Plain Killing by Emma Miller Read Free Book Online Page B

bishop doesn’t approve of phones, not even for businesses in the community. In an emergency, members of his congregation reach out to Amish from another district who might keep a cell phone for emergencies. Or even Englishers. They’ll flag down a passing car, but they won’t use a phone. Beth couldn’t have called them if she wanted to.”
    Bishop, her big, seal point Siamese, appeared in the doorway and meowed. She glanced at his dish on the windowsill, high out of Sophie’s reach. “You still have food,” she said to the cat. “No begging.” She poured two glasses of tea.
    “But they get mail. She could have mailed them a letter or something.”
    “I don’t think she ever did,” Rachel said grimly.
    He was quiet for a minute, then asked, “If Beth left after her baptism, that’s serious, isn’t it?”
    She indicated he should sit. They took their seats, and he waited as she bowed her head for just a moment of silent grace. It was a habit that even fifteen years away from Stone Mill hadn’t ended.
    “Serious enough that her family declared her dead to them.” Rachel picked up her fork. “Before you’re baptized, sins are far more easily forgiven. The assumption is made that a person doesn’t know better. It’s more complicated than that”—she gestured with her fork—“but you get what I mean.”
    “Right.” He took a bite of potato salad. “Maybe she was hiding with some other Amish group. This is good.”
    Rachel shrugged. “What does Ada make that isn’t good?” Bishop strolled under the table and rubbed against her bare ankle. She toyed with her fork. As much as she liked potato salad and roasted chicken, she wasn’t sure she could eat even a forkful. She had the feeling that if she closed her eyes, she’d see Beth’s white face. “I suppose anything is possible, but Beth left her kapp .” She shook her head. “Chances are, she didn’t go to another Amish community. She became English.”
    They ate in silence for a couple of minutes. She knew what he was wondering: If Beth had left the Amish, why was she in Amish clothes when she died? Rachel was wondering the same thing, of course. She pushed a piece of roasted chicken around her plate.
    “How long will the autopsy take?” she asked. “By custom, family and friends sit with the body after death. I don’t know if that will happen or not, since she had been shunned. But the funeral is usually twenty-four to forty-eight hours after death. They don’t believe in keeping the dead above ground any longer than possible.”
    “No embalming?”
    “No. We don’t embalm.” She wondered if the Glicks would agree to bury Beth at all or if they’d refuse the body. “Off the record,” she said, looking at him across the table from her, “do you think someone killed her?”
    He didn’t answer.
    She went on. “You must have seen what the paramedic was talking about: the marks on her neck.”
    “We’ll wait and see what the medical examiner’s report says,” he hedged.
    She watched him. He kept his gaze fixed on his plate. “But you’ll tell me when you find out?” she asked.
    “I shouldn’t.” He hesitated. “But it’s possible that I’m going to need your help when I go to talk to Beth’s parents. Sergeant Haley told me he hasn’t, personally, had much luck talking with the Amish on some other cases. I think he’s hoping that since I’m from here, they’ll be more willing to talk with me.”
    She didn’t know that they’d be any more willing to talk to Evan than to Sergeant Haley, but she didn’t say so. She suspected Evan already knew that. “If you’re going to try to talk to the Glicks, you need to wait until after the funeral,” she warned. “That time should be private.”
    “It’s not my decision, Rachel. Sergeant Haley wants me to interview them first thing tomorrow. My lieutenant wants me to do whatever the detective needs.”
    “If you push them, they’ll refuse to talk to you.”
    He