Amish Regrets (Amish Secret Widows' Society #4) (4 page)

Chapter 6.

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
 
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

James 2: 14-17

At the widows’ meeting the next night, Detective Crowley told all the widows how Carmello Liante had died.

“Ah, yes, Aconitine. It’s a slow and painful death resulting in paralysis just before death.” Elsa-May smiled. “It’s actually a pretty plant w ith blue, violet flowers, but extremely poisonous. It’s native to northern Europe.”

“How would anyone get it around these parts?” Silvie asked.

“That’s the origin of the plant; it’s grown all over the place now. The roots and leaves can be dried just like any other herb.” Elsa-May tapped on her chin with her fingertips. “It is said that is how the Roman Emperor Claudius died, from the same poison. It was rumored that his wife poisoned him. Funny that Liante was Italian too and his wife is a suspect.”

“Claudius who?” Silvie asked.

“Never mind, you wouldn’t know him,” Elsa-May said. “I’m not about to try and explain the whole of the Ancient Roman Civilization to people who probably don’t even know where Italy is.”

“Don’t be boastful of your education, Elsa-May.
Dat
always told you not to be prideful. He thought that might happen when you forced him to let you go to college.”

“Forced him to let me go? I was married at the time with two
kinner. Dat
had nothing to do with it and Liam was happy for me to go.”

“Hmmph, Liam would have let you fly to the moon if you asked him.”

“You went to college all those years ago?” Silvie asked.

Elsa-May smiled. “I did and I’m not prideful about it. I craved learning about all kinds of things and still do.”

“That’s all very interesting I’m sure, but you ladies can discuss those things when I’m not here. Let’s get back to the point, shall we? I found out that Mr. Liante was worth around four million dollars, possibly more,” Detective Crowley said.

The widows gasped.

Silvie turned to Sabrina. “Did you know of this?”

“
Nee,
what does it matter how much he had?” Sabrina said.

The detective’s eyes fixed firmly onto Sabrina as he asked, “Did you know that you, Sabrina, have been left one quarter of everything?”

“Really? Well, that’s one thing he didn’t tell me. Who was left the rest?”

“Sabrina!” Silvie said shocked at her
schweschders’s
rudeness.

Ettie interrupted before the detective could answer Sabrina’s question, “Sabrina won’t have to go to the reading of the will and be in the same room as Mrs. Liante, will she?”

“No. I was getting to that. Mrs. Liante is in the hospital. It seems that there was an attempt on her life this afternoon. Someone broke into her home with a knife. The housekeeper disturbed the intruder and he fled.”

The widows murmured their shock.

“That’s awful,” Ettie said.

“Is she hurt badly?” Silvie asked.

“She has small cuts, and she’s suffering from severe shock. She’s under sedation now. I’ve got a guard stationed on her door just in case the attacker thinks he’ll be able to get to her in there. I’ve another piece of news. Mr. Liante’s business partner has disappeared.”

“You’re full of surprises tonight, Detective,” Elsa-May said. “Is there anything else we need to know?”

The detective shook his head. “I wouldn’t mind a chocolate slice or a cookie.” The detective looked around the room. “Are you ladies on diets? There’s usually food galore here.”

Ettie rose to her feet. “I’ll get it. We’ve started talking first before we eat. We seem to get more done that way. Your usual black tea, Detective?”

“Yes, please.”

“What will you do with all that money, Sabrina?” Maureen asked.

“I’ll stay here in Lancaster County and buy a
haus
. I’ll give some to Silvie and some to
mamm
and
dat.”

Silvie said, “You don’t need to give any to me, Sabrina, but it’s a kindly thought.”

“I want to give you some money, so you don’t have to work so hard.”

“I don’t work that hard and I enjoy the bakery,” Silvie said, pleased that her
schweschder
had a generous heart.

“Okay, I’ll keep it all then,” Sabrina said without the hint of a smile. “When do I get the money, Detective? I’ve never been left any money before.”

“You’d have to wait a time until probate goes through. Could be weeks or months. There’s no telling how long it will be.”

“How much did Mrs. Liante get?” Sabrina asked.

“The remainder of his estate was divided amongst Miss Scotsdale, Miss Tobrill and Mrs. Liante. I should let you know that Mr. Liante’s lawyer suggested that Mrs. Liante could contest the will and she’d likely have a good case.”

“Who are those other two women?” Sabrina asked.

“As far as I’ve been able to ascertain, one was a girlfriend of some time ago, before you came along, that was Miss Tobrill. Miss Scotsdale was his former secretary.”

“What does it mean to contest the will, Detective?” Silvie asked.

“She could take the matter to court and claim that the will was unfair to her since she was the lawful wife. The courts might decide that it’s only she who is entitled to his entire estate. If she does take it to court, it’s hard to say which way it will go.”

Sabrina bounded to her feet and walked outside. Maureen stood up to follow, but Silvie said, “Leave her, Maureen. She needs to be by herself for a while.”

Maureen sat down. “It must be an awful shock to her.”

“She brought it all on herself thinking she could get away with such a terrible thing as having an affair with a married man.” The widows remained silent and Silvie reprimanded herself for her judgmental attitude, knowing that it wasn’t her place to judge anyone.

Ettie came out of the kitchen with a tray of goodies. “There you are Detective, Emma’s chocolate slices, chocolate chip cookies and a chocolate cake that I baked today.”

“And my poor old sugar cookies,” Maureen said.

“Everything can’t be chocolate,” Emma said.

The detective took a chocolate slice and said, “You ladies sure know how to cook.”

“Silvie, are you sure Sabrina’s alright? Should someone go and check on her?” Emma asked.

“
Nee,
the fresh night air will do her some
gut
and she’ll come back in when she’s ready,” Silvie said.

“Who are the suspects, Detective?” Elsa-May asked.

“I think we can safely rule Mrs. Liante out. She would not have known that she wasn’t left all of the money, so she would’ve had no motive. Now it would appear that she’s in danger too. Perhaps we need to be looking for someone who had a grudge against both of them.”

“Who does that leave?” Elsa-May asked with pen and paper in hand.

“The business partner has to be the main suspect now that he’s disappeared.”

“Detective, what do you know about these other women? Could one of them be a jilted lover out for revenge?”

“That’s the next possibility. There’s also the possibility that Mr. Liante told Miss Tobrill or Miss Scotsdale of their inheritance and they wanted to speed things along or have him die before he changed his will again.”

Ettie shook her head. “Terrible, terrible mess.”

“It’s unusual for an Amish woman to get involved with a man like that, isn’t it?” The detective looked at Silvie. “I mean, I know it is, but what prompted her to do such a thing?”

“She would say love,” Silvie said.

The detective scoffed. “Seems Mr. Liante had plenty of that to go around.”

“Do you think that Mrs. Liante knew of these other women?” Maureen asked.

Detective Crowley thought for a moment before he said, “Going on my talks with her, it seemed she was totally unaware, although she did comment that her husband worked hard and was away a lot. Generally that would be cause for suspicion or at least put some doubt in a woman’s mind, but not Mrs. Liante.”

Sabrina walked back in and sat down on the hard, wooden chair. “Detective, do you think I’ll get any money at all if Mrs. Liante contests?”

The widows raised their eyebrows at her comment. It hardly seemed the main concern since the man was dead, no one knew who murdered him and she’d been caught out in sin.

“It’s hard to say. It’s unlikely that she won’t contest the will. It depends what the courts decide. They’ll take into account that he was of sane mind when he wrote the will and that was his choice. You’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

Silvie leaned toward her
schweschder.
“That’s hardly the most important issue here, Sabrina.”

Sabrina looked at Silvie and remained silent.

After he ate two more chocolate slices and drank half his tea, the Detective got to his feet. “I’m off to talk to Mrs. Liante at the hospital. I’ll see if she’s able to speak yet, see what else I can find out. I was going to wait ‘til tomorrow, but I’ll see if she’s up to talking tonight.” The detective chuckled. “That’ll be one less thing I have to do tomorrow.”

As soon as he left, Elsa-May said, “Mrs. Liante was my main suspect. What do you know about the business partner, Sabrina?”

“Let me think.” Sabrina pressed a finger into her cheek. “I never met him. He was
gut
at business and I know that Carmello was happy with him most of the time, apart from some arguments.”

“What is his name?” Ettie asked.

“Neville Banks.”

“Was he aware that Carmello was having relationships with women outside his marriage?” Elsa-May asked Sabrina.

“As far as I knew he wasn’t. I thought it was only me and he told me that he was separated and living in a different room in the
haus
,” Sabrina said. “I had no reason to disbelieve him especially when I saw with my own eyes how they interacted with one another. The first day I met him was after they had a big argument in a coffee shop. She knocked me over when she stormed out and he apologized to me.”

“Ahh, that’s an important thing to tell the detective since she claims that they were happily married. Just a moment.” Elsa-May drew her cell phone out of the top drawer of the dresser in the living room.

Sabrina gasped. “You have a cell, Elsa-May?”

“Only for emergencies.” Elsa-May looked at Emma. “I know, I know, I’ll use it outside.” Elsa-May stepped through the front door.

“No one can judge me for what I’ve done if Elsa-May has a cell phone. We’re not supposed to have things like that,” Sabrina said.

“What you’ve done is much worse,” Silvie snapped before she could stop herself.

“No one’s judging you. It’s
Gott
who judges,” Maureen said.

Sabrina looked down at the floor.

“He’s going to talk to Mrs. Liante in the hospital tonight. Tomorrow afternoon he’ll make a surprise visit to Mrs. Liante’s
haus
, question the housekeeper and have her show him through the
haus
.”

“Won’t he need a warrant?” Emma asked.

“
Nee
, only if the housekeeper objects, but why would she if there’s nothing to hide?” Elsa-May sat back down. “We should meet back here same time tomorrow, directly after dinner.”

“Why doesn’t everyone come to my
haus
for dinner?” Emma asked.

Everyone agreed, but then Elsa-May said, “
Nee,
I told Crowley to come back here same time tomorrow night. Some other time, Emma?”

Emma nodded.

Ettie said to Elsa-May, “Why don’t we summarize all that we’ve learned?”

Elsa-May looked down at her list. “Carmello was poisoned; his business partner, Neville Banks, is missing. Someone tried to kill Mrs. Liante at her home with a knife and now she’s in the hospital. Carmello left money to his wife and money to three other women and it’s quite likely that Mrs. Liante doesn’t know of it yet and is expecting to inherit everything. Have I left anything out?”

Ettie looked at all the widows. “
Nee
, I think that’s it.”

“Well, we’ll meet here with Crowley tomorrow and see what else he’s found out. Now, we’ll have to find out things as well, or Crowley will stop being so free with giving us information. Silvie, you see if you can find out which lawyer is handling the will. It could be your lawyer friend, the one who comes to the bakery all the time.”

Silvie said, “George Winters? I’ll see what I can do.”

Emma leaned over to Maureen and said quietly, “I’ve got the house address of the Mrs. Liante and the housekeeper’s name. Crowley gave it to me.”