Willow wrinkled her nose. “Oh, you. I made a few missteps in the past. That’s no reason for alarm.”
“Missteps?” Farley asked. “I think your last recipes burned off fifty percent of my taste buds.”
“Oh, pooh,” Willow said. “You’re exaggerating.”
Head Trustee Cramer sniffed. “Now that Angela is finally here, we can start the meeting.” Then she pursed her lips. “Find another group to be your tea testers, Willow. We have very important business this evening.” She tapped her gavel on the table.
Jason made a grab at his teacup, which threatened to topple over.
“You don’t really need to use the gavel, Caroline,” Willow said. “That is only for public meetings.”
Caroline glowered at her. She pushed the gavel to the center of the table and folded her hands in front of her. “I would like to hear what you learned at the play practice, Angie. Please give a report. I would also like to hear exactly what happened when Eve fell. Willow has already given her account. What is yours?”
“A report?” I asked with a cucumber sandwich halfway to my mouth.
“You were there for the quilt show, were you not?” Caroline arched her brow. “And you were at the progressive dinner itself, so you should know what is going on.”
Willow sipped her Christmas surprise tea and hid a grimace. “I suppose it could use a little more peppermint extract or sugar. Maybe the cranberry was a bad idea.” She raised her cup to me. “I’m sure Angie knows much more than the two things that you mentioned. She’s been sleuthing. Haven’t you?”
I felt four pairs of eyes on my face. I wanted to jump across the table and cover Willow’s mouth.
I cleared my throat. “Willow and I were both at the play when the swing broke, killing Eve. I met Eve briefly at the dinner before the play. I thought she was a lovely girl. It’s a tragedy for Amish and English in the community.”
“It’s a publicity nightmare,” Farley said. “That’s what it is.”
I wasn’t surprised by Farley’s comment. I glared at him. He merely smiled back. My ick factor with Farley went up another two notches.
“Is the sheriff close to solving the case?” Jason asked. Again the question was directed at me.
“Why are you asking me that? You should ask the sheriff.”
Jason rolled his eyes. “Come on, Angie, everyone knows that you two are a couple. He had to have said something to you.”
“He told me to stay out of the investigation.”
“At least that’s sound advice,” Caroline said. “So you went to play practice tonight. Did they appear to be on track?”
I peered into my cup of not-just-peppermint tea to hide a grimace. I didn’t think the stage manager and director getting into a fistfight constituted going well. “Eve had an understudy, Lena Luca. She’s already rehearsing for the part. They mean to continue. I believe they plan to have rehearsals late into the night tonight and more on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.”
Willow clicked her tongue. “That’s awful. They should take the holiday off.”
Caroline patted the back of her pristine French roll. “No, that is good. They need to have as many practices as they can to make sure this performance goes off without a hitch.”
Was she calling Eve’s death a mere hitch?
“Let’s get back to the task at hand and focus on damage control. Hopefully, with the township practically shut down over Christmas, the Rolling Brook rumor mill will settle down and give us an opportunity to launch the next progressive dinner with much less notoriety.”
“You plan to continue the dinners?” Willow asked.
“The show must go on,” Caroline said. “We can’t afford the refunds. The money is already spent.”
“How can the money already be spent?” I asked. “It was earmarked for a new playground. There’s like two feet of snow outside. Kids aren’t playing outside now.”
“Production hasn’t started, but we have already signed the contract with the contractor. We are bound to go through with it now.”
I bit my lip.
“The contractor gave us a discount to sign early,” Caroline said.
“You paid before the work was even started?” Jason groaned.
Farley shook his head. “It is not how I would do it.”
Caroline’s jaw twitched. “You are no longer the head trustee, Farley. I wish you would remember that. In any case, play practice seems to be on track, so I see no reason to cancel the dinner.”
As long as the actors and director can settle their differences first, I thought. I didn’t share that concern with the trustees.
She pointed her gavel at me. “Since you’re at the hotel for your quilt show, Angie, I want you to keep an eye on the play. Let me know if they look like they are having any complications.”
Complications? The play was having more than a few of those.
Willow dumped a full tablespoon of raw sugar into her teacup. That didn’t speak well for the flavor of the tea. “I think Angie should find out who the killer is. That will make sure everything goes smoothly. Having a murderer on the loose is a tad unnerving.”
I stirred my tea. The acrid scent filled my nose. There was no way I was drinking that.
Caroline frowned. “What if it’s one of the actors? Then the play will have to be canceled.” She shook her head. “It would be best if the crime was solved after the performances are over.”
Willow dropped her spoon. “You can’t really mean that.”
Jason drummed his fingers on the table.
“Jason, is something wrong?” Caroline asked. “You’ve barely said two words this entire meeting.”
“Are you worried about Amber?” I asked.
Jason’s head snapped in my direction.
“What does Jason’s daughter have to do with anything?” Caroline asked.
“She and Eve were best friends,” I said.
I felt Farley watching me. “My, Angie. You are good at finding out everyone’s past, aren’t you?”
I ignored him.
Jason pursed his lips. “Amber will be fine.”
Willow reached across the table and patted Jason’s hand. “I’m so sorry to hear that. I didn’t know.”
The trustee nearly toppled his full teacup. “My daughter will be fine.”
Willow clapped her hands. “Does Amber know anything about what happened? Did Eve say anything to her about being afraid?”
Jason scowled. “My daughter is not involved in this in any way, and I don’t appreciate your implying otherwise.”
I thought of the threatening letters that Eve had received. Amber knew a lot more than Jason thought or wished to think. Now would not be a good time to tell him that I had already spoken to her. I hoped that she wouldn’t tell her father I’d stopped by the library.
“If she was your daughter’s best friend,” Willow said, “then you must have known her fairly well.”
Jason picked up another cucumber sandwich. “I’ve known Eve since she was a little girl and feel awful about what happened. Her family is devastated.”
“Oh, I can imagine,” Willow said. She pressed a folded napkin to the corner of her eye. “It’s just too terrible for words. And she had a voice like an angel. It’s all just such a terrible shame.”
Farley cleared his throat. “What I think is that we should draw the killer out, and that will resolve everything.”
“But the play,” Caroline said.
Farley pursed his lips. “I believe that finding the killer is more important than the play.” He turned to me. “Wouldn’t you agree, Angie?”
“I do,” I said. It wasn’t often I agreed with Farley Jung.
“How do we do it?” Willow asked.
“At the progressive dinner, we will make a big show over how wonderful
Eve was. We will rub salt in the wound and see if they will confess because of guilt.” Farley sipped from a glass of water. Just like every other trustee, he didn’t touch his tea.
“And if the killer doesn’t feel bad about it?” Caroline asked.
“Then we are dealing with a dark person, indeed.”
I shivered. I had faced my share of killers in the last few months, but I didn’t want to come face-to-face with anyone like Farley described.
“Who is going to do this?”
“I think Angie should make the speech. She can represent the trustees at the next dinner. You are very clever, Angie. You will know what to say.”
Willow nodded. “I suppose it is worth a try if it will bring peace back to our community.”
I held up my hands. “Wait a minute. I didn’t agree to do this. This is a bad idea. If the killer loses it, it could put the diners in danger.”
“No one will do anything with that many witnesses at the table,” Farley said coolly. “Angie, you are the best person for the job. Everyone at the play and hotel knows you by now. If another one of us does it, it won’t hold as much meaning.”
I was always the best person for the job in the trustees’ opinions. I don’t know if it was because I was most gullible or because I was the lowest person on the totem pole. In either case, I was stuck. At the same time, a tiny part of me thought Farley might be right.
“Will you do it, Angie?” Jason asked.
“If I have a chance.” I looked them each in the eye. “I’m promising you nothing.”
Farley grinned as if I had said yes with one hundred percent certainty.
Chapter Twenty-six
The next morning, as I drove to the hotel to pick up Ryan for the excursion to Nahum’s shack, I kept hoping that he had forgotten about it so Jonah and I could go on our own. No such luck. Ryan waited for me on the hotel’s front porch.
He climbed into the car, holding two travel mugs of coffee. He handed one to me. “Extra cream and sugar, just as you like it.”
I accepted the mug. “Since when have you encouraged my sugar habit?”
He buckled his seat belt. “Since I’ve been trying to win you back,” he said matter-of-factly. “Watching your high sugar consumption would be a tiny price to pay to be with you.”
I sipped the coffee and didn’t reply. He had made it just how I liked it. Drat.
Ryan glanced in the backseat. “No Oliver?”
“I thought it would be best to leave him at home with Dodger and my parents. I don’t know what to expect at Nahum’s and neither should you. The guy is a loose cannon.”
Ryan straightened in his seat. “All the more reason I should go along to protect you.”
I rolled my eyes.
The woods near Nahum’s house weren’t discoverable by GPS, and I had to follow the directions that Jonah had given me the day before in the library parking lot. I turned down a one-lane road that I suspected was dirt or gravel under the thick layer of snow. I gunned the engine of my car and pushed through the terrible conditions. In snow this high, even my SUV could get stuck, and the last thing I wanted was to be stuck in the winter on a country road alone with Ryan Dickinson.
“Is it wrong that I have the theme music of Deliverance playing over and over in my head?” Ryan asked.
I groaned. “You are such a city boy.”
I saw sunlight reflecting off the orange “slow moving vehicle” triangle on the back of Jonah’s buggy before I saw the buggy itself. I started to relax. Jonah would provide a buffer between Ryan and me.
I parked behind him. “We’re here,” I said.
Ryan glanced around. “Where is here?”
I unbuckled my seat belt. “I don’t know, but this is where Jonah asked me to meet him, so it must be close to Nahum’s home.” I opened the door. “Come on, City Boy.”
Ryan grinned.
Okay, the teasing was a bad idea. It was only encouraging him.
Jonah raised his eyebrows at me when we stepped out of the car.
“Ryan’s coming along with us. I hope that’s okay.” I pulled my purple stocking cap down over my ears, thinking that I should have doubled up on the long underwear. It was freezing.
“Oh-kay,” my best childhood friend said in a voice that implied you had better tell me why later.
I buried my gloved hands into my pockets and tried to make myself as small as possible. The smaller I was, the warmer I would be. “So where’s Nahum’s cabin? Just beyond those trees?”
Jonah nodded. “Ya, but it is a ways yet. This is the closest we can get by buggy. From here, we walk.”
“Walk?” Ryan asked, peering into the dense forest. “Are you serious?”
Jonah smiled. “Of course. If you want, you can wait here for Angie and me until we come back. I hope you both have your snow boots on.”
I was dressed for the North Pole. Ryan wore a hat, scarf, and leather gloves with his expensive long winter coat. Jonah made a face. “We might have to go through some brambles.”
“Fine with me,” Ryan said. “I can always buy another coat. Angie is the only irreplaceable thing here.”
Jonah’s eyebrows disappeared under the long bangs of his bowl haircut. “All right. Follow me.” Jonah stepped through the tree line.
I followed him, but Ryan hesitated. I looked back. “You coming? You can stay here like Jonah said.”
Ryan frowned. “Of course I’m coming,” he said as if he never had any second thoughts.
Once we broke through the tree line into the forest proper, the snow wasn’t as deep and the walking became easier.
“The dense tree coverage holds back some of the snow,” Jonah said. “But don’t be fooled. There are some very deep drifts back here. Watch where you are walking.”
I concentrated on my footing and tried not to think about how angry Mitchell would be if he knew where I was at the moment. Or how much angrier he would be if he knew that Ryan was with me. I sighed. The sooner Ryan went back to Dallas, the sooner my life became less complicated. I glanced over my shoulder. Ryan stared at his feet as he walked. His wool coat was dragging in the snow. An unexpected smile formed on my lips as I watched him. Ryan was a long way from the courtrooms and posh dinner parties of Dallas. So was I.
Ryan looked up and caught me smiling at him.
Shoot. I spun around, but not before a hopeful look lit in his eyes. Bringing Ryan on this excursion had been a very, very bad idea.
I picked up my pace and caught up to Jonah, who moved through the forest with the confidence of a lumberjack. I hopped over a fallen log to catch him.
“Don’t get too fancy with your steps,” Jonah said. “You don’t know what is under the snow. There could be a log or rock that will make you fall.”
He had a point. I took my steps much more carefully after that.
Snow crunched under my ugly boots as we crept through the forest.
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Jonah grumbled under his breath.
“Come on, you used to always be up for an adventure.” I jumped over a fallen log.
“That was before. I have a family to worry about now.” He took the edge off his words with a grin. “You know I got in a lot less trouble with Daed and Mamm when you moved away.”
I snorted. “That’s not how Anna tells it.”
He stepped closer to me. “What’s he doing here?”
I sighed. “Ryan figured out where I was going and insisted that he come along or he would tell the sheriff what I was up to.”
“We can’t have that,” Jonah said.
“No, we can’t. Mitchell would—”
He put a finger to his lips.
“Do you hear something?” I whispered, listening. All I could hear was the steady crunch of Ryan’s footsteps in the snow as he caught up with
us.
“I thought I did. It might have just been a squirrel. The woods will play tricks on you if you’re not careful.”
I stumbled on a rock buried in the snow; then I bounced off a sapling, which dumped its snow down the back collar of my coat. “Yeow!” I cried.
Ryan ran to me. “Angie, are you okay?”
“Could you make any more noise?” Jonah asked.
Ryan helped me up.
“I’m sorry. It caught me by surprise. That’s all.” I brushed what snow I could off me.
Ryan still gripped my elbow.
“Ryan, I’m fine. You can let go of me now,” I said.
He dropped his hand.
“Shh!” Jonah held a finger to his mouth. “I thought I heard something again.”
The three of us stood frozen and listened to the woods. In my mind, I heard the theme music of Deliverance too. I had Ryan to thank for putting that idea in my head.
A flock of hardy starlings twittered above us.
“Was it the birds?” I whispered.
“I hope so,” Jonah whispered back. “Nahum would not like it if he thought we were sneaking up on his cabin.”
I shivered.
“Let’s keep moving,” Jonah said, holding a branch until Ryan and I passed it.
He let go of the branch and it whipped back, releasing a cloud of snow in its wake. “You don’t think your mamm will bring up the time I broke her favorite lamp when we were kids at Christmas Eve dinner, right?”
I laughed. “What made you think about that?”
“It’s been on my mind. I don’t think she’s ever forgiven me. Maybe she won’t. She said nothing to me on the progressive-dinner wagon ride.”
“She’s biding her time,” I teased. “But I predict before they head back to Texas, you will hear about the incident at least twice.”
Jonah sighed. “I have a feeling my boys will grow up with some stories like that.”
“Ethan and Ezra already have more stories than they could ever possibly share when it comes to mischief making.”
Jonah laughed.
Ryan was silent during our conversation, but I knew he was listening to every word.
We heard a snap like a limb breaking in the forest and then the whoosh as it tumbled through the trees to the forest floor.
Murder, Served Simply Page 19