Falling to Pieces (22 page)

T
HE NEXT AFTERNOON
Deborah, Esther, and Melinda all waited expectantly for Callie as she turned the lock on the door, flipped the sign below the words Daisy’s Quilt Shop to CLOSED, and walked back over to the counter.

“Now tell us everything,” Melinda said, bouncing her baby in her arms.

“Yes, we’ve been waiting for over an hour.” Esther continued to straighten things on the counter, but the worry lines between her eyes remained.

“Girls, give her a chance to catch her breath. This was only Callie’s second week of market days. She looks a bit in shock.”

“Remember, one of those days last week I was in jail and missed most of the crowds.” Callie sank on to a stool, slipped off her shoes, and began to rub her feet.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have worked today,” Melinda suggested. “After last night.”

“I’m fine.” Callie shook her head and her cheeks reddened in embarrassment. “Last night was just—bizarre.”

“Trent McCallister actually carried you across the street?” Deborah asked.

“I fainted—nothing more. Which I have never done before
and never plan to do again. Smelling salts and a bottle of water fixed me right up.

“And Marjorie is still in the hospital?” Melinda pulled a teething ring out of her bag and gave it to Hannah to play with. “Is she going to be all right?”

“I think so.”

Callie looked ready to cry, and Deborah wondered if they should talk of something else. She realized again, for perhaps the hundredth time since Jonas had told her about the assault on The
Kaffi
Shop owner, that her new friend had been through a lot since arriving in Shipshewana.

“Maybe we should talk of something else. Callie has good news about the auction of the Medallion quilt.”

Both Melinda and Esther stopped what they were doing and looked up expectantly.

“You tell her, Deborah.”

“No, you are the one who did all of the computer work. You tell.”

“Someone tell!” Melinda said. “I’m so
naerfich
my stomach is tumbling like children’s toys left out in a storm.”

Deborah said nothing, but she did stand and begin worrying the strings on her prayer
kapp.

“It’s good news, so stop looking anxious.” Callie smiled over at Deborah. “The Medallion quilt went for double our minimum bid.”

Melinda squealed and buried her face in Hannah’s neck to plant a kiss. Esther smiled broadly, the first genuine smile Deborah had seen from her in some time.

“There’s more,” Deborah said. “The second quilt went up for auction yesterday, as soon as the first closed. It started out quite high.”

“We’ve decided to lessen the buying period on the second. I think this will increase interest, which is already building. We’ll close bids in forty-eight hours.”

“Tomorrow?” Esther asked, as she walked over to the kitchen area.

“Tomorrow.” Callie paused and looked around the room. “I researched previous auctions, and I believe this will earn you the highest return.”

“We’re so glad for your business sense, Callie.” Deborah sank back onto her chair. “I hoped it might work, but still it’s hard to believe that customers who have never seen our work would be willing to buy it.”

“Oh, they’ve seen it,” Callie reminded her. “They just haven’t seen it in person.”

“Do you think this is why your store was so crowded today?” Melinda asked.

“Could be. I don’t know exactly what’s normal for a market day.”

“Market days are busy, but what I saw in the last hour was a bit
narrisch
,” Esther said as she walked back into the room with a tray of four cups, all filled with hot water, and a basket of assorted teas and cookies.

“Crazy?” Callie asked.

“Ya,”
Melinda smiled. “Definitely crazy.”

“Things have been
narrisch.
If you could have been there last night …” Callie dunked her tea bag in her cup of hot water and sighed. “I just couldn’t believe that Margie’s store was broken into. What are the odds?”

“Are you worried staying here alone? Not that I think anyone will bother you with Max here.” Melinda reached across and took one of the cookies off the tray.

“It’s not so much that I’m worried about my own safety. I took a personal defense course in Texas, and I do have my concealed handgun license.” At the look on her friends’ faces she smiled and shook her head. “No worries, I didn’t bring my gun with me. It’s in storage in Texas, and I would need to reapply for a permit
to carry here in Indiana. I’m just saying I know how to protect myself.”

“It’s odd,” Deborah said, not ready to deal with the fact that her friend was used to carrying a weapon. Of course policemen carried weapons, but members of the Amish community believed passionately in nonviolence. “What’s going on in Shipshewana?”

“I don’t know. At first I thought it might have to do with the quilts and our fight with Stakehorn, but murder? And now Margie in the hospital?” Callie shook her head, took a tentative sip of the tea. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“She’s going to be all right though?” Melinda rubbed Hannah’s back in small circles.

“Yes. Andrew Gavin stopped by this morning. Said they were keeping her a few days for observation. Turns out blunt force trauma to the back of the head is nothing to mess with.”

“She couldn’t tell them anything about what happened?” Deborah asked.

“I don’t think so. Gavin wouldn’t tell me much, but Trent also stopped by—”

“To check on you?”

“Maybe. It’s hard to tell with Trent whether it’s real concern or if he’s trying to pump you for tomorrow’s front page story.”

Deborah noticed she turned a pretty pink even as she complained about Trent. She also rushed on with her story before anyone could ask questions.

“He had been to the hospital in the hopes of interviewing Margie for the
Gazette.
The nurses allowed him less than ten minutes, but apparently he found out whoever broke into the shop expected the place to be empty. Margie thought she’d forgotten to turn off the espresso machine, so she came back to check it. When she saw the shattered glass, she went straight in before calling the police. She doesn’t remember anything after walking in the front door and being smacked on the head.”

“Anything missing this time?” Esther asked.

“Nothing.” Callie put down the mug, hugged her arms around herself. “When I looked up and saw Margie’s red hair, Margie’s still form lying on the stretcher … I don’t know. I just lost my equilibrium for a moment.”

“And Trent McCallister actually carried you over to the ambulance?” Melinda asked, a smile lighting up her face.

“Please don’t remind me,” Callie groaned. “I still can’t believe I fainted.”

“You’ve been through a lot since coming to Shipshewana, Callie.” Esther reached out and patted her arm.

“I think it’s sweet that he helped you,” Deborah added.

“I am mortally embarrassed. He insisted on seeing me home, and I thought he’d never leave. If it weren’t for Max, he’d still be here, watching over me.”

“Callie, maybe you shouldn’t be here—downtown—alone.” Esther spoke quietly as they all began picking up their things, preparing to go home.

“I won’t be alone much, but thanks for worrying. I’ve hired two teens to work part-time. A boy, Zeke, will come before I open in the morning and help move a lot of the stock for me.”

“Who else?” Deborah asked.

Callie smiled, sure she already knew. “Lydia, your cousin, Deborah. She’s seventeen, right?”

“Ya.
Lydia is a sweetheart.”

“She’ll work in the afternoon, running the register and staying if I need her to stock after close. They both start tomorrow.”

“But being here at night alone,” Deborah said. “It might not be a good idea until this person is caught. We have room at our house. You could stay there for a few nights.”

Callie was already shaking her head. “I don’t think that’s necessary, but thank you for the offer.”

“We worry because not many shopkeepers live down here anymore.

It’s not like in the old days.” Melinda stuffed Hannah’s toys into her bag.

“Turns out Trent is going to be staying in the little room behind the shop until he can find a place to rent. And Andrew has promised whoever is on patrol will keep an eye on the place. Not to mention Shane Black continues to watch me like a hawk. The man still acts as if I’m guilty, or I know something that I’m not telling him.”

Deborah noticed Esther flinch when Callie mentioned Shane’s name.

“I’ll be fine, ladies.” Callie herded them all out the door as she walked to the side fence to let Max back inside from his afternoon yard time. “I appreciate your worrying about me though.”

“All right. We’ll see you later in the week.” Melinda waved baby Hannah’s hand as she climbed into her buggy.

Deborah jostled Joshua to her shoulder, gave Callie a hug, then moved off toward Cinnamon and her own buggy.

Callie noticed though that Esther hung back as Leah knelt beside Max, petting him softly. In fact, Esther still hadn’t moved toward her own buggy by the time Deborah had moved out on to Main Street.

Callie looked at Esther curiously. “Did you forget something?”

“Actually, I’d like to stay for a moment.” Esther looked around uncomfortably.

“Okay, well, we could go back inside.”

“No.” Esther’s reaction was too quick, her moves too sharp. She pulled herself up into an even more erect posture, if that was possible, then gestured to the side yard. “I feel more comfortable in the garden, if that’s all right with you.”

“Certainly, Esther. Though the word
garden
is a bit of a euphemism.”

They walked into the yard which was still quite wet from the recent storm. Though Callie had made huge strides in the shop and apartment, she hadn’t done much here except hire a neighboring Amish boy to mow the grass when it had reached knee-high after Jonas had mowed it the first time they’d had their initial cleanup.

Leah spotted a ball and began to toss it to Max.

In the corner of the yard was a garden area which must have once been quite beautiful. A brick path ran through it, but the flowers had long since run wild. What birdbaths and pottery her aunt had placed there were hidden beneath the raucous growth.

Esther walked to the edge, reached out, and touched a branch of miniature white roses which looked as if it were trying to make an escape.

“I’ve been meaning to come out here and attempt to tackle the weeds, but all I’ve done so far is bring a few pots of herbs. I had so much to do inside.”

“Daisy loved the garden, though she had trouble keeping up with it as well.”

“Deborah told me this is where she found my aunt. Perhaps that’s why I’ve been avoiding it. I’m not sure how I feel about being in the same place where she died.”

“She died doing what she loved, in a peaceful place.” Esther hesitated, then pushed on. “I would consider that a blessing. Here, more than any other place, you can be close to who she was and what mattered to her.”

“You sound as if you knew my aunt fairly well.”

“Not as well as Deborah, but I counted her my
freind.
She helped me through a hard time in my life.”

“When your husband died.” Callie flinched at the words as soon as she said them, images of Rick blossoming in her mind. She realized, not for the first time, that she and Esther had that pain in common.

Esther nodded, but continued studying the garden, reached out and took hold of the branch of white roses. “Plain people believe that all things happen for a reason, that it is
Gotte’s wille.”

Callie didn’t interrupt. It was obvious enough what she meant.

“I was willing to accept that, at least outwardly, and grieve inwardly. But Shane would not allow Seth’s death to rest.”

“Shane Black?”

Esther turned to her now, though she continued to hold on to the branch of white roses. “Yes, Callie. Shane Black. This is why I stayed to speak with you. I want you to understand about him, to understand that he is a formidable man.”

“I’m not sure I’m following what you’re trying to tell me.” Callie reached into the pocket of the gardener’s apron she now wore as she worked around the store. She snipped off the end of the branch of roses and handed it to Esther. “Let’s go and sit. You can explain to me what you mean.”

They sat in the Adirondack chairs, under the shade tree, Callie’s brand new shiny pots of herbs between them. Leah continued to play with Max, running back and forth. Finally, Callie voiced the question which hung heavy between them.

“Why would Shane be involved in Seth’s death?”

“Because he thought it was a matter for the authorities, but we did not. It was an accident. It was
Gotte’s wille.
Shane though, he wanted to prosecute the boys.”

Esther’s voice remained calm, but she clenched the rose branch so tightly her fingers turned as white as the petals on the flowers.

“What type of accident was it, Esther?”

“They were in our old barn. We didn’t know it. We didn’t use the old barn except to store things. The boys, they were in those years we call their
rumspringa
.” She paused, glanced at Callie. “You’re familiar with the term?”

“Their running-around years?”

“Ya
. So these boys had a car hidden in there, but we didn’t
know it. The barn is a little ways from our house, and as I said, we didn’t have cause to go there often—mainly when one of us needed to fetch something we’d stored in it.”

She stared across the yard, though it was plain to Callie that she was seeing something else entirely.

“It was late that evening. Leah was still quite young, and I had gone to bed early.” She stopped, drew in a deep breath. “Seth tiptoed into our room. I remember appreciating how he didn’t want to wake me, but I turned over to ask him what was wrong. He told me he’d heard some of the cattle near the old barn and thought perhaps they’d gotten into one of the old pens.”

Esther smiled then, but there was no joy in it, only sadness and a bit of solace in the telling—like a worry stone she’d turned over so many times that perhaps it had become a bit of consolation to her to touch the smoothness of the memory one more time.