“Odd. I wonder what would cause him to type up something so comprehensive.”
Hannah hesitated a moment. “Maybe he thought he might be called away, you know, unexpectedly.”
“Why would he think that?”
Pulling the strings of her prayer kapp to the front, Hannah fidgeted with the ends of them. “I don’t know, but people have been saying things.”
“Things?”
“Yes. My friend Jesse said—” Hannah stopped suddenly. “I wouldn’t want to spread gossip.”
“It’s not gossip if it’s said without malice, and it could be that you’d help us solve the mystery of what happened here.”
Thinking back to what Jesse had said the day before, Hannah wondered where she should begin. With what he had suggested? Or with what a few of the customers had told her? And what about Carol, who was still acting odd?
At that moment two moms with children in strollers pushed through the door of the shop.
Hannah stood to make her way back behind the counter, but Amber stopped her. “I’ll be back when you close and we can talk.”
Hannah nodded hesitantly. She didn’t want to be caught up in anything to do with Ethan’s death, but she was curious. The things she’d heard today hadn’t made any sense. Maybe Amber would tell her it all meant nothing. Maybe she was overreacting. Regardless, Amber was her boss, so it didn’t seem she had much choice.
Soon she was mixing one frappuccino and one caramel macchiato. Staying busy was good, and the young mothers were courteous, plus they tipped well. Possibly her mother was right. Possibly Gotte had a reason for having her work in the kaffi shop.
Amber ate lunch in her office. One of her New Year’s resolutions was to stop doing that. She stared at the calendar on her desk. April would be gone before she knew it, and she wasn’t doing so well on those resolutions. She’d stopped working on office-related stuff after she arrived at home, unless it was an emergency. But her other two resolutions—to actually take a lunch break and to nurture friendships with people her age—those weren’t going so well.
The lunch thing seemed hopeless. By the time she realized she was starving, it was well into the afternoon and she didn’t have time for a break. Maybe she could aim to take a real lunch one day a week. That would be a start. Tapping on the calendar icon and then the keyboard for her tablet, she scheduled a lunch break for the middle of the next week.
Pitiful.
Almost as bad as the friendship resolution. But she’d had no luck meeting people her age. Most of the people she met were guests, who were here one night and gone the next. The folks who lived in Middlebury all seemed to be paired up, and then she felt like a third wheel.
She flipped through the upcoming days, weeks, and months on her calendar while she munched on a tuna sandwich she’d ordered from the restaurant. Friends, friends, friends. She’d always been a friendly person, but it seemed close friendships were hard to come by. She longed for the kind of friend that you could call in the middle of the night.
An image of Gordon popped into her mind. When she called 9-1-1 after she’d seen the vandalism on her porch, he had arrived all business. His first question had been, “You didn’t touch any of this, did you?” She appreciated his dedication to his job, but she wanted a friend who asked about her first and the crime scene second.
She immediately thought of Tate but pushed away the idea. He seemed like a nice guy, but they had nothing in common.
Other than maybe donkeys. Envisioning Trixie and Velvet lifted her mood as she finished her sandwich and turned back to her computer. It was amazing how many e-mails she received in a single day, and her goal was to answer each one that day so there was no spillover. But today her mind kept sliding back to Ethan, the Pumpkinvine Trail, and her front porch. Each time she’d push the images and questions away, but soon she’d catch herself staring off into space again.
Ninety minutes later, Elizabeth walked into her office, smiling and carrying two mugs of hot tea and the local newspaper.
“You’re assigning Seth to the coffee shop?”
“I am.” Amber reached for the tea, murmuring a thank you and gesturing to the chair opposite her desk.
“You’re not worried he might . . . mess it up?”
“He’s bound to fit in somewhere.”
“Georgia called to warn you it was a bad idea. She claims it took them all afternoon to clean up the disaster zone he’d created in the kitchen at the bakery.”
“Concern duly noted.”
Elizabeth sipped her tea and peered over her glasses at Amber. “I take it you like the kid.”
“He was working very hard when I arrived.”
“Maybe he should have admitted he didn’t know what he was doing.”
“Possibly, but I admire his enthusiasm.”
“And Hannah?”
“She’s a sweet girl, Elizabeth. You should stop by to see her. Already the coffee shop has a completely different atmosphere.”
“Ethan was certainly a grim little man. Are you going to his viewing?”
“I suppose. Mrs. Gray mentioned it will be tomorrow night.”
“At seven.” Elizabeth handed her the newspaper she’d been holding. “Details are at the end of the article.”
Amber scanned past Ethan’s picture—he was wearing a military uniform and looked impossibly young. She skipped over the details of his birth and family, finally reaching the information at the bottom of the column.
The viewing was to be held at their local funeral home at seven p.m. the next evening. They only had the one place for funerals in Middlebury, so the location wasn’t a surprise. Seeing the details of his life there, summed up in one column of newspaper print, hit her like the time she’d walked behind one of her grandfather’s donkeys and had been kicked solidly in the stomach.
“We sent flowers?”
“I did it an hour ago.”
“Thank you.” Amber sat back and studied her assistant. She realized with a start that Elizabeth was her friend. They’d worked together so long and knew each other so well that it had snuck up on her. “The last few days you’ve been an anchor in my storm.”
“It’s our storm.” Elizabeth smiled as she sipped her tea. “Any idea what this rash of vandalism is all about?”
“No.” She shared Gordon’s news that the messages left on the trail and at her house were from the Old Testament.
“Maybe we don’t need to worry then. If it’s a Christian who is doing this, he must have some moral code.”
“I seem to recall many passages in the Old Testament described a pretty harsh, violent society. We recently did an Old Testament study at my church. I remember thinking I wouldn’t have wanted to live then, especially when the Israelites were at war—which was most of the time.”
“This isn’t a war.”
“You and I don’t think it is, but I have a feeling the person who is leaving messages is raising some sort of battle cry.”
“Over what?”
Amber stared at the quilt on her wall so long that Elizabeth finally repeated her question. “Battle over what?”
“If we knew that, we might know whom we’re dealing with.”
Elizabeth started to respond, but the phone in the outer office rang. “Break’s over,” she chirped. “Business at the Village waits on no man—or creep.”
Amber admired Elizabeth’s solidness. She didn’t rattle easily. Glancing at her watch, she realized it was time to meet with Hannah.
The young girl was certainly a bright spot in her otherwise dismal day.
Ten
Hannah happily agreed when Amber suggested they walk outside along the concrete path that led around the pond. She’d been in the store all day. As she’d worked, she’d been too busy to notice the bright sunshine and warming temperatures. Now her workday was over, a few minutes earlier than she’d expected. It hadn’t taken long to go through Ethan’s checklist for closing, since she’d cleaned all day when she had a f
ree moment.
She took a deep breath of the fresh spring air and locked the door to A Simple Blend. It seemed odd that she was responsible for opening and closing one of the Village shops, but she was.
Amber waited until they were walking away from the shop to speak. “We found someone to give you a lunch break. You can begin training him tomorrow.”
“Him?”
“Seth Kauffman.”
Hannah stopped in the middle of the walk. “Seth? But . . . Seth has no experience in a coffee shop.”
Amber hooked an arm through hers and started them walking again. “That’s true. You didn’t either, the first time you filled in for Ethan.”
“But Seth—” Hannah clamped her mouth shut. She shouldn’t say anything ill against someone else, especially someone from her church community. “Wouldn’t he be better helping in the barns or on the grounds crew?”
“There are no openings in either of those areas at the moment. Seth fills in there as needed, but he doesn’t have a permanent position yet. We’ll watch how he does with you and see if he’s responsible and a quick learner. I take reports from all the managers our floating employees work for and consider them at their ninety-day review.”
“I’m not a manager.”
“You are now.” Amber suppressed a chuckle, and Hannah realized the look on her face must be quite comical. She shut her mouth—which had gaped open—and tried to act normal. But her heart was racing. Manager? Seriously?
“I’m sure you’ll do a fine job of training him, Hannah.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Which is all I can ask.”
A woman passed them, purse over her right shoulder, a tiny dog peeking out of the leather bag. The woman was a bit large, with dark black hair that looked to be a wig. Hannah had no idea why she would choose to wear a wig, unless there was a problem with her own hair. Hannah was distracted by the sight of the dog. She could only see the top of him. His tiny head and ears peeked out of the large purse. She could tell he was wearing a sweater and a jeweled collar. He barked once as they passed him, and the sound made Hannah smile. His voice was as small as his body.
“I didn’t know we allow pets here.”
“We don’t in the rooms, but folks still come here to shop, and they sometimes bring along their pets.”
“I’ve never seen one so small.”
“Looked like a Chihuahua.” Amber stopped walking and motioned to a bench. “Can we sit here?”
Hannah nodded. She knew this meant it was time for their talk. She’d thought a lot about what she should and shouldn’t say.
Amber opened up her tablet and tapped a small picture with the word “Notes.”
“Miss Wright—”
“Call me Amber, please.”
“Amber, I’ve thought about what you said, and I agree this may not be gossip. However, I’d feel better if I didn’t have to tell you the names, unless . . . unless you think it’s something very serious.”
Amber studied Hannah a moment, and Hannah had the urge to squirm like she had when her mother used to check to see if she was presentable for school or church. She forced herself not to fidget. Instead she sat very still.
“That sounds fair.”
Hannah let out the breath she’d been holding.
“As long as you’ll trust me if I tell you I do need to know the name of the person.”
“Ya. I can agree to that.”
“Let’s start with yesterday. You said people had said things, and I believe you started to mention your friend Jesse.”
Hannah had forgotten that she’d already given Jesse’s name, not that he had done or said anything that would land him in trouble. She fiddled with her glasses, taking them off and then putting them back on. “We were on our lunch break, across the bridge and over by the spot where the creek runs between the two smaller ponds.”
“And you began talking about Ethan?”
Hannah nodded and wet her lips. “First he asked me about the secret Ethan had told me.”
“Secret?”
“Ya. Jesse had heard that Ethan was still alive when I found him, which he wasn’t. He’d heard Ethan told me a secret.”
“Strange.” Amber typed a note, though Hannah couldn’t see exactly what it was.
“I don’t know what secret Ethan could have had.”
“It’s a good question. Let’s keep going. What else did Jesse say?”
“Jesse talked about Ethan’s truck a little, and I mentioned how he didn’t seem like a happy guy. I told Jesse that he used to sweep the walk in front of his shop, muttering about the young people in the area.”
“What did Jesse say about that?”
“He said maybe that was what got him killed.” Hannah clasped her hands in her lap.
She didn’t like thinking about Ethan as she’d found him, but she was glad Amber had picked outside under the shade of the maple tree to have their talk. The spring weather helped to scatter her worries, even as she talked about the events of the last two days. “I explained to him that Ethan wasn’t killed, that the medical team said he’d had a heart attack.”
“Which is true.”
“Jesse didn’t seem convinced. He even said there was a rumor . . . a rumor that the person who shot the BBs knew about Ethan’s heart condition.”
Amber’s fingers stilled over the tablet. “Did Jesse tell you who was spreading this rumor?”
Hannah stared down at her hands. “Nein.”
“It would help—” Amber waited until Hannah looked up at her. “It would help if we knew who first said this. Maybe it would lead us to the ones who did the vandalism here, along the trail, and at my house.”
Hannah hadn’t heard about the last, though someone who had stopped into the store had mentioned the painted words on the trail. Amber explained what had happened at her home. “Would it help if I spoke with Jesse?”
Hannah shook her head. “Nein. He didn’t know. Rumors, they are like streams—it’s hard to tell exactly where they begin.”
“We are sure the vandalism is connected. At both sites the person left verses from the Old Testament.”
“I had heard that about the trail, but I thought it might be another rumor.”
“No. It’s the truth.” Amber tucked her hair behind her ear. “All right. Is that all for yesterday?”
“Ya, except for Carol.” The last word slipped out before she remembered she wasn’t going to give names.
“Carol Jennings?” Amber’s eyebrow arched up in surprise.
“She . . . well . . . she didn’t seem surprised about Ethan when I first told her. In fact, she seemed almost angry.”
“Any idea why that would be her reaction?”
“None. They didn’t talk with each other very much that I noticed, even though their shops were next to each other. I suppose he could have done something to upset her. His manners weren’t the best.”
“It could be.” Amber smiled at her. “You’re doing great, Hannah. Now tell me about today.”
Hannah glanced around and tried to find a sense of peace, a calmness that would help her to continue. This was the portion of the talk she’d been dreading. She did not want to create a problem for anyone. “Three different people stopped by, not to purchase anything but because they wanted to talk, to talk about Ethan.”
“Maybe they were actually checking on you, to see how you were doing.”
“Could be. They were each on their break, and they came at different times throughout the morning. The first two came when no one was in the shop, and the third one waited until the customers had left before speaking to me.”
Amber didn’t interrupt. She waited.
“The first one only wanted to tell me that he’d seen Ethan talking to a homeless man. This was in town, near the park. He thought it was odd.”
“Were they sure it was Ethan?”
“Ya. His truck was parked by the side of the road. There’s no other truck in Middlebury quite l
ike Ethan’s—or so Jesse claims. Ethan was standing on the sidewalk talking to this homeless man. You probably know the guy I mean.”
When Amber shook her head, Hannah described him. “Tall with a beard, and he wears a ragged army coat. He might not be old himself, but it’s hard to tell. I see him sometimes when I’m downtown, and once or twice I’ve passed him on the Pumpkinvine Trail. Some say he sleeps in the park, but others claim he spends nights in a church basement.”
“Maybe Ethan stopped to offer this man some help.”
Hannah stared at her, and Amber finally admitted, “That doesn’t sound at all like Ethan. Does it?”
They both were silent for a moment.
Amber finally typed a few more notes, and then she sat back and studied Hannah. “It seems people around here trust you. You’re easy to talk to, you’re a good listener, and you were the one to find Ethan. I’m still sure Ethan’s death was from natural causes, but I’d like to help the police figure out what’s going on with the vandalism.”
“Do you think there will be more?”
“I hope and pray not. Until we’ve figured it out though, I believe you and I make a good team.”
Hannah had never thought about being on a team with an Englischer. She used to play baseball in the school yard, and they would divide into teams, but those were her friends. Amber was her boss.
“You notice things too. That’s an important skill, and I think God put you here exactly when I needed help.”
Hannah felt a blush creep up her neck, but she didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what to say.
Amber refocused on her tablet. “There were two other people who stopped by today?”
“Ya. They wanted to tell me that they’d heard an argument . . . loud voices between Ethan and another employee. This happened a little over a week ago, and they wondered if it had anything to do with his dying.”
“I need to know who he was arguing with. Did they say?”
Hannah nodded her head in the affirmative but didn’t offer a name.
“Your friends are not going to be in trouble for speaking with you, but I do want to ask a few questions of the person he was having a disagreement with.”
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