“It’s amazing how they can figure these things out simply by looking at the remains.”
“Yes. But what I am more concerned about, Mrs. Smith, is how you knew about the murder.” He leaned back in his chair and interlaced his fingers and put them behind his head. After he glanced at Elsa-May, he looked back at Ettie. “Would you rather speak to me alone?”
“No. I told you before I never made a phone call.”
“Or don’t you want your sister to know how disturbed you were that day you called us?”
“But I never made a call.”
“Ettie might be a lot of things, Detective Kelly, but she’s not a liar.”
Ettie turned and stared at her sister open-mouthed. Was that a compliment? Or something else entirely?
Kelly continued, “You called us three days ago and I’ve got the tape. I didn’t recognize your voice immediately, but when I saw you, or rather, when I heard you, yesterday at the scene, the pieces fell neatly into place. ”
Ettie thought back over the last few days. Could she have called the police station and forgotten about it? Possibly, but the point was she had known nothing about a dead man in the woods.
“Can I listen to what I said?” Ettie asked Kelly.
“You’re admitting you called us now?”
“No. I should rephrase that. I just want to hear the person you think is me.”
Kelly picked up the telephone’s receiver and spoke to someone and then wrote down some numbers. “We’ve got it on a computer file. Bear with me, these things still confound me.” He pressed buttons on his computer and the recording began.
Ettie knew at once that it wasn’t her voice and it didn’t sound anything like her. The woman said a man witnessed a murder and told her about it. Now the witness is dead. When the woman was just about to say the name of the killer, the call abruptly ended.
Kelly looked at Ettie. “Well?”
“That doesn’t sound anything like me.”
“It does, Ettie. That sounds like you. I can understand why the detective thought it was.”
Ettie pulled her mouth to one side. “That’s not the voice I hear in my head.”
“Well, that’s what you sound like to other people,” Elsa-May said.
“That doesn’t change the fact that it wasn’t me.”
He leaned forward. “It’s really not you?”
“No, and that’s what I’ve been saying all along.”
“If it wasn’t you, how did you know where to find the body? And is that the body of the man who was originally murdered or the body of the supposed witness?”
“We just stumbled across the bones, Detective Kelly. Snowy wanted to get out of the taxi and the driver didn’t want him messing all over the car. So he stopped the car and then Snowy took off and we followed. Then, when we caught up to him, we found him digging at something. That's when I spotted the bones.”
“You want me to believe this was all a coincidence?”
“I don’t know what it was. Who was the man?” Ettie pursed her lips staring at the detective.
“That’s something we’re still trying to ascertain. There was no ID in the vicinity, so we’ll have to wait for the DNA results. Meanwhile, we’re matching the dental records of missing persons. There was a particular case of a man who disappeared years back, before my time here.”
“I’m sorry I can’t help you further. I don’t know anything.”
“Maybe you do. You’ve helped me a lot in the past when no one in your community would talk to me, but if you’re withholding information I won't hesitate to arrest you for obstruction of justice.”
Ettie gasped. “I don’t.”
“You don’t what?”
“I don’t know anything. It’s a difficult thing, to prove you didn’t do something. How would I prove that I didn’t do what I’m being accused of? Where would I start? I said I didn’t do it, so if you don’t believe me, I don’t know what to do.”
“It wasn’t you who made that call?”
“No. I keep telling you that.”
“I know how you and your sister like to snoop around.”
Ettie’s mouth turned down. Now he was being rude. He was the one who asked for their help when he had a case to do with someone Amish.
“If Ettie knew something, she’d say so.”
He sighed loudly. ”Would you agree that the woman you just listened to is Amish?”
“Yes. She sounds so,” Elsa-May said.
“She holds the key and I need you to find her. We need justice for the families.”
“So you do think he was murdered?” Elsa-May asked.
“He was beaten to death.”
Ettie shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to help you find this person.”
“She sounded about your age, so that’s a starting point.”
“I don’t know how—”
“Make a list of all the women around your age in the community and visit them all. Cross them off as you go.”
“There aren’t that many,” Elsa-May said.
“Good. It won’t take you long to find out who it was.”
“How do you know if she was from around here?”
“She witnessed a murder, so if she wasn’t from around these parts, she would’ve had to be visiting many years ago because the bones look like they’ve been there for a number of years. Anyway, it’s a long shot that this is the man she witnessed being murdered, but we need to start somewhere. If he’s not the one, there might be another body out there somewhere.”
“When will you know who the man is?” Elsa-May asked.
“Hopefully, I’ll know more in the next two days.”
Ettie and Elsa-May made their way out of the police station. When they were walking up the road to call a taxi from the pay phone, Elsa-May stopped still and faced her sister. "Did you recognize the voice on the tape?"
"Gertie Fisher."
"Exactly what I thought. We'll go over there right now and ask her."
"What are you going to say?"
"We'll just ask her if she called the police about a murder of a man, someone who was murdered a long time ago."
"Okay, but you do all the talking."
Elsa-May sighed. "That's what you say all the time and then you take over when you get there."
"I wonder if this is the man she was talking about on the phone."
"Kelly was talking about a man who disappeared a long time ago and was never found. Maybe they are one and the same."
Chapter Four
They knocked on Gertie’s door, and then heard a deep voice behind them.
“She should be home.”
They turned to see Amos Craven, an elderly Amish man who was Gertie’s next-door neighbor.
“Hello, Amos,” Ettie called out.
He took a few steps closer. “Isn’t she answering the door?”
“Not yet,” Elsa-May said.
Just then the door opened and Amos laughed loudly. “There she is. I told you she was home.”
Gertie waved to him. “Denke, Amos.”
He waved back, looking pleased with himself, and stood there as still as a post.
“Ettie and Elsa-May, come in.” She flung the door wide to allow them through. After she gave a second little wave at Amos, she closed the door. “Shall I make us a cup of tea?”
“Jah, we’d like that, denke,” Ettie said as they followed Gertie to the kitchen.
Elsa-May poked Ettie and made a face telling Ettie she was positive it was Gertie who had made that call to the police.
Gertie put the kettle on the stove and turned around. “Sit down.”
They took their seats at the small round table in the center of the spacious kitchen, and Elsa-May plunged right into the reason they were there. “Gertie, Ettie and I were in the woods yesterday chasing Snowy because he’d gotten away. Anyway, to make a long story short—”
“And I came across bones of… of a dead b
ody.”
Gertie gasped. “Nee!”
Ettie nodded. “Jah.”
“The detective thinks the dead person had been there for a long time.”
“That must’ve given you a dreadful fright. Why do the living have to have so much to do with death? The two men I loved died.”
Ettie knew she’d married Simon, and he’d been found dead on the side of the road around ten years ago. The police had said it was a hit-and-run accident.
“We know your husband died, but who was the other man?”
“Aaron, Simon’s bruder. We had plans to marry, we were both too young for marriage back then, but that didn’t stop us from talking about it.”
“Oh, I remember, he died when he was a little more than a teenager. Drowned, didn’t he?” Elsa-May asked.
“There’s no need to bring that up, Elsa-May,” Ettie said to her sister.
“It was Gertie who mentioned it.”
“That’s quite all right. I don’t mind talking about Aaron. I still miss him just as much as I missed him back then. Weird happenings took place after he died and they caused me to do some things I deeply regret.”
Ettie wanted to stop Gertie from wandering off the reason they’d come to talk with her. “The truth of the matter is that we’re both here today because there was a call made to the police station and the police first thought I’d made the call—”
“And we recognized the voice as yours,” Elsa-May said.
She nodded. “Jah, it was me who called them.”
“You stopped partway through. What did you call them to say?”
“I kept this to myself for many years. The man I called about lived where Amos is living. Simon and I heard screams. We rushed over to see what was happening and Simon and I both saw the man murdered. He was struck repeatedly, one blow after the other. He was lying still and lifeless by the time we saw what the man was doing. Simon grabbed my arm and we ran back into the house together. We both feared we’d be next if the killer knew we’d seen him.”
Ettie gasped.
“Once we were inside, we thought about what we should do. The man was already dead so it was too late to help him.”
Ettie asked, “Why didn’t you go to the police?”
“And end up dead?”
“They would’ve protected you,” Elsa-May said.
“Nee. I was too scared. It took me many years to call them, but I thought someone besides me should know what happened. When I made the call the other day, I was halfway through talking to the person on the other end of the 911 call, someone stood near me and wanted to use the phone. I couldn’t let them hear what I was saying, so I hung up. What else could I do?”
“You never called back?”
“I never had the chance.” Her gaze flickered downward. “I was scared.”
“Who was the man you saw being killed?” Elsa-May asked.
“Earl Quinn.”
Ettie gasped. “How did you know his name?”
“I could be wrong, but right after I saw the man get killed there were all those missing persons posters about. It looked like the man Simon and I saw. I’ll never forget that name, it’s been burned into my memory. He had to have been the one.”
“So you’re an eyewitness to the murder?”
“I guess that I am. That’s correct.”
“Why was he killed, do you think?”
“That’s something I don’t know.”
“Who was the man living there? What was his name?” Elsa-May asked.
“Don’t you own that house Amos is living in?”
Gertie nodded. “I was out one day and when I came home Simon told me he’d finally found someone to lease the house. There was never any formal lease on paper or anything. The man paid cash at the end of every week.”
“What was his name?”
Gertie cast her gaze downward. “I don’t remember now.”
Ettie wondered if that were really true. If she thought the man had killed someone then surely she’d remember his name. She was still scared, Ettie reasoned. If she didn’t tell the police, she wouldn’t tell them.
“Will you tell the police what you know?” Elsa-May asked.
“And end up like Simon?”
Ettie frowned. “Did Simon go to the police?”
“Nee, but he was always talking about confronting the man—the killer. He didn’t like to remain silent.”
“You think that’s what he did?”
“I’m certain of it. It was no hit-and-run, that is for sure and for certain. They found him dead on the side of the road, hit by a car. But, he was in a place he wouldn’t normally be. His buggy was still at home.”
“Can you tell us what happened that day—the day Simon was killed?”
“I wasn’t feeling well and was asleep most of the day, and when I woke up Simon was nowhere around. Next thing I knew the police were knocking at my door. They told me Simon got run over by a car. I didn’t tell them what I thought.”
“I remember it.”
“Me too. I remember hearing that he’d died and the motorist didn’t stop.”
Gertie sighed deeply.
"You should really tell the police what you know," Elsa-May said, staring directly at Gertie.
"I'll think about it. I didn't want to let them know who I was. That's why I called without leaving my name.” Gertie looked over at Ettie. “I didn't know we sounded so much alike."
Ettie smiled. "Neither did I. I still don't think we do."
Elsa-May cleared her throat. "If you saw that man kill someone, they'll arrest him."
"I know how these things work, Elsa-May. They'll arrest him, he'll get out on bail and then he’ll come and kill me, and then I won't be able to testify against him. And if he stays in jail, he'll get one of his friends to kill me."
"We can have a talk with Detective Kelly. He might be able to work something out," Ettie suggested.
"I'm too old to go on one of those witness protection things. I can’t relocate at my age."
"No, I wasn't thinking of anything like that." Movement out of the corner of her eye caught Ettie’s attention. Through the window, she saw Amos was still standing outside and staring at the house. She looked over at Gertie who seemed totally oblivious to Amos' strange behavior. "What is he doing standing there staring like that?"
"Oh, don't worry about him. It used to bother me and now I just take no notice of him."
Elsa-May half stood, and leaned over so she could see what Ettie saw. “Does he always look into your windows like that?"
"Sometimes. He's not close enough to see in. I'd have to put a stop to it if that happens. He likes me, always has. He wanted to marry me after Aaron died, and again years on after Simon died. I married Simon not long after Aaron died."
"It was around two years as I remember it," Elsa-May said.
"That's right." Gertie nodded with a faraway look in her eyes.
Ettie took a last mouthful of tea. "Well, thank you for your stories."
"Any time. You should visit more often."
"You could visit us," Elsa-May suggested.
"Maybe I will. I haven't been to your haus for years. I don't want you to breathe a word to anyone of what I've told you. It's for your ears only." She looked carefully from one sister to the other until they both had nodded in agreement.
Ettie was pleased Gertie had added that last bit because she knew if she told the detective that Gertie had seen that man get murdered, her friend's life could very well be in danger. It was a secret Ettie was glad to keep.
Chapter Five
When Ettie and Elsa-May walked through their front door after riding home in a taxi, they were finally free to talk about what Gertie had said.
"What do you think about it all, Ettie?"
Before she could answer, Snowy scampered over to Elsa-May and pawed at her legs begging to be picked up.
"Gertie knew the murdered man’s name and everything. It's a wonder she didn't call the poli
ce all those years ago when all the posters were around."
"She was too scared, that's why. And what do you think about her saying that the same person that killed Simon, killed Aaron and Earl Quinn?"
Elsa-May shook her head. "That's not right. We can disregard that. Aaron drowned so long ago, and even if his death wasn't an accident I don't see that the three deaths can be related. Mind you, she could be right about Simon’s death."
"That's what I thought. The only things those deaths have in common is Gertie."
"I quite agree."
* * *
They’d only just sat down to dinner that night when there was a knock on the door.
"Who could that be?" Elsa-May asked placing her fork down.
"Did you make enough for guests?" Ettie asked.
"I always make plenty. I like to plan for leftovers."
"I'll see who it is." Ettie pushed out her chair and walked to the door but Snowy beat her to it. The way Snowy was pawing at the door, she guessed it was Detective Kelly. The little dog always seemed to know. She scooped him up and held him under her arm as she opened the door.
"I hope I'm not calling too late," he said with a sheepish smile on his face.
"Not at all, come in. Have you eaten?"
"Not yet."
"Would you like to eat with us? We’ve only just sat down and we have plenty."
Snowy was struggling to get at him, but Ettie managed to hold him back.
Kelly stepped through the door. “I'll take you up on your kind offer, thank you."
"Good. You go through to the kitchen and join Elsa-May, and I'll put Snowy outside."
“Don’t put him outside because of his stitches," Elsa-May called out. "Put him in my room.”
As Ettie put Snowy in Elsa-May’s room, she reminded herself to keep quiet about what Gertie had told them. She washed and dried her hands and then joined them in the kitchen.
"What did I miss?" Ettie asked.
"Nothing. We were waiting for you," Elsa-May said as she placed a heaped plate of food in front of Detective Kelly. They had steamed cabbage, boiled chicken and mashed potatoes, and of course, gravy.
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