There was a moment of silence, but I held my position and waited. Jumping out now could be a disaster.
“Why, Jotham. I didn’t expect you to be visiting,” Asher said sweetly.
I could hear Jotham slowly walking up the corridor as he answered in the soft tone of a person speaking to a child, “You don’t have to do this, none of it. I know you’re just punishing yourself, the same way I’ve done all these years. But it’s over now. Rowan is probably dead and that sheriff woman has it all figured out. She knows, Asher. She knows what we did.”
Sick curiosity stalled my forward motion and I continued to listen, but I also had my gun up and ready to shoot when the time came. I had a mental picture that Asher hadn’t turned around yet and when he spoke, his voice was louder and clearer than Jotham’s, telling me that I was right.
“Do you really think that’s why I’ve become what I have?” Asher laughed and the jolting noise made me shiver. “I was fucked up way before we crept through the cornfield to the Gentry barn. My parents and their insistence that my only salvation was through the Amish was my downfall. They’ve shunned me, Jotham, ignored me, as if I didn’t even exist, for nearly twenty years. But it wasn’t my fault. I couldn’t live that way any longer. I didn’t give a fuck about Austin Gentry and his skinny little girlfriend. They meant nothing to me.”
“You don’t mean that,” Jotham sounded appalled.
“Besides, I didn’t light the match—Mr. Perfect, Rowan, did,” Asher challenged.
“No, it wasn’t Rowan at all. It was me. I’m the one who lit the match and tossed it into that wood pile,” Jotham said with a quaking voice.
Asher’s confusion was evident when he replied, “I was guarding the door, so I couldn’t see you guys very well. But Rowan told me it was him. When his house blew up and Hedy died, he said that it was God’s punishment. The only thing that kept him going was the kids.”
“Rowan took responsibility for it because he was the oldest and he wanted to protect me. Even though he knew that Gabe was mine…he never turned his back on me.”
“Well, damn. I guess that God punished you the same as He did my brother then,” he mocked.
“Please, Asher, where’s Cacey? She needs to go home,” Jotham pleaded.
“Was it really worth getting half your face burned off visiting Hedy that night? Were you getting some action or what?” Asher growled and then paused when Jotham didn’t answer him. He went on to say, “Cacey’s in the coat closet in the first classroom, but you won’t be taking her anywhere. She’s my ticket out of here and you’re going to be too dead to tell anyone anything.”
At that instant, I left my cover and went around the corner. The shadow of Asher’s body whirling around is all I saw when I fired. This time I did put the bullet into his head. But just as my weapon fired, another shot rang out, like a sickening echo.
My stomach clenched and I ran forward, jumping over Asher’s body to reach Jotham who was also on the ground. I grabbed the flashlight from my pocket and shined it down on Jotham. The large hole in his black coat was all too obvious, but I frantically pushed the material away anyway. The blood seeping into his shirt was dark red and exactly where his heart was located. He should already be dead, I thought, as I leaned forward and smoothed the hair away from his face.
“Serenity,” he said so weakly, that I had to bring my ear to his mouth quickly to hear his words, “please tell Sheriff Gentry what we did. He deserves to know.” Jotham gasped for air, his mouth gaping grotesquely, but he managed to whisper, “Tell Gabe that I love him”
Jotham’s head dropped to the side as he took his last breath and then he was still, except for the steady leaking of his blood.
I didn’t have time to feel any remorse over a man who I barely knew. My gaze settled on the pool of blood beneath Asher’s head for an instant and then I leaped up and ran down the hallway, turning into the classroom.
I flung the door to the closet open and found Cacey crouched in the corner with her wrists bound and a strip of gray tape across her mouth. I knelt down to her and as gently as I could, worked the tape away from her mouth. Once her mouth was free, I cut the thin piece of rope with my pocket knife.
Cacey leaped against me, flinging her arms around my neck. Her body bounced with her sobbing and her face was warm and wet against my neck.
As I rocked her back and forth, I finally began breathing again. My thoughts were bittersweet. I hadn’t been able to save Jotham, and I didn’t even know if Rowan was still alive, but I had managed to rescue two Amish girls.
28
Daniel’s hospital room was empty and I couldn’t stop myself from inwardly cringing when I looked at the crisply made-up bed. I glanced out the window at the bright sunshine and let out a tired sigh. It must be almost noon, I absently thought.
After Brody and the rest of the deputies had arrived at the schoolhouse, Cacey was quickly taken away in an ambulance to have a thorough checkup, and then I had spent several hours being questioned about every detail of the night. I understood. There were two bodies and I was responsible for one of them.
The part that really irked me was after all that, I still had to go into the station to formalize my statements and make them all over again. Sure, Brody could hardly contain his joy at seeing Asher dead on the floor, but Jotham was another story. He genuinely seemed upset that the Amish man had lost his life, and I wondered if maybe he blamed himself for the chaos of the night. If he had arrested Asher earlier for any number of crimes, things might have turned out a lot different. But who was I to interfere at this point? Asher had a death wish and it was just a matter of time before someone killed him. As for Jotham, he had seemed awfully sure that God was with him. And maybe He was. It was almost uncanny how really bad deeds always caught up with a person. I certainly wasn’t going take the jobs of judge, jury and executioner on this one, but the whole life-for-a-life thing seemed to apply here, unfortunately.
Damon was in custody, and since Rowan had made it through surgery, there was a fair chance that he wouldn’t die, after all. That meant Damon would only be charged with the barn fires and possibly attempted murder, and I had the tickling sensation that the Amish wouldn’t even want to press charges. They’d chalk it up to punishment for their own cover up of the Gentry barn burning. How many of the community actually knew or suspected the truth, I had no idea, but the old woman had known, so I was willing to bet several others did as well.
On a hunch, I turned and walked out of the room and headed towards the intensive care unit. I stopped at the desk and quickly flashed my badge. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t my jurisdiction and that I had no legal right to be there, the shiny badge usually did the trick with nurses. When I said Rowan’s name, the older blonde smiled and pointed to the room directly across from the nurse’s station.
When I peeked into the room, I wasn’t at all surprised to see Daniel sitting in the chair besides Rowan’s hospital bed. I quickly absorbed the half dozen flower arrangements in the room and the tall cup of what I believed to be coffee on the table. Rowan’s eyes were open and they widened when they saw me. A tangle of tubes stretched into his nose and both of his arms and his face were swollen. He looked terrible, but at least he was alive.
“Is that coffee, Daniel?” I asked bluntly as I walked into the room.
Daniel looked over his shoulder with a broad smile. He chuckled, nodding his head expectantly. “It’s all yours. And it’s warm,” he said.
I picked up the cup, doing imaginary summersaults in my mind, when I took a whiff and discovered that it was strong, just the way I liked it. I took the only other chair in the room and slowly sipped the coffee. After everything that happened the night before, there wasn’t an easy way to begin the conversation.
“Are you feeling all right?” I gazed at Daniel who was still smiling.
“I’m feeling a hell of a lot better now
that you’re here,” he said with an even tone.
It embarrassed me that he would talk that way in front of Rowan, even though the man was probably so doped up that he wouldn’t remember anything that was said the next day. It just bugged me a little that he presumed so much, and yet his words also sent a warm jolt to my insides.
I certainly didn’t want Daniel to see my satisfaction, so I quickly turned away and asked Rowan, “What about you—are you on the road to recovery?”
Rowan was still very weak, but the whisper of a grin appeared on his mouth, and he said in a dry, cracked voice, “I thought the Lord was taking me to be with Hedy…but I guess He had other ideas.”
I tried to think of something of significance to say—something clever about cosmic plans or even divine destiny. What goes around comes around? But I was just too wary to be philosophical.
“Yeah, you sure are lucky,” I managed to say.
“I know about Asher…and I forgive you,” Rowan said thinly.
I glanced at Daniel. “Boy, news travels fast around here.”
Daniel nodded. “It is amazing that even without modern technology and cell phones, Amish gossip travels pretty quick,” he motioned with his hand at the flowers and said, “Rowan’s already had visitors this morning. Everyone in the community knows about it.”
The suddenly serious expression on Daniel’s face sobered me. He hadn’t come right out and said it, but he had been worried about me. Looking into Daniel’s eyes, we had a moment of connection that sent chills up my spine. I graced him with a small smile and returned my gaze back to Rowan.
The man’s face was pale and drawn, but not so bad that I felt guilty about asking him a couple more important questions, if for nothing else than to wrap up the entire case in my own mind.
“Is what you said last night about the Gentry barn true…or did Jotham actually throw that match?” I asked quietly.
Rowan hesitated for only a moment and said, “Why do you ask?”
The cat and mouse crap had to stop. “Right before Jotham died, he told me that he had actually been the one to set the fire, but that you had insisted on taking the blame for it because you were the oldest of the group.”
Except for the rhythmic beeping of Rowan’s monitor, there was silence in the room that stretched on for such an uncomfortable amount of time that I glanced at Daniel questioningly. He only shrugged.
Finally, Rowan coughed a little and said, “Our ages weren’t the only reason that I shouldered the blame, but Jotham never understood that.” Rowan sighed lightly and went on, “My father was suffering from diabetes. His medical expenses drained his own savings and he was struggling to support the family. In ninety-six he had to have his leg removed. After that, it was up to me and Asher to carry on the family construction business. I liked the job, so it wasn’t too much of a burden on me, but Asher was another story altogether.”
I couldn’t help snorting, and Rowan paused to smile sadly at me before continuing.
“Asher was very resentful of the extra work and pressure he was handed. He was only fifteen at the time, so it’s no wonder. But it’s definitely what helped push him out the door for good.” Rowan took another breath. His voice was becoming weaker and I was almost tempted to tell him that we’d talk later so that he could rest, but I didn’t and he began speaking again. “Just before we went to the Gentry barn that night so very long ago, Michael Gentry, Austin’s father had outbid us on a new housing contract. If we had gotten the contract, we would have been able to save our farm…and everyone, including Gentry knew it, but greed made him do it anyway. Others in the community helped us to buy back the house and twenty acres, but we lost one hundred and fifty acres. It nearly killed my father.”
Rowan paused again to catch his breath and Daniel frowned at me. I glanced away not being able to take the accusatory look Daniel shot me. This was important. If he couldn’t see that clearly, then that was his problem.
“That still didn’t give three teenagers the right to set someone’s barn on fire,” I said simply.
“No, you’re absolutely right. We were young and ignorant…and we didn’t know that Austin and Kathryn were in the building. Afterwards when we heard the news, we were beyond devastated. Asher became angrier and more aloof than ever and Jotham, well Jotham felt the worst of us all because he had been the one to light the match.”
A young nurse with her long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail entered the room at that very moment. The tension in the room must have been palpable. She hesitated and then said firmly, “You all are going to have to leave now. I have to check Mr. Schwartz’s vitals and redo his bandages.”
I accepted her words in defeat and began to rise, but Rowan put his hand out to stop me.
“Please, ma’am, just a few minutes more. This is very important,” Rowan said with a steadier voice than I had heard from him yet. He was putting on a good show for the nurse.
The woman thought about it, glancing at me and Daniel and back at Rowan. Finally, she relented, saying, “All right. Five more minutes, but that’s it.”
Once she had disappeared through the door, Rowan quickly began speaking again. “Jotham did it for my family. He thought that if the Gentry’s lost their equipment and had to rebuild their storage barn, they would have to back out of the contract. Of course, it was a horrible thing to do, but he was only sixteen at the time and he wasn’t thinking clearly. None of us were.”
I absorbed what he said with the conflicting prickling sensation of both pity and disgust toward Rowan. In all likelihood, Brody wouldn’t be able to come up with enough evidence after all these years to charge Rowan, the only survivor of the crime, with murder, but manslaughter was still a possibility. The old woman who had originally let the cat out of the bag had Alzheimer’s and wouldn’t be considered a reliable witness. Basically, it was Rowan’s word against Brody’s.
“How many people in the community know of your involvement?” I asked slowly, hoping Rowan would get the gist of where I was going with the question, so that I wouldn’t be forced to give him advice that was against every ounce of training and pledges I had taken as a law officer.
“The woman that Damon was talking about last night is Adeline Graber. Her husband, Simon, used to be our bishop. He knew, and a handful of elders, who are mostly dead now.” Rowan met my gaze squarely and said, “We went to them immediately after we set the barn on fire, even before we had learned that Austin and his girlfriend were killed. Jotham and I felt so guilty about what we had done. We repented our sins to Bishop Graber.”
“And he protected you by keeping your secret?” I felt my face flush in anger, but I managed to keep my tone soft.
“Don’t be so upset with him, Serenity. He had a very difficult situation to deal with. On one hand, a barn had been burned down and two people had been inadvertently killed. On the other, Asher and I were needed to provide for our parents and family. There was no way to bring Austin and Kathryn back and it was a terrible accident. The bishop decided to leave it in God’s hands.”
I looked at Daniel with a raised brow, and he returned the same type of, ‘Are you serious,’ expression.
I knew the five minutes were ticking down and I wanted to take full advantage of Rowan’s sudden openness before he decided to be Mr. Secretive again.
“I hate to be the one to tell you this, but there’s no statute of limitations for murder in this state. And even though you didn’t pull the trigger, so to speak, you were there and you let it happen. I’m sure that Brody will do everything he can to prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”
Rowan nodded weakly.
“And it’s the right thing for him to do. I will take full blame for my actions and tell Sheriff Gentry everything that I’ve told you,” Rowan said with a stronger voice of determination.
It made me feel a little better that he was finally acceptin
g responsibility. And Brody would get his closure too. Still, the idea of Rowan spending time in jail made me squirm inside. His kids needed him more than ever.
“The sheriff might try, but he’s not going to be able to get you on murder charges. You will probably be convicted of a lesser crime and serve, maybe three to five years tops. Good behavior might get you out in two.” I took a breath and added, “It’s not the end of the world and definitely worth getting the ugly truth out in the open once and for all. Maybe Anna will stay with the kids if such a thing happened,” I offered tentatively.
It might have been my imagination, but Rowan’s drained face seemed to flush a little bit. He said, “That might be a possibility. And I’m sure my parents would help in any way they could.”
I scooted to the end of my seat and looked deeply into Rowan’s eyes. I had one more question to ask and I was really afraid of the answer.
“Was the explosion of your house an accident, or is there more to that story too?” I whispered.
I held my breath and waited.
A tear slipped from Rowan’s eye and he said, “It was an accident, but my fault just the same. I should have taken the gas problem more seriously. But then again, I’ve always wondered if perhaps God was punishing me for my sins.”
I sighed with relief. “Jotham thought that he was the one being punished…” I stopped in mid-sentence. Jotham was dead. Hedy was dead. Even if Rowan had suspected all along that Gabe was really Jotham’s son, what good would that knowledge do now? It would probably mess up Gabe to know the truth, and then he’d have to grieve over losing a biological father. Rowan would have enough on his plate in the upcoming months to work through. I certainly didn’t need to add more trouble to his life. Maybe someday I would come back and tell him the truth, but not now.
I abruptly stood and said, “You need your rest and any second that uptight nurse is going to be back in here.”
Rowan sluggishly lifted his arm, pulling the tubes with him, to offer me his hand.