Lamb to the Slaughter (Serenity's Plain Secrets Book 1)

by Karen Ann Hopkins

  Naomi looked back at Katherine who was distracted for a second while she repositioned the babe to the other breast fluidly. Seeing the tiny boy latch onto the new nipple with vigor, Naomi wondered what it would feel like to have a baby sucking on her own breast. Katherine tilted her head, and said, “Oh, I’m so pleased you’re having a good time.” She added with a knowing smile, “Yes, it be would fine with me if you helped Eli with the dessert.”

  “Thank you.” Naomi turned from the ladies and met Eli at the top of the steps that led down to the basement. She quickly brushed off the chill she’d felt when her eyes passed over Esther as she’d left. That woman didn’t like her one bit, Naomi knew. Maybe it was the fact that Naomi had ignored the attentions from Esther’s son or maybe it was because Esther was a dried up old prune that couldn’t appreciate any spirit in a girl.

  “You’re a very clever girl, Naomi,” Eli whispered over his shoulder to her as she followed him into the basement. The room was only dimly lit from the traces of evening light shooting through the little windows.

  Naomi smiled. At least Eli was smart enough to recognize and from the sound of it, appreciate her wit.

  “Well, I certainly didn’t want anyone accusing us of sneaking off together to…”

  “To what?” Eli paused at the last step, his voice velvety smooth with feigned curiosity.

  Naomi appraised him openly for a few seconds before she licked her lips and said, “Don’t be coy. You know perfectly well what we might do alone together.”

  Her words were enough. Eli grasped Naomi’s hand and pulled her around the corner into a storage room. Winter coats pressed against her back as Eli lowered his head. When his lips touched hers, the hot jolt that streaked through her groin made Naomi gasp. The feeling caused her mouth to widen, giving his tongue access to lace with hers.

  Naomi had always been a flirty girl. She’d been disciplined on many occasions by her mother about her friendly ways with the boys. But until that moment, she’d never felt the press of a man’s body against hers or the soft searching of a tongue inside her mouth. Suddenly, the entire world came into focus. She knew that she’d been born to be hugged and cuddled in that way.

  Eli groaned, pulling back a few inches. Still holding Naomi’s head tightly with his hand at the base of her cap, he said, “Maybe this question is silly now…but will you be my girl?”

  Eli’s blue eyes pierced deeply to Naomi’s soul and she knew that she was a goner. She could never say anything except yes to this young man.

  And, that’s exactly what she said.

  3

  SERENITY

  November 10th

  I was exhausted from four hours of watching the steady traffic going up and down the Beiler’s driveway. As the minutes continued to tick by and the sun dropped lower in the western sky, my hopes of talking to Timothy and Patricia Beiler in private dwindled. The thought of waiting another day had my stomach in knots and I exhaled softly, glancing at the clock on the dashboard. I’d wait another hour before I gave up.

  Although I was surprised at the high volume of visitors, the mixture of buggies and giant white vans was truly the amazing part. The steady rain and tires had turned the sides of the gravel drive to a thick mud that gave the vans increasingly more trouble as the day wore on. I cringed as one of the vehicles lost traction on the hillside and began slipping sideways in front of a horse. The driver of the buggy was quick to react and just missed being run over by the van. The juxtaposition of buggies, vans, slick conditions and the steep hill was a disaster just waiting to happen.

  I stared at the scene beyond the raindrop streaked window of my unmarked patrol car with quiet concentration. The entire day had seemed fog-like, from the early morning hour that Bobby had handed me Naomi Beiler’s coroner’s report, to the arrival at the girl’s showing. Bobby had encouraged me to release the body to the family, which I did, but the revelations of his report further convinced me that I really needed to speak with the girl’s parents as soon as possible.

  Bobby had warned me that Amish funerals were big events, but I’d never dreamed that so many Amish people would be here to show their respect. For the past several hours, the only thing that kept my mind from wandering too far was the sound of Todd’s fingers pressing onto his phone as he texted his girlfriend constantly.

  “Doesn’t Heather have anything better to do than message you all day?” I growled, wondering for the hundredth time how Todd even got his job.

  Todd rolled his eyes, ignoring me until he finished typing. He made a display of turning off the phone for my sole benefit and then turned to face me.

  “Why, are you lonely, Serenity?” Todd said, wearing the same smirk that had been cemented on his face since high school. The fact that the jerk had been irritating me for almost twenty years showed how twisted the forces of the universe truly were. Who would have thought that the obnoxious boy who used to hit on me in tenth grade would be doing the same thing now? Being Todd’s boss made no difference. I would forever be stuck-up Serenity to him, and he’d always be a redneck jock to me.

  “Take a look around, would you. Could a person be lonely here?”

  As if Todd just noticed the traffic jam, he whistled and said, “Damn, looks like a wreck waiting to happen.” He glanced back at me and added, “Aw, maybe the Sheriff should intervene and direct traffic.”

  I breathed deeply before speaking, trying desperately to control my infamous temper. I would not let Todd push my buttons.

  “If you bothered to take a good look, you’d see that everybody is being as orderly as possible under the circumstances. I get the feeling they’ve all had a lot of practice with this sort of thing.”

  “Yeah, sure they have. The Amish are prone to accidental deaths. Did I ever tell about that old geezer, Jonathon Yoder, and how he fell from the barn loft into a stud’s stall…?”

  I raised my hand to shut him up.

  “What are you, a walking encyclopedia—how do you come up with all this crap?” I asked in a tired voice.

  “Actually, I do a lot of reading. Last night I was up ‘til after midnight immersed in a book about the history of Blood Rock.”

  I laughed and said, “I’d think that would put you to sleep quickly.”

  “No, no, our town has quite an intriguing past. Like the name—do you know why it’s called Blood Rock?”

  I couldn’t help rolling my eyes and thudding my head back against the headrest. Was I really having this conversation right now?

  “Let me enlighten you then.” Todd took a deep breath before, he continued, “The late seventeen hundreds were pretty rough in these parts. The settlers were having regular run-ins with the Indians, and neither the law nor the military was able to get a hold of the situation. When some criminal-cowboy types decided to take matters into their own hands, shooting up an Indian family that was down by the river, the Indians were stirred into a blood lust. It all came to a head one Sunday morning. A group of settlers were having their Sunday service up on that hill above town. Their preacher was calling out the word of God while standing on a giant boulder when the arrow pierced his heart. It’s said, the Indians killed twenty-six men, women and children on that day…and took scalps from them all.”

  I couldn’t help interrupting him. “There’s no giant boulder on that hill, and no documented proof about this massacre you’re talking about. It’s just an old wives-tale.”

  “Would you let me finish the story?” Todd said.

  I shrugged, relenting. It would be impossible to shut him up about it anyway.

  “The Indians piled the bodies on the rock as a warning to anyone else aiming to settle the area. Of course, more people came and they couldn’t keep up with the flow of humanity and it was the Indians themselves that left, moving further west.”

  “What about the rock?”

  “Hold your horses, I’m getting to that part,” Todd said with annoyance. “By the time the bodies displayed on the rock were discovered, several
days of July heat had put them in a pretty gruesome way. Even after the dead were taken away for burial, the heavy blood stains remained. The locals were mighty spooked by the constant reminder of the massacre. It was the incentive they needed to light dynamite around the rock and blow it into a good number of chunks. They pulled the remnants away with horses and pushed them into the river.”

  I looked back at the bright expression on Todd’s face. How could such an awful story make him look so damned pleased?

  “Yeah, I’ve heard that one and several more. But there’s no proof that a giant rock even existed, let alone got blown up.”

  “That’s the fascinating part. No one knows for sure where our little town got its morbid name.”

  “Myself, I think it should have been changed a long time ago. Something like Meadowview or Sunnyvale would be nice.”

  Todd was just about to open his mouth when I saw the shiny Buick coming down the driveway.

  “Is that who I think it is?” I said.

  “Well, shoot. I reckon it is.” Todd looked at me and shrugged. “You do know that he has relations with some of the Amish families, right?”

  The sight of Tony Manning’s car made my palms sweat, and I hated him all the more for it. The codger had run the most unprofessional campaign imaginable in his attempt to be reelected as sheriff of Blood Rock. I still hadn’t replaced my mail box, which I’m sure he had a hand in destroying. And, then there was all the crap that he accused me of. From having a fling with my high school soccer coach, who turned out to be gay, thankfully, to insinuating that I was a witch, because I had my fortune read at the local spring street festival when I was sixteen. Lucky for me, so did half the town that year.

  Hell, he probably would have won, if the whole incident with the prostitutes in Indianapolis hadn’t come to light. The people of Blood Rock might forgive one dalliance, but they were too country to forgive multiple hookers at the same time. They’d decided that they would rather take a chance on a young and inexperienced female sheriff with some morals, than stick with the good old boy whose exploits were making them more and more uncomfortable on Sunday mornings. I was the first woman to hold the position in the entire tricounty area and I counted myself damn lucky to have gotten the job.

  Todd and I both straightened and gave each other the, oh, great, here we go look, when Tony had the balls to pull up beside the unmarked patrol car we sat in. I reluctantly lowered the window at the same time he did.

  “I would think that you had better things to do Sheriff, than hang around an Amish funeral freaking everybody out,” Tony said.

  If Tony was thirty pounds skinnier, he’d be Clint Eastwood’s twin. That made everybody respectful of him—even those that didn’t like him much. But, everybody wasn’t me.

  I used my sweetest voice. “I’m a bit confused, Tony. The Amish don’t vote, so why your interest in them?” Tony’s pinched laugh was overpowered by Todd’s louder one. I shot Todd a warning look. Amazingly he obeyed, covering his mouth and quieting.

  It was hard to tell from the tinted windows, but as usual, Tony was traveling with several big guys. Most folks assumed that people only drove around with body guards in the movies, but nope, it was reality here in Blood Rock.

  Tony smiled sadistically at me. “I see you haven’t learned much from your month on the job. Maybe you should take the time to get to know the people that you’ve promised to protect.” His smile disappeared and his face tightened, causing the hair to rise on my neck. “I’ll give you one little bit of advice since I’m feeling generous today. Leave well enough alone. If they aren’t too concerned about this thing with the girl, then we shouldn’t be either. Trust me, the Amish take care of their own.”

  The dark window went up and Tony and his cronies disappeared up the road. I grabbed my ponytail in frustration and pulled it tight into my skull before I rounded on Todd. His eyes were wide with thought for a change.

  “What the hell was that all about? You worked under him for two years. Surely, you have a guess what he was talking about.”

  Todd shook his head. “Honestly, I don’t know. I mean, I knew he was in tight with some of the Amish, but that’s about it. Nothing ever came up with the Plain community while he was my boss.”

  “Didn’t that sound like a threat to you? Telling me to forget the investigation, and just let the Amish handle their own problems. . Is he serious?” I tried to keep my voice level, but didn’t succeed.

  “Maybe he has a point. He was sheriff for twelve years after all. He might know things about the way the Amish authority works that we don’t,” Todd suggested with a shrug.

  “Are you kidding? The last I knew, the Amish are citizens of the United States of America. Even though the first amendment allows them to get away with not doing a lot of things that the rest of us have to, they’re still under our jurisdiction.”

  “In theory, you’re absolutely right, but, as far as practical application goes, maybe not. I don’t know. It’s really none of my business.”

  “This absolutely is your business—and mine. Naomi Beiler might have been murdered,” I nearly shouted.

  Todd’s eyes popped open wide. He said, “Do you really think that? What evidence suggests that it was anything but a hunting accident?”

  I was so frustrated that I felt as if I was going to pop. “Don’t you think that it’s awfully strange for a young Amish woman to be alone in a cornfield in the first place?”

  “She might have been going for a walk, escaping some chores at the house for an hour or two,” Todd suggested.

  “Or, running away.” I was happy that Todd was actually thinking, but he wasn’t going near deep enough.

  Todd scratched his chin. After several long seconds, he said, “Maybe…but she didn’t have anything with her that would point in that direction. Wouldn’t a girl running away have a bag of some sort?”

  I stared at the driveway, noticing that the traffic had quieted considerably. Only a few of the black buggies were making their way back onto the road, and no others were heading toward the house. There were a couple of them beside the barn and only one van was parked on the hill now. It was as good of a time as any to talk to Timothy and Patricia Beiler about their daughter. Especially, after what Bobby had discovered. They should know.

  I looked back at Todd, who was waiting for me to answer him.

  I finally said, “Not if she was in a hurry.”

  From where I stood, I could see the plain, wooden casket in the corner. The top was up, and an elderly Amish woman was standing in front of it, clasping Naomi’s hand. Todd and I waited a minute more until the woman moved off to join a small crowd of black clad women standing at the far end of the room. There were rows of benches filling the concrete floored basement that had been set up as a temporary funeral home. The room was overly gloomy, even for a funeral, with no flower displays and only the dim light from the rainy afternoon coming in through the small basement windows. The emotion level was off, considering that a teenager had been taken violently from her community. Other than the old woman’s hand holding, no one else in the room appeared in any way distraught.

  I tried to wrap my mind around the strangeness of it all as Todd and I approached the casket. It seemed only right that we should pay our respects before we talked with the Beilers, but I wasn’t looking forward to it. I’d never like showings. When I was ten, I’d become inconsolable at my grandma’s wake. But, at least my Grandma had been well on in years. Naomi was almost a child.

  Seeing bodies on the job didn’t really bother me much, but the intimacy of the casket, and the loved ones around, was another story altogether. For once, I was thankful for Todd’s company.

  Bobby had done a good job, but the lack of any makeup showed Naomi clearly for what she was—a very dead girl. Her dress was a deep hunter green that contrasted sharply with the white cap on her head and the ashen color of her skin. I also noticed that her face was placed in the same position as I’d seen her in the field
, to the side. Bobby, being both the coroner and the only mortician in town, could only do so much.

  As I looked at the dead girl with morbid curiosity, my eyes travelled to the girl’s cap. Her head had been bare when we’d found her in the corn. It was another question to file away in my head, and hopefully get the answer to someday soon.

  Todd and I spent less than a minute beside the body, long enough for each of us to say a silent prayer for the girl, before we moved on to the row of family members seated in the plastic chairs to the side of the casket. At least, I assumed that these people were Naomi’s family.

  After a fast appraisal, I approached the middle aged couple sitting closest to the casket. The little bit of hair that I could see poking out in front of the woman’s cap was the same blondish color of Naomi’s locks. Her eyes were brown, and completely free of tears or redness. I fumbled mentally for a second wondering if this woman was indeed Naomi’s mother, when Bishop Esch appeared beside me.

  “Sheriff Adams, this is Timothy Beiler and his wife, Patricia.” The bishop motioned to the couple who I’d guessed were the parents. James Hooley and Joseph Bender were suddenly there, flanking the bishop. I wondered how they’d managed to sneak up without me noticing.

  I extended my hand in greeting to Timothy. Patricia remained seated with her hands tightly clasped on her lap. I didn’t offer my hand to her.

  “I’m sorry about your daughter’s death. I certainly don’t want to burden you during such a difficult time, but there are a few things we need to discuss. If you aren’t comfortable speaking with me now, I’d be happy to schedule an appointment to meet at my office in a day or two.”