Whispers from the Dead (Serenity's Plain Secrets Book 2) (16 page)

21

I
ran to Daniel with my gun raised, alternating my focus from Daniel’s crumpled form on the ground, the barking dog, and side of the trailer where I suspected the shot had been fired from.

When I reached Daniel, he mumbled for me to “take cover,” but I completely ignored his plea. My gaze was still darting around when I grabbed Daniel’s coat and turned him over so that I could see his wound. I quickly looked him over and began breathing again when I saw the bloody hole in his coat was at the edge of his shoulder. He had been winged by what I guessed to be buck shot from a shotgun.

I touched Daniel’s chin and made him look at me. “Hold on, Daniel. You’re shoulder’s just been grazed.”

The adrenaline rush caused the words to shoot from my mouth, but I was glad for the extra blood flow. It made me see a lot better and react quicker, too. Pulling the cellphone from my pocket, I called it in while I held my scarf against the wound. Fortunately for Daniel, by the slow leaking of his blood, I judged that an artery or vein hadn’t been nicked.

When I slid the phone back into my pocket, Daniel managed a weak laugh, “Well, this didn’t go very well, did it?”

I took the chance to look down and search Daniel’s eyes. His pupils were dilated, but they were still sharp. “It’s not funny, dammit. You could be dead right now if whoever shot at you had better aim.”

Daniel smiled and my icy heart thawed a little bit more. “You sound as if it would actually bother you if I died. That’s a surprise.”

At first the wailing sirens were very faint, but within seconds, they became louder and louder still. The sound was music to my ears.

“Of course it would bother me. Do you think that I’m completely heartless?”

“I was hoping it might be for other reasons.” Daniel began to grin, but then winced in pain.

“Serves you right,” I scolded. “This is definitely not the time to go there.”

I bolted upright and aimed my gun at the door as it began opening. The orange headed woman took a step onto the porch. She was holding the small girl in her arms as protection. The toddler was crying and the tears were mixing in with the yellow matter on her cheeks making her look even worse than before. The sight made me want to vomit.

“Hey, don’t shoot. Let me get Zeus in the house so them Po Po don’t shoot him, too,” the defiance in the woman’s voice grated on what was left of my nerves, but she was right. The police would shoot that dog before they even got out of their cruisers.

I lowered my gun a foot, but still kept it poised. “Go ahead and get your dog, but be quick about it.” Just as the woman got a hold of the dog’s collar with her free hand, I shouted, “Was it Asher or Julien who shot my friend? You’re fooling yourself if you think that you can protect them. And you shouldn’t want to. They probably ran off into the woods out back and left you to deal with the aftermath of all this.”

The woman didn’t respond, and managed to struggle the dog into the house and have the door shut by the time the three cruisers pulled up, followed closely by the ambulance. I kneeled back down beside Daniel and waited for Brody to approach me with the two paramedics.

I rose and began to step away as the first of emergency personnel squatted beside Daniel, but he grabbed my leg and said, “You’re coming to hospital, aren’t you?”

I couldn’t hide my smile. Daniel was just too large of a man to need me as an emotional crutch. “You’re in good hands. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Daniel rolled his eyes, but he was quickly encircled by the medical staff, and I made my escape.

Two deputies were on the porch and three more were moving stealthily through the carport. I shouted out, “There’s a woman with a toddler inside, along with an attack dog. She’s not the one who shot him. The shooter probably ran into the woods, but I think that he was only trying to scare us away. Daniel’s a big target and it’s pretty hard to miss a killing shot at that close range.”

Brody looked at me with disgust and I couldn’t help glancing away to take a breath and collect myself before turning back to him.

“Did you at least get a shot off at Asher?”

I shook my head, but didn’t look away this time. I was keeping up a pretty good appearance of calmness, but inside, I was a jar full of jelly. Brody had better not push my buttons too hard. I was not in the mood for it.

“Got the dog, though,” Brody sighed.

“We were on the porch trying to talk to that smackhead,” I pointed at the orange haired woman who was now outside being questioned by a deputy, “When the dogs came around the corner. One of them got a hold of Daniel’s leg. We couldn’t handle them both, so I shot that one. Thirty seconds later, Daniel was heading to the car and I was going through the carport for a chase. That’s when Daniel was shot.”

Brody’s lips tightened, but he held his tone level when he said, “Chase? You aren’t one of my deputies and you certainly aren’t the sheriff here. You have no business trying to apprehend a criminal in this jurisdiction.”

Our gazes locked. Once again, I wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted of me, but I did breathe a little easier when he went on to say, “I think it’s best if you return to the Amish community…or go see your boyfriend in the hospital. I don’t really care what you do, as long as you aren’t blatantly stepping on my toes.”

I dared to pester the man with one more question. “Are you going to sweep this incident away under the carpet?”

“That’s none of your concern. I’ve already told you what you can and can’t do here. And I won’t be able to protect you if you ruffle the wrong person’s feathers. You’re on your own now.”

Brody walked away without a backward glance. The fact that six deputies were swarming over the front yard and all of them were careful to not look my way gave me the heads up that I wouldn’t even be formally questioned. And I thought that Tony Manning was corrupt.

I hated paperwork anyway, I convinced myself, as I got into my car. I wasn’t headed in the direction of the hospital, though. Daniel’s life wasn’t in jeopardy, but he’d need surgery to remove the pellets from his shoulder and a lot of stitches to close the dog bite wound, along with a rabies shot. I figured he wouldn’t even be awake and open to visitors for a few hours, at the least.

When I pulled out into traffic on the main road, I took a trembling breath. The East Side Trailer Park was more than just depressing. It was a snake’s nest of criminal activity. I would bet that there were a dozen emergency calls or more to that place each week. What a headache it would be to police it.

I drove through the industrial section of town, watching the empty buildings pass by as if they were a long line of broken dreams. Rusted brown steel and broken windows were brightened occasionally by bright red, green and blue graffiti. The symbols and dimensional words were similar to those found in Indianapolis or any other city center, and I found it interesting that the country kids had mastered the art just as well as the city dwellers. And I admitted that it was a form of art, just one that also signified depression and chaos.

The brick buildings began to thin out, until finally the open fields began appearing again. The transition from the run-down ghost town of Poplar Springs to the windswept snowy openness was almost startling. The cropland, dotted with pristine white farmhouses and red gambrel barns, brought with it a sense of hopefulness that the town completely lacked.

I lowered the window to allow the cold, wintry air to blow in for a moment. The fresh, country wind erased the decay that still clung to me from the trailer park. I thought about the dirty toddler and her smackhead mother, already guessing the child’s fate in the world. The cycle of drug addiction, poverty and lack of education was vicious and continued to fester in family lines for generations. It was highly unlikely that the child would escape the same fate as her mother.

Daniel wasn’t far from my thoughts, either. The sickened feeling I’d experienced when I saw him crumpled on the ground kept replaying in my mind. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t deny that the thought of losing the man before I ever even had him, terrified me.

I slowed the car when I approached Elijah Mast’s farm. There were still a few buggies parked in his driveway, but the majority of the crowd that had been there in the morning were now gone. I decided to pull in anyway, just to make sure that Rowan and the kids had already left for home. Buggies weren’t like cars. I couldn’t pick one out from the other.

Surprising me, Rowan had allowed Mareena and Lucinda to ride in the car to the church service. During the drive over, the two girls had really loosened up for the first time since I’d met them. They giggled and talked non-stop the entire way. I wasn’t sure if they finally felt comfortable with me and Daniel or if they were just so thrilled to be in a warm, cushioned vehicle, instead of a cold, hard seated buggy for a change.

I had to admit the girls were beginning to grow on me. Even Gabe and Seth were friendlier now that I had run into a burning barn to save their horse and calf. Cacey was the only one remaining aloof. But even she had shown a couple of signs of cracking.

I parked in the gravel turn around and hurried out of the car when I spotted Jotham hitching up his horse. I reached him just as he had secured the last strap.

He looked startled to see me, but he straightened up and smiled anyway.

“Are you heading home?” I asked.

“Actually, I’m on my way to Rowan’s. I want to help him begin piling up the barn debris.”

“I didn’t think that your kind worked on Sunday,” I commented.

“We do sometimes, when our friends need us,” Jotham said quietly.

“We never did have the talk that you promised me,” I reminded him.

He nodded. “You’re right. I have a little time now,” Jotham suggested.

“Perfect,” I said. “Is my car all right?”

Jotham chuckled, causing the side of his face to crinkle. I briefly wondered if it hurt for him to laugh.

“I can only imagine what the others will think,” he lifted his chin toward the few stragglers who were late to leave, just now walking their horses to their buggies. “But I’m willing to chance the gossip.”

We sat in the front seat in silence for a moment. I watched a young woman help her husband with a bay horse while another horse was being harnessed by several children working together. It crossed my mind how tedious it would be to have to go through such a timely and difficult process every time you wanted to go somewhere. It was way too much work, even if you loved horses, I thought.

“Did you look into the barn fire that happened in nineteen ninety-seven?” Jotham asked with a guarded voice.

I glanced at the man. Even with a half scarred face, his quiet confidence made him formidable. I quickly thought about several ways to proceed, and finally settled on the path of pure honesty.

“Yes, I did. I even talked to Sheriff Gentry and Damon Gentry about the incident.”

“And…?” Jotham urged.

“I think that the Gentry barn was set on fire as retaliation for stealing business away from the Schwartz family. I would like to believe that the person who set the fire didn’t realize that Austin and his girlfriend were inside the loft of the barn, and was horrified to later find out that two people were killed. Because of the obvious grudge between Sheriff Gentry and the Amish community, I can only assume that the Amish elders knew who had done it, but kept the information to themselves. Taking matters into their own hands, so to speak.”

Jotham was so tense that I could almost feel the fear jumping off of him. Why he was afraid, I could only guess, but I did sit up straighter, suddenly fueled by my own rapidly beating heart.

Finally Jotham said evenly, “That’s a good story. Do you have any actual proof of what you just said?”

I couldn’t stop my eyebrow from lifting. Jotham’s passive aggressive behavior was not something I expected at all.

“Right now, it’s just hypothetical, but if you have any information to add, it could easily become a solid case,” I challenged.

“Are you a Christian, Serenity?” Jotham suddenly asked.

The swift change of subject made me lean back against the headrest. Wariness had settled deep into my bones by the time I responded. “Yes, I consider myself one. But I don’t go to church on a regular basis, and I’ve seen enough horrible things during my time as a cop that I am somewhat a bitter believer. But what do my religious beliefs have to do with anything?”

“It might help you understand our people a little bit better. For instance, I know that God is real and that He affects everything that happens everywhere. And that
He
punishes those who sin against His laws, not the Amish elders or your judicial system.”

I shook my head slightly and smiled tightly. I was too exasperated to respond right away. I thought for a moment and then said with a measured sigh, “I’m sure God punishes sinners in His own way, but without law and order, humanity would slip into sheer chaos. The good people would be cut down by the bad guys. That’s why I became a sheriff. I wanted to help people. And I want to help you, Jotham. I can see that something is weighing heavily on your mind. Why don’t you just let it go, and do the right thing?”

Jotham turned to stare at me. His one good eye shined extra blue as the sunlight shone in through the window. He smiled sadly. “There isn’t always agreement about what is the right thing.” He gripped the door handle and said, “I really should be going. I’m sure Rowan is wondering where I am.”

Knowing that I was about to lose any chance of help from Jotham, I blurted out, “Asher was the one who set the Gentry fire, wasn’t he?”

Jotham paused, his back to me. I could feel the heavy weight of his thoughts in the air as if they were raindrops in a summer storm. When he finally spoke, disappointment washed over me in a cold rush.

“I have nothing to say regarding Asher.”

Jotham abruptly left me alone in the car, the thump of the door closing loudly in my ears. I continued to watch him walk to his horse, untie it and hop into his buggy. He snapped the reins and sped away at a hasty trot down the driveway.