"You're kidding, right?" Jakob's voice was loud.
"Nee, I am not." Isobel made her voice as firm as she could. She saw that Jakob's face had turned a particularly unpleasant shade of red. She almost expected steam to come out of his ears. "And now, if you will excuse me," she continued, "I will travel to the cemetery with my familye."
Isobel walked toward her parents' buggy, hoping that Jakob would not follow her. As she turned her back to Jakob, a strong, chill wind blew the leaves off the tall oak trees outside the haus. Isobel turned her head away in the direction of the field to avoid the frigid breeze. As soon as she turned her head, her heart stopped. There, leaning against a bare, winter tree was a tall Englischer in a black suit, white shirt, and black tie. It was Detective Peter Stutzman.
From across the road, he stared directly into Isobel’s eyes. His gaze was so intense that it made Isobel uncomfortable, but she could not look away, try as she might. Her heart raced frantically. Has he been watching me this whole time? she asked herself. His penetrating gaze never wavered for a second. She shivered, but it was not from the chill winter breeze; she was reeling from the effects of Peter Stutzman's powerful gaze.
John 1: 1 - 5.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Chapter 12.
The coffin was placed in the hearse, which looked similar to a normal buggy, only it was bigger, box-like, and rectangular. It led a long line of buggies out to the Amish cemetery, one of around twenty in the county.
When Isobel joined her parents in the familye buggy, her mind was still across the field with Peter. She engaged in conversation, yet with a sense of detachment. Her life had been calm and quiet, but now it was as if she were caught in a fast river and she was hard put just to keep afloat.
As her parents drove to the little cemetery, Isobel spoke up. "I've broken up with Jakob."
"Gut, gut," her mudder said quietly.
Isobel looked up, surprised. Her mudder hadn't wanted her to date Jakob? They had never spoken about it. Isobel was relieved.
As soon as Isobel hopped down from the warmth of the buggy, she was startled by a voice behind her. “Are you ready?”
Isobel whipped her head around to see Jakob standing behind her, his hands behind his back, and a serious look on his face.
“You’re here,” she said, turning to face him, surprised.
“Jah, why wouldn't I be?” He raised his eyebrows.
Isobel groaned inwardly. Was Jakob going to pretend that they were still dating, as if she hadn't meant what she had said? Isobel turned back to her mudder, and took her arm. Her mudder caught on at once, and promptly led Isobel away from Jakob.
The grave had already been dug by hand by menner of the community. The pale, stone tombstones were small and all of equal size. As this was an older cemetery, some of the stones had German writing on them, but most were in English. Each stone stated the deceased's name, as well as their birth date, date of death, and their age in years, months and days. There were no flowers in Amish cemeteries.
Everyone bowed their heads for the silent prayer, The Lord’s Prayer, but before Isobel closed her eyes, she looked around for Peter. All she could see were bare trees that flanked the cemetery, their branches white with snow, and the tall grain silos in the distance.
The coffin was placed in the 'rough box,' an outer wood structure. The pallbearers, four widowed menner, lowered the coffin into the grave by ropes, and then the pallbearers and the familye filled the grave with dirt as the bishop read a hymn. Again, as was the custom, there was no singing. The bishop read part of Hymn 21 from the Ausbund:
The people were surprised. They said, "What is this? They go to death willingly, even though they could be free." Gotthard answered, “We do not die. Death just leads us to heaven where we shall be with all of God's children. We have this as our sure hope. Therefore we enter the gates of death with joy.”
The service at the graveside was as short as the funeral service had been long, and before long, Isobel was traveling back to the Stutzmans' haus for the funeral meal.
Isabel and her mudder had spent the previous afternoon baking, and had delivered the food that morning, before the funeral service in the Stutzman haus. By the time they reached the haus, the food was already laid out: cold beef, chicken pieces, mashed potatoes, gravy, coleslaw, pepper cabbage, freshly baked bread, applesauce, cheese, and the raisin-laden funeral pie, as well as the hard funeral biscuits, cookies made from caraway seeds, sugar, butter, flour, and pearl ash.
Once inside, Isobel took off her coat and followed her mudder into the living room, where several members of the community had already gathered and were sipping hot meadow tea.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” Isobel said to her mudder, once they were settled inside. As she made her way upstairs to the bathroom, she looked around for Jakob, but to her relief, he was nowhere in sight. Perhaps he had really gotten her message when she had spoken to him sternly after the service, or perhaps he was so angry that he didn’t want to cause a scene in front of everyone. Regardless of what was going in his head, she was grateful that it was finally over between them.
After Isobel left the bathroom, she headed back down the stairs to rejoin her mudder. As she was at the end of the corridor and just about to turn the corner, a hand seized her arm and pulled her into a dark room. She was about to scream when a voice whispered, “It’s okay; it's me, Peter,” in her ear. Her knees went weak with relief - for a moment, she had thought it was the mann she had seen fleeing from the Old Candle Store.
“Come with me,” he said, before he opened the door, peeped around the corner, and pulled her back into the corridor behind him.
Peter led her back down the corridor, and down another set of stairs that led to the laundry room. "Sorry about that, but we need to talk in private," he said.
"You scared me!" Isobel had not meant her tone to come out as such an accusation, but she truly had been sacred.
Peter looked contrite. "I'm sorry," he said, "but it was unavoidable. I just needed to take you away from there, because I have some further information, and I can’t be seen talking to you."
Isobel was breathing heavily and shaking. The laundry room was freezing. She cast a glance around it. It was clearly used for canning as well as laundry. An old hand-cranked wringer-washer stood in one corner, next to a more modern wringer-washer that was run by a little diesel motor. The exhaust pipe ran out the open window.
Peter must have followed her gaze, for he at once moved to the window, removed the exhaust pipe, and shut the window. Peter took off his jacket and wrapped it around Isobel. She shook even harder from his nearness, but snuggled into the comforting warmth of his jacket. It smelled like him, all woodsy cedar and sandalwood soap.
Isobel had never wished that Peter were Amish more fervently than she did at this moment. She longed for him to pull her into his arms, and she wondered once again what the sweet taste of his lips on hers would be like. Isobel shook her head as if to clear such thoughts.
Could Peter ever return to the Amish? That was their only hope of any future together, assuming he wanted one too, of course. Isobel suppressed a giggle. She was getting way ahead of herself here. Isobel thought this over for a moment, and then remembered why they were there. "What did you have to tell me?" she asked.
Peter looked a little embarrassed. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but you were right after all. You did see Raines. Our investigation has turned up some information about his lawyer. Turns out that his lawyer isn’t the fine, upstanding citizen that everyone thought."
"I told you I saw Raines," Isobel said triumphantly, but then added, "What does this mean, for me?"
"I don’t know at this stage." Pe
ter's eyes crinkled up at the corners with concern. "It should be fine, so long as the lawyer doesn't find out that we're onto him. You should be safe from Raines so long as he thinks we're buying his alibi."
"And if he doesn't?"
An unmistakable look of concern passed over Peter's face. "Well, you just let me worry about that."
John 11: 25 - 26.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Chapter 13.
Isobel thought that over. She was enjoying her talk with Peter, despite the circumstances. He made her heart tremble, and caused a thousand butterflies to churn around in her stomach.
Isobel pulled Peter's coat more tightly around her. It comforted her, although she did not know if she should be wearing Englisch clothes, so cast her gaze around the room in her nervousness. She noticed clothes strewn about the tiny room and clothes in the sink. There were Englischer clothes hanging from pegs to dry.
“Are you staying here, with your parents?”
“Jah," Peter said, and then stopped speaking when Isobel gasped at his use of Pennsylvania Dutch. He shrugged and then continued. "Only until this matter is all sorted out. I'm closer to your house should anything happen."
"I didn’t know, until I heard today, that you still spoke to your parents." Peter looked uncomfortable, so Isobel at once apologized. "Please forgive me; I shouldn't have said anything. It's none of my business."
Peter shook his head. "It’s all right. After Adrian’s death, I didn’t speak to my parents for some years. I feel so bad about it now; it was as if they lost both their kinner. It used to be hard for me to be around my parents. I couldn't get over the fact that not only had they forgiven Adrian’s killer, but they pleaded for him to be placed in juvenile detention instead of going to jail. They said that he needed rehabilitation. My bruder was dead because of that young mann and my parents begged for leniency. Of course, I was told at the time that he had not meant to kill my bruder, but had struck at him while trying to escape, but I was too full of bitterness. My bruder was gone, and that’s all that counted.”
Isabel heard not only the hurt, but also the anger in Peter’s voice. Now she was witnessing first hand just how much his bruder's death had affected him. She wanted to hold him, hug him, comfort him, and show him how much she cared, but of course it was not her place. Instead she asked, “Is that why you became a detective?”
Peter nodded. "Yes, it was. I believed that criminals needed to pay for what they had done. That young mann ripped my familye apart. I joined the police with the intention of bringing everyone I could to justice. I was a very angry mann back then."
For a brief moment they were both were quiet. "And now?" Isobel asked. "Can you find it in your heart to forgive him?"
Peter opened his mouth to reply, but the words never came, for at that moment, they were interrupted by an angry voice.
“Isobel! Are you in there?” Isobel jumped at the sound of Jakob’s demanding and hostile tone. Jakob burst through the door. “I've been searching for you for a long time.”
"We have nothing to speak about." Isobel's voice was firm.
Jakob looked taken aback, and looked Peter up and down, before turning to Isobel. "You should not be in a room alone with a mann."
Peter calmly pulled out his badge and held it up to Jakob. "Police business," he said dryly.
Isobel was upset, upset with Jakob for humiliating her, and upset that he had interrupted the important conversation she was having with Peter.
Isobel handed Peter's coat back to him, and hurried through the door, with Jakob trailing along behind her. “I was starting to get worried,” Jakob said, his voice harsh.
Isabel turned around and faced him squarely. "How dare you, Jakob; how dare you spy on me, and how dare you speak to me like you did! I told you, it’s over between us! Don’t you dare ever follow me again - do you hear me?" With that, she stomped her foot, and hurried back down the corridor.
Matthew 4: 4.
But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Chapter 14.
Isobel drove Blessing to Melissa's haus. She had not seen much of her friend of late, apart from the recent funeral and the Sunday church meeting. When Isobel had worked at the Old Candle Store, she and Melissa had met at least once a week for lunch, although it was often more frequently. How her world had been turned upside down in such a short space of time! She remembered the Scripture in the book of James that said, "You do not know what tomorrow will bring." How right that is, she said to herself.
As Isabel approached a little lane running off the main road, she debated whether to turn off or take the road directly ahead. The black clouds were rolling in thick and fast, signaling that a storm was brewing. The wind was picking up, and Isabel thought perhaps she should stay on the main road for once. Both roads were of equal length, but the little lane was far more picturesque. It was a narrow lane that the Englischers did not take, much less know about, but today, there would be no point in taking the scenic route. Isabel just wanted to get to Melissa's, and fast before the storm came. Little pieces of sleet were already biting into her face.
Isobel made to go past the lane when, much to her shock, Blessing suddenly reared. Before Isobel could think what to do, he spun on his haunches, turned sharply, and bolted away from the road and down the little lane. Isobel fought for control, and managed to stop him soon enough, under the spreading but bare branches of a massive white oak tree on the top of a little hill.
"Whoa, whoa, Blessing. Whatever has gotten into you? You've never done that before." Isobel was trembling.
Blessing snorted and stamped his foot. Isobel held him still for a moment under the shelter of the tree, to calm him, but at that moment, saw a car traveling slowly on the road below. Isobel peered through the stinging sleet. The car was going slowly, much more slowly than a car would normally go. The weather wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't bad enough to cause a driver to go anywhere near that slowly. It was a black car, with tinted windows, so she was unable to see anyone inside.
Had the car been following her? Did the driver think she was still just ahead? If Blessing hadn't bolted, she would in fact have been on that very road, just ahead of the car.
Isobel shuddered violently. She shook the reins and pushed Blessing on as fast as she dare go, and headed straight for Melissa's haus.
Isobel drove straight through the wide doors of the large barn and unharnessed Blessing, who appeared to have calmed down and was back to his usual self. Isobel put him in a stall next to Melissa and Victor's buggy horse, Herman. The two whinnied happily at each other.
Isobel took Blessing's dark green, heavy stable blanket out of the buggy, and then hesitated for a moment before deciding that the blanket was sufficient. Had Blessing been outside, he would have needed his thick, turnout, winter waterproof blanket, but the barn was snug and warm. Isobel was trembling so much from the encounter with the car, that she had trouble doing up the dees on the blanket.
Isobel had sewn a pocket into her dress to hold the cell phone. As a rule, Amish did not have pockets, but she had to keep the cell phone on her at all times. It was well out of sight, under her over-apron.
Isobel now took the phone out of her pocket and looked at it. Should she call Peter? She wanted to, even if just to hear his voice, but then silently scolded herself. The cell phone was strictly for police business, to be used only if she was threatened or felt under threat. Still, Peter had insisted that she call him, even if something only slightly suspicious had happened.
Isobel had never used a cell phone before. As she slid her thumb across the bottom of the screen just as Peter had showed her, and then pressed his name in Favorites, she sent up a silent prayer to Gott to apologize for the thrill that using the phone had giv
en her.
Peter answered at once. "Are you in danger?" he barked.
"Nee, nee." Isobel hurried to reassure him. "I didn’t know whether to call you or not, but I've just arrived at my friend Melissa's haus and I think I was followed."
"You were followed there?" Peter's tone was urgent.
"Nee, nee," Isobel said again. "I turned off into a lane and the car went straight ahead."
Peter let out a long sigh of clear relief. "Are you sure they didn’t see you?'
"Jah, as sure I can be. I actually didn’t intend to drive down the lane, and I was going straight ahead, but my horse took fright and suddenly turned down the lane and galloped for a bit, until I could stop him. I held him still under a tree to calm him, and that’s when I saw the car on the lower road. It was going very slowly, as slowly as someone who thought they were following a buggy would go."
"Description?"
Isobel scratched her head. "It was a big, black car, with dark windows."
"Tinted windows?"
"Jah, very dark, I couldn’t see anyone inside."
"And I suppose you were too far away to make out the plates?"
"Jah." Isobel at once felt a little silly for calling Peter. "Peter, I'm sorry I called you."
"Not at all." Peter's voice was firm. "I would’ve been very upset if you hadn't called me. Do me a favor, would you?"
"What?"
Peter chuckled. "You're supposed to say 'yes,' not 'what'."
Isobel smiled, her stomach doing flips at Peter's laugh. "Nee, I don’t know what the favor is yet."
Peter's voice reverted to seriousness. "Call me one hour before you leave Melissa's, and I want you to drive one of their horses home. Leave Blessing there."
Isobel was puzzled. "Sure, I'll call you, but why ever not drive Blessing home?"
The Amish Buggy Horse BOXED SET Books 1-3 (Amish Romance Book Bundle: Faith, Hope, Charity) (Boxed Set: The Amish Buggy Horse) Page 20