CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Deputy Little shone the flashlight down the narrow lane in front of Aiden’s car. It was about the width of two adults. I corrected myself. It wasn’t a lane; it was little more than a path.
I shivered. “Do you think Aiden went down that way?”
Deputy Little didn’t answer. Instead, he walked up to the car and tried all the doors. They were all locked. Then he shone his flashlight in through the windows.
I tried to peek around his shoulder, but from my angle I couldn’t see anything but the glare from the windows. “Do you see anything?”
“Not anything that will tell us if Aiden went down that path.”
I looked at my phone. It showed that I had called Aiden five times that evening and sent him ten text messages. Surely, if he got that many messages from me, he would have responded. He had to know I would only pester him so often if something was really wrong.
I put my hand on the hood of Aiden’s car. It was cold. That could’ve been a result of the temperature continuing to drop dramatically, or, more likely, it spoke to the fact that Aiden had arrived here some time ago. Neither thought comforted me.
“Do you need to call backup?” I asked. “Maybe some other deputies should be here to help look for him?”
Deputy Little shook his head. “Not yet. I told you what would happen if anyone in the department finds out that Aiden is still working on Blaze Smith’s murder.”
“But . . .”
“I will call them if it gets bad. Before I do that, I’ll just see what I can find out. I’ll walk down the path a little and scope out the area.” He walked to the front of the car.
“What about the booby traps?”
He stopped midstride. “I forgot about those. Wasn’t Leon going to tell us where they are?”
“I don’t know where they all are, but I can tell you some.”
I pivoted quickly to see Leon standing at the top of the path just behind Aiden’s car.
“You didn’t think I was really going to sit in the car all this time?” Charlotte said. “Did you?” She shook her head. “I had a nice talk with Leon, and we both think it’s best if he helps the two of you so that we can all go home.”
“Are you willing to help, Leon?” I asked. The Amish might think of him as an adult because he’d graduated from eighth grade, but in the English world that I lived in, a fifteen-year-old was still a minor and needed extra protection.
“I’ll help,” he said. Leon’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down in the glare of Deputy Little’s flashlight. “I want to help.”
“All right,” Deputy Little said. Some of the sternness had gone out of his voice.
If Aiden’s life wasn’t potentially in danger, I would’ve been shooing Leon back to the car, but as we had no idea what to expect, I said, “So what kind of things does your father have in store for us?”
The glow of Deputy Little’s flashlight glimmered off Leon’s eyeglasses. “He didn’t want any cars coming back by the cabin so he put nails and screws about a third of the way down this narrow road. That was to keep cars away. Sometimes people would see them in time and turn around; sometimes their tires would get blown out. It didn’t happen often. There are not many people in this world who want to come talk to my father.”
“What else?” Deputy Little asked.
“There are a lot of bear traps and rabbit snares in the woods. I don’t know where they all are. Stay on the path. If you go off, there’s no telling what you could step on.”
“Aren’t traps illegal?” I asked.
“Yes,” Deputy Little said. “Because they’re inhumane. Ohio outlawed them decades ago.”
“Well, let’s go,” Charlotte said. “The only way to know if Aiden is down this path is to look.” She stepped in front of the car.
Deputy Little caught her arm. “No, the three of you stay here by Aiden’s car while I search.”
Charlotte looked up at him. “Luke, I’m not letting you go in there by yourself.”
“You don’t have a choice. I’m the officer here. I’m trained to deal with things like this.”
Charlotte folded her arms. “I’m not budging.”
The deputy’s jaw twitched. “Charlotte,” I said. “How about if you stay here with Leon and I will go with Deputy Little?”
She looked as if she was going to argue with me too. I pulled her aside. “Please. I won’t let anything happen to Luke, I promise, but I’m worried about Leon. He needs someone here with him.”
She looked over her shoulder at the Amish teen, who had his arms wrapped around his waist and his chin bent down to his chest. He seemed to be trying to make himself as small as possible. “All right, but I’m only doing it for Leon because he’s a gut kid. I don’t think many people have cared for him in his life.”
I didn’t think so either.
We walked back to Deputy Little.
“Charlotte will stay here with Leon,” I said. “I’m going with you. If we don’t see anything in fifteen minutes of searching, you will call in reinforcements. I don’t care what repercussions this might have on Aiden’s career. His safety is more important.”
Deputy Little nodded. “Agreed.”
Charlotte and I stood in front of the deputy with our arms folded. We were a united front.
Deputy Little’s shoulders sagged. “Fine. Bailey, come along. But you stay close to me all the time. Don’t wander off.”
“Got it.”
I took one glance back at Leon before Deputy Little and I walked down the path. He was looking up now and his face was a mask of fear.
The ground along the path was a mix of rocks and clay and rapidly being covered with snow. The earth was just beginning to freeze, but a week ago there had been a hard rain in the county so the ground was still soft enough to give under our feet. Ice cold muddy water seeped into the sides of my shoes. I had a feeling the tennis shoes I was wearing would have to be retired after this nighttime hike.
Deputy Little wore boots that were more appropriate to the seasonal changes. I supposed as an officer of the law he had to be ready to walk through any terrain. As a candy maker, I usually wasn’t called upon to do the same.
His flashlight’s beam was powerful, almost as bright as the headlight of a car. It reflected over something in the middle of the road in front of us. We inched forward, and sure enough, there was a foot-wide line of nails, screws, and razor blades in the path. It had a thin layer of snow over it, but the swath of sharp objects was so thick, the snow hadn’t completely covered them yet.
“Leon wasn’t lying about the booby traps,” I said.
“Apparently not,” Deputy Little replied, and he didn’t sound happy about it. He shone his light on either side of the road. Frowning, he picked up a large, long stick and threw it into the woods.
It landed and a millisecond later there was a great cracking sound as the stick was snapped in two.
I stared open-mouthed.
“Bear trap,” Deputy Little said.
“Geez,” I murmured.
“Let’s stay on the path like Leon said.”
“Definitely,” I agreed.
We stepped over the line of nails and screws. I took care to make sure I didn’t step on any of them. Not only were they sharp but they were rusted from being exposed to the elements for who knew how long.
We walked in silence for a few minutes. Both of us were frantically looking for any hint that Aiden was nearby or had been there. It was nearly impossible to know in the dark. All we could see were objects in the direct beam of Deputy Little’s flashlight or those illuminated by the moon, which peeked out from the clouds every now and again. It was a cloudy night, so that didn’t happen often, but at one point I saw smoke catch in the moonlight at the end of the path and the simple silhouette of a cabin.
“That must be Melvin’s cabin,” I whispered. “It’s up ahead.”
Deputy Little nodded and he turned off his flashlight. At the same time the moon dipped behind a cloud and we were in the dark.
It took several second for my eyes to adjust to the blackness. Even when they did, I couldn’t see much in front of me at all. However, I could see the smoke coming out of the chimney of the cabin and smell the scent of it. The faintest glow of a lamp shone through one of the windows in the front.
“What do we do now?” I whispered.
“I’m not sure knocking on the door is a good idea.”
“I wouldn’t advise it,” another voice said.
I yelped, and a hand was slapped over my mouth to keep me from screaming.
When Aiden removed his hand, I punched him in the shoulder. “What are you doing here?”
“I could be asking the two of you the same exact thing.” Aiden looked from Deputy Little to me and back again. He rubbed his shoulder. “Good thing I have a winter coat on or that might have hurt.”
“We were worried about you. I knew you planned to speak to Melvin, and Leon told me that the area around his cabin is booby-trapped. We thought something happened to you when you didn’t answer the phone or either of our text messages.”
Aiden’s eyes went wide. “I have my phone on silent. I don’t want the ringer to go off and scare Melvin. The guy is jumpy. I have been here observing him for the last hour trying to plan an approach.”
“And you haven’t looked at your phone at all in the last two hours?” I hissed.
Aiden sighed. “I’m sorry. I suppose I was too absorbed in what I was doing. There are booby traps everywhere. I almost got caught in a rabbit snare.”
“We could take him in for the traps and snares,” Deputy Little said absently. “I didn’t want to call for backup if you were here. . . .” He trailed off.
Aiden shoved his hands into his pockets. “Because I’m not supposed to be on the case any longer? I’m guessing that you know this too, Bailey.”
I nodded.
“Right. I plan to drop it. I just wanted to do this last thing.”
Deputy Little’s jaw twitched as if he wanted to say something but held it back.
There was a cocking sound like a gun. The three of us spun around.
An Amish man with a long, grizzled beard stood in front of us with a shotgun pointed in our direction. “Those traps were supposed to keep people like you out.”
Both Deputy Little and Aiden pulled out their guns and aimed at the man. Aiden pushed me behind them.
“Mr. Hersh,” Aiden said in a calm but authoritative voice. “Put the gun down. You are pointing it at officers from BCI and Holmes County Sheriff’s department. Just doing that could send you back to prison.”
The man dropped the shotgun on the ground. “I don’t want to go back to prison.”
Deputy Little scooped up the gun and opened the chamber. “It’s empty.”
The moon came out from behind the clouds, and I could see Melvin’s features clearly now. Even in the moonlight, I noticed that his skin was crusted with dirt. I wondered when he had last taken a bath. He had the traditional Amish beard with no mustache, but his hair was much longer than that of any Amish man I had ever seen. It came all the way down to his shoulders in unkempt curls. I couldn’t even guess what Ruth Yoder would say if she met an Amish man who was so terribly groomed.
“Of course it’s empty,” Melvin said. “I haven’t bought bullets for years. I’m Amish, aren’t I? That makes me a pacifist, doesn’t it?”
“Do you think setting traps and putting nails in the road that could hurt people makes you a pacifist?” Aiden asked.
“That has nothing to do with shooting at a person. Those are there to protect what is rightfully mine.” He narrowed his eyes. “Why are you here? This is private land. Does it have something to do with my son? I don’t know anything about him. He ran off just as soon as he finished school and I never saw him again. He’s a perfect example of an ungrateful child. He should have stayed here with me so that we could take turns caring for things around here. Instead, he ran away like a coward.”
I bit my lip to stop myself from coming to Leon’s defense. The less Melvin knew about his son’s life now, the better.
“We would like to talk to you about your brother, Marvin,” Aiden said.
“Marvin? I don’t have a brother named Marvin. He’s been dead to me for years.”
“We think he actually died this Thanksgiving. He’s been living under the English name Blaze Smith. He was at the Harvest community Thanksgiving meal. He had an allergic reaction to peanuts we believe.”
“He was here?” Melvin asked. “He was here in Holmes County? As far as I know, this was the first time he ever came back, although I was in prison for six years because of him, so he might have come and gone from the county many times while I was locked away.”
“You don’t seem surprised that he used the name Blaze,” Deputy Little observed.
“He wrote me some letters when I was in prison. He used that name. I thought he used it just to avoid the prison knowing about him. It was the dumbest name I had ever heard, so I wasn’t surprised it was the one he picked. My brother was never the practical sort.”
“Why do you say it’s his fault you were locked away?” I asked.
Melvin looked at me as if seeing me for the first time. “Who are you?”
“She’s with us,” Aiden said as if that was answer enough.
I expected Melvin to protest that statement, but he just shrugged as if he didn’t have enough energy to argue with Aiden over my presence. Instead, he answered my question. “He was the one who started the fire. He didn’t know how to use the torch to control the burn. He got too close to the school, and it went up like a tinderbox. It just took off. The fire was in August, when it’s the driest. There was no stopping it once it was headed toward the school. My brother knew that too, and he just took off like the coward that he is.”
“You don’t seem upset at the idea that your brother is dead,” Deputy Little observed.
“I’m not. Like I told you before, he was dead to me the moment he ran away from that burning school. I decided when he ran that I never had a bruder, and I believe that to this very day.”
“But you never told the police about him?” I asked.
Melvin balled the hands at his sides into fists. “What gut would it have done? As soon as Allen and I were arrested, the sheriff and the courts decided to make an example of us.”
“Listen, Melvin, there are some violations on your property,” Aiden said. “You could get in a lot of trouble with those traps.”
Melvin scowled at him. “What I do on my land shouldn’t be anyone’s concern but my own.”
“It’s a concern if someone is walking through the woods or if an animal is caught in one of those traps. That would be considered poaching, which is a serious offense. It will definitely send you back to prison.”
“I’m not on parole any longer.”
Aiden put his hand on the hilt of his gun. “Do you think that matters? You have a record. A judge won’t be lenient on you when he or she sees that. You need to take them out. If you agree to do that in seven days, Deputy Little and I will look the other way. I don’t think you want to go back to prison.”
Melvin ran his gloved hand over his sweaty upper lip. It was clear that the idea of going back to prison got to him. “I’ll take them down.”
“You have seven days.”
Melvin nodded.
“We have another request too. Marvin was your twin.”
“My fraternal twin. I’m not identical to that fool.”
“All right. Your fraternal twin. In any case, he was your brother. We’re fairly certain, but we need to prove that the man who died on Thanksgiving was your brother.”
“I don’t want anything to do with it,” Melvin snapped.
“All we need from you is proof that you are his brother in order to prove his identity.”
“I don’t leave my woods, so if you’re asking me to go somewhere and look at a dead person, you are out of luck.”
“That’s not what we’re looking for. I need to swab the inside of your mouth for a saliva test. That will tell us if he is your brother.”
Melvin frowned. “And if I do this, you will go away.”
“Yes, but a sheriff’s deputy will be back in seven days to make sure that you have removed those traps.”
Melvin’s scowl deepened, but to my amazement, he let Aiden swipe the inside of his mouth. It took all of five seconds. Aiden put the sample in a plastic tube and secured it in an evidence bag. The test was over in no time at all.
“There. Now, you can leave me in peace, and if you see my son, tell him that I don’t want him to come back. He’s no better than his traitor uncle.” He turned around and shuffled back to the cabin.
“He didn’t ask for the shotgun back,” Deputy Little said.
“Leave it here. He’ll find it in the morning.”
Deputy Little nodded and set the empty shotgun on the edge of the path. “Either I’ll come out next week or I’ll let whoever does know that Melvin might brandish an unloaded weapon.”
Aiden nodded. “Let’s leave.”
I looked at my phone. It was twenty minutes before eight. “We have to be quick about it. I have to get Leon back to his bunkhouse. If he’s not there before nine, he’ll get in trouble.” I hurried down the path and could hear Aiden and Deputy Little behind me.
When we reached the spot where Aiden’s car was parked, Charlotte went limp against the passenger door. “Oh, thank the Lord you are all okay! Leon and I were just deciding whether we should go in there and look for you.”
Leon stood a few feet away. His arms were still wrapped tightly around his narrow waist. It was almost as if he was wearing a straitjacket.
Aiden handed the DNA bag to Deputy Little. “This is your case. You take it to the lab. I’m done with it now.”
Deputy Little appeared to be unsure when he took the bag from Aiden. I knew that he looked up to Aiden. It might be difficult to be the one taking over from his mentor.
“Leon,” I said. “Let’s go so we can make it back to the bunkhouse before your curfew.”
He nodded, and Leon, Charlotte, and I hurried to my car by the schoolhouse. Now that the clouds had cleared, it was light enough to find our way with just the moonlight to guide us.
We jumped in the car and drove to the bunkhouse in silence. I pulled up in front of the bunkhouse.
“Thank you for your help, Leon,” I said. “We never would have been able to find your father without you.”
He opened his door and paused. “Did my father say anything about me when you spoke to him?”
I gripped the steering wheel. I didn’t want to lie to Leon, but at the same time I didn’t want to repeat the words that his father had said.
“I can tell from your face that he did and it was unkind.” He closed the door and ran into the bunkhouse just as the clock struck nine.