Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 3

by Samantha Price

  “Let’s sit across there.” Elsa-May nodded to a bus-stop bench across the road where they’d get a clear view of the entrance of the station.

  “When he comes out, you should ask him questions, Ettie. All three of us shouldn’t go,” Florence said.

  “But if he tells me something I might need one of you as a witness.”

  “Nee. I think Florence is right, Ettie. Only you should go.”

  “Okay,” Ettie agreed. “But I have no idea what to ask him. If he came out right now, what would I say?”

  Ettie’s sisters remained silent. None of them could think of a thing.

  “Now might be the time to tell us about the charges Morrie’s in prison for.”

  Florence looked straight ahead.

  “It was a holdup.”

  “Same as his brother,” Elsa-May said.

  Florence glared at her older sister.

  “Sorry, keep going.”

  “He made a lot of money, but he spent more than he made. He was at the casino one night and lost a fortune. He pulled out a gun and demanded it back. Of course, he’d been drinking and didn’t know what he was doing. His gun went off somehow and killed someone. It wasn’t even the dealer. It was someone behind the dealer.”

  Ettie scratched her neck. Why couldn’t her sister have told them that at the start? There was no great secret there.

  “The thing was…”

  “Florence, is that him?” Elsa-May asked pointing at a young man at the entrance of the station.

  “That’s him. Quick, Ettie.”

  Ettie gulped and made her way across the road. What would she say to him? She had hoped all the pieces would’ve fallen into place by now, but they hadn’t.

  Darrin was walking down the steps and Ettie waited at the bottom, off to one side.

  “Darrin Gandara?”

  He looked her up and down, a little startled. “Yes?”

  She opened her mouth, but her heart was pounding so hard that no words were coming out.

  “Do I know you?”

  His words gave Ettie an idea. “I think you do. You burned down my house.”

  He laughed and started walking away.

  “I have the proof.”

  He stopped in his tracks and turned to face her. “It was nothing to do with me.”

  That’s when she knew she had him. “Why did you plant the gun in your brother’s car?”

  “Look lady—what proof are you talking about?”

  “Your grandmother told me everything.”

  His jaw dropped open. “She wouldn’t.”

  “Ah, but she did.”

  He looked nervously about him. “No, she wouldn’t.” When Ettie remained silent, he said, “What do you want?”

  “I want you to tell me why you burned down my house, or I’ll give the police my proof.” Ettie knew the young man wouldn’t know she wasn’t the Amish lady whose house had burned down.

  He frowned at her. “I wasn’t the one who burned down your house.” He shifted from one foot to the other and shoved his hands in his pockets. “He did it. My brother killed that girl.”

  “I’m talking about my house.”

  “What did my grandmother tell you?”

  “Enough to go to the police.”

  “She did it. If she blamed me, she was lying. She told me she could get me a gun, and when she handed it to me, she laughed about burning an Amish woman’s house down. I didn’t do it, she did.”

  “Your grandmother burned my house down?”

  “That’s what she said.”

  “Why did you want a gun?”

  He looked around himself again. “I don’t have to answer your questions.” He turned on his heel and walked away.

  Not content, Ettie followed him. “Why did you want a gun?”

  He stopped and turned around. “You wanna know the truth, lady?”

  Ettie nodded and hoped she wasn’t in danger.

  “I was going to shoot Allissa, but my brother did the job for me. I saw my brother strangle her. Then I hid the gun in his car.”

  “Wiped your prints off, then called the police?”

  “What’s it to you? I haven’t committed a crime.”

  “You covered up knowledge of arson—that’s a crime.”

  He stepped toward her and Ettie took a step back. His eyes were radiating pure evil and shivers ran down her back. Darrin suddenly looked over Ettie’s shoulder, turned and hurried away.

  Ettie glanced over her shoulder to see Elsa-May and Florence hurrying toward her. Then Kelly pulled up beside them in his car.

  He jumped out of his car. “I thought you all would be here.”

  Ettie pointed to Darrin. “I talked to him and he said his grandmother burned down Florence’s house and gave him the gun.”

  “He did?”

  “Yes, quick get him.” Ettie pointed to him and Detective Kelly caught up with him.

  “What happened, Ettie? He looked like he was going to hit you.”

  “He said Linda laughed about burning your house, Florence, and he said she gave him your gun. Then he said he was going to kill Allissa, but then he saw Dustin strangling her, so he hid the gun in Dustin’s car.”

  “And then called the police?” Elsa-May asked.

  “That’s what he claimed.”

  Chapter 22

  Kelly joined them once more, and Ettie saw Darrin getting into a car down the road.

  “What did he say?”

  Ettie watched the car drive past them. “Who’s driving?” Ettie pointed at the car and Kelly spun around.

  “It looks like it could be Andy Watkins. He’s got distinctive hair—light and wooly. I remember it distinctly from the picture of him in the file. I’ll have to talk to Detective Sanders; he’s the lead detective on the case.”

  “What did Darrin say to you?” Ettie asked.

  “He said you accused him of burning your house. He asked if he could sue you for harassment.”

  “What? He lied!”

  “Tell me exactly what he told you, Ettie.”

  Ettie put her hand on her chest and took a deep breath.

  Detective Kelly pointed at her. “This is exactly the kind of thing I warned you against doing. Lucky for you I guessed you would’ve been silly enough to come here and try to find Darrin.”

  “Ettie’s shaken,” Elsa-May said, “Yelling at her won’t help.”

  “Let’s borrow an interview room.” Kelly led the way into the police station.

  Once they were all seated, Ettie told him everything that Darrin said. “He could’ve been lying about everything,” Ettie said

  “Wait here. I’ll see what he said while he was here and I’ll need to find Sanders. It might take some time, but don’t go anywhere!”

  “We’re fine to wait,” Florence said.

  “I’ll have someone bring you in some hot tea.” Kelly left them.

  “Florence, you were just about to tell us more about Morrie shooting someone when Ettie had to leave.”

  “Was I?”

  “Jah. You said that he accidently shot someone who was standing behind the dealer, and then you said, 'The thing was…' and you never said what the thing was.”

  Florence sighed. “He shot his manager, the one who was married to Linda.”

  “But wasn’t Linda married to him?”

  “He didn’t believe in marriage; he had a child with Linda, and Linda went on to marry his manager. Then when he was shot, Linda went on to marry Morrie’s brother.”

  “Didn’t look too far, did she,” Ettie commented shaking her head.

  “I guess it’s confusing. It looked like Morrie shot his manager out of jealousy, but he was too drunk to know what he was doing.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us that at the beginning?” Elsa-May asked.

  “I thought you wouldn’t have believed it was an accident.”

  Ettie asked Elsa-May, “Could that have anything to do with any of this?”

  “Linda
had a grudge against Morrie, the father of her son, grandfather of both Dustin and Darrin?”

  “You’ll have to go and visit Morrie.”

  “Nee, I couldn’t.”

  “You’ll have to.”

  “Look at me! The last time I saw him, I was young and beautiful. I couldn’t let him see me like this. I’m so old now, and wrinkly.”

  “He’ll be old too.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  The door opened and a young officer brought in three mugs of hot tea.

  “I need milk and sugar,” Florence said to him.

  “Yes, I was going to bring them too. I can’t carry everything at once.”

  “Thank you,” Ettie said as the officer left.

  Once he’d brought in the milk and sugar, he closed the door behind him.

  “How long will your detective be, Ettie? I hate waiting.”

  “He said it might take some time.”

  Florence carefully poured in milk and then sugar. “Will you come with me, Ettie?”

  “Me?”

  She nodded. “Will you?”

  Elsa-May nodded from behind Florence, encouraging her to agree. “Okay, I’ll go.”

  “Denke. I’m not looking forward to it. He would’ve been thinking about me all these years, thinking I look quite different from this.”

  “We’ll make a call and book a visit.”

  “What if he refuses to see me?”

  Ettie leaned forward and placed her hand over Florence’s. “At least we would’ve tried.”

  “What happened to his music rights?” Ava asked.

  “What’s that?”

  “Well, I believe the music industry has a system whereby the artist gets paid every time their music gets played anywhere.”

  “How do you know that, Ava?”

  “I don’t know. I heard about it or read it somewhere.”

  “Would there be a lot of money involved.”

  “Jah quite possibly especially if he was well-known and people still play his music.”

  “That’s something we should ask him, Florence.”

  Florence shook her head. “No one would remember him. I doubt people listen to his music nowadays. He hasn’t been on tour since the fifties.”

  “Should I look into it?” Ava asked.

  “Jah, please do,” Ettie said. “We’ll call you before our visit.”

  Chapter 23

  Ettie and Florence arrived at the same prison where Dustin was being held.

  “Do you think they could’ve spoken to one another?” Ettie asked.

  “Morrie’s in maximum security.”

  “Oh.”

  They went through the same process as when they’d visited Dustin. Finally, they were seated, waiting for Morrie to appear.

  “It’s a good sign that they haven’t turned us away,” Ettie said.

  “Do I look all right?” Florence said pinching her cheeks to give them some color.

  Ettie squelched a laugh. “You look fine.”

  Then two guards walked in front of them, behind the barrier, and then a row of prisoners followed. A guard led a man to them and instructed him to sit. He was old, didn’t have much hair, but his face was kind. His eyes were fixed onto Florence. Ettie immediately felt sad that this man had spent so many years in prison. In that same time, Florence had married, and had children while the man she once loved was behind bars. A quick glance at Florence and Ettie knew how hard it had been for her sister to walk away and return to the community leaving all thoughts of him behind.

  “You’ve gotten old.” Florence giggled.

  “You haven’t. You’re still as beautiful as the last time I saw you.”

  She smiled.

  “You went back to the Amish?”

  “I did. I told you that’s what I was going to do.”

  “I’m glad you went back and carried on without me. Did you marry?”

  Florence nodded and Ettie saw tears form in her eyes.

  “I’m Florence’s sister.” Ettie thought it a good time to speak up since Florence seemed to forget she was there.

  “This is my sister, Ettie.”

  “Hello.” He nodded and then looked back at Florence. “Why are you here after all this time?”

  “Have you heard about your grandsons?”

  “What about them?”

  “Has either of them been to see you lately?” Ettie asked.

  He scratched his cheek. “They’ve both visited me from time to time, but not lately. Why?”

  “Morrie, who owns your music rights now?”

  “Is this about those papers I signed?”

  “What papers?” Florence asked.

  “Darrin wanted me to sign the rights over so he could do something with my music. The industry’s changed so much. They don’t have records anymore. Now they’ve got CDs and downloads.”

  “You gave your rights to Darrin?” Ettie asked.

  He looked at Ettie. “No. I gave them to Darrin and Dustin. I made certain that both names were on the contract.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Someone might as well be making money out of my music. It’s no good to me in here.”

  “Will you ever get out?” Florence asked.

  “Florrie, I don’t think so.”

  Now Ettie knew why Florence had bristled when Detective Kelly called her Florrie. She only wanted to be called Florrie by the man she once loved. Ettie tried to stop a smile that was tugging at the corners of her lips when she thought of the names they’d called one another—Morrie and Florrie.

  “Did you hear that Reginald’s in trouble?”

  “I heard it on the news. We’ve got television in here. I heard he was arrested for two murders. How did you know?”

  “Reginald and Linda have kept in touch over the years. I met one of your grandsons too.”

  “Which one, Dustin?”

  “Yes, how did you know?”

  “Darrin isn’t too sociable. I thought it would’ve been Dustin. He writes to me.”

  “Time's up.”

  They looked up to see a large corrections officer standing over Morrie.

  Morrie leaned forward. “I’ll have to go. You don’t need to come back. I’m okay.”

  “Can I write?”

  He nodded. “Okay, but I’m never getting out of here. I want you to know that.”

  “Let’s go,” the officer said.

  Morrie stood up and was escorted away.

  Ettie saw that Florence was blinking back tears. “Let’s go,” Ettie echoed the officer.

  On the way back home in the taxi, Ettie said, “So, both grandsons have the rights to his music.”

  Florence whispered, “If Dustin was convicted of murder would that mean Darrin would get everything?”

  Ettie thought about it for a while. “It would certainly make it easy for Darrin to somehow get his hands on the lot.”

  “We need to tell his lawyer.”

  “We will, but first I think we need to get you home.”

  “Jah, it’s taken quite a bit out of me. I’d be grateful for a rest.”

  When they got home, the first thing Ettie did was tell Elsa-May what they found out.

  “Can I lie down on your bed, Ettie?” Florence asked.

  “Of course.”

  When Florence was out of the room, Elsa-May said, “Darrin had a motive to get Dustin out of the way—in jail. It appears he’s framed him, but what about Allissa?”

  Chapter 24

  Kelly arrived at their house looking smug.

  “I’ve got a lot to tell you.”

  “Come inside and sit down.”

  “We’ve arrested Darrin. He admitted to framing his twin and burning down your house, Mrs. Lapp, and placing the gun in Dustin’s car. He also admitted to making that anonymous call to the police to implicate his twin.”

  “Did he kill Allissa?” Ettie asked.

  “He says not. That’s how we were able to get him to admit to everything else. You see, th
rough a stroke of good fortune, we found that he got a speeding ticket close to your house, Mrs. Lapp, on the morning your house burned down. He couldn’t give us a good reason for being in that area, and then when we tried to tie him to Allissa’s murder, he sang like a canary.”

  “What?” Elsa-May asked.

  “He witnessed Allissa’s murder because he was following her. He saw his brother have an argument with her and saw Allissa slap Dustin’s face—just as Dustin eventually admitted to us. Then when she was heading to her car, Darrin saw that Watkins confronted her and then those two argued. He watched Andy Watkins strangle Allissa.”

  “Why didn’t he stop him?”

  “He could’ve been afraid. Watkins isn’t a small man. He stands at six feet four and is nearly as wide. Darrin hates his brother. He claims to have already hidden the gun in Dustin's car earlier that day; then he made the call to the police.”

  Ettie nibbled on a fingernail. “Do you believe him?”

  “It makes sense.”

  “Does it? Why were they in the same car? You saw them.”

  “I thought it was Andy Watkins, going by his photo, but I couldn’t see in the car too well.”

  “What was his purpose for getting my gun in the first place?” Florence asked.

  Ettie said, “Maybe his great-uncle Reginald bragged about killing two people and told him where the gun was. He put the gun in Dustin's car and was going to call the police to have him arrested for those two holdup murders. Then when he saw Allissa murdered, he thought quickly. Why not have his brother arrested for Allissa’s murder as well?”

  “I don’t think so, Ettie,” Florence said. “If he loved this woman, Allissa, how could he be so quick-thinking after watching her murder?”

  “Ah, the criminal mind works differently from your mind and my mind, Mrs. Lapp. They are on a different playing field—a different level of thought. They do wrong, because they can do wrong—they enjoy it,” Kelly said.

  “Did you arrest Andy Watkins?” Elsa-May asked.

  “He’s being questioned. We’ve already got someone arrested for her murder.”

  “So you’ve arrested Darrin for burning down my house?”

  “Yes, and there will likely be more charges heading his way.”

  “Does that mean that Dustin will go free?” Florence asked.