A Sister's Hope (24 page)

“I can hardly prevent things from happening when I’m usually the last one to know.” He grunted. “I’m doing the best I can, but I don’t
have enough manpower to patrol the Hostettlers’ place every minute of the day.”

“I realize that, but—”

“If you want my opinion, the best thing Roman could do to protect his family is to move somewhere else.”

Rosemary’s skin prickled. When she’d first come to Holmes County to see Roman and his family, Judith had mentioned something about a land developer wanting to buy their land. She’d also heard one of Roman’s neighbors had offered to buy his property.

“I don’t think my brother has any plans to move,” she said. “And I don’t believe anyone should be allowed to get away with attacking him and his family in order to make him knuckle under and sell out.”

The sheriff leveled her with a piercing gaze. “What makes you think the person doing the attacks is after Roman’s land?”

“Isn’t that what you were insinuating when you suggested he move?”

The sheriff shrugged.

“So there’s nothing more you can do to stop these attacks?”

He shook his head. “I’m doing the best I can with whatever information I’ve been given.”

Rosemary stood. She’d obviously made a mistake in coming here. It didn’t appear as if Sheriff Osborn cared that much about the things that had been done to her brother and his family.

“Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to speak with me, Sheriff.” She turned and marched out of the room, her snow boots clomping against the wooden floor.

Once outside, Rosemary drew a couple of deep breaths, relieved to be breathing fresh air again.
I think I’ll stop over at Heini’s Cheese Store for a little snack
,
and then I’m going over to Roman’s place and have a talk with him
.

As Luke continued to talk with Martha about Toby, her thoughts swirled like a windmill going at full speed. “I know Toby has something
against you,” she said. “That’s obvious by the way he acts whenever the two of you are together.”

Luke nodded.

She pursed her lips. “I don’t see how he could have done all the attacks, though—especially when he was someplace else when most of them happened.”

“Huh?”

“Take that day when our house was egged and we found a headless scarecrow in our yard. We’d been at Toby and Sadie’s wedding, and the attack had to have occurred while we were there.”

“So?”

“So, if Toby was at the wedding, which he obviously was, then he couldn’t have been at our house throwing eggs or cutting off that old scarecrow’s head.”

Luke tapped his finger against his clean-shaven chin. “Maybe he had someone else do it for him.”

“Who?”

“Beats me. All I know is Toby’s no longer my friend, and I don’t trust him as far as I can throw a mule.”

“Some of the attacks might have been done by pranksters—maybe those English fellows you’ve been hanging around with.”

He gave a quick nod. “Which is why—”

“Well, hello there, Martha. I didn’t expect to see you here today.”

Martha’s head snapped around. “Aunt Rosemary! I didn’t think I’d be seeing you here, either.”

Aunt Rosemary smiled, first at Martha and then at Luke. “Hello, Luke. I’m surprised to see you here, as well.”

His face colored, and he reached up to swipe at the sweat on his forehead. “I was just. . .uh. . .tasting some cheese, and Martha showed up, so—”

“So we came out here to talk awhile,” Martha said, finishing Luke’s sentence.

“I see.” Aunt Rosemary took a seat beside Martha and patted her arm. “It’s always good to see you.”

“Same here.”

Luke cleared his throat a couple of times. Martha could tell he was uncomfortable about having been seen with her. Truth was she felt a little apprehensive about it, too. At least it was Aunt Rosemary and not Dad who’d seen her sitting beside Luke.

“I’d better go,” Luke said, rising to his feet. “I’ve got some errands to run, and then my daed needs my help this afternoon.” He glanced over at Martha and gave her a half smile. “I’ll be seeing you around.”

She smiled and nodded in return.

Luke cast a quick smile in Aunt Rosemary’s direction then hurried away.

“Luke seems like a nice enough fellow,” Aunt Rosemary said, “but he acted kind of nervous, don’t you think?”

Martha shrugged then leaned closer to her aunt and whispered, “I hope you won’t say anything to my folks about seeing me and Luke together. Dad wouldn’t like it.”

“Why not?”

“He thinks Luke might be responsible for the attacks against us.”

“Is that what you think, Martha?”

“I don’t believe he is. In fact—” Martha halted her words. Should she tell Aunt Martha that she and Luke were trying to find out who was responsible for the attacks, or should she just say she’d been trying to find out on her own?

“Is there something troubling you, Martha? Something more than me seeing you with Luke?”

Martha nodded. “I’m concerned about the terrible things that have been done to my family, and I’ve decided to try and find out who’s behind the attacks.”

“You, too?”

Alarm rose in Martha’s chest. Did Aunt Rosemary already know Luke was doing some investigating of his own? “What do you mean?”

Aunt Rosemary glanced around as though she was worried someone might hear their conversation, but no one was within earshot, as far as Martha could tell.

“I’ve just come from Sheriff Osborn’s office,” Aunt Rosemary
whispered. “I went there to see if he’s come up with any leads and to let him know about your dad’s fence being cut.”

“Did the sheriff have anything helpful to say?”

“I’m afraid not. He thinks he could help more if he was told right away whenever something happens.” Aunt Rosemary released a lingering sigh. “To tell you the truth, I don’t think the sheriff cares all that much what happens to your family, and I. . .” Her voice trailed off.

“You what?” Martha prompted.

Aunt Rosemary glanced around once more. “I’d rather not discuss this with you here. Is there a time you can come by my house so we can visit privately?”

“I work for Irene all next week, but I’m free on Monday of the following week.”

“Why don’t you come over around eleven thirty? We can talk while we have lunch together.” Aunt Rosemary gave Martha’s arm a gentle pat. “You’ll be the first lunch guest in my new house.”

“You’ve had others over to eat in that house.”

“That’s true, but I was only renting the place then. Now that the home is mine, I’m starting fresh with my entertainment list.”

Martha chuckled. She always felt relaxed when she was with Aunt Rosemary.

Aunt Rosemary stood. “I think I’ll buy a couple packages of cheese and some trail bologna, and then I’ll be on my way.”

Martha smiled. “I’ll see you next Monday for lunch.”

“I’m done with those cabinets you wanted me to stain,” Cleon said.

“Did you want me to make those deliveries for you now?”

“Jah, sure,” Roman answered with a nod.

“While I’m in Berlin, I’d like to stop by a couple of the shops that sell my honey and see if their supply’s running low.”

“No problem. Take your time.”

Cleon smiled. “I appreciate you letting me continue with my honey business while working for you. I enjoy working with my bees, and it would be hard to give it up.”

“Everyone in the family enjoys the honey your bees provide.”

Cleon nodded. “I’d best get those chairs loaded up and head out. I should be back shortly after noon.”

“No problem. Take your time.”

The barn door clicked shut behind Cleon, and Roman resumed his work on some rusty hinges.

Some time later, the door opened, and Rosemary stepped into the barn.

“This is a surprise,” Roman said, moving over to the door to greet his sister. “What brings you out on this cold winter day?”

“I came to see you, of course.” Rosemary gave him a hug.

“I’m glad you did. How are things going? Are you all settled in?”

She nodded. “Now that all the unpacking is done, I need something else to keep me busy.”

He chuckled. “I’m sure you’ll find something to do. Even when you were a
maedel
, you always had to be busy.”

“That’s true,” she admitted. “Most of the girls I knew were happy playing with their dolls, but not me. I felt I should be doing something more constructive.”

“Are you thinking of finding a job?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Between the money from my husband’s insurance policy and the sale of our home, I should be fine.”

“But if you need to keep busy, a part-time job might be what you need.”

“Maybe later. Right now, I’ve got something else I want to do.”

He nodded toward the metal desk he’d set up in his temporary shop. “Why don’t you have a seat and tell me about it?”

“Are you sure you have the time?”

“Jah, sure. I can take a little break.”

Rosemary sat down, and he pulled a wooden stool over and joined her.

“So what’s this ‘something else’ you’re wanting to do?” he asked.

“I’d like to investigate the attacks that have been made against you.”

His eyebrows shot up. “It’s not your place to do any investigating; that’s the sheriff’s job.”

“It should be,” she said with a nod. “However, I don’t think he’s doing a very good job, or else we would know who’s behind the attacks by now, and the culprit would be behind bars.”

Roman grunted. “The sheriff blames me for that. He thinks I should call him right away whenever we’ve had an attack.”

“Why haven’t you called him every time, Roman?”

“I feel that it shows a lack of faith on my part if I go running to the law every time someone pulls a prank on us.”

“I’ll admit, some of the things that have been done to you have seemed like simple pranks, but other things, like Martin’s death, were obviously not.”

Roman massaged the back of his neck. “We don’t know for sure that the person who’s done vandalism here is the one who rammed Ruth and Martin’s buggy off the road. That could have been a hit-and-run driver who’d had too much to drink on Christmas Eve or was speeding and lost control of his vehicle in the snow.”

Rosemary slowly shook her head. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

Roman shrugged. “I don’t know what to believe anymore. These attacks have gone on longer than I thought they would. Now that irritating land developer’s back in the area, asking to buy my land.” He grimaced. “When the attacks first began, I was convinced Luke was doing them.”

“And now?”

“Now I’m not so sure. It’s possible that the land developer hired someone to do the attacks so he could scare me into selling my land.”

“I’ve been thinking that, too.”

“I haven’t ruled out the possibility that Luke’s somehow involved,” Roman said. “That fellow seems sneaky, and I know he hasn’t liked me since I fired him for being late to work too many times.”

“Do you have any other suspects?”

“At first I thought it might be Steven Bates, who got mad at me after the set of cabinets Luke delivered fell off the wagon. But then after Luke started acting so weird about things, I figured it was
probably him.” Roman crossed his arms. “At least we know it’s not that reporter fellow, since he’s moved out of the area again.”

“We can speculate until the sheep are all sheared, but we won’t know anything for sure until this mystery is solved.”

He clutched her arm and shook his head. “I don’t want you playing detective; you could get hurt.”

She laughed. “I’m not a little girl anymore. I don’t need my big brother watching out for me.”

“You may not be a little girl, but you’re a woman whose curiosity could get her in trouble if this person gets wind that you’re trying to catch him.”

She patted his hand in a motherly fashion. “I appreciate your concern, but I’ll be fine, Roman. Just keep the faith and put your trust in God.”

He drew in a deep breath and offered up a silent prayer.
I do trust You, God. I just don’t trust my nosy sister to keep out of trouble.