by Dana R. Lynn
He could barely hear her.
“Please look at me.” He waited until she did so. “You didn’t ask for any of this to happen. Whatever your brother got himself involved with, that’s on him.”
He was unprepared for her strangled sob that hit him like a fist to the chest. She dragged in a deep breath, fighting for control.
His mother gathered up the bandage supplies she’d used on his side and slipped from the room. The quiet enveloped them. He let it settle around them, affecting a calm he didn’t feel.
“It feels like it’s my fault,” she muttered.
He huffed. He’d started to think she’d never respond.
She edged closer to where he sat at the kitchen table, halting a couple of feet from where he sat. He wished she’d sit. It was awkward craning his neck to look up at her. Of course, he could fix that by standing. He was too done in to move, though.
“Why would it be your fault?” Maybe logic would work.
“I’m his sister. Until you asked me if I’d noticed any changes in him, I hadn’t realized that Jacob had changed. Shouldn’t I have? We lived in the same house. I saw him every day.”
Levi tilted his head to the side, considering his next words. “I think that was probably the crux of the problem, right?”
Twin furrows streaked across her forehead. “Explain that.”
She walked over to the table and lowered herself into a chair. Levi twisted around so he was facing her direction.
“It’s simple. We don’t always notice people changing when we see them daily. But I’m sure if you were to go and visit a friend or a cousin you hadn’t seen in a long time, your first thought would be how different they’d become.”
Her lips ticked up at the corners. Not a full smile, but close.
“Jah. That is so. That would explain why Hannah never seemed to notice a difference, either. But you would just expect a wife to notice, wouldn’t you?”
“Not necessarily. Jacob might have been good at hiding it. Plus, I would imagine lots of things were changing in her life. It’s possible she was too distracted herself to notice any differences in her husband’s behavior. You know, with a boppli on the way. Especially the first.”
He grinned at the tide of red flowing up her cheeks. Obviously, Lilah’s family didn’t discuss such things. It was the way many Amish districts handled such a delicate subject. It wasn’t unusual for parents not to say anything to older kinder until their mamm had the boppli in her arms. He’d been out in the Englisch world long enough that such matters no longer made him squirm.
He shifted gears.
“Anyway, we’re not going to make you leave. You can stay here as long as it takes to find the truth.”
Tears puddled in her eyes, but she blinked them back.
“Danke. I have nowhere else to go.”
“No problem. I think we’ll have to alter our plan, though.”
She sat forward in her seat. “Oh? How?”
Tension crept into her tone.
“Jah. I’m sorry, Lilah. If someone is out there waiting with a gun, I don’t want to risk asking my brothers to come help without getting the police involved.”
She hesitated. “I don’t know—”
“We can’t do this alone. Think about it. These guys, whoever was after your brother and is now chasing you, they aren’t done.”
“You’re right.”
The words were dragged from her. Well, he didn’t need her to like the plan. Just to accept it.
As a rule, the Amish were reluctant to go to the police for assistance. The current situation, however, was one time he’d make an exception. Lilah and he had both been shot at on two separate ventures to get into her brother’s office. Coupled with the trouble someone had taken to destroy the evidence, Levi was convinced the danger was only beginning.
If they weren’t careful, this could end badly, with someone else getting hurt.
Or dying.
He wouldn’t let that happen to Lilah. Levi refused to consider why protecting her was so important. He had been a soldier. Protecting people, fighting for them, had been part of his reason for getting up in the morning.
It was different with her.
He shoved the thought aside. He wasn’t getting involved with anyone, not even a spunky blonde who made his heartbeat quicken, not ever. And especially not when they were literally involved in a small battle to gather answers and get out alive.
SEVEN
Never in her wildest dreams had Lilah ever imagined that she would need to go to the Englisch police for anything. Her brother hadn’t even sued the driver who had been responsible for their parents’ deaths and their medical needs years ago. And those weren’t the only bad things that had happened in the past. On the contrary, she could think of several instances it might have been nice to have had outside support. Say, when someone broke into Jacob’s office two years ago...
She gasped as a new possibility popped into her mind. A very unwelcome possibility.
“What? What’s wrong?”
Levi grabbed her hand where it rested on the table. She tugged. He held on. In fact, his grip tightened. Looking at his face, she didn’t think he was even aware of it. Alarm dug deep creases in his forehead and deepened the downward curve of his lips.
Letting her hand lie beneath his for a moment, she forced her thoughts away from the warmth oozing into her skin.
“I remembered something. I can’t believe I never connected it before...” She shook her head, snorting a bit in her disgust. She hadn’t been very observant.
“Lilah, what?” Amusement warred with impatience in his tone. At least some of the tension had drained away. Still, her heart ached at the weariness lining his eyes and mouth.
What was she thinking? Until a few days ago, she had never met this man. She was more rattled than she’d thought. She needed to move her hand. If she did, though, it might look like she was overreacting to what was surely a supportive gesture.
He was still waiting for her response.
“About two years ago, shortly before Jacob married Hannah, his office was broken into. Nothing was stolen, or that was what he said. I’m not sure I believe that anymore. I guess I forgot about it, but now, I wonder if it’s all connected to what has happened in the past week.”
“Could be.” Levi nodded, removing his hand from hers to run it through his hair. She missed the feeling of his hand touching hers, which wasn’t a good sign. Lilah clasped her hands together to be sure he didn’t put his back on hers. “To be honest, I’d say it almost definitely is connected. It’s too much of a coincidence not to be. Someone definitely wants something your brother was hiding.”
She nodded, not liking where this was going. “I think they would have stopped searching if they’d found it.”
“Maybe so, maybe not. We won’t know until we get more information. Speculation won’t give us the answers we need.”
Lilah stood to wander the room, needing space to think. “We can’t wait until tomorrow. I hate the thought of losing any more time.”
“Agreed.” Levi stood, stretching. He winced and placed a hand over his side. “Ouch. Shouldn’t have done that.”
She bit back an inquiry about how he was feeling. Even if his side hurt, he wasn’t letting it hold him back. She’d respect his privacy. If he wanted to tell her how his side was faring, he would.
He wandered over to the window and placed his left hand high against the frame. Leaning in, his keen glance scoured the yard outside. “It’s not that late. Let’s grab a quick lunch, then we can head into town.”
Lilah gnawed on her bottom lip. “Um. Just a thought... Should we maybe hire a driver?”
“Short notice for a driver, ain’t so?”
“Jah, but do we really want to be driving a buggy to the police station when someone is aft
er us with a gun? Levi, he’s shot at me and he’s hit you. He knows what we look like. If it’s someone from around here, he might even know who you are.”
“You could be right. I’ll go to the barn and see if I can find a driver. We might need to wait until tomorrow, though.”
She frowned. She didn’t want to wait. Not because she was impatient, although she was. “I hope not. If we have to wait, then that gives them, whoever ‘them’ is, more time to find whatever they were looking for.”
“Jah. But if they found it, maybe they’d leave you alone.”
She thanked him with a scowl. “If it was bad enough to kill for, I doubt it would stop them. Besides, for all he knows, we may have seen the man who shot us. We did see his car.”
“Are you waiting here while I call around?”
“Nee, absolutely not.”
He sighed. “I didn’t think you would.”
He grabbed his hat and left the haus, clunking down the steps in his heavy work boots. It hit her as funny, but she squelched her giggles.
“What are you carrying on about back there?”
She did her best to control her giggles, but a muffled snort slipped out. She slapped her hand over her mouth, appalled that she’d done that in front of him.
He covered his mouth and coughed.
Narrowing her eyes, she glared at him. That cough sounded a lot like a snicker.
“Seriously, Lilah, what’s so funny?”
Shrugging her shoulders, she sent him an apologetic smile. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh. It just struck me as funny. Normally you walk so quiet, literally soundless. Until you hit your mother’s stairs and then you sound like a rhino tripping down the steps.”
“What, really? A rhino? I’ve never heard myself compared to a rhino before. Kind of ugly critters.”
She sniffed. “All Gott’s creatures are beautiful.”
They reached the barn. She followed him inside, blinking as her sight adjusted to entering the dim structure after being outside in the bright sunlight. She stopped so as not to fall over anything. Thirty seconds later, her vision acclimated to the new surroundings, she hurried to catch up to Levi.
He was already on the phone, calling the first number. No answer. The second number picked up, but they were already booked. The third number, the person was available tomorrow morning at the earliest.
By the time he was dialing the fourth number, she was discouraged. She still didn’t feel it would be smart to take a buggy out again. But neither did she want to wait. It looked like they might have to. She chewed on her thumbnail, listening as Levi started talking to the fourth driver.
She pulled her hand away from her mouth when his eyes flared wide-open.
“Jah? You are available in two hours?” Levi looked at her. “Jah, we will be ready. Danke!”
He finalized the details, then hung up. “Okay, Owen, our driver, will be here in two hours. I’ve never hired him before, but he has gut references. Let’s go eat and then we can plan our strategy. What we’ll tell the police.”
She nearly had to run to keep up with him on the way back to the haus. They were really doing it. They were really going to involve the Englisch police.
Hannah wouldn’t be happy.
Hannah.
Lilah came to a full stop, her brain screeching out an alarm.
“Levi!”
He spun. Surprise flared on his face when he saw her standing still in the middle of the driveway.
“Lilah?” He marched back to where she stood. “Why are you standing here?”
“Levi, what are we going to tell the police about Hannah?”
His eyebrows arched. “About Hannah? Why should we tell them anything about your sister-in-law?”
“Because she knew about the arson and didn’t mention it to me. Remember? I still think that’s suspicious. Don’t you?”
He waved it away. “Maybe. I don’t know. She’s been under a lot of stress, jah? Emotionally, and even physically.”
She knew he was referring to her condition. Thankfully, he didn’t dwell on it.
“So?”
“So, I think we should give her some grace. People act funny when they are going through stress or emotional times.” His expression darkened. “Trust me, Lilah. I have seen this personally. I would not want to be judged on my own state of mind during such times.”
It made sense, what he was saying. But what if he were wrong?
“How about this,” she suggested. “We will go past the Hostetler haus on the way to the police station. Could we stop by and talk with Hannah? For five minutes?”
Levi sighed.
“I won’t pressure her. I will try not to upset her. I just want to know, in her own words, what the fire chief told her.”
“Then you can compare it to what we learn at the police station, jah?”
She nodded, playing with her kapp strings.
“Smart,” he announced. “You won’t accuse her of anything, but will find out if she lied to you or deliberately misled you.”
“Exactly.” She wasn’t used to be underhanded. However, considering the circumstances, she didn’t feel bad about it.
To her surprise, he went along with the plan. They went inside and ate some of his mother’s amazing cooking. Lilah loved to cook and bake. When she was at home and felt sad, she baked cookies or brownies. Jacob had always loved sweets. Hannah, although a wonderful gut cook, disliked baking. She was more than happy to let Lilah handle that chore.
Crunching into Fannie’s nut and chocolate chip cookies, Lilah hummed in pleasure. She itched to get her hands on the recipe.
“You like them?”
She nodded at the older woman, her mouth still full of the chocolaty goodness. Swallowing, she took a drink of water to wash it down. “Jah, the cookies are gut! Exactly what I needed.”
Before more could be said, a vehicle pulled into the gravel driveway and sat idling.
“Time to go.”
Levi stood and jammed his hat on his head. Lilah thanked his mother and strode out with him to the car.
“You Owen?” Levi asked.
“At your service,” a jovial voice answered. “You must be Levi.”
“Jah.” Levi opened the back door for Lilah and let her in before climbing in the front seat next to Owen. She was only too happy not to be sitting up next to a stranger, even one as friendly as Owen. The accident that had taken her parents had also taken two years of her life, leaving her somewhat shy.
It was amazing how comfortable she was around Levi.
It couldn’t last, of course. It never did. Something always happened to rip away her joy and tear her down.
* * *
Levi chatted idly with Owen as they headed toward the Hostetler place. Owen was amusing, his comments and stories had a sardonic wit that normally would have made Levi chuckle. Today, though, he had difficulty focusing on the conversation. Instead, his mind kept revisiting the conversation he had with Lilah earlier.
He knew her idea to go and see Hannah before they went to the police station had merit, but he still wasn’t completely sold on the idea. Hannah had already hurt her, although he didn’t blame her. Not really. He hadn’t been kidding when he said people who were hurting, mentally, physically or emotionally, could react out of character to stressful situations. He remembered his own days in Afghanistan. He especially remembered the weeks following Harrison’s death. He had not been himself, that was clear. Thankfully, he wasn’t alone. Even when he was in the wounded warrior hospital, there were counselors and other vets who understood his state of mind. The depression and the anger that waged war inside him. He felt a shudder working its way through him and forced it back. He didn’t ever want to deal with a tragedy or emotional devastation like that again.
Thankfully, Aiden had found him again af
ter he returned to the States. That was what had really saved him. Aiden, the best friend he’d ever had, standing by his side and keeping him from doing anything really stupid.
Aiden helping him through those first days when he’d grow frustrated at trying to work with his new arm. Aiden was also the one who had come up with the idea of building something to take his mind off his troubles and to prove to him that he could do it. He’d lived in that haus for a time.
He shook his head. Now was not the time to think about that episode in his life. Even though it was one that would affect the rest of his life.
He was so caught up in his memories, he nearly missed that Owen was nearing the Hostetler haus.
“Okay, Owen. The next driveway on the right will be it.” He sat forward, scanning the area to see if there was anything suspicious. Nothing struck him as off. He still couldn’t shake the sense that something was wrong.
“Got it.” Owen slowed down and put on his blinker, even though no one was coming the other direction. Levi approved. You never knew when someone would come flying up from behind.
Owen turned right into the driveway leading to Hannah’s parents’ haus. He parked at the side of the haus. The Hostetlers had a small area off to the left of the driveway where cars could pull in and easily turn around. Owen backed into the space.
“We shouldn’t be too long,” Levi told him.
“I’ll wait. Doesn’t matter to me how long it takes. I have nothing else going on today. Might even catch a short nap while you’re gone.”
Levi thanked the man, then pulled on the handle and swung the door open. He climbed out and opened the back door. Waiting for Lilah to meet him on the driveway, he scanned the area again.
Funny. Middle of the day, and there was no movement. Plus, it was laundry day. There were no clothes hanging on the line. Odd. Stretching his neck slightly, he peered at the haus across the street, which was owned by another Amish family. Sure enough, sheets waved at him from the clothesline.
“Where’s the laundry?” Lilah murmured, echoing his thoughts. “I know Hannah’s mamm. She’d have been on the third load of clothes by now.”