Sound of Fear

by Marta Perry

  * * *

  AMANDA PULLED ON her hiking boots early the next morning, smiling when Barney danced around her in anticipation of a walk.

  “Yes, just give me a minute,” she told him.

  Standing, she fastened her hair back with a scrunchie, hoping she looked a little better than she felt. Easy enough for Trey to tell her to get some sleep. Not so easy to do.

  After a lot of fruitless wondering about the effect of the past on the present, she had managed to fall into an uneasy slumber. But even that had been punctuated with dreams—seeing Melanie fall to the rocks, over and over again. And then the dream had twisted, and she was scrambling up the rocky trail next to the falls, feeling something behind her, grabbing at her heels. And then falling, falling...

  It had been a relief to get up, and some careful stretching had eased the tension from her muscles. The bruises looked worse but felt better.

  Hopefully a brisk walk would clear her head and help her face the day. Clicking to Barney, she went out the door, walking down the lane toward the route she usually took. Barney ran in a few widening circles, apparently to be sure nothing had changed from previous walks.

  It was chilly under the trees, and she was glad of the flannel shirt she’d pulled on. She’d reached the open space where the farm came in view when she saw someone coming toward her.

  Jacob stopped a few feet away, bending over to greet Barney, who cautiously sniffed his extended hand and ended by licking it. Jacob laughed, ruffling his ears.

  “Gut boy.” He smiled at Amanda with something of the same cautiousness the dog had displayed. “So this is your guard dog. I hope he helped you sleep well.”

  She shrugged. “I wasn’t afraid, not with him there. But...”

  “But there’s a lot to think of, ain’t so?” He nodded. “I was the same. May I walk with you?”

  She could hardly refuse. “Of course. Barney and I like at least one good long walk a day.”

  “Yah, I am the same.” He fell into step with her. “Every day after the morning chores, I have to walk over the farm. My wife teases me, asking if I think it will have changed.”

  She realized she understood. “But it does change, doesn’t it? There’s always something fresh to be seen on a farm.”

  “Even if it’s just how much the corn has grown or if the berries have ripened enough to pick.” He nodded, accepting her understanding.

  They’d reached the trail that led through the woods before she asked the question that was hovering on her tongue. “Did you think I needed protection on my walk?”

  He shrugged. “I would want to walk with you, anyway. But Sarah told me about the hay bales falling on you.” He was quiet for a moment, musing. “I thought all the bad things that happened were in the past. But it seems that isn’t so.”

  “No. If I’d known before I came to Echo Falls what would happen...” She let that trail off, not sure how it would end.

  “Would you rather never have known about your mamm and daad?” Jacob seemed unwilling to let it rest there.

  She considered for a few strides, noticing that Jacob kept up with her easily. Finally she shook her head. “No, I guess not. My mother—my adopted mother—expected me to face troubles, not run from them.”

  “And yet she didn’t tell you about your parentage.” It wasn’t said in a condemning way, but as a matter of fact.

  “I’ve gone over and over that in my mind.” She was surprised by her readiness to confide in him. “I wonder now if it was more than just making me feel secure. Maybe she thought there’d be trouble if it became known.”

  “She would have wanted to keep you safe. Any parent would. Have you found out how she came to have you?”

  “Not yet, but my lawyer in Boston is looking into it.” She frowned, thinking aloud. “In the early years, before she was successful, Juliet often worked as a waitress. I’m thinking she somehow met Melanie that way after Melanie ran away from the place they sent her to.” She glanced at him. “You know about that?”

  “That the Winthrop family wanted you given up for adoption? Yah, I heard. They didn’t know who the father was, but if they had, they wouldn’t think I needed to be told.” There was a faint trace of bitterness in the words.

  “Melanie didn’t want to give me away. That much is clear. As to why she came back that day...” Amanda glanced at him. “You would know that better than I.”

  The lines in his face seemed accentuated. “She wanted to see me. I thought she wanted to get together. For us to get married and be a family.”

  Amanda tried to read his expression. “Was that what you wanted, too?”

  His smile broke through. “Yah, for sure. We were deep in love. Now, well, like I said, it wonders me how it would have worked out.”

  “You think your love wouldn’t have lasted?” She wanted to believe in a love that endured for a lifetime.

  “We wouldn’t have stopped loving. But it’s not an easy thing, living Amish. Especially for someone raised the way Melanie was. I feared she would miss all the things she was used to.”

  The trees thinned out where the hillside sloped sharply downward. Jacob pointed. “That’s the farm where I grew up. My younger brother has it now.”

  Standing beside him, Amanda saw a neat Amish homestead, looking like a toy farm from this distance. The barn, the stable, the twin silos, the neat patchwork of fields...they were all similar to Sarah and Amos’ place.

  “Do you regret going out to Ohio?” She leaned against a convenient tree trunk.

  “No, not now. At first I was homesick, but after Melanie died, I couldn’t settle. I had told my parents about the baby in my grief, and they tried to help me, but it was better to go away. Now I have my family, my farm, and I’m content. It’s a gut life.”

  “You have children, Sarah says.” She rose, turning back down the hill. She had to whistle for Barney, who’d gone off on a jaunt of his own.

  “Katie and I have five, three girls and two boys. Gut helpers on the farm, all of them, and growing as fast as weeds.”

  “How old are they?” It wasn’t just being polite. She found her curiosity growing about those unknown siblings.

  “Our oldest boy is twelve, and turning into a man almost before our eyes. Then came the three girls, all looking alike, but so different in themselves. Our Becky is only seven, but she is our little scholar, always with a book in her hands. And then comes Joshua, just turned four and the image of his mamm.”

  Given the ages of the children, he must have waited some time before marrying. Grieving for her mother?

  Amanda could read the affection and pride in his expression when he spoke of his children, and for a split second wished it was for her. But that was foolish. She lived an entirely different life, and they had nothing in common but an accident of birth.

  Jacob was watching her face—studying it, she thought, with a sort of wary hope.

  “You would like to meet them someday?” he asked.

  Amanda hesitated, not sure she wanted to commit herself that far. But the yearning to see those half sisters and brothers was strong. “I’d like that. Someday,” she added, cautious.

  He seemed satisfied, and they walked back down the hill companionably enough. He kept up a gentle flow of talk about his childhood, avoiding any of the potential hurtful times.

  When they neared the stable, Jacob gestured toward it. “I hear from Amos you generally check on the foal you delivered. I’d like to see it.”

  “He’s a good-looking colt. Fine stock, Amos says.” She told Barney to stay, and he sat down obediently, giving her a reproachful look.

  Jacob chuckled. “He wants to come, too. If he had been with you, he’d have sensed the stranger in the loft, ain’t so?”

  “Yes. That makes it seem the man had been keeping an ey
e on things here, to know that I went in every morning and didn’t take the dog.”

  “Yah. Made Amos mad, that did. He says he and the boys have been walking the property a few times a day and in the night, just to be safe.”

  She opened the gate of the box stall and slipped inside, Jacob following her. “Amos and Sarah have been so kind. I hate thinking I’m causing them problems.”

  “They don’t see it that way,” he said. “You’re family.”

  Maybe this was the opportunity to say what she’d been feeling. “All my life it was just my mother and me. Suddenly having a big family is a little disconcerting.”

  “Just take it slow.”

  They’d reached the stall, and he approached the mare in just that way, gaining her confidence before looking toward her baby.

  Amanda knelt, running her hands along the baby’s soft hair, feeling the long muscles that carried their promise of strength to come.

  Jacob squatted on the other side of the colt, doing the same. “Yah, Amos made a fine choice of his Percherons. Not that I doubted it. Amos was always a gut judge of horses. And this youngster...” He broke off as the colt turned his head and slobbered generously on his cheek. His surprised laugh made Amanda laugh, as well. Their gazes met over the foal’s back in a moment of perfect agreement.

  Amanda rose, confused. She didn’t believe in some sort of instinctive recognition. Did she?

  * * *

  TREY HAD PICKED up Jacob and Amanda in time to meet Chief Carmichaels. He’d been a little surprised when she’d waved Jacob into the front seat next to him, and even more so when she maintained a nearly complete silence during the drive. A look in the rearview mirror showed him her expression. She looked as if she were puzzling something out.

  He’d hoped she’d have come to terms with the arrival of her father by this morning, but apparently not.

  He pulled into a parking place in front of the police station. “Here we are,” he said unnecessarily.

  They got out, pausing for a moment on the sidewalk. Amanda had been so determined about talking to Carmichaels that he’d expected her to charge ahead. Instead she hung back. Then, to his surprise and also, he expected, to Jacob’s, she took her father’s arm.

  Jacob looked as if she’d given him a present. Together they followed him into the station.

  Carmichaels was waiting for them. He greeted Jacob with a handshake and led them into his office.

  He settled himself behind his desk. A couple of folding chairs had been brought in to augment the office’s sparse furnishings, so they took their places across from him.

  “Now, then.” He zeroed in on Jacob. “I understand from Trey Alter that you’d like to make a statement about what happened when Melanie Winthrop died.”

  “That’s right.” Jacob sounded calm, but his hands were clenched on his black broadfall trousers. “I should have told the whole thing that day. I want to make up for it now.” He glanced at Amanda. “My daughter has a right to know the truth.”

  “Daughter?” Carmichaels looked from Amanda to Jacob. “I see. Guess that explains a lot.”

  Jacob nodded. “Here is what happened.”

  For the third time Trey listened to Jacob’s account. It was becoming familiar enough to him that it had lost its power to shock. But probably not for Amanda. Her face was tight, her eyes dark.

  When she met his gaze, he gave her what he hoped was an encouraging look.

  Carmichaels listened without comment, making an occasional note. When Jacob fell silent, he nodded. “That’s very clear. Now for a few questions.”

  He led Jacob through virtually the entire story again, questioning each step. Fair enough, Trey thought. No one could expect him to accept the belated story without questions, especially after such a long time.

  Jacob’s answers remained calm. Under questioning, he remembered a detail here or there, but nothing that would lead them anywhere near the identity of the person who’d been with Melanie that day.

  In the end, it was just as Trey had expected.

  “You have to understand that we still have no proof that Melanie’s death was anything other than an unfortunate accident.” When Amanda looked like she was about to burst into speech, he held up his hand to stop her.

  “I know. I agree it’s suspicious that the person, whoever it was, never came forward. But there are a lot of possible reasons for that. Plenty of people don’t want to be involved in that sort of thing.”

  Jacob nodded. “Yah. I should have told what I knew, but I didn’t.”

  “You had good reasons for that,” Amanda said with a surprising bit of loyalty.

  “Others might have good reasons, too,” Jacob said, his tone gentle.

  “But not for failing to go to Melanie’s aid when she fell,” Amanda said.

  Carmichaels cleared his throat with the air of one seizing control again. “The bottom line is that in my judgment, there’s not enough to justify opening up a full-scale investigation again.”

  “But...” Amanda drew breath to argue.

  “That doesn’t mean I’m ignoring it,” Carmichaels said firmly. “I’ll have some quiet talks with all the people who might know something. But if nothing comes to light...well, I don’t see that it ever will.”

  Before Amanda could start arguing, Trey grasped her arm.

  “Leave it for now,” he murmured. “It’s not over.”

  To his surprise, she took his advice. But as they started out, Carmichaels called him back.

  “A word, Trey.”

  He nodded and then turned to the other two. “I’ll meet you at the car in a few minutes.”

  As the door closed behind them, Carmichaels came around the desk and perched on it, a sign that they were now off the record.

  “About this Shawn Davis,” he said. “I’ve had Sam do a little nosing around.” Sam Jacobson was Echo Falls’ youngest patrolman. “Supposedly he and Carlie had broken up on her grandmother’s orders, but Sam says they’ve been seen around together. So I decided it was time to have a little talk with him.” His face expressed distaste. “Smart-mouthed punk. Sat right there and sneered at me. Pretty much dared me to prove he’d done anything. Which you know I can’t, not with nothing more than a scrap of fabric to go by.”

  “Sounds as if Carlie ought to watch what friends she picks,” he commented. He’d known they had no proof that Shawn was their joker, but he’d hoped he was the type to cave when leaned on. Apparently not.

  “Yeah. Anyway, I wanted you to know. Maybe you’d better talk to your client. He might be warned off by my interest, but he struck me as the type who’d have another try just to prove how smart he is.”

  “I will. And I’ll try to make sure she doesn’t go taking any chances.” He’d try. But Amanda had a mind of her own.

  Amanda and Jacob both looked at him expectantly when he came out.

  “Well?” Amanda said. “Did he want you to discourage me?”

  “Nothing like that. He wanted to talk to me about that boyfriend of Carlie’s.”

  Jacob looked lost, as well he might.

  “What did he say?” Amanda jumped on it.

  “We can’t talk about it here.” He nodded to the elderly couple who went slowly by, their eyes on Amanda. “Let’s go over to Esther’s place and have coffee.”

  Amanda bit off whatever she’d been about to say. She nodded, and they crossed the street toward the bakery.

  Esther surged forward at the sight of them. “There you are. I was wondering when you’d stop by again.” Her gaze stopped on Jacob’s smiling face. “Ach, can I believe my eyes? If it’s not Jacob Miller, come back to see us. Look at you. You haven’t changed at all, except for the beard.”

  “And a few gray hairs,” he said. “But you are the same as ever.”


  “Yah, except for a few extra pounds,” she said, laughing. “Komm, sit. What will it be?”

  It took a while to detach Esther, determined as she was to hear all about Jacob’s family and what he was doing back when it wasn’t either a wedding or a funeral. Trey decided coming here might not have been such a great idea. Esther was capable of putting two and two together. Still, was it realistic to think they could keep it secret?

  Finally, seeming to realize that she was monopolizing Jacob, Esther left them alone to talk, but he could see her wondering as she walked away.

  It didn’t take Trey long to communicate what the chief had said about Shawn Davis, but of course they had to fill Jacob in on their suspicions that he’d been the muscle, if not the brains, behind the mishaps that targeted Amanda.

  When they’d finished, Jacob frowned at Trey. “You should have called the police after the first accident.”

  “That was my call,” Amanda said firmly. Obviously she didn’t intend to let either Trey or her newfound father make decisions for her. “We didn’t get the license number, and he was completely unidentifiable. Besides, then I assumed it was a genuine accident.”

  “The important thing now is to make sure he doesn’t get any more shots at you. Carlie might call him off since it’s been proved you’re Melanie’s daughter,” Trey said. “But that kind of person is unpredictable. And I’m not even sure it’s a safe assumption that Carlie gave him orders. She may have just complained about your arrival, and he decided on his own to chase you away.”

  Amanda didn’t agree with that, he knew, but it was still a possibility.

  “Anyway,” he hurried on, “the important thing now is to keep you safe. Don’t go anywhere unless Barney is with you or one of us, okay?”

  She looked predictably rebellious.

  “I know,” Trey said before she could give voice to her thoughts. “You can take care of yourself. Just do this for our peace of mind.”

  “I would,” she said, too sweetly to be believable. “But I’m going somewhere this evening where I can’t take Barney. And neither of you would be welcome, I suspect.”