Lamb to the Slaughter (Serenity's Plain Secrets Book 1) (2 page)

The words,
are you fucking kidding me
, kept repeating in my head. I’d left my Indianapolis job for my home territory to get away from this kind of senseless violence. And here I was, just a month on the job, with a suspicious death on my hands.

The bright sunlight through the corn leaves disappeared for a moment to be replaced with a dull illumination from the
street light. I didn’t want to remember the scene, but I had no choice. The memory had been my constant companion for the past two years, coming several times a day like clockwork. The overpaid therapist had been dead wrong. The shock of some things couldn’t be softened with time.

I thought back to another time, even though I didn’t want to, and I was suddenly far away, standing in the center of the vacant city street.

Dim light from the lamp overhead sprayed down on the scene and the smell of the wet pavement filled my nostrils. My heart pounded furiously in my chest as I watched the gloved hand slip into the opening of the oversized coat with the Colt’s logo in the upper left hand corner
.

“Raise your hands! Raise your fucking hands!” I shouted
.

My voice pounded in my ears, matching the beating of my heart. The gun was steady in my hand when my body suddenly became deadly calm. Refusing to obey me, the person’s hands went deeper into the coat, pulling something shiny out. The body tilted toward my partner, Ryan, just before I pulled the trigger
.

The blast of the gunshot blurred with Bobby’s awkward cough, pulling me back to the present.

I hoped the coroner didn’t notice my shiver when I said, “Can you tell me what she was hit with, Bobby?” I knelt beside him, gazing at the girl’s face, which was still beautiful, even with its ghostly grey shade. I knew the side of her face touching the ground was a different story though.

“Can’t say for sure until I get her into the examination room,” Bobby swiveled to look at me, removing his glasses, “but from the quarter inch hole I can see in her coat, I’d place a bet right now that it was a slug from a twelve gauge shot gun that did her in.”

Before I had a chance to say a thing, my first deputy, Todd Roftin, who was peering over my shoulder at the body, said, “There’s a deer stand in a tree about thirty yards that way. I reckon a slug shot could have gone the distance.”

While I was digesting Todd’s words and gazing at the crude, weathered boards jutting out from the trunk of the oak tree, Bobby covered the girl with the paper thin sheet. He took his time rising into a standing position.

Once the old man was up, he said, “The bullet entered the stomach, but there’s no exit out the back, suggesting to me that it’s probably lodged in her spinal cord.” His eyes moved between the body and the tree stand before he added, “Don’t hold me to my words until I’ve given you a report, Ms. Adams, but after examining the body in these crude conditions, I would say that the trajectory from the stand appears to be the most likely shot.”

I narrowed my eyes, staring at Bobby, a man I’d known since I was a kid. We’d attended the same church when I was still in pig tails. In those days, his wife, Mary, used to pass a steady supply of peppermints down the row to me, keeping me occupied during the long, boring sermons.

Now, the man was addressing me as if I was a stranger—and after I’d already corrected him twice that morning. Was he purposely giving me a hard time or was he going senile? I didn’t want to be completely paranoid. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, deciding that old age was probably the culprit.

“Bobby, you can call me Serenity…remember, like you’ve done my entire life. My new job as the sheriff in Blood Rock hasn’t changed how I want to be addressed by my friends.”

Bobby cleared his throat in acknowledgment while Todd shifted nervously on his feet. I wished everyone would get over the weirdness of me being the boss and get back to business.

Ignoring the men’s discomfort, I turned to Todd and asked, “So you think it might be a hunting accident?”

“The stand hasn’t been used much in years, but there were enough disturbances in the brush at the base that I’d say the most probable scenario is that a redneck had been sitting in that rotted stand all day. He was probably poaching for deer, when he heard the rustling of the girl coming out of the corn,” Here Todd brought his arm up as if he were shooting off an invisible, long-barreled gun and aimed at the girl on the ground, “…and bam, shot her midsection. With a shotgun, she hit the ground instantly. The fellow clamored down to see the deer he thought he’d nabbed. Discovering that it was a little Amish girl, he high-tailed it out of here in a hurry.”

Even with his disgusting theatrics, I had to admit, it was a good hypotheses. Still, there were so many questions to be answered, like what the hell was an Amish girl doing at the edge of a remote cornfield anyway?

“Bobby, you said earlier that you believed she’d been lying here for several days. Do you still maintain that time period?”

Bobby scratched his head and frowned at the body. “I’m thinking more like two weeks. We had that colder weather back the third week of October, you know. This body hasn’t undergone as much decay as it would have if it’d been this warm straight through. The way the girl was bundled up leads me to believe that she was out here during that cold snap.”

“It’s surprising that she isn’t more chewed on than she is, with all the critters that must surely prowl around here at night,” Todd said, scratching his chin and looking around.

Bobby had a pensive frown fixed on his face again when I said, “Maybe with the abundance of corn available, the smaller scavengers weren’t interested. With turkey season in full swing, there are a lot of hunters wandering about. Most of the larger predators are probably being cautious…”

The roar of the department’s SUV as it approached and parked behind the combine brought all our heads up. The black hats and beards emerging from the passenger seats of the vehicle caused my heart to skip.

This was the part I dreaded the most. Again, my thoughts strayed to another place.

The bright lighting in the mortuary hurt my eyes as I watched the pale faces of the man and woman while the body was rolled out of the cooler, stopping in front of them. The woman’s dark brown hair was in a ponytail and as she crumpled onto the body. Her hair bounced with her sobs
.

I stood in the corner beside my partner, fixated on the thick length of locks rocking on the side of her head. She was younger than I thought she’d be…

Shaking the image from my mind, I left Bobby and Todd, walking over to Officer Jeremy Dickens and the three Amish men. I was silently relieved that Jeremy kept the men close to the vehicle and out of sight of the body. I’d have to commend young Jeremy on his forethought and consideration. This was, after all, the first human shooting incident he’d dealt with as an officer in the sleepy little agricultural community of Blood Rock, Indiana. Hell, if my memory served right, it was the first death under unusual circumstances since John Hinton shot his wife and then did himself in. That incident had occurred almost a decade ago when I was entering the police academy in Indianapolis.

One of the Amish men had a near white beard and the direct look of the leader of the group. I’d been meaning to read up on Amish authority since a large community of Plain people resided in the northern region of my territory. Unfortunately, I hadn’t had time.

Taking a gamble, I focused my introduction at the oldest man. “Hello, I’m Sheriff Serenity Adams.” I extended my hand. Sure enough, the snow-bearded gentleman stepped forward and grasped it warmly.

“It’s a shame that we have to meet under such trying circumstances, Ms. Adams. I’m Aaron Esch, the bishop of the community. This is James Hooley and Joseph Bender, both ministers in our church.”

I shook James’ hand first. He was probably in his fifties with a fair share of gray speckling his black beard and the bit of hair flaring out from under the brim of his hat. His handshake was weak compared to the bishop’s, but his huge size was intimidating at a glance. Joseph didn’t reach out to take my hand, instead tipping his hat and nodding.

Knowing how close knit Amish communities were, I realized that the girl lying dead in the dirt behind us could be related to any of these men. I sobered at the thought before I spoke again.

“Mr. Esch, has there been a young woman missing from your community recently?”

The warm air quieted, only a few chirping birds at the hedgerow breaking the silence. My skin tingled at the stoic looks the men exchanged. After several uncomfortable seconds, Bishop Esch finally spoke.

“Could we please see the body, Ms. Adams? We are all busy men, needing to get back to our day’s activities.”

I held the bishop’s gaze. His eyes were steady, almost arrogant. They didn’t look away in embarrassment at what he’d just said. They should have though. He was treating the body of a girl like a dead cat in the road that nobody cared to claim.

I needed to know who the girl was—that was my first priority. The bishop’s cold demeanor could be put aside until later.

“It might be better for you all to come down to the morgue in town to view the body after we’ve processed it fully,” I suggested.

The crime scene wasn’t the best place for the body to be identified, even though there wasn’t any indication at this point in the investigation that a crime had been committed.

The bishop spoke for his buddies, saying, “We’d like to see her now, if it’s possible.” His voice indicated that he was not taking no for an answer.

We’d already spent several hours combing the area for evidence, finding few clues to what happened to the young woman, other than her being shot dead in the corn. Allowing the men to view the body now might give me the victim’s name that I so desperately wanted and possibly shed a little light on this tragedy.

Making up my mind, I said, “Right this way gentleman.” I turned, not glancing back. I didn’t need to. I could hear their steps behind me, crunching on the cropped corn stalks.

Bobby and Todd stepped aside. They were joined by Jeremy, who didn’t look at the body. The young man stared into the tree line instead. After I folded the sheet down to reveal the girl’s face, I moved to stand with them. Even with their uncomfortable behavior toward me, I still felt drawn to
their little group and away from the black coated, bearded men.

I watched intently as the three men leaned over the body for only a moment. After simultaneously bowing their heads and closing their eyes for a silent prayer, they looked up at me with no emotion at all. Their hard eyes stilled my heart.

The bishop spoke, his voice level and calm. “This is Naomi Beiler. She is the daughter of Timothy and Patricia Beiler.”

I pulled the little notepad and pen from my back pocket and began writing.

“Do you know how old she is?” I asked the Amish men.

The bishop glanced at James, who finally spoke. “I do believe she’s the same age as my Roseanna—eighteen.”

James Hooley’s nonchalance startled me, but I was careful not to let it show. “Has Naomi been missing?”

The two ministers looked in opposite directions, and neither at me. Bishop Esch took a few seconds to gather his words. “You will need to speak with the Beiler’s about that, Miss. I ask that you give them a few days to deal with the loss of their child.”

I couldn’t help but glance at Bobby who slightly shrugged his shoulders when he met my gaze. Jeremy looked at the Amish men with wide eyes and mouth slightly gaping. Todd held the small smirk of a very amused man.

I exhaled and said, “Yes, of course. We’ll give the family time to mourn…but, we’ll need to have a few questions answered for the report today. I promise you, Mr. Esch, I’ll be very discrete when I notify them of the death.”

Too quickly, the bishop said, “Oh, there will be no need for you to talk to them today. I’ll bring the news to their home.” He must have recognized my incredulity at his
dismissal of my authority. He added with a somber frown, “It will be much easier for Timothy and Patricia to hear the news from me, rather than a stranger. Your presence will upset them needlessly.”

I was a newly elected sheriff and I already had a young woman dying under strange circumstances in my jurisdiction. As if that wasn’t trying enough, I now had a clash of cultures on my plate too. The worst part was that I got what the bishop was saying. Still, I hated to deviate from protocol on my first investigation in Blood Rock.

I looked to Bobby for the answer. He seemed to be expecting me to do just that and was ready. He nodded his head subtly.

“Jeremy, please escort these men back to their homes.” I focused on the bishop, “Mr. Esch, I’ll honor your wishes on this matter, but I’ll be visiting the Beiler’s in a few days to get some questions cleared up. We need to know what happened to Naomi.”

“Yes, of course.” He tipped his hat to me and walked briskly back to the patrol car with the ministers.

Jeremy raised his eyebrows as he passed by. He was obviously as disturbed by the Amish men’s behavior as I was. Bobby made a soft huffing noise and began to motion to the emergency medical personnel to come over to help him with the body bag when I stopped him.

“Don’t you think those men were acting awfully blasé about seeing a young woman from their community dead in a cornfield?” My voice rose a little higher than I intended. I turned my back to the paramedics who were patiently leaning up against the ambulance, waiting for someone to give them the sign to approach.

Bobby said, “Ms.…ah, Serenity, you had better get used to the fact that the Amish will not be any help to you in your investigation. They don’t like outsiders, and they don’t want them knowing their business.”

As my mouth opened, Todd cut me off, “Hell, they’re practically their own nation—not having to pay social security tax or serve in the armed forces. Did you know that they’re done with school in the eighth grade?”

“Actually, it’s my understanding that the Amish can be drafted, but they only serve in non-combat roles, such as medical and food service,” Bobby told Todd.