Shunned and Dangerous (An Amish Mystery) (9 page)

S
he was halfway down Sleep Heavenly’s driveway when she heard her name being called. Turning, she spotted Megan Reilly descending the steps of the inn’s front porch, her hand waving wildly in the air.

“Claire! Claire! Can you hold up a second? I’d like to ask you a question before Kyle and I set off for the day.”

Claire retraced her steps until they met in the middle. “Sure thing, Megan, how can I help?”

Pushing a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, Megan laughed, the happy yet slightly high-strung personality she’d exhibited thus far during her stay on full display. “House hunting has got me going a little mad. Which, in turn, has Kyle going a little mad.”

Claire smiled. “I’m sure it’s a stressful time . . .”

“It is,” the woman agreed, “but I tend to make everything more stressful than it needs to be. It’s that Irish worrywart in me.”

“Trust me, I’ve been there a time or two myself.” And she had. Though, now that the end to Heavenly Treasures was no more than three months away, she couldn’t help but see all the times she’d borrowed trouble she didn’t need.

Lifting her face to the warmth of the morning sun, Megan sighed. “I just want to find the perfect house for us, you know?”

“Nothing yet, I take it?”

“Oh, I’ve found a lot of my must-haves and even some of my wish-I-hads, only I’ve yet to find them all in the same place.” Megan shielded her eyes with her hand and peered out at the farmland in the distance. “But this town is so—so quaint, so peaceful, so
perfect
for raising the kids, that I don’t really want to look at any other communities, you know?”

Claire did know. In fact, when she let herself dream about giving marriage another try and the children she’d have as a result, she always envisioned it happening in Heavenly. Like somehow the kindness and goodwill that was ever present in the town via people like Aunt Diane and Claire’s soon-to-be-former fellow shopkeepers would aid in the raising process.

She opened her mouth to voice her agreement but shut it again as Megan continued. “I think we’ll probably end up building in the second development the Realtor took us to on Saturday. The floor plans are nice, the location good, and they’re even going to have a swimming pool for those warm summer months when it’s all done.”

“That sounds nice.”

“It is. Only my continued harping on that development we saw on Friday has Kyle in desperate need of a break from house hunting.”

“Which development was that again?” she asked.

“Serenity Falls—the one on the Amish side that Diane mentioned over breakfast on Saturday. The location is second to none in my opinion. It’s like it is over here on the English side . . . only better. Because instead of just moments of peacefulness when a buggy happens to go by, you’re right there with the buggies and the simplicity
all
the time.”

“So why don’t you just build there, then?”

Megan shook her head, scrunching her nose as she did. “I like to open my windows on all but the coldest days of the year. I couldn’t do that if we—”

“Megan? Are you coming?”

Together, they turned toward the inn and Megan’s very impatient-looking husband.

“Uh-oh. I’m talking about exactly what I promised him I wouldn’t talk about today.” Megan smacked a gentle hand against her forehead and groaned. “I really am a hopeless cause, aren’t I?”

Claire laughed. She liked Megan Reilly, liked her honesty. “You’re a mom. You want to find the right home for your kids. I think that’s pretty commendable.”

Megan’s eyes widened just before she reached out to rest a hand on Claire’s forearm. “Thank you for saying that. Truly.”

“You do realize the poor woman is trying to get to work, right, Megan?”

Waving her free hand toward her husband, Megan leaned closer to Claire. “If you had a day to do whatever you wanted in Heavenly, what would you do?”

“What would I do?” she repeated with a grin. “I’d sleep in until eleven, I’d grab a biscuit or whatever yummy breakfast leftover I could find in my aunt’s kitchen, and then I’d head toward the Amish side of town with a book in my hand.”

Megan considered Claire’s words. “But you see, if Kyle sat down to read, I’d start yacking in his ear all over again. So what we need is something that can distract
me
from talking about the whole house-hunting thing.”

“Ahhh, I get it.” She reconsidered her answer and tweaked accordingly. “Then, in that case, I’d spend the day on Lighted Way, just meandering in and out of the shops. Intersperse that with some coffee at Heavenly Brews, some lunch at Tastes of Heaven(ly), and then cap it off with a piece of Ruth Miller’s Shoo Fly Pie at the bake shop next to my place and you’ll have your relaxing day.”

“Mmm . . . Sounds perfect.”

“Stop into my shop when you’re wrapping up and let me know what you thought, okay?” Then, with a glance down at her watch for the confirmation she knew she’d find, she turned back toward the street, the pre-opening tasks she’d hoped to complete at Heavenly Treasures no longer a possibility. “Enjoy your day, Megan.”

“Thanks, Claire. I owe you one.”

\•\ \•\ \•

O
n one hand she was thrilled to have Esther at the shop all day. The girl’s presence and rapport with the customers made getting to the mountain of things on Claire’s daily to-do list easier. The fact that she could do the bulk of those while smiling and laughing with one of her favorite people made it even sweeter.

Yet as wonderful as it was to have Esther there, the girl’s keen eyes and familiarity with the inner workings of the shop made things like phone calls with the bank and any crying jags that might ensue impossible to accommodate. There was no doubt she’d like to unburden some of the stress she’d kept to herself thus far, but to do so with Esther was unfair. Especially when the bride-to-be’s happy news had been marred enough already by Harley’s murder and her grandfather’s potential ties to the crime.

“You have to come,” Esther said, breaking through Claire’s woolgathering with her hope-filled voice. “Mamm said so.”

She looked up from the handmade baby bibs she was stacking on a shelf for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. “That’s okay? For an English person to be at an Amish wedding?”

“You are my friend, yah?”

“Of course I am.” She moved on to the pile of hand-sewn onesies, checking their count against the printout on her clipboard. “I guess I assumed it would just be for your family and others in your community.”

“They will be there, too.” Esther wandered over to the side window that overlooked the alley between Heavenly Treasures and Shoo Fly Bake Shoppe. The slump of her shoulders as she reached her destination let Claire know that Eli’s buggy had not yet arrived for the young man’s afternoon check on his twin sister, Ruth. “Talk of the wedding brings a smile to Mamm’s face.” Esther cleared her throat quickly, the sound breaking through Claire’s concentration once and for all. “She says you are to bring someone with you.”

She gave up on counting. “You mean like a guest?”

Esther turned around yet remained by the window. “Yah.”

“There’s no one to bring, Esther, you know that.” Then, nudging her chin toward the window, she addressed the subject of another noticeable absence. “I haven’t seen Benjamin around the bakery since Saturday. Is everything okay?”

Oh, how she hoped her question sounded natural, like that of any other shopkeeper on Lighted Way who’d come to know the routines of her fellow shopkeepers. “I mean, I know he hasn’t been around much to begin with, but after he came by on Saturday I figured that was changing.”

Esther smoothed her hands down the sides of her lavender dress just before taking a second and still unrewarded peek out the window. “Eli says Benjamin has said little since Mr. Zook was found. When Eli has tried to speak with him, Benjamin says only that he is busy.”

“Benjamin thinks highly of your grandfather, doesn’t he?” Claire tugged the clipboard to her chest, her mind no longer on her inventory.

“Yah. Dawdy thinks well of Benjamin, too.”

Pushing the instant image of Jakob from her thoughts, she forced herself to focus on Benjamin and his state of mind, instead. “Do you know if they’ve talked since Harley’s death?”

“Yah. Last night, when everyone was leaving after a day of visiting, I saw Benjamin speak with Dawdy. I do not know what was said, only that they spoke. Dawdy moved his hands often and I saw Benjamin walk off for a spell, but I do not know more than that.” Esther bowed her head until her chin nearly touched the top of her chest. “Eli says Benjamin is one of the only ones who does not think Dawdy hurt Mr. Zook.”

Claire sucked in a breath. “You don’t think your grandfather had something to do with Harley’s murder, do you?”

“I do not know what to say,” Esther said once she’d finally reengaged eye contact with Claire. “I do not want to believe such things. It is God’s will when a person’s life is to end, not man’s. That is what we believe.”

“As does your grandfather.”

A weighted silence that hung in the air to the point of suffocation finally gave way to a choked whisper. “But Dawdy had such
anger
for Mr. Zook. It was an anger he did not hide in front of anyone. Not even the bishop.”

“But you said he was shunned for that, didn’t you?”

“Many times. But, Dawdy believed it was Mr. Zook who should be shunned and that he should be the one to lead that.”

“Why did he think Harley should be shunned?” she asked, quickly.

“Because Harley spoke well of my uncle.”

“Jakob?”

“Yah.” Esther nibbled her lower lip then released it along with a quiet sigh. “Benjamin always made things right. He helped people to see Dawdy’s ways were born from the grief of losing Jakob.”

“But Jakob is still very much alive, Esther.” She tightened her grip on the clipboard. “And he’s right here . . . in Heavenly!”

Esther merely shook her head. Sadly. “He is lost to Dawdy.”

“And to you?” Claire heard the rise in her voice, knew it was unfair in light of Esther’s upbringing, but she could do little to stop it. Jakob was a good man. A decent man. He simply didn’t deserve to be excommunicated for choosing a noble profession like police work. “What is Jakob to you, Esther?”

The
clip-clop
of Eli’s horse through the open window saved Esther from having to answer and Claire from having to digest that answer. “Eli is here!”

She couldn’t help but manage the faintest hint of a smile for her friend. How could she not when the presence of another human being could make Esther so happy? Without so much as a glance toward the window, Esther’s pleading gaze sought and received permission to head out into the alley for a quick visit with her betrothed.

But two minutes later, Esther was back behind the counter, the breathtaking smile that had met Eli’s arrival gone as quick as it had come.

“Esther? Is everything okay?”

Esther nodded but said nothing.

“You could have stayed out there and visited a little longer. I’ve got everything under control in here.”

“It was Benjamin, not Eli.” Esther’s shoulders lurched forward in obvious disappointment only to resume their normally stoic pose in short order. “Eli is finishing with the harvest. He asked Benjamin to say hello.”

“Oh.” She looked toward the rear of the shop and the offshoot hallway that linked to the back door. “Did he say if he was going to stop in after he looked in on Ruth?”

Esther removed the tray of plain sales tags from the shelf beneath the register and began to fill in prices for the candles she’d brought in that morning. “He did not say, but he asked after you.”

Claire set the clipboard down on the blankets that were next on her inventory list and shifted from foot to foot, waiting. When Esther said nothing else, Claire asked the only question she could and hoped her reason wasn’t as transparent as it felt. “And? What did you say?”

“I said you were inside taking inventory. He did not say anything else.”

She looked toward the hallway once again, but, still, there was no sign of Benjamin. “Oh, well I’m sure he is busy, too.” But she knew better. Benjamin was always busy. Yet, since they’d met shortly after she opened Heavenly Treasures, he’d always found time to step inside and say hello, to ask if she needed anything before he left. Despite the fact that she always said she was fine, he had a way of finding something to do to make her day a little easier—taking out the trash, reaching something on a top shelf, or moving a bulky item to a new location. His failure to stop in and say hello, if nothing else, spoke volumes.