Dark Crossings (18 page)

“Good morning, Lena,” they replied in unison.

Lena’s age might be closer to twenty-five than twenty, Isaac
decided as he studied her openly. He had to wonder how much longer she would
remain a teacher, since only unmarried Amish women held the position. Surely,
those pretty green eyes hadn’t gone unnoticed by the single men in her
community. If they had, it was a shame.

* * *

L
ENA
STRUGGLED
TO
KEEP
her composure. She was painfully aware of Isaac
Bowman’s scrutiny. Her new student’s father was the hunter whose shot she had
spoiled the night before last. She hadn’t gotten a good look at his face, but
his size and his gravelly voice were unmistakable. Would he be angry if he
discovered she was the culprit?

Of course, he had to be related to the president of the school
board. How was that for rotten luck?

John Miller was a strict, pious man who often chided her for
being too lenient with her students. Fortunately, the families of the community
supported her teaching methods, but she could easily be replaced with a young
woman who met John’s standards if he wished to make trouble for her. Until this
moment, she hadn’t realized how much she wanted to keep her job.

It would be best if Isaac Bowman didn’t learn she was
responsible for chasing away his game.

Turning to the blackboard, she wrote out the date and the
arithmetic assignments for each of the classes. All the while, she was acutely
aware of Isaac’s gaze. This promised to be a very long day.

She finished at the blackboard and picked up her Bible. Each
day she chose a passage to read. This morning she’d selected Matthew 5. When she
finished reading the Sermon on the Mount, the students all rose, clasped their
hands together and repeated the Lord’s Prayer in unison. It was the only
religious part of the day, for Lena, like all Amish, believed that faith must be
taught at home and in church, not at school.

After everyone took their seats, she said, “Children, we have
a new student joining us.”

She beckoned for Ruby to come forward. Slowly, the girl walked
to the front with her eyes downcast. Taking her by the shoulders, Lena gently
turned her to face the class. “This is Ruby Bowman. She’s a fourth grader. She
and her father have just moved to Mount Hope from
Shipshewana,
Indiana
.”

Lena knew a moment of envy as she thought about the adventure
of traveling to a new place, meeting new people, seeing new things. Her life was
so very dull, except for the children she taught. Teaching a mute child would be
a challenge. Was she up to it? With God’s help, she would be.

Directing her attention to the classroom once more, she said,
“I want everyone to pay close attention. Ruby is mute. That means she can’t
speak.”

Fannie, a first grader in the front row, whispered, “Can you
hear?”

Ruby nodded.

Lena said, “I want each of you to think about what it would be
like if you couldn’t talk or see or walk. God gives many people such lives, but
he expects us to live and work to the best of our ability.”

A hand went up in the back of the room. Twelve-year-old David
said, “My
onkel
Henry was born deaf, but he learned
to talk with his hands.”

Lena smiled at him, then looked at the girl beside her.
“David’s uncle uses sign language. Ruby, do you sign?”

From the back, Ruby’s father spoke up. “She writes on her
erasable board when she has something she wants to say.”

Lena would rather that he let Ruby answer, but could understand
his anxiety at having his daughter in a new school. She was nervous, too,
knowing Ruby’s father was watching her every move. She looked over her students.
“Does anyone else know someone who lives with special circumstances?”

Mary, a little blond second grader, said, “My sister Rebecca
can’t walk.”

Some of the children giggled. Mary looked at them with a scowl.
Keeping her own grin in check, Lena said, “She’s only six months old, Mary. I’m
sure she’ll be walking one day soon.”

“I hope so,” Mary declared. “She’s really heavy to tote.”

A number of other children shared their stories about relatives
with special needs. When they were through, Lena sent the two oldest boys to
bring down a desk for Ruby. She said, “Be sure and take the one closest to the
stairs.”

When that was done, she said, “All right, it’s time to start
our wildcrafting morning.”

Cheers met her announcement. Lena’s cousin, Abigail Baughman,
was a wildcrafter. Abby often shared her knowledge of plants with Lena in the
circle letters they exchanged. Lena sometimes took her students on wildcrafting
trips so that they could learn to identify helpful and harmful plants and
mushrooms in the woodlands around their homes. Her students loved the outings.
It was a much-anticipated break from their normal schoolwork.

Lena had the older girls hand out baskets, and soon everyone
was ready to go. As they headed for the door, Ruby hung back, staying close to
Lena. Taking her hand, Lena smiled and winked.

Isaac fell into step beside them. “I hope this isn’t a long
hike.”

Surprised by his comment, she said, “You are welcome to wait
for us in the school. We’ll be back by noon.”

He shook his head in silence. When the children crossed the
bridge and turned off the road into the dense woods, he spoke again. “I passed a
grove of shagbark on the way here. Surely, staying on the road would make easier
walking.”

Lena couldn’t help wondering why he was so concerned about
their path. “This is a shortcut to the grove. The children know their way around
these woods. It’s not far.”

After a twenty-minute hike through the dense forest, Lena
noticed the trees were thinning. She waited as all the children walked out into
a small clearing. The grove of shagbark trees stood on the other side of it. A
quick count of her students as they walked past proved she hadn’t lost
anyone.

Suddenly, a flock of crows took flight out of the clearing,
cawing and screeching in displeasure. She heard a gasp from several of the
students ahead of her.

The children had stopped walking and were huddled around
something on the ground. Unable to see what had upset them, Lena let go of
Ruby’s hand and pushed through the ring of students.

They were gathered around the body of a dead deer. She saw at
once that it hadn’t died of natural causes. Its head was missing.

CHAPTER TWO

S
ARAH
,
ONE
OF
L
ENA
’
S
eighth-grade students, broke the stunned silence.
“Who would do such a thing?”

Lena knew the girl wasn’t upset about the death of the deer.
Like all her classmates, she lived on a farm where animals were slaughtered for
food on a regular basis. It was a part of everyday life. She was appalled at the
wanton waste of meat. Only the head of the deer had been taken. The rest of the
animal had been left to rot.

“It must have been a poacher,” David declared, disgust thick in
his voice.

“But why?” Little Fannie clearly didn’t understand.

Isaac said, “Because the head of a buck with big antlers is
worth a lot of money.”

Lena looked at him in surprise. “Who pays money for such a
thing?”

“
Englische
who want to hang the
heads on their walls,” he answered.
Englische
or
English, was the Amish term for anyone not of their faith.

Lena crouched to examine the animal. From the size of the deer
she feared it was Goliath. When she saw a deep scar across the animal’s
shoulder, she knew it wasn’t. It was one of his rivals, a buck she called
Snagglehead for his unusually thick antlers that grew downward instead of up.
She had sketched him a few times and noticed the scar then.

David’s younger brother, Reuben, said, “I’ve seen pictures in
the hunting magazines of heads for sale, but deer season doesn’t open for
another month.”

Isaac glanced around the woods. “I reckon this fellow didn’t
want to wait. We should go on in case he comes back.”

Fannie asked, “Why would he? The meat’s no good now.”

He looked at the child. “The man or men who did this are
criminals. They may come back to hide the evidence of their crime.”

David’s and Reuben’s eyes lit with eagerness. “Will the
Englische
sheriff arrest them?” David asked.

Isaac shrugged. “Perhaps. The local game warden will surely
investigate if he hears of this. We should leave now. It may not be safe.”

Lena looked at him in disbelief. “You think we are in
danger?”

“I think this is bad
Englische
business and none of ours.”

A chill of fright spread through Lena at his tone. She said,
“Let’s go back, children. We will save our nut gathering for another day.”

She took the lead and kept a sharp lookout as they retraced
their steps. Before they had gone two dozen yards, a glint of sunlight reflected
off something beside the trail. She held up one hand. “Children, wait here.”

She moved to look more closely at the object. It was a
camouflaged box secured to the trunk of a tree. Isaac came to her side. She
glanced at him. “Do you know what this is?”

He stroked his reddish-brown beard with one hand. She noticed
for the first time that his eyes were hazel and rimmed with thick lashes. At the
moment, they brimmed with worry. He said, “It’s a camera.”

“Strapped to a tree in the middle of the woods? Why?”

He bent to examine it. “Hunters use them to photograph
wildlife, especially deer. When something walks down this trail it triggers the
camera to snap a photograph.”

“Did it take our pictures?”

His lips thinned to a narrow line. “I reckon so. Who owns this
land?”

“An
Englische
fellow named Wilfred
Cummings. I can’t see him tramping through the woods to put up a camera. He’s
ninety-five if he’s a day. He recently had a stroke and his granddaughter has
come to look after him. I do know he would never allow hunting on his property.
He’s fond of the deer and doesn’t let anyone hunt them, for my father has asked
him several times.”

Isaac rose to his feet. “Might be the poacher used this to find
where and when the deer are moving. There may be cameras on other game
trails.”

Lena stepped away from the box. She had a bad feeling about
this. If the camera had taken their pictures, then the person who killed
Snagglehead would know they had seen the body.

She slanted a quick glance at Isaac. Then again, she could be
talking to the poacher right now. It went against her Amish upbringing to
suspect any man of wrongdoing, but so many things pointed in that direction.

She’d seen Isaac with a gun less than half an hour before she’d
seen the bright light and heard the shot two nights ago. He knew a lot about
poachers and their equipment. He’d even objected to them walking this way, and
had tried to get her to stick to the roadway. Was that because he knew what they
might find?

He leaned close and said quietly, “I think it best we don’t
mention this to your students. We don’t want them coming back to investigate
after school and walking into trouble.”

A shiver ran up her spine. Suddenly, the woods no longer felt
friendly and welcoming, but dark and ominous. She walked quickly back to the
children.

Isaac picked up Ruby and carried her. The child pushed at him
to put her down, but he ignored her. Lena noticed he kept scanning the forest
around them. He was as uneasy as she was. A sign of guilt…or worry for their
safety? He motioned to her with his head. “Come, let us return to school.”

The normally cheerful children followed him quietly. Did they
sense the unease that made the hair on the back of Lena’s neck prickle? She
brought up the rear of the group to make sure no one fell behind or wandered
off. When they reached the road she felt better, but she didn’t feel completely
safe until all her students were back inside the school.

The children took their seats and waited for her instructions.
Isaac put Ruby down and moved to the back of the room. This time he took a spot
by the window, where he could look outside and watch the lane leading to the
school.

Lena addressed the classes. “Since our field trip was cut
short, let’s do some singing.”

Songs were a normal part of each school day. The children filed
to the front of the room and lined up in their assigned places. Ruby stood to
one side, not knowing where to go. Lena beckoned to her. Slowly, she came
forward, walking as if her feet were sticking to the floor. Lena’s heart went
out to her. If the child couldn’t talk, she certainly couldn’t join in the
singing.

Slipping her arm over Ruby’s shoulders, Lena leaned close and
offered her the
Unpartheyisches Gesang-Buch,
their
German songbook. “It’s Monday and we sing German songs on Monday. How would you
like to pick our songs today? Do you have a favorite?”

Ruby took the book and turned the pages carefully. She stopped
and pointed to a song. Lena smiled. “
‘Kinder, woltt ihr
Jesus lieben.’
I like that one, too. We will sing ‘Children Want to
Love You, Jesus.’”

Singing without accompaniment, the children blended their
voices in a sweet rendition of the chosen work. When the hymn was done, Ruby
selected two more songs. After they finished singing, the students went back to
their seats and began working on their mathematics without urging from Lena.

She was pleased to see Ruby had a good grasp of her basics and
needed no special help. With the upper grades quietly engaged, Lena gathered the
first graders in a small group beside her desk where they could practice their
oral reading skills.

Like all Amish children, they came to school speaking only
Pennsylvania
Deitsh,
a German dialect outsiders
often called Pennsylvania Dutch. English was the language of business and life
outside the Amish home. It was essential that children learn to speak and write
it. To that end, only English was spoken at school. Lena reverted to speaking
German only when a pupil didn’t understand what she was saying.

She tried to listen to each child intently, but it was
impossible to ignore Isaac Bowman at the back of her classroom. His size alone
made him conspicuous, and her gaze was constantly drawn in his direction.

Lena raised one eyebrow in query now, and he shook his head.
Nothing out of the ordinary was going on outside.

As the morning progressed, she began to relax. Isaac was right.
The poaching was bad
Englische
business, but it had
nothing to do with them. The poacher had his prize. It was sad, but there was
nothing to be done about it.

Still, Lena couldn’t quell the part of her that hoped the
wrongdoer would be punished for his crime. It would be unwise on her part to get
involved. She certainly couldn’t go in person, but a letter to the authorities
detailing what she’d seen might spur them to investigate. Should she write such
a letter?

What if the poacher wasn’t
Englische,
but Amish? If that was the case, and her letter brought
trouble for someone of her faith, the church elders would surely chastise her,
perhaps even shun her if she didn’t admit that she’d done wrong.

Was it a risk she was willing to take? Snagglehead didn’t
deserve to have his life ended in such a meaningless fashion. More of the
animals she loved might die for the same reason if she didn’t speak out. She
nibbled at her lower lip as she considered what she would do.

When noon arrived, she dismissed the children for lunch and
recess. She sat down to grade some papers, assuming Isaac would follow his
daughter outside. When she looked up from stacking the first-grade reading books
in a neat pile on her desk, he was standing in front of her. How did he move so
quietly, a man his size?

“You did well with Ruby this morning.
Danki.
” The deep quality of his voice sent tingles over her skin. He
smelled of fresh cut wood and linseed oil, with a subtle underlying masculine
scent all his own.

She looked down and carefully aligned the edges of the books.
“All students have special needs and special gifts given to them by our Father
in heaven. I simply try to uncover those gifts and fulfill those needs.”

“I can see your gift is teaching children.”

She felt a blush rising at his compliment. “I’d like to think
so.”

“How long have you been a teacher?”

“This is my fourth year.” She met his gaze and lifted her chin.
She wasn’t new or untried at the task, if that was what he was thinking.

“Ah.” A small grin twitched at the corner of his mouth. “Reckon
that means you’ll be giving it up soon to raise children of your own.”

“If God wills it.”

Lena saw a shadow of sadness fill his eyes. “Yes, we must all
accept what God wills. Spoken like a devout Amish
maidel
.”

A maiden, yes, but not so devout as she should be. While it was
true that Amish teachers were normally young unmarried women who left the job
when they wed, she didn’t have to worry about that. There were no young men
wanting to court her. At least, none she would consider marrying. The men she
knew were all so boring. One thing she didn’t want out of life was a humdrum
husband.

She dreamed of romance and adventure, like the heroines in the
books she kept hidden in the school attic. Like the stories her cousins Abby
Baughman and Sarah Weaver shared in the circle letters the three of them
exchanged.

The women, Lena’s second cousins, lived in distant parts of
Ohio and Pennsylvania. When the three of them met at a wedding in Union County,
Pennsylvania, they became fast friends. Since that time, they’d kept circle
letters going between them.

Lena’s letter went to Abby, who added her news and sent both
letters on to Sarah. Sarah, in turn, added her letter and mailed all three to
Lena. After catching up on what was happening with her cousins, each reader
would discard her old letter and add a new one before sending it on, so that all
read the exact same news. Her cousins’ letters were full of excitement.

Last fall, Abby had helped a man newly returned to the faith
clear his name following a jewelry theft. Her last letter had been full of
comments about Ben Kline.

Then last spring, her cousin Sarah had discovered the dead body
of her
Englische
employer at the foot of his
staircase. While everyone believed it was an accidental death, Sarah hadn’t been
convinced. With the help of her longtime friend Jacob Mast she’d proved it was
murder and uncovered the killer’s identity. To Lena’s surprise, Sarah’s last
letter spoke of wedding plans with Jacob. It seemed that their friendship had
matured into love. Everything her cousins wrote about was thrilling.

Lena knew her own life was dull in comparison. At least she
would have this morning’s events to include in her next letter. Discovering
there was a poacher in the area wasn’t as thrilling as solving a murder, but it
was more excitement than she had known in her whole life.

Lena glanced up at Isaac. He believed she was a proper Amish
maiden, the kind of woman he wanted teaching his daughter. But she could feel
the weight of the Amish romance novels she had stashed in the school attic
pressing down on her conscience. She made up her mind to return them to her
English friend Clara as soon as possible.

It was time she made a real commitment to her faith and paid
more attention to the teachings of Bishop Abram and to the
Ordnung,
the rules of her church.

Isaac Bowman appeared to be a devoted Amish father. Judging
from his daughter’s clothing and shoes, he was a man of some means. Was he a
craftsman, a prosperous farmer or a poacher?

How had his wife died? Why were his eyes full of sadness when
they rested on his daughter? Was it because she didn’t speak or was it something
else? Why had he chosen this community?

There were a great many things Lena wanted to know about the
stranger who stood on the other side of her desk. Such as why her insides
fluttered wildly when he came close, and why she suddenly felt compelled to live
up to the expectations of what an Amish maiden should be.