While Ruth hurried away, Ettie wondered what was keeping the police. Right at that moment, Ettie heard a loud pounding coming from somewhere. She opened the door to the retail store attached to the bakery and looked through the store windows to see the police and the paramedics out on the street. She hurried through and unlatched the deadbolts on the door.
“He’s through this way,” Ettie said as she hurried back to Ruth’s office.
Ettie stayed out of the room to let the paramedics and the police do their jobs.
“Mrs. Smith?”
Ettie turned around to see Detective Kelly.
“Detective Kelly, I wondered if I’d see you today.”
“The 911 call came from a Ruth Fuller. Is she here?”
“That’s my friend. She owns the bakery and she’s just gone to let her staff in through the back.” Ruth walking toward her distracted Ettie. “Detective Kelly, this is Ruth Fuller.”
“Hello. You made the call?” The detective flipped a notebook open and drew a pen out of his inner coat pocket.
Ruth nodded. “I did.”
“She knows him, the dead man,” Ettie interrupted.
“And who is he?”
Someone came up to the detective, and said, “I’d estimate he’s been dead for roughly four hours.”
When the man who’d been talking to the detective went back into the office, Ruth said, “His name is Alan Avery. He’s got a café where he sells sandwiches not far from here.”
“And you were the one to find the body, Mrs. Fuller?”
“I did. I was showing Ettie around, and then we saw him right there on the floor. He’s holding my Bible. Do you think I could have it back? And, I’ve got policemen in my bakery. I can’t make the bread when they’re around.”
Detective Kelly shook his head. “I’ll need both of you to come down to the station. We’ll need your prints for elimination.” He looked directly at Ruth. “You’ll have to tell your staff to go home. We’ll need to shut the whole place down while we have a good look around.”
A policeman stood very close to the detective, and said in a quiet voice, “There’s no immediate sign of forced entry.” When Kelly nodded, the policeman walked away.
Ruth wrung her hands. “I don’t like losing a day.”
“See if your insurance will cover it. Call them, tell them what happened, and they’ll send someone to clean up the blood. When we’re finished here, of course. Now who had access to the place? How many people have a key?”
“Just me. I was telling Ettie when we came in that I have the only two keys. One is hidden at home and the other one is here with me now.”
“I want you to call me if that hidden key is missing.”
“Yes, I will.”
“Do you have any idea what the man might have been doing here?”
“It’s obvious he was after my bread recipe.” Ruth stared at the detective and looked away when deep furrows appeared in his forehead. “I’ll have to tell my staff to leave now before they begin. I hope they haven’t started already.” Ruth hurried away.
“What do you make of it, Detective?” Ettie asked.
“All I can make of it so far is that at least two men made it in, and one man - or more - made it out after killing Mr. Avery. It’s not a suicide, we know that much from the knife in his back.”
Ettie tapped a finger on her chin. “I wonder why he had Ruth’s Bible in his hand.”
“He could’ve been stabbed and knew he was going to die, saw the Bible and thought he’d make amends with the man upstairs before it was too late.”
“Perhaps, but it wasn’t left out on the desk or anything. Ruth said she always kept it in the bureau, so unless he had been through it and opened the cupboard, he wouldn’t have known where it was.”
“Funny you should be here, Mrs. Smith. Almost like you knew there was going to be a murder.”
Ettie frowned. “I was having bread problems and Ruth offered to help.”
“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll need to go in and see him for myself.”
Ettie stood and watched the detective walk into Ruth’s office. Ruth returned to stand next to Ettie while yellow crime scene tape was crisscrossed over her doorway.
When Ruth saw one of the evidence technicians pop her Bible into a plastic bag, she called out, “That’s my Bible. Don’t touch it.”
Kelly came to the doorway. “I’m going to need it for a while. Once the technicians are finished in here, they’ll make their way through the rest of the building. You could wait here, Mrs. Fuller, or I can take your key, lock up when we’re finished, and drop the key back to you.”
Ettie looked at Ruth when she didn’t answer. “Come on, Ruth, we shouldn’t stay here. I’ll walk you home.”
“Don’t we have to go to the station and have our fingerprints taken?”
Kelly glanced at his watch. “After nine; there’s no immediate hurry.”
Ruth nodded, and handed Kelly the key. She told him where she lived and the detective said he’d deliver it to her when they were through.
Before she left, Ruth asked the detective, “Will we be open for business tomorrow?”
“Hopefully.”
“I must call all the cafes and restaurants I supply bread to and tell them that there’ll be no bread today.”
Kelly said, “Don’t you have someone else who could do that for you?”
“I did have but I just sent everybody home. All the phone numbers of my customers are in the office there. Can I get them?”
Kelly shook his head. “No. You can’t go in there now, I’m afraid.”
“People will be coming to get their orders and there won’t be any.”
“Let’s make a sign to put on the door, Ruth,” Ettie suggested.
“I suppose that will have to do.” She turned to Ettie. “I’ll put a sign on the front door and another on the back door. People often go to the back door to pick up the deliveries. And the people who just want one or two loaves come to the store.”
Ettie and Ruth entered the store where they found paper and pens to write the signs. Once they’d taped one to the front and one to the back door, they set off to Ruth’s house.
When Ruth pushed her front door open, Ettie said, “You should check to see if that spare key is still here.”
“Jah. I hope someone hasn’t been in here and taken it. I wouldn’t feel safe in my own home if someone’s been here without me knowing.”
Ettie followed Ruth into the kitchen and watched her open the canister that was on the kitchen counter. She reached her hand in and pulled out the key. “It’s still here.”
“Well we know they didn’t get in that way,” Ettie said.
“I wonder whether the police will find out how they got in. I hope so anyway. I’ve got eggs. How would you like them, Ettie?”
“Anyway you cook them will be fine with me.”
Just as Ruth had dished out poached eggs onto two plates, someone knocked on the door. Ruth peeped through the window. “It’s that detective friend of yours.”
“I didn’t think they’d be finished with the place already.”
Ruth hurried to let the detective through the door. “Good morning again. Come through to the kitchen.”
The detective sat at the kitchen table.
“Would you like some breakfast?” Ruth asked.
“I’m fine thank you. I’ll have something at the station later.”
“Like what?” Ettie asked. “Pink iced doughnuts? It would be better if you had something decent in your stomach, Detective.”
He smiled. “My dietary habits have improved since you saw me eat those doughnuts.” He looked at Ruth. “I would appreciate a little something.”
Ettie poured the detective a cup of coffee from the pot on the table, and then pushed it toward him. “Did you find out what he was doing in Ruth’s office?”
“Thank you, Mrs. Smith. No, we didn’t find that out.” He took a mouthful of coffee.
&
nbsp; Ruth handed him a plate of eggs and toast.
“Is this your famous bread?”
Ruth smiled as she sat back down at the table. “Yes, it is.”
“You’ve heard about Ruth’s bread?” Ettie asked.
“I heard the evidence technicians talking about it today. They said it’s the best bread around.”
“Yes that’s what everyone says about it. My bread’s the best.” Ruth gave a nod.
Ettie looked at her friend and smiled. She displayed no pride when she admitted her bread was the best, it was simply said as a fact. Ettie looked back at the detective. “I was having problems with my bread and that’s why I was there this morning, talking to Ruth about it.”
He put a forkful of food in his mouth and nodded. “Yes, you told me that. He was Alan Avery, we found the ID in his wallet.”
“That’s right; he was a good customer of mine up until recently.”
“What happened?” the detective asked.
“He and his daughter run a café, well a sandwich bar I suppose you’d call it, and anyway, he had a permanent order of bread with me. He said my bread is what kept his customers coming back. Alan wanted to buy me out, and kept offering me more and more money. I kept saying ‘no’ and told him that I wasn’t selling. Then, one day, I found out that he was opening a bakery right near me, just a short distance away on the same road.”
Detective Kelly nodded. “He’s got every right to do so; it is a free country.”
“Be that as it may, as soon as I found that out, I cancelled his order and said to him, ‘you can make your own bread.’”
“And how long ago was that?”
“I’d have to see when we stopped supplying him. I could have a look at my records, which are in the office that I can’t go into. I would guess it was about three or four weeks now. Yes, I think that’s right. Four weeks at the most.”
The detective pulled out his notepad and wrote something down. He suddenly looked up. “Was your spare key here?”
“Yes it was. I knew it would be. No one’s been in my house.”
“Try the toast detective,” Ettie said.
Ruth said, “It’s not today’s bread. It was made yesterday, but it’s still good for toast.”
The detective picked up the toast and bit into it. After he ate the mouthful, he said, “This is good toast. The nicest I’ve tasted in fact.”
“Why haven’t you bought bread from Ruth’s place before?” Ettie asked.
“I would have if it was closer to the station. So Allen Avery runs a local sandwich establishment?”
“That’s right, only about two blocks from my bakery. He works with his daughter and I heard that he was intending to put his daughter in charge of the new bakery.”
“Would you happen to know his daughter’s name?”
“Melissa.”
“Do you know Melissa very well?”
“Just about as well as I know my other regular customers.”
“Seems the man was killed between midnight and one o’clock this morning. Where were you, Mrs. Fuller, at that time?”
“I was asleep in my bed. Right here in the house.”
Kelly looked around. “And you live on your own?”
“I do. I’ve never married.”
“So, you’re Miss Fuller?”
“I am, but I allow people to call me Mrs. Fuller seeing most women my age have been, or are, married.”
Detective Kelly turned to Ettie. “And you, Mrs. Smith?”
“I was married, but Mr. Smith died.”
Kelly took a deep breath. “I meant, where were you between midnight and one?”
“Let me see, around midnight and one? I was asleep, of course. Elsa-May can tell you that.”
“Neither of you are under suspicion. I just need to know where you were.”
“So that means we are under suspicion, otherwise you wouldn’t have asked us where we were.”
Kelly frowned. “The man had a knife driven into his back. I think the force required for that suggests a man did the stabbing. I’ll have to wait until the forensic report comes back.”
“Fortunate for us,” Ettie said.
“That’s why I need you to come in to have your fingerprints taken.”
Ettie still didn’t trust Detective Kelly, not like she’d trusted Detective Crowley. Kelly had put one over on her before, and she was not going to fall for his lies again.
Kelly cleared his throat and looked across the table at Ruth. “Would you happen to know if Alan Avery had any enemies, Miss Fuller?”
Ruth shook her head. “You can call me Ruth. I wouldn’t know at all if he had enemies. I didn’t know him that well. I didn’t see him every day. Sometimes he’d pick up the bread, or it was his daughter, and sometimes one of his workers would pick up the order.”
Kelly said, “Well, I better get back to the station. By now Alan Avery’s family will know what’s happened to him.”
“His wife died years ago. He’s only got his daughter,” Ruth said.
“Oh, I see.”
Ettie asked, “Don’t you feel better with something in your stomach, Detective?”
“Yes, I do. Thank you, Ruth, for making me such a lovely breakfast. And I feel honored to have finally tasted your bread. And I’ll buy my bread from you in the future.”
“It was a pleasure, Detective. Do you have the key to give back to me?”
“They’re still working there. Someone will bring it to you. If you’re not here they’ll bring the key to me, and I’ll personally bring it to you later today. It could possibly be this evening before they’re through.”
“What about my Bible? I need it back.”
“I’ll let you know when we’re through with it. We might have to keep it as evidence at least until we find the person who killed Avery. After you ladies have had your prints taken, I’ll have some more questions for you.”
Chapter 4
After the detective left Ruth’s house, she turned to Ettie. “What did he mean, Ettie? What evidence could my Bible be?”
“I guess it could have a fingerprint on it, or something like that.”
“I wonder what Alan Avery was doing in the bakery. Do you have any idea at all, Ruth?”
“I told the detective that the man was there to steal my bread recipe. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Where do you keep the recipe?”
“Out of sight.”
Ettie nodded and didn’t want to press her further. “Did you check to see if it was still there?”
“Jah it was.”
“Did he come close to it?”
Ruth gasped and covered her mouth. “Ettie, I’ve just thought of something. Last time Alan Avery came into my office to pay his bill, he admired my old bureau and I told him it held my most prized possession. I meant my Bible, but he would’ve thought I meant my bread recipe.”
“And you said that to Alan Avery recently?”
Ruth nodded. “I remember I did and it could’ve been that last time he was in my office before I heard he was opening a bakery.”
“And he thought that’s where you hid your bread recipe, and that’s why he was holding your Bible? We know there were two people there. When the second person found out there was no bread recipe, he must have killed Alan Avery.”
“Ettie, we must tell your detective.”
‘We must, but he’s not my detective. I’ll go look at the time.” Ettie walked to look at the clock over the fireplace and then went back into the kitchen. “It’s not even nine yet. We’ve some time to fill in before we go to the police station.” Ettie sat down at the kitchen table with Ruth.
“Do you have any idea who that second man could be? Who else has shown interest in your bread recipe?”
“There have been a few people who have wanted to buy it.”
“Tell me their names.”
“There’s a man called Hugh Dwyer; he runs a small goods store with an Amish café attached. He�
��s just started franchising it. He’s offered to buy me out, even sent me over a contract for me to write my own price on.”
“And you were never tempted?”
“He had a ‘no compete clause,’ which means I’d never be able to make my bread anymore, not even for myself.”
“That seems harsh, but I suppose he thought it reasonable to ask since he was willing to pay a large sum.”
“I’m not ready to retire. My whole life has been wrapped up in the place for so many years.”
“So this man, Hugh, wanted to buy your bread recipe, offered you a lot of money, and you’d have to close your bakery?”
“That’s right. I’d have to sell it to someone else without my recipe.”
“Who else wanted your recipe?”
“Rupert Bird. He has a bakery in Harrisburg.”
“Amish bakery?”
“Jah. I’ve been there. He invited me to go and see it. Of course, he was all friendly at the time and made out it would be to my benefit if I saw his successful operation. When I got there, it wasn’t as big as he’d said.”
“Go on,” Ettie said.
“He asked me again to sell, and again, I said ‘no’ and his face went as red as a beetroot and even the tops of his ears went red. He said I’d be very sorry if I didn’t sell to him. I got out of there quick and came back home.”
“Were you scared?”
“Nee, not really. I didn’t take him too seriously. They were just words spoken in anger and frustration.”
“Did he offer you as much money as Alan Avery?”
“Nee. Alan Avery offered the most money, a ridiculous amount of money. I don’t know if that other man, Mr. Dwyer, was serious about me writing my own price on the contract.”
Ettie fiddled with the strings of her prayer kapp. “So it sounds like Alan Avery really wanted your bread recipe and he was prepared to engage in criminal activity to get it.”
“I can’t think of why else he’d be in the bakery. Nothing else makes sense.”
“Particularly since he had hold of your Bible. He would have gone to your bureau expecting to find your bread recipe or your bread starters and he pulled out your Bible.” Ettie stared at Ruth. “Some don’t use a bread starter anymore. Do you use a bread starter?”
Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 1 Page 27