by Nancy Mehl
“That sounds great,” I said hesitantly, “but does Brother Wittenbauer know he’s picking Ruby up here in the evenings?”
Noah grinned. “He’s been informed. Oddly enough, he didn’t seem to have any objections.”
“Good.” I took a plastic sack out of the cupboard. “Ruby, here are some clothes I don’t need. You take these home. But for now, let’s go ahead and change your shoes. These are the right kind for snow. Is that all right?”
Ruby nodded. “My feet get so cold.” She frowned as I slipped off her tattered old shoes. “My socks have holes in them.”
“Those socks have more holes than material,” Lizzie said, watching from the stove. “Noah, you go downstairs and get some socks out of the dryer. Grab about three pairs.” She smiled at Ruby. “My socks will be a little big for you, but at least they don’t have holes.”
Noah jumped up from the table and hurried down the stairs.
Ruby’s eyes shone with tears. “Thank you. You’re being so nice to me.”
“People should be nice to you, Ruby,” I said as I peeled the ragged socks off her feet. “If they’re not, you must come and tell us.” I cast a quick look at Lizzie, who nodded her approval. “Will you do that? Will you let us know if the Wittenbauers are mean to you?”
Ruby looked down at the floor. “If they get mad at me, I won’t have any place to live. They told me they would send me to an orphanage.”
Lizzie’s face flushed. “They will not send you to an orphanage, Ruby. Don’t you worry about that. If we need to, we’ll find you another place to live. Okay?”
The young girl nodded as a tear splashed down on her thin dress.
I wasn’t worried about Lizzie’s promise. People in Kingdom took care of one another. If Ruby couldn’t get along at the Wittenbauers’, someone would surely open their home to her. The look on Lizzie’s face made me wonder if that new home might be with her and Noah. What a blessing that would be for the young girl.
I got a warm washcloth and washed Ruby’s dirty feet. It was obvious she wasn’t getting regular baths. It was getting too late to do anything about it tonight, but I’d make sure she got a nice hot shower after school tomorrow. Noah came back with the socks, and I pulled a warm pair onto Ruby’s feet.
“That feels really good. Thank you,” she said softly. “Thank you for everything.” She stood to her feet. “I’d better leave. I don’t want Uncle Elmer to get any madder at me.”
I held out the bag of dresses and the extra socks. “Here, take this.” I picked up the cloak I’d carried downstairs. “This should keep you warm.” I looked over at Noah. “Would you make sure Ruby’s uncle understands that she is to wear this every day when it’s cold?”
“Oh, I’ll make absolutely certain he understands that,” Noah said firmly. “Come on, Ruby. I’ll walk out with you. There are a couple more things I want to tell your uncle.”
Ruby started toward the door, but suddenly she whirled around and ran to me, wrapping her thin arms around me. “Thank you, Miss Callie.”
“You’re very welcome.” I tried to keep the emotion out of my voice, but I failed.
When she let go of me, Ruby went to Lizzie and hugged her too. “Thank you,” she whispered. Without looking back at us, she ran out the door, Noah behind her. Lizzie and I looked at each other with tears in our eyes.
“She’ll be all right, Callie,” Lizzie said. “We’ll keep a close eye on her.”
All I could do was nod. Without any further discussion, we got back to work, preparing for our supper crowd.
When it was almost time to serve the evening meal, I grabbed my order pad and went out into the dining room. I’d just approached Jonathon Wiese’s table when the front door flew open. Mercy Eberly, the daughter of the man who runs our hardware store, stumbled in. Her eyes were wild, and she was as white as a sheet. Everyone stopped talking and stared at her.
“A . . . a woman,” she said. “There’s a woman. She’s . . . she’s dead!” With that she fainted and fell to the floor.
Chapter / 3
Someone screamed and I jumped, almost dropping the plates in my hands. I quickly put them down on the table next to me. Then I ran over to where Mercy lay motionless. As I knelt down to make sure she was all right, voices exploded behind me. Noah hurried over and sank to his knees beside me.
“What did she say? Did she say someone was dead?”
I brushed back a couple of dark-red curls that had escaped from under Mercy’s prayer covering. Her forehead was damp with sweat, yet it was freezing cold outside. “Help me get her cloak off,” I said to Noah. “She’s too hot.” Together we held her up while we removed her heavy cape. I pulled her into my lap. “Can someone get me a cool damp rag?” I asked loudly. Noah started to get up, but then I heard Lizzie’s voice from behind us.
“I’ll get it.”
I turned my head and watched her jog toward the kitchen.
“Mercy?” I said softly, turning my attention back to the unconscious teenager, “are you all right? Can you hear me?”
Her eyelids fluttered several times and then slowly opened. The confusion on her face was also reflected in her eyes. “What . . . what happened?”
As I helped her sit up, she gazed around, obviously frightened by the crowd gathered around her.
“You said you found a dead woman on the road?” I tried to say it delicately, but there really wasn’t any way to sugarcoat it.
She nodded, her eyes wide with shock and fear. “Yes.”
“On the road to Kingdom?” Noah asked.
“Yes, Elder.” Tears slipped down her cheeks.
“What were you doing out there?” I asked. Normally children went straight home after school. Mercy was supposed to go to her father’s hardware store. For her to be out on the road was highly unusual.
“Max, our cat, didn’t come home last night. I was trying to find him.” Her voice broke. “Where is my papa?”
“He was here a little while ago,” Noah said. “He must have gone back to the store.” He searched the room until he caught sight of Jonathon, who stood nearby. “Jonathon, can you go to the hardware store and fetch Harold? And find my brother. He should be at the church.”
Jonathon didn’t take time to answer, just hurried out the front door.
Noah stood to his feet. “This woman,” he said to Mercy in a somber voice, “how far away is she?”
Mercy wiped her wet face with her sleeve. “About halfway between here and the main road outside of town.”
“Okay.” Noah looked around the room. “Ebbie, will you come with me? We need to—”
“I don’t know what you’re planning to do,” Lizzie interjected, as she came back into the room, “but don’t touch anything and don’t get too near the body.” She handed me a damp rag. “The sheriff will want the scene to stay undisturbed, in case her death wasn’t an accident. You know, for clues.” She turned around and quickly headed back to the kitchen.
“It’s not an accident,” Mercy said to me, her voice shaking with emotion. “Someone . . . someone put her there.” Her sky-blue eyes sought mine, and she leaned in close to me. “She’s wrapped up in plastic,” she whispered.
Had the serial killer the sheriff was looking for come to Kingdom? The possibility made me catch my breath, and I felt sick to my stomach. I tried to comfort Mercy the best I could while we waited for her father.
A few minutes later Harold Eberly rushed into the dining room. “Mercy!” he cried. Jonathon and Levi trailed behind him.
I helped the young girl to her feet, and her father took her from me, holding her up as she leaned against him. Together they walked slowly toward the front door. Several people started to follow them.
“Wait a minute,” Levi called out. His face was so pale it frightened me. Obviously Jonathon had told him what had happened. Everyone stopped in their tracks and looked back at their pastor.
“You all must stay in town. The last thing we need is a bunch of people gawkin
g at this unfortunate woman. It’s not . . . decent. Let’s show some respect.”
Although no one acknowledged that they were headed to check out the place Mercy had described, a few of them looked decidedly guilty. But everyone seemed to agree with Levi’s warning. The idea of people staring at the woman’s body seemed so invasive. A shudder of something cold and ghastly slithered down my spine. This is Kingdom. How could something like this happen? I started to tell Levi what Mercy had whispered to me, but I remembered that Noah said it was a detail the authorities were keeping to themselves. If I told him now, it was possible someone in the room might hear. I decided to wait until we were alone.
“Let’s get going,” Levi said to Ebbie and Jonathon. “I’m fairly certain Mercy saw what she said she did, but before we call the sheriff, I think we need to make absolutely sure. What if she’s wrong?”
I felt pretty confident that Lizzie had already notified Sheriff Timmons, but not wanting to cause any further disturbance, I kept quiet.
“I understand,” Ebbie said, his dark-brown eyes troubled, “but I have to admit this is something I really don’t want to see.”
“Don’t you think I feel the same way?” Jonathon asked sharply. “But Levi’s right. Let’s make sure before we stir up trouble we don’t need.”
“I’m going,” Noah said.
Levi shook his head. “Why don’t you stay here, Brother? I don’t want people wandering out onto the road out of curiosity. You can keep an eye on those here and offer reassurance as needed.”
I could tell Noah was torn between wanting to go with Levi and his friends, and his obligation to those of us who were terrified by Mercy’s revelation. But he nodded slowly, ready to support Levi’s decision.
Ebbie stood to his feet, still holding Hope’s hand. “I’ll be back soon,” he told her gently. “Pray for us.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “I will. Take care, Husband.”
Levi glanced over at me. At this point, all he knew was that there was probably a body lying on the road to Kingdom. Even though no one had said the woman’s death was the result of a serial killer, everyone who had listened to the sheriff earlier in the day surely suspected it. I was probably the only person who was almost certain of it.
The look in Levi’s eyes made it clear that he dreaded what awaited him. I wanted to hug him. Tell him everything would be all right. But to be honest, I wasn’t sure it was the truth. Right now, all I could do was pray it was someone we didn’t know. That sounded awful. Shallow and selfish. This was someone’s daughter, sister, maybe even a wife and mother. But the idea that she could be a stranger somehow made the situation easier to endure. We’d had to say good-bye to so many friends and family lately. Besides Papa, we’d lost Avery Menninger and Frances Lapp. Although Pastor Mendenhall hadn’t died, his leaving had almost felt like a death. And then there was Sophie Wittenbauer. No one really talked about her departure because of her harmful actions toward our town, but I felt sorry for her and kept her in my daily prayers. Her absence still hurt.
Who could the dead woman be? Unbidden, names and faces flooded my mind. Who hadn’t I seen this morning? Who was missing? Suddenly one face floated into my thoughts. “Leah,” I whispered, cold fear seizing my body. She usually came in for a cup of coffee after school let out, but she hadn’t been in today. “Where is Leah?” I asked loudly, my voice trembling.
The silence in the empty room came back to me like an echo of terror. Then a voice from behind me made me jump. Lizzie had come back into the room.
“It’s not Leah, Callie. I took food over to the school at lunchtime. She told me she had to stay late with one of the children and wouldn’t be by today. I’m sure she’s still there. Besides, Mercy would have recognized Leah.”
Relief flowed through me. “You’re right. I didn’t think of that. Thank you, God.”
Lizzie looked around the room, frowning. “Where did everyone go?”
“Levi, Ebbie, and Jonathon went out to make sure Mercy actually saw what she says she did,” Noah replied. “I think a lot of people are hanging out in town to wait for the news they bring back. If Mercy’s right, Levi will call the sheriff when he returns.”
Lizzie folded her arms across her chest. “Well, it’s too late for that.”
“Lizzie!” Noah exclaimed. “Why didn’t you check with Levi before you made that call?”
She scowled at him. “Well, let me see. Possibly because I still have my own mind and can make a few of my own decisions.”
The look Noah gave her seemed to reduce some of her bluster, and she dropped her arms to her side. “Sorry, but it was the right thing to do. The sheriff needs to get to the scene as quickly as possible. I hope no one touches anything they shouldn’t.”
“We shouldn’t jump to the conclusion that this woman’s death is connected to the man the sheriff talked about this morning,” Noah said.
I motioned to both of them to follow me over to the corner of the room. I couldn’t take a chance that anyone could hear me.
“Mercy told me . . .” A wave of nausea hit me, and I balked.
“Told you what, Callie?” Lizzie said, frowning.
I took a deep breath and tried again. “Mercy told me that the woman was wrapped in plastic.”
Noah and Lizzie were silent for several moments.
“Oh no,” Noah said finally. “God help us.”
“Then it’s even more important that the men don’t disturb the scene,” Lizzie said firmly.
“I can guarantee you no one will touch anything,” I said. “They took your advice to heart. Besides, they were all very upset, and no one really wanted to go. I’m sure none of them plan to get any closer than they have to.”
Lizzie nodded. “I don’t blame them.” She cocked her head to the side and stared at her husband. “Why are you still here?”
He raised his voice to a more normal level. “According to my brother, I’m supposed to keep everyone corralled in town and off the road. Oh, and to provide counsel to anyone who might need it.”
Lizzie grunted as she gazed around the room. The only people remaining were Noah, Hope, Lizzie, me, and John Lapp. John shook his head and stood up. John was a tall, thin man with dark hair, dark eyes, and an even darker expression. I couldn’t actually remember ever seeing him smile.
“You do not need to counsel me,” he said, staring at Noah. His deep voice always made me uncomfortable. No matter what John said, a note of menace seemed to creep into each word. “This is just one more sign of the evil that has been allowed to permeate this town. When the door is opened, the devil will dance in.”
“Brother John,” Noah said firmly, “this isn’t the time for you to air your grievances with the direction the church is taking. Whatever happened to this poor woman had nothing to do with us.”
John’s expression turned toxic. “If the church was doing what was right, violence wouldn’t hover so close to our doors.”
Noah shook his head. “Kingdom is fine, John. Except for some residents who judge everyone but themselves. A woman may be dead. Why don’t you spend your time praying for her family instead of spewing poison?”
John’s pale face grew red. “I do not spew poison, Elder Housler.” He winced as if the use of the title caused him physical pain. “What I give you is truth. It is up to you as to whether or not you accept it. God will judge between us.”
Noah kept quiet as John put on his coat and left, but I could see the muscles in his jaws work in frustration.
“Ever since Frances died, that man has gotten more judgmental,” Lizzie said. “They both rejected me when I got pregnant with Charity, but after coming back to Kingdom, we’d actually become civil with each other. Then Frances died. Now John barely acknowledges my presence.”
“I’m sure he’s grieving,” I said. “He and Frances were together almost twenty years.”
“Frances wasn’t much nicer than John,” Noah said with a sigh. “But she seemed to keep him in check. God
help us all now that her steadying hand is gone.”
Lizzie frowned at the front window and watched as John walked past. “John lives out of town,” she said slowly. “He has to use the main road.”
Noah stood to his feet. “I didn’t think of that. Surely he’ll wait until Levi comes back. He was right here when Levi told everyone to stay put.”
“Are you kidding?” Lizzie said. “John Lapp doesn’t listen to anyone.”
“Maybe you should go after him, Noah,” I said. “If you can catch him . . .”
Noah hurried over to the window. “He’s already on his way. I think it might be better if I just make sure no one decides to follow him.”
He grabbed his coat off the rack and walked out the front door. I looked outside to see what was happening. Hope got up and joined me at the window. Snow was still falling, but it was a little lighter.
“I wouldn’t worry, Callie,” Hope said gently. “Levi, Ebbie, and Jonathon will turn anyone back who tries to get past them.”
“Not John. Telling him what to do only makes him angry. Especially if it’s coming from Levi. John hates him.”
“Oh, Callie. John doesn’t hate Levi. Maybe he thinks Levi’s too young to be our pastor, but everyone respects him. It’s impossible not to. Levi is one of the best men I’ve ever known. We couldn’t have a better pastor.”
I looked into her almost violet eyes. Maybe outer beauty wasn’t important, but Hope was certainly blessed with it. Her hair was so blond it was nearly white, and her skin was flawless. I found myself involuntarily reaching up and trying to push my wayward curls back where they belonged.
“I believe that too, Hope,” I said. “But not everyone in town feels the way we do. Obviously John Lapp is one who doesn’t.”
“That’s just John’s way. He never listened to Pastor Mendenhall either. You can’t judge him by the way he acts. It’s his nature to be cantankerous.”
We watched Noah talking to a group of people standing outside. They all seemed to be looking in the same direction—the way John had gone. A couple of them pointed toward the road. I couldn’t hear Noah, but after a couple of minutes, their heads began to nod, and the entire group turned and began to walk toward the restaurant.