A Path Made Plain by Lynette Sowell Read Free Book Online Page A

washed the dishes while Thad brought his duffel bag and jacket to his room. He opened up the duffel, pulling out his phone from the center of the pile, along with his knife set, each knife in its own pocket inside a long, flat, sealed leather case. He stashed the case of knives inside the closet. He wouldn’t need them.
    He turned on his phone. Several missed calls from Stacie, several from one number he didn’t recognize. One voice mail.
    “Mr. Zook, this is the Columbus, Ohio, Police Department. We need to ask you a few questions about a friend of yours, a Ms. Stacie Brenner.”
    * * *
    Rochelle Keim, known to her nieces as Aenti Chelle, sighed as she sorted her laundry. Two weeks away from Pinecraft was two weeks too long. However, she’d made it a priority to return to Ohio to help her family make food for her second cousin’s wedding.
    She should have washed one last load before leaving, but she didn’t want to use the old washing tub and wringer. She didn’t think about the prospect of doing laundry and tackling her long list of to-do items concerning her cleaning clients as well as finding a replacement for Betsy once her bakery took off.
    Rochelle knew Betsy’s chances of success in Pinecraft were excellent. With the village nestled in a city, Englisch as well as Amish would flock to the store once word got around. With Sarah’s guidance, Betsy would have a good adviser, despite the older woman’s demeanor.
    Betsy was busy writing out some recipe cards while Rochelle started the washer.
    Of course, Betsy’s heart probably ached after watching the man she’d dreamed of fall in love with an Englisch woman. The newlyweds would be home in Pinecraft soon after concluding their visit to family.
    Truly, Rochelle wasn’t sure how Betsy would cope once the happy couple returned to Florida. Although they attended a different church from Betsy, there was always the chance to see them at singings, in the park, at the stores, or while visiting mutual friends. However, once vacation season began, the flurry of visitors might be a welcome distraction.
    Rochelle knew firsthand the value of distraction. From her own walk with heartbreak, she couldn’t stay in Ohio, and had made Pinecraft her home all these years. And what a treasure, to have watched her nephew grow up into a fine young man. A more liberal Mennonite than her background, to be sure, but a young man of faith. Having her sister and family nearby had proven a balm on her own wounded heart and soul, and healing had come. She’d never had the chance to raise her own family, but she lived close enough to her sister to watch her brood grow up.
    Her phone warbled on the countertop. Her sister, Jolene. What timing.
    “Hello there, we’re home,” she said when she answered the phone.
    “Good,” Jolene said. “We’ll be home by the weekend. It was so much nicer to take our own van and drive to Ohio. You could have come with us, you know.”
    “Well, I wanted to ride with Betsy. Otherwise, she’d have been alone on the bus. Not as though she’d have needed my help.” She said nothing further about the state of Betsy’s heart. “Besides, I needed to get back here for business.”
    “I’m glad we stayed a few extra days. Because something happened. If you’re not sitting down, you should be.”
    Her pulse began to race, and she could almost hear it over the whoosh of water filling up the washing machine. “What? Did something happen?”
    “Belinda Fry is dead.”
    “No.” Belinda. Her best friend in the world, when they were both very young. A stab of sorrow struck her heart. And for the first time in well over a decade, her mind drifted to someone she’d tried to keep buried in her memories. Silas Fry.

Chapter 6
    6
    B etsy entered the real estate office with Aenti Sarah in her wake. Her heart pounded. Her hands shook. But she stiffened her spine and squared her shoulders as she stepped up to the reception desk.
    “Good morning,” she told the