3

Mim rode her scooter to the Bent N’ Dent to buy some baking soda for Mammi Vera, who preferred it to toothpaste. She had hoped Bethany would go, seeing as she had a surfeit of free time on her hands now that she wasn’t going back to the Sisters’ House because of the risk of getting murdered. But Bethany said it was too hot to go anywhere and Mammi Vera said she agreed with that. But Mammi Vera didn’t think it was too hot for Mim to go.

As she was searching on the shelves for baking soda in aisle four, she heard a deep voice whisper her name. “Hello there, Mim.”

Mim looked up to catch Danny Riehl peering down at her, and for a moment she felt absolutely bewildered. She hadn’t seen him in well over a month and he had grown a foot or two. His shoulders were wide, and if she wasn’t mistaken, there was some peach fuzz on his cheeks and under his nose. Why, he hardly looked like the same boy who finished eighth grade in May. He was on the old side for his grade, but still. He practically looked and sounded like a grown man.

Mim pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her nose at the exact same moment that Danny did. “Hello,” she said, trying to sound casual and nonchalant, but everything inside her was on tiptoes. “Are you back from visiting your cousins in Alabama?”

He nodded. “We got back last week. I’ve been meaning to stop by, but . . .”

“I’ve been very busy,” Mim said. “Hardly home.” That wasn’t at all true. She was home 97 percent of the time, but Danny didn’t need to know that.

“Did you get my postcard from NASA?”

Did she ever! She floated on air for a week after receiving it. And now it was tucked under her pillow. “Yes. Thank you. Did you see any moon rocks?”

A big grin creased Danny’s face. “I did. I saw rocket ships and moon rocks and an astronaut suit.”

Mim wondered what Mammi Vera might say if she overheard Danny’s excitement. Her grandmother was always pointing out the dangers of too much book learning. Je gelehrter, no verkehrter, she would say. The more learning, the less wisdom.

Mim didn’t agree with Mammi Vera about book learning, and she definitely didn’t think Danny was losing wisdom. Just the opposite. Danny’s mother was Mattie Zook Riehl, and everyone knew those Zooks were overly blessed with wisdom. Danny’s mother was the most respected woman in their church. Everyone went to her with problems. Mim liked to think that someday she would be thought of just like Mattie Zook Riehl. It was one of the reasons she took her job as Mrs. Miracle so seriously. Training for the future, she hoped. Training to be Danny’s Mim.

“I was just getting a few things for my mother,” Danny said, holding up a small basket filled with some spices. He cleared his throat. “Are you heading home?”

Mim snatched the baking soda off the shelf. “Yes.”

After paying at the cash register, they walked down the road and Danny told her about a special chart his father bought him at NASA that displayed the constellations. Once Mim’s father had taught her how to identify the Milky Way—like a swirl of milk in a cup of black coffee. “I used to think that the Milky Way was like a big curtain in the sky,” she said. “If you pulled it back, you could see Heaven.” She felt her cheeks grow warm. “Not logical, I know.”

“Not logical, but a nice thought,” Danny said.

“Do you think logic can always find answers?”

“No. Some things are just mysteries. Like Heaven.” He slowed down a little so she could keep up with him. “I saw your sister in town yesterday. She didn’t see me. She was heading into the newspaper office.”

“Oh?” A stain rose on Mim’s cheeks. Most of the Amish didn’t read the Stoney Ridge Times because they thought it was too liberal, which was a relief to Mim. She wasn’t sure how many might have even heard about the story claiming there were miracles to be had at the Inn at Eagle Hill, but the fewer Amish who knew of Mrs. Miracle, the better.

Danny was waiting for an answer from her. About why Bethany was in the newspaper office.

Diversion. That was how Mim handled topics she’d rather not discuss. “My sister has a mystery. She was cleaning out the basement at the Sisters’ House. She opened a trunk and found human bones. Skulls, too. She thinks the sisters might be killing people and stuffing them in the basement. She thinks she is next on their list. She’s afraid to go back to work.”

Taking a moment to adjust his eyeglasses, Danny seemed in deep thought. “The old sisters don’t strike me as ruthless murderers.”

“That’s just what I told Bethany.”

“Why would she think the Stoney Ridge Times could help explain a trunk full of bones?”

Oh, boy. So much for trying to derail Danny. “That’s an excellent question.”

“Has Bethany asked the sisters about the bones?”

“Of course not. She’s not very logical.”

“That seems like the best place to start. Certainly better than the newspaper.”

Mim nodded. Phew.

“Let’s go ask.”

“Really? Now?” She never liked to miss opportunities to talk to the sisters, especially Ella. If it was a good, clear day for Ella, Mim found she often gained insights to use in her important role as Mrs. Miracle.

Danny nodded. “We’re not far from the Sisters’ House. Let’s go.”

So Mim and Danny turned down a road that led to the Sisters’ House and asked to speak with them about a very private concern. All five sisters came to the door, curious looks on their wrinkled faces. They invited Mim and Danny to come in for tea. That did slow down the investigation considerably, but Danny didn’t seem to be in a hurry. “It’s best not to alarm them,” he whispered to Mim. “Just in case they are murderers.”

Mim had been going to the Sisters’ House with Bethany since school let out in May, but she was still amazed by the clutter. Every horizontal surface was covered with . . . stuff. Bethany could have a job here until she was an old lady herself, which was good news because she had said those sisters paid well.

When the tea was finally served, all five sisters sat on the living room sofa and waited for the very private concern to be explained. Mim decided she would try to keep her eyes open for what didn’t sound right, to see things from the sides of her eyes.

“Go ahead, Mim,” Danny said.

What? She thought he was going to be the one to talk. She took a deep breath. All five sisters smiled serenely at Mim, capstrings bouncing.

“Of course you know that my sister Bethany has been cleaning out your house.”

More smiles.

“Two days ago, she was down in the basement and opened a trunk and found . . .” Mim squinted her eyes shut.

“My thimble?” Ella said. “I’ve been looking everywhere for my thimble.”

“Now, Ella dear,” Sylvia said. “Your thimble would not have been in the basement.”

A confused look covered Ella’s face.

“You have plenty of thimbles,” Fannie said, mildly irritated.

“I’m looking for the thimble Mama gave me,” Ella said. “It had a band of roses around the base.”

Fannie rolled her eyes.

“Honey, we’ll get you a new thimble,” Sylvia said.

Danny nudged Mim with his elbow and whispered, “Better say something or we’ll be here all day.”

“Bones! Skulls!” Mim blurted out. “Human bones and human skulls. That’s what Bethany found in the trunk.”

The sisters looked at each other, startled, eyes wide. “Glory be!” Lena, the middle sister said.

“Oh mercy!” said another.

“Is that why she didn’t come to work today?” Sylvia asked.

Mim nodded. “She’s frightened. She thinks you’re planning to kill her.”

“Oh my goodness,” Ada, the second oldest sister, said. “That poor child.”

The sisters assured them that they had no intention of killing Bethany and hoped Mim and Danny would agree, which they did. But none of the sisters had any idea what a trunk filled with human bones was doing in their basement. And could Mim please ask Jimmy Fisher to come over immediately?

The sun was coming up hot again on a new day when Jimmy knocked on the kitchen door of Eagle Hill. He breathed the fresh morning air deeply, happy to be alive and not at home where he was subject to his mother’s relentless henpecking. He grinned when Bethany answered the door—he was hoping she would. “You can unglue that scowl from your face, Bethany. I know you’re not happy to see me. But you will be, when you hear my news.”

“What news is that, Jimmy Fisher?”

He tried not to get distracted by the blue-black ringlets that escaped from her tightly pinned bun and framed the nape of her neck. He diverted his eyes and noticed that she held an empty egg basket in her hands. “Hey,” he said. “If you need eggs, all you gotta do is sing out. That’s one thing I have plenty of. Fisher Hatchery at your service, ma’am.”

She glanced down at the basket. “Usually, we have plenty. But Luke and Sammy started tossing them at each other and then the day’s supply was scattered over the lawn. They’re spending the morning in their room, contemplating their actions, in case you wonder why they’re not over at Galen’s.”

Those two little brothers of hers were a passel of trouble, especially Luke. Sammy was less impulsive by nature, but Luke talked him into all kinds of mischief. Luke reminded Jimmy of himself, back in the day when he was young and immature. Not so long ago, echoed Galen’s voice in his head, like last week. Jimmy frowned. Wasn’t it enough that he worked alongside of Galen every livelong day? Did the man have to fill his head with advice and warnings? He shook off that thought and focused his attention back on Bethany. He tried not to grin at the sassy look on her heart-shaped face.

“So what news are you talking about?”

“The mystery. I solved it.”

She tipped her head to the side. “What particular mystery are you talking about?”

“The bones in the trunk.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What about them?”

“I’ve been back and forth to the Sisters’ House lately, asking them a few questions. More than a few. It takes quite a lot of work to keep them on task. Especially Ella. Have you noticed?”

She gave him a look that made him realize he had gone off track just like Ella. Maybe it was contagious.

“Just what are you getting at? Did you tell them about those bones, because if you did—”

Jimmy erased that in midair. “Actually, Mim and Danny Riehl had already told them.” Bethany’s eyes went wide and her mouth became a round O, then settled into a tight line. Jimmy hurried to his main point. “I’d been going about it in a gentle way, asking them roundabout questions without actually saying they had a trunk full of bones in their basement. Then your sister pays a visit and just bursts out with it—telling them you think they’re murderers. Scared those sweet little ladies to the hereafter and back again.”

“Shootfire! How could Mim do such a thing!” Bethany spun around to go find Mim and give her the what for, but Jimmy grabbed her arm.

“Hold on. Before you go off half-cocked, there’s more to the story.”

Bethany gave him a suspicious look, but she did stay put.

“It occurred to me that those old bones might belong to the previous owner of the house. The sisters have only lived in the house for some sixty-odd years.” He snapped his fingers. “Bingo! As usual, I made a clever deduction.”

Bethany rolled her eyes heavenward.

“A doctor used to live there. In fact, his office was in the basement—which, by the way, the sisters want you to finish cleaning out as soon as you have recovered from your shock.”

Bethany shuddered.

“One of the sisters remembered the doctor. They said he taught anatomy over at the college in Lancaster. They think he probably used the bones for his classes and forgot all about them.” He grinned, pleased with himself. It had not been bad work, thanks to his quick thinking and even quicker logic. He believed in giving credit where credit was due, and he was due some. “Well?”

She shielded her eyes against the glare of the morning sun. “Well, what?”

“Aren’t you going to thank me for solving this mystery? Now you can go back to work and not worry about getting murdered by five frail and wobbly eighty-year-old women.” He took the hem of her sleeve and held it gently between his thumb and forefinger and didn’t let go. A quiet spun out between them. She tried to look outraged, but he could see the smile tugging at her lips.

“I’ll thank you once you get rid of that trunk with the bones in it.”

He let her sleeve slide from his fingers. “Done. Took care of it last night. The sisters want you to come back as soon as your nerves have settled, they said, so you can all have a good laugh about it.” He held her gaze until she looked away, a stain of pink rising in her cheeks, and flounced back inside the house in that unique Bethany-flouncing way. As he slipped through the privet to Galen’s, he noticed the eagle pair that nested at Eagle Hill soaring high in the sky, in tandem, and his buoyant spirits lifted even higher, if that was possible.

Bethany had stopped by Naomi’s to ask her how to fit together some tricky quilt pieces and discovered, to her dismay, Edith Fisher in the kitchen. It was a small kitchen with little in it, and Edith Fisher’s large presence made it seem far smaller.

“Naomi,” Edith said, “has a little headache and shouldn’t be disturbed.” She proceeded to show Bethany what she had done wrong with the quilt pieces.

That woman surely needed some castor oil. There wasn’t a thing Bethany could put her hands to that she didn’t have a hard word about. It befuddled her how a sharp-tongued woman like her reared a son like Jimmy.

Despite all Jimmy Fisher’s faults, plus his bad character, he had been kind to her and to her family. Far too patient with her little brothers who buzzed around him like horseflies. Sweet as whipped cream to Mammi Vera, and Bethany knew her grandmother was no Sunday picnic to be around. Helpful to Rose, attentive to Naomi, a hard worker to Galen. It was a shame that his reputation was so low and irreparable. And why did he have to be so handsome?

As Bethany walked through the privet, she saw a woman in jeans and a jacket and a bandana heading to the porch of Eagle Hill with a tray in her hands.

“Hello,” the woman said. “You must be Bethany, right?”

“Yes. That’s me. I’m Bethany Schrock.” She took the breakfast tray out of her hands. “And you must be the lady preacher.”

“Not much of a preacher, actually. More like a youth pastor. Not much of a youth pastor, either.” She waved a hand in the air to dismiss the topic. “Just call me Geena.”

Bethany looked into the pleasant, beaming face of a small woman with olive skin, brown hair, and chocolate brown eyes. “Are you comfortable in the guest flat?”

“It’s fine.”

“Hot, though. We’re having a terrible heat wave.”

“The flat stays pretty cool.”

“Rose said you were from the Philadelphia area. Are you planning on staying long?”

Geena looked up at the sky. “I’m not sure. I . . . well . . . to be perfectly honest, I was fired from my church.”

“Fired?” Bethany asked, amazed. “For the Amish, only God fires ministers. And that only happens when they pass.”

Geena smiled. “I guess you could say that’s true for the non-Amish too. But the day jobs might switch up a little more often.”

“It must be hard to be a preacher. Preachers make me nervous. Whenever I’m around them, I always think about things I shouldn’t have done but did and things I should do but haven’t.”

Geena’s eyes went wide for a second, then she burst out laughing.

Why was that so funny? Sometimes, the sense of humor of English people struck Bethany as very odd.

Geena spent the morning walking around the farm, watching the sheep in the pasture, the horses grazing in the field. A field of white linen draped across the yard—sheets on a clothesline wafting in the summer sun. It was so peaceful here, so quiet . . . until a high-pitched shriek came from the direction of the barn. The door slid open and two little boys burst out of it, little one chasing the bigger one, with the golden retriever at his heels. The little boy was hollering in a language Geena couldn’t understand and running so hard to catch up with the bigger boy that he lost his hat. But both boys stopped abruptly at the sight of Geena.

“You’re the lady preacher!” the big boy said. He had dark hair, nearly black, and twinkling eyes, and she knew this cute boy was going to be trouble in a few years. “I’m Luke Schrock and this is my brother Sammy.” The younger boy resembled his mother, Rose. Softer, with round cheeks, a headful of wavy curls, and rather sizable ears.

“I’m Geena.” Two sets of brown eyes gawked at her curiously. “Something going on, boys?”

“We’ve never met a lady preacher before,” Sammy said.

Geena laughed. “I’m a youth pastor, not a preacher. But I didn’t mean me—I meant, whatever caused you both to come flying out of the barn like it was on fire.”

“Oh, that,” Sammy said.

Luke gave his brother a warning frown, but too late. Sammy, oblivious to undercurrents, blurted out, “Luke bet me a dollar to ride the goat backwards and I did, and now he won’t pay up.”

Luke jabbed him with his elbow. “You didn’t stay on it longer than five seconds! I bet you for a full minute.”

“That backwards stuff is harder than it looks!” Sammy complained.

“Luke made a bet?” someone said stonily.

The boys whirled around to discover their grandmother, Vera Schrock, had appeared on the porch steps and overheard Luke’s bravado. Geena watched the boys exchange a glance. She knew boys well enough to know their instinct was to bolt and run, but these two knew better. They turned to face their accuser.

Quick as a whip, Luke said, “Why, Mammi Vera, your hearing must be going bad. Sammy and I were just introducing ourselves to the new guest and telling her to be careful of the goat.”

That drew a stern look right out of the book of grandmothers. She wasn’t buying this boy’s wide-eyed, butter-wouldn’t-melt look for a minute. “Wer eemol liegt, dem glaabt mer net wann era a die Waahret secht.” She glared at Luke and pointed to the house. Head hanging low, he trudged inside. Sammy, wisely, stayed behind. Before Luke went into the house, he turned and balled his fist to pantomime an uppercut at his brother.

“What did your grandmother say to him?” Geena whispered to Sammy.

“He who lies once is not believed when he speaks the truth.” The kitchen door slammed shut. “And about now she’s getting warmed up for a long lecture about the devil and lies.”

Sammy turned and headed to the barn—a sanctuary from lectures and grandmothers and bullying brothers. Geena grinned. Set aside the buggies and bonnets and beards, and she could have been observing any family in America.