Bloody Ties (Serenity's Plain Secrets Book 8)

by Karen Ann Hopkins

  My heart swelled with CJ’s words. She was doing the right thing. “Sounds like a great plan to me.”

  Her radiant smile turned mischievous. “There’s one more thing.”

  I cocked my head, waiting.

  “Will you be my matron of honor?”

  Such a simple request, but the impact it had on me was huge. It would be impossible to completely forget about the shooting cases, but I was distracted enough to push those dark thoughts to the back of my mind.

  For a moment, life was normal and good. I was going to embrace the happiness while it lasted.

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  15

  Daniel

  I sipped the cup of coffee Rosetta Bontrager handed me. The bishop’s kitchen was small and tidy, exactly as I’d imagined it would be. Aaron Esch sat across from me with his own mug clutched in his hand, and Rosetta hovered nearby, using a spatula to transfer the cookies from the tray to a plate. My mouth watered. They smelled delicious.

  “It’s nice to see you Daniel, but I can’t help wondering why you’re here.” Aaron held me in a steady gaze. He was just as intimidating now as he’d been when I was a teenager. Back then, he wasn’t even the bishop. Still, his strong and unyielding personality was already developed when he was still just a minister in the Church.

  Rosetta smiled when she set the platter down in between her uncle and me. I glanced at her and back at Aaron. He must have gotten the hint.

  “Thank you for the refreshments. Why don’t you see to the laundry on the line? It’s bound to be dry.” Aaron said it in a pleasant way and Rosetta readily obliged. I held in a smile. If I prompted Serenity like that, she’d throw a cookie at me.

  When we were finally alone, I set my mug down. “Something’s been on my mind, and I hope you’ll alleviate my concern.”

  “That just depends on what’s ailing you, Daniel. I make no promises.”

  I nodded. Typical answer from the bishop. I decided the best way to deal with him was to be as straightforward as he tended to be. “Why do you dislike my cousin so much?”

  A small smile toyed at the corner of his mouth. “You must mean Zeke Bachman.”

  I nodded.

  He stopped to consider his response, then answered my question with one of his own.

  “Have you spoken with him—do you know why he’s here?”

  I didn’t hesitate. “I’ve spent some time with him since his return. To be honest, I have no idea why he came back.”

  Aaron made a long, low humming noise. “I apologize for speaking ill of your cousin. I’m sure you have your own affection for the man. You spent your childhoods together, and I know how that affects opinions later on.” His brows knitted. “It’s probably been a long time since you saw him last. What was your impression of Zeke?”

  “In some ways, he’s very much the same. He’s still the smartest man in the room—his mind is always working.”

  “How has he changed?” Aaron looked like he knew the answer, but wanted me to say it.

  I swallowed. “He’s cold and aloof. Like when he had the accident with Lester and Mary Esther. They could have been killed, and he seemed rather unaffected. The horse—” I drew in a breath and exhaled. “He didn’t even seem to care about the pain and suffering the poor horse endured in the moments before its death.”

  Aaron sipped his coffee. The action was deliberate and slow, causing me to tap my finger on the tabletop.

  “I’m not surprised at all. You see, years ago, when the man was a boy of sixteen, I witnessed him do something that forever changed my opinion of him.”

  I couldn’t stay quiet. “Kids do stuff all the time that they later regret. I had my fair share of bad moments, and Zeke is no different.”

  “Some things are more forgivable than others. Of course, I always go the way of Grace. Sometimes, a leader must consider what’s in his community’s best interests.”

  “Will you please tell me what Zeke did that was so terrible?” I didn’t even try to keep the pleading from my voice.

  Aaron sat back in the chair, folding his hands on his lap. “I don’t make a habit of discussing matters that aren’t proven, but in this instance, I’ll make an exception.” He took a deep breath and his gaze wandered past me, to the window above the kitchen sink. “The year that you and Zeke were sixteen, we had our usual autumn benefit schoolhouse dinner and auction.” The corner of his mouth lifted. “Back in those days, the donation box didn’t have a lock on it. We never had to worry about money being stolen. It was our own people handling the box and keeping an eye on it. Of course, that changed after that particular year.” When his mouth thinned, I was already guessing what he was about to say. “We had eighteen hundred and ten dollars in that box. I know the exact amount because I counted it at the close of the dinner. I remember that cool fall evening as if it was yesterday. Since the auction was going late and your father needed my assistance in the sale ring, I handed the box off to Zeke, instructing him to place the donation box inside the toolbox in my buggy. I thought nothing more of it until I arrived home and began adding up the auction proceeds. When that calculation was made, I opened the donation box to combine the auction money into the overall pot. Being a thorough man, I recounted the dinner donations. I discovered the number off by one hundred and twenty dollars.”

  When Aaron stopped talking, his eyes narrowed on me as if his words said it all.

  “Wait a minute. If the unlocked box was being stored in your buggy until the end of the sale, anyone could have gotten into it,” I argued.

  Aaron closed his eyes and sucked in a breath. “Anyone else would have taken all the money, or the entire box. The fact that so little money was removed makes me think that whoever the thief was, he was savvy enough to take only a small amount, thinking it wouldn’t be missed.”

  I shook my head. It was difficult to believe that Aaron had given Zeke such a hard time for all these years on such flimsy evidence.

  “Did you ever accuse Zeke of taking the money, or talk to his folks about it?”

  Aaron shook his head. “Just like you aren’t buying my conclusion, I expected the same from Zeke’s family. I was only a minister at the time, and there were already rumblings of discontent within the community. I let it go—but I kept two eyes on your friend from that day on.”

  “Anyone could have stolen the money. I remember those days well. There were just as many Englishers attending the dinners as there are now. Some of the other Amish boys—and girls for that matter—weren’t too trustworthy either. I just don’t understand how you could be so sure it was Zeke.” I snorted, resting my hands on my knees and bending forward. “Even if he did do it, it’s not such a horrible thing. He was just a dumb teenager.”

  Aaron’s grunt was loud and full of emotion. “It’s admirable for you to protect your friend, and our Lord wants us to think the best of people. Forgiveness isn’t the same as being ignorant. I’m sure your wife would wholeheartedly agree with me.”

  He was definitely right about that. I could almost hear her say the same thing. “I’m trying to understand why you hate Zeke so much. It’s important.”

  Aaron tilted his head. “I don’t hate anyone, even Zeke. I’m wary of him, and I know his return to Blood Rock is nothing but trouble for all of us.” He paused, hesitated for a few seconds, and then met my gaze. “There’s something else. I don’t feel comfortable betraying what I was told in confidence, but since that person is now with our Lord Savior, and worldly matters don’t concern him anymore, and the woman who the story is about has also passed on to a much sweeter life. It’s time the truth came out. About a year after you left our people, Zeke’s father, Rodney, fell to his death in the corn silo when he was making repairs.”

  My heart started pounding in my chest. “You don’t think Zeke had something to do with the accident?”

 
Aaron waved his hand. “No, no. Just listen, please. Months later, Zeke’s mother, Clara, moved away to an Ohio settlement to stay with her sister.” He leveled a hard look at me. “Do you know why she had to do such a thing?” I shook my head, holding my breath. “Because once his father was dead, Zeke emptied out all of her finances from the family accounts. Then he disappeared.”

  My lips were dry. Zeke was always good with numbers, and he was fascinated by money. He’d talk for hours about different money-making schemes that were too confusing for me to understand. They also seemed like a lot of trouble when putting in an honest day’s work provided enough income to live on. Zeke had high aspirations.

  “Who told you that Zeke stole from his mother?”

  “His grandfather, Abrams Stolzfus. Clara confided in him, but she begged him not to tell another soul. Clara wanted to protect her son. She believed the boy would return one day with the money. She even fancied that he’d invest the money and turn it into a huge profit that he’d share with the family. Of course, none of that ever happened. From what I heard, Clara died a few years back from a broken heart, waiting on her only child to come back to her. Abrams didn’t tell anyone else about what Zeke had done to his mother. Your parents have no idea about Clara being virtually destitute. Your father owned a share of the family farm with his brother and when Rodney died, he inherited it. Thinking that Clara had money in the bank, Moses didn’t worry about her future, and when she moved in with her sister, it made sense. Sometimes widows will return home after the death of their husband. Abrams only told me the truth because he prayed that someday Zeke would be held accountable for his actions. You see, Zeke’s grandfather didn’t like him much. I kept the secret all these years until you came to my door, looking for answers. I feel better for having it off my chest.”

  Rubbing my hands into my hair, I groaned. The bishop wouldn’t lie or exaggerate a story. I knew my cousin better than most. He was smart as a whip, but there was a kind of superficial quality to him that made me uncomfortable at times. I hadn’t lived in the community when his father died, but I’d been here when his grandmother had passed away. Zeke had shown no remorse at all. He’d chalked it up to the circle of life and that she was just old. His callousness had bothered me at the time, but I thought it was a coping mechanism. Perhaps I was wrong about Zeke all along. Maybe he didn’t care about anything except for money. That would explain why he might have ended up in dealings with the mafia. And if he really did steal from his own mother, he was capable of doing anything to make a buck. He’d fit in just fine with a bunch of criminals.

  Serenity would want this information about Zeke. I raised my gaze. “I have to tell Serenity what you’ve told me. There are things going on in town that might be somehow connected to my cousin. I really hope not, but we can’t take any chances.”

  Aaron blew out a breath and then he frowned. “I figured as much. The Sheriff needs to know everything. You have my permission to fill her in on Zeke’s past. I’ll pray for his soul, but also that he leaves Blood Rock.”

  “One of your prayers has already been answered. He bid me goodbye an hour ago.”

  Aaron rose and walked to the front door, lifting the curtain just enough to peek out. “That would be too easy. I have an ill feeling, Daniel. Wicked things are on the wind.”

  16

  Serenity

  The drone of the mayor’s voice in my ear was almost unbearable. I set the phone down and switched it to speaker.

  “Blood Rock has had enough bad press over the past year and a half, Serenity. I expect you to clean up this mess with these two out-of-towners as soon as possible. And for God’s sake, be discreet,” Mayor Ed Johnson demanded.

  I silently stared at the cell phone.

  After a while, the mayor’s voice came through the phone again, “Serenity, are you there?”

  “Yes, I’m here. Sorry, the connection was scratchy for a minute. The out-of-towners you’re talking about are dead. At this point, we aren’t sure why they were here or who killed them. We have two investigations in the works, and no amount of cleaning is going to make the cases simply disappear. Rest assured, we’re doing our best. I’ll call you with updates as we progress. Oh, another call is coming in. I have to go.”

  I slid my finger across the screen, disconnecting us. There wasn’t a call—I’d lied to get off the damn phone. The man drove me crazy. He was as shallow as a puddle in a drought. He didn’t care about the lives lost or even the real possibility of bad actors descending on our little town. Appearances were the only thing that mattered to Ed Johnson. He’d been the mayor of Blood Rock on and off since I’d been in high school, and he hadn’t evolved even a little bit in all that time.

  Glancing out the window, I wasn’t surprised to see the sun low in the sky. The day had gone by in a blur of meetings, online searches, and going through forensics. Fully leafed-out branches jostled outside the window in the stiff breeze. It was supposed to be another stormy night—just what we needed. I slumped back in my chair and exhaled. I wasn’t any closer to definitively figuring out why the MS-13 member was in Blood Rock, and now I had another dead man—probably one of the Moretti boys—in my town too. Common sense told me the two men must be connected, but I couldn’t figure why they’d be here or who might have killed them. Sure, Ethan Ogden was a prime suspect. His unhinged behavior in my office the other day could be proof that he was somehow involved. What would a redneck, an MS-13 gangster, and a known mafia soldier have in common? My first guess would of course be drugs. Why Blood Rock of all places? Just like every other rural jurisdiction in America, we had our fair share of illegal substances ruining lives and causing deaths. But mostly, we were at the end of the line in the drug business. The only dealers around her were small time players, like Ogden. They lived in single-wide trailers or shed-like cabins in the woods. These guys spent as much as they made on pickup trucks with heavy duty suspensions and oversized tires. They certainly weren’t living high off the hog.

  Even if Ogden had some grievance with an MS-13 member, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how Tony Regio fit into the puzzle. Was it just coincidence? My life experience was that very little turned out to be random. The only good thing about this entire mess was that I wasn’t particularly worried about the safety of the general population. Both men’s deaths were definitely targeted. This was a case of bad people killing bad people; I was pretty certain of that. The problem with the Wild West scenario was that eventually innocent lives were lost in the chaos.

  A knocking at the door turned my head. Rosie had left a half hour ago, so I wasn’t surprised that she hadn’t alerted me to a visitor. Any of my officers would have either walked right in or knocked once and then immediately entered.

  “Come on in,” I called out.

  The man that came through the doorway made me settle back into my chair and smile.

  “Howdy, Sheriff. I hope you don’t mind me stopping by on such short notice.” The man grinned deeply and removed his cowboy hat. “Actually, I kind of enjoy surprising you.”

  US Marshal Toby Bryant hadn’t changed one bit since the last time I’d seen him a few months earlier. He was average height, but his build was wiry and athletic. Rarely did anyone get to see his thick head of blondish-brown locks because he almost always wore the hat. There was no mistaking he was a Texan when he spoke. Hearing his southern drawl was immediately soothing. He flashed his eyes and I saw a lot of mischief and a fair amount of secrecy in those bright blue depths.

  Standing, I reached over my desk and grasped his hand. “It’s good to see you, Marshal. What brings you to my neck of the woods?”

  “I thought you might need more assistance with them pesky swine.” His grin turned into a broad, lopsided smile as he sat down across from me.

  Our last investigation together would be the butt of pig jokes for a long time to come. If a woman hadn’t been murdered and another tortured an
d held captive, I would have laughed.

  “I’m sure you didn’t go out of your way just to tease me about my favorite animal,” I said in a serious tone.

  Not only was Toby a good-looking man, he was a real sweetheart. He’d even propositioned me a time or two, putting it out there that if it didn’t work out with Daniel, he was available. There was a certain appeal to dating someone like him. We were both law officers, so we understood each other and our jobs. Just like me, Toby feared having children and basically lived to catch the next villain. The big difference was that I really did want to have a fairly normal life at some point in my life. Toby was addicted to the adrenaline rush.

  I couldn’t help wiggling my fingers in front of him. He’d bet that I wouldn’t follow through on marrying Daniel.

  His smile disappeared, but he lurched forward for a better look. “Well damn, you gone and done it.” He settled back in the chair and chuckled. “Are you enjoying married life?”

  Crossing my arms on the table, I cocked my head. “You know, it isn’t much different than living together. Daniel’s a lot more at ease now, so that’s a plus.”

  “The job hasn’t affected the wedded bliss?” His voice wasn’t sarcastic or rude. The poor guy seemed genuinely interested with how it was going.

  Toby was a friend. I trusted him and respected his counsel. Because he understood what the job meant, it was easy to talk to him about it.

  “It was smooth sailing for a while after the wedding. Just the usual mundane petty crimes you’d expect in a small town.”