“Gutsy thing to do,” Silas said. “What if someone had come along and started an actual fire there? And how did he do it so quickly, while you were waiting for him outside this group of trees?”
But when they looked closely, they could see the pieces of wood were arranged a little too neatly, as if someone wanted it to look like a fire, but it wasn’t. Or maybe Naomi was imagining things. Maybe she was seeing what she wanted to see.
Together the four of them removed the charred pieces of wood and ashes. They used some fallen tree branches to sweep the area clean, and then the boys took sticks and walked around, poking them into the ground where the fire had been. Albert was the one to hit metal.
The rectangular box wasn’t buried very deep. They used the tree branches to dig away the dirt and ash and pull it from its hiding place.
“How did he do this while you were waiting?”
“Jeremiah usually carried a backpack. Maybe he had a small shovel in there.”
“He’d need to be able to get it out quickly, put his money in it, and rebury it.” Silas stared at the box and then at Naomi. “How long did he leave you waiting?”
“Five, maybe ten minutes.”
“This could be it, then.” He handed the metal box to her.
“What is it?”
“Old army ammunition box. He probably found it in Vernon’s junk.”
“How does it open?”
Silas showed her how to push down the lever and then pull up. Katie Ann and Albert had pressed in closer, shining their flashlights on the contents. Naomi lifted the lid, afraid to look inside but knowing she had to. She had to see this through to the end.
On top were crumbled pieces of newspaper and below that a Ziploc bag. Naomi’s hands shook as she pulled it from the metal container. The bag was gallon sized, and it was stuffed full of money. She could make out twenties and fifties and even hundreds.
Albert let out a long whistle. “I think we solved the mystery of where he kept his money.”
They were standing in a circle, heads practically pressed together, staring at the money Naomi had removed from the bag.
“How much do you think is here?” Katie Ann asked.
“Thousands, at least.” Silas glanced up and met her gaze. She saw no judgment in his eyes, no regret. His solidness calmed the fear racing through her heart. “Looks like mainly hundred-dollar bills.”
“What do we do with it?” Naomi asked.
The answer, when it came, didn’t come from anyone in their group.
The voice was male, deep, and angry.
“You give it to us. That’s what you’re going to do, and you’re going to do it now before we shoot you.”
Thirty-Nine
Naomi had thought she was a patient person. She’d been through a lot in the past week, though not as much as poor Jeremiah. Still, she thought she’d handled things fairly well. She hadn’t fallen apart at the rodeo. She’d made it through the funeral. She had even handled all of the comments about Jeremiah and how he wasn’t a very good boyfriend, how he played the field. But when she turned and looked at the Englischers standing behind them, she almost lost her composure.
Three people made up the group, one notably shorter and smaller—probably female.
All three wore ski masks, which had to be uncomfortable in the summer heat. The masks didn’t stop her from recognizing Justin and Daisy. After all, they’d gone on double dates together. But she didn’t know if she should call them out. It seemed they didn’t want to be recognized, so it might be safer to pretend she didn’t know them.
Silas shone his flashlight on them, and she could tell by their hands that they were white and relatively young.
“Hand it over,” the tallest one said. He, too, was carrying a flashlight, which he used to spotlight them one at a time, finally settling on Naomi, who was still holding the bag of money. “We all know that money isn’t yours, so give it to us—”
“And no one gets hurt?” Silas practically spat the words. “You’ve been watching too much Englisch television.”
“And you haven’t watched enough news. Or maybe you don’t realize people are willing to kill for far less than what your girlfriend is holding in her hands.”
“Did you kill him?” Katie Ann stepped forward, and Albert jerked her back. “Did you kill Jeremiah?”
“The money belongs to us, so hand it over.” Then he must have given the two people with him some sort of signal, because they both reached behind them and pulled out guns. Maybe they were wearing paddle holsters like she’d seen when she went to the movie with Katie Ann. Naomi had seen many rifles in her lifetime. Most Amish men hunted, and some girls did as well. She’d once shot a rattlesnake with a .22 rifle. The guns pointed at them now were handguns, and somehow they looked more sinister. Or maybe it was the fact that the people holding them were perfectly calm. Their hands didn’t shake at all, as if they were used to threatening people with violence.
“Fine. You know what? It’s not worth getting shot over.” Silas took the bag of money from Naomi and started walking toward the Englisch group.
“Stop right there. Put it down on the ground.”
Naomi thought Silas would argue, but instead he gently placed the bag on the ground, as if it were a carton of eggs rather than a stash of money, and stepped back.
The tall guy nodded to the shorter woman, who darted forward and snatched up the bag.
“Now what?” Albert asked.
“Now we take what’s ours and leave.” He switched the flashlight to his left hand and pulled a set of keys from his pocket with his right. “Don’t try to follow us in one of your stupid buggies. Wouldn’t want one of your precious horses to get shot.”
And then they were gone.
At first Naomi, Katie Ann, Silas, and Albert were all quiet, as if they needed to guard their words. Then they heard an Englisch vehicle start up.
Albert and Silas dashed through the circle of trees after tossing back over their shoulders, “Stay where you are!”
“Did they say that because we’re women?” Katie Ann had dropped her flashlight when Albert pulled her back, and now she had her hands on her hips. She was also using her I’ve had it tone.
“Don’t know, and I don’t care. I’m tired. Past tired. I’m weary.”
Katie Ann and Naomi sank down onto a log, the same log she’d sat on with Jeremiah.
“Did you ever read The Secret Garden?” Naomi asked.
“Ya, when I was young.”
“I always thought of this place…” Naomi glanced around the clearing, and then she looked up. She could still make out starlight winking from between the thick branches of the trees. Her eyes filled with tears and her heart hurt, as if someone had punched her there. Perhaps that was what grief felt like—an assault more violent than the one they’d just endured.
“I always thought of this place as our secret garden. We’d come here where no one could watch, and we’d just talk about our dreams or our fears or even stupid, inconsequential things. But it was our place. Do you know what I mean? It was special.”
Instead of answering, Katie Ann reached for her hand.
“Should we go and help them?” Naomi asked.
“I have no idea what they’re doing.”
“Or where they went.”
“We’re here.” Albert popped through the circle of trees first, followed quickly by Silas.
“It was a truck.” Silas looked energized instead of tired. “We tried to get the license plate number, but it was already too far gone.”
“Definitely a white Ford, though. That’s something.”
“This couldn’t have worked any better if we’d tried.”
“Practically walked into our trap.” Albert stood in front of Katie Ann, grinning.
“What are you two talking about?”
“We were just robbed, or did I imagine that?” Naomi said.
“You did not.” Silas tugged on Naomi’s hand until she groaned
and stood as well.
“I’m not following what you’re trying to say,” Naomi admitted.
Silas glanced at Albert, who shrugged. “Might as well tell them.”
Silas crossed his arms and glanced around the clearing. “When you told us you had somewhere to show us, that you might know where the money was, we figured maybe whoever wanted that money was following you.”
“But… how could you know that?”
“We didn’t, but with that much money involved, it made sense that they might be watching you, might try to follow you. And now we know they’re Englischers.”
“We didn’t expect the guns,” Albert admitted.
“If we’d thought of that, if we’d known they were that desperate, we’d never have agreed to coming out here, especially at night. Who knows if they would have been so bold during the day—maybe.”
“You wanted them to follow us?” Katie Ann sounded as incredulous as Naomi felt.
“We wanted this to be over, and now… well, maybe Grayson can find them with the description we’re able to provide.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Naomi’s arms suddenly felt terribly heavy. “What time is it? I have to be up at four.”
“The night isn’t over yet,” Albert said as he slipped an arm around Katie Ann’s waist.
“Not over… What do you two have in mind?” Naomi glanced at Silas, who was grinning. He stepped closer and snagged her hand.
“We smoked them out, but now we have to turn the information over to Grayson. Waiting until morning wouldn’t be smart. With that amount of money, they might be out of the state by tomorrow, which I guess is today.”
“Speaking of the money, I can’t believe we just gave it to them.”
“They were right about one thing.” Albert’s expression had turned somber. “It wasn’t ours.”
“Who does it belong to?” Naomi shook her head so that her kapp strings bounced back and forth. “I can’t figure it out. I was so shocked to find it that I didn’t really think about what to do next.”
“One thing we all know is that you wouldn’t have kept it.” Silas bumped his shoulder against hers as they walked out of the small clearing, through the stand of trees, and back toward their buggies.
“Nein. I would have turned it in to the police.”
“So we have to go into town? To the police station?” Katie Ann glanced down at Albert’s hand, as if she didn’t remember him grabbing hold of hers.
Silas stopped, pulling Naomi to an abrupt stop. “We’ll go wherever you want. If you want to go to the police, then we’ll go with you and stay with you. We’re all witnesses to what just happened. Don’t you see? We caught them. We caught the people responsible for Jeremiah’s murder.”
“I know who they were. Who two of them were.”
“You do?”
“Justin and Daisy. Jeremiah and I went out with them a couple of times, but I don’t think they are capable of killing someone. I don’t know why they thought the money belonged to them—”
“Details for the police to figure out.”
Naomi put both hands to her face and rubbed her cheeks round and round. It seemed to invigorate her, bring her back from the dark abyss that had threatened to consume her.
“You’re right. Ya. We should go and tell the police all we know, and maybe, just maybe, they can catch whoever killed Jeremiah.” She studied her friends, especially Silas, whom she’d barely known when the night had begun. Now he seemed like someone who had always been in her life, someone she wanted in her future. “But first we go to Henry.”
Forty
It was two in the morning by the time Henry sent Naomi, Katie Ann, Silas, and Albert home. He and Grayson sat at the kitchen table, mugs of cold coffee in front of them, Lexi snoring in her bed next to the stove.
“This thing is escalating,” Grayson said.
“Ya. Appears so.”
“I don’t mind saying I don’t like it.”
“I feel the same.”
Grayson sat back and stretched his legs out in front of him. “It’s an admirable thing that they came to you, Henry. They trust you.”
“They’re good youngies—well, adults really.” Henry hesitated, and then he asked what was on his mind even though he knew there was a limit to how much Grayson could or would share about an ongoing investigation. “Will you bring Justin Lane back in for additional questioning?”
“That’s why I stepped outside to use the phone earlier. I have a patrol car sitting outside his parents’ home, and a BOLO issued as well.”
“Will you charge him?”
“With the murder? Not yet. We don’t have enough evidence for that, but we should be able to get him for aggravated robbery—”
“Because the two people with him had guns?”
“Yes, and I think they would have used them if it had come to that. Fortunately, your young people were wise enough to simply hand over the bag of money.”
“But the ski masks. They kept Naomi or any of the others from making a certain identification.”
“Naomi seemed sure enough, and the other three were able to pick Justin out from your drawings.”
That drawing, the one of Justin pushing his way through the crowd, sat on top of the stack on his table.
“Naomi didn’t see their faces, and the others can only know that his height and build are the same.”
“Don’t forget he was already considered a suspect.” Grayson ticked the reasons off on his fingers. “He was involved in the gambling scheme. He might have felt slighted since he wasn’t chosen for the television program. We have witnesses who saw him arguing with Jeremiah at the diner—threatening him, actually.”
Grayson stared down at his three fingers. “He had plenty of motive, and because he was there that night, we can place him at the scene of the crime.”
“You’ll need more than that for a murder charge to stick.”
“Pull on a string, and there’s no telling what you’ll find. He’s involved in this somehow. That I’m sure of.”
“He slipped up. The robbery drew your attention to him. He must have really wanted the money.”
“Maybe he thought he needed it.”
“It’s amazing what we can convince ourselves we need.”
“We can make the charge of aggravated robbery stick,” Grayson assured him. “I expect he’ll give up the names of his two sidekicks pretty quickly. You know how these things go. The first person to rat out the others receives more leniency from the court. Once Justin realizes he could be looking at years behind bars, I imagine he’ll abandon his cohorts. Or maybe it will happen the other way around.”
“You think the other two will sacrifice Justin to save themselves?”
“I do, but we have to figure out who they are before that can happen.”
Henry tapped the drawing. “The thing I keep asking myself is why he was on this side of the arena. If he was participating in the rodeo events, he should have been with the other contestants.”
“A question he’ll need to answer.”
“What will happen to the money if Justin has it in his possession?”
“It would become evidence.”
“Will it ever be returned to the individuals who gave it to Jeremiah or were owed by him?”
“Hard to say. If the judge believes Jeremiah’s notebook is an accurate log, then it might be. However, because gaming operations must be licensed and regulated in this state, I doubt it. In most cases, it remains with the agency that seized it. At least seventy percent will.”
“Monte Vista police?”
“We can hope.” Grayson smiled for the first time that evening. “We put it into a special account for community service ventures. It gives us the funds to continue school programs that warn youngsters about drugs, crime, and so on. Some of it goes into a victims’ fund.”
“At least it will be put to good use.”
“It will, and I’m sorry about the young men in your c
ommunity who lost their hard-earned money. It’s a costly lesson for them to learn.”
“The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.”
“Bible?”
“Amish proverb, but the Bible does contain similar statements.”
Grayson stood and stretched. “It’s been a long night, and you have an early morning.”
“I do, but if I know you, I suspect your workday is just beginning.”
Grayson only grunted at that.
They walked out onto the front porch. Lexi didn’t even stir, testament to the fact that there had been a lot of activity in the little house for one small dog. When Naomi, Katie Ann, Silas, and Albert had first appeared at his door, all talking at once and claiming they had been robbed, Lexi had run in circles and barked and growled, as if she might terrorize the culprit out of the darkness. Katie Ann finally calmed down the little dog. Lexi had the heart of a protector, that much was certain.
“We appreciate what you do,” Henry said to Grayson. “I hope you know that.”
Morning was still hours away, but a quarter moon provided enough light for them to easily see their way down the porch steps. Grayson opened the door to his vehicle, but instead of getting in, he stood there, letting his gaze move slowly across Henry’s garden, home, workshop, small barn, and field where he pastured his buggy horse. All mere shadows in the moonlight, but Henry understood Grayson was seeing what they represented.
“You all have been a good addition to this community, Henry. I’m sorry you’re tangled up in a web of crime again, and I’m not going to even begin to try to explain why this is the third time you’ve been called upon to help during a murder investigation.”
“Gotte’s wille, perhaps.”
“That’s possible, I suppose, but you’ve done enough this time.”
“So you’re certain the person who killed Jeremiah is Justin?”
“I intend to find out.”
Henry remained sitting on the porch until he could no longer see the red glow of Grayson’s taillights. He continued rocking, allowing the breeze and the evening sounds to minister to his soul. When he walked inside, the clock told him it was well past three in the morning. Should he even bother going to bed?
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