Elsa-May strained her eyes. “That’s Wayne, Earl’s bruder, the one who was in prison. They must’ve let him out for the funeral.”
“I thought you said they never got along, Ettie,” Ava said.
“That’s right they didn’t. Everyone knows they didn’t get along.”
Jeremiah said, “He gets a day out of jail, so he took it, I guess.”
The other two buggies in the yard belonged to the bishop and Naomi.
“I must hurry over and speak with Naomi,” Ettie said.
“I wonder if we’re allowed to speak with Wayne,” Jeremiah commented.
“Nee,” Ava said. “I mean, probably not. You don’t know him, do you?”
“Nee, but I know some of his cousins.”
Elsa-May said, “I’ll try to speak with him later, and see if he knows anything.”
“That wouldn’t be likely, Elsa-May. The man’s been in prison for months,” Ava commented.
Ettie was in rare agreement with her sister. “It doesn’t hurt to ask.”
Chapter 18
The graveyard was a familiar place to Ettie. This was where all her relatives were buried, her mother, her father and her dear husband. There was a strange sense of peace found at the resting place of those she held most dear.
She stood for a moment outside the buggy listening to the chatter coming from Elsa-May as she prattled on about one thing and another to her grandson and his wife. The sun was doing it’s best to peep through the gray and white fluffy clouds. Even though there was no clear sunshine, the glare caused Ettie to squint.
Looking over her shoulder, Ettie saw Wayne. He caught her eye and gave her a nod. She smiled and nodded back, remembering him as an innocent child. He’d been skinny, dark-haired and freckle-faced—always polite with a ready smile. Life had taken a turn for the man. Perhaps it had been one wrong decision that tipped the scales of his life on the side of the wrong. What would cause someone raised in the community to take up a life of crime?
“You alright, Ettie?” Jeremiah asked.
She turned to see that everyone was now out of the buggy and more people were arriving. “Just lost in my own thoughts.”
“Weren’t you going to speak with Naomi?”
“I am.”
“If you want to speak with her, it might be a good idea to do so now, before more people get here.”
Ettie nodded and made her way to Naomi who was standing by herself next to the pine coffin by the open grave.
“Naomi!”
“Ettie, hello.”
“How are you feeling?”
“I’ll be glad when this day is over.”
Ettie glanced up to see Elsa-May close to Wayne and looking as though she was about to talk to him. “It’s good of you to give him a funeral.”
“There was no one else.”
Ettie nodded. “I suppose you saw that Wayne is over there?”
“Jah, I called the prison. I thought Wayne should be here and they allowed him out.”
“That was good.”
“Earl wronged a great many people.”
Ettie nodded again.
“It wasn’t just me, but I dare say I was the one who suffered the most.”
After she searched her mind for some comforting words, Ettie found none. “I don’t know what to say, Naomi. I know you’ve been wronged and your life didn’t turn out how you thought it would.”
“Denke, Ettie.” She wiped away a tear with the back of her hand. “It’s nice that someone acknowledges what I’ve gone through. Many people tell me it’s Gott’s will, but I find that hard to take. That would mean that Gott wanted me to suffer, and why would He? It wonders me how some suffer things in life while some don’t.”
Ettie shrugged her shoulders. “What you say is true and I have no answers.” It was no time for Ettie to ask the woman questions. Ettie put her arm around Naomi’s shoulder while Naomi quietly sobbed. If Naomi was younger she might have been interested in marrying again, but she was now in her fifties and too old to have her own children. Still, maybe another man would be the very thing that could brighten Naomi’s outlook on life. The woman was still young enough, compared to Ettie.
“I must pull myself together. I can cry tomorrow.”
Ettie patted her on the back. “You’ll feel better soon.”
A moment later, a crowd of people surrounded Naomi, each trying to say a few words. Ettie stepped back and looked at Wayne to see that he was now walking closer to the grave with two officers in brown uniforms, one on either side. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed movement. It was Elsa-May standing by Jeremiah’s buggy waving her over.
Ettie hurried over to her sister. “What did you find out? Would they let you speak with him?”
“Jah.”
“Well, what did he say?”
“He said that in the last five months they’d made amends. Earl had even told Wayne that he could stay with him when he got out if he promised to go straight.”
“Oh! That is a surprise.”
“There’s more.”
Ettie leaned closer.
“Earl told him that Myra had stolen his business idea and was trying to kill him.”
Ettie’s jaw dropped open. “Well, that’s just rubbish.”
“I’m just repeating what he said.”
“Well, you don’t believe it, do you?”
“Nee. I don’t. Of course, I don’t, but there must be a reason he said it. Why would he want us to think that Myra was trying to kill Earl?”
Ettie thought for a moment. “We should get Kelly to look into the prison records to see if Earl visited him like he said. He might be making it up.”
“We could do that and that’s probably a good idea, but how would he know about Myra and the business idea if he hadn’t heard it from Earl?”
“Here’s Kelly now and that looks like Crowley in the car with him.”
When Kelly pulled up at the end of a row of buggies, Elsa-May and Ettie were right there to fill them in on what Wayne had said to Elsa-May.
“I’ll look into things.” He looked over at the grave. “Looks like they’re about to get started.”
Ettie and Elsa-May walked over to the grave first, followed by Kelly and Crowley who stayed back from the crowd. Wayne also stayed at a distance from the crowd.
The bishop opened his bible and read out two scriptures. After he’d finished, two men took up shovels and filled in the grave while the bishop read the words of a hymn in German.
There was little sense of peace here, unlike at other Amish funerals. The man had not kept to his faith and had gone astray. Ettie hated to think where he’d end up. Following God’s ways in the brief time on earth seemed a small price to pay for eternity. If only the man hadn’t ruined Naomi’s life in the process of losing his own life to the world. Ettie glanced over at Naomi who was on the other side of Elsa-May. She seemed to be taking things well and had hardened herself against the bitterness her husband had brought her.
When the last shovel of dirt was thrown into the grave, people turned and walked away. Ettie hurried to the detective who was walking up ahead with Crowley. “Detective Kelly.”
He swung around. “Yes, Mrs. Smith?”
“Are you going to find out if Earl visited his brother?”
“Yes, I said I would.” The detective chuckled. “I can’t see that anyone would kill anyone over opening a spa.”
“It was a wellness center,” Crowley corrected him.
“Well, whatever it’s called I don’t think that would give anyone motive to…”
Crowley interrupted, “Why would Wayne say it? Wayne is trying to put blame onto Myra. We need to find out why he’s doing that.”
Kelly rubbed his chin and he glanced over at Wayne. “You two stay here.” He walked over to Wayne and his guards.
“How’s Myra?”
He nodded. “She’s feeling a little better, but she’s still quite worried about the outcome of things.”
“Do you think Michael’s guilty?”
“It’s hard to say. He was right there and he had the best opportunity out of anyone. And, he had the motive; getting rid of the man that was harassing his girlfriend.”
Ettie looked over at Kelly to see Wayne talking to him. If only she was close enough to hear what was being said. “Has Santa remembered anything else?”
“They let him go the next morning after he was at your house. They drove him back to the institution and I don’t think anyone’s talked with him since.”
Giving a quick look back at Kelly, Ettie asked, “Do you think it would be okay with Detective Kelly if you and I paid him a visit?”
“Yes, I don’t think he’d mind. He doesn’t think he’s got any more information, and given the man’s mental condition anything he says won’t have much bearing in a court of law.” Crowley chuckled. “Especially if he wore his Santa suit.”
Ettie had to laugh with him; she had to agree.
Kelly walked back to them and Ettie noticed that Wayne was being led back to a car.
“What did he say?” Ettie asked Kelly.
“The same thing you said, Ettie. We’ll check the prison records to see if his brother visited him.”
Ettie nodded. “Good. And Crowley and I were wondering if you’d mind if we visited Santa.”
“It’s a bit late now isn’t it? You’re supposed to visit him before Christmas.” Kelly laughed at his own joke.
Glancing at Crowley, who remained straight-faced, Ettie wondered if she should laugh. “The Santa in the institution,” Ettie explained.
“I know what you mean, Mrs. Smith. I was just making a little joke.”
Very little, Ettie thought. “Well, would it be okay if we visited the man?”
Kelly glanced at Crowley. “If you don’t mind accompanying Mrs. Smith I don’t see that it would do any harm.”
Crowley nodded. “I’d be happy to.”
“Good.”
“Shall we do that tomorrow?” Crowley asked Ettie.
Ettie nodded. “Tomorrow sounds good to me.”
“I’ll call the facility and make the arrangements.”
Chapter 19
Ettie and Crowley were shown to Santa Claus, who was in the dayroom with the other patients.
Even though he wasn’t wearing his Santa suit, he stood out with his flowing white beard and bushy white eyebrows. He wore brown pants, and a long-sleeved shirt was stretched over his large tummy. When they sat down at the table with him, his bright blue eyes fairly sparkled.
“Hello again, Ettie and Ronald. It’s nice of you to visit me.”
“We’re here to find out about what you saw or heard the night—Christmas night—when you came across the dead man.”
“Earl Fuller,” Santa said.
“That’s right.”
“He had a brother, Wayne. He was a good boy.”
Ettie gasped. “You know Wayne?”
“It’s been in the papers,” Crowley whispered to Ettie.
“Yes, Wayne Fuller. He was a good boy, but he grew up and was too old for me to watch over. The Amish never allowed my visits, but I still watched over the Amish kiddies.”
Crowley rubbed his nose. “Tell me everything you remember from that night when you were in Mrs. Smith’s street.”
“The street was dark and eerie. The only lights were coming from within the households. A car drove past me slowly. The driver stared at me and kept going.”
“Did the car stop?” Ettie asked.
“The car stopped up ahead, did a U turn and then parked on the other side of the road.”
“Then what?” Crowley asked.
“I started at the first house, knocked on the door and asked for donations.”
“Then?”
“They gave me two dollars.” He smiled, inflating his rosy cheeks some more.
“And then?” Crowley asked.
“I thanked the man and kept going.”
“Did the man get out of the car?” Ettie asked.
“I heard two car doors open and shut. Moments later, two doors opened and shut again and after that, one door opened and shut. I didn’t think anything of it at the time.”
“Two doors shut, two doors shut again, and then only one shut?”
“Yes.”
“Were they close together, or did you hear them far apart?” Crowley asked.
“It sounded like there was two people if that’s what you’re asking me. But, at the end only one got out of the car. Unless they just opened and closed it while staying in the car.”
Crowley took a pad and pen out of his inner coat pocket and jotted some notes. “Go on.”
“After the second lot of doors opening and closing, before the single door opened and closed, I heard a whir like someone was trying to start their car. It went on for a while as I was talking to the man at the door of his house. Then I heard a car door open and then slam.”
“And that was the single door opening and closing?” Ettie asked.
“I’m guessing that’s what happened. I was with one of your neighbors at the time, Ettie, getting a small donation. I left that house and kept walking up the street.”
“The car was still there?” Ettie asked.
“Yes. And he was still sitting in the car and now he was trying to start it.”
“Did you tell Detective Kelly this at any time?”
“He never asked. The police found him anyway, when they arrived.”
“He was the one the police were pulling out of the car?” Crowley asked.
“Yes, that was Michael Skully.”
“You’re good at remembering names,” Crowley said.
He stared at Crowley, “Comes with the territory.”
“So the man could’ve got out of his car, walked to Ettie’s house and then got back in the car?”
Santa nodded. “The man would’ve had plenty of time to do that.”
Ettie and Crowley stared at each other.
“Thank you. You’ve been very helpful,” Crowley said to Santa.
He put out his hand. “Can you spare a donation for charity?”
Crowley smiled and pulled out a few coins from his pocket and placed them carefully in Santa’s chubby hand.
Santa closed his hand around the coins, and with his other hand, he grabbed Crowley’s hand. “Thank you. You’ve always been a good boy, Ronald.”
“Thank you, you’ve been very helpful,” Ettie said pushing herself to her feet.
“Goodbye. You’ve always been a favorite of mine, too, Ettie.”
They left Santa sitting at the little table and when they made their way out of the room, a nurse approached them. “How was your visit?”
“He believes he’s Santa,” Crowley said as though he was still trying to take it in.
“He has an uncanny memory,” the nurse said.
“Yes, he seems to remember everyone’s names,” Ettie said.
“Not only names. He has a memory for everything. The doctors first thought he had some kind of savant syndrome, but now they think it’s hyperthymesia and, besides that, he possibly had a traumatic episode happen in his past around Christmas time.”
“I’ve heard of savant syndrome,” Crowley explained to Ettie. “That’s where someone with a disability displays some kind of extraordinary ability such as playing the piano brilliantly when they haven’t learned.” He turned back to the nurse. “What is the other condition you mentioned?”
“Hyperthymesia. Someone with that condition can tell you all about their life in specific detail. They’ll know what day of the week their fifth birthday was on, for example, and facts like that.”
“How does that work in his case, since he’s convinced he’s Santa?”
“His is a complex case and they’re still trying to determine exactly what he’s afflicted with. They doctors here have differing opinions. Their latest conclusion is that he has a few syndromes crossing over each other—something associated w
ith the traumatic episode I was talking about.”
Crowley rubbed his chin. “Has he ever displayed violence?”
“Oh no! He’s as gentle as you’d expect the real Santa Claus to be.”
“Has he ever slipped out of his Santa Claus routine?”
The nurse shook her head. “He hasn’t. I could set up a meeting with one of his doctors for you. They’d be able to tell you more.”
“Can we get back to you on that?” Crowley asked.
“Of course.”
Crowley and Ettie left the building.
“What do you think?” Ettie asked.
“He’s got a good memory, that’s how he’s able to remember everyone’s names. And he can definitely remember details of the other night.”
“Like the car in my street.”
“Yes, but we’re no closer to knowing the truth of what happened. I’ll make a call and see where Kelly’s gotten to with things.”
Ettie and Crowley walked to Crowley’s car while he spoke on his mobile phone with Kelly. Once they reached the car, Crowley ended the call.
“He’s got nothing?” Ettie asked.
“It seems that Michael had been fired from his job six months ago.”
“Really?”
“Yes. That makes things look worse for him.”
“How’s that?”
“He was lying to Myra about that, which makes me wonder what else was he lying about? Where was he on those ‘business trips?’ According to Myra, he was away a fair bit.”
“Yes, she told me that too. Did Kelly ask him?”
“Michael will no longer cooperate. He’s getting a lawyer.”
Chapter 20
"I should take Snowy for a walk. He hasn't been on one for a few days."
"Jah, and maybe that will stop him from chewing my slippers," Ettie said.
Elsa-May frowned. "He hasn't done that for weeks now, has he?"
Ettie raised her left foot to reveal a toeless slipper. Elsa-May put her hand over her mouth and laughed.
"I'll come on the walk with you to keep you company."
"Okay, but don't take forever to get ready."
"All I have to do is put on my boots and coat."
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