Thursday, December 21
The first thing Susanna noticed were flashing lights. Then she noticed the trace of smoke in the air. There had been a fire. Though her brain was urging her to run, she froze. “Amanda, that’s our house, ain’t it?”
Her sister looked just as taken aback. She inhaled sharply before racing forward without saying a word.
Susanna started running, too. As she got closer, she spied the remains of a shed near two men with fire hoses. She stopped abruptly. A thousand questions ran through her head, but there was only one that mattered. “Is my family all right?” she asked the first person she found.
The fireman blinked at her in surprise before bending down so they were eye level. “They’re fine,” he answered immediately. While she processed that and tried to get a grip on herself, he continued in a calm, steady tone. “Only an old wooden shed burned down, miss. That one there on the edge of your property. No one was nearby. Not even any animals.”
“You’re sure?” Her voice was trembling, but she didn’t care.
“I’m positive, miss. Believe me, I would never sugarcoat something like that.”
Susanna liked how he phrased that. His words sounded strong and sure. The way his voice sounded thick and almost blanketed in his Kentucky drawl convinced her that he was speaking straight from the heart.
Feeling a bit better, she began scanning the area for her family. There were several firemen and law enforcement people there . . . she was able to pick out her father. But where was everyone else?
Just as she started to panic, her mother rushed toward her.
“Susanna! Praise God!”
Susanna noticed that Mamm was wearing a light-gray dress, black stockings, and boots; her blond hair was neatly pinned up under her white kapp, but she didn’t have a scarf or a black bonnet on for warmth. She didn’t even have on a sweater.
“Sue, thank the good Lord that you and Amanda are finally here where I can see you,” Mamm said as soon as they reached each other. Enfolding her in her arms, she said, “I knew you were in town, but this has surely got me rattled.”
Susanna hugged her tightly, all while attempting to ascertain just how chilled she was. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw all the emergency vehicles. I was so scared, at first I could hardly move.”
“Daed was inside the kitchen with me, having some soup, when we heard a loud bang,” Mamm said as she pulled away. “I didn’t know what was happening.”
“Are you all right? Is Daed?”
“We’re fine. Just shaken up, but that will pass, with the Lord’s help.”
“We need to get you warm, Mamm. Don’t you want to go inside?”
“I can’t. I need to see what is happening.”
Susanna supposed she couldn’t argue with that. She could no more go sit inside than walk back toward town. After hastily unbuttoning her coat, she held it out to her mother. “Here, now. Put this on.” When Mamm tried to refuse, Susanna started wrapping it around her mother’s frail shoulders herself. “Please, Mamm. You were so sick.”
Without another word, her mother fastened the black wool cloak around her shoulders. Then, as if she couldn’t bear to stop touching her, she grasped Susanna’s hand again. “Though I knew you and Amanda were in town, I am still mighty relieved to see that you are standing here safe and sound.”
“I feel the same way.” Remembering Amanda’s actions, she grinned. “When I saw the fire truck, I froze. But our Amanda just started running over here, just like she was a track star.”
Chuckling softly, Mamm pointed to her left. “Looks like your sister got here just fine on her own. She’s over there talking to your father and the deputy.”
When Susanna turned, she noticed that Dale and Neil were standing off to the side, speaking with another fireman. It seemed like just about everyone she knew had arrived . . . but she didn’t see her younger sister.
“Where’s Traci?”
A new line of worry entered her mother’s expression. “Traci? Well, your sister was kind of shaken up, and no wonder, too. She wanted to go sit with Midge.”
“But she’s all right?”
“Jah. She is fine.” A light of humor lit her mother’s blue eyes. “She simply needed to be with our new horse. She does love those animals.”
“Indeed. She always has.” At last Susanna felt like she could draw a real breath. Midge, their new buggy horse . . . they’d all felt the loss of Star deeply. God had given them a blessing when Daed found Midge, an eight-year-old mare with an easygoing disposition and, they were discovering, a fondness for carrots.
She’d been an older couple’s horse, and hadn’t gotten much attention or exercise the last couple of years. She seemed delighted to be a part of their family, and especially loved Traci.
“Do you want me to go check on her, Mamm?”
“You can if you’d like, but I don’t think there is any need. I imagine Traci is likely pleased to be away from all of the commotion around here.” Looking around at the trucks parked in the field, especially the one that still had its blinking lights on, Susanna’s mother wrapped her arms around her waist. “I’m grateful for these men, of course. They got here in time to prevent that fire from spreading. But it is quite jarring at the moment.”
“Everything is going to be okay, Mamm.”
Tears filled her mother’s eyes. “I hope so, but I fear that we might have said that one too many times. I feel as if I’m in an awful dream. Before we moved here, I had never spoken to a policeman. Now I know their names.” Swiping her eye with the side of her hand, she shook her head. “It’s a lot to take in.”
Susanna couldn’t disagree. “I feel the same way.”
“It’s becoming obvious that someone doesn’t want us here.”
She was so worried about her mother’s health and state of mind, Susanna pushed aside her desire to stand in the thick of things. “Mamm, how about we go inside and I make you some tea? Daed and Amanda can tell us what the police and firemen said later on.”
She shook her head. “I’m not sick.” Giving Susanna an exasperated look, she added, “You don’t need to worry about me any longer. Stop fussing. I am fine.”
Stung, Susanna tried to hide her hurt. “You know I fuss because I care.”
“And I appreciate that. But I am fine.” With a new edge of steel in her voice, Mamm said, “I’m not going to start hiding, either. I want to know all that is being discussed . . . and what I can do to stop all this nonsense.” Before she could comment on that, Mamm breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, good. It looks like your father knows something. I’m going to go see what it is.”
Susanna was about to follow but stopped when she watched her mother reach for her father’s hand. They didn’t often do things like that, so she decided to give them some time alone. Instead, she gave in to temptation and walked over to where Dale and Neil were standing with Deputy Beck.
The three men stopped their discussion when she approached.
“Hey, Sue,” Neil said the moment she got close. “You okay?”
“I don’t know. I still am not sure what happened.”
“As far as we can tell, someone set fire to your shed,” Deputy Beck said. “Your father said he heard a sudden loud noise and then the fire erupted.”
The way they were looking at each other, like that was significant, was confusing. “What does that mean?”
“That the fire wasn’t an accident,” Neil said.
Not an accident. It had been set on purpose. “You sound so sure,” she whispered.
“Of course, everyone is going to be investigating it further and will be looking for accelerants or any other clues that it was set deliberately, but it seems likely. I’m sorry, Miss Schwartz,” the deputy said.
Staring at the smoking embers, she murmured, “Is there a way to figure out who set it?”
“The fire marshal will have a better answer, but it’s going to be tough,” the deputy said after a moment. “Short of trying to trace whoever purchased the accelerant or starter? I don’t know what they can do.”
She looked at her parents, who were standing close together, her mother clinging to her father’s hand for support. “My mother is crying, Deputy Beck. And my parents—all of us—have been through so much already. When are you going to start taking everything that is happening to us seriously?”
Neil frowned. “Susanna, I know you’re upset, but we already talked about this. You mustn’t blame—”
“No, I can take it,” Deputy Beck said. “She’s exactly right. I fear we should have been working more proactively on this case.”
That sounded a lot like he knew they hadn’t done much but were now going to start trying harder.
That was small comfort. Too many awful things had happened already.
First, she’d been in the buggy accident. She’d not only gotten a concussion, but she’d been banged up and bruised. Then the bridge Traci had been walking on broke. She’d fallen into the frozen creek and got her dress stuck. Traci could have drowned!
And now, with the shed set on fire—any one of these things could have seriously hurt or killed members of her family!
Feeling tears well in her eyes, she first tried to blink them away, then swiped at them angrily with her hand. But they still kept coming.
Almost at once, three handkerchiefs were pressed into her hands. Grabbing one, she turned and started walking. Crying was not going to help anything. She needed to get control of herself!
But unfortunately, her body didn’t seem in any hurry to listen to what her head was saying. Instead of dissipating, her tears increased. Soon they were wracking her body. Leaning against a wooden post, she sighed and gave in. Maybe what she needed to do was simply cry. Cry hard and let out everything she was feeling.
Then, suddenly, she wasn’t alone any longer.
“Hey,” Neil said as he wrapped his arms around her. “I’m sorry.”
Giving in to temptation, she rested her head against his chest. Around a hiccup, she said, “What are you sorry for?”
“For trying to make you stop,” he said, pulling her even closer. “You have every reason to be upset. Every reason and every right. Cry all you want.”
Part of her wanted to snap at him. To tell him that she didn’t need his permission. But again, it seemed she was defenseless against a higher power. The tears started again.
“I’m going to get you all wet,” she mumbled.
“I don’t care.” He rubbed her back. “I’ve got nothing else planned for the day and plenty of shirts to change into.”
“I . . . I hope I don’t soak multiple shirts.”
“Shh, now. Just relax.”
His arms were warm. His body, so much bigger than hers, was solid and so strong. But what drew her to him, she knew, was his kindness.
Finally, she closed her eyes and sighed deeply. He was right. She needed to try to relax. She needed to give herself permission to fall apart. She now had someone to help pick up the pieces.
And if someone was now setting outbuildings on fire, things had escalated, indeed.