Kathryn “Kappy” King is happy being a plain-spoken unmarried odd-woman-out in her Pennsylvania Amish hometown. Her talent is making the special kapps local women use to cover their hair. But her skill at uncovering trouble in this quiet valley is about to be truly tested....
At first, young Sally June Esh's tragic death doesn't look like murder. Even in peaceful Blue Sky, collisions between buggies and Englisch cars aren’t unheard of. Still, the Eshes are skilled drivers used to delivering their popular pickles for miles around. And after Kappy notices Sally's buggy was deliberately run off the road, her ex-Amish friend Edie gets strange texts saying the crash was no accident....
Kappy won't let her community's silence keep justice from being done. And even though a still-shunned Edie thinks of moving back to the city, she and Kappy start rooting out secrets about the Eshes' long-time neighbors—and new pickle-producing rivals. But when they learn that Sally's brother is secretly courting an Englisch girl, their investigation takes a disturbing turn....
Release date:
June 26, 2018
Publisher:
Zebra Books
Print pages:
352
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A car horn honked outside. Well, honked was a kind word. It was more like the driver pressed the wheel and didn’t stop.
“I’m coming!” Kappy called, though there was no way Edie could hear her.
She let Elmer, her beagle pup, out the back door. “And stay in the yard this time,” she called, but the puppy didn’t even break stride.
Yesterday, Kappy had filled all the holes that Elmer had dug, even the ones around the small fence she and Edie had put up to keep the pup from roaming across the valley. The dog liked to dig. And get out of the yard. Hopefully, today he would behave, but she wasn’t counting on it.
Kathryn King, otherwise known as Kappy since as long as anyone could remember, grabbed her purse, checked her prayer kapp in the mirror in the living room, then locked the door behind her.
Finally, Edie took her hand off the horn and silence filled the air. For about a second and a half.
“Kappy, would you hurry? You know how Jimmy gets when I’m late to pick him up.”
Kappy grumbled to herself and hustled to the car. “Is it my fault that you’re late picking me up?”
Edie barely made sure the door was closed before putting the car in reverse to back out of the drive. “You were supposed to be ready.”
“I was ready. Fifteen minutes ago.”
Edie waved away her protests. “It’s okay.” She turned the car onto the main road and headed toward the Peachey Bait Shop.
“Tell me again why you thought Jimmy should go to work at Mose’s shop.”
“He needs to get out more. I worry about him. I mean, the only time he goes anywhere is church.” She shrugged, her off-the-shoulder top slipping a little farther down her arm. “And sometimes to the grocery store. He needs to socialize.”
“I’m not sure working at the bait shop can be considered socializing.”
Edie cast her an exasperated look. “It’s a start.”
“Jah.” Kappy turned to face front, the glare of the sun off Edie’s bright-pink outfit almost more than her eyes could take.
If anyone saw her, they would never know that Edie Peachey had once been Amish. Or that she had only recently returned to take care of her special-needs brother. Jimmy Peachey had Down syndrome, but all Kappy really knew was that he was one of the sweetest people she had ever met. Despite her new responsibilities, Edie looked carefree, bohemian even. At least Kappy thought that was the word. Or maybe it was eclectic. That one was on her word-a-day calendar, and she knew it applied.
Edie seemed to wear whatever was at hand. Kappy wasn’t sure if the clothes actually went together or not, but one thing was certain: Edie didn’t dress like the other Englisch women Kappy knew. Not that she knew many.
“It gets him out of the house a couple of days a week. And I think it gives him a sense of importance.”
“He can’t get that from taking care of the puppies?”
After her mother died, Edie had inherited more than the care of her brother. She had also gained her mother’s beagle-breeding business. For a while, it seemed as if Edie would return to her life among the Englisch, but after working side by side with Kappy to uncover the truth behind her mother’s death, Edie had decided to stay. For a time, at least. She hadn’t wanted to take Jimmy away from his friends and support system. Not after just losing their mother. But Kappy wondered if Edie was as unhappy with the Englisch as she had been with the Amish. Not that Edie would ever admit such a thing.
“No,” Edie finally said. “Taking care of the puppies is not a challenge for him. This way he’s learning all about bait and fishing poles and a whole bunch of other sportsman things like that.”
Kappy nodded. “I see. This is about a father figure.”
Edie sent her a shocked look. “Of course not.”
Then why would Mose, who had a fifteen-year-old son who helped him, need the help of a twenty-something, special-needs man?
Unless he was doing this as a favor to Edie “So how did you get Mose to talk to you?”
Edie sniffed. “He didn’t actually talk to me.” She gave another of those shirt-slipping shrugs. “Jimmy went in and talked to him.”
“Alone?”
“I was with him, of course.”
“Of course,” Kappy murmured, hiding her smile. All that meant was Edie had been behind Jimmy, feeding him lines while Mose pretended she wasn’t there. Oh, the joys of being shunned.
And Edie was shunned. She had joined the church, then left the Amish. Now she was back and unwilling to rejoin the church. But at least she was providing a steady home for her brother. In light of Jimmy’s trouble after their mother’s murder, Kappy was glad that Edie had decided to stay.
“What in the world?” Edie slowed the car, drawing Kappy’s attention to the road. Normally, she didn’t like to watch where they were going. Edie’s driving was a little . . . well, scary. She drove too fast as far as Kappy was concerned and seemed to take too many chances. Anytime Kappy said anything, Edie scoffed and laughed, leaving Kappy to pretend that they weren’t hurtling down the road in a dangerous car with an inattentive driver. No, that wasn’t the case at all.
A line of cars stretched in front of them as far as Kappy could see. They all had their back lights on, brake lights she thought they were called, indicating that they had all stopped for something. Hardly any traffic came from the other direction, and Kappy wondered if the two were connected. Were there cars backed up on the other side of the road, just farther down and out of sight?
“What’s happened?” Kappy asked.
Edie stuck her head out the window and craned around to better see. “I don’t know. An accident, I guess.” She reached for the radio knob, then pulled back with a sigh. “I guess we can’t listen to the traffic report and see if there’s any news.”
“Not until you have that bulb replaced,” Kappy returned.
“Fuse,” Edie corrected.
“Right.”
The radio in Edie’s car had gone out not long ago. And though Kappy didn’t know two cents’ worth about the details, she knew that it wouldn’t work.
Edie hung her head out the car window once more. “I can’t see anything but cars,” she complained. “A whole bunch of cars.” She gave the steering wheel a quick pound. “We are going to be so late.”
But being late wasn’t the real problem. It was how Jimmy would react to the fact they were late that was potentially troublesome.
“Maybe he’ll be okay,” Kappy murmured. She was trying to be encouraging, but Edie just shook her head.
“You weren’t with me the last time.” She shook her head some more. “He was not happy.”
“Maybe you should leave a little earlier,” Kappy suggested.
“Like I have any control over this.” She waved a hand toward the long line of cars.
True, with this sort of delay there was no way anyone was getting anywhere on time for a while.
“Why don’t you call Mose and tell him? Maybe if he prepares Jimmy, it won’t be such a surprise to his system.”
Edie tossed her an appreciative look. “Hey. That’s not a half-bad idea.” She fished her phone out of her purse and pulled up the number, setting the phone to call before she tossed it to Kappy. “You tell him.”
Kappy frowned, but couldn’t say anything as Mose picked up the phone at his bait shop.
They inched forward as Kappy explained the situation to Mose. The man was more than happy to help. Kappy promised to be there as soon as possible, then handed the phone back to Edie.
“Thanks,” Edie said, and pushed on the screen, effectively hanging up.
“With any luck that will help.”
Edie nodded. “With any luck,” she repeated. Though Kappy knew what she was thinking. They were backed up so badly, it was going to be a while before they got past and on the other side of whatever had happened.
“I really hope no one’s hurt,” Kappy murmured. She hadn’t planned on being gone this long. At the speed they were going and the fact that they would have to most likely take an alternate route back home, they could be gone over an hour. She said a quick prayer that God would help direct Elmer’s mischievous puppy steps and he would stay in the yard today and not dig his way out.
Then she immediately felt a little guilty. With all the problems in the world, she shouldn’t take up God’s time with her dog’s bad habits.
“I think we’re moving a little faster now,” Edie said, but Kappy couldn’t tell. “I wish I knew what was going on up there.”
“I don’t know,” Kappy murmured. With the way traffic was lined up and the number of cars barely inching forward, Kappy had a feeling whatever was ahead of them was pretty bad indeed.
But Edie was getting impatient. Kappy had grown used to most of Edie’s Englisch habits, but her urge to just . . . go was not one of them.
“We’ll get there soon enough.”
Edie shot her a look. “You sound like my mother when you say things like that.”
Kappy sniffed and smoothed a hand over her apron. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Edie laughed, shook her head, and turned her attention back front. “I think we’re moving better now.”
Not knowing how else to respond, Kappy nodded.
“Look.” Edie pointed to a spot up ahead.
Kappy saw the flashing lights of multiple emergency vehicles, but not what they were tending. Kappy counted three police cars, a fire truck, and two ambulances. A stretcher had been pulled out and whatever was on it had been covered with a sheet. “That looks serious.”
Oddly enough, the cars were moving a bit quicker, slowed only by the other drivers twisting their heads around to see everything of the accident.
And Kappy was certain of that now. This was definitely an accident.
“Maybe one of those big trucks turned over,” she said.
“Maybe,” Edie murmured, still trying to see what was in front of them.
Finally, they were close enough.
The yellow buggy was almost unrecognizable. Just the sight of it made Kappy gasp. That and the acrid smell of vinegar that rent the air. The buggy was turned over onto one side and off in the ditch. The back wheel that was up in the air was cracked in half, tilted like one of those crazy rides at the county fair. The buggy itself . . . well, Kappy only knew what it was because of its distinctive color.
“Holy cow,” Edie breathed.
“You can say that again.”
Only the gravity of the situation kept Edie from actually repeating it. Having traveled in carriages most of their lives, they both knew: Whoever had been in that carriage was hurt. Badly. If not—
“What is that smell?” Edie asked, pulling the wide neck of her shirt up to cover her mouth.
“Vinegar, I suppose.” At least that was what it smelled like. But why would this particular spot in the road smell any differently?
“From what?”
“Maybe the other vehicle was a vinegar truck?” Kappy speculated.
Edie rolled her eyes. “There is no such thing as a vinegar truck.”
“How am I supposed to know?”
But Edie had moved on to other issues. “Is that glass on the road?” She pointed in front of them where something sparkled like diamonds in the sun.
“I guess.” What else could it be?
“And . . .” Edie leaned over her steering wheel, squinting ahead of them as if that could help her see better. “Are those pickles?”
Stacked on the side of the road were several wooden cases, their contents a mystery except for the jars and jars of pickles littered around. Some had been turned upright, but still others lay willy-nilly as if they had been tossed aside. Or flung out when the car or whatever had rammed into the buggy. And not just any pickles, but the white church pickles Big Valley was known for. Kappy had never thought twice about the white pickles and the white cucumbers used to make them, but here with them lying all over the road and off in the grass, some in jars and others not . . . well, they were downright eerie.
“That looks really bad,” Kappy said. There was no horse to be seen. And no car. Or even a vinegar truck. Kappy looked even though Edie had already knocked out her theory. The other vehicle could have already been towed. And the horse . . . ? If the horse had managed to make it through the crash, someone could have already taken it to the large-animal vet clinic. But from the looks of the carriage . . .
They were almost past now. Kappy turned in her seat to look behind them. Cars still lined the highway as far as she could see. Vinegar, pickles, wooden crates. “It has to be Jonah Esh.”
Edie whirled around as if to get a better look.
“Turn around!” Kappy yelled. Edie’s driving was bad enough without her being distracted by pickles and broken buggies.
“Jonah Esh is just a kid.”
“He was a kid when you left. He’s seventeen or eighteen now.” If she was remembering right.
“And his family still makes pickles?”
“His mother has turned it into an empire,” Kappy said with a quick nod.
“A pickle empire?” Edie asked.
“Something like that.” At last, they were through the wreckage. Kappy was glad. Just the sight of all those pickles and that broken carriage was enough to give her chills.
Lord, please take care of those involved. Heal them and watch over them. Amen.
As far as prayers went it was quick and to the point, but she figured the victims in the accident could use every prayer they could get.
“That was a lot of pickles.” Edie glanced in her rearview mirror as if checking for pickles once again. They were a ghostly white against the darkness of the road.
“Jah,” Kappy whispered and faced front. She was beginning to get a little sick to her stomach turned around like that and driving faster than a buggy pace. Or maybe it was the stench of vinegar.
“I’m sure what happened will be all over the valley by dark.”
“Maybe,” Kappy said. She closed her eyes, almost haunted by the sight of the stretcher being loaded into the ambulance, pickles lying all over the place, and the strong smell of vinegar. And the broken buggy. Don’t forget that.
“We are never going to make it now.” Edie flipped one hand at the dash clock. They should have been at the shop ten minutes ago, and they had at least five minutes left before they arrived. Well, Kappy thought, anyway. She wasn’t practiced at determining arrival times in cars.
“Maybe he’ll be okay,” Kappy reassured her. And she hoped it was true.
That was the thing about Jimmy. He was as sweet as they came, but things could set him off. Kappy wasn’t sure why some things bothered him more than others. Like why he wouldn’t eat red foods. Ever since his mother died, things had been a little harder for him, but he was trying for Edie’s sake. Kappy was just glad that Edie had decided to stay in Blue Sky, allowing Jimmy to do the same.
But despite Jimmy’s usually positive and amicable attitude, Kappy could tell that Edie was concerned. Amicable. That was another one from her word-a-day calendar. It meant friendly, and that was one word that fit Jimmy Peachey for sure.
A thoughtful silence fell between them as they continued toward Mose Peachey’s bait shop.
“Oh, no.” The car started to slow as Edie whispered the words.
“What?” Kappy glanced at the dashboard as if somehow she could determine the problem, but Edie wasn’t staring at the car’s gauges, she was looking ahead, at the bait shop’s graveled parking lot.
Jimmy was out front, pacing back and forth, shaking his head. He held the fob on the alert necklace he wore in case of emergencies. Even from this distance, Kappy could tell that his face was creased with a frown of worry.
Edie pulled the car into the lot, a little too quickly as far as Kappy was concerned, but she knew that Edie wanted to get to her brother as soon as possible. Her friend might be a little flighty, but Kappy knew she loved Jimmy above all else.
Edie shoved the gearshift into park and hopped out of the car with it still running. “Jimmy. Hey, Jimmy.”
He stopped pacing and lifted his head, pinning his sister with a hard gray stare. “Where have you been?”
“There was an accident on the highway. Are you ready to go home?”
“Accident?” His gaze swung wildly around as if making sure everything in their corner of the world was still intact.
“Yeah, of course.” Edie’s tone was offhanded. She was trying to downplay the emotions and get Jimmy into the car without a meltdown. Whether she would be successful or not still remained to be seen.
Jimmy held up the fob. “Do you know how many times I almost pushed this button? This one right here. Do you know?”
“You didn’t push it, though, right?”
“Five times.” He held up his fingers to emphasize his point.
“But you didn’t?” Edie asked again.
“When Mamm . . . when Mamm . . . you told me that I should have pushed it. Today I thought I would have to push it.” Tears welled in his eyes, but whatever anger he had drained from him. “You worried me.”
Edie reached for him, then remembering he didn’t like to be touched, she lowered her hands to her sides. “I know. And I’m sorry.”
“I thought you were . . . I almost pushed the button five times.”
“I know. But I’m here now. Are you ready to go home?”
He looked from his sister to where Kappy waited in the car. “Now?”
Edie smiled with apparent relief. “Yes. Now.”
Jimmy nodded. “Jah. Okay.” He started toward the car, then stopped and captured the alert fob in his grasp once again. “But next time you’re late, I’m pushing it. How else is anyone going to know if something happens to you?”
They were halfway home the long way before Edie finally convinced Jimmy that he should only push the button in case of emergencies, and her being late picking him up from work did not an emergency make.
They drove around the back side of the valley on the road closest to Jacks Mountain and came around the opposite side of the area. Driving the long way may have taken them around the scene of the accident that happened earlier in the day, but it still took twice as long to get home. Everyone else was trying to avoid the main road as well, it seemed. When they passed Jay Glick’s house, Kappy couldn’t help but stare. Not all that long ago, chickens once pecked around the yard and cows mooed from the barn. Now the house was devoid of life.
“Is that . . . ?” Edie peered over the steering wheel as she pulled into Kappy’s drive.
“What?” Kappy half expected to see Elmer on the front porch—even though she had put him out back—with some poor animal in his jaws. That was the . . .
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