Ettie closed her eyes for a second and then glanced up at the clock on the wall.
“It’s four o’clock. Would Kelly still be at the station?”
“I guess so. He probably will be there until seven tonight.”
“Will you drive me to see him? I’ve just figured the whole thing out.”
“You have?” Crowley jumped to his feet.
“I’m coming too,” Elsa-May said.
“Are you well enough?” Ettie asked.
“I’m not going to miss this.”
“I’ll call him and tell him we’re coming.”
Chapter 20
When the four of them were settled in Detective Kelly’s office, Kelly leaned back in his chair. “This will be entertaining. Go ahead, Mrs. Smith.”
“We have a young girl, Camille Esh. Her mother got sick and was prone to fits of rage. She beat her young daughter, leaving internal scars that would never heal. When Mary died, Camille’s father did the best he could for her and her brother. He married another woman, but Camille, even though she was young, never let herself love again.”
Detective Kelly laughed. “I didn’t know you were a psychiatrist, Mrs. Smith.”
Ettie ignored his jab and continued, “The pain of loving and trusting someone only to be betrayed as her mother had betrayed her would be too much. Camille built invisible walls around her heart to save herself from further pain.”
“Is this going to take long?” Kelly glanced at his watch.
Ettie cleared her throat, and then said, “Her inner hate of her brother was most likely spurred by the hatred she was shown by her mother. The trauma of her youth never left her. When she found she had inherited the disease her mother had, she hatched a plan. She didn’t want to suffer like her mother had and die a death full of mental torture. She decided to end her life, and at the same time, she’d implicate her brother and ruin his life.”
“Yes, if she had to go she’d take him with her,” Elsa-May added. “Because her father, the only person she loved, had showed preference to her brother by leaving him the farm. She must’ve been outraged beyond belief.
“That’s why she met him in the fields and had him write the will, and she signed it in front of him. He was surprised but she told him not to tell anyone. She took cups from the house after Jacob had used them, and used those same cups at her own apartment.”
“So,” Kelly said, “she paid Nick Heaton to shoot into her apartment and her other friend to say she thought her brother was trying to kill her. Yes, I must say I did have the same thoughts as you when I heard she had a fatal illness. I even talked to her doctor and found she had asked about the possibility of euthanasia.”
“She did?”
“Yes, when she first got the diagnosis,” Kelly said nodding. “I had it set in my mind that she killed herself and wanted her brother to take the blame. It’s just what a spiteful woman would do and I’ve known a few of those in my time, believe me. She found out she didn’t have long to live, so she poisons herself with the coolant, doesn’t like how painful it is, so she speeds things along with a dose of pills, grinds them down into a drink and drinks them in a cup with Jacob’s fingerprints that she’s gotten from her stepmother’s house. She dies and no one knows about her illness or the fact that she’s paid people to bolster up her evil plot with evidence against her older brother.”
“So you believe me?” Ettie asked.
“Like I said, I had come to the same conclusion as you, until I had the forensic team have another look at that signature on Camille Esh’s will.”
“And?” Crowley asked.
“We got a sample of handwriting from Mrs. Esh, and I’m afraid it’s a match.”
“A match to Mildred’s handwriting?”
“That’s right, Mrs. Smith. The signature on the will was in the handwriting of Mildred Esh. The body of the text was in Jacob’s handwriting as he admits, but he was lying about Camille signing it.”
A hush fell across the room.
Detective Kelly turned to Ettie. “You don’t know who you can trust, Mrs. Smith. I believe I told you days ago that sometimes people can do things that surprise even themselves.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s too late now, but tomorrow I’m going to have Mildred Esh explain herself to me.”
“You haven’t spoken with her yet?” Crowley asked.
“The handwriting report only just came through.” Kelly looked at Ettie. “I was beginning to listen to you and look for other possibilities, but now I know Jacob has been lying about the will. What else has he been lying about?”
Ettie didn’t say anything, remembering that Mildred’s prints had been found on the bottle of ethylene glycol. Could Mildred have had something to do with Camille’s death?
On the way out of the station, Ettie said to Crowley, “What’s the time now?”
He looked at his watch. “A little before five.”
“Feel like a visit to Mildred?” Ettie whispered.
“Kelly is intending on talking to her tomorrow,” Elsa-May said.
“Exactly why we should go now,” Ettie said
Crowley nodded and drove the ladies to Mildred’s house. Before they pulled up, Ettie said, “Let me do the talking.”
“I was intending to,” Crowley said. “Because I’ve got no idea what you’re up to.”
Once they were seated in Mildred’s house, Ettie asked, “What time do you expect Jacob home?”
“In another hour or so.”
“Mildred, I’m afraid I’ve got something to tell you,” Ettie said.
Mildred raised her eyebrows.
“Detective Kelly is coming here tomorrow to ask you to go into the station for questioning.”
“About what?”
“I think you know.” Ettie stared at Mildred until Mildred looked away.
Then Mildred put her head in her hands. “I thought it was a harmless thing to do.”
“What was?” Crowley asked and then he got a sharp dig in the ribs from Ettie’s elbow.
“Go on. You’ll feel better if you tell us,” Ettie said.
Mildred looked up at them and they saw her eyes brimming with tears. “I didn’t think there would be any harm. I mean, the money would most likely have gone to Jacob anyway. Camille didn’t write the will, but I heard the government takes out a lot of money if someone hasn’t left a will. I don’t know if that’s true, but that’s what I’ve heard.”
“So you and Jacob wrote that will and not Camille?” Ettie asked.
Jacob stepped into the room. “That’s right.”
All heads turned to look at Jacob as he loomed in the doorway of the living room. He took a few more steps into the room and sat down next to his stepmother. “I’m sorry I lied about that, but I was just trying to protect my mudder.”
“It was my idea, not Jacob’s. The money had come from Nehemiah and he would’ve wanted it to go to Jacob. I forced Jacob to do it.”
“Did you also make Jacob end Camille’s life to prevent her suffering?” Crowley asked.
“No! We’d never do anything like that. I don’t know who killed her. It wasn’t me or my mother.” Jacob placed his arm around his stepmother.
Ettie turned and looked at Crowley before she licked her lips and added, “Remember what Kelly said? He thought what I thought, except when he found out about the will.”
A loud knock sounded on the door, causing Ettie to jump.
Jacob sprang to his feet to answer it. Loud voices were heard, and a few seconds later Kelly walked into the room.
“And here we all are,” Kelly said, looking at each person in turn. “When I saw you all hurrying away from the station, I guessed this would be the place you were heading.”
“Have a seat, Detective,” Jacob said. “I may as well tell you what it was I just told them.”
Kelly sat down in the only spare armchair. “Go ahead.”
“My mother and I are responsible for writing that will. The will was the only thing I
lied about to you, and for that, I’m sorry.”
“So you admit to falsifying a legal document?”
“Yes,” Jacob nodded.
“That’s a serious crime. It’s a felony in the third degree. You could both face jail time and a hefty fine.”
Mildred leaned forward. “It was my idea, and I was the one who signed it, so I’m just as guilty as Jacob. No, I’m more guilty because it was all my idea.”
Detective Kelly shook his head. “This is interesting. Mrs. Esh, you admit to forging your stepdaughter’s will and your fingerprints are on the container - the nearly empty container - of coolant found in your barn.”
“I remember now how my fingerprints would’ve gotten on that container. I went to find Jacob after a visit from Camille. She’d yelled at me and then said she’d wait for Jacob in the barn, and if I was to see Jacob I was to tell him she was in the barn. When I heard her drive away some time later, I went into the barn and saw some things knocked off the shelves. I didn’t want Jacob to know she’d messed things up, so I tidied everything up. I could well have picked up the container while I was tidying. I didn’t read the labels of the things I picked up.”
“That sounds reasonable,” Ettie said.
Kelly stared hard at Mildred. “You’d better be telling the truth this time, Mrs. Esh.”
“Detective,” said Ettie, “it occurred to me that Dr. Mackelvanner’s inquiries over Nehemiah gave Camille information about coolant being so deadly. Doesn’t that make you think that what you and I suspected was right – that Camille did kill herself? And, for that matter, wouldn’t Jacob normally have picked things up if he’d found them knocked over in the barn? Thus getting his prints on them? Maybe that had been Camille’s intention.”
“Is that what you think? You think she killed herself?” Mildred looked directly at Kelly. Jacob once again put a comforting arm around his stepmother’s shoulder.
Kelly raised his eyebrows at Mildred. “It’s a strong possibility. Knowing that she was only going to die soon anyway and the fact that she was so bitter about her father leaving Jacob the farm.” Kelly raised his hands in the air. “I guess we’ll have to leave that for the courts to decide.”
Chapter 21
Ettie groaned. Things looked bad for Jacob and Mildred since they’d lied about Camille’s will. Would the courts believe Jacob was innocent of killing his sister? If so, would Jacob and Mildred go to jail over the fake will?
When Crowley and Ettie’s eyes met, he said, “Are you ready to go?”
Ettie nodded. She’d done as much as she could to help Jacob, and now it seemed as though everything was out of her hands. Kelly was the first to leave Mildred’s house and then Crowley, Elsa-May, Ava, and Ettie said goodbye to Mildred and Jacob.
While the four of them were driving back to Elsa-May and Ettie’s house in Crowley’s car, Ettie mulled the whole thing over. There were the cups with Jacob’s prints in her apartment; his prints weren’t even on the bottle of poison. They’d found that Camille had been lying about feeling she was in danger from her brother, and Camille had paid someone to shoot into her apartment making it look like there had been an attempt on her life. How could the police still be holding Jacob accountable? Surely it wouldn’t go to trial.
“I’m certain Jacob’s lawyer should be able to get him off now. They don’t have much to build a case on,” Crowley said.
“Yes, I was just going over everything in my head. The only thing they have against him now is some cups in Camille’s house with his prints,” Ettie said.
“And the will he and Mildred wrote,” Elsa-May was quick to point out.
“But did she really kill herself?” Ava asked.
“That might be something we’ll never know for sure,” Crowley said.
“Turn the car around, Crowley!” Ettie shouted from the back seat.
Crowley hit the breaks and pulled the car off to the side of the road. “What is it?”
“Turn the car around. We’re going to Camille’s apartment,” Ettie said.
Crowley turned his head to look at Ettie. “You know where it is?”
“Her address was on top of the paper with her phone records that Kelly gave me.” After Ettie gave Crowley the address, he turned the car around.
“What do you hope to find?” Elsa-May asked.
“And how are we going to get in?” Ava added.
“Ava, don’t all people around the age of forty have a tablet, computer, or a laptop computer, or something of the sort?”
“I guess if they’re Englisch most of them do.”
“Just tell us what you’re getting at,” Elsa-May blurted out.
“It occurred to me that if I were going to kill myself, I would find out the best way to do that.”
“And you’re thinking she would’ve used the Internet and researched ways to kill herself?” Crowley asked. “I like it.”
“So, you’re going to check the search history if we find a computer?” Ava said.
“Not me. One of you will have to do that,” Ettie said. “I only know that there is a search history; I wouldn’t know how to go about finding it.”
“I’m surprised you know something like that in the first place, Ettie,” Crowley said.
“I know a thing or two,” Ettie said with a smile.
“How are we going to get in?” Ava asked again.
“I don’t suppose you also have a key, do you, Ettie?” Crowley asked.
“We’ll find a way when we get there,” Ettie answered.
“Couldn’t we get into trouble? Isn’t it breaking and entering?” Ava asked.
Ettie shook her head. “It’s hardly breaking and entering if the person who had the lease on the apartment is dead.”
“I don’t know what the landlord would say about that,” Crowley said as he stopped the car outside Camille’s apartment building.
“It’s number four,” Ettie said.
“I’ll stay in the car. My leg needs to rest,” Elsa-May said.
“Sorry, Elsa-May. We should’ve driven you home first,” Ettie said.
“I’m okay, don’t mind me. These leather seats are nice and soft. Just hurry up.”
Crowley said, “There’s a button on the side of your seat near the door. Push it to lay your seat back.”
Elsa-May pushed the button and her seat tilted back. “Aaah, I just might go to sleep.” Elsa-May closed her eyes.
When the others got out of the car, Crowley said, “You two keep your voices down. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.”
They found apartment number four just one flight up. Then they stood outside the door. Ava tried the window, but it was locked.
“You’re not a detective anymore, so just pick the lock or something,” Ettie said to Crowley as the three of them stood in front of the door.
“I was a detective, not a criminal,” he whispered back.
“But how are we going to get in if you can’t pick the lock?” Ettie asked.
“All right, I’ll do it,” Crowley said while reaching into his pocket. “But don’t tell anybody I know how to do this.”
A giggle escaped Ettie’s lips. “I thought you would’ve learned a few skills at your age.”
Crowley kneeled on one knee. “I did have a few associations with some dubious people before I got onto the Force.”
The former detective poked two metal things into the keyhole. Ettie peered over his shoulder to see what he was doing. He pushed the first metal rod in and then held it steady as though it was holding a lever, while the other metal rod appeared to be pushing something down. They heard a ‘click.’
“Got it,” he said. He pushed the door open and looked back at them. “Don’t make any loud noises and don’t turn any lights on. We’ll use the light from my phone, and that’s all.”
Once they were in, Crowley shut the door behind them, and without the light from the hallway they were in darkness until Crowley flicked a switch on his cell phone. After some
minutes of looking through cupboards and drawers, Crowley found a laptop in the drawer of the nightstand.
“Don’t touch it,” Crowley said to them as he spread his arms to keep them back.
They stopped still and watched him.
Ettie was amazed to see Crowley remove plastic gloves from his pocket. He pulled them on and said, “Fingers crossed.”
“Are you sure of what you’re doing?” Ettie asked.
“Of course I know what I’m doing or I wouldn’t be doing it.” A few pushes of some buttons, and a long list came up on the screen. Crowley scrolled down. “And there we have it, as clear as day.”
“What is it?” Ettie and Ava asked at the same time.
“Search histories on DNA evidence, what poisoning with ethylene glycol does and how to implicate someone in a murder.”
“Really? It’s all on there?” Ettie asked, more surprised than pleased.
Ava straightened up. “I would never have believed it.”
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to call Kelly and tell him what we’ve found. I’ll have to take this in as evidence.”
“What you’ve found. You can keep us out of it,” Ettie said. “And make sure he deputizes you first or something of the kind so you don’t get into trouble.”
“I think when he sees this he’ll be glad to have it,” Crowley said.
Ava said, “I wonder why the police didn’t take the laptop with them when they came here?”
Crowley answered, “She was murdered, they thought. If she was a suspect then they would’ve taken all her devices with them.” He raised the laptop in his hands. “And we’ll easily be able to verify whether or not this was in her possession on the dates she looked up all those sites, judging by the times she accessed her emails or other things like that. The tech people can verify things like that.”
“That looks like the power cord,” Ava said, pointing to the cord on the floor.
“I’ll take that too,” Crowley said.
Ava picked it up and handed it to him.
Crowley said, “I’ll take this directly to the station, and then I’ll take you ladies home.”
Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 1 Page 24