Material Witness (24 page)

Levi’s eyes flickered to the stack of quilts. “Didn’t bother me so much. They’re just quilts. Again, it seemed strange, but they were
Mamm
’s to do with as she pleased. I didn’t even realize they were in that old trunk. Don’t remember ever having seen them.”

“They’re actually antiques,” Callie explained. “The oldest was quilted over fifty years ago.”

Levi merely shrugged, so Callie stood and walked over to the stack of quilts. She unfolded one in order to reveal the top. “As you can see it’s not a traditional pattern. We believe it might be a code of sorts. That your mother might have been trying to tell us something.”

Levi shook his head. “Don’t know why she’d do that, or why she’d use a different quilt pattern than the other women.”

“The borders fit together like a puzzle, and they’re German script, Amish proverbs actually. But the pictures are what we were hoping you could help us with. Do these pictures mean anything to you? There’s a woman here boarding a bus, for instance. Is there anything in your family history about an important trip she took?”

Sadie had been staring at the quilt intently. “There was —”

“I don’t know what you’re looking for. Don’t know what the quilts could mean or why she would sew them this way. Now if there are no other questions, tomorrow’s Saturday and a workday for us.”

Sadie looked at her husband as if he’d grown an extra pair of ears, but she held her peace.

Shane nodded to Callie, and she refolded the quilt before setting it on top of the other two.

They’d almost made it to the door when Shane turned. He could have done it at the table, but he was hoping to catch Levi off guard. By this point he was convinced the man was hiding something, though it may have been totally unrelated.

“There is one other thing,” he said, as if it had totally slipped his mind. He handed the three quilts to Callie, though they reached to her chin and she looked as if she might topple backward under the weight of them. “The drawings in town are from Aaron’s description. We had an artist work with him to come up with a rendering.”

He reached into the pocket of his jacket, pulled out a five-by-seven envelope. “Unfortunately our perpetrator didn’t stop with Mrs. Knepp. He also tried to run over Aaron earlier today, as he was crossing the street.”

Sadie’s hand covered her mouth. “Is he all right?”

“Yes. It did cause some panic at the festival, and the man did manage to escape. However, two different cameras were able to capture shots of him. We’ve been working on enhancing them.”
Shane pulled out the picture as he spoke. He didn’t look at the photo, didn’t have to. He’d memorized the guy’s features hours ago. Instead he watched Levi and Sadie Hochstetler.

On seeing the photo, Levi’s face lost all color, turning first white, then a chalky gray. Sadie’s hand went from her mouth to her throat, and a small cry escaped as if she’d been hurt.

“Do you know this man, Levi?”

“I do not, and I think it’s time for you to leave.”

“He’s killed once, and he might kill again. He’s after Callie, and Aaron Byer is our material witness — which means he’s a prime target as well. If you know this man, you want to tell me who he is.”

“I told you I didn’t. Now
danki
for coming, but it’s late.”

Shane nodded, placed the photo on the table near their front door. “You can keep this copy. Maybe it’ll jog your memory.”

Then he took the quilts from Callie and walked with her into the night, toward the Buick.

He didn’t start the car right away.

Instead he pulled out his cell phone and called his men at the office in Middlebury. “I want you to access everything you can on Levi Hochstetler. See if he has any brothers, cousins, or uncles who match the description of our perp. Also, call Stan Taylor and tell him I want someone watching Levi’s place. If he leaves, I want to know where. If they’re related, could be he’ll try to meet up with our perp.”

When he closed the phone, he cranked up the Buick, slipped his arm around Callie, and drove back down the lane. They were closer to solving this than when they’d arrived, and that was a good feeling. This was the part of the hunt he loved, the part where if he was smart enough, if he was vigilant enough, he could put the assailant away.

Too many ifs, but he’d take the odds on this one.

This case, he did not plan on losing.

Winning had always been important, but this time it was personal.

Personal because it was Shipshe, and to some extent Shipshe was still his town.

Personal because of Aaron, and Aaron was too much like the young boy he had once been.

Personal because of Callie.

She laid her head against his shoulder as they made their way through the night, back toward Reuben’s. He’d said no to love more than once, purposely walked away from it. This time he’d waited for Callie to be ready, waited more than a year. He’d wait longer if he had to, but he wouldn’t lose her to some maniac bent on finding a treasure.

Or so he told himself, as he sped through the night.

E
STHER WOKE THE NEXT MORNING
disoriented at first. When had she grown so used to Tobias sleeping beside her?

Amazing that love could become such an ordinary thing, like a fire banked in the stove, the horse’s stall cleaned out, and someone’s smile to greet you when you rolled over in bed. She wouldn’t have thought it possible a year ago. Wouldn’t have thought that her life — this life, married, with a father for Leah and a new baby to love and hold — would ever seem normal.

But it was normal. It was her new normal, and she didn’t want anything to interrupt it.

She was married, loved, and happy.

Like Job, God had given her back all she had lost. And more.

Miracles did happen, and she was proof.

So when she woke on Saturday morning, when she opened her eyes and saw her
freinden
spread out around her room instead of her husband, her heart at first beat rapidly, then calmed because she knew the next day or possibly the day after that, everything would return to how it should be.

It was a marvel she should feel that way, but she did.

That was the miracle God had worked in her heart. He had given her back her faith in the goodness of life, and Tobias was a large
reason for that, but not the only reason for it. The small
boppli
in the cradle in the corner was another part. And of course the
freinden
who were stretching and beginning to wake were the other reasons.

She hurried to the bathroom so she could be done before the others needed it, then put on the coffee. By the time it was percolating on the stove, Simon was awake and ready for his first feeding, and the morning sun had lightened the sky but had not yet peeked its way over the horizon.

“We survived the night,” Callie murmured as she reached for a coffee mug.

“
Ya
, what time did you get in?”

“Late.” She sat down with the coffee and clutched it as if someone might try to wrestle it away.

“Thought you had switched to tea,” Deborah said, walking in and looking as fresh as ever. Nothing seemed to perturb Deborah, or at least it didn’t show.

“Most days. Something tells me today I’ll need coffee. Shane’s putting me back in Perla’s place, or rather taking Perla out of my place, in twenty minutes.” She grimaced. “I need more coffee.”

“Be careful today, Callie.” Melinda walked into the room and went directly to where Callie nursed her coffee. She sat next to her, pulling her into a hug. “We’ll all be praying, and I know Shane will be watching over you, so you’ll be fine, but just be cautious.”

“
Ya
, Shane isn’t going to let anything happen to you.” Deborah grinned mischievously.

Esther raised Simon to her shoulder when he began to fuss. Teasing Callie about her and Shane courting helped ease the tension in the room, but she knew it was simply a covering for their concern for her safety. “We agree to meet here again tonight, right?”

“Yes, but we can’t do this every night, Esther. It’s kind of you to offer —”

“Let’s plan only for tonight, Callie. We agreed this will probably end with the festival, and no one can see further than the
current day’s needs. Tonight we’ll meet here again and perhaps this will be done. You do what Shane says.” Everyone turned to look at her, and Esther felt the heat rise in her cheeks. “What? It’s not as if I’m telling her to marry him, but he will keep her safe.”

“Who’s getting married?” Shane stuck his head in the door, saw all the women, and raised his hands in mock surrender. “I’ll be waiting in the car. Three minutes, Harper.”

“Did your watch break?” Callie looked down at her coffee, still steaming in front of her. “You said I had until —”

“Three minutes. Don’t make me come in there.” His voice was gruff, but Esther could tell something had changed with Shane Black. Something she wouldn’t have expected to ever see. Or was she imagining that? Then he turned to go, but the look he gave Callie before he left was almost tender.

Melinda sighed, confirming Esther’s thoughts. “Smitten. He’s completely smitten, Callie.”

“He’s going to be smitten if he tries to take my coffee away,” Callie grumbled, pulling on her shoes. “Can I take this with me, Esther?”

“Sure. No problem.” Esther topped it off with what was left in the pot on the stove. She didn’t want Callie falling asleep on the way to the shop, and her eyes didn’t look quite open yet.

Clutching the coffee mug, Callie shuffled out the door.

They heard her murmuring to Max on the porch.

Melinda glanced at the others in amusement. “I can’t believe Shane convinced her to leave that dog here.”

“Better here than back at the vet’s. She doesn’t want to put him in harm’s way again, and this man has already gone after him once.” Deborah walked to the sink and looked out the window. “That dog looks as if he’s watching his best friend drive away.”

“He is,” Esther and Melinda said at the same time, then started giggling.

Esther was surprised they could find anything to laugh about, but perhaps it was the nervousness fluttering in their stomachs that
needed to find a path of escape. Activity helped also, and within thirty minutes there was plenty of that. The house soon resembled a virtual beehive, which could happen when you had three families readying for the day. They had decided the night before that the men would go back to their chores at their respective homes. Deborah and Martha would go into town to help with the festival pie booth and at the quilt shop. Melinda would follow at noon when Deborah would return home to help Esther with preparing the evening meal.

Except something was off.

Something more than the fact that they were all starting from the same place and that a killer was afoot. From the kitchen window Esther saw the twins sneaking around the corner of Reuben’s barn. Nothing unusual there. The twins probably had their pockets full of frogs.

But when Esther went out the back door to give Deborah a box of preserves for the booth, Martha was huddled up with Aaron and Matthew. Seeing Esther, she startled and turned red, then hurried off to help her mother with her younger brother.

Something was definitely going on with the children.

As the men pulled out down the lane, past the pond, Esther checked first on Simon, who was sleeping soundly, then hurried over to where Melinda was helping Deborah load her buggy.

“Do you have a minute before you go?”

The two turned and looked at her in surprise.

“I think the
kinner
are up to something. It has me worried.”

“Up to something? What could they possibly be up to?” Deborah had one foot in her buggy, but she hopped backwards and frowned at her twins, dusting her hands against her dress.

“Not those two. I can take care of Jacob and Joseph. I’m worried about the older ones — Martha and Matthew and Aaron.”

“Matthew asked Tobias if they could take the cart over and help their father for the morning.” Melinda squinted into the
rising sun, looking to see where they were. “Tobias said yes, and I agreed there was no harm in it.”

“Martha’s going into town with me,” Deborah added. “She was here only a minute ago.”

As they spoke, the three children exited the barn — Aaron already in the cart, his wheelchair fastened to the back. Matt was leading the pony. Martha was walking next to it, her head bent as if she were whispering to the boys. Something about that sight worried Esther, but she couldn’t put her finger on why.

“See? That’s what concerns me. Every time I’ve seen them they’ve been that way. It’s as if they’re planning something.”

“They remind me of us when we were younger,” Deborah murmured.

“Something tells me they are not planning on going to the farm.” Melinda pushed up her glasses.

Melinda walked straight over to the children. “Aaron and Matthew, tell me straight. Did you lie to me earlier?”

Both boys looked up, their faces coloring as red as the fall flowers growing by the fence.

“No,
Mamm
,” they murmured unconvincingly.

“So you do mean to take this cart to help your
dat
and nowhere else?”

“That’s not what we said,” Aaron spoke to his shoes.

“Not exactly,” Matthew added.

“Look at me when you’re speaking. What do you mean that’s not what you said?”

“I asked if we could take the cart and pony to help
Dat
, and we do mean to go there. I just didn’t exactly say we didn’t mean to go anywhere else.” Aaron looked pleased with himself for about five seconds, until he saw the expression on his mother’s face.

Melinda knew all too well what he saw. It was the reflection of
the cold fear that gripped her heart tighter than the pain of birth could squeeze a woman’s abdomen, making her double over and cry out in alarm.

Had she almost fallen for this again?

What did the boys call it?

The swap?

She would make them wish they had something to swap if they didn’t start telling her what they were up to right this minute. How had she been so busy she hadn’t seen what they were doing?