Safe Hearts (Amish Safe House, Book 3) (5 page)

“
Why do you say that?”
Beckie asked.

“
Well, I asked him what
type of person he was asking about, and he said he wasn’t speaking
of criminals, but he wouldn’t elaborate any further. And then, the
next time he showed up, he wanted to know if any women around the
age of thirty had converted to the Amish lifestyle recently and
moved into our community.”

Kate caught her breath, and her blood
ran cold. Was that private detective looking for her? How would he
know anything about her? Thoughts and fears flashed in her mind as
she thought about what such a thing could mean. Then, she realized
she might have been ratted out.

“
Just curious, but did you
happen to mention to this private detective that I had recently
moved into the community?” Kate asked, trying not to sound too
interested.

Jeremiah shook his head.
“
Nee
, I didn’t even
think about that. You’ve always been Amish though; you just had an
accident and suffered some memory loss. I think he’s more
interested in an outsider that’s hiding out or something. Besides,
the guy gave off a weird vibe, so I just didn’t feel like I could
trust him, even if I had thought about it. I can’t promise that
someone else didn’t mention your name, though. I’m sure I wasn’t
the only person that he had questions for. But after that, he
pretty much stopped coming by, so I stopped thinking about him and
his inquiries. Then, shortly afterward, all of this started.”
Jeremiah sighed again.

“
You got two minutes left,”
yelled the guard.

Beckie frowned and looked over at her
cousin once more. “We won’t stop until you’re where you belong, I
promise.” She put her hand up against the glass. Jeremiah looked up
with a smile and pressed his against hers.

“
I know you won’t. Denki,”
he said brightly, but Kate could not but help notice his face was
pale and gray – and with the shock she’d just had, she was sure her
face was the same.

Psalm 23: 1 -
6.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall
not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me
beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of
righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are
with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a
table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head
with oil; my cup overflows.

Chapter 5
.

The trip to and from the Monroe
Correctional Facility had gone by quickly, but the rest of the day
had dragged on. In the hours following the visit, Kate consistently
had to fight off the constant reminders of her and Beckie’s
conversation with Jeremiah. She wasn’t sure what to do about the
situation, but Kate was certain that it wouldn’t bode well for her
if everything he said about that private detective was
true.

The next question that popped into
Kate’s head was, “Why was that man killed?” If the private
investigator was actually searching for her, who harmed him and why
did they do it? Were they looking for her? After such a long,
stressful day, Kate was ready to retire to her cottage to call it a
night. She finished up her remaining chores around the main house
and then headed home.

Kate walked toward her cottage, but as
she did, she glanced up to see darkness as it descended upon the
sky. She watched on as thousands of small, sparkling stars gathered
around the bright, full moon. For some reason, the scene reminded
her of lightning bugs hovering around a street lamp. Kate
approached the front door of her cottage and slid the key in its
lock. She looked up at the clock as she entered the living room and
realized that it was later than she had thought it was.

Kate tried to figure out how to solve
her newest dilemma. Time was running out if she had planned to do
anything that night, but what were her options? Kate thought about
the various avenues that she could take to fix the problem, but the
only option that seemed viable at that moment was to consult her
boss. It had been quite some time since she dared to contact him,
but if her identity and life were in jeopardy as she believed they
could be, she felt it was a good enough reason to make another
call.

Kate reached under her clothing to
find her secret pocket. She grasped at the cloth tightly until she
felt the cell phone that lay hidden underneath the fabric of her
dress. She looked out the window over the darkened fields and saw
the silhouette of the creek. Kate realized that it might actually
be the best spot for her to make the phone call to her boss. Even
though random visitors to her cottage weren’t very common, the idea
that anyone could show up without warning caused her to be fearful
of taking the chance of being caught on the phone in her own
home.

Kate knew that the creek was probably
shrouded in darkness at this time of night, and it was far off near
the woods, so she hoped that it would provide good enough cell
reception to hold the phone call, and be inconspicuous at the same
time.

Kate set over the open fields that
were covered in shadows. She listened to the sounds of crickets
chirping as they echoed in the night. As she got closer to the
creek, Kate noticed a large log resting beside the rushing water.
She sat down and looked out over the stream as the moon’s
reflection painted a surreal scenery before her.

For a few minutes, the beauty of the
night erased her fears and apprehensions. After that, however, she
fell back into reality and realized that she had to make the call
before it got too late. She pulled the phone from her makeshift
pocket and called her boss, David Harper.

The phone vibrated in her hand as she
awaited an answer. Kate looked out over the fields and let the
gentle sounds of the creek comfort her, as they wiped away her
immediate fears. The ringing finally stopped, and a yawning voice
spoke softly, but in an alert tone. “Is there a
problem?”

“
David, we might have an
issue,” Kate said.

She heard some shuffling sounds coming
from his end of the conversation, but then his voice grew louder
and more concerned. “What’s wrong, Kate?”

“
There’s been a murder in
the local town. An Amish man from the community, who worked as a
barista at one of the local cafés, is being charged with homicide.
They think he poisoned a private detective who’d been visiting the
town recently.”

“
That’s horrible news,”
David Harper replied. “I’m sorry you’re dealing with troubling
circumstances again, but this line needs to be kept secure and used
only when absolutely necessary.”

“
Oh, I wasn’t finished,”
Kate answered.

“
I’m sorry.” She noticed
that her boss’s voice seemed to fade slightly, like he had felt too
embarrassed to speak again for a few moments. Then, he finally
broke his brief silence. “Please, go on, then.”

“
The man who’s being
accused of the crime is named Jeremiah Steinbeck. His cousin,
Beckie, is a member of our knitting circle, and earlier today, she
and I went to the correctional facility at which he’s being held.
We were hoping to get his side of the story and figure out what was
going on, but what he told us did nothing but complicate the
situation further.” Kate looked back out over the rushing waters of
the creek. “He told us that the private detective has been asking
around his café, and probably all around town, trying to track down
a female in her thirties who recently went into hiding with the
Amish.”

Kate stopped speaking, letting only
the creek and the crickets be heard in the distance. She hoped
Harper would have some strong words of encouragement, or at least a
list of instructions to help her get out of her situation. Kate
welcomed any advice that her boss could offer her. She wanted the
seed of worry that had been planted vanish, before it was able to
grow into a full-fledged, unavoidable nightmare.

After several moments, Harper finally
broke the silence. “I think it’s imperative that we get you
extracted right away.” His voice had gone from calm and accepting,
to frantic and authoritative. “There’s no possible way this is a
coincidence. I don’t know how anyone would be on your trail, let
alone a private detective. And why? I could see if he’s working for
those criminals we took down or something, but it’s not usually
their modus operandi to operate in such a way. There has to be
something else going on here. We need to get you out of there
ASAP.”

Kate looked down and let out a loud
sigh. She then lifted her head back up and spoke into the burner
phone. “I’ve tried making sense of it all day, but it just isn’t
coming together for me. I don’t understand how anyone could have
found out about me being here. According to Jeremiah, the detective
had visited him twice. The first time he asked if it was
commonplace for the Amish to shelter someone within their
community. Then, he went back another time and asked him if there
had been any new female members that recently joined the community
and might be around the age of thirty.”

She heard a loud gasp as it escaped
through the speaker of her phone. “Do you think he told the
investigator about you?”

“
No,” Kate replied. “He
reassured me that he didn’t. He said I hadn’t even crossed his mind
while the man was asking him about it all.”

“
Well, that’s good, but
someone had to have talked. This isn’t good, Kate. We need to act
immediately. It’s one thing if a journalist or a private
investigator is trying to sniff out someone in WITSEC, but the fact
that he was murdered recently is very disheartening. Obviously, he
was being watched and tracked. That means that someone could have
been following his trail right to you. Maybe that’s why they took
him out; they probably already got what they needed from
him.”

Kate sighed long and hard. “I
understand that; believe me, I do. But what choices do I have?
Should I really just pack up and leave tonight without any notice?
And if I did that, then what? I have to go into hiding somewhere
else?”

David Harper cleared his voice before
speaking. “I understand the predicament you’ve found yourself in,
Kate. Don’t let yourself come undone, however; remember your
training. I don’t think you should leave immediately. Someone has
eyes on the community right now, and if you were to make a break
for it, that would alert them to the fact that you’re the one
they’re looking for.”

“
That’s the problem. Ever
since the crime syndicate was run out of the area, I haven’t felt
danger lurking around until recently. Now it’s starting to stress
me out again. I’m already worried about saving an innocent man, but
now I might be in danger as well. And of course, I’m not the only
one. What about everyone else that lives in this community? I just
wish I knew what was going on.”

David spoke after a few moments. “I
think our best option here will be for me to contact the bishop.
I’ll arrange for him to send for you once I arrive. I’m not taking
any chances with your life, not any longer. I’ll extract you
personally. We don’t know who we can trust, even in our own
agency.”

Kate sighed and let her hand that held
the phone fall to her side. She pulled herself closer to the edge
of the log, and slid off her right shoe. She dipped her toes into
the cold, rushing water, and shuddered as a chill crept up her leg.
Kate lifted the phone back to her ear. “What should I do
now?”

“
Go about your normal life
so as not to draw any attention to yourself. It’s clear that
they’re looking for someone of your age in the community, but they
haven’t tracked you down yet. They’ll be watching the community,
though, and most likely they’re expecting you to put two and two
together and make a run for it. I’ll drive there right away and get
you somewhere safer.”

“
Thank you,” Kate said,
before ending the call. Kate slid the phone back into her concealed
pocket and sat with her hands in her lap, studying the creek once
more. The moon had moved a bit higher in the sky at that point, or
at least it seemed so by its looming reflection in the water. Kate
noticed several frogs hopping in and out of the stream. She smiled
and looked up at the moon. At that moment, she realized something:
that even in the darkest of times, it felt like there would always
be a light to guide her to safety. She thought of Psalm
23.

Please
God
, was her silent prayer,
please keep me safe
.

Kate stood up from her position on the
log and slid her shoe back on. She turned away from the creek and
started back toward her cottage. She could see it sitting in the
distance, a dark silhouette guarded by shadows. Despite the
haunting atmosphere and the panic that attempted to strangle her
with apprehension, Kate walked on through the night without any
fears in her heart or on her mind; she had left them all behind at
the creek.

Psalm 34:
4.
I sought the Lord, and he answered
me and delivered me from all my fears.

Chapter 6
.

Kate finished setting the dining room
table and looked up at the clock. It was almost five o’clock. She
smiled at Bill as he took his seat at the end of the long table.
She turned to head back to the kitchen so she could help Beth bring
in the last of the food, when she heard a vehicle coming up the
road. “Are we expecting guests?”