Amish Christmas Mystery

by Samantha Price

  "I know this must be very hard for you. "

  "I see Myra’s talking to you, Ettie?" he said.

  Ettie pouted. "It appears I only see her when she has trouble in her life.”

  "Still, that means something. She knows where to turn when things get rough in her life. She has some kind of trust in you."

  Ettie’s eyebrows wiggled. She hadn't thought of it like that. Perhaps it was a good thing Myra came to her even if she was rude and condescending most of the time.

  Moses continued, "My greatest hope for all my kinner was that they would have been with me in eternity in Gott’s haus. Where will Betsy end up?" He looked down at his hands. "Rachel wouldn't have been able to go through this if she’d still been alive. Betsy brought shame upon our familye. As time fades away, the feeling of shame has also faded.”

  "It's not too late. Something is never over until it's over.” Ettie didn't like to give him false hope by telling him that she'd seen his daughter yesterday and she was well, had a job, and was a useful member of the community. She could only hope that Betsy had listened to what she and Elsa-May had to say and would soon visit her father.

  Elsa-May coughed. "We can only show them the right way. It's up to them to choose.”

  "I tell myself that, Elsa-May, but it doesn't make it any easier.”

  Ettie reminded herself to concentrate on the reason they were there, and that was to find out about Earl. "I believe one of Earl’s brothers left the community a little before he did and he’s been in trouble with the law.”

  "I heard rumours. I don't know anything about it.”

  Ettie tried to think of what the detective would ask him if he was there.

  "When you were at our place on Christmas day, did you see anyone go outside and come back in just before Santa Claus rushed into the house?"

  He scratched his head. "Yes, I thought I saw Naomi go out. And I only noticed that because every time the front door opened a cold gust of wind would blow right through the house.”

  "Interesting,” Ettie said she looked over at Elsa-May. "Did you tell the detectives that?"

  "Nee, I didn't want her getting into any trouble."

  * * *

  Ettie and Elsa-May, made their way back to Crowley’s car.

  “What have you learned?” he asked.

  "Quite a lot,” Elsa-May answered.

  Ettie took over, "He told us he saw Naomi go outside and come back in sometime before Santa rushed into the house.”

  "Was he sure?" Crowley asked.

  "That's just it. He said he wasn't sure and he didn't mention it to the police because he didn't want to get Naomi into trouble."

  "What else?" Crowley asked.

  "He hasn't seen his daughter since she left the community and he knows nothing about Earl or his brother.”

  “Where to now?"

  “You tell me.”

  “Naomi Fuller’s house.”

  “What’s her address?”

  When Ettie told him, he programed it into the GPS.

  “There was no need to do that. It's just to the left, to the right and to the right again.”

  Elsa-May added, “It's only about a mile away."

  Crowley chuckled. “It’s a habit. Now tell me a little of Naomi’s background.”

  “Well, you know that Earl ran away with Moses’ daughter, then Naomi had to take in sewing to support herself. At one time she was working at a local dressmaker’s and now I think she works from home.”

  Soon Ettie and Elsa-May were greeting Naomi at her front door. “Nice to see both of you.” She glanced out the door and saw the car. “Is that the man from the other night?”

  “It’s the retired detective. He’s an old friend and he’s driven us here.”

  “He was also a friend of Myra’s,” Ettie added.

  “Does he want to come inside? It’ll be cold out there in the car.”

  Elsa-May waved a hand through the air. “He won’t mind.”

  “We can sit in the kitchen.” She showed them to the kitchen and with a sweep of her hand moved all the sewing on the table to one side. "Have a seat. Sorry about all this mess."

  "No need to be sorry at all," Elsa-May said as she sat down at the table.

  "We didn't mean to interrupt you,” Ettie said following Elsa-May’s lead and sitting down at the other side of the table.

  "That's okay. I’m running ahead of schedule. I work from home nowadays.”

  Ettie nodded. "We heard you did.”

  "Would you like a cup of hot tea?"

  "We'd love one thanks.” Elsa-May answered for both of them.

  Because Crowley was waiting for them in the car Ettie thought she better get quickly to the point before her sister did. "Naomi, I've heard you're coming into quite a bit of money."

  Naomi chuckled. "I suppose that's a good thing. I won’t know what to do with it. It hardly makes up for what he did to me." She sat down at the table after she’d put the pot on to boil. "Money won't get me back all the lost years and it won't bring me kinner or a husband. He took all that away from me. "

  "At least now you'll be able to get married again,” Elsa-May said.

  "I've no interest in things like that now, not at my age. I'm too old and cranky and set in my ways.”

  Ettie nodded looking at Elsa-May. "I know what that's like."

  Elsa-May narrowed her eyes at Ettie.

  Naomi sighed. "It's left to me to do the funeral and it’s on in three days. I'm not having a viewing here at the haus. He’s not having an Amish funeral in any way. The body’s at the funeral director’s and then will be taken to the graveyard. Bishop John was kind enough to say that he’d read something and say a prayer by the grave.” She shook her head. "I’ve got no idea what kind of things the bishop can say since we know where Earl’s not going."

  "He'll be tactful, don't worry. And we’ll be there to support you."

  "Oh, I'm not worried. It would be better if he weren’t tactful. It's funny, after all these years, that it's up to me to give him a funeral.”

  "Apparently he never made another will or his own arrangements for a funeral, or anything.”

  "Probably too busy doing other things like making life a misery for everyone he came into contact with,” Naomi said.

  "Or, he always saw you as his wife and the community as his home,” Elsa-May said tactfully.

  "Don't make him out to be something that he's not, Elsa-May. People always think they have to say nice things about people when they’re dead. He was a liar from the start and I only found that out after we were married. But that's what Gott wanted me to go through and I've gone through it and I've come out of it. I won't say I'm not bitter; I have to learn forgiveness.”

  Naomi got out of her chair when she heard the water boiling. When she'd made the tea, she poured out three cups.

  "And did you ever see him after he left you?" Ettie asked.

  "The last time I ever saw him was the day he left.”

  Ettie took a sip of tea, and then placed the cup in the saucer. "When you came to our place the other night, did you go outside at any time and come back again, before Santa Claus burst into the house?"

  "Nee, I didn't. Why?"

  "No reason.”

  “I told the police that already.”

  “Did you see anyone go outside at all and then come back in?”

  “Funny you should ask because I’m certain I noticed Moses go outside, and I don’t remember seeing him come back in. He must’ve, though because the next thing I remember was Santa Claus bursting through the door.”

  Ettie and Elsa-May stared at each other. Now they had both Moses and Naomi saying they each saw the other leave the house.

  Elsa-May said, "I don't suppose you know anything of Wayne, your bruder-in-law?”

  "You mean have I heard from him?”

  Elsa-May nodded.

  “Nee. I heard he got into some kind of trouble. Earl didn’t like to talk about him. They didn’t get along
and Earl never said why.” She sighed. “Do you know we were only married six months before he left?”

  “Was that all?” Ettie asked.

  Naomi nodded.

  * * *

  They walked back to the car and told Crowley what they’d learned.

  “With the funeral on in three days, the police must already have the coroner’s report and all the forensic tests back,” Elsa-May said.

  “Hmm, I’ll make a call to Kelly later and see what I can find out. It’s odd that they each—Moses and Naomi—think that the other left your house before the man was killed. Neither of them mentioned it when Kelly was questioning them.”

  “We know,” Ettie said. “They were possibly trying to protect one another.”

  “It sounds more like each was trying to implicate the other, but why do that now? Why not when we were asking the questions?”

  “They’ve had time to think about it?” Ettie asked.

  Crowley’s phone sounded. He had it on speaker at the start but as soon as he heard it was Myra he switched the speaker off. Ettie was concerned because she sounded upset.

  “It’s okay. Yes, I’ll come over now. I’ll be as quick as I can.” He ended the call. “Myra.”

  “We know,” Elsa-May said.

  “She’s quite distressed.” He started the car. “I’ll take both of you home and then I’ll go and see her.”

  “Has anything else happened?” Ettie asked.

  “Yes. Michael has left her.” Crowley drove back down the driveway.

  Ettie opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know Michael well enough to know if he was a good man for her daughter or not. “I’m glad you’ll be there to comfort her and give her advice.”

  Elsa-May said, “When you see Myra, tell her that Earl’s funeral is on in three days.”

  “I doubt she’ll want to go, but I’ll tell her,” he said.

  Chapter 16

  Ettie reluctantly got ready for the celebrations at Abraham’s farm. She didn’t want to tell Elsa-May she’d prefer not going. Her sister seemed rather keen on the idea. All Ettie wanted was a quiet night with her needlework in front of the fire. If only Elsa-May would get a hurry on with that new shawl.

  For a change, Ettie was the first to be ready while Elsa-May fussed over Snowy. Ettie wandered over to the widow when she heard a bird’s call. The night was lit with a nearly full moon and Ettie watched some birds she figured were flying home.

  “Where do the birds go when it snows?” Ettie called out.

  Elsa-May looked up from pulling one of Snowy’s knitted sweaters on him. “I’m not certain. I suppose many of them find shelter in barns or roofs.”

  “Jah, I would think they’d need more shelter than just having a nest in a tree.”

  “Maybe I could knit some bird sweaters with that brown wool you gave me.”

  Ettie whipped her head around to look at her sister. “That’s not funny, Elsa-May. You know that’s for my shawl.”

  Elsa-May chuckled and straightened up while Snowy ran off in his blue and white sweater that Elsa-May had knitted him out of left over wool.

  “Oh, it sounds like they’re here,” Elsa-May said.

  “I was ready first.” Ettie was pleased with herself for being ready twenty minutes early. They’d eaten dinner early and cleaned the kitchen, ready for a rare night out.

  “I’ll leave Snowy inside and leave his dog door unlatched.”

  “That would make sense,” Ettie commented.

  When they walked out to the waiting buggy, they were surprised to see that Jeremiah wasn’t there. Ava sat tall in the driver’s seat holding onto the leather reins.

  “Where’s Jeremiah?” Elsa-May asked as she climbed into the buggy.

  “He was tired so he’s staying home.”

  Ettie climbed in after Elsa-May and swallowed her complaints about Jeremiah doing what she wanted to do.

  “Don’t forget, I’ll take you home whenever you’re ready.”

  “We’ll let you know. Denke, Ava,” Ettie said. Ava would be more keen to leave early with Jeremiah at home, Ettie figured.

  “How’s the murder investigation going?” Ava asked as she turned the buggy around to head back down the road.

  Elsa-May sighed. “Michael has left Myra because she questioned him about the other night. We’ve talked with Naomi and Moses and each say they saw the other leave the house just before Earl was found dead.”

  “Jah, and Crowley is wondering why they’re saying that now, and kept quiet about it when the police were asking them questions.”

  “Maybe they were in it together,” Ava suggested.

  “That makes no sense.” Elsa-May shook her head. “If they were, they’d hardly say they saw the other gone.”

  “That’s true.” Ava sighed. “I wish I’d been there that night. Maybe I would’ve seen something or heard something.”

  “We need to find out who did it. Crowley says if we don’t, Michael might get arrested and somehow drag Myra into it because Earl was the one who was harassing Myra.”

  Ava sighed. “I hope Myra is going to be okay.”

  Ettie added, “She’s leaning on Crowley at the moment. He seems to calm her down. Hopefully, Detective Kelly can find out more from his investigations into Michael.”

  * * *

  The night was a blur for the sisters. The Glicks’ house and yard were full of people. The trees were decorated with glowing lanterns and everyone was either laughing or talking loudly.

  There were games, happy faces and so much food. Ettie and Elsa-May had their fill of pork and sauerkraut and were ready to leave after two hours. Ava managed to persuade them to wait a little longer so they could see the fireworks.

  It didn’t escape Ettie’s notice that Naomi and Moses were nowhere to be seen.

  Chapter 17

  "Hurry up with that cup of hot tea, Ettie. We can’t be late for a funeral no matter whose it is! You'll have to help wash those dishes and finish getting dressed. They’ll be here any minute and I don't want to come home to see dirty dishes in the sink.”

  Ettie ignored her sister and peacefully sipped her hot tea from her new rosebud teacup. It seemed odd to be going to a funeral around Christmas and New Year.

  "Elsa-May, have you noticed that not many people die around Christmas and New Year?"

  Elsa-May stuck her head around the kitchen door to look at Ettie on the couch. "I hadn't really thought about that before. It’s true, we don't go to many funerals around this time.”

  “Maybe we have some control over when we die."

  "I doubt that very much."

  "Perhaps Gott is too busy, or takes a break Himself."

  "Don't be silly, Ettie. You shouldn’t say things like that."

  "He could be taking an inventory on who’s moving in throughout the coming year.” Ettie glanced over to see Elsa-May shaking her head at her. "Alright, I suppose I better get ready so we can arrive before everybody else.”

  "She's early," Elsa-May said when there was a knock on the door. "I told you to be ready. You go and fix yourself up. I'll let Ava in and I'll do your share of the washing up."

  While Elsa-May hurried to let Ava in, Ettie left her tea and went to her room. All she had to do was fix her hair.

  Ettie was halfway through brushing her hair when she heard Ava.

  "Are you ready, Ettie?"

  Now she had Ava hurrying her as well as her annoying sister. She glanced over to see Ava standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips.

  "Would you like me to help you?" Ava asked.

  Ettie passed her the brush. “I won’t say no."

  Ava took up the brush and finished brushing out Ettie’s long gray hair. “How do you want it braided?”

  “Just in one braid.”

  After she had finished Ettie’s hair, she said, "I'll leave it to you to pin."

  "Denke, Ava."

  "Jeremiah’s waiting in the buggy and you know how we hate to be lat
e."

  "I know. I've had Elsa-May nagging me all morning, but at this rate we’re going to be the first ones there."

  "That's the way Jeremiah likes it."

  Ettie sighed as she placed her prayer kapp on her head. “Earl’s being buried in the same graveyard as the Amish and the Mennonites. I doubt he’d want to be buried there. It seemed he lived his life without two thoughts to where he’d rest and who would have to give him a funeral.”

  "Only because he didn't make alternative arrangements. It’s ironic too, that Earl ran out on Naomi and now she has to give him his funeral. I wouldn’t be too happy if I was Naomi. That’s why she never smiles.”

  “Earl probably never thought about dying. When Gott finally comes to take me home I might have to ask Him what took Him so long.”

  “Ettie, don't say things like that. I don’t like to think about you or Elsa-May being gone. I wouldn’t know what to do without you.”

  While Ava stood there watching Ettie carefully tie the strings of her kapp, Ettie told her the latest information she’d learned.

  Elsa-May stuck her head in the room. "Come on you two. There’s no time for chin wagging. Jeremiah and I are waiting.”

  "All finished now and ready to go,” Ettie said.

  "Finally. And now we’re ten minutes late,” Elsa-May growled.

  "You mean ten minutes later than you wanted to be, which will still make us ten minutes early."

  * * *

  Just before they arrived at the graveyard, Jeremiah asked, “Is Myra going to be here?”

  “Nee, she didn’t get along with Earl. She wouldn’t come.”

  When they pulled up, they saw that they weren’t the first ones there. There were two Amish buggies and a police car.

  “I wonder what’s going on?” Ava said. “Why is a police car here?”

  “There’s someone in handcuffs I think,” Ettie said.