“Yes Mama. Yes, I hear them now.”
I listened as my mother barked orders at my father on the other end of the line. When I thought I had her attention again I told her, “Mama, I don’t need you to come down here. Jef isn’t even here and Mel just called to say she’s on her way home. We got this. You just get the store closed up properly and I’ll call you if I need you.”
“Well, where is Jef?” she asked me.
“He’s fine Mama; I gotta go. They’re knocking.”
I hustled from the kitchen where I’d been trying to put something together for Mel for dinner, across the sitting room to the front door we rarely used. After jiggling the old skeleton key in the lock for several seconds before it decided to turn and then sliding back the nearly as ancient bolt that helped to keep it all secure, I was finally able to wrench the door open.
I cracked the screen door wide enough to stick my head around it. “Yes, may I help you?” I asked the man and woman standing there as though I hadn’t already been expecting them.
“We’re here to speak with Sheriff Crane,” the man said.
“I see. Well, she isn’t home yet but she’s on her way. Please, come in.”
I stepped back and let them pass by me into the sitting room. Instead of the usual blue tones typical for the Amish, they were both dressed all in black even down to the wool coat the man wore and the heavy cloak the woman had on. They both reeked of a mixture of mothballs and an acrid smoke smell that had my nose twitching in distaste. I tried not to breathe in too deeply.
“Are you the babysitter?” the woman asked me then.
“No. I live here,” I told them without volunteering any more. They might have been dressed like they were mourning someone they cared about but I wasn’t ready to give them an inch; not yet.
“Pardon me,” he began, “when do you expect the Sheriff?”
“Soon. She’s on her way. Please, have a seat. Can I get either of you anything?”
“No thank you,” he said. “We would like to see the baby; Jef I believe it is?”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t even know the two of you.”
“I’m Samuel Hershberger and this is my wife. The infant is our grandchild.”
“The Sheriff told us he was in the hands of her family this morning. We’ve come for him,” she said to me then as she nodded to her husband. “Now that Katie is gone, it’s our obligation to see to his care and raise him.” Her tone was polite but insistent.
“I do beg your pardon but you must have misunderstood Mel when you spoke with her. Jef isn’t here.”
“He’s not?” she asked.
“Where is he?” he asked at the same time.
“Bear with me just a moment, please. I need to check on dinner and then I’ll be right back.” Now it was my turn to be polite but firm.
In the kitchen, I quickly turned a skillet of chops I’d dug out of the freezer and managed to thaw and get on the stove just before Mama called, down to low and then I covered them. They’d just have to simmer for a bit, I thought. Then, I grabbed my cell and hustled through the little hallway off the back of the kitchen that led to the laundry room and the main bathroom.
Once I was safely closed into the bathroom, I called Mel.
“Where are you?” I begged, as soon as she answered.
“I’m six or seven minutes out and I’m driving so I really don’t want to be on the phone, babe.”
“Well hurry, then.”
“Is something wrong?”
“Katie’s parents are here. They came for Jef. He’s still at your sisters but they think he’s here.”
“Hang tight, I’m on the way.”
###
“Mr. and Mrs. Hershberger, again, my condolences on your loss.”
Mel must have broken speed records getting home after my call. Her truck had crunched into the driveway and around the horse and buggy and then she had maneuvered into her usual parking spot just a few minutes later.
As she took over with the Hershberger’s, I pretended to excuse myself and retreated past the stairs at the edge of the sitting room and back and around the corner into the kitchen again where I could listen in, unobserved.
“I’m sorry to have to do this with you right now, but I expect that the Coroner will try and release Katie’s body tomorrow or early Thursday so, if you would want to, you could have her back for a traditional funeral.”
“There isn’t any need to rush,” Samuel said. “Given the circumstances of Katie’s excommunication, there will only be a small private funeral at our home, on Friday.”
“What’s this?” I heard Mel ask.
“A coffin is being prepared for her. The name and number of a driver is on that paper. He’ll transport Katie back to us.”
“I’ll see that the Coroner’s staff gets this,” Mel told him.
Mrs. Hershberger was of one mind. As soon as Mel invited Samuel to sit again, she said, “We’re here for Jef, Sheriff. You told us he was in the care of your family. We thank you for that but now it’s our obligation to raise the child.”
“I appreciate that but, that’s not how this works. Katie had emancipated herself from you. She was on her own at the time of her death. Her son becomes a ward of the state, however temporarily, and the state will decide where he should go.”
“Aye, if we were English, that might be true, but we don’t follow English law. We follow God’s law,” Samuel said.
“Your customs, Mr. Hershberger, don’t trump state law in this case. The infant will be turned over to the proper authorities and you’ll have the opportunity to make your case with them.”
“So he’s still with you then?” the woman asked Mel.
The skillet of chops on the stove popped and sputtered and I missed Mel’s response to them. Realizing I needed to pay attention to our dinner before it burned, I covered the couple of steps to the stove and took the lid off the pan. Grease from the fat continued to pop and hiss at me. I turned the meat over, recovered the pan, and checked to see that the flame was still set on low.
By the time I crept back to my listening post, Mel had all but convinced the Hershbergers that the baby was safe and she’d see to it that they were treated fairly by the county courts. I kicked myself for not turning the chops off entirely when I first had the chance.
We were eating dinner about 20 minutes later when Kris knocked and then let herself in. I figured she’d seen the Hershbergers and came by to be nosy. I was right.
“Were those Katie’s parents here just a bit ago?
Mel, chop bone poised in the air, her mouth full, just nodded at her sister.
“Oh, I thought so,” she said. “That’s why I waited.”
“Waited for what?” I asked her.
“Well, I uh figured maybe you two would want a break tonight. Lance is on the road and, really, Jef is already asleep...I can just keep him for the night if it’s all right with you two but, if I do, I need formula. We only took the bottle Beth was already feeding him when we left before.
###
“The news is reporting her death now and showing the same picture,” I called out to Mel who was in our ensuite brushing her teeth.
She stepped out, brush still in hand and foam on her lips, and watched the local newscaster as he talked about where Katie was last seen and gave the hotline number for anyone with any information.
“Where does that ring to?”
“Shane’s desk,” she mumbled around a mouthful of the paste and then retreated to the bathroom to spit.
“How long have they been putting that number out?” I called to her.
She came back out and moved toward the bed. “Since the noon newscasts, today.”
“Have you gotten any leads?”
She shook her head. “Nothing worthwhile yet. Mostly wannabe psychics and assorted prank callers.”