Lamb to the Slaughter (Serenity's Plain Secrets Book 1) (33 page)

“How did you find yourself at the edge of the field waiting for her? How could you possibly have known that she was running away and going in that direction?” I asked. My mind raced, still shocked that David had purposely killed Naomi, and trying to put the last puzzle piece into place.

David turned to me, as if noticing my presence for the first time. His eyes widened and a grin touched his mouth that told me clearly that the young man had serious mental issues.

“Why, Sandra told me. She told me everything.” He looked between me and Serenity, before his eyes landed on his bishop. By the look on Aaron’s face, I knew that this was the first time he was hearing this part of the story as well. It hit me with sudden force that the Amish in the barn, including my father, had believed that Mervin had accidently killed Naomi—something they were all willing to cover up for the salvation of one of their own. But now, surveying the looks of shock, disgust, and down-right anger, I breathed in relief that they weren’t in on a murder cover up. The implications would have been far reaching into the entire community of course, but even more so, I didn’t want to believe that any of these people would condone such abhorrent behavior.

David went on, everyone waiting anxiously to hear each and every word he said. “You see, I’d been flirting with Sandra, getting her to trust me. She’d tell me things about Naomi. When she learned that Naomi was running away, she came to me, hoping that I could stop Naomi, make her see reason. But what Sandra hadn’t counted on was that I’d decided a while ago that Naomi didn’t deserve to live. She was a sinner, rolling in the grass with Eli and then throwing herself at the English driver.” David ignored my father’s sharp intake of breath, and plowed on. “I took up my position on the stand, and waited for her.”

David’s eyes went somewhere else and his voice became distant, when he said, “I’ve killed many animals, but I always wondered whether a person would die the same way.” His eyes cleared and met mine briefly, before settling on Serenity. “They do.”

Serenity raised her gun, aiming at David. She said, “Make the call, Todd.”

Before Todd even got the radio turned on, the Amish men had surrounded David, the smooth flow of their movements silently pushing us to the side. Lester backed up, away from the group, his head bowed. The pity I felt for the man, my friend, was almost too much to hold in, but I didn’t go to him. Instead, I stayed with Serenity, glancing down into her wide eyes. I could see the indecision there, but it was her decision, not mine. She’d been right all along about Naomi. The poor girl had been murdered. And, the Amish had concealed the truth, although, even they didn’t know the extent of it.

Serenity’s head whipped back toward the Amish group that had tightened even more around David, and then landed on Lester when she said, “I need to talk to your other son. Where is he?”

I knew it was her way of distracting the Amish from their business, while not having to arrest them all either.

Heads within the crowd began moving around sluggishly, as Mervin’s name was called out repeatedly. After a minute, Father came to stand beside me, quietly saying, “He was here to tell us what happened that dreadful night—but he is gone now.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Serenity’s words echoed my thoughts exactly.

39

SERENITY

November 19th

T
he bright, early morning sun shone through the car windows making the world feel warm and fresh again. I glanced at Daniel and wondered what was going on in his head. We hadn’t spoken but a few words since we’d left the old barn. He was staring out the window at the passing Amish homesteads and my eyes couldn’t help being drawn to them also, with all their quaintness. But, now, I knew better. The Blood Rock Amish community was anything but picturesque under its pretty facade.

It still boggled my mind what had gone down the night before. When I had snuck up to the barn, I’d honestly believed that the most excitement I’d have was perhaps overhearing some information that would crack the Naomi Beiler case open. I certainly hadn’t anticipated being attacked by Tony Manning and subsequently held hostage while the old Amish coots worked out their problems and attempted to justify their actions.

Deep down, the fact that Tony would probably survive grated my nerves. He’d forever be a thorn in my backside as long as I was sheriff in this town. The part of it all that I still couldn’t understand was why so many people, including the uppity Amish, would call him friend. And the craziness of the whole incident was going to be brutal when Todd and I began filling out the paper work. Lucky for me, this was small town America, and I’d already learned that fudging the truth for the better good of the local people was well enough accepted. It still would be a pain in the butt though.

I glanced again at Daniel’s still frame, only to look away quickly when the fluttering of butterflies spread in my belly. When I saw the man, it was as if I was a hormonal teenager all over again. I really hated the feeling. Falling for an unattainable object really sucked—and Daniel fell into that category. He was too good looking and cocky for his own good. And, even more importantly, he was a known womanizer. The last thing I needed was that kind of heartache.

“Hey, slow down. You’re going to miss the turn,” Daniel said loudly.

I pressed the brakes and turned into the Lapp’s winding driveway, glad that the man sitting beside me had no clue about what I was thinking.

“You must be relieved to finally know the truth about what happened to Naomi,” Daniel said frankly. After I parked and shut off the ignition, I sighed and faced him.

“Yeah, I guess so. Somehow, it doesn’t feel like I expected it to though.”

Daniel nodded. He smiled sadly and met my gaze. “I know exactly what you mean.”

Since he was turned toward me and was seemingly in no hurry to exit the car, I relaxed for the first time in hours, and said, “It’s just so sad everything that Naomi had to go through, and then when she was almost away, she’s shot dead by a jealous Amish teen. Who could have blamed her for ignoring him, the kid’s a mental case. Life really did her a bad turn.”

“It would seem so. But, in a way, when she made up her mind about leaving, she experienced the freedom that so many young Amish people never do. Even if it was only for a few minutes, it would have been worth it,” Daniel said quietly, staring at my hand that was resting on the seat between us. I thought he wanted to reach out and touch me, but he was holding back. I turned away, knowing that I didn’t have the nerve to make the first move.

“It sounds as if you talk from experience.”

“It was the most difficult decision I ever made. And sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if I’d stayed Amish. But then, I wouldn’t trade my freedom for anything now.”

“Oh, I can tell you what your life would have been like—an obedient wife at your side, ten kids running around, a huge farm to tend…and the occasional creepy meeting in a dark barn.”

I wasn’t joking, but Daniel laughed. The sound was contagious, and even though I felt it was the most inappropriate time to be laughing, I couldn’t help but smile genuinely at him.

“Really, you’ve seen the worst side of the Amish imaginable. The community is full of hard working, decent folks who
wouldn’t hesitate to help you in your time of need. Murder, manipulation and mayhem are not the usual way of things.”

“Sorry, Daniel, but it’s going to take me some time to change my perception of the culture,” I said with a snort.

“What about your house. You’ve been awfully quiet about it burning down. Are you all right?” Daniel’s voice was not only kind—it was way too concerned. I looked out the window at the pristine white shed we were parked beside and the colorful hens pecking the dirt in front of it. How different this little building was from the ominous barn from the previous night.

“I have insurance. And my laptop was at the office and my cell phone with all my contacts in the world was in my pocket. All my important documents are in the safe deposit box at the bank. All in all, it’s mostly just a huge inconvenience.”

Daniel’s voice showed his disbelief. “Seriously, you’re not freaking out inside that your house and all your belongings burned up?”

I hoped that the chuckle that escaped my lips didn’t sound too evil, but Daniel’s raised brow told me that it had. “In this town it will be near impossible to implicate Tony for the arson, but I’d bet all my teeth that he had a hand in it. The desire for revenge seems to be keeping all pity-party thoughts out of my head at the moment. Well, except for my pictures. It will take a while to get a new set of my favorite destinations together.”

“Now I know what to get you for Christmas,” Daniel said with the smug expression of a man who thought he was so smart.

“Ha, as if you’ll be around come Christmas.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Daniel said in a whisper. His body slid closer to me unexpectedly, and I couldn’t help leaning into him. It’d been a rough night. Ever since he stepped
out of the darkness, holding the shotgun with his bulging biceps, I’d wanted his arms around me—needed to feel his skin against mine.

His mouth touched mine carefully, his tongue slipping in between my lips gingerly. I was impatient though, opening my mouth wider and meeting his tongue with force. His deep growl told me he liked it and his arms dropped to my lower back pulling me tightly into his chest. At that instant, I didn’t care about the prognosis for the relationship. All I knew was that the man fit perfectly against me. I would enjoy it while it lasted.

The rap on the window separated us in a heartbeat. I wiped the wetness from my mouth with the back of my hand, while Daniel cleared his throat, opening his door. The little Amish girl’s eyes were wide, her cracked lips round.

Oh, good grief, I could only imagine the gossip that this little scene would create.

Once the door was open, I heard the
clip clops
coming up the drive. I swiveled in my seat to see Lester and Esther’s faces in the small window of the buggy as their horse hurried toward us. My heart sped up, instinctively knowing something was very wrong. Daniel must have sensed it too. He made it out of the car as fast as I did.

The horse came to a stop beside us. The sudden movement caused the buggy to push into its black body, sending the horse forward another step. A spray of saliva from the animal reached me and while I was wiping the goo from my shirt, Daniel surged into an animated conversation in the Amish language with the couple.

Gazing up at the frantic woman’s face, I felt little pity. I could have already hauled her ass in, but Bobby had stalled
me, assuring me that she wouldn’t be going anywhere and that she certainly wasn’t a danger to society. She was just protecting her child, he said.
Yeah, right
. Covering up a murder and lying to police about it was way overboard from what most parents would do. Hell, just a few years ago, Laura had told the police that she’d been driving when in actuality it had been Will who’d bumped into the shiny BMW at the local grocery while parking. Since he was only days away from getting his full license, Laura was willing to take the fall, but this was way different than that. A girl had died, and the total disregard Esther showed for Naomi was completely unacceptable. I didn’t plan to take it lightly on her—regardless of what Bobby believed was best for the already strained relations with the Amish community.

Goosebumps pricked my arms when Daniel turned around and I looked up into his face. He was afraid.

“Mervin is still missing. No one has seen or heard from him either,” he rushed the words out.

“Yeah, I’m sure the kid was pretty messed up himself after he was pushed in front of the bishop last night by his father to finally tell the truth about what his brother did to Naomi,” I said, shooting a look of disapproval the Lapp’s way.

Daniel stepped forward and took my hands between his large, warm ones. I almost pulled away wondering what the hell had come over him, when a glint in his eye caught my attention.

“Remember, what Rachel Yoder did about her guilt, Serenity.” His words were soft, almost as if they were dandelion seeds on the wind. But the words hit me with the force of a baseball bat.

Damn.

“If he were thinking about something like that, where would he go?” I directed the question to Esther, thawing a bit.

She began to cry shaking her head until Lester put his arm around her and said a few soothing words that I couldn’t understand.

“They don’t know. They’ve checked everywhere. The entire community is out searching,” Daniel said with some resignation, a sound that I didn’t want to hear.

Dammit—another young person was not going to die needlessly. Not if I had anything to do about it. The pounding of hooves on the road from both directions told me that what Daniel said was true. There was an unbelievable amount of activity on the pavement, and even now several buggies were making their way up the driveway with speed.

The bishop was in one of the buggies, along with a couple of men I didn’t recognize by name, but whom I’d seen before. He parked and stepped from the buggy. Mo hopped out of a buggy pulled by a tall bay horse, and joined the others just as they stood before us. Seeing them now, in the cool autumn daylight, with the bright hues of orange and reds behind them, it was difficult to imagine what I’d gone through the night before, and how all of these men had scared the shit out of me. Now, with their concerned faces and bodies ready for action, I nearly forgot how intimidating they were only a few hours earlier. But I made sure not to completely forget. No, those memories were seared into my mind. Especially with the reminder of the dull ache on the side of my head and the pain in my calf that had me limping. I knew what these Amish men were capable of—just about anything, like everyone else.

The men began talking and Daniel was in the heat of the conversation. I only half paid attention to the waving hands
pointing in different directions, instead, letting the foreign voices fade away.

If I was Mervin, and I wanted to do myself in because I’d witnessed a close friend die by the hand of my older brother, where would I go to do it? It would have to be a place that I felt safe that I wouldn’t be disturbed. Maybe a place of significant memory…