Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 2

by Samantha Price

Ettie stood looking around the house with her hands on her hips. “And while you're doing that, I'll clean up. Look at this place; it's a mess! I haven't seen it like this since I don't know when.”

  “We've had a lot going on, we’ve had the baby, then Jeremiah staying here, and Ava coming ‘round. Crowley and Kelly have been coming here at all different times, too, so we haven't had time to think—let alone clean the house.”

  “I know, but I feel irritated when the house is messy. I'm going to clean it up right now.”

  “I'll help when I get back,” Elsa-May said as she clipped the leash onto Snowy’s collar. “I'm going to cook chicken and roasted vegetables for dinner, and while that’s cooking, I'll help you clean up.”

  “Gut! That's my favorite.” Ettie walked into her bedroom and pulled the sheets off the bed.

  Now there were loads of sheets to wash. There were the sheets she'd pulled off the bed so Jeremiah could have fresh sheets—the ones she’d been using—and then there were Jeremiah's sheets that he’d used. That was two pairs of sheets, top and bottom sheets, and four pillowcases since Jeremiah and she liked to sleep with two pillows each.

  With the intermittent rain, she wondered when the sheets would ever dry. Back when she lived on her farm, her husband had made her a wet-weather line by the barn—she’d hang the washing under cover when it was raining and the wind would dry it.

  With the small house she now shared with her older sister, there was nowhere to dry the clothes in the wet weather. Sometimes they’d used a portable clothes rack and dried things in front of the fire, but it looked so unsightly.

  Ettie threw the sheets inside the gas-powered washing machine and closed the lid. She’d get to it tomorrow. Out of the linen cupboard, she pulled another pair of fresh sheets and made up her bed.

  “That looks much better,” she said standing back and looking at the made bed. Her eyes went to the floor. The next thing she had to do was run a broom over the entire house. With this rain and people coming in and out of the house, there was no point washing the floor just yet, but it certainly needed a good going over with the broom.

  Just when she was sweeping up the collected dirt with a dustpan and brush, Elsa-May arrived home.

  “Finished cleaning yet?” she asked as she bent down and set Snowy free. Snowy ran directly to Ettie sending the dustpan and all the dirt flying.

  “Elsa-May!” Ettie yelled. “Your dog!”

  Elsa-May leaned down, picked him up and put him outside. “No need to be like that. You were the one who wanted me to get the dog.”

  “I didn't know he’d be so annoying.”

  “I told you; dogs are a lot of hard work. You just have to learn to have more patience like me.”

  Elsa-May’s comment made Ettie laugh. Ettie swept up the scattered dirt. “At least lock the dog door?”

  “Certainly.” Elsa-May leaned down and clipped the lock on the door. “Now I'll put the dinner on and then I'll help you. We’ll get this place spic and span in no time.”

  “Denke. That would be good; it would make me feel so much better.” Once Ettie tipped the dirt into the trashcan, she moistened a rag and dusted everything in the living room. When that was done, she moved on to their small bathroom and started scrubbing.

  It was fifteen minutes later that that Elsa-May came out of the kitchen. “All’s under control in the kitchen for the moment. Where would you like me to start, Ettie?”

  “The windows. I think you can start cleaning the inside of the windows. They haven't been done for a while. I noticed the front ones are dirty.”

  Ettie passed Elsa-May one of the rags that she had poured methylated spirits on, and then passed her the bottle. “Here use this; this is the best.” A few minutes later, Ettie was lost in her own world thinking about her old days on the farm when Elsa-May called to her.

  “Ettie!”

  “What?”

  “It's Crowley; he's getting out of his car now.”

  “I'm coming,” Ettie yelled back. She threw the rags into the bathtub and washed her hands.

  Elsa-May was standing at the door waiting for him, and Ettie came and stood behind her.

  “Hello, ladies,” he said smiling.

  “Do you have good news for us?” Elsa-May asked.

  “Come inside,” Ettie said worried the neighbors would overhear something. It was bad enough that the neighbors had probably seen police cars there the last couple of days and nights. None of them had said anything, but Ettie knew they would have noticed and been wondering what was going on.

  When Crowley was seated, Elsa-May said, “Have you heard the latest from Kelly?”

  Crowley nodded. “I was just over there. There’s been a break in the case. They found George Cousins and it's thanks to both of you.”

  “Has he confessed?” Elsa-May asked.

  Crowley shook his head. “Not yet, but it's only a matter of time before he does.”

  “Do you have any evidence on him? I know he was in jail at the same time as Lemonis and that he used to be Mrs. Cohen’s gardener, but that doesn’t make him guilty.” Ettie stared at Crowley.

  “It’s all of that combined, Ettie. It's a huge coincidence. If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's usually a duck.”

  “We’re looking for a kidnapper, not a duck. Do you mean if he doesn’t confess he can’t be arrested?” Elsa-May asked.

  He sighed. “You two are hard work. I’m sure Kelly’s got something up his sleeve. You ladies don’t need to concern yourselves.”

  “If Lemonis wasn't involved maybe Cousins isn't involved either. Who does that leave, if that is the case?” Ettie asked.

  Elsa-May said, “Did you ever check into Mrs. Cohen’s credit card records?

  “I did, and you know what I found?”

  Elsa-May shook her head.

  He formed his thumb and forefinger into an ‘O.’ “A big nothing. What made you think there would be something in her credit card details?”

  “I asked you that,” Ettie said.

  “There was something that seemed a little strange, but nothing to do with the kidnapping case.”

  Elsa-May leaned forward. “What was it?”

  “There were thousands of dollars spent at a furniture store. I followed up with the store and found it had all been delivered to an address in Canada, which may have been her sister’s address. I haven't looked into things any further.”

  “So she gave her sister a gift of furniture?” Ettie asked.

  Crowley rubbed his chin. “Was it a gift or was it blackmail for the sister keeping silent about the baby and not telling Craig Cohen?”

  “If that were the case, I would feel very sorry for Mrs. Cohen. She wouldn't have felt safe anywhere,” Elsa-May said.

  “She spoke of her sister as though they were very close, remember, Elsa-May? She said something along the lines of they had 'both kept each other's secrets.'”

  Elsa-May scoffed. “Whatever that means.”

  Crowley shook his head. “She might have simply spent $30,000 on her sister as a gift to show her appreciation.”

  “$30,000?” Ettie gasped.

  “The Cohens are very rich, Ettie. $30,000 to them would probably be like $300 to us.”

  “$300 is a lot to us,” Elsa-May said.

  Crowley stared at Elsa-May. “Cup of tea?”

  “Of course. Why don't we all go and sit in the kitchen? It'll be a lot warmer in there with the oven on.”

  They all moved to the kitchen and as Ettie filled up the pot with water, she said to Crowley, “I suppose you're not having much chance to play golf in this weather?”

  “We still play when it’s raining. I don't personally like to, but my golf friends still play in the rain.” He chuckled.

  “You've got a girlfriend?” Elsa-May asked, looking surprised.

  Crowley looked shocked and then Ettie said to Elsa-May, “He said golf friends, not girlfriend.” Ettie frowned at her older sister.

  “I d
on't know why you look so shocked about the idea that I might have a girlfriend, Elsa-May. I'm not dead yet.”

  She leaned toward him. “You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but I've always wondered what happened between you and Ettie’s daughter, Myra?”

  “Elsa-May! That's none of our business.” Ettie had just put the pot on to boil and then she sat down at the table with them, glaring at Elsa-May.

  “That's all right. I don't mind answering your question. I expected one of you to ask me about her sooner or later. The thing is, everything seemed to be going fine and then all of a sudden she disappeared. I hadn't heard from her in months, and she wasn’t taking my calls. When she finally answered her phone, she told me she’d been overseas on a retreat.”

  “On a retreat? What kind of a retreat?” Elsa-May asked with her chin held high noticeably not liking the sound of whatever it was.

  “A meditation one, from what I could gather. She was talking about meditating and talking to some guru—it was a new-age thing.” He looked at Ettie. “You haven’t heard from her?”

  Ettie shook her head. “The only time I hear from Myra is when she's in trouble. When I don't hear from her, I know she’s all right. Wherever she is, whatever she's doing, I just have to trust God that she is okay.”

  “It must be hard,” he said. “I've never had any children of my own, as you know. That's one thing I regret in my life. Anyway, I must admit that Myra was one woman who turned my head and that hasn't happened to me since.”

  “Have you told her so?” Elsa-May asked.

  “I would've thought she knew how I felt.”

  Ettie glared at her sister not believing she was being so intrusive into Crowley’s life. Sure, they’d known him for a long time, but they’d never delved into his personal life like this.

  Crowley shrugged his shoulders. “The last thing she said to me was that she couldn’t speak to me about our relationship until her chakras were aligned.”

  Thinking Myra’s problem was the distance they lived apart, Ettie was certain that a chakra must have been a car-part. “She had a fairly new car, but I suppose things can still go wrong. Surely you could’ve given her the name of a good mechanic?”

  Crowley laughed. “Ettie, chakras haven’t anything to do with cars. It’s to do with some points on our bodies that you can’t see and these points are called chakras.”

  “So, she’s not well?” Elsa-May asked.

  Crowley grimaced. “She’s well physically, but she thinks she’s messed up spiritually—no offense to you Ettie since you’re her mother. These chakra points, I think, are some kind of spiritual points. That’s the best I could find out anyway. I tried to find out about them and I’m still left uncertain.” He shook his head.

  “So she’s on some kind of spiritual quest. Is that what you’re saying?”

  “Exactly, Ettie. And when she finishes what she's doing and whatever journey she's on, I just have to think if it's meant to be she'll come back to me, and if she doesn't, it wasn't to be.”

  “Well, it's none of our business, but I hope things work out for you both,” Ettie said.

  “That's the water boiling, Ettie,” Elsa-May said.

  When Ettie got up to make the hot tea, she heard Elsa-May ask Crowley to stay for dinner.

  “Are you certain?” he asked. “I don’t want to put you out.”

  “Yes, we’re certain. We’ve got more than enough.

  Chapter 19

  After dinner, Ettie and Elsa-May whispered together about whether they should tell Crowley what they had planned for the next day. Crowley sat in the living room, and the sisters were discussing their options in the kitchen.

  When Ettie and Elsa-May came out with a tray of tea, Crowley said, “Are you two up to something?”

  Ettie licked her lips and looked at Elsa-May. “Well, we were discussing if we should tell you something.”

  “And the way you let our secret out last time makes us think that maybe we shouldn’t.”

  “Nonsense! Whatever it is, I’ll be able to help you. You’d never have been able to keep that baby a secret, and look at him now. He’s at home with his mother and father where he was meant to be. I’d say that was a pretty good outcome.”

  Elsa-May shook her head. “But we still don’t know for certain who did the original kidnapping.”

  “We’ve got leads. All’s not lost,” Crowley said.

  Ettie and Elsa-May stared at each other, and then Elsa-May looked back at Crowley and said, “Okay. This is what we’re planning on doing…”

  Crowley sat forward in his chair. “Go on.”

  “We found out that Mrs. Cohen’s personal secretary who has worked for her for years has the same last name as someone who was implicated in a kidnapping case.”

  “How did you find this out?”

  “We found him on the Internet the same as we found George Cousins. Mrs. Cohen didn’t recognize his photo, of course, but what do you think about her secretary having the same name as a suspected kidnapper?”

  “Is she married?”

  “We don’t think so.” Ettie looked at Elsa-May who shook her head.

  “We thought we’d tell Kelly early tomorrow morning, and then we figure he’ll go and question the secretary, and then we’d follow her to see where she goes.”

  “You’re assuming a lot of things. You’re assuming that this person who has the same last name is guilty. Also, that they are related, and that the secretary will withhold information. Exactly how are you going to follow her? In a buggy?”

  Ettie giggled. “Nee. One of Ava’s friends said she’d drive us around for the day.”

  He shook his head. “No one else should be involved. Cancel Ava’s friend and I’ll drive you.”

  “Nee! Would you?”

  “That seems to be the only way to control you two. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

  Ettie looked at Elsa-May. “We could call Ava now and have her call her friend. Ava and Jeremiah do have a phone in their barn.”

  “Okay, I’ll go and call her now, and you fill him in on anything that we’ve left out.”

  Elsa-May wrapped her black shawl around her shoulders and hurried out the door. Snowy ran inside through the dog door and scratched on the front door, whining.

  “She’ll be back soon, Snowy.”

  Snowy ran and jumped on his dog bed in the corner of the room, looking none too happy.

  “What else do you need to tell me?” Crowley asked.

  “I can’t think of anything else. What will Kelly think of us following someone?”

  “He won’t mind if he doesn’t find out. If he does, then that means we’re on to something.”

  “I didn’t think of that. That’s true.”

  “What is the woman’s name—the secretary?”

  “Nerida Flower, and the man we found is Kel Flower.”

  “It’s not an uncommon name—Flower.”

  “I’ve never heard it before.”

  “I have. And does Kel Flower live around these parts?”

  “I’m fairly certain he does. The kidnapping he was implicated in was close by here. Are you able to get a tap on Nerida’s phone?”

  Crowley’s jaw dropped open. “Absolutely not! For something like that, we’d need evidence that she’s involved. Right now what you’ve got is virtually nothing. If your hunch pays off, it’d be like me getting a hole in one next time I play golf.”

  “And what exactly does that mean?”

  He shook his head. “Let’s just say it’s highly unlikely.”

  “I just feel that we have to do something and that Nerida woman—there’s something about her that’s just not right. Anyway, drink your tea before it gets cold.”

  Crowley sipped his hot tea.

  Snowy rushed to the door just before Elsa-May opened it and then he pawed at her.

  “Get back,” Elsa-May said.

  “He was worried that you went without him.”

 
; “I thought he would’ve been asleep in his kennel outside.”

  “Dogs have a sixth sense as far as their owners’ movements are concerned, I’m certain of it,” Crowley said.

  “Is that your chakra telling you that?” Elsa-May asked, as she replaced her shawl on the peg by the door.

  “I’ll just keep quiet and drink my tea,” Crowley said with a laugh.

  Elsa-May sat back down. “Ava said she would cancel her friend and she’d be here early in the morning.”

  “Ava’s coming too?” Crowley asked.

  “She was in on it from the beginning,” Ettie said. “We can’t tell her not to come now.”

  “Okay, I’m just the driver keeping you all out of trouble.”

  “You did say you’d help us,” Elsa-May pointed out.

  “I am helping you. I’ve called in several favors for you already.”

  “Thank you; that’s true. It’ll be good to see how a professional follows someone,” Ettie said to Elsa-May.

  “You don’t expect to do this again, do you?” Crowley asked.

  “Nee!” Elsa-May shook her head. “We just want a quiet life. We didn’t ask Mrs. Cohen to put her baby at our door.”

  He placed his teacup down on the table in front of him. “You both have a way of finding trouble.”

  Ettie’s eyes opened wide. “We don’t find it, it finds us.”

  Chapter 20

  Just as Elsa-May and Ettie had planned, Ettie phoned Detective Kelly on his cell phone early the next morning and told him what she had found out about a possible link between Nerida Flower and Kel Flower. Detective Kelly had told her that he’d definitely look into things.

  Ava arrived at Elsa-May and Ettie’s house at seven thirty and Crowley arrived not long after. Elsa-May had packed a bag of goodies, food and drink, in case they were following someone and couldn’t leave the car.

  “This is quite exciting,” Elsa-May said to Ettie as they walked to the car.

  “Don't get too excited, we could be in the car all day waiting outside Mrs. Cohen's house,” Ettie said.

  “I hope Nerida’s not sick in bed. She might be too sick to leave the house,” Elsa-May said.