Murder in the Amish Bakery (Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Book 3)

by Samantha Price

  Ettie tiptoed to the couch and sat down. “I’ve had a long day.”

  “Tell me all about it. Start at the beginning.”

  Ettie told Elsa-May every detail of their trip to Harrisburg to see Rupert Bird. “And then I got to thinking while we were out today, about the knife. It wasn’t Ruth’s knife, so either the other man in the bakery with Alan brought the knife with him, or Alan Avery had the knife. Why would someone carry a knife around like that if they weren’t intending to use it?”

  “Hmm. Detective Kelly thinks that the people were after cash. Would they have carried a knife in case they ran into any trouble? For self defense purposes?”

  “It makes no sense,” Ettie said. “Unless the second man brought the knife with him intending to kill Alan Avery as soon as they’d found the bread recipe, or the starters.”

  “So, Ruth’s admitted to using starters?” Elsa-May said.

  Ettie shook her head. “She’s keeping quiet on the whole thing. I’m assuming she would, though. Anyway, when the recipe and nothing else was found, the accomplice might have killed Alan in anger.”

  “And you think that he had intended to kill Alan anyway, once the recipe was found? Leaving Alan’s body in the bakery and Ruth’s bread recipe missing?”

  Ettie thought for a while. “I guess so. What are your thoughts?”

  “I suppose if he’d been successful in stealing her bread recipe, there’d be no way to prove that someone was using Ruth’s starters or recipes. In that way, the thief would be hard to track down.”

  Chapter 8.

  Ettie got herself ready to go to Alan Avery’s funeral. She and Elsa-May picked up Ruth in the taxi and headed to the chapel where the funeral service was to be held.

  They sat in the back row of the church and waited for the service to begin. Ettie looked up at the stained glass windows with scenes of the resurrection. Then she stared at the statues and the cross that took a prominent position at the front of the room. Ettie was reminded how the Englisch believed different things.

  To some of the Englisch, a church was a building where they went on Sundays, but to the Amish, the church was the people who belonged to the body of Christ. Their church wasn’t a building, and that’s why they held their meetings in the houses of different members of the community. For convenience, in communities where members lived far apart, some Amish communities had erected buildings for their meetings, but these buildings were never referred to as churches.

  When the seats were filled, a man in white robes entered and everyone stood. After a hymn was sung, everyone sat down again. The minister said a prayer and then a man got up to say something about Alan Avery. When he finished, another man got up to speak.

  Ettie noticed a young woman crying in the front row. “Is that the daughter?” she whispered to Ruth.

  “Yes, it is. That’s Melissa.”

  Ettie had suggested they go to the funeral. Detective Crowley had always told Ettie that you find out a lot of things out at funerals by keeping eyes and ears open. Right now, they were keeping theirs open to find someone who might have profited from Alan Avery’s death.

  After the speeches, another hymn was sung before the minster read a few passages of Scripture. After the minister closed in prayer, everyone made their way out of the church and walked a little distance behind the church to the plot where Alan Avery would be buried.

  As everyone gathered around the coffin that was placed over the grave, more words were said. It wasn’t long before the coffin was lowered into the ground.

  Ettie noticed that the daughter was making her way around, talking to everyone. When Ruth and Melissa’s eyes met, Ruth waved and Melissa made her way over.

  “Ruth, it was so good of you to come. I’ve been meaning to come by and see you. It must have come as an awful shock to find my father on your floor like that.”

  Ruth introduced Melissa to Ettie and Elsa-May.

  “Will you all come to the wake?” Melissa asked.

  “We’d love to, Melissa,” Ruth said.

  “Do you know what my father was doing in your bakery?”

  “We weren’t talking to each other at the time. As you know, I cancelled his standing order.”

  “Yes I know. I thought you might have asked him to meet you there, or something.”

  Ruth shook her head. “No. I haven’t heard from him since he told me he was opening a bakery down the road.”

  “Believe me, Ruth, I knew nothing about that, or I would’ve told him not to do it. That was his dream for me, not mine. He wanted me to run it, but I was happy with my little café.”

  “I hope he hasn’t left you in financial difficulties,” Ruth said.

  Ettie and Elsa-May stayed a distance away so they wouldn’t appear to be listening in, but they were.

  “He has, Ruth. I found out that he’d borrowed an awful lot of money. Now the people he borrowed money from are demanding that I pay them.” Melissa put her hand to her head. “It’s all too much. Dad being killed, and now people are harassing me for money. He didn’t owe you money too, did he, Ruth?”

  Ruth shook her head. “He always paid in cash at the end of every week. Just tell these people you don’t have the money.”

  “And end up like my father?”

  “Do you think they had something to do with his death?”

  “I don’t know what I think anymore, but somehow those people found out I was due to get an insurance payout from dad’s life insurance policy, and now they want me to give them that. The insurance company won’t even release the money until the police find out more about his death, though. So I don’t even have the money yet.”

  “How much did he owe them?”

  “More money than I can say out loud. I don’t want to hear myself say it.”

  “Who are these people? You should go to the police.”

  Melissa nodded. “Anyway, today is about my father. Come and have something to drink. I’ve got to get around and talk to everyone.” Melissa leaned closer to Ruth, and said, “Even though that’s the last thing I feel like doing.”

  They followed Melissa into a room at the back of the chapel where the wake was being held. Ettie got herself, Elsa-May, and Ruth some sodas.

  “Did you hear what she said, Ettie?” Ruth asked.

  “Jah, I did. She was certainly giving you a lot of private information. I didn’t know you knew her that well.”

  “I’ve known her for a few years, but we never talked about personal things.”

  Ettie said, “Sounds like he borrowed money from private lenders – loan sharks.”

  “See if she can tell you more about them, Ruth,” Elsa-May said.

  Ruth nodded. “Okay, I’ll wait until she’s made her way around and talked to everyone, and then I’ll see what else she can tell me about these moneylenders.”

  “And ask her if her father knew Rupert Bird, or Hugh Dwyer,” Ettie added.

  Half an hour later, Ruth decided she couldn’t wait any longer. She saw that Melissa was now by herself so she walked over to her.

  After they’d been talking for a while, Ruth came back to Ettie and Elsa-May.

  “Well, what did she say?” Elsa-May asked.

  “I’ll tell you after we leave here,” Ruth said.

  Chapter 9.

  When they were back at Ruth’s house after Alan Avery’s funeral, Ruth sat Elsa-May and Ettie down in the living room and then told them what Melissa had said.

  “I didn’t want to tell you where anyone could overhear. Melissa Avery told me that the first thing she knew about her father borrowing the money was when he hid in the back of the shop when he saw two men walking toward the café. The men came in and asked for him, and she told them he wasn’t in and she didn’t know when he’d be back.”

  “Did she say what they looked like?” Ettie asked.

  “They were big and muscled. She called them ‘thugs.’ When they left, she confronted her father and he admitted he owed them money. He’d borr
owed from them to remodel the bakery.”

  “Did her father know the other two men that Ettie mentioned?” Elsa-May asked.

  “She wasn’t certain about Rupert Bird, but she did know that her father knew Hugh Dwyer.”

  Ettie explained to Elsa-May. “He’s the local man with the Amish small goods store.”

  Elsa-May nodded.

  “She said they met a long time ago when they were in chef’s school. You see they have their apprenticeships when they’re assigned to different firms, and then they also had to go to school sessions. She said they’d always been rivals, but she was sure they’d been friendly rivals. Years ago, Hugh once worked as a head chef and he got Alan a job where he worked.”

  “Sounds like they knew each other well,” Ettie said. “Did you tell Melissa that Hugh was also trying to buy you out?”

  “I told her that, and she said that her father would have been livid with rage if he’d known. He hadn’t mentioned anything to her, so chances are that he didn’t know.”

  “I wonder if he did know, and just hadn’t mentioned anything to his daughter,” Ettie said.

  “Are you thinking they were in it together, Ettie?” Elsa-May asked. “Both Hugh and Alan had broken in and were trying to steal Ruth’s recipe?”

  Ettie shrugged. “I don’t know what to think. It sounds likely that Hugh might have been in that room. Could they both have been intending to double-cross the other? Ruth, I think we need to go and visit Hugh Dwyer,” Ettie said.

  “Do you think so?” Ruth asked.

  Ettie nodded. “I think we should go there tomorrow.”

  “Was he at the funeral?” Elsa-May asked.

  “Nee, I know what he looks like. He wasn’t there. All right, Ettie, I’ll visit him tomorrow if you come with me,” Ruth said.

  * * *

  It was just after nine the next morning when they arrived at Hugh Dwyer’s Amish small goods store.

  “Ruth!” Hugh rushed over to Ruth.

  He was a tall thin man with pale skin, dark hair, and a narrow moustache.

  “Hello, Hugh. My friend and I thought we’d pay you a visit. This is my friend, Ettie Smith.”

  He tipped his head to Ettie. “Nice to meet you.”

  “And you as well,” Ettie said.

  “I was just about to have my second morning cup of coffee. Care to join me?” he asked.

  “We’d love to,” Ruth said.

  They followed Hugh to a table in his café, which was attached to his store. After he gave one of his employees their drinks order, he said, “Now tell me, Ruth, what brings you here today?”

  “Have you heard what happened to Alan Avery?”

  He nodded. “I did. I’ve been meaning to call you. It must have come as a shock. I read in the paper that you found him.”

  “Yes, I did. And Ettie was with me at the time. You knew him, didn’t you?”

  “I’ve known him for many years. We worked together at one point in time.”

  “When did you see him last?”

  “I honestly can’t remember. It would’ve been a good six months ago. We knew each other, but we were never close friends.”

  “I’m considering retiring, and I’m wondering if you’re still interested in buying my recipe?”

  “Always. I’m interested under the conditions on the contract I sent you.”

  Ruth nodded. “I still have the contract. I think it’s a little extreme. Surely I should be able to make my own bread just for myself.”

  He shook his head. “I can’t have any gray areas in the contract. It might start off being just for you, but then you’ll have visitors, and if you’ve got a starter, they might take some of that, and then my exclusive bread is not so exclusive any more.”

  “I suppose I just have to make my decision, and then we can sort out the finer details later.”

  He ran a finger along his narrow moustache. “Are you considering other offers?”

  “I do have a couple of other people interested, but that’s no different from when we first started talking.”

  The waiter brought their coffees over.

  “When we finish these, I’ll show you around.”

  “I’d like to have a good look over your shelves, you seem to have an interesting variety here. I haven’t been in here before,” Ettie said.

  “Everything on our shelves is authentic Amish food. I don’t know if Ruth told you, but we’ve got big plans for many more stores.”

  “Yes, Ruth mentioned you were expanding.”

  When they were finished with their coffees, Hugh took them to the front of the store and worked through to the back, explaining all the goods and where he’d sourced them. “Now you can look over my kitchen.”

  “We’d love to,” Ruth said.

  “It’s not busy now, but we’re packed out at lunch time.”

  Ruth followed Hugh into his kitchen and looked around. “There’s no room to make the bread.”

  “No. I wouldn’t make the bread in here. I’d need your bakery. Didn’t you read the contract?”

  “I didn’t see that in it. I’ll have to look over it again. I’ve had a few offers and I get a little confused.”

  Ettie followed close behind Hugh and Ruth. When Ettie looked up, she saw a rack of knives on the wall. They were graded in size from smallest to largest. Ettie noticed that the largest size was missing. And not only that, the knives looked exactly the same as the knife that had been sticking out of Alan Avery’s back. Ettie hadn’t realized she’d been staring at the knives until Hugh came to stand beside her.

  “They are a lovely set of knives,” Ettie said. “Are they commonly available? I’ve been looking for a better set of knives.” Since Ettie was so close she could see a bruise across the left cheekbone of Hugh’s pale face.

  “Many people throw knives away without realizing they just need sharpening. I brought these knives back from an overseas trip. You can’t get them in this country.” Hugh continued showing them the rest of his kitchen, but Ettie couldn’t stop thinking about the missing knife.

  At the end of their visit, Ruth said, “Thank you for showing us around. I will have another look at your contract and give it some serious thought.”

  “You do that, Ruth. And I’ll be in touch with you soon.”

  When they were a distance away from the store, Ettie said, “Did you see that, Ruth?”

  “The missing knife?”

  “Jah. We definitely have to tell Detective Kelly what we found. It looks like an exact match. It had the same grooves in the handle and the same inscription on the base of the blade near the handle. It seemed to be the same inscription anyway, from a distance.”

  “And did you see he had a bruise on his face?”

  Ettie nodded.

  Just as they were walking up the steps of the police station, they came face to face with Detective Kelly who was walking out of the building.

  “Hello, ladies, are you coming to see me?”

  “We are.”

  “Were you going somewhere?” Ruth said.

  “It can wait. Come into my office, we can talk there.”

  Ruth and Ettie followed Kelly into his office, and then sat down.

  When Kelly sat opposite, he said, “What can I do for you ladies today?”

  “We have some things to tell you,” Ruth said.

  Ettie began, “We went to see Hugh Dwyer today. He’s the man who runs the Amish small goods store. Actually, he owns the store.”

  The detective lifted both hands to his head, and scratched his hair in an agitated manner. “And why would you do that? Didn’t I tell you ladies I would follow that up after my other inquiries?”

  “We went there to find some things out,” Ruth said.

  “And I’m guessing you found something out, and that’s why you’re here?”

  Ruth and Ettie both looked at each other, and then nodded.

  “He took us to have a look over his store and his café. When we went into his kitc
hen, we saw he had knives that looked identical to the knife sticking out of the back of Alan Avery,” Ettie said. “There were around eight knives on the rack, all of different sizes.”

  “And his largest knife was missing,” Ruth added.

  “And not only that, he had a bruise on his cheekbone.”

  The detective pulled out a pad and made some notes.

  Ettie said, “He said that the knives weren’t available in this country and he brought them in from an overseas trip.”

  “Okay. I’ll check on how we’re doing with the identity of the knife. As far as the bruise on his face is concerned, there was no sign of a struggle. It seems as though the knife in Avery’s back had come as a complete surprise to him.” The detective winced. “Looks like I have to pay Hugh Dwyer a visit sooner than I’d planned.”

  “There’s one more thing, Detective,” Ettie said. “Hugh Dwyer has known Alan Avery for many years.”

  “But he didn’t go to his funeral,” Ruth added.

  “You ladies don’t know how to stay out of trouble. You went to Alan Avery’s funeral?”

  “Yes, I went out of respect. As you know, I’ve known him for many years. He was murdered in my bakery, so the least I could do was go to his funeral, Detective.”

  “And you think this Hugh Dwyer fellow knew him well enough to go to his funeral?” The detective asked.

  “They used to work together. He said that they’d known each other for many years, but they weren’t good friends. So I suppose it wasn’t unusual for him not to go to the funeral,” Ruth said.

  Without saying anything, the detective turned to his computer and tapped some keys on the keyboard. He turned the computer screen to face Ruth. “Would this be Hugh Dwyer?”

  “Yes, that’s him.”

  He turned the screen to face himself. “He’s got a record. Petty theft. At least we’ve got his prints on record.” The detective raised his eyebrows as he read more of what was on the screen. He turned back to the ladies. “You ladies best steer clear of him.”

  “We will,” Ruth said.

  “I will check out what you just told me, and then I want you ladies to go back and live your lives as normal. Leave the investigations to us.”