“I’m coming home. I stayed at Mamm’s last night. I was a little scared to stay here alone.”
“You got my note?”
“I did, and I didn’t want to intrude. Mamm was happy for my company.”
Ettie walked beside Ava’s buggy up to the stable. “You’ll never guess what’s happened.”
“What?”
Ettie told Ava everything that had happened in her absence, and then added,
“Sadie’s disappeared. The last thing she told me was she was going to the police and she didn’t. When they went to her home to question her, they found she’d disappeared.”
“Oh, Ettie. Do you think she’s frightened? Or maybe the killer’s got her?”
Ettie shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t know. I’m on my way now to see old Mrs. Hostetler to ask if she knows where Sadie is. Detective Crowley said I should go and make a report about the man with the gun who was after the key, but I’ll do that later.”
“Well, I best take you both places.”
Ettie smiled. “I was hoping you would.”
* * *
Ava and Ettie’s first stop was Doris Hostetler.
“Ettie, and Ava, I wish I could tell you both. It would be such a burden lifted from my shoulders. I made a promise to certain people that I wouldn’t breathe a word of what they told me.” Mrs. Hostetler said.
Ettie could feel Ava’s eyes on her; they both knew it was a long shot that Sadie’s mother would tell them anything. “Who did you promise?” Ettie asked.
Mrs. Hostetler shook her head. “I can say no more. I’ve already said too much.”
“Did you tell the police anything?” Ettie asked.
Doris Hostetler shook her head.
“Do you know where Sadie might be?” Ava asked one more time.
Doris dabbed at the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief. “I knew something bad would come of keeping secrets. I warned them.”
Ettie leaned forward and patted Doris on her shoulder. “Who’s ‘them’, Doris?”
Doris shook her head once more.
“You’d feel better if you unburdened yourself and told us exactly what’s happened. Is it something to do with Horace’s death?” Ettie asked.
Doris howled into her handkerchief at the mention of her son. Ettie knew that they could not ask her any more questions.
“Why don’t I make us all some nice hot tea?” Ava stood up.
Doris looked up at her.
“May I?” Ava asked.
Doris nodded.
It was another three hours before Ava and Ettie left Doris’ house.
As the horse pulled the buggy down the tree-lined street, something occurred to Ettie. “It seems Horace told Sadie quite a bit of what was happening in his life. I wonder how she’s involved in it all.”
“I’m worried that she might be in danger.”
Ettie scratched the side of her face. “There’s always that possibility.” A cold shiver ran through Ettie. “Anyway, Jeremiah should be finished with the floor by now.”
“Good. Let’s go and see how it looks,” Ava said.
When they got back to the house, Detective Kelly was in his car waiting for them.
“Oh no. We forgot to go to the police station. He’ll be here to ask me about that young man and also to take me to have a look at those mug shots. Leave the horse here and come with me?”
Ava and Ettie got out of the buggy and went straight to the detective who was still in his car.
“Afternoon, Detective,” Ettie said through his car window.
“Good afternoon, ladies,” the detective said. “We haven’t been able to locate Sadie Hostetler. Mrs. Smith, I’d like you to come to the station to make an official report regarding the information you gave Crowley.”
“I’ll drive you, Ettie,” Ava said.
“Thank you, dear.” Ettie smiled at the younger woman.
“I also owe you an apology, Mrs. Smith.”
“Oh?”
“About the key you found. It seems as though it belongs to a safe deposit box. We’ve taken it to the bank and they’ve told us that much.”
“Crowley did say it was one of those keys.”
“I’m afraid there’s been another development, which might explain why your friend Sadie has disappeared.”
Ettie leaned closer. “And what would that be?”
“While we were in the process of getting a warrant to open the safe deposit box, we discovered the box is held in the name of one Sadie Hostetler.”
Chapter 14.
Ettie looked at Ava, who looked just as shocked as she herself felt. Ettie rubbed her chin while she tried to make sense of the fact that the safe deposit box was in the name of Sadie Hostetler, Horace’s sister. She had expected it to be in Horace’s name or perhaps in the name of one of the gangsters. Maybe even in the name of Terence Wheeler.
Seeing the looks on their faces the detective said, “It came as a surprise to us as well.”
“It seems odd, that’s all. The key was found here, and I don’t know that Sadie ever visited Agatha’s house. Sadie kept to herself. I wonder if she opened the box because someone asked her to – or forced her – but why would she come around here looking for the key?”
“We won’t know anything further, I guess, until Sadie returns,” Ava said.
Ettie shook her head. “She told me some story about someone telling her that Terence Wheeler hid the key with Horace’s body. But how would Terence Wheeler have gotten the key from her? Did Sadie know Terence Wheeler to give him the key?”
“Well, we’ve got people on it.” The detective looked at Ettie and narrowed his eyes. “Would you have any idea where Sadie Hostetler might be?”
Ettie raised her eyebrows, deepening the lines in her forehead. “I wouldn’t have any idea. We’ve just come from her mother’s place and she –”
Ava butted in. “She was very upset that Sadie’s disappeared.”
Ettie knew Ava’s quick thinking just saved Mrs. Hostetler being interrogated by the police; the woman was in no state for that.
“When do you think you’ll get the warrant?” Ettie asked.
“I’m hoping for tomorrow, once all the paperwork’s done. I’m hoping the judge will sign off on it. I’m certain he will.”
“Do you want to come inside, Detective Kelly?” Ettie asked, hoping he wouldn’t ask any more questions.
He shook his head and his eyes glazed over. “I don’t know where all this is headed, but we’ll know more once we get into that box at the bank.” The detective nodded his goodbye before he got into his car. Ava and Ettie stood side by side in silence and watched him drive away.
“Where could Sadie be?” Ettie asked Ava.
Ava shrugged her shoulders. “You know her better than I do.”
Ettie pushed her front door open. Jeremiah was gone and the floor looked clean and polished.
“Back to normal,” Ava said.
“Yes, back to normal.” Ettie took a deep breath. She missed her friend, Agatha, but was glad that she wasn’t here to live through the dramas that were unfolding. “It occurs to me that since Sadie and Horace were so close, he had Sadie go to the bank and open a box. Horace is the connection between Sadie and the box.”
“You think that’s what happened? What if she wanted to open a box for herself?”
Ettie scrunched up her nose. “For what?”
“Jah, I see what you mean. She wouldn’t have had any valuables or anything to hide, not while she was one of us plain folk.”
“He must have persuaded her to do it. Or someone else got her to do it. I guess we won’t know until she tells us.”
“Why wouldn’t Horace have leased a box for himself? Would Horace have been involved in shady business?”
Ettie scratched her neck. Ava was right; if Horace had Sadie open the box, it meant that he was involved in some crooked business. That was not the Horace she remembered. “I don’t know anymore. Nothing makes sense.�
��
“Like the detective said, it’ll make sense when we see what’s in the box.”
“Or when Sadie tells us. The best thing I can think of is that if Horace got involved with those crooked men somehow, or knew what they were up to, he might have put the stolen goods in there intending to notify the police.”
“Ettie, do you think so? Really? He would’ve just taken it to the police station, wouldn’t he?”
“Nee, they might have killed him for that.”
Ava shook her head. “There are probably a thousand scenarios we could come up with. Do you think they’ll find valuables in the box?”
Ettie nodded. “I do. Now, I’d hate to think that Horace was involved in anything dishonest, but we know from what Crowley and Sadie said that he knew criminals. He could very well have been involved in some way.”
“Jah, in some way that ended up getting him killed. Do you think maybe his boss had him hide the stolen goods on his behalf?”
“We probably won’t know until they open the box. They might be able to trace the stolen goods to the owner and then the police will be able to piece together what happened.”
“Don’t forget you have to go to the station to look at mug shots and make that report.”
“That’s right, and we might find out more if I can identify the man who pointed that gun at me. I’ll do it tomorrow.”
* * *
When Ettie and Ava were approaching the police station the next day, they saw Sadie being walked into the station between two large police officers. Sadie had her head down and didn’t see them.
“I hope she’s all right. Do you think we should call her mudder?”
Ettie shook her head. “Nee, I don’t think Doris can take any more upsets.” Ettie sat down in a chair in the waiting area while Ava approached the officer at the desk to tell him why they were there. She was told that Detective Kelly was busy and they’d have to wait.
When Ettie saw that the officer didn’t even make a move to tell him they were there, she walked up to him. “Please do tell the detective that we’re here. I’m sure he’d like to know.”
The officer stared at Ettie for a moment and then said, “Very well. I’ll let him know.”
“Thank you kindly,” Ettie said before she took a seat.
It was another fifteen minutes before the detective came out to speak to Ettie. “I’m sorry to have kept you so long, Mrs. Smith, but I’ve been run off my feet.”
Ettie stood. “I saw Sadie being brought in. Is she all right?”
“We’re just asking her a few questions. We found her at a bus station; she was leaving town.”
“Could I speak to her?”
“I did ask if she wanted anyone present and she said no.”
“I’m sure she’d want me there. Would you ask her if I could sit by her?”
Detective Kelly put his hands on his hips, and his mouth downturned. “I guess I could ask her. She’s quite entitled to have someone with her at this stage, since she’s only here for questioning.”
“Thank you.”
The detective disappeared down the long corridor and a minute later, he beckoned Ettie from the corridor.
“I won’t be long,” Ettie said to Ava as she stood.
Ava replied, “Take your time; don’t mind me.”
Before Ettie entered the room where they were holding Sadie, the detective whispered to Ettie, “She says she has things to say that only a woman should hear.”
Ettie pursed her lips and nodded before she entered the room and sat next to Sadie.
“Ms. Hostetler, I’m going to have a female officer sit in. I’ll leave the room, but I’ll be outside listening and as I’ve already said we’ll be recording everything you say.”
Sadie’s mouth quivered as she nodded to the detective.
“Ms. Hostetler, the tape can’t pick up body language or gestures. I’ll say again, we’ll be recording everything you say. You’ve heard that, and you understand?”
“Yes, Detective Kelly, I understand,” Sadie said.
The detective continued, “I’ll fetch the officer now.”
When the detective walked out, Ettie grabbed Sadie’s hand. “Everything will be all right,” Ettie said.
Sadie put her other hand over Ettie’s and sniffed.
Detective Kelly returned with a young woman in a police uniform. “This is Officer Willis. Just tell her all that happened.”
The young policewoman sat opposite Ettie and Sadie.
Sadie looked up at the detective. “So Ettie can stay? I’d feel better if she did.”
“Yes, that’s why she’s here. And please, none of that Pennsylvania Dutch prattle, just speak in plain English.”
Sadie nodded, then said, “Yes, Detective Kelly.”
When the detective walked out, Ettie said, “Well?”
“I can barely speak. I haven’t spoken of this in years.”
Ettie waited in silence while Sadie composed herself.
“Would you like some water?” Officer Willis pushed a glass of water closer to her.
Sadie shook her head then stared at Ettie. “I’ll start at the beginning.”
“It’s always best to start there,” Ettie said.
“It was many years ago when I found out that Horace and I were expecting a child.”
Ettie gasped, felt her throat constrict; then she felt she would be sick.
“Ettie, you knew we weren’t real brother and sister, didn’t you?”
Ettie’s eyebrows flew up. She rubbed the side of her face. It had happened so long ago that she’d forgotten. The Hostetlers suddenly had a baby girl when Horace would’ve been just a baby himself. Horace and Sadie were the youngest of the children. The talk was that Sadie had been an unwanted baby from an unwed mother. She was raised along with their other children. “I knew, yes, I did, but it was so long ago. I had forgotten.” Ettie put her hand to her fluttering stomach. Horace had been engaged to Agatha.
Sadie kept her eyes focused on the desk as though she couldn’t look into the face of anyone who might judge her.
After clearing her throat and then taking a mouthful of water, Sadie continued, “He was to have gotten married to Agatha when we found out, and then he didn’t know what to do. He knew he should marry me for the sake of the child. He said he had to get away from the community to clear his head. Agatha followed him, not knowing why he’d left so suddenly. He must have told her the truth of it all because she came back to the community not long after.” She lifted her gaze to Ettie.
Ettie swallowed hard and tried to remain stony-faced. “Go on; what happened next?”
“While Horace was away, he went to work for a builder and he was a bad, bad man. I warned Horace – I just didn’t trust the man.”
“How did you know about him – the builder?”
“Just from things that Horace told me.”
“So, you met with Horace regularly after he left the community?”
“About once a week,” Sadie confessed. “After months went by, Horace still wouldn’t marry me. I knew he loved Agatha, but I was the one having his boppli.” Tears trickled down Sadie’s face.
“What happened then?” Ettie asked.
“I’ll go back before then. I guess that wasn’t the beginning. I’ll go back to the very beginning.” She cleared her throat again. “I was so young and was running around with Joshua Yoder, he said he wanted to marry me and we became secretly engaged. Then he told me days later he liked someone else.” She looked up at Ettie with tear-filled eyes. “Joshua Yoder ended the relationship with me and then only one week later, he announced his engagement to Peggy Schroder. Why was our engagement a secret, but with Peggy he announced it straight away? I told Horace about it; he was my closest friend. Horace was comforting me, one thing led to another…”
“Well, we don’t have to go into all that now,” Ettie said, not wanting to know all the intimate details of the indiscretion.
“Okay, but I though
t he loved me too, and then I found out that he didn’t love me either. I thought he had changed his mind about Agatha just as Joshua had changed his mind about me.” Sadie wiped her eyes.
Ettie wanted to say that Horace had crossed the line, especially when he was due to marry another. She shrugged off her judgmental thoughts. One indiscretion was as bad as another in God’s eyes – she knew that to be true. She resisted the urge to shake sense into Sadie, but it was too late for that. The situation explained why Agatha never married Horace – she must have found out.
Sadie continued, “I went away for the birth; I hid my pregnancy right up to that time. Horace was there; he stayed with me for a week after William was born. Then I told him he had a decision to make. And I thought… I honestly thought he would choose me, and our baby. I wanted us to be married, be a real family, and then go back home after a few months with William.”
Ettie wondered what had become of their baby.
Sadie looked down at her hands, which she was wringing in her lap. “Horace said he couldn’t marry me. He came up with the idea that he’d have someone look after the baby for six months and then I would take him back home with me saying it was a relative’s baby. I didn’t want it to be that way, but Horace didn’t care about that. He didn’t care about me, not as much as he cared about her.”
Ettie felt her pain, but even she didn’t believe her next words. “I’m sure he did.”
Sadie shook her head. “If he had, he would’ve married me. Nee, he wanted to be with Agatha – that was plain to see.”
“What became of William?” Ettie finally asked.
Sadie looked into Ettie’s face. “William is Bill Settler.”
Ettie gasped. She added up the ages, the years, and it all fit. It was all possible, but could it be true? “Mr. Settler senior and his wife adopted him, then?”
Sadie shook her head. “They stole him from me. They agreed to look after him for six months. That’s what the arrangement was, but then when Horace went to collect him after the six months was up they wouldn’t hand him over.”
Ettie took a deep breath. All this happened right under her nose all those years ago and she hadn’t known a thing about it. She’d always thought she knew all that happened in the community.
Secrets Come Home (Amish Mystery Suspense): Amish Murder Mystery (Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Book 1) Page 8