The Calling (6 page)

Shootfire!
She was already tired of the newspaper business.

Bethany leaned back in her chair and took in a deep breath, then let it go. Offices had a unique smell: ink and paper and waxed floors. A wisp of yearning wove through her chest. The scent reminded her of her father’s office at Schrock Investments, and that reminded her of Jake Hertzler. She felt very unsettled today, almost like a storm was heading in, but it wasn’t.

Time. Things took time to heal.

Rose had reminded her of that very thing after Jake’s abrupt departure. Maybe she should write it on an index card and stick it in her dress pocket.

How could it still sting so much, even as the weeks flew by? It was embarrassing how much she thought she had loved Jake. Humiliating how she had played right into his hands, swept along by his charm. Horrifying when she learned he had tried to cheat Jimmy Fisher out of that pretty horse with the flaxen mane.

Where would Bethany be right now if she had run off with Jake like they had planned? Most likely, he never intended to marry her.

She knew she should feel grateful that she had enough sense to have refused, in the end, to go with him. In a way, she was grateful. But she was also steaming mad at Jake. It wasn’t easy to be steaming mad at a person who had vanished . . . where did all that madness go? Stuffed down deep, that’s where it went.

Most everyone thought Jake had broken her heart in two when he left, and she let them think whatever they wanted to think. She doubted Jake’s heart was broken when she refused to go—but then, she wasn’t even sure he had much of a heart. No, breaking up with Jake wasn’t the cause of the lingering sting she couldn’t shake off.

She still couldn’t get her head around that piece of information that Jake had told her months ago when he appeared suddenly in Stoney Ridge—that her brother Tobe, who had gone missing, was with their mother. A fresh wave of anger washed over her.
Bethany
wanted to be with their mother.
She
wanted to know her, to find out why she had left. She knew so little about this mysterious woman who had given Bethany life, then vanished.

Her father would never discuss their mother. Mammi Vera would turn red in the face with rage if the subject came up. And so it didn’t.

Why had her mother left? Why? Bethany would never understand. As long as she lived, she’d never understand it. How could a mother desert her children? How did her mother walk away, knowing it would mean she would never see them sing at a Christmas program or wear a wedding dress or hold
her grandbaby? Whenever Bethany looked back on all the moments of her life, both trivial and wondrous, her mother was always missing.

Rose was a wonderful stepmother, a truly caring, loving surrogate. But how could anyone take the place of a mother? Why was finding her mother so important to her? It was all she could think about since Jake had told her about Tobe. Bethany could hardly remember her, except in the barest fragments.

She swirled the tepid tea in the cup, mesmerized by the whirlpool it created. Something floated up from the back of her mind, a wisp of a memory—

She closed her eyes, a rush of
water swirled around her. Then there was a woman’s
scream and someone lifted her up. Bethany opened her eyes
and saw a woman, dressed in blue. “Don’t be
afraid, Bethany,” the woman said.

Jolted by the sudden blast of memories, Bethany put the cup down and shook her head slightly, as if to shake off that image. What was happening to her lately? Strange, disjointed memories kept floating through her head, like steam from this teacup.

Someone cleared his throat. “Mrs. Miracle, I presume?”

Bethany snapped her head up to discover a heavyset man leaning on the doorjamb, looking at her with a very bored look on his face. She rose to her feet and tossed the paper cup into the trash can, giving him her most charming smile. “I’m as close as you’ll ever get.”

3

M
im rode her scooter to the Bent N’ Dent to buy some baking soda for Mammi Vera, who preferred it to toothpaste. She had hoped Bethany would go, seeing as she had a surfeit of free time on her hands now that she wasn’t going back to the Sisters’ House because of the risk of getting murdered. But Bethany said it was too hot to go anywhere and Mammi Vera said she agreed with that. But Mammi Vera didn’t think it was too hot for Mim to go.

As she was searching on the shelves for baking soda in aisle four, she heard a deep voice whisper her name. “Hello there, Mim.”

Mim looked up to catch Danny Riehl peering down at her, and for a moment she felt absolutely bewildered. She hadn’t seen him in well over a month and he had grown a foot or two. His shoulders were wide, and if she wasn’t mistaken, there was some peach fuzz on his cheeks and under his nose. Why, he hardly looked like the same boy who finished eighth grade in May. He was on the old side for his grade, but still. He practically looked and sounded like a grown man.

Mim pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her nose at
the exact same moment that Danny did. “Hello,” she said, trying to sound casual and nonchalant, but everything inside her was on tiptoes. “Are you back from visiting your cousins in Alabama?”

He nodded. “We got back last week. I’ve been meaning to stop by, but . . .”

“I’ve been very busy,” Mim said. “Hardly home.” That wasn’t at all true. She was home 97 percent of the time, but Danny didn’t need to know that.

“Did you get my postcard from NASA?”

Did she ever! She floated on air for a week after receiving it. And now it was tucked under her pillow. “Yes. Thank you. Did you see any moon rocks?”

A big grin creased Danny’s face. “I did. I saw rocket ships and moon rocks and an astronaut suit.”

Mim wondered what Mammi Vera might say if she overheard Danny’s excitement. Her grandmother was always pointing out the dangers of too much book learning. Je gelehrter, no verkehrter, she would say.
The more learning, the less wisdom.

Mim didn’t agree with Mammi Vera about book learning, and she definitely didn’t think Danny was losing wisdom. Just the opposite. Danny’s mother was Mattie Zook Riehl, and everyone knew those Zooks were overly blessed with wisdom. Danny’s mother was the most respected woman in their church. Everyone went to her with problems. Mim liked to think that someday she would be thought of just like Mattie Zook Riehl. It was one of the reasons she took her job as Mrs. Miracle so seriously. Training for the future, she hoped. Training to be Danny’s Mim.

“I was just getting a few things for my mother,” Danny
said, holding up a small basket filled with some spices. He cleared his throat. “Are you heading home?”

Mim snatched the baking soda off the shelf. “Yes.”

After paying at the cash register, they walked down the road and Danny told her about a special chart his father bought him at NASA that displayed the constellations. Once Mim’s father had taught her how to identify the Milky Way—like a swirl of milk in a cup of black coffee. “I used to think that the Milky Way was like a big curtain in the sky,” she said. “If you pulled it back, you could see Heaven.” She felt her cheeks grow warm. “Not logical, I know.”

“Not logical, but a nice thought,” Danny said.

“Do you think logic can always find answers?”

“No. Some things are just mysteries. Like Heaven.” He slowed down a little so she could keep up with him. “I saw your sister in town yesterday. She didn’t see me. She was heading into the newspaper office.”

“Oh?” A stain rose on Mim’s cheeks. Most of the Amish didn’t read the
Stoney Ridge Times
because they thought it was too liberal, which was a relief to Mim. She wasn’t sure how many might have even heard about the story claiming there were miracles to be had at the Inn at Eagle Hill, but the fewer Amish who knew of Mrs. Miracle, the better.

Danny was waiting for an answer from her. About why Bethany was in the newspaper office.

Diversion. That was how Mim handled topics she’d rather not discuss. “My sister has a mystery. She was cleaning out the basement at the Sisters’ House. She opened a trunk and found human bones. Skulls, too. She thinks the sisters might be killing people and stuffing them in the basement. She thinks she is next on their list. She’s afraid to go back to work.”

Taking a moment to adjust his eyeglasses, Danny seemed in deep thought. “The old sisters don’t strike me as ruthless murderers.”

“That’s just what I told Bethany.”

“Why would she think the
Stoney Ridge Times
could help explain a trunk full of bones?”

Oh, boy.
So much for trying to derail Danny. “That’s an excellent question.”

“Has Bethany asked the sisters about the bones?”

“Of course not. She’s not very logical.”

“That seems like the best place to start. Certainly better than the newspaper.”

Mim nodded.
Phew.

“Let’s go ask.”

“Really? Now?” She never liked to miss opportunities to talk to the sisters, especially Ella. If it was a good, clear day for Ella, Mim found she often gained insights to use in her important role as Mrs. Miracle.

Danny nodded. “We’re not far from the Sisters’ House. Let’s go.”

So Mim and Danny turned down a road that led to the Sisters’ House and asked to speak with them about a very private concern. All five sisters came to the door, curious looks on their wrinkled faces. They invited Mim and Danny to come in for tea. That did slow down the investigation considerably, but Danny didn’t seem to be in a hurry. “It’s best not to alarm them,” he whispered to Mim. “Just in case they
are
murderers.”

Mim had been going to the Sisters’ House with Bethany since school let out in May, but she was still amazed by the clutter. Every horizontal surface was covered with . . . stuff.
Bethany could have a job here until she was an old lady herself, which was good news because she had said those sisters paid well.

When the tea was finally served, all five sisters sat on the living room sofa and waited for the very private concern to be explained. Mim decided she would try to keep her eyes open for what didn’t sound right, to see things from the sides of her eyes.

“Go ahead, Mim,” Danny said.

What?
She thought he was going to be the one to talk. She took a deep breath. All five sisters smiled serenely at Mim, capstrings bouncing.

“Of course you know that my sister Bethany has been cleaning out your house.”

More smiles.

“Two days ago, she was down in the basement and opened a trunk and found . . .” Mim squinted her eyes shut.

“My thimble?” Ella said. “I’ve been looking everywhere for my thimble.”

“Now, Ella dear,” Sylvia said. “Your thimble would not have been in the basement.”

A confused look covered Ella’s face.

“You have plenty of thimbles,” Fannie said, mildly irritated.

“I’m looking for the thimble Mama gave me,” Ella said. “It had a band of roses around the base.”

Fannie rolled her eyes.

“Honey, we’ll get you a new thimble,” Sylvia said.

Danny nudged Mim with his elbow and whispered, “Better say something or we’ll be here all day.”

“Bones! Skulls!” Mim blurted out. “Human bones and human skulls. That’s what Bethany found in the trunk.”

The sisters looked at each other, startled, eyes wide. “Glory be!” Lena, the middle sister said.

“Oh mercy!” said another.

“Is that why she didn’t come to work today?” Sylvia asked.

Mim nodded. “She’s frightened. She thinks you’re planning to kill her.”

“Oh my goodness,” Ada, the second oldest sister, said. “That poor child.”

The sisters assured them that they had no intention of killing Bethany and hoped Mim and Danny would agree, which they did. But none of the sisters had any idea what a trunk filled with human bones was doing in their basement. And could Mim please ask Jimmy Fisher to come over immediately?

The sun was coming up hot again on a new day when Jimmy knocked on the kitchen door of Eagle Hill. He breathed the fresh morning air deeply, happy to be alive and not at home where he was subject to his mother’s relentless henpecking. He grinned when Bethany answered the door—he was hoping she would. “You can unglue that scowl from your face, Bethany. I know you’re not happy to see me. But you will be, when you hear my news.”