Amish Regrets (Amish Secret Widows' Society #4) (8 page)

Her mother leaped to her feet and put the letters behind her back. “He’s an
Englischer.
You’ve been speaking of love to an
Englischer
. No wonder Sabrina got herself into trouble. I knew you’d be behind this somewhere. It’s your fault that Sabrina got involved with that terrible man; I told
dat
that
it would be all your fault.”

Silvie grabbed the letters out of her
mudder’s
hands.

Sabrina said, “It’s nothing to do with Silvie. She didn’t even know that I was seeing him. She’s been nothing but
gut
to me.”

“
Mudder,
you are welcome to stay the night, but tomorrow first thing, I am putting you in a taxi and you are going back home on the Greyhound bus.”

Her mother
gasped. “Your
mudder
is not welcome in your home? I’ve never heard such a thing. My bus tickets are for the day after tomorrow.”

“Well, I’m sure they can be changed.” Silvie left her
mudder
and
schweschder
staring at her open-mouthed as she stomped into the kitchen. Silvie had never spoken angrily to either of them.

Sabrina ran after her. “Are you alright, Silvie? I couldn’t stop her reading the letters. She found them in the writing bureau while we were speaking upstairs.”

“I know it’s not your fault. I’m just glad she’s going tomorrow,” Silvie said.

“You don’t mind if I stay on, do you?” Sabrina asked.

“
Nee
, not at all. You can stay.” Silvie was genuine in her response to Sabrina. She would rather live alone, but if it helped Sabrina start a new life then she was more than happy to help her.

“
Denke
. What a day it’s been. I get baptized and
mamm
comes here on the very same day. She must have missed her own gathering to come here,” Sabrina said while Silvie served the food for the midday meal.

Chapter 11.

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

knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth;

and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Matthew 7:7-8

Amidst her mother’s protests Silvie deposited her
mudder
safely in a taxi the next morning and went to visit Emma on the way home. She hoped Emma would be home and not off on one of her visits to town. Silvie breathed a sigh of relief to see Emma out the front of her
haus
sweeping the porch.

Emma looked up and waved at Silvie. She left the broom leaning against the side of the house and went to meet her. “Hello, Silvie. It was lovely to see Sabrina baptized yesterday.”

“That’s not all that happened yesterday.” Silvie secured her horse to the side fence rail.

“Come inside and tell me,” Emma said.

Silvie followed Emma inside the house.

“Now tell me what else happened. Mrs. Liante didn’t come back again, did she?” Emma asked once they were both seated comfortably in the living room.

“
Nee
, it was my
mudder.
She turned up on the doorstep, didn’t care that Sabrina had just been baptized and she chastised her for seeing a married man.”

“She shouldn’t have done it, but under these circumstances Sabrina must feel awful.”

“That’s not all.
Mamm
found and read the letters that Bailey wrote to me. She started to say horrid things to me. I’m sure she thinks what Sabrina did was my fault.”

Emma shook her head. “
Nee
, she wouldn’t think that.”

“
Jah
, she even said so. She said that she told my
dat
that it would be all my fault somehow. Anyway, I’ve just come from putting her in a taxi to take her to the bus station.”

Emma giggled. “That was a quick visit.”

“Too long for me. Anyway, the reason I’ve called in is because I’d like you to come with me to see Detective Crowley. He said that he’d go and see the lawyer who drew up the new will, Mr. Winters, and also the other lawyer, the one who did the old will. I’m anxious to know what he’s found out.”

“
Jah
, I’ll come with you.”

Silvie knew that Emma would be reluctant to go and see Crowley as she was always saying to Elsa-May that he made her feel uneasy; she was glad when Emma agreed to go with her.

“
Gut, denke.
Ride with me and I’ll bring you back home,” Silvie said.

Silvie was grateful to have a friend like Emma. She could have asked Maureen, but Maureen was working. Emma did not have to work because she lived on the money she received from leasing out her farm to Bob Pluver.

“I’ll make us a pot of tea before we go?” Emma asked.

A wave of relaxation came over Silvie. “I’d love a cup.”

“Come with me to the kitchen.”

While Silvie sat at Emma’s long kitchen table, she wondered if she would ever plan another wedding as Emma was. “Are you excited about your wedding, Emma?”

Emma had already put the kettle on the stove and now she was fixing the tealeaves. “I think I am getting a little excited. It’s a new beginning. Wil decided not to build us a
haus
. He’s been looking for one that we can buy and re-build to suit us.”

“It’d be nice to have a man around all the time, one you can rely on.”

“It can’t be easy for you and Bailey, especially since you don’t know for sure whether he will join the community,” Emma said.

“It is hard, but there’s no one in the community for me, so it’s not as if I’m passing other
menner
up while I’m waiting for him.” Silvie gave a little giggle.

“I have you in my prayers.”

“
Denke
, Emma. You and Wil are always in mine too.”

Emma smiled. “Everything will work out for you, just you wait and see.”

Silvie slouched and her shoulders drooped. “Things haven’t been easy lately with Sabrina and her problems. I mean, she’s not the easiest person to be around without the entire recent goings on. Then with
mamm
coming, I felt that I would explode. Have you ever felt like that?”

Emma sat down next to Silvie and placed the teacups on the table. “I didn’t ask; I just gave you chamomile. It’s calming on your nerves.”

“
Denke
.”

“To answer your question,
jah
, I’ve often felt like that. Sometimes when one bad thing happens it seems to lead to another then another. Sometimes there seems no end in sight.” Emma took a sip of tea.

“How do you cope with problems, Emma? You always seem so serene and at peace.”

Emma gave a laugh. “I think about the tide. When I’m going through tough times, I tell myself that the tide is out. But you know what? The tide always comes back in. The further out it has been, the further it has to come back in.”

“Like the tide of the seaside?” Silvie asked.

“
Jah
, the tide of the seaside. Tough times never last; you just have to wait for them to stop and then the good times will come back to you.”

“
Denke
, Emma. I’ll look at things that way. My tide is way out at the moment; I’ll hope for the change.”

“Cookies?” Emma asked.

“Thought you’d never ask.”

Emma brought a plate of cookies out of the cold box and placed it on the table.

Two cookies each, a cup of tea and a buggy ride into town later, they were in Detective Crowley’s office.

“Morning ladies, have a seat. I guess you ladies are here for an update?” Once both ladies agreed that’s what they were there for the detective continued, “I saw Mr. Winters early this morning and I saw Mr. Piper, Carmello’s original lawyer, on Friday. Mr. Piper had no knowledge of a new will and had no idea why he chose a different lawyer to draw the will up and he appeared offended. Mr. Winters didn’t have much information for me; he did confirm all that he had already told you, Silvie.”

Both ladies looked at each other. “Are there any updates on anything?” Silvie asked.

“Mrs. Liante is out of the hospital and the funeral for her husband is on Wednesday. That’s the only update I have so far. Except that the business partner turned up on Friday afternoon. He was called out of town on the very day that Carmello died. Claims that it was last minute and that he let Carmello know, mid-morning. Carmello was to pass it on to the rest of the staff that he’d be gone for a time, but he didn’t have a chance, did he?”

“Why was he out of town?” Emma asked.

“Claims his father was sick in hospital in Cleveland. We’re looking into his story now.”

“Sabrina said they fought quite a bit. Did you know that?” Silvie asked.

The detective scratched the side of his head with a pencil. “Yes, I heard that when I was at Elsa-May and Ettie’s place. According to him, they didn’t have any major fights or arguments, just very minor disagreements. He wasn’t aware of the angry client who Carmello bought the property out from underneath of. He knew nothing about the purchase and he was not involved in the company that purchased it.”

“You don’t think that he’s a possible suspect in Carmello’s death?” Emma asked.

“We’ll have to wait until we check out his story about his father being in hospital. I’ve got people looking into it. I’ll know later today.”

“Is there anything at all that we can do to help?” Silvie asked.

The detective leaned back in his swivel chair and crossed his arms. “You ladies are not to go around poking your noses in. I don’t mind hearing what gossip you might have overheard, but I do not want you sticking your noses where they don’t belong.” He looked deliberately and slowly from one lady to the other. “Stick to baking cookies. I’m going to the funeral on Wednesday. That’s generally a good place to get some leads and find out what’s really going on.”

“Mrs. Liante doesn’t mind you going?” Emma asked.

“She doesn’t know. I’ll just show up and observe goings on. Generally in a murder case, people like to surmise. I’ll be around to hear their theories and assumptions over who murdered him. Let Elsa-May know that I’ll be around to visit you ladies at her place at seven sharp, Wednesday.”

“Wednesday evening? It’s only Monday. Is there some little, tiny thing that we can do in the mean time? ” Silvie asked.

Emma nodded in agreement and said, “We’ll feel useless if we sit around and wait for Wednesday night.”

The detective was silent for a while. “No, can’t think of one thing that either of you ladies can do. Leave it to the professionals. If you want to try and figure things out take a look at this.” The detective handed them a sheet of paper that had been lying to one side of his desk. “These are Carmello’s movements on the last day of his life. There has to be a clue in there somewhere; he had to have ingested the poison that day.” The detective rose to his feet. “Let me know if you find anything out.”

Chapter 12.

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

Hebrews 11:8

Silvie and Emma left the detective’s office and went straight to Elsa-May and Ettie’s
haus
to tell them to expect the detective on Wednesday night. Wednesday night was often the night that the widows got together anyway.

“I’m stumped,” Elsa-May said. “I have no idea who might have killed him. I think there might be a clue in his changing the will; that was a fairly big move. We should look at finding out who knew about the change.”

Ettie moved to the edge of her chair. “Why did he change lawyers too?”

“I nearly forgot,” Silvie said. “The detective gave us this.” She pulled out the piece of paper and handed it to Elsa-May. “Everything he did on that last day is listed. Crowley must have got the information from Carmello’s secretary or his work diary.”

Elsa-May’s eyes scanned the piece of paper. “He started at nine, made an appointment with Mr. Winter, then he made two other phone calls. After he went to Mr. Winters office, he came back and had back to back appointments until 5 p.m.”

Ettie said, “Now Silvie, I think you should have Sabrina go talk to Miss Scotsdale and Miss Tobrill. See what she can find out. She would have a common bond with them since it seems they all had a close relationship with Mr. Liante.”

“Do you think she should?” Silvie asked. “She’s very emotional at the moment.”

“You could do it then, Silvie. Pretend to be Sabrina, no one will know. Neither of these women would have met Sabrina. Besides, you’re closer to Carmello’s age. I heard he was in his late thirties,” Elsa-May said.

Silvie lowered her head. What other things did she have to endure? Normally she would not have minded doing anything she had to do in the course of an investigation, but all this was a little too close to home.

Ettie said, “Elsa-May’s got a
gut
idea. Sabrina might make a mess of things because she’s too emotional; she might forget what they say. I think you should go, Silvie.”

Silvie shrugged her shoulders. “All right, I’ll do it.” She agreed for two reasons. There was no use arguing with Elsa-May, and Sabrina was in no mental state to pull something like that off.

Ettie walked slowly over to the top drawer of the dresser and pulled out a piece of paper. “These are the two girls’ addresses.”

Silvie took the paper from Ettie; she didn’t bother to ask how she got the addresses. She knew that Ettie was a whiz at finding things out. She most likely made a trip to the electoral office and talked them into giving her the information.

“Visit one tonight and one tomorrow. That way you can spread it out a little.” Elsa-May suggested.

“You can even wear your own clothing this time. Since Sabrina is Amish and if they have heard of her, it won’t be odd,” Ettie added with a wide smile crinkling the lines in her cheeks even further.

“I don’t have to work today, but I do have to work tomorrow afternoon. I’ll guess I’ll go visit one of them tonight and the other in the morning,” Silvie said.

“That’s the way,” Elsa-May said.

Silvie rose to her feet. “I’d better get Emma home and get back home myself and see what Sabrina is up to.”

On the way to Emma’s house, Silvie said to Emma, “You were very quiet back there.”

“I was feeling a little tense for you having to go and see those two women, the two previous girl friends of Carmello, pretending to be Sabrina.”

Silvie shrugged her shoulders. “I’ll try not to think about it. I’ll just do it.”

“What if they’re angry?” Emma asked.

“They shouldn’t be angry. They got money in the will so I’d think they’d be pretty happy about that. They wouldn’t know that he was close to signing a new will leaving it all to Sabrina. Or, do you think that they might still be in love with Carmello and think that Sabrina came between them?”

Emma nibbled on the end of a fingernail. “I don’t know, could be.”

Silvie pressed her lips tightly together and drew a deep breath inwards. “I’ll have to go and see, won’t I?”

Once Silvie told Sabrina that she was going to speak to Miss Scotsdale and Miss Tobrill, and why, Sabrina was grateful. Miss Scotsdale’s apartment was too far away to travel by buggy so Silvie would have to take a taxi. Silvie pulled the jam jar down from the very top shelf and counted out her money. Taxis were expensive and things had been a little tight with her uncertain hours at the bakery and the extra mouth to feed.

“Here you are, Silvie.”

Silvie looked up to see that Sabrina had a fist full of notes in her outstretched hand.

“Where did you get that money from?”

“I saved it from raising chickens back home. Take it.”

Silvie looked at the money she had counted out and it was enough to get to where she was going in a taxi, but may not have been enough for her to get back home. She looked back at Sabrina. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I am. You’re doing it for me after all.”

Silvie took the money. “
Denke,
Sabrina. I didn’t know that you raised chickens. You could do that here. We could build a pen out the back. We’ve got just enough room, if we transplant the vegetables closer to the fence.”

“
Jah
, I’d like that, and I’ll get a job as well.”

A horn blew from outside their
haus
. It was the taxi that Ettie had booked and it was right on time.

“Pray for me, Sabrina. I’m nervous.”

“I will.”

While the taxi drove towards Miss Scotsdale’s house, Silvie played over in her mind how she thought things would happen when she got there.

She would take a deep breath, lift up her heavy hand and knock on the door of Miss Scotsdale’s apartment.

“Hello?” The woman would say, as she looked Silvie up and down wondering who she was.

Silvie would respond with, “Are you Miss Scotsdale?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t know me, but I’m Sabrina Tildy.
”
Silvie would burst into fake tears right on cue.

“What’s the matter?” Miss Scotsdale would most likely ask.

Silvie would look at her through the tears in her eyes. “Have you heard about Carmello?”

“Yes, did you know him too?”

“I was his girlfriend.” Silvie would crank her crying up a notch to gain the woman’s sympathy.

“Oh dear. Don’t cry, come inside.”

Silvie would walk into the apartment.

“Please sit down.”

Silvie would sit and then say, “I’m sorry to come here unexpectedly like this, it’s just that Carmello used to speak of you and I feel like I know you.”

The woman would smile, flattered that Carmello would still speak of her – think of her. “He spoke of me?”

Silvie would nod and at that point Miss Scotsdale would rise from her seat and fetch Silvie some tissues.

“Thank you,” Silvie would say, and then ask, “Were you Carmello’s girlfriend too? I know you worked for him.”

Then Miss Scotsdale would proceed to tell her all about her relationship with Carmello and hopefully other information that Silvie could use so the widows and Detective Crowley might be able to figure out who murdered Carmello Liante.

Fifteen minutes later, Silvie stood outside Miss Scotsdale’s door for real. She knocked on the door, just as she had imagined. The door opened and instead of Miss Tobrill, a young man stood there, in front of her.

“Can I help you?” he asked, as he looked Silvie up and down just as she had imagined that Miss Scotsdale would.

“Is Miss Scotsdale home?”

“She’s in New Zealand meeting Ryan’s parents. They decided to get married just last week. Are you a friend of Carmen’s?”

“No, I don’t really know her. Ryan’s her boyfriend?”

The man nodded. “Yes.” He reached out his hand. “I’m Chad, Carmen’s brother.”

Silvie shook his hand and felt relaxed by his kind smile. “What do you want with her? Was she thinking of running away to join the Amish at some stage?” Before Silvie could answer, he added, “She’s always doing something crazy.”

“I’m here to tell her some distressing news. I’m not sure if she’s heard, but her old boss was murdered.”

“Liante?”

Silvie nodded.

The man stepped back into the apartment. “Come in.”

All of a sudden Silvie felt lightheaded. Under no other circumstances would she enter an apartment with an unknown
Englischer,
but if she didn’t what chance would she have of finding out any other information?

Just as she had imagined, Silvie was asked to have a seat, but this time there were no tears in her eyes and no Miss Scotsdale.

“What is your interest in my sister and Mr. Liante?”

Silvie remembered she was still masquerading as her sister, Sabrina. “I was in a relationship with Mr. Liante before he was murdered. Do you know that he left a portion of his wealth to your sister?”

“Bad news, I’m sorry to hear it. Carmen did hear of his death. He told her that he would leave her something, but she didn’t know whether to believe it or not. She certainly wasn’t relying on it or anything.” He leaned back in the chair and placed his right ankle across his left knee. “They had a relationship back when she was working for him. The wife found out and made him fire her. She sued him for sexual harassment out of revenge for being dumped and then he talked her in to dropping the suit.”

“Did you ever meet him?” Silvie asked out of interest.

“I met him briefly once. He seemed a decent sort of character, except for the fact that he was married while he was having a relationship with Carmen. It was her life; who was I to tell her what to do?”

Silvie tried to think of more questions.

“Who killed him?” he asked.

Silvie shrugged her shoulders. “They don’t know yet.

“Carmen should be back in a week. Shall I have her call you?”

“Do you know of anyone who wished Carmello harm? Did your sister ever mention anything?”

Chad was silent for a while, then shook his head. “It’s a wonder I haven’t had a visit from the cops.”

“I think you will very shortly,” Silvie said. “But please, don’t mention to them that I was here. They think I’m meddling and they’ll get angry with me again. I’m just trying to help them, but they don’t see it that way.”

Silvie stood up and Chad stood up as well.

Chad said, “I won’t say anything. Anyway, Carmen’s the one they would want to speak with. I know nothing.”

Silvie managed a smile. “You’ve been very helpful. Could you do one more thing for me?”

“What’s that?”

“Call me a taxi?”

On the way home, Silvie thought over everything that Chad had said. He really did not give her any new information except that Carmen sued Carmello out of revenge and that Mrs. Liante had found out about their affair. Silvie closed her eyes and dozed for the rest of the drive home.