The single word came out clipped.
“Why did you talk to my brother?”
“He was a student at nearby Genwego State at the time.”
“You contacted him just because he was a student at the time?” Anna shifted in her seat to look at him directly, fingering the locket on her necklace.
“When the child disappeared, a lot of college fraternities were in Apple Creek doing a pub crawl.” A muscle worked in his jaw, but he kept his full attention on the road. “You know, when they come into town and go from one bar to another? Back then at least five bars dotted Main Street. All but one have closed down since. We hoped someone might have seen something.”
“Ten years later?” Disbelief edged her tone.
Eli nodded. “It happens. Sometimes someone remembers something they didn’t think was important at the time. Did Daniel ever mention the incident to you?”
She shook her head, scrambling to remember. “Ten years ago...I was starting college. That’s the fall Daniel dropped out and enlisted in the army. He never mentioned anything about an Amish girl’s disappearance. Should he have?” Her stomach hollowed out. At the time, she had found it puzzling her brother had quit college so close to graduation, but he assured her he had a plan.
“Well—” Eli adjusted his grip on the steering wheel “—let’s take one thing at a time.” He didn’t say it, but she knew what he meant. Right now, she had to identify her brother’s body.
Anna slumped into the leather seat and leaned her head back. Before long, the silos, barns and cows were replaced by neat homes and sidewalks as they approached the center of Apple Creek. The last bit of sunlight lit the trees, whose leaves had turned a crimson red and yellow, providing a picturesque landscape. If the circumstances of her arrival had been different, she might have enjoyed the scenery.
Eli slowed his vehicle at a stop sign. Churches occupied two of the four corners of the intersection. Her mind drifted for a moment and she wondered if her brother had maintained his faith after all these years. He had been the one to first drag her to church when they had ended up in a foster home. In church she had found peace and comfort despite the turmoil surrounding their lives.
Silently she said a prayer, asking God to give her strength to deal with the task at hand. Closing her eyes briefly, a quiet calmness descended on her. When she opened her eyes, she noticed hitching posts in front of several of the stores on Main Street. Only one space was actually occupied by a horse and buggy. How peculiar to live as if from another time. Despite having lived in the Buffalo area her entire life, she had never realized the Amish had settled in the countryside little more than an hour away.
Eli drove a few minutes longer, then flicked on the directional and turned into a driveway marked by a large H. The small-town hospital was merely a single-story brick building that might have been mistaken for a school if not for the hospital sign out front.
Sensing Eli’s gaze, Anna laced her fingers and twisted her hands. In a few minutes she’d have to identify her brother’s body. Graphic images formed in her mind. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Come on.” He pushed open his door. “I’ll be with you the entire time.” He came around to her side of the vehicle and helped her out. Streetlamps chased away the gathering dusk.
“Why are you doing this for me?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do.” With a hand to the small of her back he guided her toward the hospital. Each and every detail—the chipped paint on the bench, the no-smoking sign, the fallen leaves littering the sidewalk—came into sharp focus, as if she were witnessing it all from above.
The automated glass doors whirred open. A sterile, disinfectant-like scent assaulted her. A gray-haired lady in a pink jacket lifted her gaze in mild interest. Eli flashed his credentials and the elderly woman nodded without saying a word.
Eli strode toward a door marked Stairs and opened it for her. “Down one flight.” Anna’s shoulder brushed his broad chest as she scooted past him into the stairwell. A cool draft floated up from the floor below, sending a chill skittering down her spine.
“I’ll be with you the entire time,” Eli reminded her, placing a reassuring hand loosely on her waist.
The clacking of her heels on the linoleum became the focus of her attention. Not Eli’s comforting presence. And certainly not the task waiting for her.
Reality in the form of a white placard with black lettering slapped her in the face. Morgue. She sucked in a quick breath, then swallowed hard. Nausea licked at her throat.
When they approached a second door, Eli caught her wrist, stopping her in her tracks. Suddenly, she was hyperaware of his touch, the intensity in his gaze. “You don’t have to do this. I met your brother. I can identify him.” The sincerity in his brown eyes weakened her resolve.
She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. She glanced at Eli, then back at the door leading to the morgue. “I have to do this. Daniel’s my brother.”
Eli nodded. “Okay.” His hand slipped down to hers. He gave it a squeeze but didn’t let go. The small gesture gave her comfort. “Are you ready?”
Anna turned toward the morgue entrance, then back toward Eli. His features softened and the beginning of a smile tipped the corners of his mouth. The shield around her heart shifted a fraction. She had been alone for so long that she didn’t know how to rely on anyone.
“Let’s go.” Eli pushed open the door leading into a large room. The legs of the stainless steel tables came into view. Her focus shifted from the table legs to the gray linoleum at her feet. Cool, heavy air floated along the floor, licking at her ankles. Eli ran his thumb gently across the back of her hand. “Ready?”
Closing her eyes, she filled her lungs. Would anyone ever be ready to identify a loved one’s body? An image flickered across her brain. Her beloved mother, her long blond hair cascading over the pillow in the casket. The beautician had tried her best, she really had, but no one could do her mother’s makeup as well as her mother. She used to sit at her vanity every morning perfecting her hair and face, wanting to look beautiful for Father.
The mere thought stirred old fears and insecurities. Anna let go of Eli’s hand and crossed her arms. She drew her shoulders to her ears, trying to shake the chill.
“Anna?” Eli’s concerned voice broke through her trance. From one nightmare to another. Slowly, she opened her eyes. She forced herself to lift her eyes to the form draped in a white sheet. Her lips thinned into a straight line and she stifled a sob. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Eli nod to the only other man in the room. He peeled back the sheet, revealing her brother’s face. Bright fluorescent lights cast an unnatural pallor on his whiskered jaw. Darkness pushed on the periphery of her vision. Her heart raced.
Dear Lord, get me through this. Give me strength.
Anna slid her gaze across her brother’s features, allowing a numbness to dull the ache in her heart. Her brother’s cleft chin, the subtle bump in his nose—the one she shared—and the flat pane of his forehead. Cold, hard reality set in. Her big brother was dead.
Buzzing filled her ears. All the colors came into sharp focus. Blinking a few times, she struggled to concentrate on her brother through her watery gaze, knowing this would be the last time she’d ever see him. Tonight she’d sign the paperwork to have the funeral home pick up his body for cremation. Dear Lord, help me. After she cleaned out his apartment, she’d go back to Buffalo and inter him next to their mother.
“It’s him,” she croaked out. “That’s my brother, Daniel Quinn.” She turned and buried her face in Eli’s shoulder and cried, really cried, for the first time since she had received the news.
“Okay. It’s over now.” Eli made a soft hushing noise next to her ear, smoothing his hand down her hair.
“I’m sorry.” Anna lifted