Plainly Murder: A Penguin Special from Obsidian (3 page)

“We don’t know why Evelyn did this,” Anna said. “But it was her dying wish. Since Eleanor isn’t well enough to bring you the quilt herself, Angie and I offered to.”

“She’s trying to make me take it from her, even beyond the grave,” Lily said barely above a whisper.

“She tried to give the quilt to you before?” I asked.

“
Ya
. It was about a month ago. She came into the store and wanted to talk about Eric and give it to me. She said she wanted me to have it because it was partly mine. My husband asked her to leave, even before she showed me what it looked like.”

“Why did Ira not let her give it to you?”

“Because he said that it only encouraged her to ask more questions about Eric. That was so long ago. We were nothing more than children then. Now we are grown and have children of our own. We didn’t have to be reminded of something so terrible. That quilt reminds me of that time. I didn’t want it when Evelyn tried to give it to me, and I don’t want it now.” She held up her hands as if to block Anna from giving her the quilt. “Evelyn wasn’t well. After Eric’s accident, she was a broken woman.”

Anna sat up a little straighter. “She struggled, as we all do.”

Lily flushed. “I’m sorry, I spoke out of turn. I know that Evelyn was a friend of yours.”

Anna patted her knee. “She was my friend, and I know that she changed after Eric died. She was a mother who lost her only child. We can have nothing but sympathy for her. Evelyn always believed that Eric was pushed off the roof. This belief helped her cope with her loss.”

Lily grimaced. “Every Amish person in Holmes County knows about that. It’s all she ever spoke of, but I still don’t understand what that has to do with me after all this time.” Her breath grew short. “Why would she talk to me about it? Why is she still trying to give me this quilt?”

“He fell from your family’s barn,” Anna said.

“It was a terrible accident. Nothing more.”

I slipped Evelyn’s letter out of my coat pocket. “Do you want to see the note?”

She shook her head, but reached for it with shaky hands. The paper made a fluttering sound as she removed it from the envelope.

“I-I—” Lily stuttered before bursting into tears.

Anna wrapped a comforting arm around Lily’s shoulders. I picked up the letter and envelope off the pine floor and tucked them back into my purse.

“Shh, shh, calm down, dear,” Anna murmured. She jerked her head to the door. “Angie, shut the door.”

I did as I was told.
Did Anna want me to shut the door to shelter Lily, or to keep her from running away?
When Lily’s tears began to subside, Anna slid back into her chair.

Lily let out a breath. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t react this way over something that happened so long ago.”

Anna put the quilt back on my lap. “It was a hard thing. Sometimes it takes more than a decade or two to heal a painful memory.”

Lily nodded. Anna’s words seemed to comfort her.

“What about the note upset you?”

“It was seeing my name there in Evelyn’s handwriting. After all this time, I am still connected by Eric’s death in some way. I will never be rid of it.” She gave a shuddered breath.

I wondered what she meant by that.

“Were you connected when he died?” I asked.

She removed the handkerchief that had been tucked into the sleeve of her plain navy dress. “I saw Eric fall.” Her voice was hoarse.

“From the barn?” I asked just wanting to be sure.

She nodded. “You were right. It was my family’s barn. I was below walking around it and watching the men work. I should have been in the kitchen with my
mamm
helping with the food, but I didn’t want to.” She blushed. “I’d rather moon over my beau.”

I remembered the ladies from the quilting circle said that Lily was being courted by Cooper Mueller at the time. I was about to ask her if that was who she meant when she added, “Every time I see that barn I think about that day. It makes it difficult for me to visit my father there.”

I leaned forward. “Did you see Eric on the roof?”

She nodded.

“Was he alone” I asked.

“
Nee
,” she whispered.

“Who was with him?”

She turned her gaze downward to her hands, which were clenched together on her lap.

Anna shot me a look as if say, “Let me take if from here.” She squeezed Lily’s hands. “Lily, so much time has passed. You’d feel better if you tell someone what you saw.”

Lily blew out a long breath as if she’d been swimming deep under water and just broken through the water’s surface. “Cooper Mueller. He was on the roof with Eric.”

“Did you see him push Eric off?” I asked.

Anna scowled at me.

“No. I mean, not exactly,” Lily said. “I saw the shadows of Cooper and Eric on the roof. They seemed upset. Then they moved out of the sight. A few moments later, there was a scuffle and then I saw Eric fall.”

“When you say scuffle, what do you mean?” Anna asked. “Did you see them fight?”

Lily shook her head. “
Nee
. I only saw shadows, or at least I thought I saw shadows. It was near noontime, and the sun was bright. After that, all I remember are the screams of the women and cries of the men below, running to Eric’s side.” She closed her eyes as if to block off the mental image that continued to haunt her fifteen years later. “It was too late, though. He was gone. His neck was broken.”

“Do you think he pushed Eric off of the roof?”

She thought for a long minute. “I think it’s possible.”

“And that’s why you broke up with him?” I asked.

“A few days after the accident, I asked him what happened. I told him that I saw him and Eric arguing not long before Eric fell. Cooper refused to talk to me about it. I told him if he couldn’t tell me the truth, then I couldn’t marry him. He said that was fine because he wasn’t sure he wanted to marry me anyway. He said he didn’t know what he wanted out of life anymore.” Tears sprang to her eyes. “That was the last time I ever spoke to him.”

“Did you tell the police this?” I asked.

“I couldn’t tell the police,” Lily said. “I don’t know if Cooper had done anything wrong. I only thought he may have.”

I internally sighed. “It’s the police’s job to investigate suspicions like that.”

Anna settled back into her seat and adjusted her skirts. “Angie, the Amish do not go to police unless it is absolutely necessary.”

It sounded to me like it had been necessary to talk to the police then, but I held my tongue. “Where is Cooper now?”

“He left the Amish way a year after we stopped courting. He lives in Millersburg as an
Englischer
now.”

I held the quilt out to her. “Will you take it?”

She shook head. “
Nee. Nee
, I don’t want it. Please don’t give it to me.”

“But—”

Anna placed a hand on the quilt to stop me. “You don’t have to take it, Lily,” Anna said.

She cast her eyes down. “Please don’t tell my husband that I spoke to you about this. He would not like it.”

“We won’t,” I promised.

She nodded. “Please leave now. I have much work to do.”

By the time that we left the office, the loud Amish family was gone. Ira waved to us from the cash register. “Did you have a nice visit?”

Still holding the quilt in my arms, I said, “Yes, thank you.” I doubted that Lily would agree.

Outside, Anna and I found Lily and Ira’s son Kenneth kneeling next to Oliver. The Frenchie lay on his back and gleefully kicked his legs, boots and all, while Kenneth scratched his stomach. Oliver spotted me, barked, and rolled over.

“Looks like Oliver has made a new friend,” I said.

Kenneth scrambled to his feet and brushed the snow off his black trousers. “Is this your dog?”

“He is,” I said.

Kenneth pulled his black stocking cap down farther over his ears. “He’s wearing clothes.”

I wondered what Kenneth would think if he could see my icy boss carrying her teacup Pomeranian in a Chanel bag. “It’s fairly common where I’m from.”

“Where’s that?”

“Dallas, Texas.”

“Texas!” His eyes sparkled. “I would love to meet a cowboy. Do you see many cowboys in Texas?”

Oliver licked my hand. “A few,” I said.

He sighed and a puff of hot air escaped his lips. “I wish I could see Texas.” He pointed to my large diamond ring. “Are you marrying a Texas cowboy?”

I snorted. Ryan was most definitely not a cowboy. He was more likely to be seen in Docksiders than spurs. “No.”

Anna playfully shook her finger at Kenneth. “Don’t you let your father hear all this talk about seeing Texas. He wouldn’t like it.”

Kenneth made a face and then asked me, “Why are you carrying that quilt around? Are you cold?”

“I wanted to give it your mother,” I said.

“Why?”

“Because someone asked me to.”

“Why?”

That question was much more complicated to answer.

Anna placed a hand on her hip. “Kenneth Eby, when did you get so nosy?”

He grinned. “I’m only asking because I’ve seen that quilt before.”

I blinked at him. “When?”

“A week ago. An old lady was here and wanted to give it to
Mamm
just like you did, but
Daed
turned her away. He told her she wasn’t welcome in our store. He’s never turned away a customer before, not even the
Englisch
teenagers who steal penny candy from the jars.”

A week ago?
Lily had said that Evelyn’s visit had been closer to a month ago.

“Who was the lady?” I asked.

“I don’t know her name. She was Amish, but she doesn’t go to our church district.
Daed
seemed to know who she was.” He lowered his voice. “He didn’t like her.”

“Are you sure it was the same quilt?” I asked.

He frowned. “
Ya
, I’m sure.”

“What did she look like?” Anna asked.

“She was old. Older than my
grossmammi.
”

Anna folded her arms. “Being old is not enough information.”

The boy smirked. “She walked with a black cane. I remember that because she kept pointing at my
daed
with it.”

“Evelyn,” Anna said under her breath.

The quilt felt heavy in my arms. So Evelyn had tried to give Lily the quilt twice before, and just like Anna and me, she’d been turned away.

I started the SUV’s engine, and it sounded like a jetliner was about to take off. Anna simply shook her head at the noise. “I think we should head to Running Stitch and bend Martha’s ear about what we’ve learned. Maybe Evelyn was right all along.”

Inside Running Stitch, I inhaled the scent of my aunt’s store. It was a mixture of vinegar water, freshly ironed cotton, and lemon. Just like my aunt’s house, everything was the same as my childhood memory from the wide-planked floor to the whitewashed walls displaying dark-colored Amish quilts. Shelves with bolts of dark, solid colored fabric lined one wall, and a large quilt frame with a Nine Patch quilt, waiting to be finished, stretched across it sat in the back corner near the back door and storage closet. It felt odd to be there without my aunt. I had spent countless hours in the shop with her as a child. My mother didn’t understand my fascination with quilting. She still didn’t. Her motto:
why make something when you can buy it
?

Anna removed her heavy black bonnet and set it on a table by the window. There was a rocking chair there, too. That’s where my aunt always sat and quilted while she waited for customers. “Any customers this afternoon, Martha?” Anna asked.

Martha polished the counter with vinegar and the sour scent silenced through the air. “
Nee.
The wind and snow have kept them away. How did your visit with Lily Eby go? Did she take the quilt?”

I shook my head. “It’s in the car.”

“Can’t say I’m surprised,” Martha said. “I don’t expect she was happy to talk about Eric Schmidt.”

“She wasn’t, but she did talk to us,” I said and shared what we learned from Lily.

Martha set her polishing rag aside. “I didn’t know that was why she and Cooper Mueller stopped courting. He must have left the Amish over it, too.” She began polishing again. “It is a sad story, but you have done your part. You fulfilled Evelyn’s wishes for your aunt. You should be enjoying your aunt’s company.”

The store was much warmer than the mercantile had been. The radiator hummed under the window. “We are just starting to learn what happened. We can’t stop now,” I said as I unzipped my parka.

Martha stepped behind the counter and placed the bottle of vinegar and rag behind it. “
Ya
, you can. It is not your place to learn more.”

Oliver held out a booted paw to me.

“No, Oliver, you need to keep them on.” I turned my attention back to Martha. “This is what my aunt wants me to do.”

“How about this?” Anna asked. “Angie, you and I will go and visit Lily’s sister, Violet, the girl Eric was courting at the time. If she doesn’t tell us anything new, we will drop it.”

I worried my lip. I wanted to know what happened, but without the help from the ladies in the quilting circle, I wouldn’t learn much from the Amish in town. “Okay,” I said finally. “That sounds fair.”

Martha scowled and muttered something in Pennsylvania Dutch.

I didn’t need to understand the language to know she wasn’t happy with the plan. “I’ve said it before, but you should not waste the precious time you have with Eleanor on this. I know she misses you. You should visit more often, you know.”

I squirmed under her light criticism because I knew that she spoke the truth. Since I moved to Texas at the age of ten, I had only been back to Holmes County three or four times as a child to spend the summers with my aunt. The last time I visited was nearly twenty years ago.

“Martha, leave the girl be,” Anna said. “She is here now, and that’s what matters.”

Martha pursed her lips but didn’t say anything more. “And what are you going to say to Violet? Are you going to try to give her the quilt, too?”

“No,” I said. “But if Lily remembers that day so vividly, I imagine Violet does, too. It was her boyfriend who died.”

The bell on the door rang and Rachel stepped into the shop. Her eyes were glowing. “I have some information,” she said, sounding excited. “When I got back to the bakery, I told my Aaron about the letter. My husband’s uncle overheard us. He said that Cooper and Eric were going to open a business together in Rolling Brook.”

“What kind of business?” Martha asked.

Rachel shrugged. “He doesn’t remember, but he does remember talking to both of them at the barn raising. They wanted to know about good spots in Rolling Brook to open a new store. He told them that Sugartree Street is always the best place in town.”

“Did Aaron’s uncle see Eric fall?” I asked.

“
Nee
, he left before that happened. Even back then he went to bed so early in order to be at the bakery by three in the morning.”

I smiled at Anna. “Maybe Violet knows.”

•   •   •

Violet Graber and her family were town Amish. They lived in a two story house just two blocks from Sugartree Street.

I parked on the street in front of the white-sided and black-shuttered home. “I’m surprised they live in town. Is that becoming more common?”

“It is. Not every son can inherit his father’s farm.” Anna unbuckled her seat belt. “My nephew’s older brother inherited the farm from their father, so Edward works for a construction company. He has jobs all over the area and as far away as Cleveland.”

The door opened at our knock. A plump Amish woman was at the door. She wiped her hands on her apron. “Anna, this is a surprise. It’s
gut
to see you. What brings you by?”

Anna removed her bonnet. “This is Eleanor’s niece, Angie. I’ve agreed to take her about town.”

“I’m glad that you did.” She glanced down at Oliver, who stood patiently at my feet. “And who is this?”

Oliver held out his paw for a shake, and she obliged. The little canine charmer won Violet over immediately. “My children would love you. Please come inside. It’s cold out. Oliver, you come in, too.”

Inside the house, Oliver’s boots squeaked on the pine wood floors as he made a beeline for the raging fireplace.

“Have a seat,” Violet said. A baby amused himself with a set of simple blocks on a quilt. “That is my youngest, Andrew. I just finished preparing for supper and was about sit for a spell before the children arrive home from school. I made
kaffi
. Would you like a cup?”

Anna and I both nodded.

While Violet was busy in the kitchen, I examined my surroundings. The interior of the home was like any other house in town, except for the lack of things: television, phones, and electrical outlets, all of which were only noticeable in their absence.

The baby crawled over to Anna and held his arms out. Anna picked up the child and murmured to him in their language. He tried to pull her glasses off.

Violet reappeared with a tray of coffee and sugar cookies. “I see Andrew has given you a proper welcome.” She sent the tray on the coffee table and took the child from Anna’s lap.

“Is Edward here?” Anna asked.

“
Nee.
He’s on a job in Canton. I don’t expect him home until late. The money is
gut
for the family, but I wish he didn’t have to be away so much.” She put Andrew back on his blanket. “Angie, how do you like your coffee?”

The question gave me pause. There was the way that I liked my coffee and there was the way Ludvik liked my coffee. “Cream and sugar please,” I said. Admittedly, that was
not
Ludvik’s way.

She smiled. “That’s how I like it, too.”

Anna dipped a chocolate cookie into her black coffee. “We saw Lily earlier today.”

Violet handed me the mug of coffee and a cookie. “That’s nice. I’m sure she and Ira were busy. They always seem to have plenty of customers in the store.”

I stared at the cookie, thinking that I really shouldn’t eat it. It was wrong. Ludvik would pop one of his overdeveloped blood vessels if he knew. As if sensing my indecision, Oliver was at my feet, gazing longingly at the cookie. I took a bite and suppressed a happy groan. I did it for Oliver, not for myself. Dogs shouldn’t have chocolate. It was poisonous to them.

Anna set her mug on the side table closest to her. “Violet, we had a special reason to visit your sister today.”

Violet stopped her mug halfway to her mouth. “You did? What was that?”

“We thought you could help us, too,” Anna added.

Violet watched us over the edge of her mug. “Is something wrong? Did something happen?”

“You know Evelyn Schmidt passed,” I said.

Violet nodded. “The poor woman. She had so many troubles.”

“She left my aunt a quilt with a note asking her to give it to your sister, Lily, and to ask Lily about her son’s death.”

Violet set the mug aside. She leaned over and picked up her baby, as if she needed the comfort the child offered just then. “Eric? Why would she do that? It was so long ago.”

“Evelyn believed someone pushed Eric off of the barn roof,” Anna said.

Violet bounced Andrew on her knee. “I know that. She said it to me on several occasions, but Evelyn was ill. She thought many strange things. You should have heard the stories Eric would tell me about his mother’s antics.”

“Eric was courting you at the time he died.” I selected another cookie from the tray. Ludvik was going to kill me.

Violet focused on the top her child’s head. “
Ya
.”

“What can you tell us about the day that Eric died?” I asked.

“I wasn’t there.”

“It was your farm,” I said.

“I was a waitress for one the Amish restaurants in Berlin and worked a double shift on the day of the barn raising.” She bounced the baby hard, and the child began to whimper. She stopped shaking her leg and murmured to Andrew in Pennsylvania Dutch.

Anna scrunched up her nose, which caused her glasses to slide down it. “The restaurant wouldn’t let you have a day off for the barn raising?”

“I asked to work the extra time,” Violet said.

“Why did you do that?” Anna asked. “Typically, all the family members are expected to be there for such a work frolic.”

She set Andrew back on his quilt. “Eric and I had had an argument the day before, and I was still angry at him. I didn’t want to see him. I know that’s childish, but I was young.”

“What did you fight about?”

She concentrated on her child gumming the edge of the quilt. I opened my mouth to ask again. Anna shook her head ever-so-slightly, and I snapped my jaw shut.

“We fought over when we were to be married. I wanted to marry that October. We had agreed to that timing months before. My
mamm
was in the middle of plans and preparations for our wedding. She planted a whole patch of celery, so everyone knew I was to marry.”

My brow furrowed. “Celery? What does celery have to do with it?”

Anna smiled at my confusion. “Many Amish families plant celery to announce a coming wedding. It is a tradition.”

“A celery tradition?” I asked.

“It’s a vegetable that grows well in cold weather, so since Amish weddings are held in the fall after harvest time, it is often served at weddings.”

Violet nodded. “With all that celery sprouting up in my mother’s garden, I would be humiliated to call off the wedding. The entire district knew Eric and I were courting. I was the eldest daughter. They knew the celery was for me.” She touched rim of her coffee mug with her forefinger. “If we didn’t marry that fall, then everyone would assume we would never marry. The Amish don’t have long engagements like some
Englisch.
”

Internally, I winced. What would Violet think if she knew that my relationship with Ryan was a seven-year odyssey? Now both in our mid-thirties, we were just talking about walking down the aisle. My mother would agree with Violet’s assessment that English engagements were too long. If she had her way, Ryan and I would have married on our first date. Better yet, she would have planned an arranged marriage for me by this point.

I wrapped my hands around my coffee mug. “You didn’t go to the barn raising to punish Eric?”

She nodded. “I thought if I gave Eric the silent treatment, he would change his mind. I was so young and naïve.” She kissed the top of Andrew’s head. “He died knowing I was angry with him.”

“Do you think his death was an accident?” Anna asked.

“I do,” Violet said. “But . . .”

I stopped myself before I grabbed a third cookie. “But what?”

“He was upset about something a few days before he died. His black mood led to our argument. I kept pressing him and asking him why he wanted to postpone the wedding. He was angry with me. He said I behaved like an
Englisch
woman. As an Amish man, he didn’t have to explain himself to me.”

I winced. I didn’t think I would make a very good Amish woman.
How could my aunt be comfortable with such a way of life?
However, I could never imagine Uncle Jacob speaking to my aunt in that way. He adored her. “Eric never said what was bothering him?”

“Not outright, but I suspected that it had something to do with the store.”

“Store?” I leaned forward in my chair. This must be the business Rachel’s father-in-law remembered. “What store?”

“You don’t know? I’m sure Evelyn knew of it.”

I didn’t tell her how vague Evelyn’s note was. A few more clues in it would have been nice.

Violet continued, “Eric and Cooper wanted to open an Amish bike shop in Rolling Brook. Bike riding is a popular way to travel for the Amish, and they thought the business would do well here in town.”

Anna finished her coffee. “I never heard about an Amish bike shop opening in Rolling Brook.”

“The boys had just agreed to join with
Englisch
partners to start the business.”

“Who were they?” I asked.

“I’ve never met them, but they were two brothers. Their last name was Dudek. They have an
Englisch
bicycle shop in the county.”

I placed “Dudek” in my mental file to find more information about later.

“Why do you think it was the bike shop that was bothering him?” I asked.

She sighed. “A few days before the barn raising, I planned to surprise him at work. He worked at a factory that built mobile homes for
Englischers
near Walnut Creek. I took a picnic lunch with me.” She blushed. “I thought it was very daring. Amish girls are taught not to be so forward. I cringe to think of my girls behaving in the same way. While I waited for him, I overheard him speaking with Cooper. I knew that it was wrong. The two were having a disagreement. They weren’t fighting, but I could tell they were at odds. Ira’s name came up. Eric wanted Ira to be part of the bicycle business, and Cooper did not. The three boys were
gut
friends.”