Marshmallow Malice

by Amanda Flower

  “It’s not Ohio’s fault, and not all of Ohio is country.”

  “The parts I’ve seen are, and you are trying to change the subject.” Cass looked at me sternly. “What are you going to do now? You have decided to find the killer, which I’m sure you have, so what are the next steps?

  I shook my head. “I wish I knew.” I gave her a brief narrative of the morning’s events.

  “You have the worst luck.” She brushed her purple bangs out of her eyes. “And this is bad news for Juliet, too. Everyone will assume that Reverend Brook had something to do with Leeza’s death.”

  I knew she was right. Poor Juliet. I felt sorry for Reverend Brook, too, but more for Juliet.

  Cass went to the coffee maker, poured a second cup of coffee, added cream and sugar to it, and set it in front of the seat opposite hers. “Sit and tell me everything. I want to know more about the moonshining.”

  I sat and held the mug in my hand. “I don’t know much about it. Leeza was involved with or dating a moonshiner; at least that’s what Reverend Brook said. I don’t know if she actually participated in the business.”

  “A still in Amish country. I can’t imagine there was much business with the Amish. They don’t drink, do they?”

  “Some do. It depends on what the bishop allows in each district, but many Amish drink alcohol. They don’t all view it as wrong, as long as the drinking stops before the person is inebriated. They also wouldn’t buy moonshine from an illegal still.”

  “Maybe the Amish are looser than I thought,” Cass said.

  I shrugged. I was too deep in thought to reply.

  Cass stood up and rinsed her mug in the sink. “So, I’m guessing that our sightseeing day around Holmes County is off.”

  My face fell. “I’m sorry, Cass.”

  “Don’t be. It’s Sunday. Isn’t everything closed anyway?”

  I nodded.

  “It’s much more important that we get to work on finding out who killed this Leeza person.”

  “We?” I asked.

  “Well, you’re going to try to find out, aren’t you? You might as well have backup. I can’t think of any backup better than me.”

  I couldn’t either.

  “Is there anything else I should know before we start?”

  Kayla’s face came to my mind, but that had nothing to do with the murder. I shook my head. “Nope, that’s it.”

  Twenty minutes later, Cass rode shotgun in my car with Puff in her lap. “Tell me again why we’re taking the rabbit.”

  The large, white bunny snoozed peacefully across her thighs.

  “She likes to spend the day with Nutmeg at the shop,” I said, as if it made perfect sense to shuttle my rabbit back and forth from my little rental house. I knew if I left her alone in the house all day, it would only lead to trouble. Puff was more like a dog than a rabbit. When she was bored, she tended to destroy my possessions. So far, she had shredded a throw pillow and two pairs of flip-flops, and she had gnawed on the leg of my dining room table. Thankfully, the table was secondhand, but the flip-flops were a great loss.

  “You do realize that she is getting white fur all over my black jeans,” Cass said.

  “I didn’t say you had to hold her. She would have sat in the back seat.”

  Cass shook her head. “Back there, she wouldn’t be able to see what was going on.”

  I suppressed a smile. Cass might not admit it, but she had a soft spot when it came to the white rabbit.

  Out of habit, I parked on Apple Street. I could have parked in front of the candy shop because it was Sunday, and there was no traffic.

  Cass and I walked to the front of the shop, and she carried Puff. She made no further complaint about Puff’s white fur. I knew she would be covered in white fluff when she set the rabbit down. I let us in the candy shop and wasn’t surprised to find neither my grandmother nor Charlotte there now. Even though they didn’t have church that Sunday, it wasn’t unusual for them to go call on their Amish friends on Sunday afternoon. Sunday was all they had. Both of them worked in the candy shop six days a week, and as much as I tried to convince them to take another day of the week off, their Amish work ethic wouldn’t allow it. Not that I was much better; I was a workaholic, too.

  As soon as Cass set Puff on the pine-plank floor, Nutmeg ran down the stairs from my grandmother’s apartment to the front room of the shop and touched noses with the rabbit. I wondered if Nutmeg would tell the rabbit about his somersault off the sofa earlier. I shook my head. My life had changed a lot since I’d left New York if I now believed that a rabbit and a cat could communicate. I kept that little realization to myself.

  Cass looked down at them. “Aren’t cats supposed to eat rabbits?”

  “Not these two, and besides, Puff is twice the size of Nutmeg.”

  It was true. The large, white bunny dwarfed the small cat.

  Cass shook her head, and I was about to say something else about the animal odd couple when my cell phone rang. When I removed it from my pocket, a picture of Juliet holding Jethro was on my screen.

  “Juliet?”

  “Oh, Bailey, I’m so glad you answered. Could you come over to the church?” Juliet said breathlessly in my ear.

  “Is something wrong? Did something else happen?”

  “There are no more dead bodies.”

  That was a relief, though it was telling that she felt she had to reassure me.

  “Then what’s wrong?” I asked.

  “There is a man here at the church, and he’s looking for Leeza. He’s quite upset. Can you come and calm him down?”

  “What about Aiden or another deputy? If this man knows Leeza, Aiden will want to talk to him.”

  Cass put her ear next to mine so she could hear the conversation, too. I put the call on speaker.

  “Aiden left. Deputy Little is here and talking to the man. It doesn’t appear that he’s having much luck. I thought you might do better.”

  “Why?”

  “Because the man is Amish.”

  And there was the Amish connection I had been looking for.

  Cass and I left Puff and Nutmeg in the shop. We walked briskly across the street and square. Cass, who was several inches shorter than I, had to jog to catch up.

  “Are you going to call Aiden?” Cass asked.

  I glanced over my shoulder. “I’m sure Little has already told him.”

  “Then what’s the hurry?” she asked.

  “I want to get to the Amish man before Aiden does. Many Amish refuse to talk to the police. This guy Juliet called me about isn’t going to talk to Little. I want to question him before he clams up even more.”

  On the other side of the square, I crossed Church Street and stepped onto the church’s front lawn. Yellow crime scene tape stretched across the front steps of the church, marring the usually tranquil country scene.

  There was only one police vehicle left in the parking lot, and I assumed it was Deputy Little’s. I spotted the deputy and an Amish man, who was about forty, with a neat, brown beard, standing at the edge of church property near the village playground.

  Juliet stood a few feet away from them, holding Jethro’s leash. The pig snuffled in the grass as if he were looking for food. He was the only one of them who didn’t appear to be concerned about this turn of events.

  The Amish man glared at Deputy Little. “I tell you, I need to see her. I have heard that she is at the church. Now, tell her to come out to speak to me. I’d rather not do this on my Lord’s Day, but she has left me no choice.”

  The young deputy pulled at his collar. “I must first have your name.”

  “My name is no matter. I want to see the woman who calls herself Leeza. I heard she would not leave this church yesterday. When I have my say with her, I will leave.” He folded her arms.

  I glanced at Deputy Little. Hadn’t he told this man that Leeza was dead? It was clear to me he had not. Why withhold the information? Was it to keep the man here until Aiden appeared?
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  Juliet walked over to me, tugging Jethro along on his leash. The pig was reluctant to follow her lead, but that wasn’t anything new. “Oh, Bailey,” she said in hushed tones. “I’m so glad you came so quickly. Deputy Little is having a terrible time.”

  “We can see that,” Cass said.

  “What do you want me to do?” I asked.

  Juliet wrapped the end of Jethro’s leash more tightly around her palm. “I don’t know, but you have to get them away from here. There are only a few minutes left in the service. Any moment, parishioners will come spilling out of the church.” She grabbed my arm. “Bailey, we can’t have any more scandal at the church. The reverend had a terrible time sharing his message today. There were so many people whispering about the dead woman.”

  “She was found on the church steps,” Cass said. “I would be more concerned if they weren’t talking about it.”

  Juliet brushed a tear from her cheek. “Please, Bailey. I can’t take much more. I’ve only been married a day and it already feels like everything is ruined. The reverend said he’s being punished for what he’s done.”

  “Punished? That sounds a little extreme,” Cass said.

  “More than a little,” I said.

  To our right, Deputy Little set his hand on his duty belt. “Sir, please calm down. Just as soon as my supervisor comes back, we will talk all about it.”

  The Amish man glared back at the young deputy. “I don’t want to speak to you or your supervisor. I want to talk to Leeza.”

  “Oh,” Juliet cried. “You poor man, you don’t know.”

  The Amish man turned around and glared at Juliet. “Know what?”

  “Leeza,” Juliet said. “She’s dead.”

  All the blood drained from Deputy Little’s face. I had a suspicion that Aiden’s mother had just told this suspect exactly what the young deputy was instructed not to say.

  “Dead?” The Amish man turned. “How can that be? How can she be dead and rob me so?”

  “Rob you of what?” Cass asked.

  The Amish man looked at Juliet, Cass, and me standing there. Jethro, too. The little pig was unconcernedly snuffling the grass at his mistress’s feet.

  “She has no right to be dead before giving me what she owes me. Her selfishness robs me of my due.” He turned and stomped toward the village playground.

  “Stop,” Deputy Little said. “I have a few questions to ask you.”

  Instead of stopping, the man broke into a run, heading away from the church and through the playground. From there, he disappeared around the side of the bright yellow Sunbeam Café, the closest building to the church.

  Deputy Little yelped. “Stop!” He took off after him.

  We watched as the deputy disappeared around the side of the café, too. Just then, the church’s great bell rang, and members began streaming out of the back door. Usually they would exit from the front door, but the area was blocked off due to the murder.

  Juliet clapped her hands. “Thank goodness. I don’t think any of the church members saw this latest disturbance.”

  “Don’t you want to know who that guy was?” Cass asked.

  Juliet shook her head. “No, I don’t want to know anything else. I just want this nightmare to be over. It’s killing Reverend Brook.” She grabbed my arm again. “I have to go greet the church members. Bailey, you will help make this go away, won’t you?”

  “I don’t know if I can make it go away,” I said quietly.

  But Juliet wasn’t listening. “Good. Thank you. I knew I could count on you. Please know, dear, that you are better for Aiden than Kayla ever was or ever could be.”

  “Who’s Kayla?” Cass asked.

  I was saved from answering that question by the arrival of Aiden’s departmental SUV. Deputy Little came around the Sunbeam Café and across the playground with his head down. Dirt covered him from head to toe.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “You were supposed to keep the suspect here,”

  Aiden said in a strained voice.

  The younger deputy’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “I tried, Deputy Brody. He just took off. Someone let it slip that Leeza was dead. I was following your instructions and keeping it quiet.”

  Aiden glanced at Cass and me. “Who did that?”

  “Not us,” Cass said.

  Aiden turned back to Deputy Little. “Who, Little?”

  His Adam’s apple worked overtime. “Your mother, sir.”

  Aiden closed his eyes for a moment and looked at the church. Juliet and Reverend Brook stood on the sidewalk near the back door, saying goodbye to the church members. Many of those members made a point of walking over to the crime scene tape in the front of the building. They pointed and whispered to one another. If the reverend wanted to downplay Leeza’s death, he was going to have a hard time of it. Even from where I stood on the other side of the parking lot, I could tell her demise was the topic of conversation, not Reverend Brook’s sermon, as he might have liked it to be.

  “Okay,” Aiden said, seeming to have gathered his thoughts. “I suppose it was a long shot that we’d be able to keep that fact from him. At least tell me his name.”

  “I can’t.” Deputy Little looked as if he might cry. “He refused to answer me. I suppose I could have arrested him to make him talk, but I didn’t want to tip him off that Leeza was dead.”

  “All right. What did he look like?”

  “He was Amish,” Deputy Little said.

  Aiden sighed. “Do you have any more than that?”

  The other deputy cleared his throat. “Age around forty, brown hair and average build, tan from working outside. He wore a white shirt, black trousers, suspenders, black running shoes. No hat.”

  Aiden nodded, but he knew as well as we all did that that description could have fit half the Amish men in the village. “Did you see where he went?”

  Deputy Little shook his head. “I came around the other side of the Sunbeam Café and he was gone. It was like he disappeared. I checked with the people in the café, but no one else saw him either.”

  Aiden sighed. “Go ask them again. Lois will let you take a look around, at least. Check and make sure he’s not hiding in the kitchen.”

  Deputy Little nodded and took off. It was clear he was happy to have an assignment. Looking for clues was much better than standing there under Aiden’s judgment.

  “Cass,” I whispered. “Can you go check with Juliet to see if she needs anything else?” I asked.

  She eyed me. “You want to talk to Hot Cop about the case. I get it.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I wish you would stop calling him that.”

  “Why? It’s an accurate description, isn’t it?” She smiled.

  I had to admit it was.

  “Go on, have a chat with him, but remember, you have to tell me everything later.” She narrowed her eyes. “And I still want to know who Kayla is.”

  I’d hoped she would have forgotten about that. I should have known better.

  After Cass left me alone with Aiden, I cleared my throat.

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “This is a disaster. I should have just let Little interview that man, or at the very least told him to get the basics, like his name or where he lived. I was so concerned that he would mess it up; I wanted to do it myself. It backfired.”

  “I thought you liked Deputy Little. You’ve always said he was a good cop.”

  “He is, but I can’t have screwups on this case. There are complications.”

  “Your mother?” I asked.

  “She’s one of them, but not even the biggest one.”

  “What’s the biggest one?”

  Aiden studied my face but said nothing.

  “Aiden, I can help you. Now that we know that Leeza’s death has some tie to the Amish in Harvest, I can help.”

  He removed his departmental baseball cap and ran his hands through his hair. “It’s dangerous. This is one of the most dangerous cases I’ve ever worked, and if so
mething happened to you, I would never forgive myself. An illegal still is nothing to trifle with.”

  “Nothing is going to happen to me.” I put what I hoped was a reassuring hand on his arm. “Just tell me why you are extra worried about this case.”

  “It’s the way she died,” he said finally.

  “She was hit with something on the back of the head. Even I could tell that.”

  “It’s how she was hit.”

  I raised my brow and waited.

  He slapped his ball cap on his knee.

  “The coroner found metal lodged in her skull. It was some sort of sheet metal. We think it flew from something with a great deal of force. Her hair was singed, which makes the coroner believe she was hit by an explosion of some sort.”

  I gasped. “Like a bomb?”

  Aiden pressed his lips together. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say that.”

  “How far would you go?” I shaded my eyes against the sun for a better look at his expression. It was unreadable. I knew that was on purpose.

  He studied the hat in his hand, as if looking to it for guidance to tell him how to answer this question. “I would go so far to say that she was close to some sort of blast.”

  “Okay, say there was an explosion. Wouldn’t you or someone in law enforcement know about it?” I asked.

  “She didn’t die here at the church. There would be more fragments of whatever it was that hit her around the body. Besides, the coroner believes that if a blast like that had happened nearby, there would be evidence around the church. Damage to the building, shrapnel, that sort of thing.”

  “So she died in an explosion and someone, probably the killer, dumped the body.” I glanced back at Juliet and Reverend Brook. “I can’t help but believe whoever did that was intentionally trying to send the reverend a message.”

  Aiden swallowed. “That’s what I think, too. It gives me even more motivation to clear the reverend’s name of the crime and send the newlyweds away on their honeymoon. I want my mother away from this situation. If Leeza did die in an explosion, it won’t take long to prove the reverend wasn’t involved.”