Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 3 Page 27

  “What’s happening with the men Thomas had working for him?” Elsa-May asked.

  “Roy’s come to the rescue there. He’s been good enough to incorporate Thomas’ business into his own and that means the workers will benefit. That’s what Thomas would’ve wanted.”

  “That’s good of Roy,” Ettie said.

  “Jah, and I guess Roy’s got that big contract now, too?”

  “I’d imagine so. He never discusses business with me. I just hear bits and pieces when he’s telling his vadder things.”

  Ettie and Elsa-May had asked one of the forensic team near the barn to call a taxi from their mobile.

  On the way down the drive to wait for it, Elsa-May dug her sister in the ribs. “What did you think of that, Ettie?”

  “Roy has profited from Thomas’ death. That’s what I know, never mind about what I think.”

  “Jah, but that doesn’t make him guilty.”

  “Nee, it doesn’t. It gives him a reason to want his brother out of the picture, though.”

  “I wonder how much the roofing contract was worth?”

  “I don’t know. It must be worth quite a bit. We already know that Roy is extremely competitive because he cut his brother out of the partnership.”

  “What are you thinking, Ettie?”

  “I wonder how Spreed died.”

  “Now you’re letting your imagination run away with you.”

  “I can’t help it. This is just the way I think. Maybe we should find out if Kelly knows.”

  “I think you’re barking up the wrong tree.”

  Chapter 18

  "Let’s go over what we have so far, Ettie.” Now at home, Elsa-May leaned down and picked up Snowy, who was pawing at her leg. She popped him in her lap and then he was happy.

  “Okay. What do we know?” Ettie stared blankly at her sister.

  “You go first.”

  “Well, we know that Thomas didn’t get along with Roy. The woman who was stalking Thomas has disappeared, and then we’ve got the beekeeper, Austin, who was found with a second dead body in the barn—along with Thea. Then—what else?”

  Elsa-May continued, “Then we have the dead man, Bart, who was involved with drugs.”

  “What was Bart doing in the barn?”

  “If we find out why, that will lead us to who.”

  “That makes sense. How do we find out why?”

  Elsa-May stroked Snowy. “It must’ve been something to do with drugs because that seemed to be the connection between Bart and Thomas when they knew each other.”

  “Back when Bart was arrested, he told the police Thomas had nothing to do with anything. It’s back to the old theory that there might be something hidden in the barn. And, what’s more, I think that’s what Thea and Austin were doing in the barn. They’d come to the same conclusion.”

  “Jah, but with all the police combing the barn, surely they would’ve found something by now.”

  “What if Bart had found it and was then killed when he had it in his hands and they took it from him?”

  “Good point, Ettie. He could’ve gone there with someone else to retrieve the drugs, and then was double-crossed.”

  “And when Thea went there with Austin, they stumbled over the body.”

  “I think Thea knows something and that’s why she was in the barn. Let’s go to the station and see if we can speak with her.”

  “I don’t think they’ll let us.”

  “We can try.”

  “I’m right behind you.”

  * * *

  Thea sat in her cell crying. She was wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, since her other clothes had blood on them from the man Austin and she had tripped over in the dark barn. The police had kept those clothes as evidence. Her parents had come, hoping to see her, but she wasn’t allowed visitors until she went before the judge for her bail hearing.

  She sat wondering what to do now that Thomas was dead. He’d shared some information with her, and now that he was dead... would it be all right to tell?

  On hearing a door of the outer cellblock opening, she stood up to see that it was the detective who’d come to the house days ago to talk to her about Thomas.

  “Hello, Thea,” he said between the bars when he stood in front of her.

  “Hello. I don’t recall your name, sorry.”

  “It’s Detective Kelly.”

  She wiped her eyes. She was embarrassed because she’d been crying. “Have you come to let me out?”

  “No.”

  “But I didn’t do anything.”

  “Well, why don’t you tell me what you were doing in the barn?”

  She’d had different police asking her questions, but not the detective. “I’ll talk to Ettie.”

  “Ettie Smith?”

  “Yes.”

  “I might be able to arrange that, if I’m in the room as well, and we’ll have to record the conversation.”

  Thea swallowed hard. “I don’t know.”

  “You’re facing life in prison if you’re found guilty.”

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  “Did you know the deceased—Bart Crittenden? Or know of him?”

  “I’ll talk to Ettie.”

  Kelly stepped back. “I’ll send a car out to collect her.” He stepped in closer and stared in her face. “You wouldn’t want to withhold any information. Anything you might know could be vital even if you think it’s of no importance.”

  The detective’s eyes were wide and he looked a little crazy, which made Thea a little fearful. She felt safe around Ettie.

  Kelly stormed out and now she was alone again. She was in the end cell of a row of six prison holding-cells. One thing she knew was that she didn’t want to go to a real prison. It was bad enough being locked in a small cell, but she didn’t know how she would handle being locked away with hardened criminals who’d committed horrendous crimes. She sat down on the bed which was just a narrow bench covered by a mattress one inch thick. Pulling her knees to her chest, she went back to counting the rough bricks on the wall since there was nothing else to do. She'd already prayed as much as she could.

  Chapter 19

  Ettie and Elsa-May stood in front of the sergeant at the front desk.

  “That was fast. Simkiss only left minutes ago.” The gruff sergeant stared at them.

  Ettie frowned at him, not knowing what he was talking about. “We’re here to see…”

  “You can head back to his office. I’ll let him know you’re here already.”

  The two sisters made their way down the corridor to Kelly’s office.

  “He must have broken some speeding record to get you here so fast,” Kelly said, jumping up from his chair when they appeared in his office doorway. “This way.”

  Kelly pushed past them. Elsa-May and Ettie looked at each other, shrugged, and then followed.

  “Where are we going?” Elsa-May asked.

  “Didn’t he tell you?”

  “Who tell us?” Ettie asked.

  “Simkiss.”

  “No, he told me nothing.”

  “Thea’s ready to talk and she’ll only talk if you’re in the room, Mrs. Smith.”

  “Okay. Just as well we came when we did.”

  Kelly drew his eyebrows together, turned back around and continued walking. He turned to his right, heading into a room. “Sit anywhere you like. I’ll have them fetch Thea.”

  Ettie and Elsa-May waited a few minutes until a uniformed police officer brought Thea into the room in handcuffs. Ettie stared at her, barely recognizing her. She was wearing no prayer kapp and her fair long hair fell down way past her waist, and a baggy orange jumpsuit encapsulated her.

  “Hello, Ettie.” Thea then glanced over to the back of the room. “Hi, Elsa-May.” When the ladies said hello back to her, she managed a smile. Looking down at the brightly colored jumpsuit, she explained, “My clothes got dirty and this is all they could give me.”

  “She’s not going to run off anywhere, D
etective. Are those handcuffs really necessary?” Elsa-May asked Kelly.

  “No, they are not.” Kelly gave a nod for the officer to take the handcuffs off Thea's wrists.

  Once she was free of the cuffs, the officer took her by the arm and guided her to a chair.

  “This is going to be recorded, Thea. And right up there is a video camera which will tape the conversation.” Detective Kelly pointed up high to the camera in the corner of the room.

  “Okay,” she said.

  Detective Kelly reached up and fiddled with the equipment and then there were some back and forth technical conversations about the audio equipment with someone in another room.

  “Are you sure we’re allowed to be here?” Ettie asked.

  “She can have someone with her when she’s being interviewed, Mrs. Smith, so if it makes Thea more comfortable with you asking the questions, or her speaking with you, I’m okay with that.”

  “Thank you,” Thea said to the detective.

  “Just relax,” Elsa-May said to Thea from her chair at the back of the room.

  Thea blew out a deep breath. “I’ll try.”

  The phone in the room buzzed and Kelly picked it up. “Yeah?” After a small silence, he continued in an angry tone. “No, they’re not there because they’re here already.” He hung up the phone and looked at Ettie and Elsa-May. “You two just happened to come here just now, without you knowing I wanted you here?”

  “Yes, we came by taxi,” Ettie said.

  Elsa-May added, “To speak with Thea.”

  Detective Kelly scowled and muttered something under his breath. “Okay, we’re all set,” Kelly finally said when he'd sat next to Ettie and opposite Thea. “What can you tell Mrs. Smith about what happened, Thea?”

  She took her gaze from the detective, swallowed hard and looked at Ettie. “I’m certain that Thomas was hiding something in the barn. And I thought it was probably drugs because I don’t know what else it could’ve been.”

  “Did he tell you he was hiding something?”

  “He told me he was mixed up in something that he couldn’t get out of. He was doing a favor for someone. Those were his exact words.”

  “What else did he say?”

  Thea looked down at the table.

  “Thea, if you know something you should say so now. Austin’s in trouble, too, and if you know he’s innocent, anything you tell the detective could help him.”

  “Okay. Austin had nothing to do with anything. I was the one who talked him into going to the barn with me. He didn’t even want to. I had the idea that Thomas might have been hiding drugs for his old friends or his brother.”

  “His brother, Roy?”

  “Yes. Thomas told me that he hid drugs in the house once and Roy found them and took them away. Thomas first thought that Roy destroyed them and then he thought that Roy might have kept them or sold them.”

  “Why would he think Roy sold them? Surely he was trying to protect his younger brother.”

  Thea shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m just saying what Thomas told me. He didn’t say why he thought that. But Thomas was in trouble when he couldn’t give the drugs back to them and he got into things deeper and had a dreadful trouble getting out of it. They made him work for them.”

  “So he was guilty,” Kelly murmured to himself.

  “He was scared of them.”

  “Thea, do you know the man in the barn, or had you ever seen him before?” Ettie asked.

  “I’m certain I saw him once before when Thomas was on rumspringa. He came to the market with a couple of friends and I’m sure one of them was Bart. The detective showed me a photo of Bart. It was too dark in the barn to see what he looked like.”

  Ettie looked at Kelly. “Thea and Austin were just a couple of innocent kids in a barn. Do you really think they’re killers?”

  “This is the first time Thea has talked about all of this, and I can’t get a word out of Austin. If Austin talks and his story matches, I could see my way clear to dropping the charges.”

  “Where do we go from here?” Ettie asked.

  “I’ll get some sniffer dogs out to the barn first thing tomorrow. If there were drugs hidden there at any time, they’ll pick up the scent.”

  “Good!” Ettie said. “Now, Thea, can you think of anything else that might be of help to the detective regarding Thomas, or anything else about Roy?”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “All I know is that Thomas didn’t trust Roy.”

  When the interview was over, Thea was taken back to her cell.

  “It’s odd that they spent Thomas’ last day together, then,” Kelly said as he walked out to the entrance of the police station with Ettie and Elsa-May.

  “Or did he?” Ettie asked. “We only have Roy’s word on that. Did anyone see them together at the market? All we know for certain is that Roy was the one to find Thomas’ body. You could speak to Roy’s wife to see if that story he told us about him going to get meat for her at the market was true.”

  Kelly nodded. “I’ll do that. I’m surprised that you’re not defending Roy. You normally are defensive of anyone who’s Amish.”

  “I’m just trying to get to the bottom of things,” Ettie said.

  “Do you think Thea and Austin can go home now?” Elsa-May asked.

  “I’ll see if Austin will talk and we’ll go from there. I’m not making any promises.”

  Ettie and Elsa-May left the police station and went to get something for dinner on the way home. While they were in the market, they wandered past Austin and Thea’s side-by-side stalls.

  Elsa-May walked to Austin’s stall and picked up a jar of honey.

  A lady came over to her, and said, “It’s the best honey in the area.”

  “Where’s it from exactly?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Whose stall is this?” Elsa-May was trying to get information.

  “It belongs to my brother, Austin.”

  “And you don’t know where your brother’s hives are?”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Doesn’t it have to be far away from pesticides and such to be labeled as organic?”

  “I’m not certain about that.”

  “Who collects the honey? Is it your brother, or does someone else do it?”

  The girl looked annoyed and took the jar out of Elsa-May’s hands. “Look, it’s just honey. It’s basically sugar.”

  Ettie wandered over to stand next to Elsa-May. “It’s nice of you to look after your brother’s stall. Gone on vacation, has he?”

  “Yep.”

  Elsa-May continued, “I’m interested in the honey because I only like the honey that is made in the local area.”

  “I’m sorry I don’t know where it’s made.”

  Elsa-May looked over at a box behind the girl. She saw a tin of honey with a white and sky-blue label. She knew it was cheap honey that the supermarket-chain store sold. “That’s a shame. How long has your brother sold the honey here at the market?”

  “Not long. Do you want a jar?”

  “No, thank you,” Elsa-May said.

  Ettie and Elsa-May walked away and Elsa-May said to Ettie, “I saw a huge tin of honey—the cheapest honey you can buy from the large supermarket stores. Don’t you think that’s odd?”

  “I do. What part of it was odd?”

  “They sell organic honey, so what are they doing with that tin of honey?”

  “Was it out in the open?”

  “It was in a box and it was partly showing. I recognized the label. You know how I like my honey. And she doesn’t know where Austin has his hives. I would’ve thought he would take some kind of satisfaction in his honey production. Surely he would’ve talked to his sister about it and especially since she’s helping him out on the stall. That struck me as odd.”

  “Are you thinking he might be guilty of something after all? Thea said it was her idea to go to the barn that night and he didn’t want to go. We both know that Thea is inn
ocent.”

  “Yes, and Thea is convinced Austin is innocent.”

  “Let’s get something to eat and go home. Too much thinking is making my head ache.”

  “Good idea.”

  Chapter 20

  The next morning, Detective Kelly was at Elsa-May and Ettie’s house early.

  “I thought you’d like to know that last night Austin and Thea were released.”

  “Oh good!”

  “What made you decide to do that?” Elsa-May asked.

  “Once Austin found out that Thea had talked he decided to talk too. He told us the exact same story that Thea gave us about why they were there and how they came to be there. Thea coming to his apartment and talking him into it etc., etc.”

  Ettie heaved a sigh of relief. “That poor girl. I’d say she would’ve been glad to get home.”

  “Well, that leaves us with no suspects. We’ve got the dogs going to the barn today. I’ll be there to see if there have been any drugs there.”

  “Good.”

  “I also talked with Roy’s wife after you two left yesterday.”

  “You went to Roy’s house?”

  “Yes, and thankfully he wasn’t home from work at that time, so I was able to talk with his wife by herself. She didn’t know anything about Roy going anywhere with Thomas on the day he died. Of course, I didn’t tell her what Roy’s story had been. She said he went out in the afternoon and that’s when he found Thomas’ body in the barn. That’s all she knew. From her point of view, Roy wouldn’t have had time to go anywhere with Thomas, and she admits that the brothers didn’t get along.”

  “And she had no problem speaking with you?”

  “No. She said she’d answer anything if it would help us with our investigations.”

  “That’s good,” Elsa-May said.

  Ettie wondered if she should mention their conversation with Austin’s sister at the market. None of it made sense to them, so she decided to keep it up her sleeve for the moment.

  He glanced at his watch. “We have the dogs going out to the Strongberg’s at twelve.”