Amish Country Box Set: Restless Hearts\The Doctor's Blessing\Courting Ruth (19 page)

He couldn’t be irritated in return, because he knew the strain on her face was his fault. By the time he’d finally retrieved his messages and heard Fiona’s voice, he’d told himself it was too late to disturb her. And today had been completely jammed, so that it wasn’t until late afternoon that he’d been able to get here.

If her pale face and heavy eyes were any indication, she probably spent the night worrying about her cousin. He longed to offer her sympathy and reassurance, but unfortunately that was in short supply right now.

“Sit down,” she said abruptly, pulling out a seat at the kitchen table. “Please,” she added, as if realizing how short that had been.

“Right.” He sat down across the table from her.

“I’m sorry.” She pushed the waves of thick hair back from her forehead. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“No, neither did I.”

Her eyes widened, as if she were startled and frightened. “Why? What happened?”

“You first.” He gestured toward her. He was a cop in the middle of an investigation, and he’d best remember that. “What did Levi say?”

He thought she’d protest at that, but she just frowned down at the dark brew. “He didn’t really
say
much. He let it slip that he’s been hanging around with some English friends, and he was pretty defensive about it.”

“He mention any names?” Tension knifed through him. If that boy was involved in what had happened last night, a lot of people were going to be hurting.

Fiona shook her head. “It was like talking to a clam. So then I said that having English friends wasn’t a problem, unless they wanted him to do things he knew were wrong.”

“What did he say?” His fingers tightened on the mug.

“Nothing.” She refused to look at him. “He jumped up and ran out of the house.”

Heaviness settled in his heart. “I guess that tells us what we need to know, then.”

“Maybe not.” Her head came up. “It could mean a lot of things other than his being involved with the vandals.”

“I suppose it might, but that’s not all there is to it. Not now.”

Apprehension filled her eyes. “What is it? What happened?”

He frowned. “Look, some of what I’m going to tell you is public knowledge, or soon will be. Some of it is police business, but I’m telling you because you’re in a position to help.”

Was that all? He wasn’t sure any longer.

“I understand.” She clasped her hands together tightly. “Just tell me.”

“They’re getting careless. And dangerous. They set fire to a barn last night at Marvin Douglas’s place. Like they tried to do at Mose’s farm.” The chill he’d felt when he heard the fire alarm went down his spine again. “That’s the worst thing a farmer can face—a barn burning. Old Marv’s dairy cows were inside the barn.”

“Oh, no.” Fiona’s face had gone even whiter. “How bad was it?”

“Marv’s seventy-five if he’s a day. He got the cows out all right, but the barn’s a total loss. And he had a heart attack watching it burn.”

Fiona’s breath caught, her hand going to her lips as if to hold back a cry. “Is he—”

“In the hospital, in coronary care. He’s a tough old bird—says he’s fine and wants to go home.”

“Could he identify the boys?”

“He didn’t get a close enough look, but the vehicle he spotted sounded enough like Jared’s to give me cause to run over there. I caught Jared and two of his buddies coming home—with empty beer bottles in the car and an empty kerosene can in the trunk.”

“Not Levi?”

“No. But if he had been with them, they’d have dropped him off first.”

“You sound as if you want him to be guilty.” She flared up, eyes blazing.

For a fraction of a second he wanted to lash back. How dare she attack him, when he was doing the work he’d sworn to do?

The reaction seeped away when he recognized the pain in her face. She was trying to protect her cousin, trying desperately to believe he wouldn’t do this.

“I don’t want any such thing,” he said evenly. “And I think you know that.”

She put her hand up, seeming surprised to find a tear trickling down her cheek. “I’m sorry. I know you care about Levi. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“I want to help him, too, but the only way to do that is to find the truth.”

“What happened to the other boys? Are they saying anything?”

“Nothing helpful.” He frowned. “They haven’t been
charged yet. I’d like to produce a bit more hard evidence before I do that. Jared was pretty cocky, practically daring me to arrest him. Naturally his parents don’t believe he’d do anything as serious as setting a fire.”

She paled. “I understand how they feel. That’s how I feel about Levi.”

“Levi hasn’t been in a string of malicious mischief incidents dating back three or four years. And he’s not mouthing off to police officers.”

“I take it you don’t care much for Jared.”

There was more truth to that than he wanted to admit. “He actually hinted around, as if he was trying to blackmail me.”

“Blackmail you? That’s ridiculous.” She was quick to his defense, and it warmed him.

“Influence, maybe is a better term. He was careful not to admit anything, but he hinted that I’d be unhappy if I found that fourth vandal.” Ted reached across the table to put his hand over Fiona’s. “He implied that it was someone close to me. Like Levi.”

The words echoed in the quiet room.

Fiona couldn’t say anything for a long moment. She could only stare at Ted, her heart pounding in her ears. His fingers tightened over hers.

“Did you believe him?” Ted knew Levi far better than she did. If he thought Levi capable of—no, she just couldn’t buy that. “Ted, you can’t believe Levi would set fire to a barn knowing there were cows inside. Maybe some of the other things, but not that.”

The stern planes of his face seemed to harden. “A week ago I’d have said it was impossible. But the evidence keeps piling up.”

She shook her head helplessly. Unable to sit there any longer, she crossed to the counter, staring out the window at the setting sun.

She heard the scrape of Ted’s chair as he rose, the heavy tread of his feet coming toward her. His hands came down on her shoulders, lightly, tenderly, and his grip sent strength into her.

“I wish I saw my way clear in this.” His voice was husky. “I don’t want you to get hurt, Fiona.”

She gave in to the longing to lean back against him, feeling the thud of her heart, the protectiveness of his arms around her. He pressed his cheek against her temple, and his breath feathered across her skin.

“I don’t want to get hurt either, but I think it may be too late for that. I just hate to think how my grandparents will feel—”

“You can’t tell them.” He turned her to face him, and he was back to being the in-control cop again. “Not now. Not until I know for sure what the truth is.”

She swallowed the argument she was tempted to make. Of course he was right. There was little sense in alarming them. Perhaps Ted would find that Levi hadn’t been involved. She needed that to cling to.

“I won’t.” She took a step back, and his hands fell from her shoulders. “But you told me. Why?”

“Only because you were already involved, and—”
He stopped, his frown deepening until it set deep furrows between his straight brows.

“What is it?”

“Something was said when the three boys were together. Something I wasn’t meant to overhear.”

“Are you going to tell me what it was, or do I have to guess?” At his expression, a chill went down her spine that had nothing to do with the temperature.

His blue eyes darkened when they rested on her. “You were mentioned. The others hushed him up pretty fast when they saw I was there, but I’m sure of it.”

“Me? How would they even know me?” She didn’t want to admit being frightened at the thought.

“I don’t know what it means, but I don’t like it. Maybe it was something about you being Levi’s kin. Maybe they figured out that you spotted them that night at Ruth’s store. I don’t know, but I had to warn you.”

“You can’t think they’d try to do anything to me. That’s ridiculous. What could they possibly gain?”

“Nothing, but I’d say rational thinking isn’t exactly their strong suit.” He clasped her hands in a quick, hard grip. “Look, it’s probably nothing. Use some of those urban smarts of yours and take precautions—lock your doors, keep the outside lights burning.”

She nodded, less concerned for herself than she was for Levi. And for Ted. “What are you going to do?”

“Investigate. Try to find out the truth.” His face was somber. “I love that boy, too, you know. But if he broke the law, he has to be held responsible.”

* * *

Fiona was double-checking the contents of her delivery bag when she hear a soft sound—so soft, she couldn’t be sure what it was. She glanced toward the office window. Darkness pressed on it.

Time had slipped away while she’d sat in the office after Ted left. Praying. Thinking. Trying to see her way through this difficult situation.

Keep your doors locked and your outside lights on,
Ted had told her, and she’d forgotten those precautions already. He’d been overreacting, surely. This was Crossroads, not the big city.

Still, her heart thumped as she walked softly out into the hallway and peered into the waiting room. No one was at the front door—she’d be able to see that, even without the porch light on. She went quickly to the switches and turned the porch light on, just to be sure. Nothing.

The sound came again, and this time she recognized it—someone was tapping at the back door. Well, the vandals would hardly knock on her door. She stepped into the kitchen and saw a dark figure outlined against the glass. Her heart jolted before she realized that it was a woman in Amish dress.

She went quickly across the kitchen to open the door.

“Fiona.” It was her grandmother. “I must talk with you, ja.”

“Come in.”

She caught her grandmother’s hands and drew her into the warm kitchen. Louise’s hands were cold in
spite of the black woolen cape that covered her, and as she came into the light, Fiona was shocked by her expression. Her face was drawn and pale, her gray eyes red-rimmed.

“Please, sit down.” She hadn’t yet found the right thing to call her grandmother. She couldn’t say Louise—it seemed too presumptuous, but Grandmother was a title she didn’t want to use until she was invited to do so. “You’re welcome in my house.”

“I cannot stay long.” She took the chair Rachel usually sat in and pushed the cape back off her shoulders, revealing the now-familiar dark dress and apron. “I came because someone said that you were the one who saw.”

“Saw what?” She sat down opposite her grandmother, tension tightening her nerves.

“The people who broke into Ruth’s store.” Louise’s eyes were dark with apprehension, her face taut. “Emma heard that you were the one who saw that night. Who called the police. That is true?”

Apparently there was little point in trying to keep it secret now. Everything was out in the open, or would be soon. “Yes. I heard the intruders, and I called Ted.”

“And you saw.” Her grandmother reached across the table to grip Fiona’s hand. Her fingers seemed worn to the bone but still strong. “You saw them.”

“Not to identify,” she said quickly. “Just shadows, running away in the dark.”

“It is true?” Her voice held anguish. “One of the boys, the one who kept watch, he was Amish?”

Fiona’s heart twisted. Everything she’d feared about this was coming to pass, and there was no way to avoid it. She nodded.

Her grandmother took a shaky breath, and her face tightened until it seemed the wrinkled skin was a roadmap of all the grief of her lifetime. “Was it Levi?”

Pain ricocheted through her. “I couldn’t see, honestly. Only an outline of a boy in Amish clothing. It could have been anyone.” She tried not to think about what Ted had said, about how the circle of suspicion seemed to be narrowing around her young cousin.

Her grandmother stared at her, gray eyes boring into her, as if searching past all evasions for the truth. “There is more, Fiona. I can see it in your face. Tell me what it is that you know.”

Pain gripped her heart. Ted had ordered her not to tell, but she couldn’t lie to her grandmother. Ted should know that. She couldn’t pretend that she didn’t know where the police investigation was headed and let the family find out in some other, more painful way.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I understand that one of the boys they’ve identified mentioned Levi’s name. There’s nothing certain, no one’s come right out and accused him—”

But her grandmother’s expression collapsed in grief. Tears welled in her eyes, and she put work-worn hands up to cover her face.

“Please, don’t.” Fiona sprang from her chair and rounded the table to put her arms around the bent figure.
“I’m so sorry. Nothing is certain—we don’t know that he’s done anything.”

For just a moment her grandmother clung to her, arms tight around Fiona’s waist. Then she pushed to her feet and wrapped herself in the black cloak.

“I must go.” Louise turned toward the door.

“Grandmother—” The word was out without her thinking about it.

Her grandmother clutched her hand briefly. “It is in God’s hands now.”

She rushed out, leaving Fiona staring after her, her eyes wet with tears.

Chapter Fourteen

S
aturday morning was usually Fiona’s time to catch up with laundry and household chores, but she couldn’t seem to settle to anything. Her mind kept returning again and again to the situation with Levi. What was happening with the family? What had her grandmother done when she’d run out the previous evening?

She couldn’t keep Ted out of her thoughts, either. This was so difficult for him, too. He had such protective loyalty to his Amish roots, but an equally strong duty to his job. The conflict had to be tearing him apart.

She’d made a promise to him that she hadn’t kept, agreeing that she wouldn’t tell anyone about the accusation against Levi. She’d meant it when she’d agreed, and she didn’t take breaking her word lightly.

But what else could she have done in the face of her grandmother’s pain?

Bracing her hands against the washer lid, she stared blankly at the controls, unable to focus.