Plain Murder (Amish Romance Mystery): Clean Mystery series (Amish Secret Widows' Society Book 8) by Samantha Price Read Free Book Online Page A

which he does ‘hands on,’ in the stables. Silvie came to visit me and I wanted to show her all the horses that had come in ready for the auction. Anyway, I just wanted to finish up some paperwork, so I sent Silvie ahead.”
    “ Jah , and the first stall I came to, I saw that someone was lying in the back of the stable. I pushed the horse to one side and then I saw him lying there face down.”
    “Was the horse upset?” Ettie asked.
    “That’s a strange question to ask, Ettie,” Elsa-May said.
    “ Nee, it’s not. If there was a violent struggle in the stable with the horse, the horse would surely have been distressed and I would think the horse would have looked a little nervous. Maybe he would be snorting, pacing or breathing heavily.”
    Elsa-May pushed out her lips and nodded her head as if she approved of Ettie’s reasoning. Then both elderly ladies looked at Silvie.
    “ Nee , the horse didn’t appear upset at all. The horse looked calm. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until I saw a man lying behind the horse.”
    “That might mean that it was sudden and there was no struggle. Or, it could mean that he was killed elsewhere and dragged into the stable,” Maureen said.
    “Have the police done a crime scene and investigated all those things, Sabrina?”
    Sabrina shrugged her shoulders. “They had yellow tape around the stables and wouldn’t let anyone in or out.”
    “That might be where Crowley was. He wasn’t at the police station ‘til they had finished my interview,” Silvie said.
    “Did they give Bailey any information?” Emma asked. “You said that Crowley wanted him to help them, so he could have told Bailey some things.”
    “I don’t like to ask him. I don’t want him to be stressed about things,” Silvie said.
    “Emma, you go to Crowley tomorrow and see what you can find out,” Elsa-May said.
    “He’d tell Bailey things. Why do I always have to be the one to go and see Crowley?” Emma asked.
    “He tells you things, that’s why,” Elsa-May said with a glint in her eye.
    It was clear to Silvie that Emma did not want to go and talk to Crowley, but what Elsa-May said was true, Crowley did tell Emma things. He probably would have told either Elsa-May or Ettie just as much, but Ettie had been feeling poorly for a while. “Would you do that, Emma?” Silvie asked. “I don’t want to put too much pressure on Bailey.”
    Emma smiled at Silvie. “Of course I will.”
    Ettie coughed. “Excuse me, I’ll just get the tea.”
    “ Nee , you sit, Ettie. I’ll get the tea,” Maureen said.
    “Are you alright? You don’t look very well,” Sabrina said to Ettie.
    “I’ve been very tired lately. Old age might be catching up with me,” Ettie laughed, but it turned into a coughing fit with rattling sounds coming from her lungs.
    When she finished, Emma said to Elsa-May, “I think Ettie should see a doctor, that does not sound gut at all. It sounds like the cough has gone to her lungs.”
    “Nonsense. I’m alright,” Ettie insisted. “I don’t go to doctors.”
    Elsa-May said, “We’ll keep an eye on it and if it gets any worse, we’ll go to the doctor.”
    “Maybe,” Ettie uttered.
    Maureen came back with the tea. Emma jumped up and brought the cakes and cookies in from the kitchen and placed them on the small table in the living room.
    Sabrina took a bite of cake and chewed on it carefully. When she finished her mouthful she said, “There’s something else I wanted to tell you about tonight.” When she had all the widows’ attention, she continued, “Today I got two calls from two men I’d never heard off and they both said that Mr. Caruthers owed them money. I went right through my computer and all though my paperwork and the firm had no dealings with these two men. One of the men said that it was personal not business. Mr. Caruthers kept his personal accounts on my computer as well, you see and there’s nothing – no record of these debts.”
    “Did you say