The Amish Widow (Amish Romance Mystery) (Amish Secret Widows' Society Book 1) (9 page)

Chapter 10.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find;

knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

Matthew 7:7

Maureen called for Emma to take her to Mr. Pluver’s funeral. They were silent for a while as they traveled in the buggy before Maureen said, “I heard whispers that Mrs. Pluver was being unfaithful.”

Emma laughed. She thought that Maureen was telling her a joke. When Maureen did not join in with her laughter, Emma turned to see her with a serious look on her face. “You can’t be serious.”

“Well, I’m just saying what I heard.”

“Unfaithful with whom? The vulture?”

“I don’t know, Emma, but you should keep an open mind about things. Where there’s smoke there’s fire. Have you ever heard of that saying?”

“
Jah
, but Mrs. Pluver? Cranky old Mrs. Pluver? She hardly seems the type of woman to be unfaithful. I mean, what sort of man would be interested in a cranky old lady?” Emma asked.

“Don’t know. A cranky old man perhaps?”

Maureen and Emma giggled. Before too long, they pulled up the buggy at the cemetery. Maureen pulled on Emma’s arm. “Look, that’s the vulture, isn’t it? Over there.”

Emma looked to where Maureen pointed. It was indeed Mr. McAllister and he was standing next to Bob, Mr Pluver’s son.

The widows knew they had to keep their eyes open for any odd sights at the funeral. There was one odd sight that Emma noticed. The pretty young secretary of McAllister’s was standing at a distance crying. Both times Emma had seen this girl she was crying. “Look up there, Maureen. That’s a most odd sight.”

“
Jah
, it is a most odd sight indeed and I don’t think it’s gone unnoticed by Ethel Pluver.”

Emma studied Ethel for a few moments and noticed her glancing more than once at the
Englisch
girl who was standing a distance from the grave.

* * *

It was later that day that the detective came to Emma’s door.

“Can I come in?”

“Certainly.” Emma stepped aside for the detective to enter. “Come through to the kitchen. How can I help you, detective?”

“We have a witness who saw an Amish woman near McAllister’s office at seven a.m. That was the estimated time of death.”

“I see and how can I help you with that? There’s a lot of Amish woman around town. Do you suspect me? Is that why you’re telling me this?” Emma was sure that she and Maureen were at McAllister’s office around eight or nine.

“Mrs. Kurtzler, is there anything that you wish to tell me? If you cooperate then things will go better for you.”

Emma gasped and looked at the detective in horror. “I didn’t do anything, Detective Crowley, and I would never kill anyone.” Emma frowned at the nerve of the man coming to her
haus
and accusing her of something so horrendous.

“You were annoyed that Mr. Pluver no longer wanted to lease your land.”

Emma wondered how he knew that. She did not remember telling him anything of the sort. “It’s true he didn’t want to lease the land anymore, but I would not have killed the man because of it. I can’t even kill a fly on a hot summer’s day. Do you have any suspects, besides me, I mean?”

“I know that he was killed around seven; there was an Amish woman seen there at around that time. McAllister said there was a key missing from his office.”

“What did Mr. Pluver have to do with Mr. McAllister?” Emma asked.

A wry smile crossed the detective’s face. “Not Mr. McAllister; it seems that Mr. McAllister’s secretary and Mr. Pluver were quite friendly, if you know what I mean.”

Emma’s mouth fell open. Pluver and the pretty young girl she saw that morning at McAllister’s office? Surely not. “That’s very hard to believe.” Emma wondered which story was more likely – the cranky old Mrs. Pluver having an affair with the vulture or Henry having an affair with the young secretary. Both stories did not seem plausible.

“Mrs. Kurtzler, I have to ask you this straight out – were you also having an affair with Henry Pluver?”

Emma sprang to her feet. “Detective Crowley, that is the most horrible thing that I’ve ever heard in my life. I most certainly was not. Please leave my
haus
immediately.” Emma could feel her whole body shake as she walked to the door to pull it open. The detective had to be grasping at straws; there was absolutely no basis for him to ask her such a thing.

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to upset you, I’m just trying to piece things together.”

Emma said nothing, but held her chin up high while she held the door open for him.

When he stepped down from the porch he turned around, and said, “I may need to ask you some questions at another time.”

Emma could not bring herself to speak and she shut the door. She immediately went to the window and watched him drive away. Once she was certain that he had gone, she bolted the lock on the door then walked out to her garden at the back of the
haus.
She always felt peaceful in her private garden. Minutes later she heard Wil’s voice at the front door.

“Emma.”

“I’m ‘round the back, Wil.”

“I saw that detective drive away.” As Wil walked closer, his expression changed and he hurried toward her. “What’s the matter, Emma?” He put his arm around her shoulder.

“Oh, Wil, it was horrible. That horrible detective.” Emma buried her face into Wil’s hard shoulder as she sobbed.

Wil lifted her away slightly and asked, “What happened?”

Emma did her best to stop her sobs and took a couple of deep breaths. “He asked me if I was having an affair with Henry Pluver.”

“That’s ludicrous. I don’t want you talking to that detective again, unless I’m here.” Wil pulled her toward him and placed his strong arms around her.

Emma let out all her bottled up emotions and sobbed some more. She was sure she was crying against him for three whole minutes before she stopped. When her sobs turned into sniffles, Wil offered her his large, white handkerchief. 

She managed to smile a little. “
Denke
.” She wiped her face and noticed that she had made the front of his shirt wet. “Look what I’ve done to your shirt.”

Wil looked down at his shirt. “That’s the least of our worries.”

“I suppose so.” Emma’s voice creaked. “Wil can you take me to Elsa-May and Ettie’s
haus
?”

Wil looked down at her and frowned. “Really? Why would you want to go there?”

“I just want to speak to them and I’m sure they can bring me home later.” Emma was sure that she was in no state to drive a buggy.

“Of course I’ll take you there.”

Chapter 11.

The name of the LORD is a strong tower:

the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

Proverbs 18:10

As soon as Emma arrived at Elsa-May’s
haus
and informed her of the latest news, Elsa-May called Maureen and Silvie for an emergency meeting. When they arrived, Emma explained to the widows all that she’d learned; all of them except Ettie, who was in town on an information gathering expedition.

Emma finished by saying, “So, I can’t work out which of the stories is true, if any of them are true at all.”

Elsa-May bustled over to a drawer in her sideboard and took out a notepad. “Let’s see what we know so far. Pluver is dead; he may or may not have been having an affair with McAllister’s secretary. Mrs. Pluver may or may not have been having an affair with McAllister.”

Silvie laughed then swallowed her laughter as soon as Elsa-May glared at her.

Maureen spoke up. “So what would the motive be to kill Pluver?”

Elsa-May looked at her pad as she wrote. “Well, Emma’s just told us that the detective has a witness placing an Amish woman around the scene of the crime at approximately six, or was it seven?”

“Just around the building; I don’t know if she was seen entering or leaving or anything like that,” Emma added.

“Nevertheless, we’re just going on the information we have at hand. If Pluver was having an affair and Mrs. Pluver found out, she would be none too happy about it.”

“That’s right,” Silvie agreed with Elsa-May. “We all know that mostly people are either killed over money or love.”

Emma noticed that the ladies all nodded. That was something she’d never given much thought to – the main reasons for murder.

Elsa-May continued. “Now, if Mrs. Pluver was having an affair with the vulture and Mr. Pluver found out, he would be none too happy.”

“But…” Silvie held up her hand. “What does it have to do with Pluver telling Emma he can’t lease her land anymore? And what about Bob, Pluver’s son? Maybe he did it so he could inherit his father’s business. From what I hear they don’t get along at all.”

Bob Pluver had always made Emma feel uneasy. Maybe he was capable of killing someone, even his own father. He always seemed to be skulking around and never looked anyone directly in the eyes. In her mind, that had always been a sign that someone could not be trusted.

Elsa-May said, “But why was Pluver killed in McAllister’s office?”

Silvie pushed out her lips. “That has to be the key to the whole thing. The reason that Pluver was in the office.”

“Maybe that was his meeting place with the secretary,” Maureen said.

“It’s unlikely that McAllister would kill someone in his own office. He would surely come under suspicion,” Emma said.

There was silence for a while until Maureen said, “What about Wil?”

Emma turned to look at Maureen. “What about him?”

“Why was he speaking to the vulture that time, acting all friendly and having lunch with him?”

Emma felt all eyes on her. “He said he was trying to get the vulture to be nice to me. What? Do you think Wil might have killed Pluver?” Emma suddenly realized that Wil would be disadvantaged by Pluver’s death unless Bob, Pluver’s son was prepared to take over all his
daed’s
leases. She hadn’t even stopped to give a thought to the fact that Pluver leased Wil’s land as well. Surely that meant that Wil was not a suspect.

Maureen grabbed Emma’s arm. “Emma, do you still have that contract of sale that you took from Pluver’s office?”

“
Jah
, I do, but I haven’t even thought to look at it with everything that’s gone on.”

“Let’s all go to your
haus
now and take a look at that contract.”

Everyone climbed into Maureen’s buggy, which was rather a squash as her buggy was only built for four people.

Once they arrived at Emma’s house, Emma found the contract in her kitchen drawer. Her eyes scanned ran down the page until she saw the name of the potential buyer – Henry Pluver. Emma threw the contract onto the table. “It’s Henry. He’s the one who wanted to buy my land.”

“So Henry does know McAllister?” Elsa-May said.

Maureen said, “Seems like Pluver was trying to buy some cheap land.”

“He probably thought that he would get it cheap, because of what happened with Levi,” Silvie added.

“We’re no closer to finding out who killed Pluver though,” Emma said.

“I’d reckon it was Mrs. McAllister,” Maureen said.

“I heard Bob never got on with his father and someone told me that last week they had a terrible row,” Silvie said.

Emma turned to Silvie, “What about?”

Silvie replied, “I don’t know. I couldn’t find that out.”

“Maybe Bob found out that his father was having an affair and he threatened to expose him?” Maureen said.

“Who did it, Bob or the mother?” Elsa-May said, focused on her yellow pad as if that would provide the answer.

The widows all heard a buggy pull up. Elsa May leaned back in her chair so she could see who it was. “That’s Ettie. By the way she’s running in the door I’d say she’s found something out.”

Emma rose to her feet to answer the door, but Ettie burst through before she reached the door.

Ettie was breathless and had to sit a while before she could speak. “I have a friend who works in the travel agency and guess what I found out?”

“What, Ettie? What?” Her
schweschder
urged her.

Ettie held up her hand. “Hang on… too puffed to speak.” Seconds later, she continued, “Two plane tickets, one for Henry Pluver and one for Liza Weeks.” When the ladies were silent, Ettie said, “She’s the secretary of McAllister.”

Elsa-May scratched on her note pad and said, “So, Henry had plans of running away. To give his boy security he was trying to buy your land, Emma. Your land joins at the back of it, onto the Pluver’s land.”

“So if I sold, that would make him feel that he had provided for his boy at least? I wonder why he wouldn’t approach me himself; why go through the vulture?” Emma asked.

Maureen said, “He didn’t want his wife to know what he was doing.”

“Well, she would’ve found out,” Silvie said.

“But, not until he was well gone,” Maureen said.

Elsa-May placed the yellow pad down on the table in front of the lounge and looked up at Emma. “I think we should call your detective and tell him what we know.”

Emma put her hand to her chest, as she recalled the detective’s attitude. “He’s not my detective.”

“You know what I mean. I’ll call him; what’s his name?”

Elsa-May produced her cell phone and stood up. “Don’t worry I’ll phone from outside.”

Emma opened her mouth to say something to Elsa-May of the dangers of bringing the outside world into the
haus
, but then she stopped herself. Elsa-May did say she was going to call from outside the
haus.
She made an excuse for everything she did; there was hardly any point for Emma to protest. “His name is Detective Crowley.”

“Ah, Detective Crowley. I’ve met him before.”

Emma followed Elsa-May outside to listen to her call. It was clear that Elsa-May already had his number in her phone as she only pressed one button before she got his voice mail. Elsa-May left a message to go to Emma’s place as soon as he got the message.

“Well, what happens now?” Emma said.

Elsa-May stated in a firm tone, “We wait.”

Two cups of tea and three plates of cookies later, Detective Crowley knocked on Emma’s door. The ladies told Crowley everything they knew, leaving out the part about Emma and Maureen being the ones to find Pluver’s body in the first place. “Looks like I’ll be asking Mrs. Pluver some questions. Once again, thank you Elsa-May, you too Ettie.” He looked at Emma, and said, “Mrs. Kurtzler, I’m sorry that I got the wrong end of the stick with you.”

Emma nodded and forced a smile at the detective to whom she did not take kindly. He as good as accused her of wrongdoing. But, an apology was an apology and she had to accept it.

Detective Crowley turned to Elsa-May. “What have you got going here? A secret widows’ society?”

Elsa-May remained straight-faced. “We just might have.”

The ladies left Emma alone as soon as the detective left. Hopefully, the detective would get to the bottom of things and she could feel safe once more.

Nothing seemed the same. How would she cope with no income and without Pluver’s lease money? Hopefully, the insurance money would come through from Levi’s work, but she couldn’t rely on that; Mr. Weeks said that it was a long shot.

It was then that it occurred to Emma that Mr. Weeks had the same last name as McAllister’s secretary. She was sure of it. She hitched the buggy and went to Elsa-May’s
haus
as fast as she could.

She scrambled to the front door and Elsa-May answered it with Ettie close behind her. “Elsa-May. What was the name of McAllister’s secretary again?”

“Come in, Emma.” Elsa-May scrambled through her notes. “Liza Weeks.”

“Levi’s boss’ name is Devin Weeks; I wonder if they’re related?”

“There’s one way to find out.” Ettie walked over to the same cabinet she got the rubber gloves and pulled out a laptop computer.

Emma opened her mouth in shock. Again Emma knew it was no use saying anything. Besides, maybe the
Ordnung
would change in a few years and all that.

“How will that tell us anything?” Emma asked.

“Emma, all young people have Facebook. We simply find her Facebook account and scan through her photos to see if we can find one of ... what was his name? Dustin?”

“
Nee
, Devin, Devin Weeks.”

Ettie opened the laptop. Lights came on and a musical note sounded. “Okay, log on to Wi-Fi and we’re good to go. There are a few Liza Weeks here; which one is she?”

Emma looked at photos of three people with the same name. “That’s her there, that one.”

“Hopefully she’s lax on her privacy settings,” Ettie mumbled more to herself than anyone else. “Bingo. Devin Weeks, it’s her father all right and he’s got himself a

Facebook account as well.”

“Well thought of, Emma,” Elsa-May said.

Ettie said what they were all thinking. “Maybe Mr. Weeks found out that his daughter was going to run away with Pluver and so he killed him.”

Elsa-May tapped her fingers on her chin. “Hmm, now we have another suspect.”

“This is too much; I think I need to go home,” Emma said.

Elsa-May said, “I’ll tell the detective to meet us all here tomorrow at twelve.”

“Okay.” Emma agreed just to get out of the place. It was all so confusing and baffling. It appeared that so many people could have killed Pluver: the son, the wife, the father of his lover, maybe even his lover, if they’d had an argument.