A Dark Amish Night (23 page)

   “Hey, Jess, I’ll be back later. I need to head out to the Yoder farm. I have my cell on me; you can call me if you need anything. Quinn still had not had that conversation with Jess about his relationship to the Yoder’s yet. That was because Quinn did not want to tip any of Peter’s family off that Peter was a suspect, but one day soon he figured he needed to have that conversation.

   Peter’s farm was even more remote than Hannah’s. Quinn parked his car and Rachel called out from the front porch of the house.

   “Evening, Sheriff, what can I do for you?”

   “I need to speak to Peter. Is he around?”

   “He’s in the barn.” Rachel pointed the way to the large red barn.

   Quinn tipped his hat to Rachel and headed to the barn. Peter did not seem too surprised to see him. Quinn could tell that Peter had been working with his horses and was now putting them in stalls for the night.

   “Evening, Sheriff, what brings you all the way out here?”

   “I had a couple more questions to ask you about your time in prison.” Quinn again watched for Peter’s body language. As far as he could tell Peter was not happy to be answering questions about his past, but more resigned to it than before.

   “What do you want to know?” Peter was putting away equipment and gear, but he stopped and stood to face Quinn.

   “I was wondering what you might could tell me about an old cellmate of yours, George McVey, goes by Georgie.”

   “Yeah, I remember Georgie. It was kind of a coincidence he and I ended up in the same cell.”

   “Why’s that?”

   “Well, Georgie grew up around here. He’s Pattie Sue’s brother. Left the faith when he was seventeen and never came back.”

   “What can you tell me about Georgie’s father hiding gold up in the woods around the Hershberger farm?”

   “Yeah, Georgie, he liked to talk about how he was going to come back and find that gold. He was going to be rich and buy him a house with a swimming pool.”

   “And it never crossed your mind to go hunting for that gold, being as it was right here, so close and all.” 

   “Awk, Sheriff, you hear lots of stories in prison about money stashed here and there. I never paid no mind to it.  I served my time. I got out and started a family. I came back here to put all that behind me and I never looked back. I don’t have need for gold, least not so bad that I would go digging around those woods for it.”  

   “I see. So have you heard from your old buddy since you got out of prison?”

   “Yeah, he came out here back in March, I guess it was. He wanted me to go help him find that gold. I told him I didn’t want nothing to do with that. Rachel fed him a good meal then I sent him on his way. I feel for the guy, but my old life is behind me and I can’t afford to be getting involved in some fool scheme with an outsider. I haven’t seen him since.”

   “Well then you wouldn’t mind if I took a look around just to be sure.”

   “Be my guest. Look anywhere you want. Sheriff, you wouldn’t be thinking that Georgie would be the one to have killed Eric? Georgie, he’s a nice guy. Not real smart, but he ain’t no killer.”

   “Right, duly noted. You’ll let me know right away then if you hear from him.”  

  “I sure will.” Peter shook Quinn’s hand.

   Quinn took a short walk around the farm. It was getting dark and he didn’t find anything out of place. As he drove away, a small crack opened from the woodshed behind the barn, a pair of eyes peaked out and watched carefully as the squad car sped off.

   Hannah sat on her front porch watching the weather. A storm was coming in. A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky followed by a loud rumble of thunder. Ruth Anne jerked upright out of Hannah’s lap at the loud thunderclap.

   “It’s all right, little one. It’s just a storm coming in. Let’s get you up to bed.” Hannah started to head in when she noticed a squad car coming up the road.
Quinn, you have to stop checking on us so often.
Hannah stood in front of her door for just a few seconds hoping to catch a glimpse of Quinn as he passed by. Hannah had known for a long time that Quinn kept watch over her and the children. She wanted many times to tell him to stop, but the truth was, until Eric’s killer was found she felt safer knowing Quinn was always close by.

   The squad car pulled up in front of the house and stopped. Hannah’s breath caught in her throat. Surely Quinn would not be so bold as to come visit her at night, and he’d promised to go through Bishop Miller if he needed to talk to her. But Hannah was surprised to see that it was Jess, not Quinn, who stepped out of the car.

   The front door jerked open and hit a wall with a loud thud. Timothy bolted out the door with his father’s hunting rifle in his hand.

    “You get away from my mother and sister.” Timothy leveled the gun at Jess’s chest.

   Hannah screamed. “Timothy, what on earth are you doing? You put that gun down this instant.”

   Timothy stood still while Jess put his hands up in the air and slowly walked toward Timothy and the gun.

  “Now, Timothy, you better listen to your mother there, son. Put the gun down so no one gets hurt.” Jess crept closer and closer.

   Timothy stood his ground and lifted the gun higher. “Stop right there or I’ll shoot. I mean it. I’ll do it.”

   Hannah watched in shock and horror. When it looked like Timothy was really going to fire she grabbed the barrel of shot gun and pulled it away from Jess just as the rifle went off with a loud, Pow!

   Jess grabbed the gun and Timothy at the same time. He jerked Timothy towards him. “You got some explaining to do, boy. Who’ve you been talking to, huh? We had an agreement, didn’t we?”

   “I didn’t tell nobody nothin’.” Timothy squirmed to try and wiggle out of Jess’ grasp.

   “That so, then how about you tell me what the Sheriff is doing out at the Yoder farm right now?” Jess pulled Timothy closer to try and hold him still.

   Hannah tried to get close enough to get in between her son and Jess, but Jess was too fast for her. He let go of Timothy and shoved him to the ground. In one swift move he cocked the rifle then grabbed Hannah, who was still holding Ruth Anne. Jess pointed the rifle at Hannah’s belly.

   “Now, you gonna keep playing games with me boy, or you gonna tell me who you’ve been talking to and what did you say?”

   “You let my mother and sister go, right now, or you’ll never get that gold. I found it, and I hid it someplace you’ll never find it.”

   “You’re gonna take me to that gold right now or I’m gonna not only kill you, but your Ma and sister too.” Jess shoved Hannah and Ruth Anne to the squad car and locked them in the backseat. Then he grabbed Timothy and shoved him in with them. With all three locked in the backseat Jess got in the car tossed the rifle beside him, and drove away. He picked up his cell phone and made one call.

   “I got all three of ‘em. You get to the Hershberger farm, and you know what to do. I’m bringing the boy. He knows where the gold is.”  Jess hung up and kept driving. Lightning continued to flash across the sky as the thunder rolled.

   Quinn was just making it back into town when a call came across the radio about a gunshot fired. A shot had been heard in Hannah’s neighborhood. He turned on his sirens and hit the lights as he floored the gas pedal.
Dear God, let Hannah and the children be safe.

A Dark Amish Night

Chapter Twenty

   Hannah did her best to keep Ruth Anne quiet in her lap. She whispered gently in her little girl’s ears and held tightly to Timothy’s hand. It was obvious now what Timothy had been hiding all these months. Jess had something to do with Eric’s death and it had something to do with the gold that was supposedly hidden in the woods near her farm.

   She heard on Jess’ radio that someone had called in a report about a gunshot in her neighborhood. She said a silent prayer for Quinn to figure out what happened quickly. She prayed he would come for her soon.

   Jess took them to her farm. Hannah could see that a dark old pick-up truck was parked next to the barn. She remembered Quinn saying something about Pattie Sue’s brother owning a dark blue Ford truck, and he warned her to watch out for it. When they stopped, Jess got out and went into the house, leaving the three of them locked in the back of the squad car.

   “Timothy, tell me quick before he comes back, what’s going on?”

   “I’m so sorry, Ma. I tried to make sure you and Ruth Anne were safe. But Deputy Jess swore he would kill all of us if I said anything to anyone.”

   “Never mind about all that now. What did Jess do? Why did he threaten to kill us?”

   “They threatened Pa. They told him if he said anything they would hurt his family. Then I’m not sure what happened. I was still down in the floor of the buggy, and I couldn’t see anything. Pa told me when he saw the red lights flashing on Jess’ car when he pulled us over to stay down and keep quiet. I did what he told me to, Ma, but if I had done something maybe Pa would be alive. What if I could’ve saved him? Then I heard them yelling at Pa. They were saying something about him minding his own business and keeping his mouth shut. I heard some noises like shuffling and then it got real quiet. Then they came back to the buggy. I was crying for Pa and they heard me. Deputy Jess pulled me out of the buggy and told me if I said a word he would kill me and kill you and Ruth Anne. Then this old man came…”  Before Timothy could finish talking the front door to the house opened and Jess came out with another person.

   Hannah tried to see who was with Jess, but it was too dark to make the figure out. Jess came around to the car door opened it and pulled Timothy out. Hannah screamed and pounded on the window. “No, please, please, Jess, don’t take my son. Please leave him with me.”  Her screams went ignored as Jess took Timothy into the barn where the other person waited. Hannah cried out in terror as more lightning hit with crashing thunder now. The storm was closer.

   In the barn, Jess shoved Timothy onto an old milking stool and told him to stay put. Timothy sat in silence as Jess talked to the other person standing in the shadows. They spoke in hushed voices so that Timothy could not make out what they were saying. Then Jess came back to Timothy.

   “Okay, Timothy, we’re going for a walk out into the woods. You are going to lead me to where you hid the gold. If you don’t show me the gold in the next two hours my friend here is going to kill your Ma and then your sister. Got it?” Timothy nodded his head yes.

   “Good. Here’s a flashlight, you lead the way.”

   Timothy took the flashlight and let the way across the field and into the woods.

     Hannah could see flashlights moving out in the field.
Dear God, please watch over my boy. And let this storm hold out until he gets back. Keep my boy safe and warm.
Hannah thanked God that Timothy had on warm clothes.
But she did not get to pray for long. The dark figure she couldn’t make out from before came to the window and held up a gun.

   “Okay, Hannah, I’m going to be right out here. If you try anything I’ll shoot your baby girl then you. I can see you just fine, so no funny stuff.”  Hannah recognized that voice. Shock rolled over her.

   “Rachel! Rachel Yoder, is that you?”

   Quinn met Porter in front of Hannah’s house. Porter told him that Hannah and the children were not in the house. Quinn’s heart lurched in his chest. There was no place else Hannah would be at this time of night. He knew her schedule almost better than she did. “Porter, send Jess over to the bakery. Let’s just make sure Ms. Hershberger isn’t working late.”

    “That’s the thing, Boss; no one knows where Jess is. He’s not answering his radio or his cell phone. He got some kind of frantic phone call after you left the office and he ran out. I’m not sure, but it looked like he had some kind of emergency.”

   “Okay, then you run over by the bakery, and wake up Pattie Sue. See if she knows anything about the Hershbergers.”

   “Will do, Boss. There is one more thing. I put a yellow marker on it so as not to move it. I found a two-forty-three Winchester rifle bullet casing on the ground there in front of the porch steps.”