A Dark Amish Night (15 page)

   Hannah took the phone and dialed the farm house. It was one of the very few phone numbers she knew by memory. No doubt everyone was still at her farm waiting to hear how Timothy was doing. She was anxious to share her good news and to check in on Ruth Ann.

   When Quinn came back with two cups of hot coffee he caught the tail end of Hannah’s conversation with the Bishop.

   “Yes, it’s very good news. How is Ruth Anne behaving?  That’s good. No, there’s no need for anyone to come up here to stay with us. I have money with me and I’ll make sure we get home. I’m worried about Ruth Anne. Are you sure she’ll be fine staying with you and Martha? Great, I’ll call later with any updates. Thank everyone for me and ask them to keep praying for Timothy.”

   Hannah gave Quinn back his phone and gratefully accepted her cup of coffee. Quinn dialed his office and told dispatch that he was going to be out for a few days, but to call him if anything came up. He had a message to call Ollie and made a mental note to himself to do that after they got to see Timothy. He wanted to talk to the boy later when Timothy was feeling better. Quinn had a gut feeling there was more to Timothy’s disappearance than just him wandering off. But until the boy was able to talk, Quinn planned to stay close.

A Dark Amish Night

Chapter Thirteen

     Timothy was settled in a private room and Hannah never left his side. Quinn brought in food to her and practically forced her to eat. The first day was spent waiting for the anesthesia to wear off. Timothy slept fitfully throughout the first night, with nurses coming and going to administer pain medication in his IV. Quinn was relieved to see some color returning to Timothy’s cheeks the next morning.

   Still the boy had not woken enough to talk yet. Hannah fretted over him with every slight movement Timothy made. A tech came in and told Hannah and Quinn they needed to take Timothy down for brain imaging to monitor his contusion. They were instructed to wait in the room as they would not be allowed into the imaging area with the patient. Hannah did not take this news well and started pacing after the tech pushed Timothy, still in his bed, out of the room.

   “Come on. Let’s take a walk.” Quinn shoved his hat on his head and led Hannah by the hand out of the cramped hospital room, leaving her no chance to argue with him. “You need some air. It’s stuffy in here.”

   He led her out to a small courtyard he’d found while foraging the hospital dining area for food. He tried small talk but Hannah was quiet and withdrawn. She seemed so out of her element in the world of ‘Englishers’ as she called them. He could tell she was struggling with it.

   “You know, it must be hard for you to be away from home like this. I can imagine that this is a strange world to you.”   “I’ll admit I am uncomfortable. I grew up on a farm much like the one I live on now, and I’ve never spent this much time out in the world. My father would be very unhappy about that.”

   “So tell me about your father. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you mention him before.” The two of them found a quiet bench and sat down. It was good to be out in the fresh air after having sat in Timothy’s tiny hospital room for so long.

   “There’s not much to tell. He was a plain and simple man who abided by the Amish faith. He and my mother were good parents. They took very good care of my sister and me. We worked on the farm with him. He taught us both how to work hard and live a simple pure life.”

   “You have a sister then?”

   “I had a sister. Her name was Marietta. She was five years older than me. Marietta died giving birth to her first child.” Hannah sighed and continued her story. “In her eighth month she started bleeding. Her husband didn’t want anything to do with English doctors even though the midwife told him she would die without modern help. The baby was stillborn. We buried him with Marietta. Her husband moved with his own family back to Ohio soon after that. My mother was so heartbroken she died a couple of years after Marietta passed. I was still home when Marietta died, and it was hard for my parents when I left to marry Eric. After mother passed, my father sold the farm and lived with Eric and me for a few years until he passed. He had a stroke and couldn’t run the farm alone. We spent every penny of what money he made off the sale of his farm for his medical care. I just couldn’t let him die the way Marietta did, not when the help for him was out there. So, I’m not unaccustomed to modern medicine. I just have trouble being away from my own folk and out in this fast paced world. Everyone is in such a hurry all the time. I don’t know how to keep up.”

   “I think you’re fine just the way you are. I can’t see you living in this crazy mess here in the city.” Quinn laughed about that. It was hard to imagine Hannah living in the modern hustle and bustle of the city. Everything about Hannah screamed home. The ever present smell of fresh baked bread around her and her simple graceful manner made Quinn want to have the quiet life. It made him want to come home for good.

   “I’ve always been a good girl. I never longed for more than what I had. I was content being a wife and mother. It was a safe life. I knew where I belonged and now… Now I just feel like I don’t belong anywhere. Everything is changing. My faith has been shaken, but I’m determined to bring my children up in a plain folk home. I’m sure that Eric would want it that way. I just hope I can do that and still be a good Amish woman. I don’t want to be independent of the Amish. I just don’t know if I make my own way and still be Amish. The plain folk don’t believe a woman can be on her own without a man to take care of her, but I’m not going to marry just to keep the farm.”

   “No, and you shouldn’t have to.” Quinn wanted to get off the subject of the church’s idea of a marriage arrangement for Hannah. The thought made him ill. “So, what about Eric’s family?”

   “Eric’s family is a little more complicated. They converted from English to Amish before Eric was born. Eric has two older brothers, but when Eric was about ten, his mother left. She couldn’t handle the Amish life anymore. His two brothers went with her. The last we heard, his mother passed away, and no one knows where his brothers are. Eric stayed behind with his father. He’d never had a life away from the Amish. His father was very bitter. He would never be able to remarry at all as long as his first wife lived. Eric moved his father in with us because he started getting sick with dementia. We weren’t able to keep him long like we did my father. He just kept running off and getting lost. So Eric put him in an old folk’s home. It was hard for Eric.”

   Quinn could tell this talk was making Hannah sad. He changed the subject again. “You know I have an older sister too. Her name is Bella. Her and her husband, Wayne, have the farm I grew up on. It’s a peanut farm back in Portales, New Mexico. My parents are retired and they live the good life now down in Florida.”

   “You grew up on a peanut farm?”

   “Yup, sure did. Bella keeps asking me to go back and help her run it, but she knows me. She knows I’m a lawman. I don’t think I could ever not be what I am. Not that I don’t like farming. I guess I just always wanted to be a hero and live in the city catching the bad guys.”

   “Your family is all spread out. How do stand being so far apart from each other?”

   “It’s hard, but we keep in touch. Most holidays, everyone goes back to the farm to visit and catch up with each other. I’ve not been back there since before Kathleen died. I think I just felt ashamed. I couldn’t face my family. I felt guilty about everything. I didn’t want to see them disappointed in me.”

   “I’d like to meet your family. I’m sure they’re very proud of you for catching the bad guys.”

   “I’d like you to meet Bella. She’s a hoot. You’ll never know a more outspoken and strong independent woman. Her husband is a saint for putting up with her constant mouth going all the time.” Quinn smiled at the thought of his spitfire sister and her mercurial temper.

   “Amish women are strong. They just learn at an early age to be subservient to God and the men in their lives.” Hannah felt the need to defend her way of life, but she wasn’t sure why.

   “Hannah, I can see the value of the way you live, and I can respect it. I’ve just never known any woman to be subservient as you say. I understand it’s your belief to be subservient. I just think there is a line between subservient and completely dependent. It seems to me that a woman should be able to take care of herself the same as a man.”

   Hannah was starting to feel the same way. Why shouldn’t a woman be able to take care of herself and her family if she needed to or even wanted to? These were the thoughts she had been wrestling with since Eric died. These thoughts scared her and would lead her straight to hell if she didn’t put a stop to them. “I think maybe I better get back. They said they wouldn’t be long with Timothy. You can stay outside for a while if you want.”

   Quinn started to protest, but thought better of it as he watched her walk away. Hannah seemed like she was struggling with some issues and needed some time to think. Besides, he needed to check in with the office and he still needed to call Ollie back. He sat back on the bench and dialed the office. He had another message to call Ollie and everything was running smooth so far without him there.

   He checked his cell for messages and sure enough Ollie had left several. Quinn had his phone turned to silent while he was at the hospital.
I hope Ollie’s got something good for me.
Quinn punched in Ollie’s cell number and waited for him to answer. Ollie had his call waiting music set to Fall Be Kind by Animal Collective. It wasn’t Quinn’s kind of music, but it suited Ollie’s eclectic unusual personality.

   “Hey, Ramsey, you’re a hard man to find. Don’t you ever answer your phone or return your messages?” Ollie sounded short but Quinn knew his pal probably better than anyone other than his own mother.

   “Yeah well, I been kinda busy the last few days. I’m in Tulsa waiting for the Hershberger boy to wake up enough to talk to me. I got some questions I need answers to. So what’s up?”

   “I heard about the kid. He went missing and you took a hound dog into the brush to track him down. He’s gonna be good, right?”

   “He’s gonna be fine, got a broken arm and a nasty bump on the head, but the doctors say he’ll make it.”

   “That’s good news, and speaking of news I got something for ya. We got a fingerprint off an old can of pork and beans the forensics took from the campsite. Print belongs to an ex-con by the name of George McVey, goes by Georgie. Georgie has done some time for petty stuff breaking and entering and other small crime. But, he just got released about six months ago on an armed robbery conviction. Served seven of a ten year sentence, got out early for being a good boy, but that ain’t the kicker. Turns out he’s got a dark blue 1992 Ford F250 registered in his name, got Texas plates on it. I’ll fax you over the information shortly along with the plate number. File says he’s now fifty-five years old”

   “Any idea what he may have been doing out the woods on the Hershberger farm?’

   “Not a clue. But that’s where you come in. As I recall it you’re the one with the hound dog. Sniff him out, Quinn. I’ll call you if I come up with any more intel. I’m including his file from his last stint in the Oklahoma State Penn with that fax. There ain’t much there, but maybe something will jump out at ya. Talk later, and answer your phone now and then, will ya?” 

   “Yeah, I’ll do that. Thanks Ollie. I’ll get back to you if I find anything else out here on my end. Maybe you wouldn’t mind putting out an APB on our new friend Georgie.”

   “I already did. Talk later.”

   “Talk later.” Quinn hit the end call button and shoved his phone back in his pocket. There was nothing quite like bringing in a new player to the game board.
Okay, Georgie McVey, where are you and what do you want with the Hershbergers?”

   Pattie Sue pulled her horse and buggy up in front of the house Hannah had rented from the Fishers. The buggy was loaded down with supplies to help Hannah get started in her new home. Several members of the community were already there unloading boxes of Hannah’s belongings from the farm house. The house would be set up and well stocked before Hannah brought the boy home from the hospital.

    She clucked to herself. It was a nasty business with the boy wandering off and scaring his poor momma half to death. Jumping down off her buggy, Pattie Sue called out to some of the younger men in the yard to help her unload the supplies. In the kitchen, she got to work stocking the small pantry and made small talk with Rachel Yoder and Millie Troyer, as they unpacked Hannah’s kitchen.

   “Pattie Sue, Millie was just telling me that Timothy was mumbling something about finding lost gold and saving his family when they brought him out from the woods. That poor boy was looking for lost treasure in those thorn bushes. He thought he needed money to save the farm, I guess.”