Читать книгу Lancaster County Reckoning - Kit Wilkinson - Страница 13

THREE

“Chief McClendon.” Thomas shook hands with the Lancaster head of police. They had met before during another stressful time in Thomas’s life, when his own niece had been murdered. And while most Amish didn’t have much to do with government or law enforcement agencies of any sort, Thomas had a healthy respect for the chief. McClendon had always kept his family’s confidences and respected their boundaries. Right now, Thomas had a sense that the chief would be helping him again through whatever was going on with Jesse and Jesse’s long-lost daughter.

“This is Darcy Simmons.” Thomas moved his eyes quickly between her and McClendon. “And she is...well, she is Jesse Troyer’s daughter.”

“Oh.” McClendon turned to Darcy, taking in her fancy clothes. “I guess you left the fold.”

Darcy looked taken aback.

“She was not born or raised Amish,” Thomas answered for her. “Jesse came to the Ordnung later in life.”

“Oh, I see.” McClendon frowned. “So I understand Mr. Troyer was badly beaten?”

“We hope he will pull through, but it’s too early to know his status for certain,” Thomas replied quickly, wanting to keep Darcy focused on the positive.

She looked well past the point of exhaustion. Her hands shook. Her eyes were swollen. She seemed so horribly...alone.

“I’ll need to ask you a few questions about your...well, about Jesse,” McClendon said to Darcy. “And about what happened earlier today.”

She nodded.

“You add in anything in that might be helpful,” McClendon said to Thomas. “I understand you were both there?”

“I arrived first,” Darcy said, explaining how she and Jesse had planned for her to come at noon. “When I got there no one answered at the door, and I noticed it was cracked open. Then Thomas came. We went in together and found that someone had torn the place apart. Then we discovered Jesse upstairs on the floor. Thomas called 911. And then—then I got this strange phone call.”

Thomas exhaled a sigh of relief, pleased that she’d overcome her hesitation and decided to share the truth with the police chief.

“How do you mean, strange?” McClendon asked.

Darcy quoted the caller verbatim. McClendon scratched his head. “And you have no idea who would have sent you a threatening message?”

“No.” She shook her head.

“You didn’t recognize the voice?”

“It was modified. Computerized. It didn’t sound natural.”

“Did either of you see anyone coming or going from the area around the house?”

They both shook their heads.

“Did you see anything unusual or missing?”

“It was impossible to tell. The place was wrecked.”

“Right. We sent a team over to Mr. Troyer’s place to investigate. But they won’t know what or if anything is missing. Then again, based on this phone call you’re telling me about, it seems likely that the caller didn’t find what he wanted at Jesse’s home.”

Thomas nodded. That made sense. Whatever the man from the phone call was after, he’d probably tried to get Jesse to reveal where it was first. When that hadn’t worked, he’d tried searching the house for it himself. When that failed, he’d threatened Darcy. But how had he known about Darcy? That was still a puzzle.

“So, you’re from Philadelphia?” McClendon asked her.

“Originally, I’m from Virginia. But I’ve lived in the Philadelphia area since college. I work as a buyer for Winnefords department store.”

“You live alone?”

She nodded. “I have a small town house in the suburbs.”

“You work in the city?”

“Mostly. I travel to New York a lot.”

McClendon flipped through his notes. “Now, what was your relationship with your father?”

“We...didn’t have a relationship until recently.”

The chief looked up at that. “None at all? Was it a custody issue?”

“No, it was... To be honest, I’m not really sure what it was. I was raised by my mother’s parents. They blamed Jesse for my mother’s death, so maybe that’s why they told me my father had died when I was a baby. They didn’t want anything to do with him.”

“And when did you find out the truth?”

“About a month ago. Jesse sent me a letter, and we met for the first time a week later.”

“Did you tell anyone that you were coming to Willow Trace today? Did anyone of your acquaintance know about Jesse and your recent discovery that he is your father?”

“No. No one knew I was coming. Only Jesse. And I hadn’t told anyone about him contacting me, other than my grandparents. But they didn’t want to discuss it.”

McClendon looked to Thomas, who hoped the questions were nearly over. Darcy looked ready to collapse.

“She’s told you everything as it happened,” Thomas said, hoping to head off any more questions.

“Has she?” the chief asked. “So you can confirm what she’s said about the letter and meeting with Jesse? He told you about his daughter?”

Thomas flushed. “Well...no, actually, today was the first I heard of it.”

“Do you consider yourself close to Mr. Troyer?”

“Ja, of course. We have been neighbors for twenty years.”

“And he never mentioned a daughter? Not even in the past few weeks?”

“No,” Thomas admitted. “He has spoken of his wife and I knew she had died, but there was never mention of a daughter.” Thomas couldn’t deny that the situation was strange. There were so many things that didn’t make sense. And the only people with answers were the threatening man from the phone call and Jesse, who might never wake up again.

But Thomas believed that Darcy was being honest with them. Her shock and horror at Jesse’s attack had been real. And so was her fear at the phone call.

“It must be related—the beating and the phone call,” Thomas said. “Don’t you think? It was almost like the caller was watching us. Like he knew exactly when to call.”

“So what’s your theory on why anyone would want to beat up a nice Amish man and threaten his daughter?” McClendon asked.

Thomas shook his head slightly. For that he had no answer. “I cannot even imagine who would want to hurt Jesse. He’s just a sweet old Amish fellow who minds his own business.”

“You said he’s been your neighbor for twenty years. Where did he live before?”

Thomas took off his hat and scratched his head. “I don’t recall. That would be a question for the bishop.”

Could all this be tied to Jesse’s past? Jesse’s life before he came to Willow Trace? But that was so long ago. Even if he had enemies from decades in the past, why would they come to trouble him now?

Thomas shifted his weight and kept one eye on the door. He was on the lookout for his friend Elijah. Earlier he had asked the ER staff to notify not only the bishop and leader of the Ordnung about the beating, but also his friend, who had spent many years in the Englisch world working as a police detective before returning to his Amish roots. Thomas hoped Elijah’s experience with police investigations could help them.

McClendon continued questioning Darcy. “Do you give the police permission to track your incoming phone calls? In the case this happens again?”

“Of course. You can have my phone if that helps you find whoever did this to Jesse,” she said, handing over her phone.

Thomas saw Elijah Miller enter through the waiting room doors and walked over to greet him. He met his good friend with a hearty handshake. “Are you a sight for sore eyes. Here. Come. McClendon is speaking to her.”

“Chief,” Elijah said as they joined Darcy and McClendon. “And you must be Miss Simmons. The whole Ordnung is praying for Jesse. And I’m here to help in any way I can.”

Darcy seemed confused as she looked over Elijah and took in his Amish dress but somewhat Englisch mannerisms and speech, which Thomas had learned that his friend could turn on and off depending on what the situation might call for.

“Eli is a former detective,” Thomas explained.

“Well, I’m just a farmer now, Miss Simmons. But I worked for ten years on the force in Philly, before coming back home,” he said.

Darcy nodded.

“I just came from the cottage,” Elijah said. “There was a team of investigators. So far, they seem to have no leads on who attacked Jesse. Jesse lived plain. Very plain. There was nothing in his home that anyone would want to steal. But there was a business card with Miss Simmons’s personal information and number. We found that on the floor with a few papers and some old pictures.”

“Well, that could be how they got your number,” McClendon said, turning to Darcy. “But that doesn’t explain how they would know you’re Jesse’s daughter.”

“There was a letter there from Darcy,” Elijah said. “I didn’t read it. I think it was marked into evidence with the photos.”

“Photos?” Thomas repeated. “I can’t imagine Jesse having photos. It’s verboten.”

“Forbidden,” Elijah said, translating. “But if they were his only tie to his daughter for all these years maybe he kept them anyway. Or maybe he just got them recently.”

Still, pictures? Thomas’s head spun with doubts and confusion. This did not sound like the Jesse that he knew.

“In the morning,” Elijah continued, “a few of us are planning to meet up at Jesse’s and help put the place back together. It’s quite a mess.”

“I’ll be there.” Thomas shook Elijah’s hand.

“Miss Simmons—” Elijah tipped his hat “—I hope you hear some good news very soon.”

“Thank you.” Darcy nodded and finished up answering a few more questions from the chief.

Thomas walked Elijah from the waiting area.

“Thank you for coming.” He shook his friend’s hand. “It is gut to have someone who can help us make sense of these things. Not that I can see any sense in the harm that was done to Jesse. He was really beat up. And you heard about the phone call to Darcy?”

“No.” Eli looked grim. “What phone call?”

Thomas filled Elijah in on every detail. “If only Jesse could tell us what this is all about.”

“I think Darcy should take that threat seriously after what happened to Jesse. But what could Jesse have that would be worth nearly killing him over?”

“That is what I keep asking myself over and over,” Thomas said. “Do you remember when Jesse moved here? You and I wanted to go to his cottage every day after chores and play baseball or lawn croquet.”

“I remember.” Elijah laughed then stopped abruptly.

“Do you remember if he ever said where he came from?”

“No. I don’t guess I ever really thought about it too much. He always just fit in. Like he’d been here forever.”

“But he wasn’t,” Thomas said. “And he’s got a full-grown Englisch daughter to prove it.”

“Maybe the Elders know. They must know something about his past from when they accepted him in to the Ordnung. I could ask my father.”

“Would you? But would he even be able to tell you anything?” Thomas wondered if that was the right thing to do. “I mean it’s one thing for us to know he has a daughter. It’s another for us to know the whole story behind their past and their separation.”

“I’m sure if Jesse thought that his daughter was in danger, he’d want us to help, no?” Elijah patted him on the back. “And we can help a lot more if we know more.”

“But if we interfere then are we leaving it up to God?”

“God will work through all of us. We will either get the answers or we won’t.”

“Okay. I’ll see you at the cottage at noon tomorrow.”

Elijah smiled. “All will be well.”

All will be well. In God’s time.

Thomas returned to the waiting room. McClendon had gone. Darcy had reseated herself on the other side of the room and did not look as if she wanted company. He could respect that. She had gone through a lot in one day. He imagined Darcy was barely holding it together.

Thomas slumped down into a seat that he decided looked the least uncomfortable. He lowered his hat over his eyes and let his chin rest on his chest.

Secret daughter? Jesse attacked and left for dead? Threats that he has something that belonged to someone else? Thomas just couldn’t wrap his head around it. It was as if the Jesse he’d always known was someone else entirely. Images of Jesse swam in Thomas’s head as he drifted off to sleep...

* * *

“Hey, man, wake up.”

Thomas sat up fast. There was a horrible pain in his back and neck. Dr. Blake Jamison of the ER stood over him, looking like he hadn’t slept in days. Thomas checked the clock on the wall.

“Seven thirty?” He stood and rubbed his neck. “Last I saw, it was midnight. I guess I fell asleep.”

“Glad somebody did.” Blake glanced over toward Darcy. “Is that Jesse’s daughter? I have news.”

“Ja. Come.” Thomas shook the ache from his stiff bones and led his doctor friend across the large waiting area. He hoped and prayed that Blake had good news.

“Darcy, this is Dr. Jamison.” Thomas cleared the sleep from his voice. “Blake is the head of the ER here. He’s been with Jesse.”

A brief smile brushed over Darcy’s lips. The lipstick had worn away and her lips were no longer stained with color. Plain and unpainted, they looked even lovelier to him than before. She shook hands with Blake. “So, how is Jesse?”

Blake rubbed a thumb and forefinger over his scruffy stubble. It was clear he’d been at work for hours. “Well, he’s still with us. He made it through the night. The last procedure seemed to stop the rest of the internal bleeding.”

Thomas let out a sigh of relief.

“I get the sense that you led with the good news,” Darcy said shrewdly.

Blake gave her a tired smile. “You’d be right. I’m afraid not all of my news is good.”

“So what is the bad news?” she asked.

“Jesse has slipped into a coma.”