Chapter Twenty-Seven
Inside the barn, Phillip and Peter cried in their pen. They hated to be so cooped up, and they had been penned for nearly four hours.
I climbed out of the buggy yet again and untethered Bessie. Ben’s courting buggy sat in the corner of the barn. It was so new that the black paint shone in the light from the two battery-operated lanterns I turned on. I would have to find a way to return the buggy to Ben’s father if I could find him. Before I could do that, I had more pressing problems, like figuring out who’d thrown a rock at me just a little bit ago.
The goats continued to make a fuss.
“You quiet yourselves,” I said. “Let me just put Bessie in her stall, and I will come and speak to you.”
Phillip let out one final cry to let me know that he wasn’t happy with those orders, but then they fell silent.
I led Bessie into her large horse stall and brushed her down as quickly as I could. All the time, the rock with the note wrapped around it felt heavy in my pocket.
Bessie buried her nose in her trough, and I knew she would be all right. I went out of the stall and latched it closed behind me. Then, I put my hand in my coat pocket and withdrew the rock.
The piece of paper around it was simple, lined paper like the sheets we used in school. I removed the paper from the rock, unfolded it, and read what it said. Leave things alone if you know what is good for you! The message was written in a crude scrawl as if the person was trying to disguise his or her handwriting. My hands shook as I gripped the rock for fear of dropping it. I looked around me. I was alone in the barn except for the goats and the horse. If there had been anyone else there, the goats would have let me know.
Phillip and Peter must have sensed something was wrong because they started making a commotion again and no amount of shushing quieted them down.
That’s when I realized they were making a fuss because there was a car coming up the driveway. Oh, why hadn’t I run to the house before opening the note?
“Shhh,” I hushed the goats, and this time they obeyed.
I heard the engine turn off; the car door opened and shut. I shoved the note into my coat pocket for safe keeping and held the rock in my right hand in case I needed to fling it at the intruder. With my free hand, I grabbed the shovel that I used for mucking the stalls.
“Get into the corner of your pen, boys,” I whispered to Phillip and Peter.
They did, and I could see them shaking next to each other. They had sensed my fear, and now were afraid too.
The barn door slid open and a flashlight beam caught me right in the eye. “Millie Fisher!” Lois cried. “Don’t you dare whack me with that shovel!”
The goats ran to their pen door and bounced in excitement. They knew friend from foe, and Lois was most certainly our friend.
“Lois, what are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing. You look like you’ve seen a ghost. I know that the Amish don’t believe in ghosts, but you’ve seen something.”
I lowered the shovel and set it against the wall. I loosened my grip on the rock too.
She blinked at me. “A weapon in each hand? What on earth happened here tonight?”
Phillip jumped in his pen. He had gone from terrified to joyful in the blink of an eye. It took a bit longer for me to shift emotional gears.
My shoulders sagged. “I’m sorry if I scared you, Lois.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Of the two of us, I wouldn’t say I was the scared one. What’s going on?”
I put the rock back in my coat pocket and then removed the note and handed it to her. “When I got my mail at the box tonight, someone hurled this at the buggy. It was attached to the rock that I was holding. If it had hit either Bessie or me in the head . . .”
Lois stared at the note. “Whoever wrote this didn’t want to knock you out. The person wanted to threaten you. It must be about Ben’s death.”
I nodded. “That’s what I think too.”
“You know what this means, don’t you?” she asked, holding up the note.
“That we’re in danger.”
“Yes, that, but also, we are getting close. The perp wouldn’t risk being seen by you and throwing this rock if he or she wasn’t desperate. We should double our efforts and find out who burned down the barn.”
“If only it was that easy. I learned something new about Ben when I was at the Double Stitch meeting tonight.” I went on to tell her Raellen’s revelations about drugs in Ben’s system.
“Drugs! Wow, I would have never pegged Ben as the type.”
“I don’t think he was the type.”
“Everyone who finds out someone they care about is on drugs thinks that,” Lois said. She winced when she saw the expression on my face. “I’m not saying that you’re wrong. We need to talk to Deputy Aiden.”
I nodded.
“We can go in the house, and I will give him a call. It’s time that he was honest with us.”
“I agree.”
I patted Peter between his short horns. “What brought you here anyway? I didn’t expect you to come by tonight. I have to say that I’m quite relieved you did though.”
“Well, it was the strangest thing. I helped Darcy close up the café and went home. I was there for a little while, and I just had this terrible, nagging feeling that I should check on you. I couldn’t call you, of course.” She gave me a measured look when she said that. “So the only answer was to come to your farm. When I got here and you didn’t answer the door, I decided to check the barn to make sure the goats were here. I never expected you to greet me at the barn door with a shovel.”
A feeling of peace came over me. I knew the Good Lord had moved Lois to come and check on me. It gave me comfort to know this, and the fear I had been holding onto all evening started to melt away. I didn’t tell Lois any of this. I knew she would dismiss it, and I was too fragile at the moment to have my comfort in Gotte’s peace called into question.
I exhaled. “Let’s go in the house and call Deputy Aiden as you suggested. I think we all have a lot to talk about.”
She glanced at Phillip and Peter. “What about the goats? Should we leave them here if someone is lurking about?”
I bit my lip. “I’m not sure they would behave themselves in the house.”
“I was thinking that we might let them loose. They would give any intruder a run for his money. If I was a bad guy and two goats ran at me in the dark, I would mess up my shorts.”
I grimaced at the image, but I did think she was right. The goats would guard the house. Besides, I didn’t like the idea of them trapped in the barn. “You’re right.” I lifted the latch to their pen, and they bounded out. Both of them made a beeline for the barn door that Lois had left open behind her. It was as if they were afraid I would change my mind and confine them in the pen again.
I checked on Bessie one more time, and then Lois and I went to the house. When I unlocked the front door, Peaches stood on the threshold and told us what he thought about my coming home so late.
“Wow,” Lois said. “He can really meow. Are you sure he’s not part Siamese?”
“Not that I know of,” I said. “He was born at my niece’s greenhouse. There aren’t a lot of Siamese cats strolling around Amish Country.”
“True.” She removed her coat and then her phone from her pocket. “I’ll call the deputy now.” Lois put the phone to her ear. “Hello, Deputy Aiden. Yes, this is Lois Henry again. So sorry to bother you. However, Millie and I would like to have a little chat with you ASAP . . . It seems we are getting closer to the killer. Someone threw a rock at Millie’s buggy with a threatening message on it. We thought you would like to see it.” She held the phone away from her ear and I heard frustrated shouting on the other end of the phone. When the shouting stopped, she replaced it to her ear. “You can come right now. That would be wonderful. We are at her farm. The goats are out, so mind yourself when you come up the drive. Toodles.”
I folded my arms. “That sounded like it went well.”
She smiled at me. “He’s on his way. Apparently, you just have to say ‘threatening message’ and the cops come running.”
I shook my head and went to the far end of the room where my kitchen was. My little ranch house had previously belonged to a family of Englischers, so it wasn’t set up like a typical Amish home. Instead of a number of smaller rooms, it had an open floor plan, and the living, dining, and kitchen areas were all in one big room. There was a bathroom and two large bedrooms in the back of the house. When I moved in, all the electrical lights had to be removed and the outlets covered. I didn’t have all the wires pulled out of the house because there was a very gut chance that when I passed on, my niece would have to sell the home to an Englisch family. It would be easier for her if the wires were intact. I was at an age when I was beginning to think how to make my own death less troublesome for the loved ones I’d be leaving behind. I had no plans on dying any time soon though.
Headlights turned into the driveway. Lois went to the front window. “That’s Deputy Aiden’s SUV. Wow, he got here fast, and there is another police car behind his.” She covered her mouth as if to stifle a laugh. “And your goats are giving them a proper greeting.”
I winced. I hoped that Phillip and Peter would have the gut sense not to head butt any of the law enforcement officers.
Lois went to the front door and opened it. A moment later, Deputy Aiden and Deputy Little stepped inside. Deputy Aiden’s lips were pressed into a thin line. He wasn’t happy, and I thought a lot of that had to do with Lois’s phone call. I didn’t think Deputy Aiden was the type to make light of rocks being thrown at Amish buggies, and I liked him even more for that.
He nodded at us. “Lois, Millie, can you give me a concise summary of what happened?”
I jumped in because “concise” wasn’t one of Lois’s strengths, and besides, it was my story to tell. I quickly summarized the events from when I’d left Ruth’s home. “When I got into the barn, I unwrapped the rock and found this note.” I held out the note and rock for Deputy Aiden to take. I was certain that he wasn’t going to allow me to keep either of them. Truth be told, I didn’t want them in my home. There was something dark and sinister about them, and I didn’t want them in my peaceful house.
Deputy Aiden nodded at Deputy Little, and the younger deputy, who wore plastic gloves, took the rock and put it inside a plastic bag marked EVIDENCE. I swallowed hard when I saw that word. This was a serious situation indeed.
I was more shaken up by the thrown rock than I cared to admit. I knew it had come close to my hand and therefore to my head. I could have been seriously hurt or even killed.
Deputy Aiden slipped on gloves of his own before he took the note from my hand and read it. He nodded at Deputy Little a second time, and the younger deputy was ready with another, much smaller, evidence bag for the note.
“Go lock those both in the evidence locker in my car, and then I want you to search the grounds for any sign of intruders. Make sure everything is secure. Also, go into Millie’s barn and take photos of where the rock hit the buggy.”
“Yes, Sir,” Deputy Little said, and he spun on his heel and walked out the door, holding the two plastic bags.
After Deputy Little left, Deputy Aiden turned back to me and put his hands on his hips. “Millie, what on earth have you gotten yourself into?”
He was over six feet tall, and I was no more than five feet one, five feet two in my padded sneakers. Even so, I put my hands on my own hips and stared right back at him. “Why didn’t you tell me Ben had drugs in his system when he died?”
The deputy sheriff let his arms fall to his sides.
In the kitchen, the kettle whistled. Lois patted my arm. “I can get that, Millie. You and Deputy Aiden sit down for a nice chat.”
I nodded. I sat on the sofa, and Deputy Aiden perched on the edge of a rocking chair with care. I could see why he was afraid it might break. The rocking chair was over one hundred years old and had belonged to my husband’s grandmother, but it had survived for so long because it was sturdily made. The rocking chair wasn’t going to break anytime soon, if ever. I suspected it would outlast me, my niece, and her children.
“Millie,” the deputy began again.
I wasn’t going to allow him to lecture me. “Deputy Aiden, I respect you. You’re a gut man and a fine sheriff’s deputy. Everyone in the Amish community knows that if we have trouble in the county, you are the one we should go to, but you didn’t tell me about the drugs. Instead, the news took me by surprise.”
He leaned forward in the chair and it rocked slightly. He straightened up. “I’m so sorry, Millie. That was classified information. I don’t know how it leaked out of the department. I didn’t tell you and I didn’t tell anyone outside of the department.”
“What happened?”
“At the scene, the evidence team gathered a quarter of a tray of brownies that were near Ben’s body on the floor. They were taken into evidence. When they went to the lab to be tested, it was discovered that there was THC in the brownies.”
“What’s that?”
“Marijuana, pot. A common drug and easy to come by. It’s even more so now with medical marijuana being legalized in Ohio. As a law enforcement officer, I’m not really worried about marijuana. What we do worry about is when it leads to more dangerous substances.”
I swallowed. “Were there more dangerous substances evident in Ben’s body?”
He shook his head. “No.”
Lois handed me a cup of tea. “Would you like one too, deputy?”
“That’s very kind, but no, thank you.”
Lois sat beside me with her own cup of tea. I smelled honey and whipped cream in hers. She’d made mine just the way I liked it: black. No sugar. No cream.
I didn’t sip my tea. I only held onto it for the warmth it provided. It was a cool night, and there was a chill in the house. I hadn’t yet fired up my wood-burning stove for the season. Perhaps I thought I could hold onto the warmer days if I held off.
“How did Ben die then?” I asked. “Were the brownies involved?”
“The coroner still says that Ben died of smoke inhalation, but the brownies are what knocked him out. It is very possible that he never heard the fire as we thought. He was passed out. If he was the one who ate almost an entire nine-by-twelve-inch tray of brownies, and if, as I suspect, he wasn’t someone who had used drugs before, it could easily have incapacitated him enough that he wouldn’t have been woken by the fire.”
I shook my head. “I can’t believe that Ben would knowingly take drugs. He was working too hard and had too much to live for. He was trying to prove to Tobias that he should be allowed to court Tess. That doesn’t sound like a young man who would be so careless, does it?”
Deputy Aiden shook his head. “No, and I tend to agree with you. It’s my theory, although not everyone in the department agrees with it, that someone gave those brownies to Ben, wanting to knock him out so they could start the fire.”
I shivered. “In that case, the person who gave him the brownies would have known that Ben was inside the flea market during the fire. That’s so cold blooded.”
Deputy Aiden nodded. “It’s cold-blooded murder.”