“The first grosskinner always holds a special place, and don’t even try to tell me otherwise.”
Elsa-May shook her head at her sister and remained silent.
Ettie kept talking. “He’s such a gut builder. Not only that, he’s so handy with other odd jobs. I don’t think I could live in the haus, though. I’d forever be thinking about Horace being killed and hidden under the floorboards for so many years.”
Ettie had been turned off the idea of living in the house. She’d been happy when she found out Agatha had willed her the house, but when Jeremiah found Agatha’s old beau, Horace, buried under the floor, the discovery brought with it a disturbing chain of events.
Elsa-May nodded. “That’s good. I don’t think you’d get the best money for the haus the way that it is.”
“Remind me to go there tomorrow and have a look so I can make a list of everything that needs doing. I’ll see your Jeremiah on Sunday, and ask him to come out and give me a quote.” Ettie looked at her sister’s smiling face. “Are you happy I’m staying on here in the haus with you?”
The corners of Elsa-May’s mouth suddenly turned downward. “Please yourself.”
Ettie frowned at her. She knew Elsa-May would have missed her if she had moved to Agatha’s old house. Why was it so hard for Elsa-May to admit it?
With the exception of the loud tick of the old wooden clock that hung on the wall, the next moments were silent.
Ettie finally spoke. “We should have Jeremiah and Ava over for dinner again. If the two of them got married that would solve my problem of her living in the grossdaddi haus.”
Elsa-May chortled and pushed her glasses further up her nose. “Unless Jeremiah moves into it too.”
“Jah, I hadn’t thought of that. It might be best if I lease the main house out, then I’d have no worries.”
“That sounds a reasonable solution.” Elsa-May continued knitting, moving her elevated sore leg slightly.
Elsa-May and Ettie spent a great deal of their time in their living room with Elsa-May knitting and Ettie concentrating on her needlework.
The sisters stared at each other when a loud knock broke through the silence.
“Who could that be?” Elsa-May asked.
“I didn’t hear a buggy. I’ll go see.” Ettie placed her needlework on the chair next to her and hurried to open the door. They rarely got visitors who walked to their house, and the neighbors, although they were close, mostly kept to themselves. When Ettie swung the door open, she was faced with a stern-faced Detective Kelly. She frowned at him, wondering if she’d done something wrong. Detective Kelly had never been as nice to them as Detective Crowley. There was something about Detective Kelly that Ettie wasn’t comfortable with.
“Good morning, Mrs. Smith. May I come in for a moment or two?”
“Good morning, Detective. Certainly.” She stepped aside to give him room to move through. “Come in.”
“Thank you.” Two strides further and he was in the living room of the small home. “Good morning,” he said to Elsa-May with a nod.
“Morning. Have a seat, Detective,” Elsa-May said, still sitting.
Once the detective sat down, he rocked a little on his chair. “It’s not going to break, is it?”
Elsa-May smiled. “I don’t think so. I’ll have my grandson, Jeremiah, take a look at it.”
“Yes, good idea. I know Jeremiah. I met him before at Mrs. Smith’s other house.”
“We were just talking about the whole business with Horace.” Before Ettie took a seat, she asked, “Would you like some hot tea, and cake?” He shook his head, and sat down on a creaky wooden chair.
Ettie sat down on their only couch while she waited to hear why he was there.
He looked from one to the other. “I’m hoping you ladies might be able to help me.”
The sisters glanced at each other with raised eyebrows. Just a few months back he’d warned Ettie to keep out of his way. He sure hadn’t wanted their help back then.
Elsa-May leaned forward. “Regarding what?”
Ettie had an idea why he was there. The only reason could be that he wanted their help over the recent murder of Camille Esh.
Detective Kelly rubbed his lined forehead and said, “Do you know Jacob Esh and his family?”
“You’re here about Camille?” Elsa-May asked.
He nodded. “We have reason to believe that her brother might have killed her.”
Elsa-May shook her head. “That’s nonsense!”
“We’ve got reason to believe that...”
“What would possibly give you reason to believe anything of the kind?” Ettie interrupted the detective. She was outraged he could think such a thing.
He held his hands up. “I’m not here to argue back and forth. I’m here because I need your help. Before I go any further, I need to tell you that I do believe the man’s innocent. No one in your community will talk to me, so there’s my problem right there. I need some of you Amish people to answer my questions. I’ve been ignored completely – others have shut themselves in their houses and refused to come to the door.”
“What would you like us to do?” Ettie asked. “We can’t make them speak to you.”
“I’d like you to find out a few things for me. That’s all! It’ll have to be ‘off the record’, of course. But once I know what’s happened, then I’ll be in a position where I can help Jacob.”
“We’ll do whatever we can to help him,” Ettie said.
Elsa-May nodded enthusiastically.
The detective leaned so far over that he placed his elbows on his knees. “If we don’t find out what happened soon, Jacob could go to jail for a long time, or worse.” He straightened up. “Tell me, what do you know about Jacob and the relationship he had with his sister?”
The elderly sisters started talking at the same time, then stopped and looked at each other.
“You go first, Ettie.”
Ettie smiled, and then turned to the detective. “Jacob and Camille left the community as soon as they could. Jacob…”
“Jacob left when he was eighteen, I believe, and then two years later, Camille followed when she was around the same age.”
Ettie turned and stared at her sister. “You told me to go first.”
“So they were both out of the community for a good twenty years?” the detective asked.
“My goodness, is Jacob around forty now?” Elsa-May asked.
The detective nodded. “He is, and his sister was two years younger than he is.”
Ettie was quick to answer before Elsa-May butted in again. “To answer your question correctly, Detective, she came back to the community around two years ago. I’m a good friend of Camille’s stepmother, Mildred. Poor Mildred – Camille never liked her right from the start. Anyone would think a young girl would be pleased to have a stepmother after her mother died. Surely it would be better than no mother at all. Nehemiah married Mildred two years after Mary’s death. Camille was five at the time.”
“Mildred was Camille’s stepmother, then?” the detective asked.
“Yes.” Ettie answered.
“The detective doesn’t need to know all that, Ettie.”
Kelly looked at Elsa-May. “Actually, it might be helpful.” He looked back at Ettie. “Camille didn’t get along with Mildred when she was five years old? I would’ve thought that a child that young would’ve adjusted better than that.”
“To everyone on the outside it appeared that way, but Mildred told me what had gone on behind closed doors. It would surprise even you, Detective. She was a very different girl when no one was watching.”
The lines in Kelly’s forehead deepened. “Go on.”
Ettie rubbed her neck. “I feel terrible. Mildred told me these things in confidence.”
Elsa-May frowned. “What things?”
“Anything you tell me could help Jacob,” the detective said. He nodded, urging her to continue.
“To put it bluntly, then, the girl us
ed to do dreadful things at home and make it look like Mildred did them. She did everything she could to turn her father against Mildred. She broke Mary’s china clock, which Nehemiah had given her on their wedding day. Mary was Camille’s mother. It was a beautiful thing with tiny pink rosebuds the entire way around the face of the clock.”
“Get to the point, Ettie,” her sister said.
Ettie glanced at Elsa-May then looked back at the detective. “When Nehemiah got home that night, Camille told him that Mildred broke it in a fit of temper. He didn’t think for one moment that Camille might have broken her mother’s clock.”
“You never told me about all of that,” Elsa-May said.
Ettie nodded. “Camille did things like that all the time. At first, Nehemiah believed Camille, and I believe it caused a rift in Nehemiah and Mildred’s marriage in the early days. Then one day, when he overheard Camille talking to Mildred, he knew Camille had been lying about everything.”
“Children do go through stages and she was dreadfully upset about her mother’s death,” Elsa-May said.
“I know that,” Ettie said. “And Mildred and Nehemiah tried to be understanding, but she never got along with Mildred. Ever.”
“Did Jacob get along with Mildred?” the detective asked.
“Oh, yes, but Jacob and Camille never got along. Not as far back as I can remember. The pair were always at odds with one another, but that doesn’t mean he’d kill her.”
“Of course, a great many siblings don’t care for each other,” Detective Kelly said.
Elsa-May said, “I remember they were always competitive, each telling the other they could do better at any given task. I remember, years back, one day at one of the softball games…”
“The detective doesn’t need to know that, Elsa-May.” Ettie was pleased to mirror Elsa-May’s former comment right back at her.
Elsa-May narrowed her eyes at Ettie.
“I do, if it’s relevant,” the detective said.
“It’s not,” Ettie said abruptly, making sure to avoid Elsa-May’s stern gaze.
The detective looked at Elsa-May, raised his eyebrows, and then turned back to Ettie. “What about Camille’s more recent history?”
“As I said, she’d left the community many years ago, and then once Nehemiah had started getting frail, Camille came back to run the farm. She told him she had business experience, so Nehemiah handed things over to her. He really had no choice with Jacob gone. Normally sons take over from the father, but with Jacob not in the community Nehemiah handed the running of the farm over to Camille.”
“So when did Jacob come back to the farm?” the detective asked, tipping his head slightly to one side.
Elsa-May said, “Camille came back two years ago, like Ettie already told you. Jacob returned around six months ago. So I imagine in those last few months the siblings both tried to run the farm together. As you probably know already, Camille and Jacob’s father died only weeks before Camille was killed.”
Ettie continued, “The two were still at odds with one another, just like when they were younger, according to Mildred. When I say ‘the two’, I mean Camille and Jacob. I think Mildred was used to the fact that Camille was never going to like or accept her into the family. It was hard for Mildred, especially since she never had children of her own.”
“Camille was murdered in the apartment she’d moved into, so we know that she’d left the community again by then,” the detective said.
“Camille left after Nehemiah died,” Ettie said.
The detective repositioned himself in his chair. “What do you mean?”
Ettie took a deep breath, waiting for Elsa-May to jump in and speak for her as she normally did whenever she hesitated. Ettie frowned at Elsa-May when she made no attempt to speak, and continued, “Each thought they knew how to run the farm better. Nehemiah wasn’t happy with how Camille had done certain things and he complained to Jacob. Nehemiah let Camille know that she was no longer running the farm and gave the job to Jacob.”
The detective sighed. “No, I wasn’t asking about that. I want to know why Camille left after Nehemiah died.”
“Well, that’s what I’m trying to tell you – this is how it happened. Jacob stayed and Camille left. In the will, the farm was left solely to Jacob.”
Now Elsa-May interrupted, “So, she had no reason to stick around. Nehemiah was pleased to have his son back before he died. Wasn’t he, Ettie?”
Ettie nodded. “Yes, he was pleased that Jacob came back to run the farm. After that, Camille had even more reason to resent poor old Jacob.” Seeing the detective open his mouth to speak, Ettie added, “Jacob would never hurt a fly.”
After Detective Kelly took a deep breath, he said, “That’s my next question. Did Jacob ever show signs of violence or anger toward anyone?”
Both Elsa-May and Ettie shook their heads.
Ettie said, “Not while he was a part of our community. I believe he hasn’t got a mean bone in his body.”
“But you both wouldn’t know him very well if he left when he was eighteen and he only came back to the community recently,” Detective Kelly said, looking pleased with himself.
“I believe a person’s personality is formed very early in life. Jacob was always a kind boy in his youth.” Before the detective could speak again, Elsa-May quickly added, “You said you thought there was some kind of proof that Jacob killed Camille, so what do you have that you’re calling ‘proof’?”
“No, Elsa-May, I believe the detective’s words were that he ‘had reason to believe’ that Jacob might have killed Camille. He never said anything about having proof.” Ettie turned to Kelly. “Isn’t that right, Detective?”
“That’s correct, Mrs. Smith; that’s exactly what I said. We don’t have proof, as such, but what we do have is someone who’s willing to testify that Camille told her that she suspected Jacob was trying to kill her.”
“Utter rubbish,” Elsa-May blurted out.
The detective whipped his head around toward Elsa-May. “Are you certain?”
“Yes, why would he kill his own sister? Besides, Jacob’s the one who inherited the farm. There was no reason for him to kill her – no monetary reason.”
The detective looked between the two of them. “According to the both of you, they didn’t get along. A lifetime of not getting along with someone could be the only reason he needed. It’s not uncommon for a perfectly sane person to kill another in a fit of rage. It happens every day. Most often people are murdered by someone close to them, such as a spouse, or a family member.”
“You did say you thought he was innocent, Detective?” Ettie asked.
“Yes, and I’d like you ladies to help me prove that. I’ve got pressure on me to solve this case. I’m up for a promotion, and it wouldn’t hurt if I could wrap this one up quickly.”
Elsa-May huffed. “You didn’t want Ettie’s help when she tried to help with Horace’s murder.”
The detective turned to Ettie. “This time, Mrs. Smith, I’d be grateful for your help.” He looked at Elsa-May. “And yours too, of course.”
“I’m afraid it’ll just be Ettie. With my sore leg, I can’t do anything. I can’t walk very far.” Elsa-May rubbed the top of her leg.
“Nothing serious, I hope.”
“No, just a niggle.”
The detective tilted his head to one side. “A niggle?”
Elsa-May chuckled. “Something that’s annoying.”
“I’ll be glad to help you prove that Jacob is innocent, Detective,” Ettie said.
“People will talk to Ettie,” Elsa-May said.
“That’s what I’m banking on.” The detective looked back at Ettie. “When none of your people would talk to me, naturally I thought of you ladies.”
Elsa-May asked, “Do you have any leads at all on the murderer?”
Kelly rubbed his nose. “No. We’re still waiting for forensic results to come back. I do have a statement from that woman Camille spoke with.”
Elsa-May laughed. “You had me worried for a minute. I thought you were about to lock Jacob away.”
Ettie noticed the detective swallowed rather hard at Elsa-May’s comment, which made her wonder if he was keeping something from them. Did he have some evidence he didn’t want to share with them? He did look kind of guilty at that moment.
The detective rose to his feet. “Can I leave it to you ladies to see what you can find out?” He looked at Ettie. “I guess it’ll be just you asking around?”
Ettie pushed herself up from the couch. “I’ll do that for you, but you’re leaving me in the dark. What exactly do you want me to find out?”
“I need to know what the exact situation was between brother and sister. Did Jacob have any motive in the slightest to want Camille dead? For that matter, did anyone else have reason to want her gone?”
“I’ll see what I can find out,” Ettie said, walking the detective to the door.
“Goodbye,” Elsa-May called out.
Before Kelly had a chance to say goodbye to Elsa-May, Ettie explained, “It hurts Elsa-May to stand with her bad leg.”
“Yes, she mentioned that.” The detective nodded goodbye to Elsa-May. He then turned to Ettie. “I do appreciate your help, Mrs. Smith. I know we haven’t seen eye-to-eye before, but let’s let bygones be bygones, shall we?”
“Of course, we can do that.”
The detective stepped out the door and walked down the steps toward his car. Ettie watched him all the while.
Chapter 2
When Detective Kelly left, Ettie wasted no time in visiting Mildred. The last time she’d seen her was the day after Camille’s funeral.
Just as Ettie knocked on the door, Mildred swung it open.
“Ettie, I’m so pleased you’ve come.”
Ettie gave Mildred a quick hug before Mildred ushered her into the living room. “Can I get you something?”
“Nee denke. I’ve just had a visit from a detective.” Ettie figured the straightforward approach would be best.
Mildred scowled. “About Camille?”
Ettie nodded. “Jah.”
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