A Plain Disappearance (22 page)

“But you can’t take it back,” I said.

She stared me down. “Who says that I want to? Do you want me to go back to the Amish?”

“No, of course not.”

Becky crossed her arms in front of her. “Then what does it matter?”

I felt sick. “What about Aaron?”

Becky’s mouth fell open. “What about him?”

I removed my coat. “I thought you cared for him.”

“I do,” she said slowly. “More than you know.”

“He will have to leave the Amish to be with you. He will be shunned.”

“Chloe, you don’t have to tell
me
how the Amish world works. You think just because you’re dating my brother—who’s not even Amish anymore—makes you an expert.”

“No, I didn’t say that.” Her words landed like a slap across my face.

She scowled at me. “You don’t know how hard this is for me.”

I placed a hand to my throbbing forehead. I was too tired for this conversation. I could barely think straight.

“I can’t be who he needs me to be. I told you that.” Her voice had pitched up an octave.

My heart ached when I thought about what Aaron would suffer. “You need to tell him.”

“Don’t tell me what to do. You’re not my sister.”

I lowered my voice. “I know that, Becky.”

She dropped her arms by her side and looked away. “I’m going to bed. I have to be at the restaurant early tomorrow. It’s my turn to bake the pies.” Then she turned and stomped out of the room.

I fell onto the couch. It was the first fight that I’d had with Becky. After my emotional day with Timothy and Billy, this was the last thing I needed. I narrowed my eyes. “Tee, I can’t believe that you cut her hair without checking with me first.”

Tanisha reared back. “Asking you first? Why would I have to ask you first? She’s an adult.”

“You don’t understand what a big deal this is for an Amish girl.”

“And you do?” Tanisha folded her arm. “Chloe, it’s just hair. Hair will grow back.”

I thought of the young women who had their hair cut through the spree of Amish haircutting a month ago. It wasn’t just hair to them. They would give anything for it to have never been cut in the first place. “You don’t understand.”

“Like you do? Chloe, I think Becky is right. You aren’t an Amish expert.”

I sucked in air. When I didn’t respond, Tanisha said, “I’m going home tomorrow as planned. I will see you in the morning. I promise not to cut anymore hair while I’m here.”

I let my head fall back onto the couch. “Tee, I’m sorry. I’ve had . . .” I let my voice trail off because I spoke to an empty room.

T
he phone rang before the sun rose the next morning. I grabbed for it on my nightstand. “Hello?” I croaked.

“Humphrey, good, you’re awake,” Chief Rose said. By her tone, I could tell that she was pleased with herself for waking me up.

I wished I had water for my dry mouth. “Is something wrong? Is Billy okay?”

“His name is not Billy. It’s Walter.”

I struggled to a seated position on the bed. “Fine. Is Walter okay?”

“That’s why I’m calling. He’s stable and sober. His leg is broken and the wound on his head is shallow. He’s lucky to be alive. The doctors think the fact that he was dead drunk worked in his favor. He was completely limp when he fell. Had his body been able to tense up, his injuries may have been much worse.”

I exhaled. “That’s great news.”

“Now that Walter is sober, he wants to talk to you and Troyer. He refuses to talk to me unless his lawyer is around.”

I wasn’t eager to see Billy again. “Tyler is his lawyer. I’m sure he will cooperate with you.”

“You’re not getting off that easy, Humphrey. He’s willing to talk to both of you without Hart there. You will listen to what he says and report back to me. You’re going to do this for me because you screwed up royally yesterday. Got it?”

“Got it.” I punched my pillow. “Have you called Timothy to tell him?”

“No. Troyer is on my punk list at the moment. I will leave that up to you.”

“How much longer do you plan to stay mad at him?”

“I haven’t decided. I might make him sweat until next year.”

“Next year is only five days away.”

“Don’t tell him that. Seriously, Humphrey, if anyone in this town should know the cost of a stunt like that, he should have. Give him the message.” She hung up.

“He knows,” I whispered. I called Timothy’s number from my cell phone. No answer. I repeated the message that Chief Rose gave me.

Gigabyte saw that I was awake and yowled into my face as if to say,
Since your eyes are open, you must be able to feed me.

I rolled over on my side and covered my head with my pillow. “Go bother Becky,” I said in a muffled voice. “You won’t like what I give you anyway.”

He pawed at the pillow and yowled again, closer to my ear. His best Siamese screeches could crack glass.

I groaned. “Fine, but as soon as I’m done, I’m coming right back to bed.”

He gave me a pleasant
meow
and hopped to the floor. I swore the cat understood English.

Tanisha was in the kitchen drinking coffee. She gave me a small smile. “I guess I’m not totally accustomed to the trans-Atlantic time change yet. I’m sure I will be just in time to fly back to Italy.”

“Probably so.” I removed Gig’s cat food from the cupboard. The tawny-colored animal wove in and around my ankles, purring as if two of his feline lives depended on it.

“Chloe, I just want to apologize for last night. I didn’t know you would be so upset or that it was such a big deal. I gave Becky the haircut she wanted. I didn’t know there was anything more to it than that.”

“I know. It’s as much Becky’s fault. She knows what a haircut meant for her.”

“Can she really not go back to the Amish?”

“I don’t know. I know that she doesn’t want to go back, but if she doesn’t, Aaron will be the one who will have to make the tough choice about leaving.” I sighed and set Gig’s food dish on the floor and turned back to Tee. “I’m not upset that Becky cut her hair. If that’s what she wanted to do or felt that she needed to do, I supported her all the way. I was upset because you did it.” I smiled sheepishly. “And I might be a little jealous that I wasn’t here.”

“Ah,” Tanisha said and pointed to a nine-by-twelve envelope on the table.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Becky’s hair. She said that you thought she should donate it to charity, like Locks of Love.”

I smiled. “I did. I’m glad she remembered. It will be a blessing to someone who needs it.” I sat at the table and picked up the envelope. It was already sealed and addressed in Becky’s handwriting. “Becky’s so angry with me. I need to apologize, but I won’t see her until she finishes work later this afternoon.”

“We could go there and talk to her.”

I shook my head. “Aaron will be there. I don’t want to have the conversation in front of him.”

Tanisha set a mug of coffee in front of me. “Extra milk, just how you like it.”

“Thanks.” I curved my cold hands around the ceramic surface.

“Enough about Becky and her hair.” Tanisha grinned. “I have a few hours left here. What should we do?”

Chief Rose’s instructions to visit Billy in the hospital came to mind, but it was too early in the morning to do that. “Are you up for some sleuthing?”

“Oh my, yes. I think that is just what the doctor ordered.” Her brow wrinkled. “Why did you come home so late last night?”

I took a deep breath and told her about my near-death experience.

Her eyes widened. “Why didn’t you tell me yesterday?”

“Because of everything that was happening with Becky. I didn’t want to add to the drama.”

Tanisha stirred a fourth spoonful of sugar into her coffee. “Are we going to talk to this Billy guy?”

“No, we’re going grocery shopping.”

Tanisha added a fifth scoop of sugar. She wasn’t a big fan of coffee. “Groceries?”

I nodded. “To pay a visit to your good buddy, Jason Catcher.”

Tee grimaced as she sipped from her mug and made a face. “Will I have to sit on him again?”

“Not this time,” I promised.

E
vergreens and plastic holly decorated the entrance to Appleseed Marketplace. Beside the collection of grocery carts, a pink tinseled Christmas tree stood crookedly in its stand. Tanisha pulled a cart from the line. “Is that a pink Christmas tree?”

“Yep.”

“I love this place.” She beamed. “I feel like we have suddenly walked back into the time of black-and-white television and rotary phones. I bet I could find some fun gifts here for my Italian friends. They will think it’s a hoot.”

The market smelled like over-ripe vegetables and dirt. I grabbed a second shopping cart from the stand. It was part of my cover.

The market was a no-frills experience in one large room. There was a deli counter in the back, a display of Amish-made products from pies to relishes next to that, and the rest of the space was dedicated to produce. Two checkout counters stood by the front door. A bored-looking woman in a jingle bell Christmas sweater rang up a customer. Christmas was over, but I guessed she wasn’t ready to say good-bye to her holiday sweaters just yet.

I wondered if Jason would be at the market today. I didn’t know his schedule, so we could have been wasting our time. My concerns flew away when I spied a tall, gawky kid with sandy-colored hair stacking oranges in the produce section.

“There he is,” I whispered to Tanisha.

Tanisha held a jar of pickles in her hand. She glanced at Jason, then placed the jar in her shopping cart.

“What are they for? You aren’t going to take them all the way back to Italy, are you?”

“Why not?”

The image of broken glass and pickles all over Tee’s clothes in her checked luggage came to mind. “What if the jar breaks?”

“It won’t break,” she said confidently.

I shrugged. “If you say so.”

She leaned close to me. “Do you think Katie dated this guy? I thought the Amish and English weren’t allowed to do that.”

“They’re not. This could be a good motive for murder.” I ducked behind a display of cookies. “He’s not going to be happy to see us.”

She pushed the shopping cart forward. “Then this should be fun.” She rolled the cart and came to a stop beside Jason. “Jason, long time no see.”

Jason froze, an orange in his hand suspended in the air over his pyramid. “You!”

Tanisha cocked her head. “Is that any way to greet an old friend?”

“What are you doing here?” he hissed.

“A little shopping. I live in Italy, so I’m looking for some unique gifts for my roommates. Do you have any suggestions?”

“Oranges?” he stuttered. “We’re having a big sale. We have four varieties. All from Florida. This is the best time of the year for citrus.”

“I don’t think I can pass those through customs.”

His face flushed. “Oh.”

I gripped the handlebar of my grocery cart. “Jason, you have to know that we aren’t here about oranges. We need to talk to you about yesterday—and about how Katie died.”

Jason dropped the orange on top of the pyramid, and the stack cascaded to the floor in a citrus wave. Shoppers hopped out of the way as rolling oranges bounced off their carts’ wheels. An elderly woman hit an orange so hard with her cane that it sent orange juice and pulp flying in all directions.

The bored cashier shook her head. “Catcher, if any those are ruined, they are coming out of your paycheck.”

His shoulders drooped. “My boss is going to kill me. I’m already on notice.”

I picked up an orange that came to rest by my foot. “Is the lady at the register your boss?”

“No, but Marlene thinks she is. She’s like a hundred years old and has worked here since before my dad was born.” He made a face. “I need to start cleaning up.”

Tanisha picked up two of the rogue pieces of fruit. “We can help.” She cocked her head. “Why are you already on notice?”

He held up his left hand and showed a huge bandage on his thumb. “They let me try working in the deli. It didn’t go well.”

I grimaced and made a mental note not to buy meat at the market. Ever.

“Catcher, stop talking and clean up that mess.” Marlene’s hoarse voice cracked. She turned to her customers. “I don’t know what they teach these kids in school today. They can’t do the simplest tasks.”

Jason gathered oranges from the concrete floor and carefully placed them inside the bushel basket at his feet with a dramatic sigh. The pyramid would have to be started again from the beginning.

I grabbed a shopping basket from the end of the lettuce counter and start collecting some in there.

“You don’t have to help me,” he said as he dropped five oranges into the basket.

I added three more oranges into mine. “We want to help.”

When my basket was full of oranges, I grabbed a second one. Tanisha finished filling one as well. Jason got a mop and bucket and cleaned up the orange pulverized by the lady’s cane. When that was done, he began reassembling the pyramid.

Tanisha set her basket of oranges by mine on the floor. “Maybe I shouldn’t have startled you like that.”

“Yeah,” Jason agreed. “You tackling me yesterday wasn’t cool either.”

“Sorry,” Tanisha said but could not hide the humor in her voice. “Now about Katie—”

“I don’t want to talk about Katie,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Okay,” I said. “Then tell me how you know Billy Thorpe.”

“Who’s that?” He placed three more oranges on the pyramid.

I folded my arms. “Come on, Jason. Uncle Billy of Uncle Billy’s Budget Autos? You know it.”

He lowered his head and hid his eyes behind his hair. “Sure I know of that shop. Billy is the only mechanic in town.”

“You know Billy better than that or you wouldn’t have been at the Gundy barn yesterday.”

“I—I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Tanisha was losing patience. “If you didn’t know him, why did you dig that hole?”

“I . . .”

“Come on, Jason,” I said. “I know that Chief Rose already asked you all of these questions. She would not have let you go if she hadn’t felt like she’d gotten good answers from you. How do you know Billy?”