Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 3

by Samantha Price

  “Do you think you should?”

  “Jah, why not?”

  “Sometimes these things are best left alone. He might have been protecting someone.”

  “Like who?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “That’s what we need to find out, and Elsa-May and I think that Roy needs to say what really happened that day. Will you come with us?”

  “Nee, I can't. I’m just on my way out.”

  Ettie said goodbye and felt disappointed. It would’ve been easier to go if Ava had gone with them. “She’s not coming with us. She’s on her way out.”

  “That’s too bad,” Elsa-May said.

  “She thought Roy might have been protecting someone.”

  “So, someone else might have been with him that day?”

  “Possibly. Thea didn’t see anyone with Thomas at the market.”

  On the way to the Spreed Roofing main office, Elsa-May leaned over and whispered to Ettie, “You don’t think Roy is involved in this whole thing, do you?”

  “I wouldn’t like to think so, but why did he lie about being with Thomas?”

  “Ava gave one reason and there could be many more.”

  “We won’t know if we don’t ask.”

  “How can I help you ladies today?” The woman at the main office of Spreed Roofing had recognized them from their last visit.

  “We’ve come to talk with Roy Strongberg. Is he in at the moment?”

  “Yes, he’s down in the yard. I’ll call him. Take a seat if you wish.”

  Elsa-May and Ettie looked behind them and went to sit in the waiting area.

  Before long, they saw Roy striding to the office. He walked inside and stopped still when he saw them.

  “Hello.”

  Ettie stood up. “Hello, Roy. Is there somewhere we can talk?”

  “Yes, come through to my office.” He gestured toward a door on the other side of the room. “Right this way.”

  Once they were seated and the door was closed, Roy asked, “Is there something wrong?”

  “Quite possibly,” Elsa-May answered.

  “We know that you weren’t with Thomas the day he died, and it seems odd to us that you lied about it.”

  “Do you mind telling us why you did that?”

  “Like I told the detective when he asked the same question after talking to my wife, my wife has trouble knowing what are facts and what she makes up in her own head. I don’t know if you already knew that or not, but she hasn’t been well for some time.”

  “I haven’t heard that,” Ettie said.

  “Anyway, I did go to the market with him and he wanted to tell me something when we came home. I haven’t lied about anything.”

  “Whose idea was it to go to the market?”

  “I don’t remember who brought it up. It could’ve been Thomas who mentioned it. He was sweet on a girl who worked there.”

  “Did your wife say she wanted meat?”

  “Jah, but I think we already said we’d go and then she asked me to pick some up while I was there. Is that important?”

  “It might be.”

  “Do you know something I should know about how my brother died?”

  “We’ve heard a lot of different things.”

  Elsa-May added, “And we’re trying to sort some things out.”

  “One of the things we heard is that Thomas and you had a falling out. You were going to go halves in Spreed Roofing and you cut him out at the last minute. And we heard that you two weren’t talking after that.”

  “Thomas pulled out of the deal at the last minute and I nearly lost it to another buyer who wanted it. Anyway, I went into business with an Englischer, something I’ve regretted ever since. I offered to sell my shares back to them and they’re considering buying out my half share.”

  “They?” Ettie asked annoyed about hearing ‘they’ again, just as she'd heard from Breanna. Who was this ‘they’?

  “People Thomas introduced me to. That’s the odd thing. He knew them and advised me to have nothing to do with them.”

  “That’s odd.”

  “At this time of my life, I just want to run my own business without having to consider partners. Thomas had the right idea. Is there anything else?” He stared at Ettie and then looked at Elsa-May.

  “Jah, that’s all. Denke for answering the questions we had.”

  He rose to his feet. “Not a worry. Can I call you a taxi or something? I’d drive you myself, but I’ve got a time crunch, a meeting with a client.”

  "Jah, denke, you could call a taxi for us.

  Ettie and Elsa-May had heard nothing from Detective Kelly all day. Late that afternoon, Thea came to their house to speak to them while leaving her father waiting in the buggy.

  “Come in. Does your vadder want to come inside?”

  “Nee, I told him I wouldn’t be long. Did you know that Austin has been arrested?”

  “Kelly was here last night talking about drugs in the honey.”

  Thea wiped some tears from her eyes. “It’s true. Austin left early in the morning to turn himself in. He told me he was involved with drugs and said he’d probably go to jail.”

  “I thought Kelly would’ve been there first thing.”

  “The detective came about half an hour after Austin left. He came with

  Police cars and dogs, and when they learned Austin wasn’t there, they loaded all the honey into a white van.”

  “Don’t be upset, Thea. Things will go easier for him now that he's turned himself in.”

  “That’s what the policeman said, but I’m still sad. Thomas was my friend, and I got to like Austin, and I thought he was a good young man, and now they’re both gone.”

  Thea sobbed on Ettie’s shoulder and Ettie put her arms around her and patted her on the back while looking helplessly at Elsa-May. She had no idea what to say to comfort the girl.

  Elsa-May put her hand on Thea’s shoulder. “Thomas is in Gott’s haus, and he’s at peace. This is the best outcome for Austin if he was involved in something that he shouldn’t have been involved in. As Ettie said, it’s a good thing he turned himself in before they caught up with him.”

  “I hope they don’t think that Austin killed Thomas, because he didn’t.”

  “You seem confident about that. Do you know who did kill Thomas?”

  “Thea, if you know something, you must say so.”

  When Thea remained silent, Ettie tried a different question. “How did it all fit in? Thomas was making drugs, wasn't he, and Austin was helping distribute them in the honey jars? Were they in the whole thing together?”

  “Nee, Thomas wasn’t doing anything wrong, and he wanted them to stop using his barn. They said they’d find a different place.”

  “Thea, who are ‘they’?”

  “I don’t know. He only said ‘they’ this and ‘they’ that. He never named any names except Bart. Anyway, there was money—twenty thousand dollars that Thomas was hiding for Bart. Then, I think someone killed Thomas for the money. I guess Bart went looking for his money, too, when he heard about Thomas’ death. Thomas must have arranged to hide it in the barn. Or, Bart could’ve hidden it there before he went to prison.”

  “Who else knew about the money, Thea?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “When did you learn all this?”

  She blinked, as more tears fell. “Thomas told me and made me say I wouldn’t tell anyone. He was trying to get out of—trying to get away from all these people. He met them on rumspringa and he got involved in some bad things and then they wouldn’t let him go. He said they had got their hooks into him, but if I’d told someone, maybe Thomas would still be alive.”

  “You can’t think like that. It’ll do no one any good going over the past. Things happen exactly the way they’re meant to.”

  “Do you have any idea who could’ve killed him or Bart?”

  “Nee, but probably one of the people who were organizing everything. I thought the or
ganizer might have been Bart because of the hidden money, but I guess it wasn’t. And he was still in jail until after Thomas died.” Thea looked over her shoulder. “I should go. Dat will want to be getting home.”

  “Will you be okay?”

  “Jah, I’ll be fine. Denke for listening to me. My parents don’t know any of what I’ve told you. Dat knows about Austin turning himself in and that’s all.”

  Later that night, Kelly knocked on the door of Elsa-May and Ettie's haus.

  “You raced out of here at top speed last night. What did you find out?” Ettie asked the detective as he walked to a chair in the living room.

  After he had sat down, he breathed out heavily. “There were drugs in some of the honey jars that were in some of the boxes. I got a team organized for a raid and when we got there, Austin was back at the station turning himself in. He must’ve gotten a tip-off and decided to turn himself in rather than run.”

  “How would he have known you were coming after him?”

  He shook his head. “These things have a way of leaking sometimes. I’ll be looking into it, don’t you worry.”

  Elsa-May placed her knitting in her lap. Looking over her thin-rimmed glasses, she asked, “Who killed Thomas and the other man? Do you know that yet?”

  “Naturally, Austin denies he had anything to do with the deaths. Strangely enough, he also denied knowing anything about the money, but we have a deposit in his account of just under twenty thousand dollars.”

  “How did he explain that?” Ettie asked.

  “He can’t. He claims he had no knowledge of it.”

  “Can anyone put the money into his account?”

  “Yes, that’s the thing, you see. The money was paid into the bank by a person. It wasn’t transferred by electronically. We’re looking at the bank’s security footage tomorrow morning. We’ll soon find out who paid the money into his bank account. If it’s not him, he’s not off the hook for the murders.”

  “If it is him, it doesn’t mean he is responsible.”

  “I’m well aware of that, Mrs. Lutz.”

  “We’re about to have dinner. I’m afraid it’s only pea and ham soup tonight, with rolls that Elsa-May made this morning. Would you care to join us?”

  “I’d love to. Thank you.”

  During dinner, Detective Kelly said something surprising. “I’d like you both to come to the station tomorrow and look at that bank footage. There’s a chance you might be able to identify the person if it’s someone from your community.”

  “Do you think it might be?” Elsa-May asked.

  “I’ve got no reason to believe so, but just in case it is, it would save time if both of you were there. An Amish man was killed and his brother still has a question mark hanging over his head. We’re not certain that Roy Strongberg is telling us the truth about everything. They were in direct opposition to each other.”

  “It wouldn’t make sense for the killer to put the money in Austin’s account, would it?”

  “It could if they want to make Austin appear guilty.”

  “Surely they would be aware that banks have security cameras these days.”

  Kelly nodded. “We’ll know more when we see the footage.”

  Ettie sat there eating her soup, careful not to slurp from the spoon. The sound of slurping irritated Elsa-May and she didn’t want to be reprimanded in front of the detective.

  “This is delicious,” he said after a couple of spoonfuls.

  “Thank you,” Ettie said.

  “I made the bread, but usually Ettie makes the bread. She’s so much better at it than I. I like to keep my hand in every so often so that I don’t forget how to make it.” Elsa-May chuckled.

  The detective broke off a piece of bread. “Mind if I dunk?”

  “Eat it how you wish,” Elsa-May said.

  “How about slurping?” Ettie suggested.

  “Everything is acceptable except for that.”

  “Unfair.” Ettie placed another spoonful of soup into her mouth while Kelly gave a laugh.

  “I’ll try not to slurp,” he said. “Although, I believe in Japan it’s a compliment to the chef to slurp your noodles. It shows it’s so delicious that you can’t wait for it to cool down. I’ve never been to Japan, but it’s on my bucket list—when work slows down. Maybe when I retire.”

  “You’re not planning on retiring soon, are you? Detective Crowley finds it hard to fill in the time. I’m certain he misses his work,” Elsa-May said.

  “No. You’ll have me around for a little longer. I’m not sure in what culture dunking bread in soup is acceptable.”

  Elsa-May chuckled. “It’s acceptable in our house.”

  After dinner, they sat in the living room. Detective Kelly had refused an after dinner cup of coffee or a cup of hot tea.

  “Who are your suspects so far?” Ettie asked the detective.

  “We’re still looking into the person who made the anonymous call. Tomorrow we should also have the phone records from the phone in the Strongberg’s barn. We’ll be able to see who Thomas was calling.”

  “What call was that?” Elsa-May dropped her knitting into her lap.

  “You said there was an anonymous call?” Ettie asked.

  “There was an anonymous call made informing us of Thomas’ death. It was a male voice and it was made from the public phone closest to the Strongberg house.”

  “You never told us that,” Ettie said. “The Strongberg’s thought the funeral director informed the police and the paramedics.”

  “I thought you knew about that call,” he said.

  Ettie and Elsa-May shook their heads.

  “It was from a man and the voice was muffled as though he were trying to disguise his voice.”

  “No, we never knew that. Roy told us they didn’t think to call the police because Thomas fell off a ladder and then he said the police weren’t too happy that they weren’t called.”

  “But it appears they were called, but not by Roy,” Elsa-May added.

  “On that mysterious note, I’ll say goodnight.” Kelly rose to his feet.

  “Don’t you have any idea who called?”

  Kelly smirked. “Not a clue. Perhaps you’d care to listen to the call when you’re at the station tomorrow?”

  “If you think it could help, we will.”

  “There’s a chance you could recognize the voice. I can’t think why I didn’t mention it to you.”

  “I suppose there was a lot going on.”

  “Are you sure it was a man’s voice?” Elsa-May asked.

  “Quite sure,” Detective Kelly said while walking to the door. He turned around and said, “I’ll send a car for you tomorrow morning to save you getting a taxi.”

  “Thank you,” Elsa-May said.

  Ettie and Elsa-May stood at the front door and watched Kelly get into his car.

  After he had driven away, Ettie said, “You might as well let Snowy back in.”

  “Jah, he’ll be wondering what he did to be shut out for so long.”

  Ettie giggled. The detective didn’t like Snowy and Snowy didn’t seem to know it because he’d taken a liking to the detective, which he demonstrated by continually scratching at his legs.

  Elsa-May leaned down and unlatched the dog door and Snowy was in like a shot. He ran around sniffing everywhere Detective Kelly had been.

  “He’s gone,” Elsa-May said.

  Snowy looked up into Elsa-May’s face and, as though he could understand, he slowly walked over to his dog bed in the corner of the living room and made himself comfortable.

  Ettie sat down on the couch. “I wonder who could’ve made that phone call.”

  “And who could’ve put the money in Austin’s account, and why?”

  “I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.”

  “We could find out who deposited the money, but it’s going to be harder to find out who made that call.”

  “Hopefully, one will lead the detective to the other.”

 
; Chapter 23

  By nine in the morning, Ettie and Elsa-May were ready and waiting for the police car to collect them. Detective Kelly hadn't given them a precise time; he’d only said he’d send a car in the morning. Now it was ten o’clock.

  “Do you think he forgot?” Elsa-May asked.

  “Nee, it’s not likely that he forgot.”

  “He’s most likely getting things organized, I suppose. There, that sounds like a car now.” Elsa-May walked to the window and looked out. “It’s not a police car, but the driver is one of the plainclothes policemen from the station.”

  “Let’s go.”

  Ettie and Elsa-May headed out to the car.

  Once they arrived at the station, the policeman led them into a room where they found Detective Kelly seated, and on the wall was a flat screen television.

  “Have a seat,” Kelly said.

  The policeman left them with Kelly, and both sisters sat down at the table.

  “Are you ready?”

  Seeing that the detective had a peculiar look on his face, Ettie asked, “Have you already watched it?”

  “I have, and it’ll be a good thing you’re sitting down.”

  Detective Kelly picked up a remote control and played the tape. Ettie and Elsa-May stared at the screen.

  “What are we supposed to be seeing?” Elsa-May asked.

  “Wait. It’s coming up in just a minute,” he replied.

  Then, as plain as day they saw an Amish woman enter the bank with a bag in her hand. On looking closer, they both gasped.

  “It’s Thea!” Ettie said.

  The detective pressed the button and switched off the tape. “Yes. Thea deposited money into Austin’s account.”

  “Why?” Elsa-May asked. “What does Thea have to do with all this nasty business?”

  “That’s what we’re about to find out.”

  “What do you mean?” Ettie asked.

  “We’re bringing her in for questioning. She’ll be here soon.”

  Ettie put her hand to her forehead. What had Thea gotten herself into?

  Thea was at the market busily serving customers when she saw two stern-looking police officers coming her way.

  “We’ll need you to come with us,” one of them said.