Lamb to the Slaughter (Serenity's Plain Secrets Book 1) (32 page)

“Dammit, you weren’t supposed to shoot him,” he said, kneeling beside me. “Serenity can you hear me?” Todd asked, not looking at her at all, instead leveling his full attention on the group of Amish men who had moved in closer. The fact that the crowd hadn’t run for their buggies during the chaos seemed to be really freaking the deputy sheriff out, if the way he was aiming his revolver in turns at the Amish was any indication.

Serenity’s murmur made me look down. I put my hands under her arms and helped her into a sitting position. She shook her head once and said with a stronger voice than I was
expecting, “Good shot, Daniel. Don’t go letting Todd make you feel guilty. The prick deserved it.”

I pulled her softly against my chest as the warmth of relief began to spread within me. Pressing my face into her hair, I breathed in the lovely vanilla scent, almost forgetting that we were in an abandoned barn surrounded by a group of unstable Amish men—and that I’d just shot a man.

The groan coming from Tony’s body got Todd moving to his side. He said, “Damn, he’s still alive.”

“I was aiming for his legs,” I said, still holding Serenity snugly against me, although now, she was attempting to free herself and see Tony for herself.

“Maybe you should get into law enforcement, Daniel. Good thinking,” Todd said, before the static sound hit the air from his radio that he was beginning to make a call from.

“Wait! Stop, Todd.” Serenity pushed away from me and stood up.

“What the hell are you talking about? We need to call this in pronto. This jerk needs an ambulance…” He lowered his voice, “and we could use some backup here.”

“Apply first aid. That’s an order, Todd. These people have a few answers to give me before we bring the outside world in.” She limped over to Tony’s groaning body and using her boot, pushed him enough to reach down and free the gun from his pants.

To my amazement, she pointed the gun at the Amish men, singling out Aaron as she approached them. It was then that I caught my father’s eyes, and what I saw there puzzled me. He looked at me with concern, reminding me of the time when I was twelve and I’d fallen from the hay wagon after one of the older boys had thrown a bale forcefully at me. I was knocked
unconscious for a moment or two, and when I opened my eyes, father was there, staring at me with the same expression he held now. The look surprised me way more than the fact that my father was here in the first place.

“Is Tony Manning your friend, bishop?” Serenity asked bluntly with the revolver poised at Aaron’s face.

The whole scene was unreal. I had difficulty absorbing it all. Glancing at Todd, I saw that he was doing what Serenity had instructed, creating a tourniquet from the sleeve of Tony’s shirt. The injured man knew that Todd was attempting to help him and he was more than willing to be respectful now that his life was in jeopardy.

Aaron’s voice brought me back to him and Serenity and their showdown in the center of the barn. The area was dimly lit by the moonlight shining through the gaps in the boards, but her blond hair and his white beard stood out clearly in the darkness.

As Aaron glanced at Tony, he said, “Yes, he is a friend—one of the few English men that I would give the name to.”

“Well, I can tell you that if your friend doesn’t get medical attention soon, he’s going to bleed out. But we’re not taking him anywhere until you explain a few things to me.”

“What do you want to know, Sheriff?” Aaron asked quietly enough that I had to strain to hear him.

“First of all, why is that man there on the ground your friend anyway? He represents everything that’s horrible about the outside world.”

Aaron raised his chin for several seconds as if considering when Tony’s cracked voice, spoke up, “Go ahead an’ tell her, Aaron. It can’t do any harm now. I believe the bitch would enjoy watching me bleed to death.”

I was as interested as Serenity was to finally learn the truth about the disturbing event in my childhood and I rose silently to stand beside her. She looked up at me for an instant, her mouth set in a grim line. But, her eyes softened, and that was enough to calm my nerves. I turned to Aaron who regarded me briefly before he faced Serenity.

“A long time ago, a few of us passed judgment on Tony and exacted our own sense of punishment. Later, we learned that we were wrong about him, and we grieved the act of violence we did upon him.”

“Act of violence?” Tony laughed for a couple of breaths before the pain must have been too much and he stopped. “Damn near killed me, you did.”

“Yes. That is the truth of it, although at the time, we felt guided by the Lord in our deeds.” Aaron ignored Tony’s snort, and said, “After discovering the truth, we went to Tony and asked his forgiveness.”

Aaron took a breath, gathering himself, but before he spoke again, Father stepped up beside him and said, “We were not expecting an English man, known for his vile language and behavior to know a thing about forgiveness. We certainly weren’t expecting anything but contempt from him.”

James Hooley joined the other two men, his body taller and rounder than his friends, but his voice gentler. He said, “For several years, that’s exactly what we received from him—hatred. Until the day his family’s farm was being publicly auctioned by the bank in foreclosure.”

When James took a breath, Aaron took over, saying, “You see, the lot of us who did the violence upon Tony, pooled our resources and bought the farm from the bank that day. We
then handed the deed over to Tony. It was our way of making amends for our actions.

“Tony was more than surprised. He was genuinely touched that we’d do such a thing for him and his parents. His kin had worked the earth on that very farm for nearly two hundred years. Nearly losing the property, only to have it handed back to him, softened his heart toward us. He was finally able to forgive us. On that day, we swore a blood oath that we’d be friends; always loyal to one another—and forever silent about the incident, until now.”

An eerie quiet spread throughout the barn. It was difficult to feel the dozen or so other inhabitants within its walls. I couldn’t help speaking up, and asked, “Blood oath? What do you mean?

Father looked at me and the others let him provide the answer. “The night that we fell upon Anthony, we spilled blood. It is not something we Amish do, but there have been times over the years, in differing communities in other places, that our people have done just that. In the name of protecting our church, our people—our ways, we’ve done what we’ve had to do. Our oath to each other and to Anthony, a young English man, was an oath taken from spilled blood, and therefore we call it a blood oath.”

I swallowed, picturing the dried brown stuff on Father’s shirt. Yeah, I guess it was an appropriate phrase.

Serenity’s voice sounded out of place when she said, “What the hell does any of this have to do with Naomi Beiler and her death?”

Before Aaron could speak, Todd said, “Really, Serenity, we need to get Tony to the hospital. I’m feeling pretty damned
uncomfortable with this whole business. Can’t you interrogate these men in town?”

“No, I can’t. Keep applying pressure to the wound,” she said coldly.

“Wounds,” Todd mumbled, under his breath.

“Whatever,” Serenity said. Her lack of compassion bothered me. Even though I didn’t really care whether Tony Manning lived or died, it made me uncomfortable for some reason to think that the woman I was falling for felt the same way.

Serenity stared at Aaron, flicking her gun to make her point.

“You are like no other woman I’ve met, Ms. Adams. I am so relieved that our women aren’t born with such violent tendencies.

I held my breath, worried what Serenity would do with the comment. To my amazement, she stood still, breathing a little harder maybe, but for the most part not showing that his words affected her.

“You see, Tony was attempting to assist us with our own handling of the situation. At our request, he contacted you, trying to dissuade your investigation.”

“Threatened is more like it,” Serenity grunted.

“Well, unfortunately, Tony is still the same vile creature he’s always been. Entering a blood oath with us didn’t change his inner character. But that is beside the point.”

“Thanks a lot, Aaron,” Tony said weakly. I couldn’t help looking over at him and feeling a pang of sympathy.

Serenity however, wasn’t moved, and said, “Who was it that came running up behind me before jerk-face over there knocked me out?”

Aaron became stubborn and looking at his face and the stoic expression on Father’s and James’ own faces, I figured that they’d let Tony Manning die to keep their secret. Especially, since it was to protect one of their own.

I sighed, and said, “It was Mervin Lapp who shot Naomi.”

All faces moved to me at once. I could feel the collective holding of everyone’s breaths. “From what I found out tonight talking to Todd’s girlfriend, young Mervin was probably on that stand at the edge of the cornfield, too tired or lazy to be out walking the way he should have been while turkey hunting. He was probably startled when he shot off into the corn. Of course, he never would have expected an Amish girl to be there in the stalks. An ill fate of timing for Naomi, I’d say.”

Serenity turned her head to me for a second before looking again at the Amish men, never lowering her gun in the process. “Why cover it up if it was just an accident? Did the kid actually have the forethought to take Naomi’s pack and place it a half a mile away in a dried up creek bed?”

I didn’t know the answer to that, but movement from the shadows caught my attention, and I stepped in between Serenity and the newcomer, aiming the borrowed shotgun from Todd at the man.

“There’s no need to shoot me, Daniel. I am unarmed. I only want to tell the truth—to be rid of the unclean feeling that has been upon me for weeks.”

I knew the voice and I lowered the gun. Damn, I was hoping that my old friend wasn’t mixed up in an accidental death cover up.

Serenity didn’t lower her gun, and I couldn’t blame her for it. She said, “Who are you?”

“I’m Lester Lapp. We met at the school house.” Lester turned to me and said, “I almost told you that night, my friend, but Esther wouldn’t have it. She was so worried that the outsiders would put David into an English jail, where he’d be attacked by other men.”

Hearing the name, my mind jumped and I interrupted, saying it again,
“David?”

Lester took a deep breath, “Yes, David. It was my eldest, David, who shot Naomi in the field that night—not Mervin. Mervin was nearby though—on his way to the place he went to be alone, when he heard the shot ring out. He ran to the noise, wondering what had been bagged, and by whom. When he came to the corn, he saw Naomi lying on the ground. He was beside himself with anguish when he realized she was dying.”

His words settled into the thick air of the barn for some seconds, before Serenity said, “So, it was David who accidentally shot Naomi?”

The question hung in the air, but as Lester began to speak a shadow separated from the other men and came to us. He was taller than his father by an inch, but when he stepped into the dull light, I saw Lester’s face from eighteen years ago, minus the beard.

David’s eyes squinted in contempt when he looked at Serenity and that’s when his face changed, to resemble his mother’s. The boy might have been blessed with his father’s good looks, but he’d inherited his personality from Esther, God help him.

David’s voice was solid, with no hint of fear or sadness, when he said, “I came here tonight to confess my sins before
the church. I don’t need to tell you a thing.” He directed the last bit at Serenity.

“I could care less about your damn idea of forgiveness, but you will eventually tell me what happened that night. I can swear that to you,” Serenity said with a deadly calm, causing a chill to sweep over me.

I turned to Lester with pleading eyes, and he answered. “You see, it was Esther who learned the truth first. Mervin had limped the distance back to our farm after he’d seen what David had done. The boys argued about what to do, and when Mervin tried to leave, to bring word to us, David used the stalk of his gun to hit Mervin’s legs out from under him. They grappled, but the Lord was with Mervin and he somehow got the better of his older brother. Mervin managed to strike David with a rock, taking him to the ground. David laid there in the corn, not far from Naomi’s body, while Mervin came home.” Lester paused, catching his breath, before continuing. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from my childhood friend. It was as if the world had turned upside down.

“Esther went with the boy all the way back to the place where Naomi and David were, hoping that perhaps he was mistaken, that maybe Mervin had dreamed the whole thing.

“But, no—what Esther found after trudging back through the fields were Naomi’s dead body and David’s unconscious one. She told me that she was terrified for our son and that’s why she took the pack and hid it. Esther hoped to erase Naomi’s identity, believing that if any Englisher found the body months later, they’d not know who she was and therefore have no one to question. It was foolish, I know, but my wife was not thinking clearly.”

When he stopped talking, a heavy silence fell in the barn. Naomi’s shooter had been revealed and I’d finally learned what happened that night, long ago when I was a small child. I should be feeling happy, but I can’t say that I was. Instead, a strong dose of melancholy washed over me thinking about Naomi and Rachel, and how knowing the truth couldn’t bring either one of them back to the living.

When I looked at Serenity, she was staring at David, her face scrunched up in concentration. She stepped closer to the young man, and whispered, “Why’d you kill her, David? Why would you do such a thing?”

David’s cruel laugh wiped the depression from my soul, replacing it with a fire that burned brightly for justice to be done on the young man, who clearly had no regret whatsoever for the girl he had killed.

“She deserved what she got, she did. The way she always ignored me, like I wasn’t good enough for her, even though I tried real hard to receive her favor. No, she picked Eli, ‘cause he was confident and full of himself—the young man with the most prospects. When it didn’t work out between them, hope came alive within me, that she’d have me then. But no—she picked an Englisher instead.”