maybe not one so menacing.
“And the FBI knows all about you.” The gunman’s response was quick and nonchalant. “The sheriff won’t be able to stop me from taking you and your daed away.”
Daed?
With a gasp of horror, Grace pressed her back against the wall and glanced over at her father, in his chair at the table. He looked so small now, hunched over with fear and confusion on his face.
“I won’t let them take you,” she said to him. “I promise.”
“I know you don’t like to consort with the law—” the voice came from behind the door again “—but it’s best if you open the door. Resisting arrest won’t go well for you in court.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth? How do I know you’re really the police?” she asked. In the next second she heard a tap on the window beside her.
Grace slipped aside the curtain just enough to see a badge and a small flashlight on a phone illuminating it.
Federal Bureau of Investigation... Special Agent Jack Kaufman.
The light beam moved to the tall man’s face.
They were a match.
Her breath picked up its pace at her dilemma, and she said the first thing that came to her mind. “Please don’t take my daed.” It felt like begging, but that was the only choice she appeared to have left. “You can take the horses, but please leave us alone.”
“That’s not how this works. I watched you steal that horse today from Autumn Woods. There’s nothing you can say to make me not take you in. You’re all under arrest. And that includes your partner with the gun back there, when I catch him. And believe me, I’ll catch him.”
“My partner?” Now Grace was even more confused. But another feeling rose to the surface in a rush before she could temper it. The audacity of this man to accuse her of consorting with someone with such evil intentions as murder! Grace grabbed the doorknob. “He was with you, not me. How dare you?”
“Grace, a soft answer turns away wrath,” Benjamin called from the table in a shocked and concerned voice. He stood up abruptly, knocking over his ladderback chair with a crash. The sound of that and her father’s rightful reminder brought Grace back to her senses. Opening the door to set this man straight would only put them in more danger.
“Thank you, Daed, for reminding me. I’ll be certain sure to keep my mind at peace, even in the midst of such danger.”
“Ya, we must always strive for that peace of mind, Gracie.”
A burst of hope caused Grace to smile at her daed. His moment of clarity was a glimpse into the man that she knew was still inside him. His response was lucid and insightful when he cautioned her to keep her calm. These moments made her forget about all the times he didn’t recognize her.
Until the next time.
Was he even aware of them? Or would it be only Grace who would bear the burden of watching Benjamin Miller become lost in his own mind?
“Open the door, miss.” The lawman spoke again, and it didn’t sound like he was asking.
Grace stared at the doorknob she still held in her hand. Indecision paralyzed her. Never had she had to decide between two perils.
A blast sounding in the distance jolted her, but immediately afterward the window she stood beside shattered inward, knocking her to the floor.
Grace let out a scream as her body hit the wood planking. She rolled over onto her belly and started crawling toward her father. “Get down, Daed!”
The doorknob rattled. “Grace!” the man outside yelled. “Are you hurt?”
Grace hadn’t even thought to examine herself. She only wanted to get to her daed. “N-no, I don’t th-think so,” she said, glancing down in panic.
“Please, open the door.” The demand in his voice had been replaced with concern...and maybe some fear, she thought. He could have been killed if the bullet had hit him.
And still could be.
Grace pushed herself up on her knees and scrambled to the door, her long skirt protecting her from the scattered shards of glass. As soon as she unlocked it the man pushed it wide, and Grace fell onto her back, peering up at his towering figure. Her gaze lit on his drawn gun, once again leveled at her.
“Stay down!” he commanded and slammed the door behind him. His booming authority sent a spike of fear through Grace. Had she made the right choice, letting him in? Or were she and Daed in even more danger now?
The moonlight filtered through the windows, casting shadows on the large interior of the Amish home. The door from the porch opened into the sitzschtopp, the living room, and from there the kitchen opened off to the side, much like the homes he remembered. The Amish woman and her father sat together against that wall.
At the racetrack, he had determined her to be in her midtwenties, with light brown hair pulled back tight beneath her white kapp. With no one else in the house, it seemed he was right about her being unmarried, especially if her community followed the same rules as his, with the white halsduch cape worn over her dress. But that was a long time ago. Perhaps things had changed in eight years.
The Amish, change? No, not possible. He scoffed at the idea and got back to work.
“Stay where I can see you,” he instructed, keeping to the side of the broken window. He scanned the tree line, his gun at the ready. The shooter had circled back. Jack should have expected he would return for what he’d come for. The guy couldn’t go back to his boss without the horse. “I can’t believe I can’t turn my back on an Amish woman. Never would have believed it. I’ve been assigned to investigate your horse theft operation.”
Jack looked at Grace Miller and shook his head in disappointment. “What were you thinking when you decided to join the operation with these thieves?”
Grace rubbed her father’s hand to keep him calm, but her chin lifted in defiance. “I don’t know what you mean by ‘join the operation.’ I didn’t join anything.”
“Partner. Alliance. Bintness.” Jack said the last word in her Pennsylvania Dutch language and saw her face contort in shock over him knowing it. He looked away from her inquisitive stare and glanced at the elderly Amish man beside her.
Benjamin Miller rubbed his straggly gray beard, which bobbed as he opened and closed his mouth in confusion. Did the man not know his daughter was a horse thief? “Mr. Miller, I’m sorry to tell you this, but your daughter has been caught stealing a horse. With my own eyes I saw her take the animal out of the stable.” He looked back at Grace and said, “But if she cooperates and tells me who she is stealing for, I might be able to get my supervisor to cut her a deal. Right now, I want the guy who nearly clipped me back there in the barn, and again on the porch. Thankfully, he’s a bad shot, or my blood would be all over your property now.”
The Amish woman’s eyes glittered so fiercely Jack thought he was about to experience an Amish person resisting arrest. Never would he have believed it, growing up. Didn’t they abhor fighting in all cases?
But could this Amish woman be different? After all, she had attacked him in the barn with the pitchfork.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Grace said. “That man was your partner, not mine. In case you didn’t notice, you both had your guns pointed at me. The only people working together here are the two of you.”
Jack had to admit that something didn’t add up. But that didn’t mean he was about to turn around and let this woman continue running a horse theft