“Why did he go to you?”
“He knows me because I met him when poor Horace was found under Agatha’s floor. Anyway, the detective thinks… Well, he’s got some crazy notion that Jacob is involved somehow.”
Mildred looked away from her. “Impossible.” She looked back at Ettie. “Why should we talk to him? Is that why you’re here, to get us to speak to him?”
“Nee. I’m not here to ask you to do that. The truth of the matter is that he wants me to find out what I can about the whole thing.” Ettie tapped her chin. “Would you talk to him?”
Mildred shook her head.
“Do you have any idea who might have done it?”
“Not at all. I mean, she didn’t have many friends.”
“You mean she had no friends?”
Mildred groaned. “Nee, she did have a couple of friends, but they were Englischers. She still kept in contact with two people. I never met them, but she’d receive letters from them, and I think she used to meet them in town. People would tell me they saw her speaking with Englischers.”
“I might have a cup of hot tea,” Ettie said.
“Come with me and we can talk while I make it.”
Ettie followed Mildred into the kitchen. “I’m just glad that Nehemiah’s not here. He’d never be able to get over Camille being murdered. Especially the way it happened.”
Once Mildred put the pot on to boil, they both sat at the kitchen table.
Ettie asked, “From what you told me before, Camille and Jacob had an argument over Nehemiah’s will?” That’s something Ettie could have told the detective but didn’t.
“Nehemiah didn’t like the way Camille ran the farm. Among other things, we started losing money and we’d never lost money before. She never was good with finances and that’s one of the reasons Nehemiah left the farm to Jacob. She had told her vadder she had management experience but it soon became clear she had none. Nehemiah had given her a good chance and she’d been running the farm for nearly two years before Jacob came back to us.”
“Jah, you told me that before, about Camille not running the farm to Nehemiah’s liking.” Ettie raised her eyebrows. “Pardon me for asking, but the whole farm was left just to Jacob?”
Mildred nodded. “Nehemiah discussed it with me before he made the will. I said I didn’t want a share. All I wanted was to live in the house here for the rest of my days. It makes sense since I was never blessed with kinner, and would never even have kinskind of my own.” The corners of Mildred’s mouth drooped.
Ettie couldn’t imagine not having children or grandchildren. Although Ettie didn’t see her own that often, they filled her life with a sense of purpose and wellbeing.
Mildred continued, “Better to leave everything to Camille and Jacob. Nehemiah knew that if he left the farm to Camille she’d see to it that I was put out on the street without anything to live on, and Nehemiah didn’t want me to end up homeless when he was gone.”
Ettie nodded, knowing that Jacob and Mildred had a bond like mother and son, and Jacob would look after her.
Mildred sighed. “After Nehemiah died, Camille found out she wasn’t getting the farm and she and Jacob had some terrible rows. She carried on so badly that Jacob ended up offering her half the farm.”
“That was generous of him.”
“Camille didn’t think so; she said she wanted the whole farm. She accused him of only coming back to take the farm from her.”
“What did she mean by that?”
“I suppose she meant that he knew his father was close to the end and he chose to return at that time only so he’d inherit the farm. You see, it wasn’t until Nehemiah died that she found out she didn’t get the farm; he didn’t let her know beforehand that she wasn’t going to get it. I suppose Nehemiah didn’t want to be the victim of one of her outbursts. That girl had such a temper. When she found out that she didn’t get the farm, she left the community and leased an apartment in town. She told Jacob she would see him in court.”
“She did? You never told me she sued him.”
“I don’t think it came to anything. We never heard from a lawyer or anything. If she stayed here she might have been safe. She moved to that apartment and that’s where they found her.”
Ettie rubbed her chin. She hadn’t liked to ask Mildred too many questions when she’d learned about Camille’s death. Camille threatening to start legal proceedings might have given Jacob motive, but then again, he’d already offered her half the land. Surely a court wouldn’t be more generous than Jacob had already been. Did she really expect the courts would award her the entire farm and leave her brother with nothing?
“I know what you’re thinking, Ettie. It’s like the story of the prodigal son returning.”
“I wasn’t thinking anything of the kind. Anyway, Camille and Jacob’s situation was a little different since Jacob inherited everything and Camille was left with nothing.”
“Nee, I never said she got nothing.”
Ettie tilted her head to one side. “What do you mean? Did she get left something?”
“Nee, but she did have a trust fund that Nehemiah set up for her when she was twenty five. He was concerned she wasn’t married so he set up the fund. He had a lot of money in the bank and the man at the bank said he should do something with it. That’s when he thought that Camille should have something, some kind of security.”
“Did she have access to it?”
“I’m not certain about any of it. I do know that Nehemiah put Jacob in charge of the money.”
“Jacob was the trustee?”
“Is that what you call it when someone can’t get at the money unless the other person allows them?”
Ettie nodded, and then pulled a wry face. Jacob probably wasn’t the best choice of a trustee since he and his sister had never gotten along. “And has Jacob inherited the money now that Camille’s gone?”
“I’m not certain. Whenever Jacob tells me about business matters or money I just block my ears.” Mildred covered her ears with the palms of her hands.
Another motive, if Jacob inherited the money from Camille’s trust fund.
“Oh, the water’s boiling.” Mildred got up to pour the tea, and as she did so, something out the window caught her eye. She pulled the heavy curtain aside.
“What is it, Mildred?” Ettie asked, getting up to see what she was staring at.
“Just that pesky fellow from next door. He’s been bothering Jacob to sell the farm, and before that, he was pestering Camille when he thought she might have had some say. He can’t leave things well enough alone.”
“He shouldn’t be upsetting people like that.” Ettie peeped out the window to see a stout man who appeared to be in his fifties, standing just beyond the property line. “He’s an Englischer?”
“Jah, his name’s Ronald Bradshaw.”
“Why does he want the farm so badly?”
“I don’t know.”
“Has he told Jacob why he wants it?” Ettie asked.
“You’d have to ask Jacob about that. I’d dare say he wants to increase his own farm size, since land around these parts is getting scarce.”
Ettie looked out again at the man who now had his hands on his hips gazing at the house. “What’s he doing just standing there like that?”
“Beats me. He’s probably putting a hex on the place or something, since we won’t sell.”
Ettie giggled. “Have you ever spoken to the man yourself?”
“Nee. He’s never come to the door. He’s spoken to Jacob when he was out in the fields.” Mildred moved away from the window and continued making the tea.
After taking one last look at the man, Ettie sat back down at the table. Mildred placed a cup of tea in front of Ettie and then sat down next to her.
Ronald Bradshaw had to live on the farm with the white house and the red roof, Ettie figured. They were the only Englischers that had a property neighboring the Eshes’ farm.
Once Ettie took a sip of t
ea, she placed the cup back on the saucer and looked directly at Mildred. “Do you have any idea who might have killed Camille?”
With a slight raise of her brows, Mildred said, “I don’t, but I think she was the type of person to make enemies. Normally I never talk ill of people, but she did have some people who weren’t too happy with her. Not that I know anything for certain, I just happened to overhear some conversations she had with people when she was talking on her cell phone.”
“She had a cell phone here?”
Mildred nodded. “She never gave up all her Englisch ways when she came back to the community. I was sure I heard her talking in her room and I was certain she must’ve had a phone. I found the phone when I was cleaning her room. I was frightened to talk to her and have her yell at me again, but I knew I had to say something so I did. She spoke real nasty and told me never to tell anyone about it, and I didn’t. I never even told Nehemiah about the cell phone. He wouldn’t have liked her having something like that in the haus, and Camille knew that.”
“Nee, nee, of course not.” Ettie frowned and thought back to a couple of years ago when she and Elsa-May had kept a cell phone for emergencies. Until one day they had a visit from the bishop and he let them know he was aware of their phone. Elsa-May decided they should get rid of the phone after that. “And you heard her talking on her phone, arguing with someone?”
“Jah.”
“Did you hear enough to know who it was, or what the argument was about?”
Mildred moved uncomfortably in her chair. “Some woman, I think it was. She was upset with Camille about something from the sounds of it. That’s all I know.”
“Interesting,” Ettie said. “How did you know it was a woman she was speaking with?”
“The voice was loud enough for me to hear that it was a woman’s voice.”
Ettie sipped on her tea, knowing her next stop had to be Ronald Bradshaw, the neighbor who was so interested in the farm.
The rattle of a wagon, and loud sounds of horses’ hooves, told the ladies that someone had pulled up outside the house.
“That will be Jacob come home for the midday meal.”
“Is that the time already? I must be on my way.”
“Stay! Ettie, you’ll stay won’t you?”
The back door swung open and Ettie leaned forward to see Jacob taking off his boots. He looked across into the kitchen. “Ettie.”
“Hello, Jacob.”
When he took his hat off and ran his large hand through his thick black hair, Ettie couldn’t help comparing him to Nehemiah; the two were so similar in appearance.
“You’re staying to have a meal with us, Ettie?” Jacob asked when he stepped into the kitchen.
Ettie looked back at Mildred who nodded, urging her to stay. “Jah, denke. I’ll stay.”
“After we eat, Jacob can run you home instead of you taking a taxi,” Mildred said.
“I’m happy to do that, Ettie. I’ve got my wagon and horses just outside and you don’t live that far away, do you?”
“Not far at all.” Ettie smiled and thanked Jacob, but wasn’t too happy that her visit to Ronald Bradshaw would have to be delayed until the next day. She could hardly ask Jacob to take her to the neighbor’s farm and wait there while she talked to him. Besides, she couldn’t let Mildred and Jacob know she intended to talk to their unfriendly neighbor.
While Ettie enjoyed Mildred’s cooking, she felt a little bad for leaving Elsa-May on her own with her bad leg. She should’ve been there to help her get something to eat at least. Elsa-May would be able to make it to the kitchen, but it would be difficult.
Chapter 3
While Jacob drove her home in his wagon, Ettie knew she’d have to ask him some difficult questions if she was going to be any help to him. She bit the inside of her lip and tried to muster up some courage. “You know, Jacob, it doesn’t look good for you that your schweschder’s been murdered and the pair of you were known to fight all the time.”
Jacob frowned at Ettie. “Arguing is one thing, Ettie, and murder is another. I couldn’t kill anyone. I wouldn’t have returned to the community if I didn’t want to follow Gott’s ways. I held no bad feelings against my schweschder; it was she who had bad feelings toward me. I let her know I didn’t like the way she spoke to our mudder.”
Jacob always referred to his stepmother as his mother, never making the distinction that she wasn’t his birth mother.
“Jah, I know that. I’m just saying how it looks for you. Sometimes when the police have no suspects their attention turns to the most likely person. Then, rather than innocent until proven guilty, it becomes a matter of having to prove that you are innocent.”
Jacob looked over at Ettie and smiled. “Ettie, you’re worrying too much about things. Denke for your concern; it’s nice to know you care so much.”
“I think you should be concerned.”
“Why? The police questioned me and I told them everything I know. They seemed to be satisfied and I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Ettie sucked her lips in.
Jacob glanced at Ettie’s concerned face, and then tipped his straw hat slightly back on his head. “You must tell me if you know something I don’t. I know you’ve got contacts with the police since you’ve been involved with things like this before. I heard what happened to Horace, and mamm’s told me about a few other things you’ve been involved in as well.”
“I can tell you this: no matter what they’ve said to you, or wanted you to believe, it’s clear that you’re one of their suspects. I know that much. Well, most likely their only one so far, and that’s why the detective has been out here trying to question people. No one will talk to him, apart from you it seems, and that’s why he, the detective, asked me to help. Detective Kelly doesn’t believe you did it, but I don’t think he knows enough about Camille’s life to know who could have done it or where to look for the person who killed her.”
“The person who took her life might not have known her. It could’ve been a stranger, someone passing through.”
“Possibly, but I believe she was the type of person to clash with people.”
“Probably, because she was never happy at home. She never called Mildred ‘mamm’ or ‘mudder;’ she always called her ‘Mrs. Esh’, if she had to call her something at all. Behind her back she would call her ‘it’ or ‘the thing’, but never if Mildred or Dat could hear her.”
“I didn’t realize things were that bad.”
“They were. When Mamm, our real mamm, got sick, she beat Camille a couple of times. That’s when Dat took our mudder to the doctor and found out about her mental illness.”
Ettie gasped. “She was beaten? The poor little mite.”
Jacob nodded. “Beaten and treated badly. I was older and out of the haus a lot with Dat, so that’s why I escaped a lot of Mamm’s nastiness.”
“I had no idea things were like that.”
“Mamm couldn’t help it. It was the illness that made her act like that.”
“All the same, it’s awful for Camille to have gone through something like that.”
“I think that’s why she never took to Mildred. I don’t think she could ever trust anyone.”
“It’s dreadful to think that one of the people who were supposed to love and protect her would do something like that.”
“My mudder couldn’t help it, Ettie. She was sick in the head,” Jacob repeated. “I feel guilty that I didn’t protect Camille.”
“You shouldn’t feel guilty. You were still so young yourself.”
“Maybe that’s why she hated me, because I wasn’t there to look after her like a big bruder should’ve. Camille only got along with Dat.”
“That’s dreadful.”
Jacob nodded. “Anyway, I try not to think about the past. I try and remember my mudder how she used to be before she got sick.”
Ettie nodded. “That’s best.”
“Now, no need to worry yourself about me, Ettie. Seems like I
’m in the clear if the detective knows I didn’t do it.”
“He needs to investigate the thing properly. Do you know anyone who had the slightest possible reason to kill her? Did she have any arguments or disagreements with anyone that you know about?”
Jacob laughed. “She argued with Mamm every day of her life.”
“I know they never got along.”
“It was never Mamm’s fault. She’s always done everything she could to be a proper mudder to us.”
“Did she have any disagreements with anyone apart from Mildred?”
“My schweschder and I were never close, as you know. I didn’t know her well enough to know the enemies she made. I’m guessing there were a few.”
“Do you know that for certain?”
“Nee, I’m just guessing, going by what type of person she was.” Jacob glanced over at Ettie. “She wasn’t a happy person, and the only time I saw her smile was whenever she was making someone miserable. The last days before she left the community, she had my mudder in tears every single day.”
“That was after your vadder died?”
Jacob nodded. “Jah, she was much worse when she found out that the farm was left entirely to me.”
“Mildred tells me you offered Camille half the farm?”
“She told you?”
Ettie nodded.
“Jah, I offered her half. It wasn’t as though I talked Dat into leaving it all to me, but that’s the idea Camille had gotten into her head. I didn’t know who he was leaving it to; he never even talked of having a will. Dat left me a letter with his will telling me he was leaving it to me because he didn’t want Camille interfering with the running of it, and he wanted Mildred to be able to stay on. I didn’t exactly offer Camille half; I offered her forty nine percent so I could keep a controlling interest, and also that way Mamm wouldn’t be turned out of the haus.”
“I heard your vadder had money put away for Camille?”
Jacob glanced over at Ettie. “How did you know? Ach, I suppose Mamm told you that too. Dat had over two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars for her.”
Ettie gasped in shock and her hand flew to her mouth. “I never dreamed it would be so much.”
Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 1 Page 14