Lamb to the Slaughter (Serenity's Plain Secrets Book 1) (25 page)

Naomi bit her lower lip to punish herself, swallowing the salty drop of blood. The look of shock that Eli gave her would forever be cemented into her mind.

“You
are
the little whore that they accused you of being,” Eli said in a low voice that felt barely controlled in the cool air. His lip curled up, and Naomi readied herself for the onslaught, closing her eyes tight. But it never came.

When her eyes popped open, she saw Eli’s back as he made his way hastily up the tractor path. He didn’t even look back at her before he disappeared into the tall corn.

Naomi breathed out, hugging her arms around her belly, trying to stop the shivering that had suddenly come upon her. She’d burned her last bridge, and now, forward was the only way to go.

27

SERENITY

November 18th

I
stared out the conference room window at the dreary day outside. The clouds and hint of cold rain suited my pensive mood. If Bobby would just come through the door, I could get this over with.

Even though I wasn’t looking at him, I could feel Daniel’s eyes on my back, his hot gaze boring into me. My face warmed and my groin tingled, thinking back to earlier when he’d been lying on top of me. I shivered, not daring to turn around. I imagined the smug look of satisfaction that was probably on his face, and seeing that expression, even imaginary, sobered me, bringing me back to my senses.

“All righty then, I do believe I should have a few minutes without interruption,” Bobby entered the room briskly, with Todd a few steps behind.

I turned around, and ignoring Daniel, who I could see from the corner of my left eye was still watching me, directed all my attention on the older man as he plopped into a chair.

“What do you have for me, Bobby?” I said, hoping the anxiousness wasn’t evident in my voice.

Bobby shuffled through the small stack of papers in his hands until he reached one in particular that he pulled out and handed to me. With a quick examination of the sheet, I saw that it had nothing to do with paternity.

Before I had a chance to question Bobby, he said, “That’s the forensics on the pack that Jimmy Husky brought in. The findings were interesting. There were several strands of hair on the bag, which matched Naomi, and smaller ones that were close enough to match her siblings. But there was one strand of long brown hair that didn’t belong to either Naomi or any relative of hers.”

“Is there any other information that was gleaned from the hair?” I asked, thinking it would be a long shot indeed that the hair would be of any use determining who shot Naomi. There were too many long haired women in the community and they regularly frequented each other’s homes. And then there were all the beards.

“Just that the hair was probably from a middle aged woman—sometimes forensics like this comes in handy weeks or even years after the initial investigation. The DNA will be kept on file,” Bobby said, while he began shuffling the papers again.

I hoped no one could hear the pounding in my chest. When Bobby handed me the second paper, I knew it was the paternity test results just from the lift of his eyes. I wondered if he’d already peeked at it.

Oblivious to the others in the room, I read the words carefully. Finally, I breathed a sigh of relief. I couldn’t help slapping the sheet down on the table. Eli was the father. Now my
nephew could move on with his life without any real connection to the Amish world, besides his memories of Naomi.

I immediately sent Laura a text telling her the news, trusting her to relay the information to Will in a thoughtful manner. Then I turned to Bobby and said, “Is there anything else that would be useful to the investigation?”

Bobby said, “No. That’s it,” he hesitated. I could tell by the way that he twirled the side of his mustache that he had more to say, so I leaned back and waited several more seconds before he spoke again. “Have you decided what to do with the young Eli?”

Damn. I’d known that’s where he was heading. Did I still think that Eli had done his ex-girlfriend in? Yes. Was I absolutely certain? Not really.

“We have enough to hold him a while longer without filing murder charges. I believe we should wait and see what he says when he learns the truth about the baby. Maybe he’ll have a moment of clarity and spill the beans.”

Bobby huffed loudly, snapping my head up.

“What?” I asked, becoming defensive.

“The longer you hold the boy, the more the Amish community will turn against you.” Bobby paused and pointed his head at Daniel, who’d been sitting so quietly that I’d almost forgotten he was even there. “What do you think on the matter, Daniel? You were one of them. Surely, you have feelings on the subject.”

“Yes, you’re right about the community not taking kindly to Eli being held in jail. The longer that it goes on, the less likely that Serenity will ever be trusted among the Plain people,” Daniel said.

“They certainly trusted me to perform CPR on your niece though didn’t they?” I couldn’t help the venom that oozed from my words. I was so spitting mad.

Daniel smiled. “I’m sure they are very thankful for your help with the girl, but that won’t change the fact that they won’t be very receptive to you in regards to other matters. The Amish take care of their own—and you’re attempting to hurt one of them.”

“Funny, your father said something similar last night. But I’m not out to win a popularity contest among the Amish. I could care less what they think. My duty is to Naomi and finding out who shot her dead in that cornfield.”

I searched each man’s face, seeing solid support in Todd’s expression and resignation in Bobby’s. Unfortunately, Daniel’s face showed rebellion. He was sticking to his roots on this one and supporting his friend’s son.

“Is everyone in agreement that that’s what our duty is?”

Bobby and Todd nodded, while Daniel looked away, ignoring my statement. He said, “Will you at least allow me to tell the kid about the baby? Considering the differing cultures, it would be more appropriate for me to talk to him about it.”

I glanced at Bobby, who nodded in my direction. Damn. I was out numbered on this one. Even though I could override their opinions all together, I was reluctant to do so. If I was going to last as the sheriff in Blood Rock, I had to have Bobby and Todd’s support. As far as Daniel was concerned, I might need some work done on my house someday, I reasoned to myself. Seeing his ultra-serious face made me think how different he’d looked when he’d been all over me on my couch.

“All right—but we’ll be monitoring the questioning room. I want to hear what he says, and watch his reaction,” I told Daniel.

Daniel nodded, “All right, sounds fair enough.”

It didn’t take long to move Eli from his cell in the adjoining building to the small square, windowless room where we did our questioning. I stood shoulder to shoulder with Bobby and Todd, studying Eli’s face through the one way glass as Daniel began by making small talk with the young man, developing a friendly atmosphere before he dumped the unfortunate news into Eli’s lap. Or, so I thought. When the words changed into the unintelligible German language, it was swift and smooth. I had only a second to catch Bobby’s raised brows and Todd’s,
what the hell
, look before I was through the door. But I was too late. Daniel had spoken quickly and I assumed thoroughly by the hard, unswayable expression that met my gaze when I looked at Eli.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked in a low voice. I was determined to control my temper, even though it was damn near impossible to do so.

Daniel turned and what I saw written on his face scared me. His dark eyes lacked any emotion at all. But even worse than that, was the steely stubborn resolve that I saw there—just like his father.

“I beg your pardon?” Daniel said, with the attempt at confusion lighting his face.

I lowered my voice still further. “Why did you switch from English to German?”

“Uh, I’m sorry. I guess I misunderstood you about the procedure I was to follow while speaking to Eli. It’s more comfortable for him to have the news delivered to him in his birth
language—more understandable and softer in a way, I guess you’d say.”

I stared at him, daring him to turn away. He returned the favor with a self-righteous glare that I knew I couldn’t sway. He was lost to me.

Todd was standing so close to my back that I could feel his presence without even seeing him. “Todd, please take Eli back to his cell,” I said.

Watching Todd escort Eli from the room, I noticed the kid’s straight back and chin thrust forward. Eli was keeping his emotions locked inside of him, instead displaying a puffed up rooster demeanor of someone who’d just received more than a few words informing him that he’d almost been a father.

Bobby stood in the doorway, waiting for me to make my move. His stoic look wouldn’t betray his thoughts. Speaking to the wall, I said, “You may go now, Daniel. I won’t be in need of your services any longer,” I faced him again and added, “—for anything.”

Daniel suddenly looked very much like Moses, a man who could easily hide his thoughts from the world, and a very cunning one at that. After Daniel had swept out of the room, his heavy boots could still be heard thudding down the hallway.

When there was silence, I dropped into the chair that Eli had vacated and huffed out, “That bastard. I never dreamed he’d sink so low as to speak German to Eli.”

Bobby fiddled with the corner of his beard. “I can’t say that I’m really surprised. Even though he’s been away from the Amish for quite a while, he’s still one of them at his core. Maybe, we should give him the benefit of the doubt though,
and choose to believe that he did just accidently slip into his old tongue.”

“No way, Bobby—he knew exactly what he was doing. His eyes told me that much. He completely undermined my authority.” I sighed in frustration, “I just wish I knew what the hell he said to the kid.”

“There is a way of finding out. We have him on the recorder,” Bobby said in a soft, musing way.

“The last I knew, no one in the department speaks Amish. How are we going to translate?”

“Give me a little time to look into it. I wouldn’t ask anyone local of course, but if you’d be willing to pay incentive money, I might be able to get the translation. It could be done.”

“Really—do you think you could find someone who’d do it for us?” I asked, only half believing we’d be so lucky.

“I have more resources than you might imagine, young lady. The person would have to remain anonymous of course… and don’t go thinking that we’ll have a new contact into the Amish world. It won’t work that way.”

I suddenly gained several more pounds of respect for Blood Rock’s coroner. He was a man who wasn’t afraid to step out of the boundaries of protocol occasionally to get the job done. And that’s exactly what I needed at the moment.

“Okay. Do what you can, Bobby. And be quick about it.”

After Todd headed over to the court house on a different matter, I left Bobby at the table and walked down the hall to my office. Walking through the doorway, my heart stilled as I was met by the smirking expression on Tony Manning’s face. His face usually pissed me off, but the fact that he was sitting in the chair behind my desk totally undid me.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I said, just short of a shout. Inadvertently, I placed my right hand next to my gun holster. When he rose slowly, laughing, I suddenly felt like an idiot. This was the twenty-first century—not the OK Corral. Damn, being around the Amish, caught up in their time warp must have messed with my brain. Tony motioned to my chair with flourish, and said, “It’s all yours, Serenity. I was just keeping it warm for you. You know, having a little blast from the past you might say.”

I remained standing. When Tony saw that I wasn’t going to sit down he strolled toward me, getting close enough that I had to tilt my head up to look at him.

“You still haven’t told me why you’re in my office.”

“No, guess I haven’t, have I? But, then, maybe I don’t much want to,” he said, his mouth ending in a tight grin, his sky blue eyes sparking.

Before my patience left the building, Tony began talking again. “It’s been brought to my attention that the pretty little sheriff has been asking about me—prying into my past, digging up dirt that’s better off left buried in the ground.”

“It’s a free country. I can ask questions about who ever I want, Tony. Even if I wasn’t the sheriff I’d have that right.”

Tony nodded his head slowly as he leaned his tall frame back against the desk. He crossed one foot over the other one, appearing to be staying awhile. Any anxiety I’d felt when I arrived in the room to see my arch nemesis sitting in my chair disappeared. I placed my hands on my hips and said, “I’ve discovered that only people with something to hide care much about questions.”

“That’s definitely true, but that still doesn’t erase the fact that sometimes the nosey person finds themselves in a whole heap of trouble for doing so.”

“Is that a threat?”

He left the desk in a blur. Suddenly, I was looking back up into his angry face. I held my ground though. Having no doubt that Tony had his own gun somewhere on his body, I estimated that I would definitely reach mine first if the guy was having some kind of mental break down and snapped.

“No, it’s a promise. My past is my own, and no one will tell you a damn thing anyway. But I’ll be damned before I allow you to continue snooping around in my business. I’ll string you up to an oak tree first.”

He held my eyes in a deep stare for several seconds, telling me that he meant what he said, before the half grin returned to his face and he walked out the door.

Well, damn. Maybe I was living in the Wild West after all.

28

DANIEL

November 18th

I
paused, looking around my sister’s kitchen and realizing that this was the first time I’d ever sat in the room. I couldn’t keep my heart from racing, the silent stares of my childhood friends affecting me more than I wished to admit.

Joseph and Katherine had taken the news that they’d almost been grandparents better than most people would have—just a small sniff from Eli’s mother and the solemn nod from Joseph that said that he had suspected the news before I had delivered it to them.