CHAPTER TWENTY
After I got cleaned up and fed Puff a snack of cabbage and broccoli, I called Swissmen Sweets on my cell phone. Charlotte answered.
“How’s everything going there?”
“Good!” she said with her typical cheerfulness. “We finished all the Cyber Monday orders, and we’re restocking and cleaning up for tomorrow. I know it’s a bit early to be starting to put things away. It’s only three, but the place is dead.”
“That’s great. Listen, since the shop is slow, I’m going to run a few errands.”
There was silence on the other end of the line.
“What?”
“Errands?” she asked, her voice dripping doubt. “You’re going to poke your nose into the case again.”
“Fine. That’s what I’m doing.”
“You should just come right out and say it. It’s not like it’s a secret that’s what you’re up to anyway.”
She had a point.
I said goodbye to Charlotte and headed out the door again. Twenty-five minutes later when I parked in the lot adjacent to the cabinet factory, I wasn’t completely surprised to see Aiden’s BCI SUV already there. It seemed that we had come to the same conclusion about Blaze. The only reason I could think of for him to be there was because he had also learned that Blaze Smith had been born as one Marvin Hersh.
I debated as to whether I should go inside. I didn’t think Aiden would be thrilled to see me. He had asked me to stay out of the case. At the same time, he must have known that there was zero chance of that happening.
Before I could make up my mind, the front door opened, and Aiden and an Amish woman came out. The woman wore men’s work boots under her plain Amish dress and a pair of leather work gloves peeked out of the front pocket of her apron. There was a smudge of soot on her cheek and sawdust in her hair. If this was Marilla Shirk, she was much more hands-on with the family business than I would have first guessed.
I slid down in the front seat, but I knew that was pointless. Aiden would recognize my car. There was nowhere to hide.
As if to prove my point, a few minutes later there was a tap, tap, tap on the roof of my car.
I looked up from my slouched position to find Aiden peering through the driver’s side window with an expression on his face that was a mix of amusement and frustration. I’d seen that look directed at me many times before.
I sat up and rolled down the window. “Oh hey, Aiden.”
“What are you doing hiding in your car like that?” Aiden asked.
“Hiding? I wasn’t hiding.” I struggled to sit up in my seat.
Aiden snorted.
“Agent Brody! Agent Brody!” a woman’s voice called.
Through the windshield, I saw the woman with the work boots stomp in the direction of my car. Aiden stepped away from it to meet her, and I got out.
“Can I help you with something, Marilla?”
So I had been right, and the woman was Marilla Shirk.
“Ya, you can help me,” she snapped. “You find either one of those Hersh brothers and make them pay for what they did to my Allen. Because of them, he was a broken man.” She shook with anger. “If you’re right and Marvin is dead, he got what he justly deserved. Now, my hope is the same for Melvin.”
I shivered. She spoke with so much hate. At the same time, she confirmed what Penny had already told me, that Blaze Smith was Marvin Hersh.
Her dark eyes zeroed in on me. “Who are you?”
“I’m Bailey.”
She folded her arms. “You’re that Englischer who pokes her nose into Amish business. I should not be surprised you’re here. I heard about you from Ruth Yoder.”
So nothing good. Great.
“Are you here to find out what happened to my husband? Because I will tell you. The Hersh brothers are the reason he is dead today.”
“You blame them for Allen’s death?” I asked.
She glared at me. “Aren’t you listening to me? It was all because of the Hersh brothers. If it weren’t for them, he never would have been in any trouble, and he would still be alive today. Being in prison made him ill. He was never the same when he got out.”
There were so many questions running through my head. How did the Hersh brothers get Allen in trouble? How did he die? He’d died last year—how was that related to his being in prison years ago?
“I’m not sorry that Marvin is dead,” she said again defiantly. “If that makes me a bad Amish woman, so be it. I have suffered too much.”
“What happened to cause your husband to go to prison?”
She scowled at me. “There was a fire and a schoolhouse burned down. Allen, Melvin, and Marvin were all there at the start of the fire. Marvin ran and Allen and Melvin stayed to try to put out the flames. The deputies arrested them as they were trying to put out the fire.”
“How did the fire start?” I asked.
“They had been hired to burn the adjacent field for planting. Fire is the quickest way to clear a field. None of them had done it before. And they were sentenced to six years in prison because of an accident.”
I gasped.
Her eyes narrowed. “Ya, that is because the judge hated the Amish. She wanted to make an example of them. Both Allen and Melvin were sentenced to six years. I was pregnant with our first child and was left to raise our son and manage the cabinet business alone. I was able to do it because I knew Allen would come home. What I didn’t know was he would die young because of his ordeal.”
“You said Allen and Melvin were sentenced. What about Marvin?”
“He ran away. No one saw him after that. It was assumed that he left to live Englisch. He not only ran away from the fire, but he abandoned his friend and his brother. I don’t have an ounce of sympathy for him.”
I glanced at Aiden. “Did the authorities search for him?”
Marilla took her gloves from her pocket and squeezed them tight. “They didn’t know about him. Melvin wanted to protect his brother. Why, I don’t know. Why would you protect someone who fled and left you to take the blame? Allen agreed not to tell the deputies about Marvin also being there. I didn’t know about the role Marvin played until Allen was released from prison. By then, he was already sick. Had I known, I would have told the police myself.”
“When was the last time you saw Melvin? Didn’t he work here?”
“He did before the fire. He had the nerve to come back after both he and my husband got out of prison, but Allen turned him away. He didn’t want anything to do with the Hersh brothers ever again. He wanted to start over.” She twisted the gloves in her hands. “Those brothers ruined my husband’s life. He spent six miserable years in prison because of him. He told me some of the horrors that he dealt with every day. He refused to tell me everything. Sadly, I have a gut imagination so I can easily picture how bad it really was for him.”
I could only imagine. “Did you know in advance that Marvin Hersh was coming back to Harvest over the weekend?” I asked.
“Nee. That is a gut thing. If I’d seen Marvin Hersh walking down the street, he would have been dead a lot sooner.” She spun on her heel and stomped back toward the building.
There were few times in my life when I was rendered speechless. This was one of them. Such hate, such an open admission that she’d commit violence. It contradicted everything I knew about the Amish—or thought I knew. Then again, upon reflection, I admitted that the Amish were just as human as the rest of us. They loved, hated, forgave, mourned, struggled just like everyone else. Could I really fault this woman for harboring such horrible feelings? Her life had been terribly impacted and so had her husband’s, all resulting from an accident. Six years in prison for an accident. I could scarcely wrap my head around it. It was little wonder that Zara would include Allen Hersh’s name on her list as one of the Amish men harboring a grudge against her.
Aiden removed his BCI ball cap and rubbed the top of his head. It was a habit that he indulged when he was feeling particularly frustrated. “How did you know about Marilla Shirk?”
“Penny,” I said.
“Your nosy neighbor Penny?”
“One and the same. She recognized Blaze as Marvin at the Thanksgiving meal.” I shoved my cold hands into my pockets. It was time to get out the winter gloves, hats, and scarves. I had put it off long enough.
“How did she recognize him, when no one else did?”
“She thinks the killer did.”
He frowned. “That’s a good point.”
“Was Marilla at the Thanksgiving feast?”
Aiden shook his head. “She doesn’t live in Harvest, nor does she belong to any of the Amish districts that were there.”
“So she’s off the hook? She had a lot of rage against Blaze. . . .”
“That’s one way to put it.” He put his hat back on his head. “I don’t know if I can say that she’s off the hook, but she’s not a prime suspect because she didn’t have opportunity.”
“But she had plenty of motive.”
He nodded.
A light snow began to fall, and I wrapped my arms around myself for warmth. “What did her husband die of?” I asked.
“Cancer.”
“Can you get cancer in prison?”
Aiden shrugged. “There is no way to prove now that his time in prison caused his disease, but that’s what Marilla believes. I don’t think anything is going to change her mind on that.”
Neither did I.
“Where do we go from here?”
Aiden didn’t meet my gaze but kicked the gravel at his feet.
I touched his arm. “What’s going on?”
“I have to go back to Columbus tonight.”
My heart constricted.
“I got a call from my boss. Sheriff Marshall has made a big stink about BCI overstepping its jurisdiction in this case.” He looked at me. “I don’t usually agree with the sheriff, but in this case, he’s right. This should be his case. I guess I got blinded by the chance to be in Holmes County again. I’ve missed being here.” He paused. “I’ve missed you.”
If he missed me, why had I hardly seen him over the last few days? But I said, “I’ve missed you too.”
He smiled.
“But do you really think it’s wise to leave this case to Sheriff Marshall? When was the last time he solved a case correctly?”
“I don’t know the answer to that, but Deputy Little is the point person. He’ll do a good job. I taught him everything he knows. There’s no one better in my book.”
“Do you have to leave right away?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I have until the end of today, and I plan to make the most of it.”
“Good. The next person we need to talk to is Melvin.”
Aiden held up his hand. “Not so fast. The next person I need to talk to is Melvin, not you.”
I folded my arms. “I’m the one who found out Blaze was Marvin.”
“First of all, we have to verify with DNA that he really was Marvin, and second of all, you didn’t figure it out. You suspected it because Penny told you.”
“Do you have a sample of Marvin’s DNA to compare Blaze’s to?” I asked.
Aiden shook his head. “No, but Melvin is his twin brother. The genetic markers will be there for the match.”
I raised my brow. “Identical twin?”
He shook his head. “Fraternal.”
“You really think he’ll just hand over his DNA?” I asked.
“No, which is even more reason you’re not coming with me when I speak to Melvin.”
“Why not?”
“From what we know, he’s a recluse living in the woods. He’s had very little contact with the outside world since he was released from prison.”
It was no wonder that Leon wanted to move away from his father and make it on his own.
“I’ll stop by and see you before I head back to Columbus.” He kissed me on the cheek.
My heart fell.
He looked at me. “I should have told you this before, but I could be in Columbus for a long while. The bureau had to make some changes due to budget cuts, so they thought it was best to transfer me to where there was the most need. Even though I was hired to work in rural areas near the Amish, the crime rate here is a lot lower than it is in the cities. Right now, the cities are where BCI needs me most.”
“I understand.”
“It won’t be forever.”
I bit the inside of my lip to stop myself from asking him, if not forever, how long?
“I’m glad you have this opportunity,” I said, and hoped that I sounded as if I meant it. Aiden deserved this job. He’d worked so hard for so long in the sheriff’s department without the support of the sheriff. It had to be nice to be in a place where he was so valued. Columbus was the biggest city in the state and the state capital. BCI would not have sent him there if they didn’t believe that he was a good fit for the responsibilities the appointment would entail.
He looked down at me. “Your support has meant everything to me, Bailey. You’ve been there for me every step of the way. I can’t thank you enough for that. I know the wedding timeline we talked about last year has been turned upside down. Just know I will make it up to you.” He kissed me. “Now, please go back to the candy shop and leave the murder investigation to Little and me.”
He so easily dismissed me.