Amish Breaking Point (6 page)

Chapter 11.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 10:10

Ettie and Elsa-May took a twenty-minute taxi ride to Lancaster Public Library. The taxi stopped outside the building and they wasted no time getting into the building. They stood in front of the help desk and waited for someone to approach them.

“Can I help you?” A young man dressed in gray with a large bowtie greeted them with a kind smile.

Ettie spoke, “We are looking for some information about someone, and we want to look at some old newspapers.”

“Very good. From how long ago?”

Elsa-May and Ettie looked at each other. Ettie said, “We don’t know an exact time, but we think maybe around twenty years ago.”

“Ah, pre Internet. I’ll have someone help you.”

The young man disappeared and then a small lady with silver glasses and dark hair tied back on her head approached them. “Milton tells me you ladies are after information from an old newspaper?”

“Yes, around twenty years ago, we’re guessing; and not one particular newspaper. We’re trying to find out information about someone and we’re hoping they might have been mentioned in a newspaper or two.”

“Well, you might be in luck. Pennsylvania has started a Newspaper Project. It began in 1983 and their aim is to preserve and collate all the old newspapers in Pennsylvania.”

“What a good idea,” Ettie said.

“It’s a little complex; it’s not only web-based, some of it is on microfiche and some on microfilm. Give me the details and I’ll be able to see if the article you’re looking for is going to be easy to find. Is it an article that you’re looking for?”

Both ladies nodded.

“Come this way.”

They followed the tiny librarian to an alcove. They all sat while she switched on a large desktop computer. “What details can you give me on your article?”

“We’re after information on a man named Denman Nigel Rivers.”

“Possibly might be linked to a murder.”

The librarian tapped into the keyboard and did not flinch a bit when Elsa-May mentioned the word ‘murder.’

“Here we go, first try. It’s cataloged on one of the databases. I’ll print the article out for you.”

“Is there only one article?” Elsa-May asked.

“I’ll see. I’ll try a different kind of a search.” After ten more minutes of the librarian looking she said, “Ah, I’ve found two more articles. While I’m printing those out, I’ll search some more.”

Over the librarian’s shoulder, Ettie and Elsa-May saw that Bailey’s father’s name was in the same article as the word murder. It was as Bailey had suspected.

The librarian said, “That seems to be all there is. If you know that there was another article written I could email someone from the search project and have them look into it if you wish.”

“No, we don’t know anything for sure, do we Elsa-May?”

Elsa-May shook her head. “Now, where do we get those printed articles from?”

“They go to the printer behind my desk. I’ll get them for you.”

Two minutes later, the librarian came back and handed some sheets of paper to Ettie and to Elsa-May. “I printed out two lots so you could each have a copy. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

Ettie said, “No, dear. You’ve been a wonderful help. Thank you very much.”

“Yes, you’ve been outstanding.” Elsa-May smiled at the librarian.

When the librarian went back to her reception desk with the young man in the bowtie, Elsa-May said, “Quick, let’s find a seat somewhere. I can’t wait to read what these say.” They hurried toward one of the many tables and chairs in the middle of the library.

Elsa-May and Ettie sat and read the articles at the same time.

Elsa-May tapped her chin with her fingertip. “Says here that Bailey’s
daed
was suspected of murder.”

“Says in this one here that he was let off the charges when it was found that the man who died had threatened him and his
familye
. Well, we already knew that Bailey’s father was a prison guard and it says here that the man was a newly released prisoner out to take revenge on Denman. Do you think Bailey knew what his father did for a living?” Ettie asked.

“Bailey thinks that he was a travelling salesman; that’s what Liz told him years ago.”

Ettie cast her eyes back over the three articles. “Hmm, it appears that he was arrested and never charged. When that man got out of prison, he must have turned up at the house and then a struggle broke out.”

“We should have told him about his grandfather,” Elsa-May said.

“
Jah
, it will be hard to tell him about this and his grandfather. We’ll have to do it. We should have told him the other night that we knew his father was a prison guard. We’ll have to call tomorrow and have him come to our
haus.”

* * *

Being part of Jack and Pamela’s family scene often made Bailey wonder what kind of parents he and Silvie would be. Having a family of his own had always been a tentative point with Bailey, considering his own childhood. His traumatic upbringing had not put him off the idea entirely. He knew he had to put his past behind him, which was something he couldn't do until he found out the truth about everything.

"Hello, Crowley, it’s Rivers, Bailey Rivers."

"Bailey, hello."

"Any news? Have you found anything out?" Bailey asked.

"I haven’t been able to locate your father, but I do have a phone number and an address for your mother. Do you have a pen?” “Yes.” Bailey wrote the address.

Crowley began quoting all the previous addresses his mother had over the past several years. “Bailey? Hello, are you there?" Crowley called down the phone line.

"Yeah, just let me know when you find out anything new. Thanks for your help, I appreciate it."

Bailey held his mother’s phone number tightly in his hand. He could not bring himself to phone her straight away. He would wait to speak with Elsa-May and Ettie before calling her. He placed the paper with his mother’s number on it in his room and went back out into the sunshine.

As he paced across the field that bordered his friend’s home, Bailey was struck by the distinct lack of bustle that was the norm of city life. Breathing in a deep lungful of crisp country air, Bailey found himself appreciating country life. He had lived so long surrounded by busy streets and concrete buildings; he had never given much thought to any other way of life.

Bailey decided to focus his thoughts on Silvie. He missed her terribly; spending such an amount of time away from her was taking its toll. He took comfort from thoughts of when they would be man and wife.

His anger at his father, not only for what he was, but for how badly he treated him as a child, played heavily on his mind; as did worry about his mother’s well being. Bailey knew he could not truly rest until these issues were settled. Bailey often thought what he would say to his father if he ever found himself come face to face with the man. But he was not an
Englischer
now so he could not think like an
Englischer
he was now Amish, and he had to find forgiveness in his heart for everyone who had wronged him.

Now noting his lack of attention to his surroundings and onward direction, Bailey found himself nearing the border of a dense woodland area. Not wanting to venture too far, he changed his direction heading toward the main barn.

When Bailey made his way back to the pens for the afternoon milking, Jack was waiting outside the barn waving at him.
That’s odd; I’m not late or anything; I wonder what’s happened.

Bailey picked up his pace and jogged toward Jack. “All okay?”

“It’s that detective friend of yours. He said to call him back urgently. You call him; I’ll start the milking.”

“I won’t be far away,” Bailey said as he headed toward the phone in the barn. “Yes, Crowley? It’s Rivers here.”

“Ah, yes. I’ve come across some interesting news. What did your father do for a living?”

“He was a salesman; he was a traveling salesman I guess; he was away a fair bit. Why do you ask?”

“Denman Nigel Rivers, and there can’t be many people with that name, was a Corrections Officer in the state of Pennsylvania in the years 1980 – 1991.”

“He was what? Are you sure? Why would they tell me he was a salesman?”

Crowley’s voice murmured in the background, but Bailey was not listening to what he was saying. “Where is he, have you found him?”

“No, but I’ve got a lead I’m working on. Hopefully, I’ll find out tomorrow.”

Bailey’s mind wondered once more. On the last case on which he was working he had cause to go to a Correctional Facility, and he had found it was familiar. Could it have been the jail in which his father had worked? Or had he visited his father in prison while he was serving a jail term, perhaps for murder? “What correctional facility did he work at?”

“Just a moment. Western State, Pittsburgh.”

That was the same one that Bailey had been to where he had remembered the visitors’ room. “Thank you once again. Please let me know the moment you locate him.”

Surely, if his
daed
had any criminal convictions that would have been the first thing that Crowley would have been able to find out and Crowley did not mention that his father had any criminal convictions.

As Bailey hung up the phone, he remembered when he was fourteen and learned that his mother and father were getting a divorce. From there, Bailey lived with his mother, leaving home at eighteen. After that, Bailey was consumed by his job in the police force. It was not unusual for Bailey to go months without contacting his mother or without her contacting him. Bailey had not spoken to his father since the divorce and neither did he wish to. His sole purpose in contacting his father now was to have some questions answered.

Bailey was on his way out of the barn when he heard the phone ring. He picked it up, wondering if it would be Crowley again. It was Elsa-May and Ettie calling him from the library. They asked him to meet with them at their
haus
tomorrow. They said they had other things to tell him other than what they had found out at the library.
I was right, I knew they had been keeping something from me,
Bailey thought.

Chapter 12.

Good and upright is the Lord:

therefore will he teach sinners in the way.

The meek will he guide in judgment:

and the meek will he teach his way.

Psalm 25:8-9

Bailey arrived at Elsa-May and Ettie’s
haus
. He had resisted pleading with them yesterday to tell him what they had found out over the phone. Something told him whatever they were going to tell him was best said face to face.

“Come in, Bailey.”

Bailey sat down, and Elsa-May and Ettie showed him the newspaper articles they had gotten from the library.

Bailey scratched his chin. “So, it was self-defense. Says here that he was protecting his family and that the man he killed had threatened him and his family. He was protecting mom and me. It’s a lot to take in.”

“There’s more,” Elsa-May said.

“About your
grossdaddi,
Jonah,” Ettie added.

“What? Tell me.”

“Your
grossdaddi
didn’t leave the community; he ran away,” Elsa-May said.

Ettie picked up the story. “He ran away with the bishop’s
dochder,
who was betrothed to someone else.”

Bailey looked from one to the other. “Was the bishop’s daughter, my grandmother?”

They both nodded.

“So, they were both shunned?” Bailey asked.

“Your
grossmammi
was shunned; she’d been baptized into the community, but your
grossdaddi
hadn’t,” Elsa-May said.

“She was the bishop’s only
dochder,
and her
mudder
never recovered from her
dochder
leaving her and never being able to speak to her again,” Ettie said

“What happened to my
grossmammi?”
Bailey had no memory of her and his grandfather had told him that she had died many years ago, but he never said how she died.

“Died in childbirth while giving birth to your
mudder,”
Ettie said with a kindly hand on his shoulder.

“When the bishop’s wife found out, she cursed your
grossdaddi
and his whole family,” Elsa-May said.

Bailey frowned. “I thought the Amish were a forgiving people?”

“She was consumed with uncontrollable grief. Some say that she went mad,” Elsa-May said.

Bailey thought about the bishop who had helped ease him into the community and given him encouragement. “Is this current bishop related to the old one?”

Elsa-May said, “When the old bishop died, lots are cast between the ministers and the lot fell on the current bishop. As you should know, Bailey, that’s the way things are done.”

Bailey thought back to his instruction, his lessons of Amish life he’d been given. He vaguely remembered something about Amish
menner
having to be willing to take up leadership positions in the community if the lot fell on them. Being a former
Englischer
he knew he would never hold such a position, so he hadn’t taken much notice of that aspect of the instruction. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“We didn’t want you to think that you might be cursed,” Elsa-May said jutting out her bottom jaw.

Bailey grunted. “Might explain a few things. It certainly explains why my grandfather stayed away from the community.”

Ettie shook her head. “
Nee
, he would not have wanted to show his face around these parts.”

“Not after stealing away the bishop’s
dochder
. James Byler, the man she was to marry, was devastated as well, but he married a couple of years later,” Elsa-May said.

Bailey looked back to the newspaper articles again. There were witnesses who heard this man threaten his father and his father’s family. There were other prisoners who came forward and some of your father’s fellow workers at the prison who heard the man threaten your father. Maybe the man had come to his house to kill his father and his family as he had threatened. It was possible that his father was protecting his family and had to kill the man in self-defense. Maybe fear led his father to threaten Bailey and lock him in a cupboard. Bailey screwed up his face. Whatever way he looked at it, he found it hard to excuse his father for what he had done to him.

It was possible that his father was protecting his family and had to kill the man in self-defense. Maybe fear led him to threaten Bailey and lock him in a cupboard. Bailey screwed up his face. Whatever way he looked at it, he found it hard to excuse his father for such cruelty.

Bailey lowered the articles and looked up at his two aunts. “Grandfather stole away the bishop’s daughter, who then died in childbirth having my mother. My mother married my father who had a bad temper and was a Corrections Officer who killed a man in apparent self-defense.” Bailey looked at Ettie and Elsa-May.

“Tea?” Ettie said.

“
Ach
, that will fix everything,” Elsa-May said sarcastically and pulled a face at her
schweschder.

Bailey laughed and said, “I’ll need something stronger than tea, Ettie. My father had a violent temper it appears and was a very hard man. I wonder how my mother managed to cope with it all? She never mentioned growing up without a mother and how it had affected her. It must have affected her in many ways. My grandfather told me nothing about my grandmother.”

“Too much pain, too many secrets,” Ettie said.

“You two kept secrets from me,” Bailey said.

“They weren’t ours to tell, Bailey,” Elsa-May said.

“I wonder if I’m cursed.” Bailey slumped down in the chair. “Cursed by my own great grandmother.”

“Go and see the bishop,” Ettie suggested.

Bailey nodded slowly. “I think that will be my next stop.”

Bailey said goodbye to his aunts and stopped by the bishop’s place, hoping the bishop might be free to speak to him.

The bishop was free, and Bailey sat and told him all that had happened to him in the past and all that he was troubled by. “So, do you think that I could be cursed, me and my future
kinner
? Are things like that real?”

The bishop rubbed his dark
baard
between his thumb and his forefinger. “Our teachings are that whoever does not obey their father and mother will be condemned and lost. The Scripture says to obey your father and mother, so all will be well with you. You have confessed your sins, Bailey, and
Gott
has counted you as righteous, as a sheep that has gone astray and has wandered back into the fold. You are not accountable for the sins of any of your relatives.”

“I see, but what about a curse? Ettie said that the old bishop’s wife cursed my
grossmammi
and her descendants.”

“The Scripture says we are to bless those who curse us.”

“I know, but you see, the lady’s dead now, the old bishop’s
fraa
, but would her curse live on?”

The bishop chuckled. “What has happened to you is just life. The rain falls on the just and the unjust. Submit yourself to
Gott
and trust in Him. Whatever happens to you from there on, is
Gott’s
will.”

The bishop stared at Bailey for a moment. “Let me read something to you from Matthew.” He took up his large, black Bible and flipped through the pages. “Here we are, it’s in Matthew five, verses forty four and forty five.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”
The bishop closed his Bible.

Bailey was not used to having his questions answered by Scriptures. “So, whatever comes my way, have love and forgiveness in my heart?”

The bishop put his index finger high in the air. “You’ve got it.”

Bailey laughed and felt like a load had lifted from him. He realized he probably should have come to see the bishop with his problems a lot earlier.

The bishop held up the Bible in his left hand. “There is power in these words. These words are the word of
Gott.
The word of
Gott
is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The bishop chuckled again. “They aren’t just words, Bailey. When you feel weak, read the word of
Gott
and He will give you strength.”