Plain Refuge

by Janice Kay Johnson

  “A bonnet,” the young deputy said, holding it out. “One strap is torn off. I didn’t see this from the car.”

  It was black, the kind of bonnet any respectable Amish woman wore when out in public. Picturing rough hands ripping it from her head, Daniel said tensely, “Start canvassing. Go back as far as the river. Let’s hope we find some people who were outside and noticed passing vehicles. I’ll bring in help.”

  He allowed Paul Glick to unhitch Anna Lantz’s mare and tie her to his buggy. He would detour to take the horse home, he promised, before he and his wife continued into town. Daniel walked a few feet away and made his calls to bring in every possible deputy and volunteer.

  Knowing how much he had to do, he still stood beside his car for a minute, paralyzed with fear for Rebecca. The Lantz home wasn’t a mile from Amos and Barbara’s. That suggested the hunt was closing in. Daniel wanted her out of there.

  Not Matthew, at least not yet. One more Amish boy would pass unnoticed, once his mother wasn’t in the picture. The kid today wouldn’t have been grabbed, and probably not the woman alone, either. It was the combination that had put them in danger.

  We’ll never find them in time. No wonder Rebecca hadn’t wanted to give up her bargaining chips.

  And that was when he had a lightbulb moment.

  He couldn’t get away himself, so he called a deputy whose shift hadn’t yet started. After that, he drove to the Lantz home, passing Paul’s buggy on the way.

  Out in a field, two men seemed to be inspecting the enormous bales of hay, but both turned to look when the marked police car drove up the driveway. As he came to a stop, one of the two strode across the field toward him. Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel saw that a heavy, older woman had stepped out onto the porch with a toddler on her hip.

  Being the bearer of bad news was a part of the job Daniel couldn’t push onto others, but he hated it nonetheless.

  The man, no older than Daniel himself, had wheat-colored hair and beard. Daniel took a few steps to meet him. “Eli Lantz?”

  Worry filled the blue eyes. “Ja, I’m Eli.”

  “Mr. Lantz, one of my deputies found your wife’s horse and buggy abandoned on the road this side of the river. Paul Glick and his wife came along. He’s bringing the horse to you. You can retrieve the buggy later.” After Daniel’s one crime-scene technician had gone over it. “He says Anna had your son Luke with her.”

  Eli nodded, his gaze straying to the woman and child on the porch. “The little one stayed home.”

  “I’ve received no word from emergency services, and the hospital and medical clinic have both promised to let me know if an Amish woman or child is brought in by anyone. Failing that—” he hesitated “—I have to worry that Anna and your boy have been abducted.”

  Eli called, “Mamm!”

  The older woman hurried from the porch.

  Soon the other man was approaching, as well.

  Daniel explained the situation again to all of them, then asked Eli to go to the nearest phone shanty and check for messages. The families nearby always shared an answering machine as well as the phone.

  “Ja, ja,” he said, and ran. But only minutes later he returned, shaking his head. “No messages at all.”

  “Keep checking every once in a while,” he advised.

  Daniel didn’t want to tell them the possible connection to Rebecca and Matthew yet. The implications were too ominous. What would happen when Tim or Josh saw that the wrong mother and son had been snatched? She’d all too likely seen the faces of her abductors. And the boy was old enough to be able to describe their captors. These men weren’t likely to guess the Amish wouldn’t go to the police if she and the boy were immediately released, uninjured.

  Were those bastards cold-blooded enough to murder a young mother and child inadvertently caught up in their hunt for Rebecca?

  * * *

  REBECCA MASHED POTATOES while Barbara took sourdough biscuits from the oven. As they prepared the midday meal, Caleb and Matthew contentedly sat at the table drawing pictures and giggling at each other’s efforts.

  Both women turned in surprise when Amos walked in the back door. He had gone out to feed their two horses only a minute ago.

  “Rebecca,” he said, expression grave, “komm. I must speak to you.”

  Alarmed, she followed him to the living room without argument.

  “Harvey Zook’s boy, Mark, just ran over.” His accent had thickened, making the “just” more of a “chust.” “A sheriff’s deputy came to his house, says Daniel asked him to pick you up. Wants you to pack a change of clothes and sneak with Mark back to the sheriff’s office. Says he needs you to do something, and that maybe you not being near Matthew right now would be good.”

  She listened to this speech, heart drumming. The Zooks’ farm was probably half a mile down the road. “Something happened. This Mark doesn’t know what?”

  “No, but my nephew would not ask this without reason.”

  Even through her panic, she noted his calm faith in Daniel. A bridge, indeed. “No,” she said. “I mean, yes. Okay.” She drew a steadying breath. “I’ll go pack some things into my duffel. Where’s Mark?”

  “The barn. He came in the back, so he would not be seen.”

  She ran upstairs, stuffed another of her plain dresses into the duffel, as well as the limited wardrobe with which she’d begun her journey.

  Matthew took the news well. He held her only a little longer than usual when she hugged him. Then she hugged Barbara and hustled out the back door with Amos before she burst into tears.

  * * *

  IT WAS A huge relief to crawl out of the police car. Of course, she’d had to lie on the backseat, behind the grill. The car rode a whole lot better than the buggy, and moved faster, too, but the upholstery stank, an awful mix of cleansers and something really gross. She found herself staring at stains, too.

  Annoyingly, the young deputy refused to tell her why he had been sent to pick her up. Maybe he didn’t know. When he helped her out and she discovered he had pulled right up to the back door of the sheriff’s department, she asked, “Do people throw up in your backseat?”

  He flushed, making him look about sixteen. “Uh...yes, ma’am. I’ve even had drunks, uh...” He thought better of what he’d almost said, but Rebecca could fill in the rest. She desperately wanted to scrub herself, head to foot.

  He did allow her to detour into a restroom and wash her face with a paper towel, then her hands. She almost went back out, but instead locked herself in a stall and changed to her alternate dress and apron. She needed to stay plain until she knew what Daniel needed, but at least she felt almost clean now.

  She was tying her apron when a knock came on the door.

  “Ma’am? Are you all right?”

  She jammed the clothes she’d just shed in the duffel bag, zipped it and opened the door. “No, I didn’t squeeze through that tiny window and make a getaway,” she said drily.

  He blushed again. “I didn’t mean...uh... I never thought...”

  How on earth did this poor boy ever make an arrest? Or did he believe she was Amish and therefore had delicate sensibilities?

  He handed her over with obvious relief to a receptionist, who introduced herself as Melissa Sue and ushered her into a conference room.

  “Sheriff says he’ll get here when he can. He doesn’t want anyone to see you, so if you don’t mind...” She looked uncomfortable.

  “Don’t stick my head out?”

  “Something like that.”

  She did bring Rebecca a can of pop and a small bag of peanuts in case she was hungry, then left her alone.

  * * *

  DANIEL HAD DRIVEN back to the scene of the abduction, where he started knocking on doors himself. Even the make of the vehicle would give them
something to go on. Nobody had had reason to note a license-plate number, and out-of-state plates were commonplace around here because of tourism, but there might have been something distinctive about the vehicle—a bumper sticker, damage from an accident. Anything.

  What they got was nothing. Not a single person along the road had happened to be working in a field close enough to notice traffic.

  “Ach,” said one Amish woman with a shrug, “cars pass all the time, and buggies, too. If someone doesn’t turn up to our house...”

  Finally he let everyone know he was returning to the station. Anna and Luke Lantz had only one hope: Rebecca.

  He found her stashed in one of the small conference rooms. Hand on the knob, he paused for a minute, looking through the wire-mesh window. She sat at one end of the table with a book open in front of her, but she wasn’t reading. Instead, she gazed straight ahead, toward a wall that held nothing but a blank whiteboard.

  Her head turned when she heard the door opening. Worried blue eyes met his.

  “Sorry to put you through that,” he said. “I know you had to hike cross-country again, but I didn’t want a deputy seen stopping too close to Amos’s.”

  The sound she made was something like pfft. “It was nothing. As your uncle said, you wouldn’t have sent for me without good reason.”

  “He said that?” Maybe he shouldn’t be surprised, but Daniel was.

  Rebecca smiled and nodded, although the smile disappeared too quickly, her eyes searching his face. “You don’t look good. What happened?”

  “An Amish woman and boy were abducted this morning,” he said bluntly. He went on to explain about the buggy and horse abandoned on a road and that Anna Lantz at least superficially resembled Rebecca, as her boy did Matthew. “Her bonnet had been ripped off—we found it in the ditch—probably so that whoever grabbed her could see her face better.”

  “Oh, dear God,” Rebecca whispered.

  “Nobody saw what happened. That stretch of road isn’t in sight of any house. A few people along the road have noticed slow cars lately, but figured tourists were out looking for Amish or were just lost. So far, we haven’t found a trace.”

  She stiffened, anger transforming her face as she thought about the woman and boy who had been taken in place of her and her son.

  “You brought me here to call Tim.”

  He should have expected her to make that leap, and knew she would have offered if he hadn’t thought to ask.

  “Yes.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  DANIEL WISHED THERE was a plan C, one that didn’t put Rebecca right in the bull’s-eye. The very blackmail he suggested hadn’t worked to hold off her enemies, but he prayed it would save two lives.

  Fortunately, he’d already purchased a cheap phone loaded with minutes, and his intention was to persuade Amos to let her carry it. He’d meant to give it to her this evening.

  He bounded upstairs to get the phone, grateful he had charged it last night, knowing that Rebecca would have no way to do so at the Troyers’.

  After handing it to her, he drew up the chair beside her. “I won’t ask you to put the phone on speaker, because he’d be able to tell and wonder who else was listening.”

  Not even blinking, she nodded.

  He bent forward to kiss her cheek. “You know his number?”

  “Yes. But what if he isn’t carrying his cell?”

  “He was until not long ago. Estevez spoke to him. Tim was evasive about his whereabouts, implied he was away on business.”

  “Wait. Can’t you use the GPS in his phone to find him?”

  “Estevez is getting a warrant to do that. Griffen’s phone, too.”

  They talked for a minute about what she should say. Then she took a deep breath, murmured, “Okay,” more to herself than him and dialed.

  Looking tense, she waited through the rings followed by a message Daniel could hear. “Call me.”

  “This is Rebecca. I have something important to tell you. You need to call me. The number is—”

  Daniel slid a piece of paper with a phone number written on it in front of her.

  She read it aloud and ended the call. Her hand shook as she set down the phone. “He didn’t answer,” she said unnecessarily. “Should I try Josh?”

  He took a hand that was ice-cold into his, rubbing to try to restore her circulation. “No. Now we wait.”

  “Do you think he knows Detective Estevez came here?”

  “I doubt it, but even if he does he can’t know you’ve already handed over that damn wallet, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  Rebecca nodded, her gaze staying fixed on the phone. They waited in near silence, Daniel willing Gregory to have heard the ring, to be checking his messages.

  Not even five minutes had passed when the phone rang. Rebecca jerked. “It’s him.”

  “Okay.” He laid his hand on her back, moving it in gentle circles. “You can do this.”

  * * *

  HIS STEADY VOICE and gaze, his confidence—confidence in her—had a calming effect. She wouldn’t let him down—or Anna and Luke Lantz.

  Rebecca fixed her eyes on Daniel’s as she answered. “Tim.”

  “You know I didn’t mean to hurt you when I was helping you into the car, don’t you?” Contrition and sincerity rang in Tim’s voice. “I lost my temper and screwed up again. But, damn it, Rebecca, all I want is to see my son!”

  “Really?” She spoke coldly. “Somehow, I doubt that’s all you want.”

  “Where are you?”

  “You think I’m going to tell you?” She hoped her laugh was as jagged as broken glass.

  “If you’ll just hand over the things you took from me, let me see you and Matthew, give him a hug.”

  She might have been touched if she didn’t remember all too clearly what had happened outside the hospital.

  “Here’s the deal,” she said crisply. “An Amish woman was kidnapped this morning along with her son. I’m told she looks like me, and her son is about Matthew’s age and coloring.”

  “I don’t know what you’re—”

  “I think you do.”

  Daniel nodded encouragement.

  “Why would I—” Tim tried.

  Rebecca interrupted again without compunction. “If she and her son are not released, alive and well, in the next hour, I will hand over Steven’s ring and wallet to the police. The county sheriff has already been in touch with Detective Estevez after your attempt to force Matthew and me into your car. He doesn’t know the whole story, but he will if Anna Lantz and her son aren’t released.”

  “But I don’t know anything about them!” Panic infused her ex-husband’s voice.

  “Find out,” she said flatly. “I will promise that, if they are uninjured, they won’t go to the law. The Amish don’t, except in the case of serious crimes.” Like kidnapping, but she didn’t say that. “Whoever took her doesn’t need to worry if she or her little boy saw faces.”

  “How can you accuse me—”

  “One hour, Tim.” She ended the call, dropped the phone and let out a shuddering breath.

  “Well done.” Daniel’s big, warm hand moved up to her nape. When she let her head fall forward, he kneaded until she had to stifle a moan. His hands moved on, working her shoulders, until she felt so limp she wasn’t sure she could lift her head at all.

  But at last, with a sigh, she made herself straighten and, to her regret, Daniel’s hands left her.

  “Do you think it will work?” she asked—no, begged.

  “I think what you just did is Anna’s and Luke’s best chance.”

  Only chance was what he meant. Fear curling in her stomach, she said, “What if Tim was telling the truth when he claimed not to know anything about them?”
r />   “He’ll call his partner and deliver the message.”

  She shivered. “This is a nightmare. It’s completely insane! These are businessmen. Pictures of them make it into the newspaper when they attend a charity event. How can they be willing to kidnap and maybe even kill to protect...what?”

  “My guess is that they stumbled into this. One or both got an idea of how they could short the third partner, maybe keep salaries down company-wide while padding their own income, just by tallying up some extra expenses. It could be Josh was the one doing the financial tricks, but Tim found out and he let him in. More likely, the two of them dreamed it up. It might have even seemed harmless. It was their own company, after all.”

  “Not quite. They were all equal partners, which means Steven owned a third.”

  Daniel probably had other things he should be doing—he’d silenced his phone twice in the last five minutes—but he didn’t make any move to leave. Instead, he asked, “Did Tim like Stowe?”

  “Originally, he must have. But by the time we were married...no. Steven did come off as arrogant, although I used to wonder if that wasn’t a cover for major insecurities. He had a lousy childhood. And, yes, he did make sure everyone noticed his Harvard ring, and that they knew he was the money man for G, G & S. I had the feeling he and Tim had a sort of mutual-resentment thing going. Tim because Steven was an Ivy League grad, Steven because he thought Tim had grown up privileged and spoiled.”

  “And Josh?”

  She hesitated. “Tim implied that both of them found Steven irritating, but that’s secondhand. We socialized more with Josh than Steven, but I never felt like I really knew Josh. Steven and I would talk sometimes, but if only Josh was over, the minute we finished dinner he and Tim would close themselves in his office or the media room.”

  “The media room.” Daniel had a bemused expression.

  She made a face. “It scared me. I knew how to turn the TV on and put in a DVD when I let Matthew watch something, but I was afraid to push buttons. Tim would come scowling to say, ‘How many times have I explained how to use the remotes?’ But there were at least four of them, with all those buttons.” She gave herself a shake. “It doesn’t matter.”