Lost in Plain Sight (7 page)

“I knew you had it.”

The voice had her spinning toward the sound. Phillip Grayson stood framed in the doorway.

Chapter Eight

Grayson walked toward her. Leah took an instinctive step back, her heart pounding.

He stopped, holding out his hands, palms up. “Leah, it’s all right. I don’t mean you any harm. I just want my property back.”

“This?” She held up the calendar, mind tumbling in an effort to make sense of the situation. “But what about your wife’s ring?”

Grayson shrugged. “If the ring doesn’t turn up, it’s insured. But I have some valuable notes written in that calendar, and I’d like it back. Just give it to me, and I’ll make sure you’re not troubled again. The police will never hear a thing from my wife about that stupid ring.”

He sounded very reasonable, but all her instincts were shouting at her that she couldn’t believe him.

“It’s too late for that,” she said, clutching at the thought. “Mrs. Morgan went to talk with Chief Byler about the situation this afternoon.”

For an instant Grayson’s polite mask cracked, and she saw what lay beneath. Fear. The man was afraid.

That should make her feel better, but it didn’t. Daadi always said that when an animal was afraid, it was most likely to attack.

“The Morgan family should learn to stay out of things that aren’t any of their business.” He bared his teeth in what was probably meant to be a smile. “Still, that doesn’t necessarily change anything. Just give me the calendar, and I’ll make sure the ring is found. You’ll be in the clear.”

She could only stare at him, the pieces of the puzzle falling into place. “You put that money in the sugar bin.”

“You can never prove that,” he said. “Everyone will see the money as evidence that you took the ring and sold it. Or that your father was in the habit of hiding money, and that’s why the house was robbed. Nothing points to me. Now I’ll take the calendar.” He held out his hand in silent demand.

She didn’t respond. Couldn’t.

With a quick, impatient gesture he closed in on her, still holding out his hand. Fear swept through her. If she gave it to him, she might never be clear of this suspicion. If she didn’t—

Grayson grabbed for the calendar, twisting her wrist as he wrenched it away from her. He spun toward the doorway and stopped dead. Three people stood there, staring at him.

Josiah broke away from Geneva and Chief Byler, rushing to her. He grasped her arms with both hands.

“Are you all right? Did he hurt you?” His words were soft, urgent, spoken in the dialect just to her.

“I am all right.” She touched her wrist, and Josiah took it gently in his big hands, holding it tenderly. She went suddenly weak in the knees.

“He has hurt her,” he said in English.

“And in front of a police officer, too.” Chief Byler shook his head, plucked the calendar from Grayson. “I’ll just take this until we’ve established ownership.”

“It’s mine.” Grayson made a visible effort to compose himself. “You can’t imagine I’d hurt the girl. I just wanted my property.”

Chief Byler’s face was impassive. “Suppose you come into town with me, and we’ll have a talk about the calendar. And about the ring that your wife reported missing.”

“I told her—“ Grayson clamped his lips closed. “That was a mistake. My wife lost the ring, but I’ve found it. There won’t be any claim on the insurance.” He seemed to be gaining assurance as he spoke. “The calendar is mine. I’m sure my wife will verify that. Just give it to me, and this unfortunate incident will be over.”

“I’m afraid it’s not quite that simple,” Byler said. “Mrs. Morgan has been telling me about the events of the past few days. There’s still a break-in that’s unaccounted for, as well as an accusation of theft against Leah Miller. Let’s just go have that talk, and you can explain it all to me.”

He nudged Grayson toward the door, and in a moment they were gone.

“Phillip Grayson wasn’t really very good at wrongdoing,” Chief Byler said, wrapping his hands around the mug of coffee Leah’s mother had given him.

Darkness pressed against the windows, but the group around the kitchen table sat under the glow of the gaslight. Josiah glanced from face to face, judging their reactions to this odd occasion.

The chief had left his weapon in the car, but Leah’s father still looked uneasy at having an officer in uniform at his kitchen table. Geneva Morgan was pink with excitement, while Chief Byler wore the satisfied look of a man whose work had gone well.

As for Leah…he had trouble looking at Leah with an unbiased eye. She had grown so dear to him in such a short time.

But maybe it had not been so sudden. After all, they’d had a lifetime of knowing each other before he’d wakened up and seen her for the determined, appealing woman she’d grown into. At the moment, Leah still looked confused.

“I don’t understand,” she said. “I know that old calendar was important to him, but why? What was he doing that was wrong?”

“He was using his position on the school board to line his own pockets,” the chief said. “You know that addition to the high school they’re building? It seems Grayson took money from the company to ensure that they got the contract.”

“Is there enough proof of that?” Geneva asked.

He nodded. “As I said, Grayson wasn’t very good at breaking the law. He kept notes of meetings he’d had and when they’d paid him in that calendar.”

“No wonder he was so upset to find it missing,” Geneva said. “I knew there had to be more involved than that woman’s ring.”

“The ring was just an excuse,” Byler said. “When he realized the calendar was gone, he thought Leah had taken it. He wanted his wife to fire her, so he took the ring and persuaded her Leah had done it. But that backfired when she his wife insisted she was going to the police. He panicked, trying to get the calendar back—searched this house, then tried to bribe Leah.”

“I didn’t even know what he was talking about,” Leah said. “If he’d just asked me for the calendar in the beginning, I would have given it to him.”

Byler shrugged. “I’d guess his guilty conscience was responsible for that. He was sure you’d heard him talking to the contractor on the phone and taken the calendar deliberately.”

“The guilty flee where no man pursueth,” Leah’s father intoned solemnly.

“Exactly,” Geneva said, smiling.

“What will happen to him now?” Josiah tried to keep the anger he felt toward the man out of his voice. He was going to have to work on forgiving Grayson—that was certain sure.

“That’s up to the courts,” the chief said. “They may work out a deal that keeps him out of jail, but I have my doubts. I’d guess the important thing to all of you is that Leah is completely cleared.” He rose, nodding gravely to Leah’s parents. “Thank you. I’m sorry this unpleasantness intruded into your home.”

That seemed to be a signal for folks to leave. Josiah left the kitchen but lingered on the porch, hoping for a few quiet moments with Leah.

Geneva paused as she came past him. “Josiah, I’ll be happy to give you a ride home.”

“Denke, but I…I will stay awhile.”

She nodded, smiling as if she knew exactly what was in his mind. “I’ll see you soon.”

Josiah waited, not sure what he’d do if she didn’t come out. For that matter, he wasn’t sure what he’d do if she did. He just knew he had to talk to her, had to explain—

“Josiah?” She pushed the door open, standing in the yellow block of light for a moment and then stepping onto the porch. “I didn’t know you were still here.”

“I wanted to talk to you.” He glanced over her shoulder, seeing her parents still in the kitchen, and led her to the wooden swing at the other end of the back porch. “We’ll sit for a moment, ja?”

She didn’t speak, but she did sit down. So he had a chance. He tried to gather his thoughts.

“Earlier, when I left…” His throat tightened when he pictured her face as it had been in that moment when her father had gestured for him to leave. When he’d turned away from her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t go because I thought you were guilty. I wanted to get to Geneva and tell her what had happened.”

“I understand. Denke, Josiah.” Leah’s voice was very soft, but he had a sense that she was disappointed in him.

“If I’d defended you then, it would have looked as if I…” He ran out of words.

“It would have looked as if I meant something special to you,” she said plainly. “As if you were courting me. You didn’t want that.”

“You’re wrong. I did want that.” As soon as he said it, relief swept through him. He’d gotten the words out, at least. He touched her hand, very lightly. “I was just afraid it was too soon. That you didn’t think of me as anything but a big brother.”

She made a sound that was between a sob and a laugh. Her hand slipped into his, palm to palm, and his heart began to race.

“But that’s what I was thinking about you. That you couldn’t see me as anything but a little sister.”

The vise that had encircled his heart released completely, and he felt as if he could float up to the rooftops. “Then we were both wrong, ain’t so?”

He touched her face, tilting her chin up. In the light that filtered through the curtained window, her green eyes looked very serious.

“Ja, I guess we were.”

Happiness flooded through him, and he bent his head to claim her lips.

Look for VANISH IN PLAIN SIGHT, Marta Perry’s newest Amish romantic suspense, wherever books are sold.

Pennsylvania Dutch Glossary

Pennsylvania Dutch is actually Germanic in origin, and it is primarily a spoken language. Most Amish write in English, which results in many variations in spelling when the dialect is put into writing!

The language probably originated in the south of Germany, but it was common also among the Swiss Mennonites and French Huguenot immigrants to Pennsylvania. The language was brought to America prior to the Revolution.

A generation or two ago it was common to find people in rural Pennsylvania who still spoke Pennsylvania Dutch at home, but now that is true primarily for the Amish. Other people of Pennsylvania Dutch descent do sometimes use words or phrases in dialect, and they commonly use particular forms of speech that come from the dialect—for instance, saying, “Put the light out,” instead of “Turn off the light.”

In the Amish community, High German is used for Scripture and church documents, English is the language of commerce, and Pennsylvania Dutch is the language of home and community.

Glossary:

Ach
—oh; used as an exclamation.

Anymore
—used as a substitute for “nowadays.”

Ausbund
—Amish hymnal. Used in the worship services, it contains traditional hymns, words only, to be sung without accompaniment. Many of the hymns date from the sixteenth century.

Ain’t so
—a phrase commonly used at the end of a sentence to invite agreement.

Boppli
—baby

Bruder
—brother

Blabbermaul
—talkative one

Befuddled
—mixed up

Certain sure
—in Pennsylvania Dutch, a combination of words is sometimes used to reinforce a description, such as
wonderful gut
or
certain sure.

Come-calling friend
-a term used for a serious boyfriend, one who is courting a girl.

Du Herr sie mit du
—The Lord be with you.

Daadi
—daddy

Denke
—thanks (or d
anki
)

Englischer
—one who is not plain

Ferhoodled
—upset, distracted

Fratching
—arguing

Grossmutter
—grandmother

Grossdaadi
—grandfather

Grossdaadi haus
—an addition to the farmhouse, built for the grandparents to live in once they’ve retired from actively running the farm.

Gut
—good

Ja
—yes

Kapp
—prayer covering, worn in obedience to the biblical injunction that women should pray with their heads covered. Kapps are made of Swiss organdy and are white, with the exception of those worn by girls from thirteen to marriage in the worship service, which are black.

Kinder
—kids (also
kinner
)

Komm
—come

Komm schnell
—come quick

Mamm
—mother

Ordnung
—the agreed-upon rules by which the Amish community lives. When new practices become an issue, they are discussed at length among the leadership. The decision for or against innovation is generally made on the basis of maintaining the home and family as separate from the world. For instance, a telephone might be necessary in a shop in order to conduct business, but would be banned from the home because it would intrude on family time.

Rumspringa
—running-around time, the late teen years when Amish youth are expected to find a mate. They may taste some aspects of the outside world before deciding to be baptized into the church.

Ser gut
—very good

Schnickelfritz
—mischievous child

Tastes like more
—delicious

Was ist letz
—what’s the matter

Wie bist du heit
—said as a greeting, meaning, how are you.

Wilkom
—welcome

Wonder
—used in such expressions as, “It wondered me that he would do that,” meaning “It surprised me that he would do that,” or “It made me wonder that he would do that.”