Luke exchanged a glance with Mose as they listened. That boy had a lot of nerve, he would give him that.
“No, no! I didn’t kill your brother, Deborah. We fought and I knocked him down. . . . When I left him, he was lying on the ground, bleeding.” He closed his eyes as Deborah said something into his ear. Then he sighed. “I . . . I just wanted you to hear that from me.”
“Nee. I don’t know who put him in the well. I have no idea. I promise! Listen, Deborah. I know you won’t believe me, but I’m sorry. I know I should have told you all this weeks ago.” Glancing at Luke, Jacob said, “I should have told a lot of people about the fight a long time ago. I . . . I just wanted you to know. No matter what happens, I wanted you to know that I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt Perry, and I really never meant to hurt you.”
After another moment, Jacob clicked off the phone and handed it to Mose. “Thanks.”
“I have to say, I wouldn’t have expected you to be calling Deborah right at this moment.”
“She’s come to mean a lot to me. She’s been having such a hard time, feeling so alone, I know that I should have told her what I did.”
“And now you did.”
“Yeah. Finally.”
“Well, I can understand that.” Gripping Jacob’s arm, Mose opened the door. “Are you ready to face your parents?”
“Yeah.”
The three of them exited Jacob’s room, Luke leading the way, Jacob second, then Mose bringing up the rear. As they walked down the stairs, Mr. and Mrs. Schrock appeared in the foyer.
“What are you doing with Jacob?” Mr. Schrock asked.
Luke took it upon himself to tell the news so Mose wouldn’t have to.
“We’re taking him down to the station for questioning, Mr. Schrock.”
Mr. Schrock’s whole expression fell. His wife looked on the verge of fainting.
“Questioning for what?”
“It’s about Perry’s death of course, Aaron,” Mose said. “All of us know that.”
“Nee! But you can’t take him. He didn’t kill Perry!”
Alarms went off in Luke’s head. He could understand a father’s belief in his son, but he seemed so certain it sounded suspicious. Glancing Mose’s way, Luke noticed a tightening of his shoulders. He was picking up on the same thing.
Obviously they were going to be talking about this soon. Tamping down his curiosity, Luke did his best to keep things low-key. “Now’s not the time to discuss this, sir.”
“But it must be if you’re going to take my son away.”
“We’re just going to talk to him some more,” Mose said.
“When will you let him come home?” Gloria asked.
“Not for a few hours at least. I’ll send someone over to let you know what’s going on.”
Mr. Schrock glared. “I’m going to call a lawyer.”
Mose stood stoically next to Jacob, who looked like he was trying to stay on his feet. “Aaron, if that’s what you want to do, I think you should,” Mose said.
His expression still looking stunned, Mr. Schrock rushed forward, reaching for his son. “Oh, Jacob. I’m so sorry.” Jacob shied away from his touch.
Mose stepped forward and tried to regain control of the situation. “Aaron, there ain’t nothing to be said now,” he said as he put both of his palms on Jacob’s father’s shoulders.
“But I need to speak with him quickly. Tell him not to worry—”
Sensing the same warning bells, Luke turned to Mose.
And like the professional he was, Mose easily diffused the situation. “Now . . . that ain’t going to happen,” Mose said firmly. “We’re going to visit with Jacob.”
“But Jacob is my boy. You shouldn’t be talking to him without me.”
Luke was on the verge of reminding Aaron Schrock that Jacob was an adult when Jacob spoke. “Don’t make this any worse than it is, Daed. Please don’t.”
“But, this is such a terrible thing. I hate that it’s happening to ya.”
“I know, and I’m sorry.” His voice cracking, Jacob turned to his mother. “I’m mighty sorry, Mamm.”
“Can I hug him, Mose?” she asked.
“Of course, Gloria. Don’t forget, we’re just bringing him in for questioning. Nothing else.”
She nodded. “I understand.”
Luke took hold of Jacob’s elbow and took him to Mose’s cruiser. The short drive to the sheriff’s department was done in silence.
Once they were there, Luke and Mose walked Jacob into the interrogation room in the back. The receptionist watched them walk by and handed a few papers to Mose.
Through it all, Jacob had been stoic. He’d spoken only when spoken to, and seemed to search for the right words then.
In his gut, Luke felt that Jacob was telling the truth. The story Jacob told rang true. The young man wasn’t acting like a killer, and he honestly seemed bewildered about how Perry’s body had gotten into the well.
He looked relieved when Mose gave Jacob a soda, then left him in peace for a few moments.
As for himself, Luke felt queasy. Luke took a seat next to Mose’s desk and tried to make sense of what had just happened. Something didn’t feel right, and he wasn’t sure why.
He’d been certain Jacob had met Perry that night. And Jacob had admitted as much. So what didn’t fit?
He was still stewing on that when Mose came back and sat down behind his desk with a grunt.
Then Mose looked at him and frowned. “Something was fishy about Aaron. He said more than one thing that got my gander up.”
“I felt the same way.” It was a relief to admit his worries.
Sitting on the edge of his chair, Mose fussed with a couple of his metal paperclips, pulling them apart and twisting the metal. “So help me, Luke . . . I don’t think the boy killed Perry.”
Luke liked Jacob, but he forced himself to concentrate on the story he’d told them. “They fought. Perry fell and hit his head.”
“Jah. That much is true. I can believe that.”
“If you believe that . . . what doesn’t sound right to you?”
“Jacob doing anything else.” Scratching his head, Mose rose and started pacing. “I think that fight happened, Luke. It makes sense. Perry was volatile, and Jacob had more than his share of hurts. He’s got a temper, too.”
“Okay. Let’s say Jacob did go out to the Millers’ and that he fought with Perry. So what if he didn’t kill him immediately? Perry probably bled out and died.”
“Then we could charge Jacob for criminal negligence, or involuntary manslaughter.” Mose pointed a finger Luke’s direction. “But even if he was bleedin’ out and dying on the ground, he wasn’t crawling into wells, Luke.”
“And if Jacob had pulled Perry into the well, he would have gotten Perry’s blood all over him. Someone would have seen that.”
“Which means he would have either had to go back home with blood on him, or he took off his shirt and hid it.”
“I don’t think he did that. Someone would have noticed Jacob walking without a shirt on. And we would have heard about it by now,” Mose stated.
Luke threw his pencil on the table. “Okay. Let’s say you’re right. Let’s say Jacob and Perry fought, Jacob hit Perry, and Perry fell and lay bleeding. Jacob gets scared, so he leaves. Who shows up and finishes the job?”
“That’s the million-dollar question, ain’t it?” Mose asked. “Who hated Perry enough to stuff him in a well?”
“Or maybe the question is this,” Luke said slowly. “Who cared about Jacob enough to hide Perry? Or hates Jacob enough to let him take the blame.”
Grimacing, Mose closed his eyes. “It’s moments like this, Luke, when I wished I would have listened to my father and farmed.”
“At times like this, I wish you would’ve, too,” Luke said with a
grin. “Then I wouldn’t have gotten roped into this case.”
Chapter 16
“Years ago when I would follow Jacob and Perry to school, I used to imagine that it was Jacob walking by my side, and that it was Perry who was following. Of course, Perry would have never followed either of us. That wasn’t his way.”
DEBORAH BORNTRAGER
Overcome, Deborah threw the cell phone down and stared at it like it was on fire. Jacob had been fighting with Perry the evening he died? They’d been arguing and fighting and Perry was left bleeding while Jacob ran away?
Her head pounded as all of the consequences ran together in her mind. Jacob was to blame for Perry’s death. Maybe completely to blame. In addition, he’d been hiding the truth from her for months. No matter what he’d said, he hadn’t trusted her. Or maybe, rather, it was that he hadn’t wanted her to know his guilt.
And all this time, she’d been harboring her own secret about the man she’d loved for most of her life.
Feeling like each of her feet weighed a hundred pounds, she slowly walked over to her desk drawer, pulled out an old devotional, and carefully pulled out the note she’d hidden inside.
The one she’d snuck out of Perry’s room.
The note that Jacob had written to Perry, promising him that he would one day make Perry sorry for all the pain he’d caused them.
She’d been sure it was just another example of Jacob letting his emotions get the best of him. Afraid that someone would get the wrong idea about his words, she’d kept the note hidden.
But now it seemed that there was a very good chance that she’d been the one who’d completely misunderstood Jacob. Feeling sick to her stomach, she knew she was going to have to show the note to Mose.
Even if it meant admitting her folly and caused Jacob to hate her for the rest of her life.
Even it if helped Mose and Detective Reynolds arrest Jacob. She had to do this for Perry.
But this was going to hurt. Giving in to her grief, she laid down on her bed and let the tears fall for what she was going to have to do.
All this time, she’d been sure no other man could ever measure up to Jacob. She’d refused to see his faults. Instead, she’d made excuses for his rudeness or his selfish ways. Instead of realizing that he was never going to be the man for her, she gave him second and third chances. How could she be so stupid?
She hiccupped after a few moments, reliving Jacob’s phone call. And then she realized what he hadn’t said. He hadn’t mentioned his reasons for looking for Perry. He hadn’t even said whether the fight had been an accident or on purpose. All he’d said was that he and Perry had fought, but that he hadn’t killed him.
With the policemen standing right there, he’d taken the time to call her. Almost as if she mattered to him as much as he mattered to her.
Did he still?
Maybe, just maybe, she hadn’t been as foolish as she’d thought? Deborah realized that God was testing her right there and then. She could either have faith in Him, or she could use this moment as yet another reason to close herself off from the world and wallow in grief.
Thinking about that, she reflected about how many days and nights she’d done just that. She had chosen to stay by herself, letting her doubts comfort her instead of other people.
Looking at her closed door, she knew this was an important moment for her. She knew Mose would stop by the house soon and speak to her parents. And they would once again be thrown into a combination of righteous grief . . . and anger at the rest of the world.
But one thing she was certain they would not do was reach out to her. It would be up to her to hold the family together, to comfort them.
She would. She intended to do her duty.
But over the last week, Deborah had realized that she was so much more than the dutiful daughter. She was a grown woman with needs and fears all of her own. It was time she reached out to people who could help her.
Looking at the cell phone still clasped in her hand like an invitation, she made a sudden decision. She scanned down the five phone numbers and clicked on the name.
Frannie answered immediately. “Deborah, you are using the phone! I am mighty glad of that.”
“I didn’t call simply to talk. I need help.”
“What is wrong? Are you hurt?”
“I’m not hurt, at least not on the outside. Frannie, to be honest, I’m afraid I’m pretty shaken up. Jacob just called and told me that he fought with Perry on New Year’s Eve.”
“But . . . that was the day I saw Perry.”
“I know. I’m not sure what happened. Maybe he saw Perry after you did? He said they fought and he left Perry alone in the field, bleeding. Now Detective Reynolds and Sheriff Kramer have taken him to their office for questioning. I don’t know what to do.”
“Oh my word.” Her voice was weak as she continued. “I don’t even know what to think, Deborah. All I know is that I feel certain that Luke wouldn’t do anything without believing it to be the right thing.”
That was what she was afraid of. “I know. I can hardly wrap my mind around everything that he said. I feel like Jacob has been hiding a whole other life from me. Like he’s taken everything that I believed about him and twisted it up into something I’m not even sure I recognize anymore.”
Taking a breath, she blurted the awful truth. “Frannie, all this time while Mose and Luke have been here, questioning all of us, making us all doubt each other . . . all this time, he’s been the one,” she added, forcing herself to continue even though saying the words was breaking her heart.
“We don’t know that for sure. I must say I’m surprised by the news. I had been sure it was a stranger. Like it could have been one of those men who the undercover agent had been following.”
“I wish it had been a stranger.”
“Maybe it still was. We don’t know, right?”
She breathed deep. “You’re right.” Oh, she hoped Frannie was right! It was so much easier to blame and hate a mysterious stranger instead of the man she’d secretly loved for most of her life! “But I need to go to the sheriff’s office and deliver something. Would . . . would you go with me?”
“Of course. But, Deborah, I can’t change Luke’s mind.”
“I wouldn’t want you to do that. The only way all of us can go forward is if we understand what really happened in the past. I just don’t want to go to the sheriff’s office alone.”
“You won’t have to. I know one thing for sure—you cannot be alone right now!”
“I was hoping you’d say that. I don’t think I’m going to be able to stand another minute with only my thoughts for company.”
“You don’t need to do that. You’ve got your friends, Deborah, and we’re not going to make you handle this on your own. Now, where are you?”
“I’m home. I’m sitting in my room.” Sneaking a call on the cell phone Jacob had gotten her. Unable to help herself, she winced. Was it even right what she was doing?
“Do you want me to come to your house, and then we can walk to see Luke together?” Frannie asked. Deborah could tell by her tone that her mind was clicking away, debating various options of how to help her out.
“I don’t want to stay here another moment.” No, she wanted to run and run. To get as far away from her life as she could. Maybe if she did that she wouldn’t hurt so badly?
“Then, how about you walk over here to the Yellow Bird Inn?”
“Are you sure you don’t mind walking with me to see Luke? Oh, is Luke going to mind you getting involved?”
“First of all, I am already involved. And secondly, last I heard, I haven’t given Luke any reason to think he could decide who I wanted at my bed-and-breakfast,” Frannie replied with such a dose of salt and vinegar in her voice that Deborah had to grin. “You need to come over right now, Deborah. Then, after we talk to Mose an
d Luke, I’ll call Beth and Lydia. They can come over here and sit with us. All night if we need them to.”
“You don’t think they’d mind?”
“Not at all. News like this calls for girlfriends and chocolate.”
“I’ll be over soon,” she said, tears of relief pricking her eyes. She was so glad she’d called Frannie. What would she have done if she’d just sat in her room, with only her dark thoughts for company?
Clicking off the phone, she stared at it. The right thing to do would be to turn it off and hide it, too.
But just as she was about to slip it between her mattress and box springs, she paused. And remembered the frantic tone in Jacob’s voice. He’d sounded so scared, and so alone.
And out of everyone in the world, he’d called her. What if he tried again and she didn’t answer?
As she thought about that, she berated herself for even thinking about such a thing. She shouldn’t care about his feelings . . . should she?
Deborah found herself immobilized by fear and indecision. Weighing what was right and what wasn’t.
“Deborah?” her father called out. “What are you doing in your room? I thought I heard you talking to someone.”
“I was only praying out loud, Daed,” she lied, immediately flushing. Oh, but that was the worst sort of lie. Not only was she lying to her father, but she was using the Lord in her deception. She had no doubt that He was shaking his head in disappointment.
But though she felt guilty, Deborah wasn’t about to take back her words. She needed some time to herself and with people she could be completely honest with.
At the moment, those people were not her parents. Carefully, she slipped Jacob’s note back into the devotional, then put a nightgown and a change of clothes into the tote bag, too.
Her father was standing outside her door, looking concerned and confused. “Daughter, what is going on?”
“I’m going to go to Frannie Eicher’s for the rest of today and to spend the night as well.”
His brows rose. “At Frannie’s? Why?”
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