Safe Hearts (Amish Safe House, Book 3)
Read Safe Hearts (Amish Safe House, Book 3) Online
Authors: Ruth Hartzler
Tags: #amish, #christian fiction, #christian mystery, #christian suspense, #amish romance, #amish romance fiction, #christian romance suspense
Safe Hearts (Amish Safe House, Book
3)
Copyright © 2015 by Ruth
Hartzler
All Rights Reserved
Smashwords Edition.
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* * *
Scripture quotations are
from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version
®
(ESV
®
),
copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News
Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
* * *
This is a work of fiction. Any
resemblance to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
The personal names have been invented by the author, and any
likeness to the name of any person, living or dead, is purely
coincidental.
This book may contain references to
specific commercial products, process or service by trade name,
trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, specific brand-name products
and/or trade names of products, which are trademarks or registered
trademarks and/or trade names, and these are property of their
respective owners. Ruth Hartzler or her associates, have no
association with any specific commercial products, process, or
service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise,
specific brand-name products and / or trade names of
products.
* * *
(Isaiah 12: 1 -
6.)
You will say in that day: “I will
give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your
anger turned away, that you might comfort me. “Behold, God is my
salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God
is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” With
joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will
say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make
known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is
exalted. “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let
this be made known in all the earth
.
(1 Corinthians 2: 1 - 16.)
And I,
when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the
testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know
nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was
with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech
and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not
rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of
God
.
Table of
Contents.
Proverbs 14:26.
In the fear of the Lord one
has strong confidence, and his children will have a
refuge.
Chapter 1
.
Kate watched as a flock of birds,
flying in formation, disappeared into the clouds. She smiled and
looked back at the garden. The flowers were growing beautifully,
and the crops were coming on nicely. She tipped over the watering
can and drenched the plants as she walked through the
rows.
The sound of a vehicle coming down the
dirt path pulled her attention away from the garden and the
harmonious chirping of birds.
Kate looked up to see a small, black
buggy driving at a fast trot up the road. It came to an abrupt
stop, and a woman jumped out of the vehicle and walked toward
Kate.
“
Good morning, Abigail,”
Kate said, noticing with dismay that Abigail seemed quite
distraught.
Abigail walked up to Kate. “Have you
heard the news?” she asked.
Kate’s eyebrows knitted. “What news is
that?”
“
So, you haven’t?” Abigail
sighed deeply. “Remember Beckie’s cousin, Jeremiah? Well, he was
just arrested in town for suspicion of murder.”
Kate was shocked, an Amish man,
accused of murder? “What on earth happened?” she asked.
“
I’m still trying to piece
it all together, honestly.” Abigail wiped her eyes before
continuing. “I’m sorry, I just…”
“
It’s completely
understandable,” Kate replied. “How would you like to come inside
for some meadow tea? We can discuss what happened, if you’d
like.”
Abigail glanced over at her and
smiled. “I’d like that. It’s been a difficult morning, so some tea
and conversation could remedy that a bit.”
Kate led the way to the main house and
held the door open for Abigail to enter. She then followed her
inside. “You can have a seat right there at the table,” she said,
pointing toward the left wall.
As Kate was getting the pitcher of tea
and mugs, Beth walked into the kitchen. “Beth, would you happen to
be free for a few minutes?”
“
Of course,” Beth said. “Is
everything okay?”
“
I’m not sure, to be
honest,” Kate answered. She stepped closer and whispered. “Abigail
just stopped by with some very upsetting news about Beckie’s
cousin.”
“
Jeremiah?” Beth
asked.
“
Yes,” Kate said, nodding
her head. “I guess he’s been charged with murdering someone.
Abigail seemed very upset, so I invited her in for some tea. It
might help if you spoke to her, too.”
Beth nodded. “Yes, and I’d like to
know what is going on.”
Kate walked over to the table where
Abigail was seated and placed the cups on its surface. She filled
them with tea before taking her seat across from both
women.
“
Thanks for this,” said
Abigail, right before sipping from her cup. “Mmm, this is
delicious.”
“
It’s somewhat of a family
recipe,” Beth said with a grin. Kate could tell she was trying to
lighten the mood, so she smiled back at her and nodded.
“
So, what do you know about
what happened with Beckie’s cousin?” Kate asked, trying not to
sound too blunt.
Abigail paused for a moment, and then
placed her cup of tea on the table. She stared at it for a few
seconds before speaking. “Well, they still aren’t entirely sure
what happened,” she sighed. “Jeremiah was working as a barista at
one of the town’s local cafés. I don’t know what evidence they have
on him, but they think the victim was a regular of his.”
Kate and Beth exchanged confused
glances. Why would any barista murder one of his daily customers?
The thought was perplexing; it made very little sense
whatsoever.
Kate scratched her forehead. “I can’t
imagine how Beckie must be feeling right now,” she said. The
thought of being in that poor woman’s shoes was disheartening; when
put in the middle of such a situation, do you believe in your
family, or do you trust the people who are in charge of stopping
the bad guys?
“
It’s all just a huge mess.
Right now she’s trying to get to the middle of it, just like we
are.” Abigail took another sip of her tea. “The strangest part -”
Abigail’s voice broke off.
Kate and Beth looked at
each other once more, both anxiously awaiting the next few words.
Abigail seemed to be lost in deep thought, so Kate spoke up in a
calm tone. “
What
is
the strangest part?”
“
Oh,” Abigail said,
seemingly startled by the question. Looking up from her cup, she
returned to reality. “The victim was found in the morning, when
Jeremiah went in to open up.”
Now the story was really beginning to
fall apart; it made absolutely no sense to the U.S. Marshal that
lay dormant within Kate. Why would a murderer set himself up to
discover the body? She dug through the files in her mind to
remember some of her past cases. She had dealt with countless
criminals during her long career; some were quite silly, and others
were highly intelligent, but only a handful of them would ever do
something so careless. Kate realized that she was still lacking a
lot of information about the murder, but the pieces just didn’t
seem to be falling into place.
“
Do you know what the cause
of death was?” Kate asked.
“
Not yet,” Abigail replied.
“I think they’re conducting an exam on the body at the coroner’s
office later today, but the initial report ruled that it was most
likely due to either an intentional poisoning or the ingestion of
something foreign and toxic into the body. I’m not really sure what
the difference between the two is, though.”
“
It’s probably just police
jargon and technicalities,” Kate said, hoping to sound as if she
had no idea. “But, I think that means that it could still be ruled
an accident,” she added. “If they’re wording it in such a way, it’s
probably because their findings were inconclusive. That could be
why an autopsy is necessary.”
“
Perhaps,” Abigail said,
“but it seems like they’ve already made up their minds. They see
that a murder victim was possibly poisoned, so they blame the first
barista to find him, and it just so happened to be poor Jeremiah
who was the one that got stuck opening the café this morning.” She
frowned before hiding her face with another sip of tea.
“
What is Jeremiah saying
about the accusations?” Beth asked.
Abigail shrugged. “I really don’t
know. Obviously, he refutes the charges and is denying everything,
but I haven’t heard anything from him directly.”
Kate’s thoughts drifted back to the
facts. There were too many variables, too many unanswered questions
for her to be able to figure out what could have happened. She
needed more information. What time did the deceased man expire?
Were there any tell-tale signs of foul play or tampering with the
victim’s food or drinks? And who closed up the café the night
before the body was found? That person should have been the first
suspect. Something nagged at her, as the questions buzzed around in
her mind.
“
What do you know about the
victim?” Kate asked, hoping that a little extra information would
help.
“
They haven’t released his
name yet, but I heard he was a private detective.”
“
A private detective?” Kate
parroted. “You mean that the guy was a private
detective?”
“
Something like that,”
Abigail replied. “I guess he showed up in our town to ask questions
about something.”
Kate was still unsure what was going
on, but now things seemed just a little bit clearer. Maybe someone
stopped the private detective before he got too close to their
trail, or maybe there was some other horrific truth to it all.
Either way, Kate knew that she needed to find out more about the
investigation. The lingering fragments of apprehension stayed with
her as she thought about Logan White and the fall of his empire.
Was something or someone new emerging from his shadow?