Accused (Amish Romance Mystery) (Amish Secret Widows' Society #3) (7 page)

“I’m glad you’ve come to stay with me. It’s been nice having someone else around. Someone else in the
haus
besides Growler.”

“I’ve never lived alone, always with
mamm
and
daed
. I’ve got three cats at home. I’ve an old white fluffy one, a ginger tabby kitten and a black cat. The white one is the only one allowed in the
haus
. The other two are happy to prowl around and catch mice.”

“I never liked cats until I got Growler. He’s not friendly, but he’s
gut
company for me.”

Angela laughed. “Cats can be moody sometimes.”

Emma nodded her head. “
Ach
, sounds like that might be Robert.”

Angela dashed to the window. “
Jah
, it is.” Angela smoothed down the apron that covered most of her dress and touched her prayer
kapp
to be sure it sat properly on her head. “See you later today, Emma.”

“Goodbye.” Emma stayed inside the
haus
and watched them drive away. The look on Robert’s face as Angela walked toward the buggy confirmed Emma’s suspicions that Robert liked Angela very much.

Emma hurried to Elsa-May
haus
as early that same morning Wil had delivered a message that Emma was to go to Elsa-May’s
haus
as soon as Angela left. Emma knew that meant that an urgent widows’ meeting had been called.

Chapter 11.

And whatever things you ask in prayer,

believing, you will receive

Matthew 21:22

As soon as they were clear of Emma’s
haus
, Angela glanced at Robert’s face and he caught her eye and smiled.

“I read all your letters last night,” Robert said.

Angela’s face lighted up. “You did? I didn’t realize that Jacob would’ve kept them all.”

“He did, and he presented them to me last night.”

Angela lowered her head and looked at the floor of the buggy. “
Ach
, now I’m embarrassed.”

“No need to be embarrassed, you wrote from your heart with honesty. That’s commendable.”

Angela put her fingertips to her eyes. “I wish you hadn’t read them.”

“They were addressed to me and they were my letters.” He turned to her and said softly, “I’m glad I read them. I know you much better now.”

“Not fair. You know me better now than I know you. You should write me forty letters to catch up.”

Robert chuckled. “While you’re here, I would like to get to know you better and have you get to know me.”

Angela swallowed hard which turned into almost a gulp; she hoped he hadn’t heard it over the clip clop of the horse’s hooves. “I’d like that.”

He looked over at her and smiled. The warmth of his face sent pulses through her body like she’d never known before.

“Jacob must have written to you in a mature manner for you to think a grown man penned the letters.”

“I can show you my letters. I’ve got them at Emma’s place. He wrote well. I had no idea, no idea at all. He spoke of mature things. Jacob has a
gut
insight on life. He must care for you deeply to be hunting for a
fraa
for you.”   

“Angela, I’m glad that he wrote to you and had you come to visit. I know what he did was wrong, but I would never have written back to someone. If I got that first letter from you I most likely would have written back telling you that I was too busy to write or some such thing. It worked out well that Jacob replied to you.”

Angela remained silent because she did not know how to respond to his candid admission of interest in her. Should she appear keen? She had already shown how keen she was to get married by writing to a
mann
whom she did not know. If she said that she was interested in him too, that might appear as if she were desperate to marry a
mann
– any
mann.

Robert took his eyes off the road and glanced at Angela again. “Forgive me, I always say what’s on my mind. I think that’s always the best way. You are a lovely woman.”

A giggle escaped Angela’s lips, which released the tension she felt just seconds before.

“Any
mann
would be pleased to have you as his
fraa
.”

Angela searched her mind for a reply. Any reply would be better than remaining silent yet, she was not accustomed to speaking to
menner,
especially not ones as handsome as Robert.

“In your letters you mentioned that you were looking to marry,” Robert said.

Angela nodded knowing that she could admit to wanting marriage as all the girls in the community wanted a happy
familye
. “I am. I’m looking for a
gut mann
to marry and raise a
familye
with. What about you?” Angela silently reprimanded herself for her blunt question. She might have been better off to remain silent after all.

“I’d like nothing more to have a
fraa
and
kinner,
but
I need to get Jacob settled first. I’ve taken on Jacob as my responsibility. I’d like to clear his
daed’s
name and then I would feel free to live my life and find a
fraa
.”

“I understand. Jacob’s very blessed to have someone who cares for him so deeply.” They sat next to each other in silence as the buggy clip clopped through the winding, narrow roads. Angela was at peace in Robert’s company. There was something about being with Robert that made her feel safe. As well as his obvious physical strength, she sensed that he also had an inner strength.

“I’m taking you to my favorite place,” Robert said.

“Where’s that?”

Robert laughed. “There’s an old stone bridge not far up here. I used to play underneath the bridge when I was a child. I would fish from the top of it as well. I haven’t been there in a long time.”

“I’d love to see it.”

Robert pulled the buggy off the road and tied the horse in the shade. “It’s just down here.”

Robert held Angela’s hand and helped her through the undergrowth. They walked a little further until the bridge came into view.

“Is that it, Robert? It’s beautiful.”

“That’s it all right.” As soon as they were on the bridge, Robert said, “It’s called a kissing bridge.” He glanced at Angela. “Don’t look worried. That’s what they’re called, but I didn’t know that until recently.”

“Why’s it called a kissing bridge?”

Robert looked over the edge of the bridge. “They’re romantic places to go, I’d guess.”

Angela looked at the reflective surface of the water as it rippled its way underneath the bridge. The birds chirping and the rustle of the wind in the treetops made a perfect melody for their special time alone.

It’s a perfect place for a first kiss,
Angela thought
. I wonder if that’s why he brought me here.
She looked up at Robert. He took his eyes off the horizon and looked deeply into her eyes. He moved his body so it was directly in front of hers. He caressed the side of her face with his fingertips. Her body shuddered at his touch, however she did not move away.

“Your skin is so smooth.” Robert’s words were whispered.

She smiled at his compliment, but words escaped her. All she could think on was what his mouth would feel like against hers. Angela had never desired to be kissed by a man until that very moment.

As if he sensed her longing, his gaze fell to her mouth. He lowered his head until his lips lingered over hers. Was he asking for her permission to touch her lips? She arched her back and moved her lips just a fraction until their lips met.

All feeling left Angela’s body and her head began to swim. She was not aware that blackness had engulfed her until she woke with her body on the hard ground and her head cradled in Robert’s manly arms. She made to move.

“
Nee
, stay still. You’ve fainted; it must be the heat.”

Angela obeyed his command, closed her eyes and enjoyed being close to him, inhaling his manly aroma.

Angela was aware that it was a hot day, but was that why she fainted? Surely it was the closeness of Robert’s hard, body and his soft lips against hers that caused her to loose consciousness. “I’m alright.”

He lifted her head up a little.

“I don’t know what happened,” Angela said.

“Have you been unwell?”

“
Nee
, I’m always in
gut
health.”

“It’s a hot day. Stay here. I’ve got some water in the buggy.” Robert helped position Angela’s back against the side of the bridge.

While Robert fetched the water, Angela recalled that she had not drank any water the entire day, when normally she drank quite a few glasses by this time of the day. Angela admired how caring and attentive Robert was. She touched her lips softly with her fingertips as she remembered their kiss.

“Here you go.” He poured the water from a large container into a metal cup.

She slowly drank two cups of water. “I remembered that I hadn’t drank any water at all today.”

Robert sat down next to her. “I said that it was a kissing bridge, not a fainting bridge.”

Angela smiled. “Did I dream that we kissed?”

Robert whispered. “That was real.”

His whispers sent tingles soaring down her back. They sat and talked for a time and they didn’t even notice that dark rain clouds had gathered overhead. Raindrops began to spatter down upon them in large droplets. They both looked upwards at the gray sky.

“We’re going to get caught in the rain,” Robert said.

“Moments ago it was bright sunshine.”

They looked at each other and laughed.

Never had Angela dreamed it would be possible to have such a time with a man. She knew now what she had missed out on. Being quiet and shy had done her no favors in the past. But if she hadn’t kept away from
menner
she might be married to someone else by now and she would never have gotten to meet Robert.

“Are you all right to stand?” Robert asked.

“I’m sure I am.”

Robert put his arm around her waist and pulled her to her feet. “Let’s go.”

Once they were both inside the buggy the rain began to pour down in shafts.

“I made a picnic for us. I imagined we would sit in the sun on a grassy bank overlooking my bridge. How would you feel about eating here in the buggy?”

“
Jah
, let’s have the picnic right here in the buggy.”

Robert reached over to the backseat and unwrapped a package of ham and relish buns. “The weather’s not usually like this here. It usually stays as it starts out in the morning. We don’t normally get sudden downfalls of rain like this.”

“I love the rain, especially at night. I love to hear it beating against the window pain and pouring down the pipes at the side of the
haus
,” Angela said.

Chapter 12.

 
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Psalms 23:6

While Angela was with Robert, Emma was at the emergency widows’ meeting that had been called. Detective Crowley was to meet them again that afternoon.

“I heard that Juliana took a different man home with her nearly every weekend. The particular weekend when that man was murdered, she had left the bar with the same man for the third Saturday in a row. It was a Saturday, wasn’t it, that the murder took place?” The widows all nodded so Ettie continued, “Why would she go for a walk on her own because she couldn’t sleep? What’s more, she was seen leaving with the man by more than one staff member of the bar.”

“Why hasn’t this come out before? Why don’t the police know about it?” Silvie asked.

“She told the police that she was alone, but she wasn’t. The police wouldn’t have known to ask the bar staff because they wouldn’t have known she was there in the first place,” Ettie said.

“You think that the man murdered was the same man taken home by Juliana that night?” Emma asked.

Ettie nodded. “He fits the description and no one knew him; he wasn’t from around here, from what the bar staff told me.”

Silvie said, “How do they remember something from so long ago?”

Ettie said, “Marg, one of the staff, was concerned when she heard of the murder. She even asked Juliana about it. Marg asked Juliana if she’d seen the man alive after that time. Juliana told her that the man she’d taken home couldn’t have been the same man who was murdered because he was at her house when she’d gone for that walk. The walk where she said she saw Ross hit that man over the head.”

Ettie took a deep breath and continued. “Marg asked Juliana why the man wasn’t around any longer and Juliana said she’d sent him on his way because he’d gotten violent with her. She even showed Marg bruises on her arm, two days after the murder.”

“Did Marg ever think to go to the police? Or were the police aware that Juliana had someone staying at her
haus
the night of the murder?”

“The detective didn’t mention a thing about it.” Ettie turned to Elsa-May. “Did he mention anything to you?”

“
Nee
he didn’t. I’ve spoken to him twice about that murder and he never once mentioned that she had some strange man at her house that night,” Elsa-May said. “Silvie, why don’t you knock on Juliana’s door and pretend you’re from the college doing a paper on witnesses and ask her if she wouldn’t mind answering some questions?”

Silvie’s face went pale. “Why me? I can’t do things like that. I wouldn’t know what to ask. I can’t fool someone like that. She’d never believe me. Amish don’t go to college, so how do I explain that?”

“
Jah
she will believe you, I’ll write the questions for you and you’ll have to get yourself some clothes that will pass as
Englisch
. All you say when she answers the door is,
Good morning. Are you Juliana Redcliffe? I’m Silvie Brown and I’m doing a paper on the effect that witnessing a crime has on people. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?
She’ll either say
no
and slam the door on you or invite you in. If she invites you in, you’ll produce my list of questions and write down her answers. It’s simple, Silvie,” Elsa-May said.

Silvie nodded, “
Jah
, I suppose I can do that, but I’m a little frightened. What if she killed that man and blamed it on Ross? That means I’ll be alone with a murderer.”

Elsa-May tapped her chin. “I’ll have Maureen go with you.”

Maureen pulled a sour face. “All right, I’ll go with you, Silvie. As long as you do all the talking; you’re better at that kind of thing than me.”

“You need to do that today. There’s no time to waste. You have to speak to Juliana and make sure you don’t bump into Crowley; he wouldn’t be too happy to see you anywhere near Juliana,” Elsa-May said.

* * *

An hour later, Silvie and Maureen, both wearing
Englisch
clothes, pulled up in a taxi up the road from Juliana’s house.

When the taxi drove away, Silvie said, “I hope she’s home. Remember, I’ll do all the talking and you help me take notes on what she says.”

Half an hour before, when they were at Silvie’s
haus
dressing in
Englisch
clothes, it occurred to Silvie and Maureen to go against Elsa-May’s advice. They hoped they would not get into terrible trouble with her. They decided rather than say that they were doing a paper on witnessing crime they would say that they were doing a survey for the Department of Health on violence against women. Maybe that would have her open up about the man who was violent with her.

They had the taxi drop them a little up the road so it would appear as though they were doing a door-to-door survey.

They knocked on Juliana’s door, hoping that she would be home.

Seconds later a woman who answered Juliana’s description answered the door.

Maureen spoke first. “Hello, we’re doing a survey.”

“We’re from the health department,” Silvie added.

The woman looked from one to the other. “What’s it about?”

“It’s about violence against women. We’re trying to find how wide spread it actually is and we’re going door to door in the whole neighborhood,” Silvie said, hoping that
Gott
would forgive her for telling a fib if it was to help someone.

“Do you have five minutes to answer some quick questions?” Maureen asked.

Juliana looked at her watch. “As long as it will only be five minutes.”

“That’s all it will take,” Maureen said.

“Come in then.” Juliana stepped back so both women could enter the
haus.
“This way.” She took them through to a small room with two small couches. “Have a seat.”

Once they were seated, Silvie shuffled some papers in readiness to make it look as though she was reading questions out.

“I forgot to ask for your ID,” Juliana said.

“We don’t have any yet,” Maureen said.

“There was a mix-up with the new model of ID and they’ll be ready tomorrow. We can call back and show you tomorrow if you wish,” Silvie said.

Juliana shook her head, “Don’t worry about it. Will this survey help other women?”

“That’s the purpose of it,” Silvie said. Without written questions from Elsa-May and with no time to write any of her own, Silvie had to pull some quick questions from her head. “Have you ever been the victim of abuse?”

“Yes, I have. I’ve been physically abused many times in my life.”

Maureen leaned forward. “Have you? That’s awful.” After an intense stare from Silvie, Maureen straightened up.

“Thank you and yes, it was awful. First my step-father beat me on more than one occasion and I had two boyfriends who used to hit me when they got angry.”

Juliana cast her tear filled eyes downward and Silvie looked at Maureen. Had they bitten off more than they could chew?

“When was the last time you experienced abuse? Could you tell us about it? If you feel you can talk about it,” Maureen said.

Juliana sniffed and looked at the two ladies in front of her. “It was a while ago now. I made sure that he could never hurt anyone again.”

“That’s good and how did you see to that?” Silvie asked.

Juliana shook her head. “I don’t want to speak about it. In fact, I’d prefer not to talk at all. It’s too upsetting for me to speak about.” Juliana looked at Silvie and then looked at Maureen. “I appreciate what you ladies are doing. There’s too much violence towards women. I hope you can make a change, but I can’t help you.” Juliana rose to her feet. “I’ll show you out.”

Maureen stayed seated. “Before we leave can you tell me just how does one go about making sure that a man will never hit a woman again?”

Juliana shrugged her shoulders. “How should I know?”

Maureen locked eyes with Juliana. “You just said that you made sure that the last man who hurt you would never hurt anyone again.”

“I’ve had enough questions for today. I’m done.” Juliana stared at Maureen until she stood up.

“Okay, thank you,” Maureen said.

Maureen and Silvie left Juliana’s house and hurried to the main road. Maureen reached into the pocket of her long black Englisch looking skirt and took out Elsa-May’s borrowed cell phone to call a taxi.

Once the call was made, Silvie asked, “What do you think of all that?”

Maureen placed the cell carefully back in her pocket. “Did you hear what she said? She said she made sure the last man who hurt her would never hurt anyone again. Do you think she was referring to the man who was murdered two years ago?”

“Could have been.”

* * *

That afternoon the five widows waited for the detective at Elsa-May and Ettie’s
haus
. He had phoned ahead and told them that he had a significant development in the case of Ross Geiger.

“What news do you have for us, Detective?” Elsa-May asked once the detective sat on one of their hard, wooden chairs.

“Juliana Redcliffe admitted to killing the man and said that it was self-defense. She claimed that she witnessed Ross kill the man because she wanted him in jail so she could get her child back. She said that it was after she killed the man and was back in her house that she got the idea to make it look as though Ross had done it. She’d seen some sticks at the scene of the crime so she took some twine back to the body, made a cross and tied him to it. She figured it would be believable that an Amish man did it if there was a religious element there somewhere.”

“But the dead man was found about 500 meters away from her house. How could she get him that far away?” Emma asked.

“He chased her out there. She claims he knocked her to the ground after chasing her from the house. She saw a rock and when he turned his head that’s when she hit him. The first knock stunned him and he fell to the ground and she beat him with the rock a couple more times to make sure he would not get back up.”

Emma winced as she imagined the scene.

“She kept the dead man’s wallet, so now we know who he was and can try and contact his relatives.” The detective yawned. “Excuse me.”

“How did you get her to confess it all, after all this time?” Ettie asked.

“She thought we knew already. She said something about other people being there that morning to question her – two ladies.” The detective looked at each lady in turn. He did not question any of them about the matter and neither did they comment.

“Will she go to jail?” Emma asked.

“Seems it was self defense so things would have gone better for her if she had admitted to it immediately. Now she’s perverted the course of justice by her false accusation. The courts don’t take things like that lightly.”

“Do you think the buggy crash that killed Ross and Linda was purely an accident?” Ettie asked the detective.

“As I mentioned before, we found nothing suspicious to do with the buggy accident. It seemed to be just that – an accident,” Detective Crowley said.

“I’ve got a
haus
guest so I better get going now. Thank you for helping us again, Detective.” Emma said goodbye to everyone and hurried to her buggy. She was glad that Robert’s
bruder,
Ross, would finally have his name cleared. Emma could hardly wait to go home and tell Angela the news.

Once Emma arrived back home, Angela was in her room and did not come out the whole night. It was the very next morning that Emma told Angela what the detective found out about Juliana and the murder.

“What should I do, Emma? Will I visit Robert, or should I wait for him to come here? What if he doesn’t come here?” Angela asked over breakfast the next morning.

“Give it ‘til after the midday meal and if he hasn’t come here by then, take my buggy and go and visit him.”

“
Denke
, Emma.” Angela took a deep breath. “I hope the detective or someone lets him know what’s going on.”

“
Jah
, they would’ve told him. The detective knows how important it is for Robert to clear his
bruder’s
name. That’s what spurred this whole investigation. He has Robert’s address and everything,” Emma said.