Lamb to the Slaughter (Serenity's Plain Secrets Book 1) (23 page)

The cold air sweeping into the kitchen from the hallway as the door was flung open, immediately reached the three of us. It temporarily erased Moses’ strange statement and his penetrating gaze.

The words flying out of the teenage girl’s mouth were completely unintelligible to me, but the sight of Daniel’s brother-in-law carrying a limp toddler in his arms certainly wasn’t. I leapt to my feet and covered the kitchen in two long strides. The child was a girl and she was sopping wet and covered in mud. Her chest was still—she wasn’t breathing. I looked into her father’s eyes with my arms stretched out.

After a few more foreign words between Moses and Reuben, the child was placed into my arms. I dropped to the floor with her and immediately tipped her head back. I began to perform CPR on her, careful not to press too hard on her little chest after each breath of life I pushed into her lifeless body.

I’m not sure how long I was on the floor with the girl, and I completely blocked out the sounds of distress and crying coming from Rebecca, Anna and the teenage girl in the room, focusing on the job at hand. I only paused long enough to pull my cell phone out and speed dial 911, handing the phone to Moses, who of course was the only somewhat composed person in the room. But in that instant of passing the phone, I did see fear in his eyes, and I made a mental note
that this Amish family was definitely acting the way I’d expect them to behave under the circumstances. The thought that the girl that I worked on was probably Daniel’s own niece invaded my mind for a second, but I forced that aside, putting all my energy into trying to save the child.

When the girl gurgled and a little rush of water flowed out of her mouth, the haze in my mind lifted. I brought the girl into a sitting position and the faces and voices pressing in close became crystal clear. Rebecca was crying and moved in closer with a pleading look. I nodded in return and she lifted the child from the floor and cradled her against her breast. Anna held the two of them and the teenager gently rubbed the child’s cold little hands between her own.

I didn’t know if the girl would suffer permanent damage from the ordeal, but for the moment, she was taking small gulps of air and her eyes were dilated. I stood up, wiping the mud onto my jeans that had transferred from the girl to my hands. I turned to Reuben.

“What happened to her?” I was still experiencing a major buzz of an adrenaline rush through my veins and it made my voice stutter a bit.

“Christina was following the other children in the dark, playing, when she slipped into the hole that was dug for the new ice house. The recent rains had filled the hole with water and before the other children realized that Christina was no longer with them, she’d gone under. Rebecca and I were on the porch enjoying the cool air when we heard the shouts. Anna has the gift of healing, so we came here, not even knowing that my in-laws had company until we saw the car.”

I took another breath. “The EMP’s should be here soon. Anna, please bring a thick blanket and get her wrapped
snuggly,” I said. The older woman quickly got to her feet and scurried out of the room.

I turned to Mo, “I think I could use that cup of coffee now.”

A ghost of a smile briefly lit the man’s face before he turned and went to the counter. After I had the strong brew in my hands, I sat quietly, observing the loving interactions of the family as I tried my best to mold into the chair that I sat in.

Another fifteen minutes passed before the ambulance finally arrived to the remotely located farmstead. I greeted Beth and Raymond, filling them in on the details. They had Christina, who was now babbling toddler nonsense, onto the gurney and loaded into the van with her mother in no time at all.

Since the rest of the family couldn’t drive to the hospital in a car the way anyone else would, I offered to take them into town so that they could be together while Christina was evaluated. Before I crossed the threshold outside into the night, which was far darker than the well-lit streets where I lived in town, Mo’s voice called me back.

I turned to face the man, who had chosen to stay at the house and wait for the return of his family. He looked as if he’d aged from the ordeal with his granddaughter, his eyes not quite as bright and his stance not so straight.

Gruffly, he said, “Thank you for saving my little Christina’s life—for there is no doubt in my mind that when Reuben brought her in, she was very close to being with our Lord Jesus. But our Lord wasn’t ready for her and we weren’t ready to let her go. Thus, you were with us this night. Sheriff, did you feel the hand of God guiding you here?”

I swallowed, “Maybe, but not to perform CPR on a child who’d nearly drowned. Actually, I came here to talk to you about Tony Manning. Do you know him, Mo?”

The kindness left Mo’s eyes to be replaced with steely determination. “Well, the Lord works in mysterious ways, indeed. I’m glad you came, Sheriff, for my granddaughter’s sake, but mind that you listen to me well. I have nothing to say to you in regards to events of the past.”

Dammit, if saving a member of his family wasn’t going to get the guy to open up, nothing was. Frustrated, I turned to leave. I’d only made it two steps off the porch when Mo’s words echoed a previous speaker, sending a chill down my neck.

“Leave this thing with the girl well enough alone. You’ll soon learn that we take care of our own.”

I looked over my shoulder and was about to march my butt back up the steps when Reuben’s slight cough, obviously trying to get my attention, did the trick. I glanced at his distressed face and decided to let Mo’s comment go—for now anyway.

I turned back once more to see Mo as he went into the house. The sight of the closed door made an impression on me, but I couldn’t worry too much about it. At that moment, I had to figure out how I was going to squeeze Reuben and the five children who’d appeared out of nowhere into my little car.

As I walked to the car, my own determination strengthened. The goal of finding out what happened to Naomi was at the forefront of my mind, but not far behind was the resolution that I’d also discover Tony Manning’s secrets too.

24

NAOMI

October 20th

N
aomi peeked out her bedroom window and watched the buggy pull out onto the roadway heading to the schoolhouse. She let out a long sigh as she sat on the edge of the bed and took one last look at the stark, pale blue interior, collecting her thoughts. Unlike Will’s, Naomi’s room had no posters adorning the walls or anything at all that told of her love of horses and the outdoors. The only personal item displayed sat on her dresser in a delicate porcelain frame. It was the Lord’s Prayer. Without thinking, Naomi crossed the room and picked it up. She silently said the words in her head. She was a believer and becoming English would not change that.

When she finished, she carefully set the frame down, and feeling a sudden rush of adrenaline, she scurried back across the room and went to her knees. Reaching far under the bed, she found what she was looking for and pulled it out. The pack was hunter green and as plain as everything else in her
life. Thankfully, it was also light weight and she slung it over her shoulder easily.

Even though the house was dead silent, Naomi still tiptoed soundlessly down the stairs. She slowed at the entrance to the kitchen to look around before she entered. Her heart beat furiously, and no amount of swallowing or breathing would calm her nerves.

She passed through the kitchen as if she was a ghost, hardly seeing the long wooden table with its mixture of chairs and benches. She purposely ignored the line of coats hanging on the pegs and instead focused on hers as she put it on. Naomi didn’t want any last minute reminders of who she was leaving behind. If she thought too much about sweet little Emma or rambunctious Marcus, or even surly Samuel, she wouldn’t have a strong enough heart to be able to do what she was about to.

Naomi blocked out the faces of her dear siblings, and after repositioning the pack onto her back, she reached for the door and turned the knob. Hesitating only a second, she glanced back into the kitchen, lit only by the dim evening light coming through the window. She pushed the door open, leaving the house in a rush. Naomi didn’t want to give herself any time for second thoughts. Worried that she’d change her mind, she took two steps at a time, skipping off the porch and heading toward the barns.

The cold air bit into her face and glancing up, she saw the dark, wintry clouds piling high atop each other. It certainly wasn’t the best weather for hiking a few miles through fields to meet up with Will, but Naomi also knew that the harsh weather would keep folks close to their hearths and the safety of buildings, which suited her needs just fine.

She didn’t slow for the few chickens still pecking around outside of their coop, instead, she jogged through the middle of them, sending them squawking away in all directions. When she reached the gate leading to the back field, she shimmied over it fluidly, and took off at a run through the short grass of the cut hay that afforded no cover at all.

When Naomi reached the hedgerow, she parted the brush with her hands and entered the thick foliage without a backward glance. She breathed easier once she was hidden again and her heart began to settle when her thoughts returned to Will and the strong possibility that she’d be kissing him by nightfall.

If Naomi had turned around to gaze one last time at her family’s farm, she might have noticed something that would have crushed all her plans. But she didn’t. The Amish girl was free in her thoughts of escape, joyfully making plans in her mind about the bright future that was laid out ahead of her as she cut a path through the thick foliage beneath the trees.

When Naomi disappeared into the tawny autumn leaves of the hedgerow, her Mother stood silently watching from the window of the chicken coop. Patricia’s face showed no emotion, being as still as her feet were. Then one single tear drop slipped from her eye. She hastily wiped it away, giving her body life once again.

25

DANIEL

November 18th

I
rapped on the door impatiently, trying to see in through the drawn curtains in the window beside it. My heart had been pounding since I’d received the call from my sister some thirty minutes prior. Rebecca’s voice was still sharp in my head, telling me how thankful she was that my girlfriend had been visiting with our parents when my youngest niece had fallen into the water filled hole and nearly drowned. I’d listened to her tell the story of how Serenity had performed CPR on the child, bringing her limp body back to life. Of course, that whole part of the story was wonderful and I was thankful that Serenity, with her emergency training, was present. But what was piercing my mind like a sword was the question that my sister couldn’t answer for me—what the hell was Serenity doing there in the first place?

I knocked on the front door with more force just as it finally burst open. Serenity was a sight to behold, wrapped in the unexpected pink robe, which barely covered up the cleavage
showing from beneath a lacy black camisole. Her blond hair fanned out around her in messy disarray, leaving me without words. Unfortunately, Serenity didn’t have the same problem.

“What the fuck are you doing banging on my door at six o’clock in the morning?” she hissed out.

Her nasty response to seeing me shattered any romantic thoughts and I said, “Yeah, I could ask you the same thing about why you were at my parent’s home last night.”

Serenity’s mouth dropped open and her eyes were wide with frustration. “You’ve got to be kidding me—that’s why you’re putting dents in my door?”

Her voice was still turbulent, but it had come down a couple of notches, and I reined in my own anger, saying, “You have absolutely no right to be sneaking around behind my back, harassing my folks.”

Serenity pulled the robe up tighter around her neck, blocking my sight of her lovely skin. She turned and said over her shoulder, “It’s too damn cold to talk outside.”

Taking her words for an invitation inside, I followed her and closed the door behind me. I stayed on her heels until she plopped down on the suede looking sofa and crossed her legs beneath her robe. She looked up at me with agitation for some seconds before she jerked her head to the other side of the sofa, indicating that I should sit down.

I was stubborn and remained standing for a minute more, avoiding her eyes, which had suddenly changed. They were now regarding me with amusement, making me feel even more uncomfortable than when they were shooting fire.

I looked around the room, ignoring Serenity. At a glance, the pictures on the walls were all of faraway places. I recognized the Eiffel Tower in one of them and the Golden Gate
Bridge in another. The palm trees and beach scene above the couch captured my eyes for a longer time. I envisioned walking leisurely along such a beach with Serenity beside me.

“I didn’t know that you were such a travel buff,” I said, trying to erase the hostility of the previous moments.

“There’s a lot that you don’t know about me,” Serenity said smugly.

I looked away, wondering at the coy, almost flirtatious expression that she was now giving me. Feeling stupid standing there in the middle of the room, I finally sat down, purposely settling into her space and causing Serenity to move sideways to keep from touching me. I could almost feel the warmth coming from her skin. I distracted my thoughts by staring at the shaggy black rug.

Remembering the way she’d kissed me, melting against my chest as if she were born to be there, I became brave. “Yeah, it’s too bad that you’re such a difficult girl to get to know. God knows I’ve been trying.”

Seeing Serenity’s eyes widen was worth the comment, but I was disappointed at the way she sidestepped the conversation.

“Why is it such a big deal to you if I visit with your parents anyway? It’s not as if you’re seeing them on a regular basis.”

Why was she being so damned difficult? I wished that I was pressing myself into her, instead of talking about my parents.

“I think you at least owe me an explanation as to why you went out there last night.”