“I served tea and baked goods that day,” Daisy said.
“I’m curious,” Jonas asked. “What did most of the people say on there about the protest?”
Adele glanced at her phone on the coffee table. “Neighbors mentioned how scary it was to have those men coming toward them with masks on and yelling what they did. One or two said they understood why those men were protesting. I’m not sure. Shouldn’t kindness rule our lives? Shouldn’t we want to help people in need?”
“I think so,” Daisy said. “We knew a man who was homeless and with help he got back on his feet for himself and his daughter.”
Adele nodded. “That app’s also talking about the murder of that lawyer, Hiram Hershberger.”
“There’s a lot of talk about that around town,” Jonas said.
“I knew Mr. Hershberger,” Adele said.
“How did you know him?” Jonas asked before Daisy could.
“I went to him to have my will, living will, and power of attorney drawn up. I imagine many residents of Willow Creek did. He had a good reputation for that. He was a gentleman with me and didn’t overcharge from what I could tell. But not everyone was happy with him.”
Jonas leaned forward. “How so?”
“I knew one elderly man whose children wanted to declare him incompetent so they could take over his estate. Mr. Hershberger made that happen. The thing was, it wasn’t all the children who wanted that to happen. Two brothers against another brother. That brother looked so cross. I saw him one day I was in town. I could tell the whole thing was still eating at him. I talked with him and he believed his brothers were wrong. He believed Mr. Hershberger had done the wrong thing by taking on their case. He was finding another lawyer to try to have it reversed. I had to ask myself, what would have happened if Mr. Hershberger would have sat down with all of them and they would have talked it out. But I guess that isn’t the way of things these days.”
“Hiram seemed to have a lot of enemies,” Daisy suggested.
“I suppose so,” Adele agreed. “Just imagine him defending that clinic against all those couples who were planning on having babies and were disappointed. That had to be a mark against him.”
“I think the police are looking at that angle most of all,” Jonas confided.
With a sad expression, Adele shook her head. “So many unhappy people. It was fortunate that Horace and I could save money over the years. I’m grateful that my son helped me make the choice to move in here. And I’m so very happy that Felix found a wonderful home.”
Jonas said, “My yard isn’t huge, but I see Daisy almost every night and Felix loves to play fetch in her huge backyard. She renovated a barn into her home and has lots of running room for him. She introduced him to her grandson.”
Adele studied Daisy. “You don’t look old enough to have a grandchild.”
“But I do. I love Sammy to the moon and back.”
“Why don’t I make us all a cup of tea and we can dig into some of those goodies you brought. Do you have time for that?”
“Are you sure you don’t want to go to bingo?” Daisy asked.
“I can go to bingo any day. Right now, I’d rather just visit with you and spend time with Felix.”
Daisy truly liked Adele. She even thought that Glorie Beck and Adele might become good friends if they could meet and have tea. She’d have to talk to Glorie about that. But right now, they were taking a break to give Adele the company she needed . . . the friendship she needed. Most of all the time to love Felix as she once did.
Daisy was sure they’d be coming back often. Maybe she could convince Jazzi to visit with her, and maybe Vi and Sammy too. Maybe, just maybe, they’d all make a new friend. Maybe, just maybe, Daisy had learned more about Hiram Hershberger too.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
On Tuesday evening, Daisy felt Felix’s nose on her arm. He’d nudged up between the seats in Jonas’s SUV and she knew why. Jonas’s expression was sober. She was worried. Felix could feel the tension in the vehicle.
An hour ago, Daisy had received a call from the janitor at the Hope Clinic. “Mrs. Swanson?” he’d asked tentatively when she’d answered her phone.
She hadn’t recognized the number and for a few moments was fearful that it might be her attacker. Still she’d said, “Yes, this is Daisy Swanson.”
“You wanted me to call you if I knew anything about Thelma.”
Then she’d placed the voice . . . Cletus Simpson. Her heart increased its beats until her pulse was rat-a-tat at her temples. “Go ahead,” she’d told Cletus.
“I might know where Thelma is.”
“Might?”
“I don’t know for sure. I suppose the police have looked at all of the usual places.”
“Yes, I guess they have. I’m sure they’ve checked her house and friends and any relatives.”
“Yeah, well, there’s something they might not know about.”
“And what’s that?” She couldn’t imagine that Zeke and Detective Rappaport wouldn’t have followed up on every lead they possibly could. Thelma was a lead, an important one.
“Thelma was divorced about six years ago.”
“Okay,” Daisy had prompted.
“Her ex-husband had a house, more like a cabin, along the Susquehanna River.”
Daisy’s heart had tripped so fast she’d had to sit down. “Was the divorce friendly?”
“Not exactly. He don’t use it that much. He’s got hip issues now. It was part of the settlement that Thelma could go up there whenever she wanted . . . as long as he still owned it.”
“Does he still own it?”
“I don’t know for sure, and I don’t know that’s where she went.”
“Do you know the exact location?”
“Nope. Don’t know that either.”
Daisy’s hopes had dimmed a bit. “But you do know her ex’s name?”
“Sure do. His name is Wilson Bartik. Like I said, she don’t have to tell him when she’s up there, so he probably don’t know anything either.”
“Cletus, thank you. I’ll check this out and I’ll let the police know if she’s there.”
“You didn’t get no information from me.”
“I’ll remember that,” Daisy had assured him.
Daisy had called Jonas. Using skills he’d honed as a detective, he’d immediately searched property records and found the location of the property.
On the road now, they took Route 462 to Wrightsville, a borough in York County with about 2500 residents. From a distance, it looked like and was a village with a long street that led down a steep hill to the riverfront. It had been settled in the early 1700s. A quiet river town, it had gained historic notice during the Civil War.
Jonas turned onto South Front Street which turned into a five-mile stretch along the river called Long Level.
When Daisy realized her hands were clenched, she opened them and told herself to relax. “Do you think we should have called Zeke or Rappaport?”
“What good would that have done? We don’t even know if Thelma’s at her ex’s house.”
“I know, but I told Zeke if I learned anything, I’d let him know.”
“We will let him know. We’ll just scout out the place and see if Thelma’s there. If she is, I’ll call him, or you can. If she’s there, we’ve saved him foot- and roadwork. If she’s not, it was a lead that went south. He didn’t have to waste his time.”
The way Jonas put it, that all made sense. But she wasn’t sure.
Driving along the road, they passed a mobile home park and a quarry on the right. The river rolled along the left, at times not far from the road. It was easy to see how this stretch would flood with unusually heavy rains. Felix nudged his head up between the seats as if he was considering a run in the woods that flanked both sides of the road. Not long after, they reached Susquehanna Heritage Park on the right. It was one of the landmarks Jonas had told her they could watch for.
Felix gave a short bark as if h
e thought they’d reached their destination.
“Not today, boy,” Jonas said. “Maybe we can return another time and let you explore the park.”
Daisy rubbed Felix’s ear the way he liked and he seemed satisfied.
Soon they approached the marina on the left. It was small as marinas went with dock ramps and boats moored close by.
“The house should be coming up on the right,” Jonas advised her. “From what I could see on the aerial map, it sits on a hill and has concrete block pillars for support under a screened-in porch.”
“And the rest is wood-shingled?” She’d taken in all the information quickly and wanted to make sure she had a clear picture in her mind of the house they were searching for.
“You’ll see the house up on the hill before I find the lane that leads up to it. There are binoculars in the glove compartment that we might need.”
Reaching forward, Daisy pulled open the glove compartment. There were binoculars in there all right, but there was also something else. “Jonas . . .”
“It’s just a precaution, Daisy.”
The gun in Jonas’s glove compartment was usually kept in the locked safe at Woods. She shivered at the thought that he’d ever have to use it.
Suddenly Jonas made a sharp right turn onto a gravel lane. “This could easily wash out,” he said as he navigated over potholes. The narrow road headed up a steep incline.
Finally, at the head of the lane sat a small house. The cedar-stained siding was old and weathered. The shingled roof was covered with green algae.
“It’s twelve-hundred square feet,” Jonas said, “with two bedrooms. I saw the plans online.”
Daisy used the binoculars for a close-up view. The wood surrounding the screens had darkened and was cracked. One of the screen panels had a hole in it.
“It doesn’t look as if much upkeep goes on here.”
“You know what Cletus said. I don’t think the house gets much use.”
Jonas nodded toward the detached shed about twenty yards from the house. Tracks to it in the dirt had come from a vehicle or vehicles.
“It doesn’t look as if anybody’s around,” Daisy observed, almost hopeful of the prospect.
“I’m going to go check around.” Jonas unfastened his seatbelt.
“Without the gun?”
“Yes, without the gun. I’ll take Felix. You stay here.”
“No way. I’m going with you.”
After a quiet perusing look, Jonas didn’t try to argue with her. She was glad for that. He respected her determination.
After he let Felix out of the SUV, the dog walked with him ahead of Daisy up the path to the screened-in porch. When she reached the porch, she peered inside through the screen door and could see an old-fashioned clothes tree in a corner. A red flannel jacket hung on it. A pair of old sneakers covered in mud sprawled underneath it.
“I think she’s here,” Jonas said quietly. “Let’s go into the porch and rap on the—” He cut off his sentence when Felix suddenly turned and pointed toward the side of the house. Felix’s nose was high and his tail was too.
“What is it, boy?” Jonas asked.
Felix barked.
“I don’t know what he sees but I’m going to let him find it. Go Felix.”
Jonas took off at a sprint after the dog and kept up with him around the back of the house.
Daisy ran after them.
Holly bushes out back against the house were matted with undergrowth that had grown too long and too tangled in between their branches. Daisy caught a whiff of mock orange as she tried to keep up with Jonas’s hurried stride in the long, tall grass. If there had been a path at the back of the house, it was now overgrown.
“Thelma!” Jonas called.
Daisy stopped to catch her breath and saw a woman in a tan T-shirt and jeans. Daisy had no idea what Thelma might be running toward. At the back of the property stood poplars and Alaskan cedars so thick you could hardly see daylight through them.
If the woman they were chasing was Thelma Bartik, she didn’t stop when Jonas called. However, Felix took off even faster and reached her before Jonas could. When the woman saw the dog, she stopped, wrapped her arms around herself, and sunk down onto the ground.
Jonas and Daisy reached her to see Thelma was holding onto Felix, her head in his fur as if the dog were a lifeline.
“Please don’t hurt me,” she was mumbling into Felix’s fur.
Thelma Bartik looked to be around fifty. She had scraggly dark brown hair unevenly cut that hit the collar of her shirt in the back. Dainty silver hummingbird earrings hung from her earlobes. There were blue-black circles under her eyes. The lines from her nose to around her mouth pulled taut as she grimaced and looked up at them.
“What do you want?” she asked in a soft voice.
“We’re trying to find out who killed Hiram Hershberger,” Jonas said.
“How did you find me?”
Daisy shook her head. “Does it matter? Someone knew your ex-husband had kept this property, so we just made a lucky guess that you might be here. Running away has confounded the police. They think you’re a suspect.”
“Me? That’s not why I’m here. I came because . . .” She stopped, and ducked her head into Felix again. When she looked back up, there were tears in her eyes. “I came here because I’m trying to protect someone and myself too. Look what happened to Hiram.”
“You’ve got to tell the police your story, Thelma,” Daisy suggested. “The only way everybody’s going to be safe is if they catch the murderer.” Watching Thelma as she’d run, also noting the woman had done nothing for self-defense, Daisy was sure Thelma hadn’t killed Hiram. But she might know who did.
Thelma looked from Daisy to Jonas again. “So you’re not cops?”
Daisy gave a humorless laugh. “No. I run Daisy’s Tea Garden downtown, and Jonas has a store that sells furniture. It’s called Woods. But I help the police sometimes and Jonas is a former detective.”
Thelma sat up a little straighter, crossed her legs in front of her, and patted Felix’s back. “And who’s this guy?”
“That’s Felix,” Jonas said. “I adopted him recently. He heard you or caught your scent before I did. I think maybe he could tell you didn’t want to be running. He’s big on protection.”
Thelma ran her hand through Felix’s fur. “Do you really think the only way I’m going to be safe is if I talk to you or the police?”
“We do,” Daisy advised her. “I can call Detective Willet and have him come here . . . or we can take you to him.”
Thelma’s eyes were wild with fear. “I don’t want him to come here. My ex-husband would divorce me all over again. Can I tell you what happened first? I don’t want to get mixed up when I get to the police station. When I get nervous, my words don’t come out right.”
“We’re here. We’ve no place to go. You can tell us anything you want,” Jonas assured her.
They were sitting in a circle of sorts, the three humans and Felix. Thelma kept her hand on Felix as if by merely touching him, she was filled with courage. Daisy knew that was very possible.
“You know who I am. Do you know what I do?” Thelma asked.
“You’re a tech at the Hope Clinic,” Daisy said.
“Yeah, but I’m not the one who messed up.”
“You’re going to have to tell the police who did,” Daisy warned her, “or they’ll think you’re hiding something.”
“Oh, I’ve been hiding something all right. I saw Hiram. . . but he was dead.”
Daisy couldn’t help a little gasp. She’d never expected that.
“Why did you go to see him?” Jonas asked.
“I went there to make sure he was going to protect Joyce Getz. She’s the one who miscalculated the numbers on the storage unit. She was in a hurry. I spotted her at the unit and I knew she’d been the last one to touch it. No one knew I knew, but the talk around the clinic was that there was going to be a deal. The CEO might give up t
he person who caused the malfunction if he could get the clinic out of hot water. Everybody could sue her. That wasn’t right. My husband and I knew Hiram. He had done the settlement for our divorce. I liked him right enough. Things came out as best they could. I thought Hiram would be reasonable about Joyce if I could talk to him. I went to him to make sure he was going to protect her from the nonsense Mr. Richter wanted to pursue. I heard scuttlebutt that Joyce going bankrupt would be a small price to pay rather than the clinic going bankrupt. Can you imagine?”
“As CEO, mostly what Richter cares about is making money,” Jonas said.
“I don’t know what Hiram was going to do, but when I got there, he was already dead. I’m an LPN and I know how to tell. I ran out of there faster than lightning and went the back way down the alleys so nobody would see me. And nobody did as far as I know.”
Thelma wasn’t the person whom the witness, Keith Farber, had seen running away. According to Trevor, Keith had been standing on Spruce Street, not looking down an alley.
“Do you think this Joyce killed Hiram?” Jonas asked.
“I just don’t know. I don’t think she has it in her.”
Jonas looked Thelma straight in the eye. “You need to go to the police and tell them everything. If they won’t protect you, or if they can’t spare anyone, I’ll do it myself.”
Daisy could see Thelma was fearful and she didn’t know who to trust. Daisy said, “Jonas always keeps his word.”
Thelma seemed to make up her mind after petting Felix again and studying Jonas for a good long while. Then she said, “All right. Let’s go. I’ll talk to the detective.”
Daisy breathed a sigh of relief, hoping Zeke Willet would understand why they’d come here without him.
* * *
On her break, Daisy hurried across the street to Quilts and Notions, still thinking about yesterday and Thelma. It had been an eye-opening excursion in many ways—from the drive and finding Thelma to their visit to the police station. Somehow she had to put all of the questions that had stirred up out of her mind.
Rachel had phoned her, which was unusual in itself. Since she was New Order Amish, the district’s bishop allowed Rachel to have a cell phone to use for business or emergency use or important calls. She rarely used it, but she’d used her phone to call Daisy. She’d said, “Eli is here and he’d like to talk to you.”
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