Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 2

by Samantha Price

  Chapter 14

  Early the next morning when Ettie and Elsa-May were having breakfast, there was a knock on their door.

  “I hope that’s Kelly telling us they found something,” Ettie said. “You stay here; I’ll go and see.”

  “Be careful,” Elsa-May said.

  “I will,” Ettie sang out just as she reached the window. It was Ava and Jeremiah.

  Ettie opened the door. “Hello, you two.”

  “I’m sorry to visit again so soon, but Ava wanted to stop by and see if the police have found anything out.”

  Elsa-May came out of the kitchen. “Good to see you both again. Have you eaten?”

  Jeremiah walked forward, “We have.”

  “Come and talk to us in the kitchen.”

  They all sat around the kitchen table.

  “All we can do now is wait to see what they find out,” Ettie said before she slurped her tea.

  “Ettie, you’re slurping again.”

  “Well, you do it too.”

  “Not since you told me to stop because it irritates you.”

  “All right. I’ll stop then since you’ve been good enough to stop.”

  Elsa-May nodded. “Gut!”

  “I didn’t take time off from work to hear about slurping,” Jeremiah said.

  Elsa-May raised her eyebrows and fastened her eyes on Jeremiah. “You’re still my grandson, Jeremiah, even if you are fully grown. If I want to talk about slurping, I will.”

  “Sorry, Elsa-May,” he said with a hint of a smirk on his face. He looked at Ava. “I’ve been told.”

  Ava giggled and then said to Ettie, “You never wait—I mean—you’ve never waited around before when you found dead people.”

  Ettie pushed her lips out. “I don’t know what I can do.”

  “Investigate like you did on the murders.”

  “She’s right, Ettie. We’ve never waited around before; we’ve always been more active. Except that time I was in the hospital and you had to find out things yourself. Then there were the times I had to stay home with Snowy. But all those times you found things out by yourself.”

  “Ettie can’t do anything dangerous like that,” Jeremiah said.

  “We’ll help, won’t we, Elsa-May?” Ava said.

  “Of course we will. Now let’s figure this out with the information we have so far.”

  Jeremiah folded his arms. “Can I make myself a cup of tea while you all talk?”

  “Go ahead,” Elsa-May said pointing to the pot. “We’ve just boiled the water. You’ll need to put it on the stove again but it won’t take long.”

  Since everyone seemed confident in her, Ettie took the lead. “Here’s what we know so far. The Cohens' baby was kidnapped four years ago. No one knows who did it and the only lead they have was the man who said he was paid to pick up the money. They caught him at the drop-off zone with the money, and then when they questioned him, he knew nothing and the Cohens never got their baby back.”

  Elsa-May took over, “Then Mrs. Cohen found she was expecting again, against her husband’s wishes. Without telling him about the pregnancy, she went to her sister’s place in Canada to have the baby. When she came back, she left him at our door. That very day, a man came asking for the baby, saying he was the father, and then we found out he was Victor Lemonis.”

  Ettie took over again, “He was found, questioned and when he was released, he tried to break into our house—presumably to steal the baby.”

  “He broke in—he didn’t try to break in,” Elsa-May corrected her.

  “What would you know? You slept through the whole thing,” Ettie said.

  “Snoring too,” Jeremiah added with a teasing smile as he sat back down at the kitchen table.

  Elsa-May frowned at Jeremiah, and he looked away from her and took a sip of tea.

  “Those details aren’t important. Anyway, after he broke in here, he was arrested and taken back to the station where he was placed in a cell, and then he killed himself. Have I left anything out?” Elsa-May looked around at everyone. They all shook their heads.

  Ettie breathed out heavily. “It looks like Lemonis is not guilty of the kidnapping, and it looks like he had no reason to come here and ask for the baby, so why did he?”

  “He must’ve met with someone in person who instructed him to come here to steal the baby,” Jeremiah suggested.

  “Possibly he was innocent like the first man the kidnappers paid to collect the money for them,” Ava said.

  “That is an option,” Ettie said. “Anyone else got any ideas?” Everyone remained silent. “We’ll have to look at what Jeremiah said. Who would’ve been likely to have Lemonis come and take the baby?”

  “The same people who took the first baby?” Ava asked.

  “Could be likely,” Ettie said. “What if we try to find people who’ve committed other kidnapping crimes?”

  “That would be a point to start with,” Elsa-May said.

  “How could we do that? We don’t have all the crime information that the police can tap into,” Jeremiah said.

  “I thought you were staying out of this, Jeremiah.” Elsa-May stared at her grandson.

  “I am. I’m just offering a suggestion. Well, not really a suggestion, more of a comment.”

  Ava said, “We do have court case information on the Internet. When I was in college, I did a law course and we had a site where we could access court records. Now that I’m not a student, though, the only access I’ll have is information arranged by date, so it would take forever to go through them all.”

  Jeremiah frowned at Ava. “You went to college?”

  Ava’s lips turned down at the corners. “Jah, I’m sure I told you that.”

  “Nee, I don’t think you did.” He shook his head.

  “You two can argue about that later. What about newspaper articles?” Elsa-May suggested.

  “I like it,” Ettie said.

  “Most of those should be on the Internet,” Ava said.

  “I can drive everyone to the library,” Jeremiah said.

  “There’s no need,” Ettie said. “Crowley left us a cell phone for emergencies and it’s one of those iPhones where we can get onto the Internet.”

  “Quick, go and get it, Ettie.”

  When Ettie brought the phone into the kitchen, Jeremiah sprang to his feet. “I hope you’re not going to turn that thing on under your roof, Mammi?” He glared at Elsa-May, his grandmother, and then glared at his great-aunt.

  Ettie and Elsa-May looked at each other.

  “Perhaps we should go to the library?” Ava suggested. “If you take us to the library, Jeremiah, then you can go back to work.”

  “Okay,” Elsa-May said, “We’ll go to the library.”

  Ettie said, “You’re such a stickler for rules, Jeremiah. It’ll save time if we look it up here and now! The bishop won’t mind if it’s saving someone’s life. I’ll confess to the wrongdoing myself if that eases your conscience.”

  Jeremiah folded his arms tightly in front of his chest. “If we ease up on one rule we might as well ease up on the lot, and where would that leave us? We must follow the Ordnung and the guidance of the bishop.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” Elsa-May said.

  “It’s probably best we go to the library and it’s not that far,” Ava said.

  “Come on, Ettie, let’s just go there,” Elsa-May said.

  “Very well,” Ettie grumbled.

  Chapter 15

  Jeremiah stopped the buggy not far from the library. “It’s a bit of a walk, but I can’t stop any closer.”

  “This is fine, Jeremiah, denke,” Elsa-May said before she stepped down.

  “I’ll see you all later.”

  When Jeremiah drove away, Ettie said to Ava, “I hope we haven’t gotten you into trouble.”

  Ava winced. “He doesn’t like to do anything that might be considered questionable. With him, it’s all black and white and nothing in between. I thought I told him I w
ent to college, but it sounds like I didn’t. He’ll think my education has made me prideful.”

  “Well, you aren’t, so don’t concern yourself. I guess that’s the way he feels safest—to be cautious and that’s not a bad way to be,” Elsa-May said as they headed toward the library.

  “We’ll let you do the looking up on the computer, Ava since you know what you’re doing better than either of us.”

  “Okay.”

  When they found a free computer, Ava pulled two extra chairs beside her. Ettie and Elsa-May sat close at either side so they could see the screen.

  “Search for kidnapping in this area and see what comes up,” Elsa-May ordered.

  After a few minutes of searching, Ava said, “There are a few women who have stolen babies, but no one taking babies for money yet.”

  “Keep looking,” Elsa-May said. “Unless one of those women is… What was that woman’s name, Ettie?”

  “Mrs. Cohen personal secretary?”

  “Jah, I don’t trust that woman—she looked shifty.”

  “I think her name was… it was something odd. I wish I’d written it down. Was it Jemimah or something?”

  Elsa-May frowned. “Nerida Flower—that’s what it was.”

  “Gut work, Elsa-May. I should’ve remembered a name like that.”

  “I’ll look up her name when I finish this search,” Ava said. “Write it down so you don’t forget the name.”

  Ettie obeyed and wrote the name down.

  Ava peered at the screen. “There are plenty of news articles on the Cohen kidnapping four years ago. but they aren’t telling me anything we don’t already know.”

  “Skip them and move on,” Ettie said.

  “Okay. There’s a movie about a woman who was abducted as a child and how she adjusts when she comes home.”

  Ettie huffed. “Focus, Ava, focus.”

  Ava frowned. “Okay, but it looks interesting.”

  “You’re not going to watch it so move on. You don’t want to give Jeremiah something else to grumble about,” Elsa-May said.

  “You’re right.” Ava giggled. After looking for a few more minutes, Ava said, “There doesn’t seem to be anything here.”

  “Increase the search into other areas,” Elsa-May suggested. “Go wider.”

  “All right. The whole of Pennsylvania?”

  “Jah, the whole of Pennsylvania,” Ettie said.

  “Here’s something.” Ava straightened her back. “Oh no. It’s another movie. Sorry.”

  “That’s okay, keep looking,” Elsa-May said rubbing her head.

  “I wonder how many children are kidnapped and we never hear about it. Mrs. Cohen's husband was the one who got the police involved; if it had been solely up to Genevieve, she would’ve paid them the money and kept silent,” Ettie said.

  “So you’re saying that maybe these kidnappers have never been caught and they might have done it before and even after?” Elsa-May said.

  Ettie nodded. “It’s a possibility.”

  “Should we be looking at unsolved cases, then?” Ava asked. “Or people suspected of something, but never charged?”

  Elsa-May said, “Jah, if we can find people like that. Let's have a look at them before we go further.”

  Ava pulled up a list of unsolved cases and after Ettie and Elsa-May had read a couple of them, they didn’t want to read more. All the children that had been taken were either found dead or were never found at all. In one of the cases, a man had given a deathbed confession that he’d kidnapped a child, but he gave no more details as to what had happened to that child.

  “This is too gruesome,” Ava said.

  Ettie said, “Ava, I want you to write down every name that a newspaper has mentioned of being connected to a kidnapping. Then find a photo of them and print them all off.”

  Ava nodded. “Okay, it might take some time. I’ll have to print each one separately and write their name on the same page.”

  “We’ve got all day,” Ettie said.

  “What are you going to do with their photos, Ettie?” Elsa-May asked.

  “We’re going to visit Mrs. Cohen again and show her the photos to see if she knows one of them.”

  “Why would she?”

  “I don’t know, but this is all we’ve got so far. You all wanted me to do something, so I’m doing something.”

  Elsa-May leaned forward and jutted out her bottom jaw. “I meant something that would lead to a result.”

  “A little silence please, so I can concentrate,” Ava said in a small voice.

  Ettie frowned at Elsa-May, shaking her head.

  When Ava was through, there were twenty photos of men, who were at some point, alleged kidnappers. Ettie carefully studied each photo before she passed them to Elsa-May.

  “See anyone you know?” Ava asked.

  “Nee, no one looks familiar to me,” Ettie said.

  “Now we’ll have to get a taxi to Mrs. Cohen’s house.”

  Are you coming with us, Ava?”

  “I wouldn’t miss seeing Luke; of course I’ll come.”

  “Wait!” Ettie said. “See what you can find out about Nerida Flower.”

  “Okay.” Ava turned back to the computer and searched the woman’s name. “There’s nothing here. Nothing that I can find out about her, and she doesn’t even have Facebook.”

  Elsa-May said, “Facebook’s for younger people, isn’t it? She seems to be around fifty.”

  “That’s young to me,” Ettie said. “So nothing at all?”

  “Nothing. But…” Ava continued, “wait a minute. Hand me those photos.”

  Elsa-May handed the photos of the possible kidnappers to Ava.

  Ava pulled one of the photos out. “I thought that name was familiar. Look here! Kel Flower.”

  “Ah! I wonder if they are relatives,” Elsa-May said.

  “I wonder if the police have missed that. They would’ve checked everyone out—everyone who was close to the Cohens, that is,” Ettie said.

  “This will make the visit to Mrs. Cohen even more interesting,” Elsa-May said.

  “Could you phone a taxi for us, Ava?” Ettie asked.

  “Jah, what’s the address?”

  When Elsa-May gave her the address, Ava headed off to the front of the building where the pay phones were.

  “I hope Mrs. Cohen talks with us,” Ettie said to Elsa-May.

  “She should. She talked to us the other day.”

  “I suppose so.”

  “She’ll want to find the kidnappers. So she can feel safe.”

  Chapter 16

  The taxi dropped the three ladies off at Mrs. Cohen’s house, and Elsa-May led the way to the tall front gates and then she pressed the intercom button.

  “What is she doing?” whispered Ava.

  “That’s where you talk to someone inside when you arrive in a car.”

  Ava and Ettie watched as Elsa-May talked to an employee within the house. “We’re here to see Mrs. Cohen and she’ll want to see us. It’s a matter of vital importance. Just tell her three Amish ladies are here to see her.”

  A minute later, the gates opened and the three ladies hurried through them. Their feet crunched along the tiny white pebbles that led toward the front steps of the house. Before they reached the door, it opened and Mrs. Cohen stood there staring at them.

  “I’m so pleased you’ve come. Do come inside,” she said once they drew closer.

  Ettie introduced Ava and told Mrs. Cohen that Ava had taken good care of her baby for one of the days that they’d had him. Once they were sitting down, Mrs. Cohen told them that the baby was asleep upstairs and was nearly due to wake.

  “I would so like to see him now that I’m here. I miss him so much,” Ava said.

  Mrs. Cohen smiled kindly at her. “Of course, I’ll take you up in a minute. Have the police made any inroads yet?”

  “Their only suspect, Victor Lemonis, killed himself, and without him, I don’t know if they’ve got anything to go on. D
etective Kelly tells me he’s hopeful of uncovering evidence from his apartment,” Ettie said.

  “I’ve heard all about it from the detective,” Mrs. Cohen said with a frown.

  “Mrs. Cohen, it’s only a slight chance, but do any of these men look familiar?” Elsa-May handed the stack of photos to her.

  “Take your time,” Ettie said.

  She looked at the photos one by one and hesitated at one man, and then looked up holding the photo high. “This man did my gardening for a while.”

  “Are you certain?” Ettie asked, hoping it would be the man whose last name was Flower.

  “Yes. I could track down his name. Or do you know it?” Mrs. Cohen asked.

  “Ava? Do we know his name?” Ettie asked.

  “It’s written on the front in small pencil writing.” Ava stood up and studied the photo. “George Cousins.”

  “That’s him. I remember he worked here for around six months, but I had to get rid of him.”

  “Why’s that?” Ettie asked.

  “He pruned my roses way too much.”

  Ava asked, “Did your baby go missing from the house here? We never heard how or where he went missing from.”

  She nodded. “He was taken at night from this very house.”

  “He would’ve known the routine of your household—I’m guessing,” Elsa-May added.

  “I suppose he would’ve, but at the time, the police asked questions of everyone who’d ever worked here. They questioned my current and past staff—I’m certain of it. Where did you get the photo of him?”

  “From the Internet. He’s been suspected of kidnapping before,” Ava said.

  Mrs. Cohen drew her fingers to her throat and gasped.

  “Ettie, you should call Detective Kelly,” Elsa-May said.

  “Can I use your phone?”

  “Yes, it’s over by the window.”

  Ettie called Detective Kelly and told him what they’d found out. She hoped this lead would prove to be of value otherwise Kelly would be furious with them for butting in and wasting his time.

  “He’s coming here right away,” Ettie said once she’d hung up. “There is one more picture that I’d like you to take a good look at, Genevieve.”