Once Ettie got Elsa-May into bed, she walked out of the room and looked at the small bag that Elsa-May had brought back from the hospital with her. Ettie peeped in to see dirty laundry. “That’ll have to be done some day, but not today.” She picked up the bag and threw it in the laundry room at the back of the house. Before she left, she looked back in at Elsa-May and was pleased to see her eyes closed and her mouth opened. She noticed her chest slowly rising and falling before she gently closed the bedroom door.
Ettie climbed into the buggy to see Ava’s excited face. “Well, don’t keep en aldi hutzel waiting. What did you find out?”
Ava clicked her horse forward into a slow trot. “You won’t believe it.”
“What?”
“My mother also saw Camille arguing with a woman, a dark-haired woman, at the farmers’ markets. And you know why she saw her there?” Ettie shook her head. “Because she was sitting at the same coffee shop nearly next to them.”
“Nee!” Ettie shrieked. “Did she hear what they said?”
“Nee, but the thing is, I showed Mamm the picture of the doctor, you know, the one we got from my friend who works at the DMV?”
“Was it the same woman?”
“Mamm said she was certain it was the same woman. She remembers because she thought at the time that it was odd to see them together.”
“What sort of argument was it? Were there raised voices, that kind of thing?”
“Mamm said they were speaking crossly to each other. From what she said, their voices weren’t raised or anything of the kind, but they looked and sounded angry.”
“Well, we’re finally getting somewhere. The woman she was arguing with was a doctor and now we just have to find out what the two were to each other. Did they know each other as friends or was Camille a patient?” Ettie grabbed Ava’s arm. “Denke, Ava.”
Ava smiled back at Ettie, and then turned her horse down the Eshes’ driveway.
"I do hope Crowley's been able to do something helpful," Ettie said. "He didn't say when he'd contact me again."
“Well, he knows where you live. He’ll find you when, and if, he’s got something to tell you.”
Ettie nodded.
Ava stopped the horse and buggy outside Mildred’s house.
Ettie rested awhile before getting out of the buggy. She’d planned to visit Mildred to find out who this friend of Camille’s was, but wasn’t it the police who’d mentioned that Camille had a friend she’d confided in?
“Oh, dear, I think the person I need to speak to next is Detective Kelly.”
“Well, we’re here now and she’s probably seen us.”
Ettie nodded. “Let’s see how she’s holding up. Then do you mind taking me into town to talk to Detective Kelly?”
“Nee, I don’t mind. I don’t have anywhere else I need to be.”
“Denke.”
“I’ll follow your lead. Don’t forget we were going to ask about the cell phone,” Ava said.
Ettie nodded and then they both walked up to Mildred’s haus and knocked on the front door. After a while with no answer, they knocked again.
“That’s most unusual – she’s not answering. She’s always looking out when she hears a buggy.”
“Shall we check the garden out the back?”
Ettie nodded at Ava’s suggestion. Once they were around the back of the house, they walked the length of the garden. Ettie and Ava looked up when they heard a window open. They saw Mildred, with her long gray hair falling around her shoulders, looking as though she’d just woken up. “Ettie, and Ava! I’m so glad you’ve come. I’ll be down in a minute. Let yourselves in.” Then she closed the window.
Ettie and Ava smiled at each other. “She’s just woken up,” Ettie said.
“Seems so.”
Ettie and Ava had been sitting in Mildred’s living room for over five minutes before Mildred made an appearance. She came walking down the stairs fiddling with her prayer kapp.
“Are you feeling okay, Mildred?” Ettie asked.
“I’m okay; just couldn’t find a reason to get out of bed.”
“Ettie and I have got the water boiling.”
“Denke. Have you eaten breakfast?” Mildred asked the ladies.
“We have,” Ava answered.
“I’ve been to the hospital already and taken Elsa-May home.”
“Oh good. She’s better then?”
“She is. She’ll just need a little bit of looking after.” Ettie made a mental note to go home after their meeting with Mildred and make Elsa-May a meal before they went to see the detective. “Come on, you sit in the kitchen and Ava and I will make you some breakfast.”
Mildred nodded and once they reached the kitchen, she slumped into a chair. “I didn’t realize it was so late. I normally get up and cook Jacob breakfast before he starts work. I wonder why he didn’t wake me.”
“Most likely he wanted you to get some more sleep.”
Mildred held her head in her hands. Ettie and Ava looked at each other and Ettie wondered what she could do to make Mildred feel better.
“Would you happen to have Camille’s phone here?” Ettie asked.
Mildred was silent for a moment then shook her head. “Nee. I think she would’ve had that at her apartment.”
Ettie nodded. She’d known it was a long shot that the phone would be there. After they sat with Mildred for a while, they said goodbye and headed out to Ava’s buggy.
“Where to now?” Ava picked up the reins.
“I did want to talk to Kelly, but I think I should go and give Elsa-May some food and see if she needs anything.”
After they spent some time with Elsa-May, giving her a meal and talking to her, they left her alone again and headed to see detective Kelly.
“Are you sure you’re up to this, Ettie? It’s a lot of running around for you.”
Ettie gave a little laugh. “I’ve got no choice. I can’t have Jacob going to jail for a crime he didn’t do.” It was very much on Ettie’s mind that Jacob could have a much worse fate than jail, the laws being what they were. Jacob could face the death penalty, in the worst-case scenario. Ettie shook her head as if doing so would shake all the bad images of Jacob being found guilty from her head.
Ettie waited for Ava to park the buggy securely and then they walked up the road to the police station together. As they approached the station, Ettie saw Detective Crowley walking towards them.
“That’s Detective Crowley right there,” Ettie said to Ava in a low voice.
“I know. I met him. You introduced us when he was helping with Horace’s murder investigation.”
They stopped still and waited for Detective Crowley.
When he was standing in front of them, Ettie said, “We were just going to come in and tell you, well, tell Detective Kelly, something.”
Crowley nodded to the coffee shop two doors up from where they were standing.
“Let’s go in there and chat. I’ve got something to tell you as well.”
Once they were seated, Ettie started out by telling Crowley that Ava’s mother had said that Dr. Mackelvanner was the one she’d seen arguing with Camille. “Now that we know that, do you think Detective Kelly will look into Camille’s medical records?”
“What I think is that Kelly won’t see it as having any relevance to the case – not with the evidence that he’s got against Jacob.”
“Surely he’d have to investigate every avenue to make sure they’ve got the right person.” Ettie ground her teeth in frustration.
“I’ll tell you what,” Crowley began. “I know someone in the hospital who owes me a favor. I’ll have him get me the number of the doctor’s private office phone, and I’ll speak with her. Then we can go from there. How does that sound?”
“You’d do that? You’d go and talk to the doctor?” Ettie asked.
“Of course I would. I’ll call him right now and get the number.”
While they waited for their coffee, Crowley made his pho
ne call. A minute later, Crowley was scratching down a phone number on a paper napkin.
“That was easy,” Ava said.
Crowley ended his phone conversation and looked up at the two ladies in front of him. “I’ve got her number. I’ll talk to her and then we’ll know more.”
“That’s good of you. Thank you,” Ettie said.
Crowley smiled. “How is Elsa-May today?”
“She’s fine; we were just there giving her a meal. She’s glad to be home.”
Chapter 15
The next day, Ettie heard a knock on the door and hoped it was Crowley with information.
She opened the door, pleased to see it was indeed Crowley standing there with a smile on his face. She hoped that meant good news. “Do come in.”
Ettie stepped aside to let the former detective into her home. He greeted Elsa-May who was lying on the couch propped up by pillows.
“You sit down and talk to Elsa-May. You’re just in time for tea; I just boiled the pot.”
Ettie had persuaded Elsa-May to lie on the couch instead of staying in her bed. It wasn’t long before Ettie was back out in the living room pouring tea for Crowley.
“I’m anxious to know what you’ve learned from the doctor. Did you speak to her?” Ettie asked while she poured three cups of tea, setting one where Elsa-May could easily reach it.
“I did.”
She passed Crowley a cup of tea, waiting for him to continue as she set down her own cup.
“I spoke to the doctor.”
He seemed to be hesitating and Ettie wondered if the news was bad.
Ettie couldn’t wait. “And what did you find out?”
“Something very interesting; something that I hadn’t expected in the least.”
The suspense was too much for her and Crowley wasn’t helping her trembling hands with the way he was drawing things out. Ettie placed her teacup down on a table. “Go on.”
Crowley rubbed his nose and his lips twitched. “Dr. Mackelvanner had been in contact with Mrs Esh, Jacob, and Camille. Nehemiah died in the hospital. Mackelvanner assisted the coroner and she wanted to run further tests but the coroner didn’t agree. The coroner put his death down as heart disease, but for weeks something was nagging in the back of Mackelvanner’s mind.” He looked down into the teacup in his hands and slowly raised it to his lips.
Ettie looked over at Elsa-May, and when their eyes met, Elsa-May raised her eyebrows.
Once he took a sip of tea and the teacup was back on the saucer, he continued. “Her suspicions caused her to go over the coroner’s head and go to the police.”
“What were her suspicions, Detective?” Elsa-May asked bluntly.
“She feared he might have been poisoned.”
Ettie’s hand flew to her mouth.
“Then what happened?” Elsa-May asked.
“Her request for the body to be exhumed was denied. The only way to confirm or eliminate her suspicions was to get permission from the family to exhume the body, once the courts denied her request. That’s when she contacted Mrs. Esh.”
“Mildred did say she thought the doctor’s name was familiar. I don’t know how she wouldn’t remember something as important as that, though,” Ettie said. “The doctor really thinks Nehemiah was poisoned?”
“Correct. According to the doctor, Mrs. Esh referred her to the son, and the son didn’t want to make the decision unless his sister agreed.”
“And she met with Camille and they argued?” Ettie asked.
“She states that she did meet with Camille Esh on two different occasions and Camille was dead against it – pardon the pun. Dr. Mackelvanner said that Jacob agreed to it on the proviso that his sister also agreed. And there’s something else I have to tell you.”
Ettie took a deep breath. “Go on.”
Crowley ran his tongue across the outside of his teeth as if his mouth was dry.
“Have more tea,” Elsa-May suggested.
Crowley took a sip of tea, and then said, “It’s nothing to be concerned about. I was at the station this morning, before I came here, to tell Kelly what I’d learned about the doctor and her suspicions. I ran into Jacob Esh at the station. I recognized him from the newspaper. I introduced myself to him and told him I was a friend of the both of you. I hope neither of you mind?”
“Not at all,” Elsa May said, as Ettie waved a hand to dismiss his concern.
“And what did he say?” Ettie asked.
“I asked if he’d ever had a conversation with the doctor. He told me that the doctor first approached his stepmother and he said Mildred never made any decisions on her own. That’s when the doctor spoke to Jacob. Because he never got along with his sister, he was loathe to agree alone that his father’s body be touched. He referred the doctor to Camille and gave her Camille’s cell phone number. And that’s the last he heard from the doctor. Camille never mentioned the doctor to him and he never brought the subject up.”
“Camille never mentioned that she’d met with the doctor?” Ettie asked.
“And met with the doctor more than once?” Elsa-May added.
“That’s right. He said his sister never mentioned it to him and he never mentioned it to her. He admits to the fact that his sister never got along with him or he with her.”
“I wonder why the authorities denied the doctor’s request? Especially since the doctor had such suspicions.”
“I thought about that and I spoke to a man I know at the courthouse. According to him there has to be ‘good cause and exigent circumstances’ for a body to be exhumed for an autopsy.”
“And what does ‘exigent circumstances’ mean? I haven’t come across that term before,” Elsa-May said.
Crowley took a small notebook out of the top pocket of his shirt. “I wrote it down. Let’s see now.” He flipped some pages over. “Ah, here it is. It means that there must be clear evidence of probable cause.”
“So, the doctor didn’t have enough evidence to satisfy the court?”
“That’s what it sounds like,” Crowley said.
“Surely she had enough evidence to raise her suspicions. Wouldn’t that have been enough?” Elsa-May asked.
Crowley shook his head. “It seems the court didn’t think what evidence she had warranted such action. The state can’t go digging up bodies willy-nilly.”
“Does Kelly know about the doctor wanting to run more tests on Nehemiah?” Ettie asked.
“I went to tell him, but he wasn’t there. He’ll be back later today, after two o’clock.”
“Under the circumstances, with Camille being murdered, do you think the police might be interested in exhuming the body now?”
Crowley placed his tea on the table in front of him. “It could go two ways. It might make things worse for Jacob if they find his father was poisoned. Have you considered that Kelly might think Jacob killed not only Camille but his father as well?”
Elsa-May shook her head. “I never thought of that.”
Ettie glanced at the clock on the wall. “Two hours to go until two.”
Crowley said, “Ettie, why don’t we visit Mrs. Esh? We can ask her about the doctor.”
“I’ve questioned her about the doctor before.”
“Maybe she’ll remember something she’s forgotten.”
Chapter 16
Crowley and Ettie sat in Mildred’s living room. They’d said yes to tea and Mildred was busy in the kitchen preparing it.
“I’ll help her. I won’t be a moment,” Ettie said to Crowley.
“Take your time. I don’t know if I can fit another cup in anyway, just yet.”
Ettie smiled, and then said, “Sip slowly.”
When Ettie entered the kitchen, Mildred said, “He’s a friend of yours?”
“Jah, he’s here to help Jacob. He believes he’s innocent, and he just wants to ask you some questions. It’ll help Jacob.” While Ettie placed cups and saucers on a tray she wondered how she’d feel if someone wanted to dig up her late husband�
�s body. Would she want to know if he’d been poisoned? It wouldn’t bring him back.
Mildred poured boiling water into the teapot. “Okay, just a few more minutes and it’ll be ready to pour. I’ll carry the teapot, Ettie, and you carry the tray.”
They placed the tray and the teapot on the low table between the two couches in the living room.
When Mildred sat down, she said, “You said you wanted to talk to me about a doctor?”
“That’s right. Do you remember speaking to a doctor who wanted to exhume Nehemiah’s body to run some tests?” Crowley asked. “Her name is Dr. Mackelvanner.”
Mildred glanced at Ettie, and then looked back at the detective. “Ettie mentioned that name to me. I remember now that I did speak to her. She said she wanted to run some further tests but I said it was too late; he was buried. She wouldn’t take no for an answer and kept talking at me. Eventually I told her to speak to Jacob since he’s the man of the house now and probably should make all the decisions.” She fiddled with the strings of her prayer kapp. “Why is it so important?”
“It seems the doctor has reason to believe your husband might have been murdered. And this doctor was seen arguing with your daughter on at least one, and possibly two, occasions,” Crowley said.
“You mean stepdaughter,” Mildred corrected him sternly.
Ettie was a little surprised; she’d never heard Mildred correct anybody from saying ‘daughter’ to ‘stepdaughter’. She’d always called Jacob her son, so it seemed a little odd since she’d insisted recently that she treated them both the same.
“Yes, I’m sorry, stepdaughter,” Crowley corrected himself.
“I’m not surprised that the doctor was arguing with Camille. Camille could send anyone crazy. You could be in a good mood and then Camille would say something hateful. She was like that. I think she liked to make people unhappy. If I didn’t know any better I’d think she was the child of the devil.”
Ettie nearly choked on the tea she was about to swallow. She coughed. Crowley put his tea down and patted Ettie on the back. Ettie coughed again.
“Oh dear, do you want some water?” Mildred asked.
Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 1 Page 21