A Plain Disappearance (26 page)

I stood perfectly still.

He turned to gaze straight ahead. “I don’t blame you.”

“Billy, I know you weren’t yourself yesterday. I forgive you. I just need a little time before I trust you again.”

A tear slid down his cheek. “That’s fair.”

Guilt coursed through my body, but I didn’t move any closer to him. I cleared my throat. “Tell me about Jason Catcher.”

He raised his head from the pillow. “Jason? Why do you want to know about him?”

“You tell me.”

“A 2007 Chevy Cavalier.”

“What?” I asked.

“That’s the car I sold him two years ago. I may forget a person, but I never forget a car.”

“Did you know him before the car sale?”

“No. I’m the first person all the young guys in Appleseed Creek come to for a car. My stuff is reliable, and more importantly, it’s cheap. Most of my customers are young guys. I sold Timothy his first truck.”

“I know. But you know Jason better than that, don’t you?”

Billy rested his cheek on his pillow again. “He works for me around the shop when I need extra help.” His tone was evasive.

Was he protecting Jason or himself?

“And?”

He turned his head away.

“Billy, if you want me to trust you again, you have to earn that trust. Right now, I don’t think it’s possible.”

He still said nothing.

I clenched my jaw. “What about the box at the Gundy barn? Will you tell me about that?”

Billy whipped his head back so fast in my direction that it must have pained the injuries from his fall. “How do you know about that?”

“Jason was caught red-handed with it.” I didn’t add that Tanisha and I were the ones who caught him.

Billy gasped, which turned into a cough. “Where is he?”

“He is at the police station being interrogated by Chief Rose.”

He continued to cough, shaking his head. “Jason doesn’t deserve that. He was doing me a favor.”

“What kind of favor?” I knew, but I had to hear it from Billy to make sure his and Jason’s stories matched.

Billy licked his dry, cracked lips. “I asked him to go to the Gundy barn and dig up a metal safe-deposit box I buried there years ago. It held photos and mementoes from my past—things I couldn’t have with me, but that I couldn’t part with either. And it held escape money in case anyone in Appleseed Creek learned about my past. When I found the dead girl, I was too terrified to dig it up myself.” His watery eyes bore into me. “I’m telling you, Jason was only doing me a favor. He is innocent in all this. He is a good kid.”

“A favor that you were going to pay him five hundred dollars for.”

His head dropped back onto the pillow. “Yes.” He closed his eyes for a minute. “I was so furious when Jason didn’t come with the box at the time we agreed on. That’s when I thought it was all over and started drinking.”

“And then Timothy and I showed up.”

He gave the slightest of nods.

“What do you know about Jason’s relationship with Katie Lambright?”

His eyes flashed. “Jason worked for me, and I did ask him to bring that box to me. He had nothing to do with the girl.”

“How do you know? Were the two of you close? Did he talk to you about his friends and girlfriends?”

His mouth fell open, and then he clamped it shut. “I did know that there was a particular girl he liked. He talked about her all the time, but he never told me her name and I never asked.”

“What did he tell you about her?”

“Oh, that she was very pretty. All boys think that the girls they like are the prettiest girls in the world. She worked at the cheese shop on the square.” Billy must have noticed the change in my expression. “What?”

I shook my head. “Anything else?”

“He hated her parents and said they are the reason he and this girl could never be together.” He sighed. “I thought it was normal teenage boy hormones, so I let him talk about it at my shop to blow off some steam.”

“Did he say anything in particular about the girl’s parents?”

“Just that they were really strict.” He licked his lips again. “Jason thought the dad might have hit the girl before.”

I closed my eyes for a moment. “And you didn’t tell anyone about this?”

“How could I? I would risk—”

“Revealing your own secret,” I finished for him.

Billy’s face flushed as red as his beard.

“Did you suggest to Jason to tell the police about the possible abuse?”

“Yes, but he said the girl would be angry with him if he did.”

I turned to go. “I hope you feel better, Billy. I really do, and I hope for Timothy’s sake you can put your life back together. He cares about you.”

His eyes watered. “I know. He’s one of the good guys. Don’t ever forget that.”

“I won’t,” I promised, and took the two steps to the door.

“I need to tell you one more thing.”

I placed my hand on the doorknob and half-turned his direction. “What’s that?”

“I’m not a natural redhead.”

“I already know that.” I gave him a small smile. “Even if it’s not natural, we are still the only two bright redheads in town.”

“Thank you,” he whispered. Another tear slid down his cheek.

When I stepped out of Billy’s room, Tyler Hart was gone. Timothy sat in a plastic chair, his head against his hands. It was the same posture I’d found him in an hour before. I held out my hand to him. “Come on. The best way to help Billy is to find out who really killed Katie Lambright. We have a meeting.”

He titled his head up and took my hand. “With who?”

“The orange kid,” I replied.

Timothy’s brow furrowed. “Orange kid?”

I looped my arm through his. “I’ll explain in the car.”

S
ince the Quills’ home was on the way to Appleseed Marketplace, Timothy and I drove separately to drop off my car. In the driveway, I hopped out of my Bug and climbed into Timothy’s truck. As we drove the twenty minutes into town I filled him in on the morning’s events.

Timothy took his eyes off the road for a second. “It seems like you had quite a busy day while I was at the hospital. How did you know where to find me?”

I blushed.

He shot a glance over at me again. “What?”

“I used my key and went into your house. I’m sorry. I was worried when I called Uriah and Danny and neither one knew where you were. How did Danny not know that you didn’t spend the night at your house?”

“He got home late from the stables. He probably thought I was asleep in my room.” He tapped the steering wheel. “So you broke into my house to look for me?”

Heat rushed to my face. “I . . . you gave me a key for emergencies. I didn’t know where you were. No one did. I’m sorry.” I clenched my hands in my lap. “It won’t happen again.”

He smiled. “Chloe, don’t apologize. Actually, I’m flattered that you were that worried about me.”

I gave a sigh of relief.

“I’ve never had anyone care about me as much as you do. It’s one of the reasons that I love you,” he said simply.

There they were—the three little words that could change a person’s life. He said them so effortlessly as we drove down the snow-covered country road.
I love you
. That was it. My automatic response should have been to say,
I love you too
.” But I didn’t. The words caught in my throat.

Then again, Timothy had said,
It’s one of the reasons that I love you
. Was that the same as
I love you
? I worried my lip because I wasn’t sure. I could say that sunshine was one of the reasons I loved summer, but I wasn’t
in love
with summer. Was Timothy lumping me in with love of summer? Timothy didn’t seem to expect or want a response, and I didn’t know if I should feel relieved by this or concerned. I worried about this the rest of the short ride to the market.

As promised, Officer Nottingham’s patrol car was parked off to the side of the gas station across the street. Nottingham wasn’t inside, but close by and watching our every move. I pointed him out to Timothy.

He nodded. “That was a good idea to call Greta and give her a heads-up.”

“I think we both learned our lesson when it comes to what to tell and what not to tell Chief Rose.”

Timothy grimaced. “Right.”

A snow-covered picnic table sat at one end of the market only a few feet from the dumpsters. In the warmer weather, market employees could take their smoking breaks there. Was it worth the smoke to have to stand by a dumpster to enjoy it? Jason stood nearby, fidgeting. He wore a brown, shapeless coat and gray gloves. Despite the cold, he didn’t wear a hat.

“That’s him,” I said.

“He doesn’t look like he could hurt anyone,” Timothy commented.

“That’s what I thought until I talked to Debbie.”

Timothy parked the pickup a few feet away from where Jason stood. Both of us got out. Jason scowled. “Who’s this? Where’s your friend?”

“Tanisha had to go home. This is Timothy.”

“I didn’t know a guy was coming.”

“Is that a problem?” I asked.

Jason shrugged. “It doesn’t matter to me.”

I folded my arms. “Jason, we need your help in finding Katie’s killer.”

“I told you in the market. I don’t know anything. If I did, I would have told the police. Katie was my friend, and I miss her every day.” His eyes teared up. “I still can’t believe she’s gone.”

I adjusted my gloves on my wrists. “Katie never turned you down for a ride home?”

His brow creased. “N-no, she didn’t.”

His hesitation told me he was lying.

“What did Mr. Umble say to you when he asked you to stop hanging around the store?”

The stock boy appeared stricken. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“One of Katie’s coworkers at the cheese shop said you were stalking Katie, and Mr. Umble asked you to stay away from the shop. Is that true?”

“No, I mean, yes, I mean, no.” He raised his hands. “I wasn’t stalking Katie. Mr. Umble did ask me to stay away from the shop. He’s a grouchy, old Amish man. He thought I was distracting her from her work.”

“I believe that. But Katie’s coworkers said that she acted afraid when you were around.”

“That’s what the Amish are saying?” His face turned an impossible shade of red. “All they wanted to do was to keep Katie and me apart. They didn’t understand our friendship.” His eyes pleaded with me. “I did not stalk her.”

“She quit her job there to avoid you.”

He balled his fists and got into my face. “That’s not true. If this is what I stayed after work to talk to you about, I’m out of here. I don’t have to take this.”

Timothy stepped between us. “You might want to think twice before you do something you will regret.”

“What do you know about it?”

Timothy stared him down. “A lot more than you do.”

“Katie stopped working at the cheese shop over six months ago, but you never mentioned that. If she stopped, did the rides home stop too?” I asked.

Jason’s shoulders sagged. “I didn’t mean to scare her like that, but I wasn’t stalking her. I was guarding her.”

“Guarding her from what?” Timothy asked.

Jason examined his boots.

“Jason,” I said in a gentler tone. “If you believe that Katie needed protecting from someone, we need to know who that he or she is. That person is most likely the one who killed her.”

He brought his head back up, and he whisked the tears away from his eyes, streaking the lens of his glasses in the process. “I watched her whenever I could to make sure that the guy was never around.” His face flushed. “She should have been grateful I took such good care of her. Instead she put herself within his reach. Now she’s dead.”

I felt cold, and it wasn’t from the freezing air temperatures. “Who?”

“Caleb King, her ex-boyfriend. If you are looking for the killer, look at him. The guy was awful to her. Treated her more like property than a person. He hit her once, right in front of me because she accepted a ride and he was mad about it.” His head dropped to look at his shoes again. “I just stood there and didn’t do a thing about it. She broke up with him the next day. I vowed I would never let him hurt her again, but I failed. I wouldn’t have treated her like that. That may be the Amish way, but it’s not the right away.”

Timothy balled his fists at his sides. “It is
not
the Amish way.”

Jason shook his head as if Timothy had no idea what he was talking about. Obviously, Jason didn’t know that Timothy grew up Amish.

“What did you mean when you said she ran right into his reach?” I asked.

“She left the cheese shop to take an office job at Garner Dutch Furniture Warehouse. That’s where Caleb works.”

“Did she tell you why she took that job?”

He turned up his collar. “No. We weren’t speaking then.”

“Why not?”

“She said that she and Nathan were planning to marry and it was her time to be baptized. She had to give up the things of her
rumspringa
, including our friendship, and be more Amish.” He snorted.

Behind Jason, I saw Officer Nottingham casually making his way across the parking lot. Timothy saw him too.

“Katie left the cheese shop six months ago. You haven’t spoken to her since then?”

He dug the toe of his boot into a small pile of gray slush. “No.”

I tried to gauge if Jason was lying to me again.

“Mr. Catcher,” Nottingham’s voice interrupted our conversation.

Jason jumped, startled when he heard the officer’s voice only a few feet behind him.

Nottingham rested his right hand on the butt of his gun. “I hope you’re keeping yourself out of trouble.”

Jason dug his hands deeper into his jeans pockets. “What are you doing here?”

“We’d like to ask you a few more questions about what you were doing at the Gundy barn. Can you come with me?” Nottingham asked.

Jason lunged at me. “You set me up!”

I jerked back. “I didn’t. I didn’t know that the police wanted to talk to you again.”

Timothy stepped in front of me, and Nottingham clamped a hand onto Jason’s shoulder. “It’s just a few questions, Jason. You’re not under arrest, but if you keep up that attitude toward Ms. Humphrey, you will be.”