Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 6 Page 11

  Nell shook her head. “I don’t think we’ll stay, but thank you.”

  He nodded. “It was nice to meet you all.” Then he turned away.

  When he was out of hearing range, Nell said, “I hope that’s all right with the both of you that we don’t stay?”

  “Jah, of course.” Ettie wanted to get away from the place as soon as she could, and she knew Elsa-May felt the same.

  Chapter 21

  Early the next morning, Ettie sat at the kitchen table eating oatmeal soaked in warm milk with honey drizzled over the top.

  Elsa-May staggered into the kitchen tying her dressing gown while Snowy trotted happily alongside her. “What are you so thoughtful about?”

  “We’re going to have a dinner here and tell everyone that Arnold Salisbury’s murderer will be revealed.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  “Do you know who killed him?”

  Ettie shook her head and kept eating.

  “Then it’s a dumb idea, and you don’t like having people here.”

  “That’s not true. It’s just that the place is so small it doesn’t lend itself to events, or big dinners.”

  Elsa-May asked, “Who’s coming?”

  “Everyone we’ve talked to about Jedidiah.”

  “To flush someone out?”

  Ettie nodded. “Possibly.”

  “Oh, Ettie. Anyone could’ve killed that man for all we know. A man like that would’ve made many enemies along the way. We still haven’t found out about that company.”

  Ettie grunted. “It doesn’t matter about that anymore. Not now that we know Jedidiah is still alive. That would’ve been important if Jedidiah had been found dead, or if it were his body found at Rose Cottage.”

  “No need to be snippy with me.”

  “Jedidiah was living at Rose Cottage at the time, while he was fixing the place. He disappeared for a reason. Either he killed the man, or ....”

  “How do you know he’s not dead? I mean, you can’t believe everything people tell you.”

  “Titus wouldn’t have lied to Sarah.”

  “But—”

  “Don’t say another thing, Elsa-May. You’re throwing me off my train of thought and it’s too early in the morning for chatter. It’s a possibility he might have died over the past few years, but if he hasn’t, he’s still out there somewhere.”

  “Hmm, someone’s in a mood,” she said quietly to Snowy.

  “We’re going to invite Edgar. We’ll visit him today and if he agrees to come, we’ll arrange for them to send him here in a taxi on that night.”

  “Edgar?”

  “Jah.” Ettie gave a sharp nod of her head.

  “Okay. I’m not arguing now that I see you’re in this mood.”

  Ettie smiled to herself and continued to eat her breakfast while planning out the dinner. Elsa-May’s talk was just background noise now.

  They were shown into the dayroom where Edgar was sitting in the sun and reading the paper.

  “Hello, Edgar.”

  He put the paper down when he saw them and a huge smiled beamed across his face. “Ah, I hoped you’d be back. Sit down.”

  After they sat, Ettie said, “I’m having a few people over for dinner on Thursday night and Elsa-May and I were wondering if you’d like to come.”

  “I sure would. Anything to get out of this place.” He looked down at their hands. “Did you bring any—”

  “No, we forgot. How about we have some on Thursday night for you?”

  He smiled and nodded. “I like the sound of that. I’ve still got some left. I have a small piece every day. It’s something to look forward to at night.”

  Ettie looked around the dayroom. It was early and not many residents were there. Ettie could hold back no longer. She moved her chair closer to Edgar, and said, “Between the three of us, if you admit what you did, then Jedidiah can come out of hiding. He’s protecting you by remaining silent, isn’t he?”

  He stared at her for a moment before he spoke. “Look, lady, it was purely self-defence.”

  Elsa-May gasped. “You did it?”

  “He had a gun.”

  “Tell us what happened,” Ettie said.

  “He pointed a gun at Jedidiah. I distracted him with a hammer. Was he going to shoot? I wasn’t about to wait around and find out. Jedidiah was my friend. In my experience, if someone points a gun at someone they aint muckin’ about.”

  Ettie said, “Don’t you see? If we find him, and he backs up your story you won’t go to jail.”

  He scoffed. “We’ll both go to jail.”

  “I don’t think so.” Ettie shook her head.

  “Hey, I’ve been in jail more times than I can count on my fingers. I’d have to start using my toes. They won’t believe me, and what makes you think they’ll believe Jedidiah? They’ll think we both cooked this thing up together.”

  Ettie frowned and wondered if he was right. Because he’d been in and out of jail, would anyone believe him? And, by covering up the body for so long, they’d added another crime to the mix. “I don’t know what will happen, but won’t you feel better with this all being out in the open after all this time?”

  He frowned, gritted his teeth, and said, “Take a look around.”

  Ettie and Elsa-May looked around the room.

  “I can do what I like ‘round here. I can go out for the day and come back to a place I call home. Have you ever been inside a prison?”

  “Only to visit people,” Ettie said.

  “The food’s inedible, the people hostile, the guards egomaniacs, and every ounce of humanity is stripped away. Do you think I want to spend the rest of my days being told what to do every second?” He held up his hands. “What’s done is done. Leave things alone. You wouldn’t want to see me go to prison, would you?”

  “No, we wouldn’t.” Elsa-May said.

  “Then keep quiet.” He put his finger to his mouth. “Mum's the word.”

  Ettie and Elsa-May left, not knowing what to do.

  “Ettie, how did you know?”

  “I guessed he was lying about something because he was just pretending to have lost his mind. I didn’t believe it. He must have acted perfectly normal around Kelly because Kelly said he was in his right mind, or something like that. It just seemed odd he was okay with us one minute and then put on that act the next minute.”

  “I see. Why didn’t you share that with me?”

  Ettie frowned at her sister. “What?”

  “What you thought.”

  “I only thought about it just when I said it. I didn’t come here thinking that.”

  “Oh. You weren’t thinking that over breakfast?”

  “Nee. Anyway, he’s right, Elsa-May. In a perfect world he’d be believed, but the world’s not perfect. Justice is not always served.”

  Elsa-May huffed impatiently. “Are you saying we just leave things as they are?”

  “Jah, maybe that’s what we have to do. Even Kelly wouldn’t be able to guarantee the outcome.”

  “What if things aren’t what he said? What if he knows Jedidiah would tell us a different story and that’s why he doesn’t want us to find him?”

  “Hmm, good thinking. Go back and make sure he’s coming to the dinner,” Ettie said.

  Elsa-May’s eyebrows rose. “Me?”

  “Jah, he likes you better. He keeps smiling at you.”

  “Um, I don’t think he’s looking at me. I think he’s slightly cross-eyed.”

  “Just do it, would you?”

  Elsa-May heaved a sigh. “Okay, but I don’t think it’s nice if he’s going to be ambushed.”

  “Just trust me for once. We’ll tell everyone that the murderer will be revealed at our place at the dinner. Just don’t tell Edgar that. We’ll have Detective Kelly there, too.”

  Elsa-May’s shoulders hunched over. “Are you certain about that?”

  “Trust me.”

  Elsa-May rolled her eyes and went bac
k to talk with Edgar.

  Chapter 22

  Everyone they’d invited to the dinner was there. Ettie and Elsa-May’s small house was bursting at the seams. They’d moved the table out of the kitchen and everyone was eating the finger foods they’d prepared.

  Ettie was getting nervous, and she hoped that everything would play out as it had in her head.

  No one else noticed another knock on the door, but Ettie knew everyone she’d invited was there. Even Edgar Upton, who was being entertained by one of Nell’s stories about the old days. Was it Jedidiah at the door? No one else was expected. Ettie opened the door, wondering for an instant if it would be Greville asking her to keep the noise down. She opened the door to see it wasn’t Greville. It was his wife.

  “Is everything all right, Ettie? We saw a lot of people here and we never usually see so many people at your house.”

  “We’ve got visitors.” Ettie was annoyed with the woman. Their new neighbors had only lived there for a few short weeks, so why would they think they knew what was normal? She’d already opened her mail, and now she was nosey about their guests. “In fact, we often have many people here.”

  Stacey tried to look over Ettie’s shoulder, but Ettie moved to block her view. Was the woman looking for an invitation? “All’s fine here,” Ettie fixed a smile on her face.

  “That’s good. I’ll see you again.”

  She turned and headed down the steps.

  “Oh, and don’t worry about the mail. I’ll call the mail delivery people and ask them to put our mail fully in our box next time.”

  “Very well.”

  Ettie closed the door, pining for the good neighbor who used to live beside them. Stacey wasn’t nasty like her husband, but she sure was becoming annoying. No sooner had Ettie taken a step from the door than another knock sounded. She opened the door ready to answer another silly question from Stacey, but it was someone else. Ettie’s jaw fell open as she looked into a familiar but much older face than the one she’d remembered. “Jedidiah Shoneberger.”

  “Ettie Smith.”

  “You got my invitation?” Ettie had a hunch that if Titus knew, it wouldn’t be long before Jedidiah found out. It confirmed to Ettie that her suspicion had been right; Titus had kept in touch with him.

  “Is that what it was?”

  “In a roundabout way.”

  “I heard a whisper this was to be an important night.” He leaned forward. “Is Nell here?”

  “Jah.”

  “Can you send her out here, so I can have a word with her before I come inside?”

  Ettie nodded and pulled the door closed, then looked around for Nell. Nell had moved from Edgar to Detective Kelly. This wasn’t going to be easy, since Kelly and the rest of the police force were looking for Jedidiah. “Excuse me, Nell, can I have a word with you in the kitchen?”

  “Okay.” She turned to Kelly. “I won’t forget where I’m up to.”

  Once they were in the kitchen, Ettie whispered, “Jedidiah is here, and—” Ettie stopped when Jennifer walked into the kitchen. Now things were really bad. Ettie hoped Nell could keep silent or Jennifer could ruin everything.

  Nell’s fingers flew to her mouth. “He’s here?”

  “Who’s here?”

  Ettie stepped forward. “Snowy, Elsa-May’s little dog. He’s here, but he’s asleep in Elsa-May’s room.”

  Jennifer looked at Nell. “Why would you be excited about a dog?”

  “He’s so cute. Can I see him, Ettie.”

  “Okay, but we must open the door and get in before he gets out. He’ll run around and be a nuisance if he does. Would you like to see him too, Jennifer?”

  Jennifer crossed her arms over her chest. “Nee.”

  Jennifer wasn’t going anywhere, so Ettie had to slip into Elsa-May’s bedroom with Nell to pretend they were looking at the dog.

  Once they were in the room, Nell said, “He’s here?”

  “Jah. He’s outside. He’s going to come in, but he’s asking to speak with you first.”

  Nell put her fingers to her lips. “How am I going to do that without Jennifer seeing me go outside? She’ll follow me.”

  Ettie sighed. “You’ll have to go out the window, and then down the side of the house and around to the front. There’s the side gate to go through, but it’s not locked.”

  “Oh! Well, if that's the only way. Denke, Ettie.”

  “Kelly wants to talk with him and if you want to see him first, you must slip out without being seen.” Ettie repeated, “Jedidiah wants to see you before he comes in. Got it?”

  She nodded and blew out a deep breath. “Is he okay?”

  “He looks okay. Now go, see for yourself.” Ettie pushed up the window while Nell bunched up her dress into her hands. When she was gone, Ettie closed the window. Now she was stuck in the bedroom. She opened the door just slightly and saw Jennifer leaning against the door of the kitchen. Ettie closed the door again and sat on the bed beside a sleeping Snowy.

  Snowy stirred and lifted his head. “We’re both trapped in here, Snowy. I could see in Nell’s eyes she still loves Jedidiah. I hope they have a happy ending after all they’ve been through.” Ettie sighed. “I hope Jedidiah didn’t do anything silly.”

  Snowy inched forward and rested his head on Ettie’s lap and Ettie stroked his fur. He went back to sleep, and she felt some of the stress seep from her body.

  Chapter 23

  Even with her large frame, Nell didn’t have trouble getting herself out that window. When her apron caught on the corner, she didn’t care whether it might tear. She yanked at that apron until she heard a rip as it came free. Nothing was going to keep her from Jedidiah. She pushed open the side gate Ettie had told her about and then she found herself at the front of the house. There he was, by the front gate.

  “Jedidiah.” Nell ran to him and her hands immediately went to his face. He was real and very much alive. By the dim lighting, she could see that his once fresh and handsome face was now weathered. Deep lines marred his brow and the corners of his eyes.

  He took hold of her hands and held them while staring into her eyes. “I’ve missed you so much.” He pulled her to him and held her tight.

  He was older, and like her, he'd gotten a little wider, but he was still her Jedidiah. She stepped out of the embrace. “Why did you leave? Where have you been?”

  “I don't know where to start. It's a long story. I never stopped thinking about you. I thought about you nearly every second of every day. You were in my heart and still are.”

  A tear trickled down her cheek and she didn’t want to move her hand from his to wipe it away. “Why did you leave?”

  “You'll soon find out. I didn't know if you knew already.”

  “Nee, I know nothing. They found that man, Salisbury, who used to own the cottage.”

  “You must trust me, Nell.”

  “Are you going to leave me again?”

  He wiped the tears from her face. Then he pulled her into him again. In his arms, nothing had changed; it was as it was back then, and she knew they belonged together.

  “Just trust me,” he whispered in her ear.

  “I'll try.” She hoped he had a good reason for having left her. There was nothing she could think of that would make up for putting her through the pain she'd endured, but she was prepared to listen to what he had to say.

  “I'll tell you everything soon. Right now, I need to go in and face something I should've faced many years ago.” He moved back a little and wiped away more of her tears. He smiled at her. “Are you ready to come inside?”

  She moved closer and put her arms around him. “I can’t believe you’re alive. I thought you were dead all these years. That’s the only thing that made sense. I would never have left you—never.”

  “I’m sorry, Nell. From the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I’ll do whatever you want. If you want me to leave you alone I will. If you want me to chop my arm
off I’ll do it. I’ll do—”

  Nell’s body trembled. “Stop.”

  “I’m serious, Nell. I want you to be happy and I want to make up for leaving you.”

  “Go and do what you have to do and we’ll go from there.” She felt much better now that he knew how much he’d hurt her. Now that he was there and very much alive, she never wanted to let him go.

  He took a deep breath. “I’ll go in.”

  “And I’ll be right beside you.”

  He nodded, and gave her a smile.

  Ettie took another peep into the room. It wouldn’t be long before someone came looking for her. It felt like twenty minutes had gone by and Ettie became worried. Had Jedidiah and Nell run away together?

  Then the door opened and Jedidiah walked through the door with Nell right by him. Ettie slipped through the bedroom door and closed it behind her. She looked at Detective Kelly and then realized he had no idea who Jedidiah was by sight. As was customary among the Amish, there had never been any photograph taken of him.

  But then Ettie noticed Jedidiah and Edgar’s eyes locked together. Ettie knew she had to do something fast.

  Ettie clapped her hands and stood in the middle of the room. “Jedidiah Shoneberger is here.” Everyone gasped and stared at him. “He came here to tell us about the mystery of why he left so suddenly and what really happened to Arnold Salisbury.”

  Kelly jumped to his feet and then stopped in his tracks when Edgar called out, “It’s over, Jedidiah. I can no longer keep quiet.” All eyes were on Edgar and he continued, “It was selfish of me to keep quiet for so long. Jedidiah is innocent and he took off to keep my secret.”

  “And what secret was that?” Detective Kelly grunted.

  “Don’t say anything else,” Titus said to Edgar.

  Ettie gulped. Did she get it all wrong?

  Titus went on, saying, “It was my fault. Salisbury came to the house when I was working there and asked me what it would take to make Jedidiah sell. I told him nothing would.” Everyone stared at Titus waiting for him to continue.