Murder, Served Simply (9 page)

T
he quilt show winners were chosen, and I left Mattie and Martha to adorn the winners and runners-up with the appropriate ribbons.

“How's Oliver doing?” I asked Bethanne as I crossed the lobby.

“I think he's all right.” She smiled.

I leaned over the counter and found Oliver holding on to a ham bone with his paws and gnawing on it with the side of his mouth. “He looks pretty content to me. You're an excellent pet sitter. Can I give you a call if I ever need one?”

Her face lit up. “I would like that.”

“I should warn you first. I also have a kitten name Dodger. He's a little more rambunctious than Oliver.”

“I don't mind. I love all animals. When the vet comes to the farm, he always lets me assist him.”

“I will keep you in mind, then.” I paused. “I know you said she wouldn't be in until later, but have you seen Junie yet today?”

“Actually, I have,” Bethanne said. “She is in the dining room. Most of the guests are finished with their breakfast now. Junie is clearing the tables.”

“Thanks.” I slapped my thigh. “Come, Oliver. Let's go say good-bye to Junie before we leave.”

Oliver shot one round brown eye at me. The other's concentration remained pointedly on the bone between his paws.

I put my hands on my hips. “You can't take the bone with you. We have a quilting class going on in the shop today. We can't have the smell of old ham bothering the ladies while they quilt their snowmen.”

Oliver wrapped his legs more tightly around the bone. I hoped this didn't turn into a wrestling match.

Bethanne leaned over and took the bone from the Frenchie. Oliver didn't fight her for it, but he gave an audible sigh when his physical contact was broken.

She smiled. “I will keep it here behind the desk for him.”

Oliver is such a charmer. Now he had young girls hiding treats for him.

I smacked my leg again. “Come on, you old Casanova.”

He grinned and trotted after me.

The French doors opened into the dining room. The long table where I had seen the cast and crew eating breakfast more than an hour ago was empty. A few of the smaller tables had guests sitting at them, perusing the newspaper while they savored their coffee. Junie moved around the long play table with a dishpan. As she collected cups and plates, she added them to the pan. A
metal cart sat to the side. It had even more dishes on it. Drama must make a person hungry, because the cast and crew could certainly eat.

I picked up an empty bin from the cart and started collecting silverware. Oliver followed me around the table, most likely thinking I would drop a crumb or two for him to gobble up.

Junie's head snapped up. “What are you doing?”

“Cleaning up. Boy, those actors sure enjoyed their breakfast, didn't they?”

She set the bin at the end of the table. “You can't. You're a guest. I will get in trouble if it looks like I asked a guest to do my job for me.”

“I'm not a guest.” I placed a serving spoon in my bin.

“But you don't work here.”

“I do, in a way, at least as long as the quilt show is going on. Besides, I need to talk to you, so you might as well put me to work while I am at it.”

She started gathering coffee mugs again. “Me? Why would you need to talk to me?”

“I want to know more about your uncle Nahum.”

She dropped the coffee mug she was holding onto the table. Luckily, it didn't break, but the remnants of the coffee inside splattered across the white tablecloth. Her face turned red, and she dabbed at the stain with a wet rag. “Why? What would you want to know about him?”

A man three tables away pointedly rattled his paper, which caused Oliver to wriggle under the long table.

I lowered my voice and moved closer to her. “Where can I find him? I want to talk to him.” I paused. “About Eve.”

She gnawed on her bottom lip so much that there was a small dot of blood right at the crease. “You can't want to talk to him. He's crazy.”

“I have to. He has a motive.”

She dropped the rag onto the silver cart. “A motive for what?”

I gave her a look. “A motive for Eve's accident.”

Junie dropped her eyes to the table. “I don't think it's a good idea if you talk to him. It will make him angry.”

I took that as a gross understatement. “Just tell me where I can find him, and I will be the judge of that. Do it for Eve.”

She swallowed. “If I tell you, do you promise not to go alone?”

That sounded ominous, but I wanted the information, so I said, “I won't. Do I look stupid?”

She didn't say anything for a full minute. Finally, she said, “He lives in a cabin in the woods on the outskirts of Holmes County. It's almost in Wayne County.”

“What's the name of the road he lives on?”

“If he's still there, and I'm not certain that he is, it's called Yoder Bend. The cabin is not exactly on the road, but that's the closest road to it. I've never been there myself, but I heard my father describe it. He had gone there before to try to talk some sense into my uncle and ask him to rejoin our community.”

“Yoder Bend,” I repeated to commit it to memory.

“Junie, why isn't that table cleared off already?” Mimi said as she stepped through the French doors. “Guests have checked out and their rooms need to be turned.”

I found Mimi's reaction a bit harsh, especially
considering Junie's sister just died under suspicious circumstances.

Junie lowered her eyes. “I am sorry.” She started to pile the last of the dishes on the cart with abandon.

“It's my fault,” I said, jumping in. “I was offering Junie my condolences on the loss of her sister.”

Mimi's face softened. “Yes, it has been terrible for all of us.”

Interesting, I thought. Mimi seemed to be speaking on a more personal level than I would expect her to use with one of the actors.

Junie threw the last of the dirty napkins on the metal cart and wheeled it toward the kitchen without a backward glance.

“Did you know Eve well?” I asked Mimi.

To my shock, the hotel owner burst into tears.

The man with the rattling newspaper was really giving the sports section a workout. I wrapped my arm around Mimi's shoulder and led her across the dining room to the French doors, which led into the swimming pool area. Oliver waddled in after us and made a beeline for a lounge chair. Shades and a towel were all he needed to be ready for a day at the pool, which looked pretty enticing right then.

I guided her to a small table near the deep end and farthest away from the door. The whirlpool bubbled a few feet away, and the smell of chlorine burned the inside of my nose. There was no one in the pool room, and the whirlpool would cover our conversation if anyone were to step inside.

Mimi whipped at her eyes, and her heavy layer of
mascara melted and smeared onto her cheek. “I'm sorry,” she muttered through her tears. “I should have better control over myself.”

I rifled through my monster purse and came up with a crumpled packet of travel tissues. “Don't be silly. Eve's death has been a shock for all of us.” The tissues appeared to have been stepped upon by an elephant, but they were clean. I handed Mimi the package.

She accepted it and removed a tissue from the plastic. “Thank you.” She blew her nose.

Oliver hopped off his lounger and licked Mimi's hand. The hotel owner smiled. I could always count on Oliver to mend wounds.

Overhead, snow gathered on the corners of the atrium's glass ceiling. Inside the pool room, tropical plants flourished, and the warm humid pool air felt lovely against my dehydrated winter skin. It was all I could do not to throw myself into the crystal blue water.

“How did you know Eve? Was it from her life here before she left for New York?” I asked.

She nodded. “She was like a daughter to me.”

Involuntarily, I felt my eyebrows pop up.

Mimi wiped tears from her eyes with one of the mangled tissues. “She was such a sweet girl. I don't know how anyone could do this to her, especially her own family.”

I leaned back in my chair. “Her family? Do you mean her uncle Nahum?”

“I wouldn't limit it to just him.” There was an edge to her voice.

“What do you mean?”

“Nahum may have been the most outspoken against Eve's return to Holmes County, but her whole family has treated her poorly since she returned. People think that the Amish are kind and caring. They usually are, but they can be cold too. They treated Eve like a leper, even her own father.”

“What's her father's name?”

“Noah Shetler. He and his brother, not Nahum, own Shetler Tree Farm in Berlin. They are very well off for an Amish family. They supply many of the greenhouses and nurseries with trees and shrubs in Holmes, Wayne, and Stark Counties.”

“Tree farm?” I asked. “What about Christmas trees?” I asked with an idea sparking in the back of my brain.

“Oh yes, this is a great time for business for them. Even though the Amish won't have Christmas trees in their homes, it doesn't mean they won't make money off the English who will.”

“Do you include Junie in that number of relatives who have been unkind to Eve?”

Mimi placed her hands on the table. “Junie is confused. She wanted Eve to come back to Holmes County, but when Eve arrived, Eve told me that Junie had hardly spoken to her. I know she was hurt when her sister left, but now was her chance to make amends. That chance is gone now. She will never get it back.”

“Did you meet Eve through Junie?”

She shook her head. “I met Junie through Eve. Eve started working for me the summer after she finished school.”

Oliver stared into the whirlpool. I hoped that he didn't get any ideas about going for a dip.

Mimi twisted the packet of tissues in her hands, and the plastic crackled. “Eve was a star employee, and I put her on the desk most of the time. She was so charming, and guests loved her. Everyone loved her. Junie is a year younger, and I gave her a job as a maid because Eve asked me to. Junie is a good worker, but she didn't have the special sparkle Eve did.”

I wondered how many times Junie's quiet nature was compared to her sister's lively spirit. Something told me that wouldn't stop, even now that Eve was dead.

“I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I'm happy I have Junie working here. She's dependable.”

Eve was special, and Junie was dependable. The two compliments didn't have the same ring to them.

“Eve's the reason I turned the barn into a playhouse. I wasn't using the barn for anything more than storage. She always said it would be the perfect place to put on plays, and she explained how much business it could bring me.”

I kept one eye on Oliver as he sniffed around the edge of the whirlpool. I really didn't want to get wet this morning.

“So you knew about her dream to be an actress when you hired her.”

“No, but not long after she started working here, she told me about those career aspirations. She knew she would have to leave the Amish to become an actress.” She pressed the tissues into the tabletop. “I encouraged her to follow her dreams, and when she did leave, I gave
her a place to live here at the hotel until she was ready to make her move to New York.

“I helped her get her social security number, driver's license, even her birth certificate. When Amish children are born, they have none of those things. It's like they don't even exist, at least as far as the English world is concerned.” She sighed. “She left Holmes County two years ago. It was hard to let her go, but I was so proud of her. She had to overcome a lot to make her dream come true.”

The question was, had Eve's dream really come true? Yes, she moved to New York, but she was struggling as an actress, so much so that she was willing to come back to Holmes County to star in a small production.

I wrinkled my brow. “Did Eve stay in touch with you after she moved to New York?”

“From time to time she would send me a letter about her life in New York. She had a dream to perform on Broadway, but it's difficult for any young child, especially a former Amish child, to break in. She worked at a deli to pay her portion of the rent for a tiny one-bedroom apartment that she shared with six other roommates.”

I grimaced.

“She wasn't a wild child in New York,” Mimi said. “She worked hard and was practical. She knew it would take time to achieve her dreams.
An Amish Christmas
was really just the beginning. She was going to be a star.”

“How did she even hear about Broadway? That's not something most Amish children know about.”

“When she was a child, one of her English friends
used to let Eve sneak over so they could watch DVDs of musicals. Eve fell in love with the theater”

“What's this friend's name? Where can I find her?”

“I think her name is Amber. Junie would know.”

But would she tell me? Junie wasn't as forthcoming with information as I would hope her to be.

“Did her family know you helped her leave their district?”

She nodded. “Her father came and talked to me twice about her.”

“And they didn't mind Junie working here? Weren't they afraid you'd convince Junie to leave too?”

She shoved the used tissues into the pocket of her suit jacket. “No one is afraid that Junie will leave the Amish. I need to get back to work. You will need to forgive me for breaking down like this. You see, I was never able to have children of my own, so this hotel was my child in many ways until Eve came into my life.”

I reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “There's nothing to forgive. Someone you loved died. Cry as much as you need to.”

Tears appeared in her eyes again. “When she told me that she was coming back here to be a part of the play, I was thrilled, but now . . . now, I wish she had never come.”