“You’re outside at the moment?”
“Of course I am. I thought I’d wait for you to turn up again. Unless you particularly want me to go home without you?”
“Damn…” I muttered under my breath.
This time Ida May and Hazel both poked their heads out of their respective doors.
“What’s up?” They asked in unison.
“Percy’s hanging around outside.”
Ida May shook her head in despair. “Well tell him to go away. We can’t have him ruining our stakeout.”
I nodded my agreement. “Listen, Percy, I need you to go back to your van and park it up behind Susan’s furniture store…”
“Why?” Percy sounded like he was at his wit’s end. “What’s going on?”
“We’re inside the store…”
“What? Well, why don’t you let me in?”
In the background, I could hear a few cars and a pony and buggy moving down the street around Percy. If the thief was watching the store, he almost certainly wouldn’t make his move while Percy was loitering around the front.
“Because we’re on a stakeout!”
“A stakeout? Without me? Well, I like that. Don’t you girls worry, you go off and have fun while I lug the heavy furniture around…”
“Please be quiet…”
“Why?”
“Because the thief might be nearby. He may be watching you.”
Percy paused. When he spoke again, there was a hint of panic in his voice: “Watching me?”
“Yes. Now go back to your van and park it up somewhere behind Susan’s furniture store. But keep hidden. We can’t run the risk of the thief recognizing our van…”
“My van!”
“Just do it Percy!”
He finally agreed and hung up the phone. As I slid the cellphone back into my pocket, I got the thumbs up from Ida May before both she and Hazel disappeared once more. And then I was left in the darkness with nothing but odd bits of furniture for company. Nothing but the sound of the wind in the trees and gentle clip-clopping of a horse and buggy as it passed by the front of the store.
I listened carefully as the sound disappeared off into the distance. It was like Jethro had said, the thief was unlikely to be one of the Amish community. After all, they don’t live for possessions like the rest of them. They live in isolation, without cellphones or the Internet or the distractions of the outside world…
I froze to the spot.
Unless of course…
The clip-clopping was back.
The pony and buggy had returned, only – this time – it was around the back of the store. It got closer and closer, louder and louder, until finally I heard a small grunt and the pony slowed to a halt.
Right outside the back door.
A pair of feet jumped down off the trap and moved slowly towards the back door. They paused for a moment, and then the door handle slowly turned and creaked quietly open.
A figure stepped out of the darkness. He didn’t look into the corner where I was hidden. He just moved a few feet into the store and raised a small flashlight up above his head. The light moved this way and that as the figure examined the furniture in front of him before, finally, he set the torch down and got to work hoisting the furniture out from amongst the rest.
It was then we struck.
I pushed the door closed with a rough shove of my shoulder. As the door snapped shut, the figure let go of the furniture and turned around to face me, his eyes wide in panic. A moment later, the whole room erupted into light as Ida May triggered the lamps up above us and – for a few seconds – we were all blinded by the brightness.
As our senses returned, I turned to the thief and shook my head in disappointment. The thief stared at me, frozen to the spot as he glared into my eyes.
I shook my head. “Jethro was right, Jebediah, you are a little difficult.”
I think Jebediah was going to say something, but whatever words he had in his head vanished in an instant as a large crash erupted from the far side of the store – the young lad practically jumped out his skin. I peered past his shoulders, although I don’t suppose I really needed to bother.
The sound of Hazel falling out of the wardrobe was so distinctive that there was no mistaking it…
Chapter Seventeen – The Thief’s Tale
I remained by the door, watching Jebediah like a hawk as Ida May scooted around to help Hazel off the floor.
“I’m alright,” she muttered, brushing dust and woodchips off her dress. “Now, who do we have…?” Her face fell as her eyes settled on the young Amish lad. “Jebediah, no…”
“I’m afraid so,” I replied. “It seems young Jebediah here has taken rumspringa to a whole new level…”
Hazel shook her head in dismay. “I can’t believe it. You seemed like such a nice boy. What would Charlotte say about this…?”
Jebediah spun around to face her, his eyes sparkling with fury.
“Don’t you understand?” he cried. “I’m doing this for Charlotte!”
“For Charlotte?” Hazel repeated. “She wouldn’t want you to do this…”
“I think,” Ida May interrupted, placing a calming hand on Hazel’s shoulder, “Jebediah had best explain exactly what’s been going on here.”
I nodded my agreement and turned to the thief.
“Well, Jebediah. The floor is yours.”
The Amish lad stared down at the floor for a long time, breathing heavily before he finally nodded his head and settled himself down on the edge of a table. He looked between the three of us, his eyes flashing towards the back door every so often before finally he began to speak:
“You don’t know what it’s like,” he muttered. “Being Amish. It’s alright for some. Most of them like the simple life – they think technology and convenience is just overrated, that it doesn’t make any difference to how happy your life is. But for the rest of us, it’s a nightmare.
“It would be alright if there was a bit of leeway. You know, if we could go out to the movie show every so often, or socialize with the girls around town – we’d be fine. But we can’t. You either have to live by the community’s rules or get out. There’s no middle ground – no room for negotiation.”
I nodded. “Some might say it’s a pure way to live your life…”
Jebediah scoffed and shook his head.
“It’s a prison sentence. Nothing more.”
“But you are on rumspringa,” Hazel replied, taking a step forward. “You have a chance to experience the outside world for a bit before you live that life. Is this what you chose to do with that freedom?”
“Rumspringa?” Jebediah repeated. “Do you really thing that made it easier for me? Do you really believe that, after being allowed to experience all this, that I could just go back to that simple way of life?”
“Why not?” fired back Ida May. “Others do it all the time.”
“I’m not like the others. It was because of rumspringa that I met Charlotte. And now I have to choose between her and my community…”
“But you have the choice,” Hazel replied. “You can choose to leave and be with her…”
“Choose to be cast away by my family, you mean? Choose to leave penniless and work my way up from nothing? What kind of a choice is that?”
“People do it all the time.”
I could tell Ida May had very little sympathy for the young man. Even as he explained his woes, her face became so twisted and disinterested that I wouldn’t have put it past her marching him to the police station by the scruff of the neck given half the chance.
“Is that why you stole the furniture?”
Jebediah turned his head to face me. Even now, I could see the first signs of tears in his eyes.
“I did it so I could get enough money to make a fresh start in life. So I could take care of Charlotte when I leave the community. If I didn’t do it, I would leave there with nothing. How could I look after myself, let alone Charlotte?”
“How did you do it?” I asked, cutting Ida May off in mid-rant. “What gave you the idea?”
Jebediah stared back down at the ground.
“I was delivering furniture one morning when I heard Susan telling Betty off for not locking the door. They were saying that the alarm wasn’t working properly and kept going off at random times, but there was never anyone in the store. So, the next night, I decided to pop round. You’ve got to believe me, I was never going to break in if the door was locked. But it wasn’t. So, I headed home and, the next day, I came back with my cart. I was only going to steal some money out of the till – just enough that they wouldn’t notice – but when I got here and found the door unlocked again, it got me wondering.
“If I took back the furniture and then sold it back to them the following week, Susan would be none the wiser. I’d get a nice little earning and Susan and Uncle Jethro would never know that anything had happened.”
He sighed deeply, risking a glance up at my eyes before hurriedly returning them to the floor. “I came back three times – each time the back door was unlocked. The alarm only went off a couple of times and both times no one came to investigate so I didn’t think it was causing them much problems…”
“But it was,” Hazel replied. “Gary is looking at putting up a second mortgage thanks to you. If you carry on, they’ll be bankrupt…”
“I didn’t know…”
“Well, you do now,” Ida May replied, ignoring the remorse on his face. “And the only thing left for us to do is to turn you in.”
Jebediah’s eyes glistened with tears as he glanced up at her.
“What? You mean the police?”
Ida May nodded. “You’ve committed a crime, Jebediah. You have to pay for it.”
The young man shook his head slowly. “I can’t do that…”
Before any of us had a chance to react, he leapt to his feet and rushed straight towards me. I barely had a chance to scream before he clattered into me and sent me sprawling on to the floor amongst a collection of stools. As my body hit the ground, I heard the door fly open and I could only watch as Jebediah disappeared out into the darkness…
“Woah there…”
There was an almighty crash and the sound of a furious cry outside. I scrambled to my feet and made my way to the door, only to find that Ida May had beaten me to it. We raced out into the street behind and paused to find Jebediah lying sprawled on the floor with Percy standing over him. As we stared down, Percy raised his hand defensively and took a careful step back.
“It’s not how it looks,” he said quickly. “The young lad came racing out the back door just as I came to check how you girls were doing.” He turned to the boy lying on the floor. “It’s dangerous to run around like that in the dark. He ran right into my van.”
The three of us burst out laughing, Ida May most of all.
“Oh, Butch,” she giggled. “You really are one of us after all.”
I don’t think Percy knew what she was talking about.
Chapter Eighteen – Susan and Gary Make Amends
“I’m still not entirely sure I understand.”
The police were still dealing with Jebediah as we quickly explained what had happened to Susan and Gary, who were both still in their nightwear having raced down the moment we called them.
“Jebediah was able to steal furniture from you by night and sell it back to you at some later point,” I explained.
Ida May took up the explanation from there – with a little help from Hazel:
“He was able to get in because Betty kept leaving the back door unlocked…”
“Although she didn’t do it on purpose…”
“And he kept getting away with it because no one was checking every time the alarm went off…”
“Which wasn’t Betty’s fault either!”
“Which is why your inventory wasn’t matching up with the accounts. You were basically paying for the same furniture twice. Half the time it was going to Jethro and the other half into Jebediah’s pocket…”
“Which we wouldn’t have worked out if it hadn’t been for Betty forgetting to lock the back door…”
Ida May bit her lip. “Quite.”
Susan and Gary exchanged glances before she nodded.
“I see,” she said. “And Jebediah was doing all this for love?”
“That – and greed…” muttered Ida May.
“But mostly love,” Hazel interrupted. “Which is kinda sweet when you think about it…”
Susan nodded again. “Yes, I guess it is in a way…”
A little way behind her, the police deputy led Jebediah back through the shop towards the back door. As he reached the door, Susan jumped to her feet and called out for them to stop. She moved swiftly across the store and looked Jebediah square in the eyes.
“You did this for that girl you’ve been seeing?”
Jebediah looked genuinely ashamed. “Yes, ma’am.”
Susan blinked a couple of times. “In that case you can work in my store until you’ve earned what you stole. And then I want you to make your own way…”
Gary leapt to his feet in an instant. “Susan, is that wise?”
“If I can hire Betty, then I can hire Jebediah,” she replied, turning to the deputy. “Let the boy go.”
I don’t think Ida May approved. But then again – Ida May doesn’t approve of much anyway.
****
The following morning, after staying at a local bed and breakfast, we loaded up into Percy’s van and began the long drive back home. As we reached the outskirts of town, we passed a small pony and buggy heading out towards the Amish settlement. In the front sat Jebediah, holding Charlotte's hand as she sat next to him. He waved happily at us as we drove by and most of us waved back – I think you can guess who didn’t.
“What a waste of a case,” Ida May muttered as we headed down the long route home.
“How so?” Hazel asked. “We solved it, didn’t we?”
“Barely,” Ida May replied. “And the criminal got let off scot free. Where’s the justice in that?”
“Oh, I doubt he’s going to have an easy time of it, Ida May,” I said confidently. “Leaving your family is never going to be easy…”
“Why not? I did it four times…”
I chuckled but Ida May hadn’t met it as a joke. She turned her gaze out to the vast landscape of fields that seemed to stretch off into the distance, and sighed.
“It just doesn’t feel like a real case, that’s all…”
Percy cleared his throat. “In that case, I guess you won’t want the furniture then…”
An immediate change came over Ida May. “No, I didn’t say that…”
“Or your chicken, Hazel?”
“Hey, don’t bring my chickens into this. I’m not the one saying we didn’t solve a case…”
Percy slammed on the brakes so hard that only our seatbelts prevented us from flying right into the front of the van. He turned to Hazel, a murderous glint in his eye as he breathed deeply.
“Chickens?” he said through gritted teeth. “You said there weren’t any chickens!”
“No,” Hazel replied, waggling her finger at him. “No, that’s not what I said at all. I said, I swear a chicken is not in the back of your van! A chicken is not in the back of your van…”
“Then how do you account for the chicken poop?”
“There are two chickens in the back of the van.”
“Oh perfect,” Percy replied, bashing his hand against the steering wheel. “Two lots of chicken poop in my van. How do you suggest I’m going to solve that problem, Hazel?”
Hazel thought for a moment before answering. “Play a game of chicken-poop bingo?”
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we never
mention chickens to Percy anymore.
*****
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The We’re Not Dead Yet Club
Fetch a Pail of Murder
Wedding Bells and Death Knells
Murder or Bust
Witchy Women of Coven Grove Series
The Witching on the Wall
A Witching Well of Magic
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Witching Your Life Away
Witching You Wouldn’t Go
Witching for a Miracle
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A Hair Raising Blowout
Wash, Rinse, Die
Holiday Hooligans
Color Me Dead
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Pinched, Pilfered and a Pitchfork (We're Not Dead Yet Club Book 4) Page 8