The apple-shaped bell over the glass door of The Apple Core rang. I wasn’t afraid. Leah and her friends may have been able to jump Sadie when she was caught off guard, but I knew what they were capable of. What bothered me was the why. I believed Curt’s story about what he saw, but why would the girls do that to Sadie, and presumably to themselves too?
Did they do it out of spite, like some Amish version of a high school clique? Apparently, American high school wasn’t as far from the Amish as I’d thought.
“May I help you?” Leah asked from her post behind the counter. Her face fell. “It’s you.”
“Good morning, Leah. I was wondering if I could talk to you and Abby and Debbie. They’re here, aren’t they?” I removed my coat and hung it over my arm. I was afraid that the wool would muffle the microphone too much. “It’s about the haircutting. There’s been a development in the case you should know about.”
She paled. “Debbie and Abby are in the back putting up the rest of the holiday stock.”
Debbie appeared from around a display shelf. “Leah . . .” she paused. “Oh, I didn’t hear the bell.”
“Can you go get Abby?” Leah’s voice was tight. “She has something to tell us about the haircutting.”
Debbie swallowed and disappeared behind the display. She and Abby, her face pale, reappeared a minute later. “What are you doing here?” Abby asked.
“I need to talk to all three of you.”
Leah folded her arms on the counter. “What about?”
“Don’t you find it odd that of the four girls whose hair was cut, only Sadie is missing from this tight little circle?”
Debbie walked behind the counter and stood next to Leah. “So? What about Grandfather Zook?”
I wondered how far to take this. Chief Rose should have given me confession extracting tips before I talked to the girls. I squared my shoulders, keeping my eyes on Abby. “I don’t think Grandfather Zook or the death of Abby’s uncle is related to what happened to you.”
Abby concentrated on the tops of her black sneakers.
Debbie nudged Leah, their ringleader since the very beginning, in my estimation.
“Just because you think something doesn’t make it true,” Leah said.
“A man didn’t cut your hair, did he Abby?” I said. “It was a girl your own age. Wasn’t it.”
Debbie’s mouth fell open. “Abby, what did you tell her?”
Abby shook her head. “N-nothing.”
I continued. “Abby and I had a nice talk yesterday.”
Leah glared at the pale girl. “What?”
Abby’s head snapped up. “She’s telling a falsehood.”
I cocked my head. “Did you or did you not ask me to meet you at Appleseed Pond yesterday to talk about the haircutting?”
Perspiration gathered above Abby’s brow. “Ye-yes.”
Debbie cried out. “You told her!”
“Debbie, be quiet,” Leah barked.
“N-no,” Abby stuttered. “I didn’t tell her. I didn’t.”
“But you wanted to,” I said.
Abby gave the faintest of nods. A tear slid down her cheek. “I can’t keep this awful secret anymore.”
Leah ran around the counter and pinched her friend’s arm. “Don’t say a word.”
Tears fell from Abby’s eyes. “I have to. I have to. It’s different for you and Debbie. My uncle is dead.”
Debbie’s hands were flat on the counter. “We had nothing to do with that.”
“I know.” Abby pulled her arm from Leah’s grasp. She looked at me. “We did it,” Abby whispered.
“What?” I stepped closer to her, wanting the microphone to pick up her words.
“We cut our own hair . . . and Sadie’s.”
Leah stepped away from her friend, her expression twisted, as if she didn’t even know the person in front of her.
“Why?” I asked.
Debbie’s face crumpled. “The bishop. He’s ruined everything in the district. We had to show him that he wasn’t in control. The haircutting embarrassed him.”
Through gritted teeth, Leah said, “Stop talking.”
Debbie’s eyes filled with tears. “I cannot, Leah. I can’t keep this secret anymore either. We did this to embarrass the bishop, but we are hurting each other more.” Gruffly, she wiped a tear from her cheek with her hand, her gaze steady on me “You don’t know what it’s been like. The bishop and the deacon have been horrible. A half a step out of place and they punish you. Look at the Troyer family you love so much.”
“Is Sadie involved? Is she part of your little group?” I asked.
“No.” Abby held herself around the waist. “We were afraid the deacon or police would realize we cut our own hair because we were close friends, so we decided to cut the hair of someone we weren’t friendly with.”
I nodded. “The extra bonus was that she’s the bishop’s daughter.”
Debbie hung her head in shame. “Yes.”
“And Grandfather Zook? What about his beard?”
“We didn’t do that,” Abby spoke up. “We would never hurt an elderly man like that.”
“You wouldn’t hurt an old man, but what about Ezekiel Young. Did you kill him?”
Abby gasped, then covered her mouth and ran from the room. After a moment, we could hear the faint sound of retching from the back of the store.
Leah leveled her glare at me. “No. That is enough.”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “I know you didn’t kill Abby’s uncle—the coroner already proved that. But someone has used your haircutting prank to his advantage and committed murder. A copycat crime.”
Debbie removed a handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed the corners of eyes. “What does that mean?”
“It means someone saw what you girls were doing and copied it to cover up his crimes.”
Debbie gasped. “Are you saying it’s our fault Ezekiel was killed?”
I almost said yes, but that answer wasn’t completely true. It was only part of the issue. The girls only gave the killer the idea of how to cover up the crime—the plan to murder must have already been in place.
“Do you realize that a killer used your antics to his advantage? And he may get away with murder because the police have wasted so much of their time looking for whoever cut your hair.”
Debbie began to cry in earnest, but Leah’s jaw was set.
The bell at the front of the store rang, and Chief Rose and her two officers entered. Leah’s eyes cut over to me. Before that day, I wouldn’t believe a young Amish girl could carry so much hate in her eyes. Leah whispered something to Debbie in Pennsylvania Dutch.
The chief smiled. “Don’t talk? That’s probably the best advice you could give her.”
Leah’s eyes grew wide.
“What? You’re surprised I know your language? I couldn’t manage in this town without it.” Chief Rose turned to me. “Where’s the third one?”
More retching sounds came from the back of the shop. I pointed a thumb in that direction. “In the back.”
Chief Rose nodded to one of her officers. “Make sure she’s finished with her tummy issues before you put her in the cruiser. I’m not in the mood to clean the upholstery.” She handed Leah a piece of paper. “Here’s a warrant, by the way. I imagine we will find a pair of sheep shears somewhere in this building.”
Leah clenched her jaw so tightly I was surprised we couldn’t hear the grinding of her teeth.
I stepped away as the chief read Leah and Debbie their rights and handcuffed them. Instead of feeling relieved that this ordeal was over, sadness washed through me. I slipped out of the shop.
Timothy stood outside, watching through the window. “You did a good job,” he said.
I frowned. “It doesn’t feel that way. I feel dirty and sneaky. I don’t like it.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. You helped the police. Now maybe the district can heal.”
“To a point.” I pulled my cotton gloves out of my pocket and slipped them on. “The person who killed Ezekiel Young is still out there.”
He nodded.
“How do you think the bishop and deacon will react when they learn about the girls?”
“I don’t know. My fear is they will come down harder on everyone else. I know that’s what Deacon Sutter would want to do.”
I nodded and then a thought hit me.
“What is it?”
“Miller’s at work. Leah’s his cousin.”
“Oh.”
“What am I going to tell him about all this?”
“The truth.”
I bit my lip. I suspected the truth about his cousin was the last thing the programmer wanted to hear.