Hidden (Amish Romance Mystery) (Amish Secret Widows' Society Book 2) (2 page)

“
Jah, denke
. Have you had dinner?” Emma knew that Wil wasn’t much of a cook and did not look after himself as he should.

“Have you?” Wil asked.

“I’ve just finished and I was in the middle of washing the dishes. Come into the kitchen.” Emma continued to wash the dishes while Wil sat at the kitchen table. “Have you called Frank’s sons yet?”

“
Jah
, Clive is out of the country and Andrew is coming tomorrow.”

“
Gut
. What do you know about them?” Emma asked.

“Nothing. I remember them from years ago, but only vaguely. Frank just gave me their phone numbers in case anything should happen to him.”

“Was Frank expecting something to happen to him?”

“
Nee
, but he was old, that’s all he meant. Even though his sons left, he still spoke to them. Well, from what he said, they hadn’t visited him in five years, but he did get the occasional letter from them.”

Emma nodded at what Wil said; she knew that many Amish parents had no contact with their
kinner
when they chose to leave the community, but it sounded as though it was the boys who did not keep in contact with Frank.

Wil said, “Why don’t you come to Frank’s
haus
tomorrow to meet Andrew?”

“I could, I guess. I’ll ask if he can take Growler.”

“Where is Growler?”

Emma looked around. “He was asleep on the couch last time I saw him.” Emma looked by the back door to see that all the food had disappeared from the saucer. “Well, he’s eaten.” She pointed to the saucer. “That was full of food. I did leave the door open for a little while before, just in case he wanted to go out for a while. He might still be out there.”

Wil jumped to his feet. “Emma, he might have run away.”

“I have no litter tray. I had to let him out.”

Wil went outside through the back door. “Here, Growler. Here kitty, kitty.”

Emma followed him. “It’s a little dark to see.”

“Frank loved that cat,” Wil said.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find him.” Emma bit her lip and wished she’d taken better care of him.

After ten minutes of looking for him, they gave up. It was too dark to see too far.

“Hopefully, he’ll be back in the morning,” Emma said.

“
Jah
, I hope so. Night, Emma. Sweet dreams,” Wil stepped in close to her.

“Night, Wil.”

“It will be lovely when we can be together so I can cuddle you all night,” Wil said as he put his arms around Emma’s waist and pulled her to him.

Emma loved to feel his arms around her; she breathed in his masculine scent then giggled and pulled away. “Go on with you,” she said with a laugh in her voice.

Wil walked down the road to his
haus.

After Wil left, Emma felt a little better. It wasn’t every day that she discovered a dead body and she was still a little shaken. There was also the unknown element of whether Frank died of natural causes or whether he was killed. She would hate to think that someone might have deliberately killed poor, old Frank.

Emma made sure that she locked and bolted the back door and the front door after what happened to old Frank. Emma re-boiled the kettle and made herself a chamomile tea hoping that it would help her sleep. She took the lamp up the stairs in one hand and her hot tea in the other ready for an early night. When she walked through her bedroom door, she saw Growler asleep in the middle of her bed. She hadn’t even thought to look inside the
haus
for him. Emma laughed. “Make yourself comfortable, Growler.”

Emma pushed Growler over to one side and thought it funny that he totally ignored her. Emma slipped under the covers, propped herself up with pillows and sipped her hot tea. She did want to share her bed once more with someone, but had hoped it would be with a
mann,
not a cat.

As she closed her eyes, Emma hoped that the widows would help her find out how Frank died.

Chapter 3.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,

the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

As they walked from the buggy to the
haus,
Emma noticed that one of the neighbors was peeking through their window at them. Emma knew it was Thomas Graber.

Emma whispered to Wil, “Do you see Thomas Graber staring at us through the window?”

“Wouldn’t be surprised. Frank and he never saw eye to eye on anything and recently they had quite an argument over a large fence that Thomas wanted to put up. Frank said that it would block the sunlight on his vegetables.”

Emma looked at the messy front garden. “It’s odd that the garden in the front is neglected and he spent all his time in the vegetable garden out the back.”

“He loved his vegetables.”

Wil and Emma waited in the
haus
and before too long a red sports car zoomed to a halt in front of the
haus.

Andrew looked much like Frank except a younger version. He was tall and wide just like his
daed
had been. He had a younger woman with him and Emma wondered if she was Andrew’s
dochder.

“Nice to see you again, Wil,” Andrew’s voice boomed. He turned to Emma. “And who do we have here? I don’t remember you and I’m sure I’d remember such a pretty face.”

Emma smiled and wondered if Andrew was a salesman of some kind; he certainly knew how to compliment and flatter people. “Hello, I’m Emma. We’ve never met; I wasn’t in the community when you were.”

“Did you convert?” Andrew asked.

“
Nee
, I’ve always been Amish, but not from around these parts.” Emma smiled at the girl on Frank’s arm as she spoke.

“Oh, forgive my manners. This is my girlfriend, Lacey.”

Emma noticed that Lacey was quite a fancy woman. She had shiny red lips, long red nails and her dress was way above her knees. Emma glanced at Lacey’s four-inch heels and wondered how anyone could possibly walk in shoes that high.

Emma nodded hello to Lacey.

“Pleased to meet you, Lacey,” Wil said before he turned back to Andrew. “I would have hoped we would meet again under different circumstances. Let’s talk inside the
haus
.”

Andrew stepped inside the
haus
and turned about in a circle. “What a mess; apart from the mess, nothing has changed. Wil, how much do you think the
haus
would be worth? I’m not sure what the value would be.”

“I don’t know. Would you sell it or rent it?”

“I think Clive and I would want to sell. I’ve only spoken to him briefly; he’s still overseas, but he’ll back home in a week. I told him there’s no need to rush home.”

Emma was taken aback that the first questions Clive had were about the value of the
haus
rather than about how his
daed
died, but then again, he could have already talked to the police.

Wil lowered his head and asked, “Do you want us to delay the funeral ‘til he gets here?”

“Wil, can you handle all that stuff, the funeral? Clive and I aren’t Amish anymore and most likely won’t even go to the funeral. If the community is happy to look after things, that would be good.”

Wil remained silent. Emma knew that Wil was struggling with judgment. Surely, they would want to be certain that Frank would be buried in the same Amish cemetery where Sally was buried, the one that they shared with the Mennonites. And why would they not attend their own
daed’s
funeral?

“We’ll cover the expenses, out of dad’s estate. I’ll have to go to the bank to see about his money. I’m guessing he had a stash of money since he sold the farm and bought this place after mum died. He would’ve had quite a sum left over.”

“I’d say so. Well, if Clive and you don’t want to be involved in the funeral, would you mind if we hold the service at my
haus
? The body is always in the
haus
for viewing and my
haus
is much bigger than this one. There’ll be a fair crowd.”

“Do whatever you want. Clive and I will have someone get the house
ready for sale at some stage– clean it up and that sort of thing. Did dad
have anything else of value?”

Lacey took a small step forward. “Like any antiques or jewelry?”

Wil laughed. “Lacey, Amish have no need of jewelry and if something is antique, it would have been something passed down through Frank’s
familye
.” Wil motioned with his hand toward the furniture in the living room. “Look around and see if you think the furniture is antique.”

Lacey walked around the room looking at the odd pieces of furniture scattered here and there. Lacey spun around to Andrew and said, “I don’t care for any of it.”

“It’s not our style, Wil. I suppose it can be sold with the house
.
I’d dare say Clive wouldn’t be interested in any of it either. It’s basically junk.”

Emma could not stop her eyebrows from rising. Lacey was far too interested in something that was hardly her business since she was only Andrew’s girlfriend and not his
fraa.
Emma knew that Wil too would have been taken aback by Andrew and Lacey’s manner. Andrew seemed to have no thought or care for his own father’s funeral. “I’m looking after your
daed’s
cat, Growler. Would you like him? I hear your
daed
was very fond of him.”

Andrew held up a chubby hand and shook his head vehemently. “I don’t want animals.”

Emma looked to Lacey hoping she would say that she’d take the cat.

“I’m allergic to cat hair,” Lacey said.

Of course, she would be allergic to cat hair, but not allergic to makeup, perfume, hair dye, acrylic nails and money,
Emma thought before she could stop herself.

“So, Wil, anything else of value apart from this old house here?” Andrew asked.

Wil took his hat off and ran his hand through his hair, “He sold all the farm equipment at the same auction he sold the farm in. He sold the horses and the buggies. So that’s it.”

Andrew shook his head as if he was disappointed. Emma knew that Wil had to bite his tongue. Andrew seemed more concerned about the value of everything rather than the fact that neither he nor his
bruder
had visited their
daed
in the five years before he died.

Andrew took a handkerchief out of his pocket and mopped the sweat off his forehead. “Are you aware of any safe-deposit boxes my father had then? I’m sure he mentioned to me when I was a child that he had something special for us boys in a safe-deposit box.”

Wil scratched his chin. “He told me nothing of the kind. Anyway, Andrew, Emma and I are very sorry for your loss.”

Andrew nodded. “Thank you.”

“I suppose the police have spoken to you about it all?” Emma asked.

“Yes, they think that he was startled by an intruder then fell and hit his head.”

Emma raised her eyebrows once more. “Is that what they think?”

“Well, the place was trashed. I guess if there was anything of value here, it’s well and truly gone by now,” Andrew said then looked at Lacey who pouted her shiny, red lips.

“Wil, do you mind if I leave you in charge of letting a realtor through to look at the place, seeing that you live so close by and all?”

“Of course, Andrew.”

“I’ll have a realtor contact you in a week or two, or how ever long everything takes. I’ve never inherited anything before; I’m sure there will be probate and the property will have to be changed into our names before we sell.”

Wil said, “I’m not sure how it works either; sorry I can’t help you with that one.”

“I’ll be in touch then, thank you, Wil, Emma.” Andrew and Lacey walked back to their red sports car.

* * *

The next night Emma met the widows at their regular gathering. They were a close-knit group that consisted of the two elderly sisters, Elsa-May and Ettie. Elsa-May was a large-busted, solidly built lady with a big dominating personality to go with it, whereas her
schweschder
was small and fine boned and a little timid, but no less shrewd. Also at their regular meetings were Silvie and Maureen, younger widows, only a little older than Emma.

As usual at their secret meetings there was a lot of food. There were chocolate fudge bars, chocolate brownies, cheesecake and cup cakes. Emma looked forward to the regular widows’ meetings that they held, but she did not like the hard wooden chairs in the living room. Ettie and Elsa-May did not have a couch or a sofa; the two old ladies did not seem to miss having a couch one little bit. Emma wondered whether they had been brought up to sit on hard chairs and that’s why they thought nothing of it - they had never known anything else. Emma knew that the younger widows found it uncomfortable as much as she by the way they kept moving and shifting in their seats.

“They’re not releasing the body,” Elsa-May said before she bit into a chocolate chip cookie.

“Frank’s body?” Emma felt silly for asking such a thing as soon as she said it; there was no other ‘body’ in the community of which they would be speaking.

“
Jah
. The bishop told me that he organized for the funeral director to pick up the body, but they aren’t releasing it.”

Emma knew that Elsa-May was very
gut
friends with the bishop and his
fraa,
and regularly went to visit them.

Ettie leaned forward. “Obviously, they suspect foul play.”

“Who would kill harmless old Frank?” Silvie slid forward slightly.

“I’m sure they’ll find that it’s all a mistake in a couple of days,” Maureen said.

Emma bit down on her lip. “The detective said that someone was looking for something.”

“I hope poor old Frank didn’t suffer,” Ettie said. “More tea anyone?” Ettie rose to her feet and picked up the large china teapot and peered at each lady in turn.

Emma thought it amusing that Ettie referred to Frank as old; she was sure that Frank was younger than Ettie. “
Jah
, I’ll have a top up,
denke
, Ettie.” Emma stretched her hands as far as she could towards Ettie. She knew she risked being burned by hot tea as Ettie’s shaking hands poured the tea into her cup.

“Do you remember seeing anything odd when you were at Frank’s
haus
, Emma?” Elsa-May asked.

“He had some old soup or something of the kind on the stove; there were things all over the floor and the mattresses were shredded. That’s all I can think of.”

“Definitely sounds as though they were looking for something all right,” Ettie said.

“They would’ve gone over the place for fingerprints already,” Emma said.

“They won’t find any fingerprints,” Elsa-May said in a very firm voice. “The person who did this was looking for something and most likely something small since they shredded the mattresses.” Elsa-May drummed her fingertips on her chin. “I wonder what old Frank could have been hiding.”

“What do we know about Frank then?” Silvie said.

“He wasn’t always Amish you know. He came to the community when he was in his late twenties. He married Sally soon after.” Ettie gave a little giggle. “Tongues wagged when they got married so soon. Some said he only joined the community to marry Sally.”

Emma dropped her gaze while she wondered if tongues would wag about her and Wil if they got married too soon. She was sure that they would.

“Sally was a little older than Frank, but he didn’t seem to mind,” Ettie said.

“What line of work was he in before he came to the community?” Maureen asked.

“That’s a
gut
question dear, but I don’t know. If I did know, then I’ve forgotten.” Ettie turned to her older
schweschder
. “Do you know, Elsa-May?”

“It’s such a long time ago and I was busy with my
kinner
and raising a
familye
back then. I didn’t really pay much notice; I never spent much time in Sally’s company. We were never that close with them were we, Ettie?”

“
Nee
.”

“He bought a farm and farmed the land. No one ever talked about what he did before, because his old life was buried when he got baptized,” Elsa-May said with the hint of a smile on her face.

“I think the key to all this is what he did before he joined the community. We must find out what he did before,” Emma said. “Can you Google him on your laptop, Ettie?”

The widows’ giggled at Emma. “I know, I know. I was shocked when I first learned that Ettie had a laptop and Elsa-May had a cell phone, but we need to find out who did this to Frank. What if they haven’t found what they want and they kill someone else?”