Becky glowed as we stepped out of the only department store in Mount Vernon. It wasn’t Neiman Marcus or even Macy’s, but it worked in a pinch. Becky’s cosmetics had been professionally applied by a woman at the makeup counter, and she wore jeans and a blue knit top, which matched her eyes. “Chloe, I can’t thank you enough. I will pay you back as soon as I get my first paycheck.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “It was a gift.”
“I mean, Chl . . .” She pulled up short.
“What is it?”
She pointed at my car. Chief Rose sat on the hood.
“Nice car.” Chief Rose swiped a hand across the hood. “I like the duct tape. It’s one of Uncle Billy’s, I presume.”
“I’d be careful if I were you.” I ignored the smug look on her face. “You might be stuck there.”
She hopped off the hood.
“Are you following me, Chief Rose?” I walked around the car and unlocked the trunk. It sprung up, nearly hitting me in the face.
Becky placed our purchases inside.
“You can call me Greta. How do you know I’m not following Becky?” She nodded at Becky. “Nice makeover,” she said. “Jeans too. I like it.”
Becky blushed.
I rested a hand on my hip. “Are you here to talk to me or Becky?”
“You. Nottingham told me about your little run-in with Curt and Brock on Monday. I would have tracked you down sooner, but I was assisting the sheriff’s department on another case over the last couple of days.”
Becky slammed the trunk shut. “Curt and Brock? What’s she talking about, Chloe?”
“She didn’t tell you?” The police chief crossed her arms at her chest and asked. “Okay, Humphrey, I want to see your shoulder.”
I backed away from her. “You have the pictures.”
“I know, but it’s been a couple of days now, so I expect it to be nice and purple.”
Becky’s eyes were wide. “What’s wrong with your shoulder?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Let me see it,” Chief Rose said.
The sun had begun to fall behind the department store. “It’s getting too dark to see it.”
The police chief took a step toward me. “There’s still enough light left.”
“Fine.” I pulled at the collar of my yellow T-shirt to show where Brock had pinched the upper part of my shoulder.
Becky gasped.
Chief Rose whistled. “That’s quite a bruise.”
I gave my head a tight shake. “It’s because I’m so fair.”
Becky wrapped her arms around herself. “What happened?”
Chief Rose answered for me. “Your roomie here had a little run-in with Curt and Brock.” She folded her arms over her chest. “I thought I told you to call me if you saw them again.”
I bristled. “I reported the incident to the police.” I didn’t want to share my real reason in Becky’s presence.
“The way Nottingham tells it, you only did that after Timothy Troyer made you.”
“Timothy knew about this?” Becky started to shake. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“Becky, you have enough to worry about.”
She glared at me. “There you go protecting me again. I’m an adult. I don’t need it.”
You do, too. But I didn’t bother to argue with her. She didn’t need to know that I didn’t tell Chief Rose right away because Curt had threatened her.
“Nottingham tells me that you haven’t filed an official complaint.” With the fading sun, the lightbulbs in the parking lot’s lampposts flickered on one by one. Chief Rose’s peculiar green eyes reflected the yellow light like a cat’s.
I held my ground. “No, I didn’t. I see no point in aggravating Curt and Brock. They promised to leave us alone.”
Chief Rose started to respond, but I jumped in. “If they bother Becky or me, I will report them, but I haven’t seen them or their pickup since. I have to believe they are keeping their word.” I calmed myself with a deep breath. “It’s getting late. If there’s nothing else, Becky and I would like to head home.”
“Not so fast,” the police chief said. “I have something else to talk to you about.”
“Can it wait until tomorrow?”
She shook her head. “No, because you’re the key to this whole case. You’re the one who is going to lead me to the killer.”
I watched her. “How am I going to do that?”
“I saw your little meet-and-greet with Hettie Glick this afternoon. I know you’re poking your nose in where it doesn’t belong.”
Becky’s mouth fell open. “You spoke with Isaac’s aenti?”
I shivered as the sunlight and air temperature fell in tandem. “Yes, Timothy and I both met with her.”
“Good, you admit it.” Chief Rose placed a hand on the side mirror, but it popped off and fell to the ground. She picked it up and handed it to me. “You’ll want to get that fixed so I don’t have to write you a citation.”
I ground my teeth.
“I’m impressed by the way you’ve been able to insinuate yourself with the Amish in the county even though you’ve only been here a short time. A meeting with Hettie Glick is the Amish equivalent of an invite to the Vatican.”
I rolled my eyes. “That has to be an exaggeration.”
“Not by much,” she said. “I’ve been the chief of police in Appleseed Creek for five years and haven’t got so much as a ‘hello’ from her.”
“She was willing to talk to me because I was with Timothy. I doubt she’d speak to me if I had been alone.”
“Regardless, I need your help.”
I smirked. “Why? You’re the chief of police.”
She wagged her head, her eyes fixed on me. “I may be able to get the townsfolk to talk to me, but the Amish are a whole other story. You can.”
“What makes you think that?”
She pointed a thumb at Becky. “They seem to like you.”
Becky rubbed her hand up and down her arm. I handed her the car keys. “Becky, you can get in the car if you are cold.”
She took the keys and climbed into the passenger seat. The Prizm door groaned as Becky shut it.
Chief Rose glanced at Becky through the glass. “Now, I can speak more freely,”
“What can you say to me that you can’t say to Becky?”
“She wouldn’t understand what I’m about to say.” The chief didn’t budge. “You will.”
My forehead wrinkled.
“You’re in a profession like mine.”
I laughed. “I’m a computer programmer. You are a cop. I don’t see the similarity.”
“We both work in a man’s world. I’m sure you have to fight for your place among the computer geeks, and I have to fight for my place among the cops.” She smoothed the front of her neatly-pressed uniform. “I need to save my department. You’re going to help me.”
“Save it from what?”
Through the windshield Becky watched us. I noticed what the chief apparently did not—the passenger side window was open. Becky could hear every word.
“Village council wants to shut the police department down. They think Appleseed Creek is too quiet and peaceful to need its own police force. They believe the sheriff’s department is enough protection. We both know that’s not true, don’t we?”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“The sheriff gave me this case. He thought it was a simple open-and-shut thing. If he had been running the show, Becky would have been charged with vehicular manslaughter the day of the accident.”
I glanced at Becky. She placed her hand to her mouth. She can hear us all right.
The chief continued. “Like you, I think there is more to it than that. I was vindicated when the forensic mechanic found the cut brake line.” She leaned forward, and the yellow light from the parking lot lamp cast shadows on her sharp features. “If I solve this case, I will save my department. How could the village council say we don’t need a police department when there has been a murder in Appleseed Creek?”
I shivered. It was the first time the accident had been called murder. In my mind, it had always just been an accident. “What do you want me to do?”
“Same thing you have been doing: checking in with the Amish, following leads I can’t. Oh, and I need you to report back to me.”
“The Amish I speak to don’t expect me to turn around and tell the police. The Troyers are my friends.”
She cocked an eyebrow at me. “All the Troyers? I heard Becky’s parents weren’t speaking to her.”
Becky appeared to gasp.
“Timothy and Becky are my friends.” My tone was sharp.
Chief Rose took a step closer to me and whispered, “I’d be careful with Timothy Troyer if I were you.”
I shrank back. “What does that mean?”
She eyed me. “He’s not the perfect Amish boy he’d have you believe.”
“He’s not Amish anymore.”
A sly smile played on her face. “I wondered if you noticed that. Now, do we have a deal?”
I agreed to nothing.