Amish Breaking Point by Samantha Price Read Free Book Online Page A

Elsa-May and Ettie, his grandfather’s sisters. He would talk to Detective Crowley and then visit his old aunts.
     

Chapter 9.
    Without counsel purposes are disappointed:
    but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.
    Proverbs 15:22
     
    The next day, after milking was over, Bailey borrowed the buggy to go into town. He peeped into Crowley’s office and saw him behind his desk looking through some papers with a large coffee mug in his hand.
    Crowley looked up. “Rivers, what brings you here?”
    As Bailey approached his desk, he noticed that Detective Crowley’s eyes ran up and down him. Bailey looked down at his clothes. “I guess this is the first time you’ve seen me in these Amish clothes.”
    Crowley nodded. “So what brings you here?”
    Bailey sat down in the chair opposite the detective. “I’m hoping you’ll be able to help me find my father and my mother.”
    Crowley picked up a pen and a notepad. “Tell me more.”
    Bailey took a deep breath and wondered where to begin. “I lost touch with my father when I left home, years ago. My parents divorced when I was a teenager. My mother moves often. She gave me her most recent address by email, but when I joined the Amish I deleted my email account, forgetting about her email.” Bailey shrugged.
    The detective nodded, and his forehead wrinkled while he jotted some notes. “Names of your parents?”
    Bailey gave Crowley his parents’ names and last known addresses.
    “I’ll look into it.” Crowley threw the notepad down on his desk. “Are you trying to find them to invite them to your wedding?”
    Bailey smiled. “I haven’t been close to them and wouldn’t want them to come to the wedding. Well, maybe just my mother, if she wanted to come.”
    Crowley stared at Bailey and nodded slowly. “I’m not close to my family either. Tell me, how is it that you’re related to Elsa-May and Ettie?”
    “My grandfather was their brother. He left the community when he was a young man. He used to take me back to his old familye farm, but he never took me to meet any of his relatives. I only met Elsa-May and Ettie at his funeral. Someone told them that he had died, and they came. They were the only ones who came from the community.”
    Crowley chuckled. “He mustn’t have been too close to his family either. Coffee?”
    "Yes, with cream and sugar please."
    Crowley picked up his phone and asked the junior officer to make them coffee. When he set back the receiver he said, “Rivers, that’s not an Amish name, is it?”
    “My mother’s maiden name was Hilty. The Amish came down my mother’s side. It was my mother’s father who was Amish; his name was Jonah.”
    Crowley scowled. “I find family history a waste of time.”
    Bailey laughed. Instincts told him that Crowley would not be bothered with family. Bailey saw the detective as someone who lived a lonely life, someone who would go home to a cat and a TV dinner– maybe minus the cat, a cat would be too much bother for him. “Is your family from around here?”
    Crowley nodded. “Have you asked Elsa-May and Ettie to see what they can find out?”
    “I’m just off to see them when I leave here.”
    Crowley was just about to say something when a young constable came in with two coffees.
    “Here you go, sir.” The young woman placed a coffee in front of Crowley and one in front of Bailey. She took up the empty coffee mug on Crowley’s desk.
    “That’ll be all for now thanks, Jones.”
    Once the dark-haired constable was out of the room, Cowley fixed his eyes back onto Bailey. “I didn’t realize you’ve only just met your aunts. I thought you would have known them for years.”
    Bailey took a mouthful of coffee, and then said, “No. I found them so nice I didn’t know why my granddad kept away from them for so long.”
    After Crowley had swallowed his mouthful, he said, “Why did your grandfather leave the Amish?”
    Bailey had to smile. Crowley had hit a sore spot. He wished he