A Plain Disappearance (34 page)

I didn’t bother to respond to that.

She poked Levi’s side with the toe of her snow boot. “Duct tape. How appropriate.”

“In Billy’s honor,” I said.

The Appleseed Creek police chief snorted. “You’re welcome to keep helping me sort out cases like this, Humphrey, but let me make it very clear, you will never be on my payroll.”

“Understood.” I watched Jeb wrap his arm around his daughter’s shoulder. “I don’t do it for the payroll.”

“Neither do I,” the chief murmured, before looking over her shoulder at her crew. “Nottingham, strap this turkey to the back of one of the snowmobiles, and do me a favor. Make sure he is strapped in good and tight. I don’t want him rolling off and suing the department for his injuries.”

Nottingham nodded, and he and Officer Riley rolled the still unconscious Levi onto the sled that would hook to the back of one of the snowmobiles.

“If you hit a few ruts making your way to the road, that’s okay,” the chief said. “Got that, guys?”

“We got it, Chief,” Nottingham said with a wicked smile.

Chief Rose squinted at me. Her silver eyeliner caught the light of the setting sun. “You didn’t hear that, Humphrey. Okay?”

“Hear what?” I asked with a grin.

A
few days later, Timothy waited with me just a few feet away from the security checkpoint at the Columbus airport. I adjusted my carry-on, hoping that I remembered to pack everything I would need. The last thing I wanted to do when I got to California was ask Sabrina for a toothbrush.

My feet rooted to the linoleum. I stalled. “Have you heard from Billy?” I asked.

“You mean Walter?” he asked bitterly.

“Is that what we’re calling him now?” I asked. A woman with a hot pink animal carrier walked by with a dog yapping from inside. If they were on my plane, it was going to be a long flight to LA.

Timothy shifted his feet. “I don’t know what to call him. He’s still in the hospital. When he can be moved, Chief Rose will ship him off to Michigan.”

“What can we do for him?”

“We can pray. He’s on the church’s prayer list.” He paused. “Nathan Garner is too. He’s in Columbus. Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow on his finger.”

I winced. “Poor guy. His girlfriend is murdered, and he learns his father is the killer. Plus, his best friend attacks him.”

“With Levi and Caleb out of the picture, it looks like he will be running the warehouse all by himself—if he can figure out how to pay back everyone his father swindled over the last twenty years.”

“Tell your family, I said good-bye.” I bit the inside of my lip. “I mean, if you think that they want to hear it.” I hadn’t been back to the farm since Mr. Troyer asked me to leave, and neither had Becky.

Timothy faced me and squeezed my hands. “Chloe, my parents are just upset right now over Becky’s hair. You know that they were hoping she would go back to being Amish. They know it was her decision and that what Becky does is not your fault.”

I wasn’t sure his parents would agree with him. I’d gotten the impression that they thought it was
all
my fault because I was an intruder, an outsider. I changed the subject. “Has Ruth been able to see Anna more often?”

Timothy nodded. “
Grossdaddi
told me that Anna was over at our farm all day yesterday.”

“I’m glad. Anna deserves happiness and a father who loves her.”

“Everyone does,” Timothy said. “Including you.”

A TSA agent barked just a few feet away. “Have your IDs and ticket out. Any liquids? Laptops need to go in trays. Those shoes must come off.”

I shivered. “I should get in line.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you? I can buy a ticket right now. The pavilions will be fine without me. It’s too cold to work on them anyway.”

I gave him a smile and squeezed his forearm. “Thank you, but I need to do this by myself.”

He folded his hands over mine. “Remember that I’m proud of you.”

“You might not be so proud of me when I throw up on you in a few minutes. I’m so nervous.”

Timothy laughed. “You can face down a killer, Chloe. A few days with your dad will be a piece of cake.”

My dad, maybe. Sabrina, not so much.

He grew serious. “Whatever happens with your dad and Sabrina, remember you tried. If they don’t accept you after that, then that’s their monumental loss.”

Comments like this made what I was about to tell Timothy even more true. “Before I go I need to tell you something.”

His eyes twinkled. “What?”

I looked him dead in the eye. “I love you.”

He grinned and leaned forward to kiss me. When he pulled away, he said, “Now, go. You have a plane to catch.”

I filed into the slow-moving security line. Timothy stood there, watching me until I crossed through the security scanner.

On the plane, I lifted my small overnight bag into the bin above my seat, when my cell phone in my pocket beeped, telling me I had a new text message. I fell into my seat next to the woman with the hot pink dog carrier. A Bichon Frise’s head popped out of the top opening.

I smiled at the woman. “He’s cute.”

“Don’t pet him.” She sniffed. “He bites.”

“Oh.” I scooted over in my seat as far as I could without actually hanging into the aisle, then I removed my cell phone from my coat pocket. The text was from Timothy.
Focus on your family now. Don’t worry about mine. We’ll all be family someday.

I stared at Timothy’s text until the flight attendant announced it was time to put away all electronic devices. And the weight of the worries I had carried onto the plane with me blew away like a breeze across the Troyer farm.

Dear Reader,

I knew the moment I added Billy from Uncle Billy’s Budget Autos to
A Plain Death
, the first Appleseed Creek Mystery, he would have a larger role in a future book in the series. I didn’t know he would have a dark past and be a murder suspect. Characters doing the unexpected is one the great delights of writing, and the characters in
A Plain Disappearance
are no exception. All the characters have astonished me in some way, even my protagonist, Chloe Humphrey. When they surprise me, that’s when I learn the most about them as characters and when I learn the most about myself as a writer.

However, even though I typically write without an outline, I know where some key characters will end up. One example is Curt Fanning. I hope he surprised readers in this novel, but I knew the position he would be in by the end of this book before I finished writing
A Plain Death
. I hope you agree with me that it’s the place he needs to be.

In interviews, I am consistently asked what the theme is in my writing. I answer this question with “I don’t write to themes. I don’t have a theme in mind.” This is true. My goal as a writer is to tell a story. That is all. There is no big message I am trying to express to the reader. However, when I finished
A Plain Disappearance
, I surprised myself yet again because I realized I wrote a theme into this series even if it was unintentional. The series’ theme is forgiveness. The forgiveness is between the English and Amish in Appleseed Creek, between the Troyers and their children who left the Amish way, between Timothy Troyer and his past, between Becky Troyer and her ambitions, between criminals and their victims, and we hope between Chloe and her father. Only future novels will tell how the story ends for Chloe and her father.

May the characters make you smile, the mystery raise your suspicions, and the romance touch your heart.

Blessings and Happy Reading!

Amanda Flower

1. What was your favorite part of the novel? Why?

2. Which character did you identify with the most? Why?

3. The Amish in the novel celebrate Christmas. How is their celebration similar to yours? How is it different?

4. How is Chloe’s relationship with her father similar to Lambright girls’ relationship with their father?

5. Who is your favorite character and why?

6. What’s your take on Billy from Uncle Billy’s Budget Autos?

7. Of the antagonists in the novel, which did you dislike the most? Why?

8. Did you learn anything new about Amish culture from reading this novel?

9. In this novel, you finally meet Chloe’s best friend Tanisha. What does Tanisha bring to the story?

10. Before the end of the novel, who did you think the murderer was? Were you right?

11. What are your thoughts on Becky and Aaron’s relationship?

12. What are your thoughts about Curt Fanning and Brock Buckley after reading the third book in the series?

13. What do you hope for Chloe in the future?

14. What do you hope for Becky in the future?

15. What plotline would you write if you were writing an Amish mystery?