Whispers from the Dead (Serenity's Plain Secrets Book 2) (17 page)

I sighed. Dammit.

The sight of Anna King running a few steps and then stopping on the gravel in front of my car caught my attention. I opened the door and asked loudly, “Were you trying to catch Jotham?”

Anna’s face brightened when she saw me. She walked over and shifted her weight, hoisting a large box onto her hip. “Hello, Serenity. I wondered where you had gotten off to. I think Rowan and the girls were curious also.”

“Something came up and I had to go check it out. Do you need a ride?” I asked hesitantly.

Anna smiled. “Oh, that would be lovely.” She made an effort to take a breath as she moved the obviously heavy box to her other hip. I jumped out of the car and went to open up the trunk for her.

“This is supper for Rowan, his family and everyone else working over there.” She paused from talking to ease the box into the trunk. “Libby Mast and Martha Yoder helped me prepare the food in Libby’s kitchen after the service,” Anna went on to explain.

Once Anna was seated in the passenger seat that Jotham had just vacated, I nodded for her to put her seatbelt on.

She blushed. “Yes, silly me. I always forget to do that when I ride in cars.” As she was buckling, she asked, “Where’s Daniel?”

Some of the Amish had stronger accents than others. Rowan and Jotham, for instance, spoke with a strong foreign lilt, while Anna sounded the same as any Midwesterner. The comparison briefly passed through my mind as I glanced at Anna and replied, “He’s in the hospital. He was shot this afternoon.”

The look on Anna’s face was priceless. Her jaw dropped and her gray eyes widened. I quickly added, “He’ll be all right. It was only a grazing wound.”

“Why did someone shoot him?” Anna exclaimed.

“We went to Asher Schwartz’s trailer to ask him a few questions. Asher never came to the door, but two very large Pit Bulls attacked us and then Daniel was shot by an as-of-now unknown assailant.”

“Oh, my,” Anna said as she glanced out the window. After a moment of silence, she found her voice again. “Asher Schwartz is a troubled man,” she paused and met my gaze with frightened eyes, “He’s been hanging around with some of the teenagers lately. And I don’t like it one bit.”

I suddenly realized that maybe I’d been talking to the wrong people all along. Anna was new to the community and she had a certain measure of normalcy about her that most of the other Amish whom I had come in contact with were absent of. The pretty young woman might actually help me.

“Anna, I’ll be honest with you. Asher has some serious convictions against him, which include narcotic sales, battery assault and domestic violence. I already know that he’s a bad guy. What I don’t understand is why your community is tolerating his presence here…and why Sheriff Gentry is afraid to go after him, too.”

Anna’s mouth spread into a grim line. I could tell by the faraway look in her eyes that she was in deep thought. When she finally came out of her trance, I was happy to see steady determination on her face.

“I don’t know anything about the sheriff, but I can tell you that Bishop Fisher and the other ministers don’t want to deal with him on any level, even to protect our young ones.”

“How do you know this?”

“Several meetings have been held on the subject. There are those in the community who are willing to go against Asher Schwartz, but the leadership will have none of it. I personally had to speak to the congregation about some of the interchanges that I’d witnessed going on around the schoolhouse after hours. But Abner wasn’t interested in listening to anything I had to say.”

“You’ve seen Asher talking to the kids after school?” I said the words slowly enough to emphasize the importance of my question.

“Yes, I have. I’ve even seen some of the English kids with him,” she took a deep breath and admitted, “I don’t know this Asher fellow at all, but there is just something about the man that makes me very uncomfortable.”

“You have good instincts,” I told Anna.

Even before I pulled into Rowan’s driveway, I quickly counted up nine buggies parked beside the house and a flurry of dark clad men with beards moving about the barnyard. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Anna quickly smoothing her blonde hair neatly beneath her cap. She then flattened the front of her dress in an anxious movement. I didn’t even try to hide my smile.

“You obviously have a thing for Rowan, so why don’t you go ahead and tell him,” I said seriously.

Anna’s pale cheeks suddenly heated to a cherry red color as she exclaimed, “Is it so very noticeable?”

I nodded nicely. “Yeah, to me anyway, but who knows about Rowan. Men can be awfully dense in that department.”

I parked in front of the cabin and turned off the engine. Anna reached over and touched my arm. “I don’t know what to do. Sometimes I think that he may be fond of me, but other times he seems so distracted.”

I absorbed what she said. There were two Amish men who I wasn’t familiar with pushing debris around with Bobcats and several other men putting the last strips of tin on the brand new framework. Rowan had mentioned that morning that the men would be constructing a temporary shed that would be large enough for him to park his borrowed buggy and harness in, but I was surprised to see it almost completed only hours later.

Rowan was up on the ladder, and Jotham and Gabe were working together to hand the tin up to him as sprays of snow gusted up around them from the wind. The sight of the man who was Gabe’s biological father working so closely beside the only dad Gabe had ever known was brow rising, for sure. Perhaps everyone would be better off if Gabe never knew the truth. In the real world, father and son would never have moments like this, but here in the Amish one, there would be a lot of opportunities for interaction on a regular basis. I dismissed the thought, feeling the twinge of a headache blossoming. There were just too many issues to think about around here. It was almost maddening at times.

I turned back to Anna’s expectant face and said, “Rowan has secrets that are eating him up inside. I don’t believe that he’ll ever be happy or at peace until he faces his demons. Maybe you can help him along with that.”

Anna slowly nodded. “That’s very sound advice from an Englisher,” Anna commented and then added, “I’ll see if he’ll talk to me.”

“I hope that once he’s opened up to you, he’ll be willing to talk to me about it. I think his demons are shared by a few other people as well.”

“I understand. And I’ll do what I can,” Anna assured me. Almost as an afterthought, she said, “You’ll stay for dinner won’t you?”

“No, I’m going to head over to the hospital to check on Daniel.”

Anna smiled mischievously. “I know you told me earlier that he wasn’t your man, but I must speak up and say that I think he very much wants to be.”

I glanced away and then back again. “I’m kind of in the same boat as you are, Anna. I’m afraid to take the plunge.”

“If I can do it, so can you. We both deserve to be happy, don’t you think?”

I smiled at her naivety. “I’m not really sure if true happiness exists.”

“Of course it does!” Anna exclaimed. “You mustn’t lose hope.”

After I opened the trunk, I found myself suddenly in Anna’s tight embrace. I wasn’t used to being hugged by near strangers, and women even less so, but I swallowed down the discomfort and returned the woman’s squeeze anyway. I wasn’t sure who needed the hug more, me or her.

After we said our goodbyes, I gladly jumped back into the car. The sun had just dipped behind the low rise of hills and with the darkening sky, came an even more bitter cold. I turned around in the driveway, shaking my head at the men who were still working, but impressed at the same time.

I had to slow and pull off to the edge of the driveway as an oncoming pickup truck passed by. There was a dent on the backside of the bed that grabbed my attention and I only caught a glimpse into the cab, but it was enough to see Mariah sitting in the passenger seat beside Damon Gentry. Seeing the pair together again instantly bothered me in some inexplicable way that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. And then something else teased at the corner of my mind, trying desperately to open up into understanding.

I continued to think on it until I was about a mile from Rowan’s farm and then it hit me with the force of a train wreck.

I had seen that exact same blue truck earlier today—parked not too far behind Asher Schwartz’s black charger in the trailer park.

22

T
he smile that lit up Daniel’s face when I walked through the door into the hospital room warmed my insides. I crossed the room quickly and pulled up the hunter green plastic wooden-armed chair to the bed. After I was sitting down, I finally met Daniel’s hopeful looking gaze.

“How are you feeling?” I ventured.

Daniel shrugged. “Not too bad. The nurse was just in here. She gave me some more pain meds. Reckon I won’t feel anything for another day or two.”

“Do you know when you’re going to be released?”

Daniel’s smile faded. “I think if you talk to the doctor, you might be able to spring me sooner, but right now, he’s talking about tomorrow morning.”

“That’s not that long,” I scoffed.

Daniel looked at me pleadingly. “I don’t want to stay in here until then. You need my help.”

Now it was my turn to smile. The last time that I had seen Daniel, his face had been ghostly white and there had been pain in his eyes, but at the moment, his face was flushed with healthy color and his eyes crinkled at the corners in annoyance. I took the chance and continued to meet his steady gaze. I was almost distracted by his sculptured, full lips and the thought of kissing them, but I controlled myself.

“You were shot today at close range with powerful ammo...and you were severely bitten by a large Pit. You’re lucky that you aren’t dead,” I chastised. It was much easier to be harsh with Daniel then to risk being nice and having him start flirting all over again.

“The shooter obviously didn’t want to kill me or I
would
be dead,” Daniel smartly pointed out.

I was impressed. “That’s a very good assumption and one that I’ve already made.” I paused and leaned back in the incredibly uncomfortable chair. “It was Asher, Julian…
or
Damon who shot you.”

Daniel’s eyes widened considerably. “Damon Gentry—what does he have to do with any of this?”

“I don’t know yet. But afterwards, I saw Damon in Rowan’s driveway with Mariah again, and it was definitely his dark blue extended cab pickup truck that I’d seen parked in front of Asher’s Charger.” I sighed heavily in irritation and went on to say, “I’ve ran it through my mind a hundred different ways and I still can’t come up with any logical reason for his connection to Asher. Well, besides buying drugs of course.”

“What did the sheriff say about all this? He must have recognized his grandson’s pickup parked at the scene,” Daniel said as he sat up straighter. The cords to his IV got tangled around the armrest to the bed and he snorted and tugged them free.

“Oh, I’m sure old-man Brody knows that his son is involved with Asher. That might even be the reason that he seems to be protecting Asher at every turn. Asher probably has some major dirt on Damon…and maybe even some of the police and officials in this town. What I don’t get is how any of this ties into the arsons.”

Daniel thought for a moment and then said, “It must be Asher burning the barns down as revenge against the Amish for shunning him.”

“I don’t think it’s that easy of an answer.” I twirled a blonde lock around my finger, thinking. “There must be something that I’m missing.”

“Well, we know that Asher is into all kinds of criminal activities, so it’s probably safe to assume that he’s our man. Can’t you go over Sheriff Gentry’s head on this, and bring in other law enforcement?”

I really liked the way Daniel’s mind worked. He was similar to me in many ways, but he wasn’t going nearly deep enough on this one.

I nodded slowly. “Sure, I can get the Indiana State Police involved…but I’m not ready to do that just yet.”

“Why not—if the sheriff isn’t cooperating with you and you know that his own grandson is involved with our main suspect then he’s completely compromised. Meanwhile, barns are still burning down, and I was even shot. Something has to be done quickly, Serenity,” Daniel implored.

“You’re absolutely right. I’m just waiting on a phone call.” Was it just mere coincidence, or something more that caused my phone to suddenly vibrate in my pocket at that very moment? I’d never know for sure, but when I pulled the phone out, it was just the person I wanted to talk to.

“Todd, what do you have for me,” I said without wasting time with a proper hello first.

Todd took it in stride and said, “I think I have your woman.”

I held my breath while Todd told me the name and information that I needed, only exhaling when I said, “Thanks Todd, you should get raise for this one. I think that I’ll be home sooner than I originally thought.”

I hung up and put the phone back into my pocket. My gaze met Daniel’s anxious face.

What did Todd say?”

“You were right. Asher is our man,” I replied, standing up.

“Whoa, where are you going now?” Daniel lightly grasped my arm and tugged me in closer. The worried frown on his face made me pause. It felt good that he seemed to care so much.

“I have enough information for an arrest.” Seeing him about to rise, I put my hand out to stop him and my fingers touched the hard warmth of his chest. But I didn’t flinch away this time. “Don’t worry, Daniel. I have this under control. If Brody won’t help me, the state bureau and the FBI are on my speed dial. You have to stay here and rest. My plan is for us to be on our way home by tomorrow evening.”

Daniel hesitated for a moment. When his brown eyes suddenly darkened, I knew exactly what he wanted before he said a word.

“I already know that nothing I have to say is going to change your mind on this one. But it sure would be nice if you gave me a little kiss before you left,” Daniel said softly.

The tentative way he spoke made me feel a mixture of guilt and stupidity. Daniel had proven himself in many ways since I’d first met him, and here I was still giving the man a hard time. I wasn’t just attracted to Daniel; I was reluctantly falling in love with him. And even though I was completely jaded and messed up in the relationship department, I was beginning to lean towards at least giving him a chance.

My thoughts were still waging war as I leaned down. I caught a whiff of the musky cologne that had become so familiar, and for a moment, I forgot everything else. My lips softly touched Daniel’s forehead. I savored the instant of having his warm skin beneath my mouth and then I began to pull back.

Daniel’s hold on my arm tightened and he reached up with his free hand, placing it behind my head. For a second we made eye contact, and the next thing I knew our mouths were moving against each other. The pressure of his hand tangled in my hair and the movements of his tongue with mine sent mini jolts of pleasure coursing through my body.

I was losing myself to him when I heard a vague noise somewhere way off in the distance. The second time the throat clearing sound was easily recognizable and I pushed away from Daniel in a hurry. Daniel must have heard it too. He let me go without complaint for a change.

When I turned around, I felt a hot flush spreading across my cheeks.

“Have you ever heard of knocking first, Sheriff?” Daniel said in a half teasing, half serious sort of way.

Brody gave a short laugh and came fully into the room. “Glad to see that you’re doing so well, Mr. Bachman.” Then he turned to me and said, “We need to talk.”

“You can say anything in front of Daniel. Trust me. I’m going to repeat everything you tell me to him anyway.”

Brody shrugged, and placed his hands on the rail at the bottom of Daniel’s bed. The big man moved in a casual way, but I’d already noticed the tight set of his jaw. My heart sped up as I waited for Brody to speak.

“Do you have any idea where Asher Schwartz and Julian West are?”

His question completely took me off guard. I exchanged glances with Daniel and replied, “Ah…I wasn’t really convinced that you were even going after him. You weren’t very responsive about the shooting…and the dogs being turned out on us earlier,” I stammered, quickly trying to collect my thoughts and read Brody at the same time.

Brody nodded impatiently. “Don’t even go there. I’ve been around awhile and I’m aware of the fact that if you want to, you can bring in higher authorities to clean this mess up. But you’re not exactly working within the confines of the law yourself, and you certainly aren’t in your own jurisdiction.”

“Are you threatening me?” I interrupted.

“No, not at all, I’m just pointing out the obvious, clearing the deck so to speak.” He rose back up to his full height and took a step closer. The constrained desperation in his voice was barely noticeable, but I picked up on it. Once again, I had the distinct feeling that Brody wasn’t a corrupt cop, just a man who was used to working out of the box to take care of his business.

“No, I have no idea where they are.”

Brody hesitated and rubbed his hands through his cropped gray hair, before he took a measured breath and said, “What about Damon? Have you seen my grandson?”

It was as if a brighter light was turned on in the already well lit hospital room. Everything suddenly became clearer, even the poor quality water color painting on the wall and the vivid blue hue of the walls. The hearty beeps of the monitoring machine that was hooked up to Daniel pounded in my head and the nurses talking at the station right across from the open door were noisy chatter.

In an indirect way, Brody was admitting that he had lost control of the situation and he needed help. Inwardly, I sighed satisfactorily.

“I saw your grandson about an hour ago. He was driving Mariah Fisher up Rowan’s driveway at the time. I don’t know if he’s still there, though.”

Brody breathed a little easier at the news, but not enough to slow my own rapidly beating pulse.

“We may have a problem on our hands.” Brody met my gaze steadily.

“Oh, we definitely do. As I’m sure you already know Damon was at Asher Schwartz’s trailer today.” I shook my head warily and continued, “Your grandson isn’t hanging around with a good crowd.”

Brody nodded. “I’ve been doing my best to change that, but there are a lot of factors involved that you don’t understand.” He abruptly titled his head, looking at me intently. “I get the feeling that you’re a common sense type of person—not some idiot paper pusher. You’re willing to skirt the rules to get the job done. Am I right about you, Serenity?” Brody said the last part with the sternness of a father asking a child if he could trust them, while at the same time desperately wanting to do so.

I had an instant of misgiving, but went with my gut and said, “Yes you are, Sheriff.”

“All right then. Asher Schwartz has been selling Hash oil to the local kids for a while now, but recently he’s pushed his dealings into the Amish community. My grandson is involved, but I’m not sure to what extent. I’ve been waiting for Asher to screw up and give me an opening to bring him in, but the man’s squirrely as all get out. He’s made it known to me that he won’t be taken down easily—or alone.”

“Dabbing is serious business. People can die from a bad batch of butane.”

“I understand that.” Brody said in a tired voice. “I was hoping to get Damon to work with us on the case…but he refused to. Frankly, I’m at my wits end.” Brody flicked his thumb at Daniel. “After today, I realize how truly dangerous Asher Schwartz is.”

Daniel laughed. “He killed a man in a parking lot with his bare hands. Why on earth did you ever doubt what the man was capable of?”

Brody looked away in embarrassment. “Well, now that was a different thing. I mean, the guy that Asher did in was a rotten cracker. Schwartz was doing the community a favor at the time.”

My eyes narrowed and I quickly reconsidered my assessment of Brody Gentry. He was a good old boy after all. “And you gave him carte blanche to kill a man because it was convenient for you. And that’s the big dark secret that Asher has over you. I’m sure you’ve been worried about your grandson, but it sounds as if you’re really more worried about spending the rest of your own life behind bars.”

“It’s his word against mine. You don’t have anything on me, either,” Brody said defensively.

“Maybe not, but we have more important things to worry about at the moment. That badass who got his head caved in by Asher isn’t the only person he’s killed.” Brody’s eyes widened with sudden understanding, but I said the words anyway. “The woman’s body in Fisher’s burned out barn was none other than Asher’s ex-girlfriend.”