Secrets in the Grave (Serenity's Plain Secrets Book 3) (18 page)

The other two nodded in unison, but not Arlo. He pushed the stray hairs from his face and stared back at me. His blatant disregard for authority didn’t surprise me. There was one in every group. The deep emotions swirling around in the depths of his brown eyes got my attention. For this guy, it was personal.

“You can’t keep me out of the settlement. I’ve got just as much right to be there as anyone else,” he taunted.

“Not if you’re breaking the law, you don’t,” I said.

Arlo chuckled. “You have no idea what’s going on out there. Crazy shit that you wouldn’t believe.”

“Try me,” I challenged.

Arlo took a deep breath and looked away. When he faced me, his face was set in stone and his eyes glinted.

“Whatever I’ve done was to protect my girl. No one else will,” Arlo breathed.

I swallowed. “Who’s your girl?”

“Hannah Kuhns.”

17

SERENITY

T
en minutes later, Todd and I had Arlo Thomas inside the cruiser. Ethan, Davie, and Otis were waiting for his return in the diner.

“Am I under arrest?” Arlo asked from the backseat. He was still playing the tough guy, but I’d heard the crack in his voice. Arlo was off balance now, just the way I wanted.

“So tell me how you and Hannah Kuhns hooked up in the first place.” I shifted in my seat to get a better view of Arlo’s face.

“She was at the stockyard with some of the Amish girls the same day I met Eli.” He shrugged and blushed at the same time. “I asked him to introduce us. He did and we sort of hit it off. She’s a lot quieter than the girls I’m used to. With her daddy gone, she needed a man in her life, if you know what I mean.”

The smirk returned and I wanted to smack his face. I took a deeper breath. “No, I don’t know what you mean. Please explain.”

Arlo met my gaze unflinchingly. “She wanted to fuck. I obliged her.”

Todd made a growling noise and swiveled in the driver’s seat. “Watch your mouth or I’ll haul your ass into lockup for popping the Peachey house last night.”

“What are talking about? I was at Charlie’s Pub. There’s at least a dozen people who saw me there,” Arlo said.

I caught the surprised look on Arlo’s face at Todd’s accusation. He wasn’t lying. Todd licked his lips, raising his brows at me.

I changed tactics. “Listen, Arlo, someone took a shot at the Peachy house last night. I was there and saw a sedan, similar to yours, speeding away. Given your involvement with Hannah and the bad blood between you and Eli, I have enough to take you in for formal questioning.” I exhaled, putting on a show of hesitancy. “Or, if you have any information that might help us out, you can avoid that kind of trouble.”

Arlo laughed and then sighed. “One of the Amish drivers drives a car like mine, only it’s black. You might want to talk to her about it. That’s all I got for you. If you’re going to arrest me, then read me my rights. Otherwise, I’m out of here.”

“We know where to find you,” was all I said.

Todd got out of the cruiser and opened the door for Arlo. When Todd climbed back into the driver’s seat, I watched Arlo saunter back into the diner like he didn’t have a care in the world, even though the rain was pouring down onto his head.

The rain came down harder and a few seconds later, Todd had to turn up the wiper blades to see out the windshield at all.

“What a prick. A guy has to be a lowlife to go and do that to an Amish girl,” Todd commented, not putting the car into gear yet.

“She’s eighteen, old enough to decide who she wants to sleep with,” I replied, too distracted to focus entirely on my
partner. The streaks of water making paths down the glass darkened my mood.

“Hopefully, she can move on and forget about him. That would be the best thing for a girl like her. If the bishop finds out she was screwing around with an outsider like that, she’ll be in a lot of trouble.”

“She might already be in trouble.” I glanced away, but not before I saw the look of shock cross over Todd’s face.

“Oh, shit. That would be really bad,” Todd commented.

“Maybe even more so than you can imagine.” I met Todd’s gaze. “You know what happened to her sister.”

Todd put the car into gear. “Are we tracking down the Amish driver with the black sedan or visiting some other Amish folk?”

I was contemplating his question when Rosie’s voice came over the radio asking for assistance with a vehicular accident on Route 48.

I smiled at Todd. “You take the wreck. My tires should be ready by now. If you don’t mind dropping me off at my brother-in-law’s repair shop, I’ll be good to go.”

Todd snorted. “You get to have all the fun.”

The rain turned to drizzle and the sky opened up to reveal a rainbow in the distance.

Ironically, it appeared to be dropping from the sky right into the Amish settlement. I wasn’t sure whether that was a good sign or not.

The roads were still slick when I entered the settlement, but faint sunshine sprinkled out through the clouds. A stiff
breeze bent the trees down, indicating the rain would soon be returning.

Stuck behind a buggy going about five miles per hour, I backed off, not wanting to push the driver to work the brown, sweaty horse any harder than it already was.

As we rounded the bend, I noticed a crowd gathered at the end of Moses and Anna Bachman’s driveway. A few were boys mounted on fidgeting horses, the rest were women and children. Their colorful dresses whipped around their legs in the wind, catching my eye. I recognized Anna, David’s mother at once. The buggy pulled to a stop when it reached the crowd and was swamped by the onlookers.

I eased on the brakes, leaning out the window for a better look. Aaron Esch stepped out of the buggy, blocking the road. I pulled off into a little stretch of grass and cut my engine. I’d barely stepped out of the car when Anna spotted me. Her hand shot up and she hurried towards me, Aaron right behind her.

“Sheriff, we need your help,” Anna called out.

I ran to them. We came together in the middle of the road.

“What’s the emergency?” I pulled my cell phone from my pocket.

“It’s my little granddaughter, Christina, and her friend, Lucy. They’ve been poisoned by cowbane,” Anna reached out and grabbed my hand. You must take them to the hospital or they’ll die.”

I didn’t even know what cowbane was, and the distance to the hospital was timely, even if I drove the children there myself. “Where are the girls?”

Anna pointed up the road. “At the next farm. Lucy’s brother rode over to tell us. Aaron just happened to be passing by.”

I looked up at the bishop and saw the hesitancy in his eyes. “The time it takes to get them to the hospital might be too much.” He tugged on his long, white beard. “There is another option.”

I held my breath, waiting for him to say it.

“I just left Jonas’ place. He’s there and so is Ada Mae. They might be able to help.” The bishop’s words lacked firmness.

“No, I don’t want his hands on my granddaughter,” Anna protested.

I looked back at the bishop and saw the intense conflict on his face. “It might be the only way to save them.” He turned to me. “Go to the Peachey’s, tell them that the girls were blowing whistles made from the hollow stems of water hemlock. They’ll understand and know what to bring. Call your English ambulance on the way there. If the children survive, they’ll need hospital care.”

Aaron Esch was an intelligent man, I knew that. His commanding presence couldn’t be taken lightly either. His plan was as sound as any that I could come up with.

I ran back to my car and shouted over my shoulder, “Clear the road, bishop. I don’t want another tragedy on my hands.”

As I made the U-turn, the bishop waved his hands, getting everyone away from the road. My heart pounded as I hit the gas pedal and dialed central dispatch.

Once again, a simple visit to the settlement to ask a few questions had turned into a race to save someone’s life.

The thought trickled away when I pictured Daniel’s little niece, Christina. I’d saved her life the previous fall when the child had slipped into a hole dug for a new ice house that had
filled with rainwater. If I hadn’t done CPR on her, she would have died.

Her life was one again in jeopardy. It made me question the workings of the universe.

I said a silent prayer for the girl as I pressed the gas pedal harder.

18

DANIEL

M
a’s recorded message on my cellphone had been a jumbled mess of German and English. When I pulled in the Stolzfus’ driveway, I wasn’t sure what was going on other than that my niece and her friend had been poisoned. Luckily, I had been only a few miles away giving an estimate for new construction on a house when she’d called.

Seeing Serenity’s car, along with several buggies, made my stomach clench. My girlfriend seemed to be a magnet for emergencies.

I squeezed through a small crowd of women and children waiting on the porch, slipping through the screen door without bothering to knock. The empty kitchen was dimly lit from the natural light of the rainy day outside.

I followed the sound of muted voices to the wooden staircase around the corner. Taking the steps two at a time, I made my way to the second floor. Holding my breath, I peeked into the room where the voices were coming from.

I made eye contact with Serenity. Her face was tight. My sister, Rebecca, was on one side of the bed, holding Christina
upright in her lap. My niece was soaked in sweat and visibly shaking. Mrs. Stolzfus was beside Rebecca, holding her own little girl in her arms in the same manner. A quick glance showed her to be in the same state as Christina.

Ada Mae shook a glass bottle in her hand and poured its contents into two cups. Ma dropped a straw into each cup. She took one of them and thrusted it at Rebecca, who forced the straw into Christina’s mouth. Ada Mae brought the other cup close to second girl’s lips, mumbling encouraging words.

My heart raced as the scene unfolded. I was unable to do anything to help and that bothered me. Jonas raised his hand above his head and prayed out loud. The women in the room alternated from offering words of encouragement to praying. My gaze drifted back to Serenity.

She was staring at Christina, her mouth set in a grim line. When Jonas’ voice grew louder, her eyes shifted to him.

There was a mesmerizing quality to the man’s voice. He had evangelistic flare, a kind of charisma that most people weren’t born with. He was confident in his words, like he believed someone was listening.

A gush of warm, stormy wind blew in from the opened window, but no one turned their heads to acknowledge it. The light rain tapped on the tin roof, giving the attempt to save the girls’ lives a quieter, less urgent feel.

One of the words I had recognized over the phone call from Ma was
cowbane
, otherwise known as water hemlock. It was a highly poisonous weed that grew freely in many pastures in the area. Oftentimes, livestock were poisoned by ingesting the plants. Depending on the part of the plant and how much they ate, they’d show signs of poisoning within minutes.
Abdominal pain, tremors and seizures soon followed. Usually the animal died.

When I was growing up, a boy in the community had taken a bite out of the root of the plant on a dare. The roots held the most poison. The boy died a few hours later. Even the doctors in the hospital couldn’t save him.

The Stolzfus girl was the first to begin coughing. Ada Mae was ready with a towel to catch the girl’s vomit when she began throwing up. Her mother cried and thanked God. The child wasn’t out of the woods, but throwing up some of the poison would help.

Serenity’s hand curled around mine when I reached her side, and looked down at her. She forced a smile and rubbed my hand. I put my arm around her shoulders and squeezed. Our gazes returned to little Christina.

Ma sat on the edge of the bed, her eyes closed and her mouth working in silent prayer. Rebecca continued to urge Christina to drink the dark liquid.

Sirens blared in the distance and Serenity looked up. She let go of my hand and disappeared through the doorway. Her footsteps pounded down the staircase.

Even though I barely knew my niece, my heart clenched at the sight of her possibly dying right in front of me. The combination of my sister’s and mother’s grief wafted around them, like a punch of solidness in the air.

Christina shook, bouncing in her mother’s arms. Jonas prayed louder, asking the Lord to leave the girl with her family, but allowing that if Christina was to be at his side this day, that her delivery be painless and brief.

The words echoed in my mind. What if it were my child lying there? Could I so easily give her up if that’s what God intended?

The coughing fit that followed Christina’s shaking caused her to throw up into Ma’s apron. The smile that spread onto Ma’s face showed her pleasure that the drink had worked.

Serenity burst into the room with the two paramedics I’d seen at the Kuhns’ farm days earlier.

Ada Mae spoke up, directing her words to the female paramedic. “We gave the girls activated charcoal. They both threw up. It’s water hemlock poisoning. Seems they were using the stems as blowing whistles.”