you, who do you think might have killed her?”
He shrugged. “Going on the information at hand, all likelihood points to the daughter. That is, if I have to guess.” He laughed. “But it sounds like there’s not enough information just yet. And I say the daughter, simply because I don’t know all the facts.”
“I wonder how we could find more out about the ring. Would the same person who sold him the diamond have made the replica? Assuming there was one?” Elsa-May asked repositioning herself in her chair.
“According to the newspaper, the stone was sourced from a diamond broker in New York. A jeweler the broker recommended, most likely made the ring that held the diamond. That jeweler could quite possibly have made a replica to go along with the real ring.”
“Kelly said he visited the broker already, and the broker confirmed everything Norman told Kelly,” Ettie said wondering if she’d already told him that.
“Are you going to visit Kelly?”
“Yes, I will. This case has me intrigued.”
Chapter 12
When the former detective left, Ettie closed her eyes again.
“Ettie, we should go now if you still want to visit Josh.”
Ettie opened her eyes, and then blinked hard. “I’m tired now after Crowley’s visit. Do you still think we should go, or leave it for tomorrow?”
“Jah, come on. Let’s do it and see what we can find out.”
“I’m a little less enthusiastic about going to see him now that I’ve found out that Crowley thinks it’s the daughter who killed her.”
“He didn’t say that. He only meant based on all the information at hand. I’m sure there’s so much more we don’t know.”
Ettie laughed. “There usually is.”
“I can go by myself if you want to stay home and have a nap.”
“Nee, I’m coming.” Ettie grabbed a cookie off the plate before she took hold of her shawl by the door. “Let’s go.” When Elsa-May didn’t join her, Ettie looked around to see Elsa-May with her arms folded. “What’s wrong now?”
“Are you forgetting the pie?”
Ettie had forgotten all about the pie, but she wasn’t going to let Elsa-May know that. “I thought you would bring it. Haven’t you got it packed up ready to go yet?”
Elsa-May rolled her eyes as she walked into the kitchen. “Just a moment,” she called out.
When Elsa-May had the pie packed up, they walked to the shanty down the road and called for a taxi. It was a ten-minute drive in the taxi to where Josh lived with Arthur Gosling.
When the taxi stopped right outside the house, they saw both men in a wagon as though they had just pulled up at their house. Arthur and Josh jumped down from the wagon and headed toward the taxi.
“We’ve made you some pie,” Elsa-May said clutching the pie in front of her.
“Denke, Elsa-May,” Arthur said taking the pie from her. “We can always do with pie. He glanced over at Ettie, who was still getting out of the taxi. “Do you need a hand, Ettie?”
“I’m quite all right.”
Arthur waited until Ettie had nearly reached him before he said, “Come inside. Would you like to stay for the evening meal?”
“Nee denke. We couldn’t, could we?” Elsa-May looked at Ettie.
“Actually, we need to get back and walk the dog and work in the garden. It’s been so hot lately, and we like to do it in the cool of the evening.”
“I’ll put the pot on to boil.” Arthur glanced over at Josh. “Are you coming inside?”
“I’ll be there soon; just fixing a few things up here.”
Both ladies waved hello to Josh.
Arthur continued to the house. “We don’t get many visitors around here, so this is a special occasion.”
Unfortunately for the two sisters, the wrong man was the one doing the talking. They’d come to see Josh, not Arthur, but Josh was still outside tending to the horse and the wagon.
“Kaffe?” Arthur asked as he walked into the kitchen with them following.
“Jah, please,” the two sisters said at the same time.
“We have lots of cookies,” he said tipping some into a plate from a bowl.
Just as Arthur was placing the coffee in front of them, Josh walked in the door. He took his hat off and then sat down with them.
Ettie wished she’d planned some way of bringing up Margaret’s name. It was made doubly hard with Arthur Gosling in the room. It didn’t look like Arthur was going anywhere as he’d placed a mug on the table for each of them including himself.
Just as Ettie thought she’d have to abandon their mission, Arthur unknowingly did her a favor. “I heard the dreadful news about Margaret Yoder being found near Agatha’s old house. You two were the ones who found her?”
“Yes, it was awful. Mind you, we didn’t recognize her at all. She’d changed so much,” Ettie said.
Elsa-May leaned over and said to Josh, “You would’ve recognized her because you met regularly with her, didn’t you?”
Ettie was rather shocked by Elsa-
May’s straightforward approach especially since Josh had already told them that he’d not seen her since she left the community—and left him—weeks before their wedding.
Josh looked a little startled; so he couldn’t back out, Ettie added, “That’s what we were told by someone.”
He looked down into his coffee and back up to Ettie. “Jah, I did meet with her sometimes. She called and needed my help.”
“What with?” Elsa-May asked, now looking more relaxed while she sipped on her coffee.
“Anything and everything. She felt she didn’t belong where she was, and she didn’t belong here in the community either. She needed someone to discuss things with. I didn’t want to get involved with anything to do with the police or her murder. She’s gone now, and that’s that. I don’t know anything.”
Ettie had believed him up until he added that last bit about him not knowing anything. He had offered information that they hadn’t asked about. In Ettie’s view, that had always translated as meaning a person did know something. But what could he know?
“Naturally, we were confused when you said that you hadn’t seen her and then we found you met with her regularly,” Elsa-May said, tactfully not mentioning the fact that he’d lied.
“Seems you’re taking quite an interest, Elsa-May,” Arthur said bringing his coffee mug to his mouth.
“We were the ones who found her body and it was right outside Ettie’s haus.” Elsa-May shook her head. “No one should go that way. Why wouldn’t we take an interest?”
“It was a shock for us,” Ettie added. “As I’m sure it would’ve been for you too, Josh, to find out she’d been taken so quickly.”
He nodded and stared into his coffee. “It was. I was praying she wouldn’t marry that man and that she’d come back. When she first contacted me, months ago, I thought she would say she was coming back, but it wasn’t to be.”
“Half your prayers were answered,” Arthur said with a laugh.
Josh scowled at him. “That’s not funny, Arthur.”
“Nee, it’s not. I’m sorry. I’ll leave you three to talk. I didn’t know Margaret really well, so I’ll take my kaffe and go check on the livestock.”
They waited until he’d left the room to talk some more.
“I hope we haven’t made Arthur feel awkward,” Elsa-May said. “Perhaps I said something to upset him?”
Josh shook his head. “Nee he just never knows the right thing to say at the right time; he means no harm.”
“Getting back to Margaret, how did she contact you the first time after she left?” Ettie asked.
“She called me on the phone. I was still living with my parents at the time. They’d had several calls where they’d answered, and the person had hung up. I thought it might be Margaret, so I stayed by the barn in case she called again. When I answered, she spoke. We met once or twice and then we met more frequently.”
“Only in this past year?”
“Jah. How did you know?”
“Just a guess,” Ettie said.
“I know it wasn’t the wisest thing for me to do to talk to her like that, but I was in love and couldn’t say no to her.” He put his head in his hands and sobbed.
Ettie looked at Elsa-May, wondering what they should do or say.
Elsa-May patted him on the shoulder. “There, there, it’s alright.”
“I don’t see how it can be; she’s gone. There will never be anybody like her again. Not for me. I’d been praying that she’d come back, and I thought for a while that Gott had finally heard my prayers.” Through tear-filled eyes he looked at Elsa-May. “But He didn’t answer my prayers. He took her away from me for good.”
“It’s hard to know why our prayers aren’t always answered,” Elsa-May said.
“I don’t mind telling you that this has rocked my faith.”
“Have you spoken to the bishop about it?”
“He wouldn’t be able to understand. He’s never lost anyone he’s loved; he wouldn’t understand what I’m going through. I feel I’ve lost her three times not just once. I lost her the first time when she left me. The second time was when I thought she might come back to me, and she didn’t, and then the third and final time was when she died. She’s gone forever.”
“We just have to trust that God knows what’s best for us. His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts, and neither can we know them.”
Ettie sat there not knowing what to say to comfort Josh. She’d often wondered herself why God seems to favor one person over another. Josh had his share of grief and what for? She considered Elsa-May was doing a far better job of comforting him than she could’ve done.
He shook his head. “It’s hard to keep believing when your prayers are never answered.”
“It only seems like they aren’t being answered, but they are; I’m certain of it. You’ll look back on this in a year or two, and you’ll see that you went through all these hard times for a reason. You’ve got things to learn from this. Maybe Gott is teaching you to have great faith and have great patience. You’ll be able to help others who go through this now since it has to be experienced to learn of it.”
“I wish He’d find another way to do that. I’ve been in pain over Margaret for so long, believing she would come back to me, and she never did. If I hadn’t believed in Gott so much, I wouldn’t be having so much pain now. Do you see what I mean?”
As Josh sobbed into his fists, Elsa-May gave Ettie a desperate glance. Seemed like she’d run out of things to say to comfort him.
“Do you have anyone that you feel comfortable speaking with about this?” Ettie asked. “What about Jeremiah?”
“Jah. Jeremiah is a gut friend; I said a few things to him already. I guess I could talk to him.”
“Jeremiah was lonely too, and he had no one in his life until Ava came along.”
He sniffed and nodded. “I know. Everyone thought he’d never marry.”
“And that’s what they thought about Ava too,” Ettie added.
Ettie nodded. “The way things are, Josh, we don’t have any other choice but to trust Him. He’s the one who knows the beginning from the end and answers our prayers and even the ones we’ve never asked. He knows what’s good for us.”
“I guess there’s some reason that all this is happening to me. There has to be a reason.”
“Jah there is. As I said, you’ll look back on these hard times you’re having and you’ll know why you had to endure it. It’s just very hard to go through it at that time. We’ve both lost our husbands and that’s not easy. It’s awful to have the person you’re closest to in the world be snatched from you.”
He looked across at the two sisters. “I know; that must be hard for both of you and everyone who has lost a spouse, but the difference is that you had that time with them. You had them for years, you got to have kinner with them, and that’ll never be like that for me and Margaret.”
“The plain truth of it is, Josh, you need to be with someone who wants to be with you. Margaret made her choice, and she left you, can’t you see that? Don’t you want to be with someone who doesn’t want to be without you?” Elsa-May asked.
Ettie held her breath hoping Elsa-May’s plain talking wouldn’t bring on another onslaught of tears.
He put his hands down. “I do. I want to be with someone who’s happy here in the community and wants to be with me. Margaret never felt at home here.”
“That’s right, so can you see a little clearer now? She was never the girl for you; not really.” Elsa-May smiled at him and patted his arm.
He ran a hand through his wavy hair. “I suppose you’re right. I always had it stuck in my head that she was the only one for me, but the perfect woman for me wouldn’t have left me all those years ago.”
Ettie relaxed with relief. Who would’ve thought Elsa-May’s tongue could’ve made someone feel better?
Elsa-May smiled. “That’s the way. That’s the right way to look at things.”
“Everyone needs a good cry every now and again,” Elsa-May said.
“Denke, I do feel better. I’ll make an effort to remember your words when I’m feeling down.”
“We’ve all been down in the dumps. And we just have to pull ourselves out again. We’re never alone,” Ettie added.
He nodded and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “Denke for coming. You’ve made me feel better about things. There are so few people I can confide in. I’ve never been able to speak to my parents.”
“You know where we live, so come and talk to us any time you like,” Ettie said.
“Denke, I just might.”
“Gut. What have you got for the evening meal? Ettie and I just might do some cooking for you while we’re here.”
His face brightened. “That would be a treat. Will you both stay? I can drive you home after.”
“Jah, denke, we’ll stay.”
Chapter 13
When Ettie and Elsa-May got home, they both fell exhausted onto Ettie’s small couch while Snowy tried his best to jump up with them.
“If I wasn’t tired before I am now. Did you have to offer to cook for Arthur and Josh?” Ettie asked.
“I did. And we've had our dinner, too, so no more cooking tonight I just felt sorry for them.”
“Me too. I must say I thought what you said to Josh was very good, Elsa-May.”
“Denke.” Elsa-May chuckled.
“I could tell it comforted him greatly, especially when you helped him see that Margaret didn't love him enough to be happy with his commitment to life in the Amish community. It must be hard when people don’t have anyone really close to talk with. We’ve got each other we can confide in.”
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