“Couldn’t you get a search warrant to see if he’s got the diamond hidden somewhere?” Ettie asked.
“We could, but we’re holding off. We’re trying to get him for nearly a million dollars worth of insurance fraud.”
“How long has she been a police officer?” Elsa-May inquired.
“She left your community and went straight into the police force.”
“Why was she using her own name if she was undercover?” Elsa-May asked.
“She’s had various names for undercover operations she did with us, but when we decided to set up Norman Cartwright, we thought it fitting to use her own identity since she’d truly left the Amish. She was no longer in contact with her own family or former friends, and we thought a former Amish woman trying to make it on her own would’ve appealed to Cartwright. And we were right.”
“Still seems odd to me,” Elsa-May huffed.
“Nevertheless, it worked. Cartwright immediately fell in love. He tried to better her position in life and got her an internship with a local real estate agency.”
“And it was Brandy who thought to change her name to make her sound more like a realtor and less Amish. She told us so herself. Brandy changed her own name.”
“She told us that the name of Margo Rivers would be more in line with the real estate job.”
“Brandy changed her own name you say?” the detective asked.
“Yes. She said she changed it years ago to fit better on her business card.”
The detective leaned back in his chair. “Do you happen to know her former name?”
The sisters exchanged glances.
“What was it, Ettie?”
“It was Boadicea. That was her first name.”
“That’s right it was. I remember her saying she didn’t like the name. Wasn’t her last name really long?”
“Yes, it was long. Was it Winchester or something like that?”
“Quite possibly,” Elsa-May answered. “Yes. I’m certain it was Winchester because that’s how she decided on the last name of ‘Winnie.’”
They looked back at the detective.
“Do you suspect Brandy of something?” Elsa-May asked.
“Only of being too attractive.” He laughed. “But we can’t arrest people for that. I’m sorry; it was a bad joke. No. I just like to know who I’m dealing with in an investigation like this. I’ve got to look at everyone surrounding the victim.”
“Would you have access to look that up from her social security number or something?”
“Yes, and now that I know, I’ll look into it further.”
“Well this is a shock,” Elsa-May said cradling her head in her hands. “We never guessed that Margaret was an officer.”
“If Josh knew the truth he seems to be keeping it to himself. The most he told Jeremiah was that Norman Cartwright was not an honest man.”
“It’s hard to know if Margaret confided in him fully,” the detective commented. “Over the last few months, her phone calls and visits with Josh were more frequent, which was concerning to us.”
“You were having her followed?”
“This is a delicate operation. We had to be sure we had the right person in the right job. She was crucial to us since she’d become so close with Norman. We couldn’t just pluck another woman like her from our force to take her place.”
“Where do you go from here with your investigation, Detective?” Elsa-May asked.
“We’re still following a multitude of leads. And if you ladies will excuse me I’d better get back to it.”
Chapter 18
Ettie and Elsa-May left the police station feeling stunned. The detective had offered that someone would drive them home, but they preferred to delay going home. Instead, they went for a walk up the street and then they’d get a taxi home.
“That’s left me in shock, Elsa-May.”
“Me too. I never would’ve guessed she was a police officer, an undercover one at that.”
“I wonder if she was still in love with Josh and that’s why she met with him. Maybe she just gave the hint to him that the wedding to Norman wasn’t going to go ahead.”
“You think she might have had second thoughts on leaving him and the community?”
“She was bound to have had second thoughts from time to time. I know I’ve often looked back over my life and wondered what would have happened if I’d made different decisions.”
“Let’s find a café and have a cup of tea and something to eat before we go home. I feel like we deserve a treat.”
“That sounds good, Ettie. There are some cafes three blocks up this way.”
They walked to the café in silence and were pleased to find one with a large display of cakes. After gazing into the cabinet at the cakes and tasty treats, they placed their order. It was a pot of tea for two, a ginger cake for Ettie, and a lemon slice for Elsa-May. Being three in the afternoon, the café was close to empty; they chose a table near the window.
“She must’ve felt that being a police officer was her calling in life. So much so that she left all of her old life behind her—Josh, the community, and her family.”
“Going by what the detective said, she was very good at what she did.”
“Nothing is worth a life like that, though.”
“Nee and nothing is worth leaving the community for. But in her mind, she would have been doing the right thing, and that was her choice to make.”
When their number was called out, Elsa-May got up and brought the tea and food back to the table.
Ettie took a bite of the ginger cake. “Mmm. I needed this. I’m quite hungry.”
“Me too, but I’m always hungry.” Elsa-May chortled. “Do you think I’m a bit thinner since I’ve been walking?”
Ettie stared at Elsa-May as she munched on a large mouthful of cake. “Jah, I think you could possibly be a bit thinner.”
Elsa-May swallowed her mouthful. “That sounds a bit doubtful. I don’t mind if I haven’t lost weight. I won’t be upset. Just tell me what you think. The doctor said I was too heavy and needed to lose weight, and that’s why I’ve been walking. Surely I would’ve lost a lot by now.”
“Maybe as well as walking you should eat less—just a little less?”
“The doctor didn’t say that, did he?”
“Nee, not that I recall, but it does make sense.”
“Forget I asked anything. Do you think Josh knew what Margaret was doing? Seems that if he did know he’s keeping it to himself.”
Ettie was relieved she didn’t have to answer any more questions about her sister’s size. “Well if she was such a good undercover agent she wouldn’t have told anyone.”
“That’s true; she would’ve had to make a solemn declaration, or something along those lines, that she wouldn’t divulge what she was up to. I’m certain she would’ve stayed true to that.”
“I don’t think she was in touch with Josh right after she left. It seemed to be in the last year or so, most likely when she got involved with Norman.”
“What if she only wanted Josh to know she wasn’t really in love with Norman?”
“Are you thinking that she might still have been in love with Josh? What if she still wanted Josh but didn’t want to stay in the community. Or what if she was in love with him and was thinking of coming back?”
“We’ll never know. I wonder how long the Police Academy goes for their training?”
“That’s a good question, Elsa-May, maybe it goes for a year. I’m just guessing that. Something in the back of my mind tells me the training goes for a year. Shall we go to the library after this and look it up?”
“We could just ask the detective next time we see him. But we could go to the library, and while we’re there, we could look up a few other things too. We can see what we can find out about Paisley, and Norman Cartwright.”
“I’m sure you won’t find anything else that the police don’t already know. They would have accessed all the public records
by now.”
“You never know, there might be something they’ve missed. They’re not infallible you know.”
Ettie finished her last mouthful of ginger cake. “I’m going to try to make my own ginger cake when this is all over. It’s really tasty and satisfying.”
“Do you think it was mean of the detective not telling us straightaway about Margaret?”
“I do. What purpose did he have keeping a secret from us?” Ettie used a paper napkin to dab at the cake crumbs on the corners of her mouth.
“He could’ve told us from the beginning. We’re keeping his secret now just as easily as we could’ve kept it then.”
“It’s strange that she had a kind of fake life that was made up. She wasn’t in love with Norman, and she had to pretend to be. Not even Brandy knows about the whole thing. Maybe it is just us who know unless Margaret told Josh or someone else.”
“We likely won’t find out until they find Margaret’s killer.”
“We don’t know much about Paisley either. Except that she didn’t like Margaret. I don’t believe Margaret started that fight.”
“Neither do I. She must’ve started it, and Margaret was trying to defend herself; that’s why Margaret would’ve scratched Paisley. Sounds like it might have been an accidental scrape too, and not a real fight.”
“We do know she worked in her father’s business and grew up with her mother, but that’s all. That, and she never seems to smile, and she’s a smoker.”
“We’ve only seen her at the funeral, and not many people smile at funerals.”
“I suppose that’s true, but she had a surly-looking face.”
“Come on finish up your tea so we can go to the library.”
Later that afternoon, they settled behind the last available computer in the library.
“I’ve never seen it so crowded in here before, Ettie.”
“I think it’s school break or some such thing.”
“Ah, that’s right. I think it is. What shall we look up first?”
“We just found everything out about Margaret, so there’s no need to look her up. I just had a thought; I hope Detective Kelly doesn’t still think that Josh killed Margaret in a jealous rage.”
“I wouldn’t think so. He never said anything like it, did he?”
“Jah, he did, but I’m hoping he’s changed his mind. Don’t forget how he’s not straightforward and honest with us; not like Detective Crowley used to be.”
“Speaking of Detective Crowley, Kelly didn’t mention that Crowley had called in on him.”
“I wonder what he’d make of all this latest information.”
“We can’t tell him.”
“What if he already knows? Crowley could already know that Margaret was undercover. Maybe he was only there to get information from us to see how much we knew about Margaret.”
“You might be right. And remember, he did ask us what else we’d been told about Margaret?”
“Jah! And I thought nothing of it at the time.”
“Kelly seemed particularly interested in the fact that Brandy had changed her name.”
“Do you want to see what we can find out about her too?”
“Jah. Why don’t we start with Norman Cartwright?”
“Please yourself.”
“We’re looking for anything that might be of interest. I don’t know exactly what to look for. Just keep scrolling through all the things about him and see what we can find.”
After a few general news items on Norman, they found a picture of Norman with Brandy.
“Why are they together? Does this mean anything, Ettie? They look good and cozy together.”
“She did say that they were friends, and he puts business her way. It probably wouldn’t be unusual for them to go to functions together.”
“I suppose that’s true, so that doesn’t really tell us anything, but she seems to like him an awful lot, don’t you think?”
“I noticed. I definitely think that she might like him as more than just a friend. She was looking around at the funeral for him, and she seemed a little put out that she was not going in the same car as him from the service to the graveyard. She was delegated to the other car, and Sarah and Ava went in the car with him, taking her place.”
“I remember that.”
“Do you think Brandy killed Margaret so she could marry Norman?”
“She could’ve been jealous, but I can’t see that she would’ve killed over something like that. Brandy is an attractive woman so surely she could get any man she wanted—don’t you think so?”
“Yes, I do agree. I would say Brandy could get any man she wanted given her looks and vibrant personality. But what if she couldn’t? What if the very man she wanted was the only man who wasn’t interested in her?”
“I’m just not feeling that she would be a killer. Just see what else we can find out from this box.”
Ettie giggled. “Okay.” Over the next hour, they found quite a few pictures of Brandy and Norman together. “There are a lot of pictures of the two of them together.”
“Do you think that they had a romantic relationship before Margaret came along?”
“That seems a possibility going by what we’ve seen here.”
“What about Ruth Fuller? Should we ask her what she knows about Brandy and her past relationships? She was the one who introduced us to Brandy so she could know more about her.”
“According to Ruth, she’s been a customer of Ruth’s bakery for a very long time.”
“We can go and visit Ruth tomorrow. Now let’s see what we can find out about Paisley Cartwright.” After trying a few different searches and spelling her first name in a few different ways, they still came up with nothing on Norman Cartwright’s daughter.”
“So there’s nothing on here about her.”
“Nee and that in itself is odd.”
“What kind of thing were you hoping to find?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what we’re looking for until we see it.”
They spent a while at the library before they went home, having also found nothing on a Boadicea Winchester.
Chapter 19
Ettie and Elsa-May walked into Ruth’s bakery. The retail store was out in front of the massive bakery where thousands of loaves were made daily.
“You ask if Ruth’s here,” Elsa-May said to Ettie.
“She should be. She’s always at work by this time.”
“Can I help you?” A young man asked.
Ettie took a step forward. “Yes. I’m just wondering if Ruth would be here at the moment.”
“Yes, she’s here.”
“Can we see her?”
“I’ll get her. What’s your name?”
“Tell her Ettie and Elsa-May are here.”
“Okay.” The young man was gone for several minutes, and when he came back, he said, “Come this way.” He opened a half door, and they walked through to the back where Ruth’s office was.
“It’s nice to see you both. What brings you here today? I heard about the murder at your place, Ettie; it was in the newspaper. One of my workers told me about it. I didn’t make it to the Sunday meeting just past because I had a burst pipe and the water was everywhere in here. It went right through everything, and we had to close down for two days.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Ruth. That must’ve been dreadful.”
“We didn’t know, or we would’ve come to help you clean,” Elsa-May said.
“The insurance company paid for it all to be cleaned up. They were very good.”
“We’ve come here to ask a question about Brandy.”
“Sit.” She pointed to two chairs.
When they were both seated, Ettie asked, “Did you know that Brandy’s intern was Margaret Yoder?”
“Nee. I know she’s got a few assistants and whatnot, but I’ve never met any of them. I’ve met Brandy and one of the men from her firm, but I don’t know everyone who works there. She never mention
ed to me that Margaret Yoder was working for her. Most likely because Margaret had already left the community and it was none of my business what she did.”
“I suppose that does make sense. Brandy advised her she should change her name to Margo Rivers so nobody would know she was Amish, so I suppose she wouldn’t go around blabbing that she had a former Amish person working for her.”
“Do you know anything about Brandy’s personal relationships?”
“I know she doesn’t appear to have any. I’ve never seen with anybody and she’s never spoken about anybody. I never thought to ask her. We don’t have that kind of a relationship.”
“Denke, Ruth.”
“Why are you asking?”
“We’re asking because she seems to have some fondness for Norman Cartwright.
“Oh, I know Norman.”
“You do?”
“Yes, I do. When I was going through a rough patch recently, he offered to loan me money.”
“How well do you know him?”
“I know he’s in the habit of offering businesses short-term loans. I got the impression that he’s not completely honest—that’s why I told him I didn’t need money. Mind you it would’ve come in handy at the time.”
“Who told you he wasn’t honest?”
“I don’t remember exactly. Maybe it’s just more of the impression that I’ve gotten about the man.”
“That’s interesting. Denke, Ruth, you’ve been a really good help.”
“I don’t see how. I haven’t really said anything. I should’ve gone to the funeral—Margaret Yoder’s, but I’m just so busy here all the time.”
“Don’t worry. No one else in the community went except Ettie, me, Sarah and Ava.”
“No one else went?”
“Not even her parents, or her other siblings besides Sarah?” Ruth seemed surprised. “I would’ve thought that some of them would’ve gone. What about Josh Tomson? I hear that he was seen with her a couple of times recently. I had hoped the girl would return to him. It would’ve made a nice romantic story.”
“He did go to the cemetery. Do you remember who told you they were together?”
Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 2 Page 11