chapter 28
IT SEEMED TO AARON that he could still hear the sound of the rifle shot echoing across the hills.
“Wonder who did the shooting.” Martha’s eyes were wide with alarm, but Aaron knew she couldn’t be nearly as frightened as he was — her heart couldn’t be hammering in her chest like his was or she’d sit down in the dirt.
“We need to focus on what we came here to do.” Matthew struggled over the final hill with the wheelchair.
Martha led Max, who acted as if he were on a romp down Shipshewana’s Main Street.
“No one’s having second thoughts, are they?” Matthew sounded grim, and Aaron knew what he was thinking. He was thinking about Mrs. Knepp and that other lady — the younger one who had been found in the apple barrel.
“‘Course not,” Aaron said, then he wondered if he said it a little too quickly.
“I’m not either.” Martha jogged beside them to keep up. “It’s only that my dat is going to kill me if one of us gets —”
“Killed?” Aaron’s and Matt’s voices were perfectly matched in pitch and sarcasm.
“All right. It sounds stupid, but you know what I mean.”
“Ya, we know. That’s why we’re going to be careful. He’ll be coming this way. We know it because we overheard what he said to Miss Callie. We also know he’ll bring your mamm and Callie with him. At least it sounded like he would as he tied their hands. No one else will be in the way. This is our chance to catch him. Our chance to fix what started three nights ago.” Matt positioned the chair in an alcove surrounded by trees and small bushes.
“It’ll be worth the trouble we’re going to be in,” Aaron agreed. He pulled in a deep, steadying breath. “It’ll be worth it to end this.”
Aaron was surprised to find he meant it. He’d never been so ready to have something over with. Until this moment, he’d always thought the worst thing in the world was chicken breast disease. (That was how he thought of it — and maybe why he didn’t mind doing the chores out in the chicken coop, after all it wasn’t the chickens’ fault.) He’d been certain it was the worst thing he’d have to live with.
Now he knew it wasn’t.
Disease was something you learned to deal with, like rain on the way to school or an overly hard homework assignment. It was something that maybe was Gotte’s wille. He wasn’t sure. He wasn’t old enough to figure that out yet. He’d been this way as long as he could remember — struggling for breath, his body tiring out before his mind did, dependent on others.
But even Matthew was struggling for breath right now.
His daed tired out before he was done with the day’s work, and sometimes he had to stop to rest under the big tree at the far side of the fields.
And Miss Callie was depending on Shane to keep her safe from Thomas Hochstetler.
Maybe he wasn’t so different from everyone else after all.
Could be Gotte would even see fit to heal him at some point.
Or maybe he wouldn’t.
If there was one thing he’d learned since watching Mrs. Knepp fall face first into the parking lot of Daisy’s Quilt Shop, it was that he did appreciate each and every day that he awoke alive and well. Gotte had given him that, and it was a gift for sure. The fact that he had this disease didn’t keep him from counting a day as a good one.
“Everyone remember what they’re supposed to do?” Matt asked.
“I’m staying in the bushes with Max until you signal for me to release him.” Aaron put one hand on Max’s head. The dog settled beside his chair.
“I’m going to be positioned on the north side. If anything goes wrong, I’ll head back the way we came until I pick up a signal on the cell phone.” Martha pulled it out of her dress pocket and checked it one final time. “Nothing here.”
“We expected that. Head on back until it works, if we need it. Hopefully we won’t. I’ll set up on the south side and have my slingshot ready.” Matthew glanced around. “You’re sure Max will stay quiet, Aaron? We can’t have him giving us away.”
“I’m sure. He follows hand signals real well.”
“All right. If things go as planned, this will all be over by the time Shane arrives. Tonight we’ll be back at home playing Dutch Blitz.”
“When have things gone as planned? Not since this started,” Martha muttered as she hurried off to hide in the bushes on the north side.
Max settled beside Aaron’s wheel, and Matt ran around the pond, to the south. Then they all waited. From where Aaron hid, he could barely make out Matt’s shirtsleeve and the white of Martha’s kapp. He didn’t think Thomas would be able to see them unless he looked right at them, and Aaron had a feeling Thomas would have eyes for one thing: what lay directly in front of him.
How could he believe treasure would be hidden near a pond? It didn’t make sense to him that a quilt would even tell a story — books, yes, but not a quilt. Where would old Mrs. Hochstetler even have hidden money out here?
He began looking around, trying to puzzle it out. Unless maybe Callie had made the entire thing up. Maybe she had wanted to move Thomas away from the house, away from Levi so he could go for help.
The pond was surrounded by a few large boulders. Mrs. Hochstetler could have buried something under one of them, but she would have needed help. She couldn’t have moved one by herself. She wouldn’t have submerged a treasure in the water. Would she? Could something remain in water all these years and not be ruined?
He was so busy turning the questions over in his mind that at first he didn’t hear anyone approaching, didn’t hear the voices in the distance. But he did notice when Max sat up and pressed against the side of his chair.
Aaron didn’t say anything to the dog. Instead, he put his hand on the top of Max’s head to quiet him.
Max seemed to understand. He looked up at Aaron, his eyes round and worried.
Gavin met Shane’s car as he pulled on to the property.
“Did you fire the shot?” Shane asked. “And why aren’t you at home?”
“I’ve been watching over Levi since yesterday. And yes, I fired the shot.” They hurried toward the barn as Gavin explained. “I had to do something. The situation was escalating.”
“Current status?”
“I don’t know. I heard the call over the scanner for all personnel and called in. Taylor told me to maintain my position until you arrived.”
“Hold here and scan the area.” Shane hurried toward Levi, who he could see was still crouched under the wagon. Apparently he’d been hiding there since Gavin had fired his weapon to scare Thomas off. “Are you all right?”
“Ya. I wasn’t sure who was firing.”
“Gavin did that. The situation seemed to be spiraling out of control, and he wanted Thomas to back down.” Shane knelt by the older man as he checked his weapon. “He explained to me that he’s been staked here since Taylor put him on forty-eight-hour medical leave. Good thing he was. His shot scared your brother away from you.”
“For all I knew, that crazy bruder of mine had another accomplice — one he hadn’t killed yet.” The words might have been said with some bite, but there was defeat in the older man’s eyes. He stood, took a step, and cringed.
“What’s wrong with your ankle?”
“Twisted it is all. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
“We’ll help you back to the house, then I’ll go after Thomas.”
“He headed to the barn.” Levi placed an arm around Shane’s shoulder and began limping toward the front porch. “I tried talking to him. For a minute … for one minute, I thought I was getting through. But then that stubborn look came over his face, and I knew I’d lost him again.”
Shane needed to be on that trail headed toward the pond. He motioned to Gavin for help. None of Taylor’s men had caught up with them yet. Gavin jogged toward them.
“Did you see the girls again after they took off around the corner of the barn, Mr. Hochstetler?”
“Girls? What girls?” He stopped in the open area in front of the house, about twenty feet from the steps.
“Callie and Deborah,” Gavin answered, moving to support Levi on one side. “They were behind the wagon. As you were talking to your brother, they ran around the west side of the barn. You didn’t see them?”
“No. Your shot rang out, and I hit the ground. Didn’t see anything except dirt.”
Shane started shifting Levi’s weight from his shoulders to Gavin’s, and they’d just turned him toward the house when, suddenly, the barn exploded. Debris flew into the air and came raining down as far as the steps of the house. Hay, pieces of boards, and nails showered around them. Gavin and Shane forced Levi to the ground in one motion, covering him with their arms.
When it seemed the pieces had stopped falling, Gavin began checking Levi for injuries. Shane pulled out his cell.
“The main barn structure is on fire. We’re going to need assistance from Shipshe, Chief.”
“We’re almost there now. I’ll alert the fire department. Are there any casualties?”
“No.” Shane disconnected, ice running through his veins. One look at Gavin confirmed that he could handle everything happening with Levi.
“I’ve got this. His injuries are minor.” Gavin had already begun ripping his shirt and pressing it to the gash on Levi’s forehead.
“Levi, did you have horses in the barn?”
“No. They were all in the pasture today.” The man looked dazed, grim.
Gavin met Shane’s gaze. “He’s in shock. Go on, Shane. Go and find Callie and Deborah.”
Shane skirted the barn at a trot, rifle in hand.
Whatever explosives Thomas had used had done their job well. A gaping hole now adorned the center of the western wall, and flames shot out of the roof. Fortunately they’d had rain recently. The wet grasses surrounding the barn would keep the fire from spreading.
As Shane ran down the path behind the barn, he realized how lucky they were.
Was it luck? Or had God intervened? His eleven-year-old heart fought with the faith of a man, fought and lost.
No one was trapped in the barn. Shane was sure of that. The trail was covered with fresh footprints that led away from the structure, led toward the pond.
And why had Thomas blown up the barn to begin with?
It attracted attention, drew more people to the area, and added to his list of crimes.
Through the trees, Shane spotted Levi’s horses in the pasture. Then he glanced down and saw what he had hoped he wouldn’t see. He knelt on the path and checked, checked to be sure he wasn’t wrong.
But he knew he wasn’t.
The thin steady lines, approximately two feet apart, ran steady and true. They ran straight toward the pond, and there wasn’t much doubt in his mind as he hurried to catch up as to what they were.
Marks, left by Aaron’s wheelchair.
He shouldn’t have been surprised. The kids had told him where they were going — they’d been determined to confront Thomas — but Shane’s heart still sank. He ran faster, skidding to a stop when the pond came into view.
As with every investigation, he was intensely aware that one mistake on his part could lead to someone’s death.
His mind took it all in, everything in front of him, and his heart wanted to rush ahead, to take the lead. He pushed the urge back, took a knee, and forced his heart rate down.
Silently he slung the rifle around to a shooting position and peered through the scope. There was the smallest of clicks as he released the safety, but the cry of a hawk covered it.
Deborah stood in front of him on the trail, her hands bound behind her. As he watched, Martha crept forward and pulled Deborah off the trail and into the brush.
Thomas never saw it. He was too busy prodding Callie forward, onto the dock that jutted out a good ten feet into the pond.
Sunlight glittered off of Aaron’s wheelchair where he was positioned to Shane’s left, most of him hidden by tall grasses, trees, and Max’s fur.
Where was Matthew?
Shane didn’t doubt for a minute the boy was here. Considering the position of the other two, he guessed he’d be on the western shore of the pond, probably stationed behind the boulders. He scanned the pond’s shores through the rifle’s scope and found Matthew’s wool cap — not to the west but to the south, directly opposite Thomas.
Thomas was still shouting at Callie, prodding her down the dock. He hadn’t noticed Deborah was gone yet, but he would.
Shane gripped the rifle and stepped out onto the trail.