“Yes, I agree. But, unfortunately, I don’t think there is much we can do about it.”

  “Well.” May then replied in a hushed tone of voice. “There is something that I would like to discuss with you regarding the whole situation. Would I be able to walk with you?”

  At first Sabrina’s thoughts were blank. Trevor’s authority was simply something she had told herself to accept, but here was May seemingly looking for a way to prove otherwise. Mr. Caruthers had promised Sabrina fulltime work very shortly, but would Trevor honor that promise? “Of course, May.”

  May remained quiet as the two of them walked across the grounds of the stables. They walked on the other side, away from the noisy auction, which was in full swing. It wasn’t until they reached a bench on the outer perimeter of the property that May spoke. “I think it was Trevor.” May offered no context for her statement, but Sabrina knew to what she was referring.

  “May, you need to be careful what you say.” Sabrina looked anxiously about them. It would not do to be overheard speaking about such things.

  “Well, I do. It makes perfect sense. We just need to take a look at how Trevor is behaving this morning to know he’s obviously been planning this for a long time. He’s taken over straight away.”

  Sabrina remained silent as she listened to May speak. As much as she hated to admit it, she saw some possibility of truth in what May said.

  “Trevor never liked John. It’s just a matter of time before he fires him.” May’s tone shifted slightly as she mentioned John’s name, which elicited a raised brow from Sabrina. “And I’m not just saying this because I’ll miss John’s handsome face if he were to leave. We have to tell someone about this, Sabrina.”

  “Yes, I know,” Sabrina’s said. “Bailey, my brother-in-law, used to be in the FBI. I’ll talk to him when I get home; hopefully he’ll be able to help.” Sabrina knew that Silvie was going to the widows’ meeting tonight, but she could not mention that to May. It sounded better to enlist the help of an ex-FBI agent rather than say she was going to take the advice of Amish widows.

  “Thank you, Sabrina. I couldn’t live with myself if I just sat back and watched Trevor get away with all of this. Something has to be done.”

  Sabrina looked around about them once more, and then whispered, “I know they never got on, but do you think that Trevor would’ve killed his own father?”

  May looked Sabrina directly in her eyes and then nodded.

  Sabrina’s eyes fell to the ground. It was too horrible to even imagine. “How’s your mother handling it all?”

  “She’s been sedated. The doctor came to her last night and again this morning. She’s taken it hard. She’s got two of her good friends staying with her now.”

  “I’d better get back to work.” Sabrina rose from the bench.

  “Thank you for listening, Sabrina. I really appreciate it.”

  “Everything will be okay, May. Just you wait and see.” Sabrina made her way back to her office and when she arrived back at her desk, she spotted a note. John must have left it because he had been manning the phones on her break. She looked around and could not see John anywhere. She looked back to the note.

  The names written on the paper were not familiar, Clarkwell and Addison. The only calls that ever came through to her phone were regarding accounting.

  Sabrina called the first number.

  “Hello, Clarkwell speaking.” It was a male’s voice, his coarse tone indicating a degree of agitation.

  Sabrina told him who she was and tried to tell him from where she was calling.

  The male quickly cut Sabrina off before she could properly say where she was from. “Thank you for returning my call. I was calling regarding the late Mr. Caruthers and the considerable sum of money he owes us. Oh, my condolences, of course. I heard it on the news this morning on the way to work – the radio- about his um, death. Who is handling his debts now? Should I be speaking to you about it?”

  Sabrina momentarily found herself unable to speak; she had no idea that her boss was in any kind of debt. All the bookwork had balanced and there was nothing outstanding on her ledgers. “I’m sorry, Mr. Clarkwell; from where are you calling?”

  “I’m afraid I cannot discuss this with anyone other than a direct representative of Caruthers.”

  Sabrina quickly ended the call, promising that someone would phone him back shortly. Sabrina thought about the other call she still needed to return. Sabrina took a deep breath before she called the second number. The line rang several times before someone answered. Another male came on the line speaking in a similarly agitated manner.

  “Hello, this is Michael Addison.”

  “Hello, Mr. Addison. I’m returning a call from you that I missed this afternoon.” Sabrina spoke in more of a delayed manner on the second call, expecting to have her greeting cut short again.

  “I see, are you a relative of Caruthers?”

  “No, I am the book keeper of his firm. The call you made earlier came through to my line.” Sabrina wanted to give as little information as possible to this man, already having her suspicions raised by Clarkwell.

  “Well, your boss had some business with me that has been left outstanding. I want to see about getting this resolved. I’ve been owed a lot of money for a long time and since he’s just died I’m concerned about getting my money back. I can’t allow the situation to continue, or I’ll need to get my lawyers on to it.”

  “I’m sorry for the difficulties you’ve had with us, Mr. Addison. I will pass this information on so we can come to some form of resolution. What line of business are you in? I have no record of our company having any dealings with you.”

  “These are of a private matter; nevertheless, I need to be paid.” This man appeared to be less forceful than Clarkwell, but no less abrupt.

  “Again, I apologize. I’ll have someone call you back shortly.” Addison went on to speak further, but Sabrina accidently hung up before she heard him begin to speak again. Now, feeling more worried, she wondered what to do. She had to tell Trevor about the calls, but hated the idea of approaching him about anything. Especially money, considering the heated rows he had with his father. Sabrina was pleased that Trevor was consumed with the auction for the day and the only real opportunity to speak to him about the finances of the company would be the next day.

  Maybe Mr. Caruthers kept a diary, or something where he mentioned either Addison or Clarkwell.

  Sabrina raced into his office and searched for a diary or some kind of notebook. In the top drawer, she found a black leather diary. She flipped through it. There were several entries referring to the name Victor Parker. Sabrina thought hard; he had not mentioned that name to her at all. She committed the name to memory, tossed the book back in the drawer and hurried back to her desk. Some of the entries next to Parker’s name had large dollar amounts next to it. Maybe he owed this Victor Parker fellow a great deal of money as well.

  Sabrina kept busy for the rest of the day hoping that in doing so the day would go quicker. She was eager to speak to Bailey and hear what he thought of what she’d learned.

  Chapter 8.

  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

  Psalm 23:4

  Later that night, when Sabrina arrived home, she found Bailey and Silvie in the kitchen.

  “Bailey,” Sabrina began, clearly upset. “I need to talk to you about something.”

  “Sabrina, what is the matter?” Bailey was immediately concerned, gesturing for her sister-in-law to take a seat by the kitchen table.

  “At work today my friend May told me she thinks her brother, Trevor, is responsible for the murder of their father.”

  Silvie was standing behind Bailey and as she heard the words her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. Bailey remained expressionless as he waited for Sabrina to continue.

  “Judging by his behavior today at work, it looks like he’s been planning this for a while. And I had two calls from people today claiming Mr. Caruthers owed them money.”

  After listening to Sabrina’s thoughts on the matter, Bailey found that her suspicions matched his own, at least in part. From what Crowley had already told him, Bailey knew that Trevor would stand to have the most to gain from his father’s death making him the prime suspect. As far as Bailey was aware, Trevor was going to be pulled in for any further questions. Something niggled at Bailey; it seemed too obvious that Trevor would be the guilty party. If he were going to kill his father to gain an early inheritance, why wouldn’t he have been cleverer about it? Why wouldn’t he have made it look more like an accident, perhaps even a suicide?

  “I think it’s important that we just let the police handle this,” Bailey said, sounding sincere. “I’m sure they’ll get to the bottom of it.”

  “But what if it was Trevor that did it?” Sabrina asked, traces of fear beginning to lace her voice. “I could be working with a murderer. Silvie said that you are helping Detective Crowley with all of this.”

  “Sabrina, please....” Wanting to keep the young girl calm, Bailey glanced sideways to Silvie looking for her help.

  Taking a seat by her sister’s side, Silvie took Sabrina’s hand in hers in an attempt to keep her calm.

  Bailey dropped his head slightly, so his eyes were in line with Sabrina’s. “I used to work with these guys. Trust me they know what they are doing. If they had any concerns, they would have kept him in for further enquiries, but they didn’t. I’ll call Crowley in the morning to see if anything new has come to light. I’m sure you’ve nothing to worry about.”

  Seeing a measure of comfort register in Sabrina’s eyes signaled to Bailey that his words had calmed her slightly. Now feeling more at ease himself, Bailey tried to move her attention completely away from her boss. “Now tell me about these phone calls, what were their names?”

  Sabrina paused to recall the details from earlier that afternoon.

  “Clarkwell and Addison,” she replied. “I didn’t recognize their names at all. There are no accounting files under their names or the names of their firm and nothing in the firm’s whole database.”

  “Did they specify what the debt was for? Or how much was owed?” Bailey asked rubbing the back of his neck in an effort to relieve some tension.

  “No, they both seemed quite evasive when I tried to get more information. At least one of them said it was a personal matter.” Sabrina then realized something she should have noticed when she first spoke to the debtors. “I’ve been working on the books for the stables for several months now and I never saw anything that looked like a considerable debt. We owed money in various places, but just the usual small amounts to the auctioneers and a few contractors for work done on the stables. None of it makes sense.”

  Bailey allowed Sabrina to go off on her various tangents while he thought over the situation with Trevor. After a while he said, “Just go back to work tomorrow and tell Trevor about the calls and let him deal with it, alright? Seems to be some personal debts that the old man accrued along the way somehow.”

  “Okay,” Sabrina said with a weak smile on her lips.

  “Well, I’ve got a widows’ meeting to go to straight after dinner,” Silvie announced.

  “Can I come with you, Silvie?”

  Silvie raised her eyebrows. Sabrina had been to two widows’ meetings and had complained the whole time. Silvie knew that the other four widows found Sabrina spoilt and annoying. “Why do you want to come this time, Sabrina? You’ve complained the whole way through at each meeting you’ve gone to.”

  Sabrina dropped her head. “I know, but they might be able to help figure the whole thing out.”

  “No complaining?”

  “I won’t make one complaint. Ach, do they have a couch yet?”

  Silvie laughed. “Nee, and don’t say a thing about it. They don’t seem to have the need to sit in something comfortable. They like their chairs.”

  “Okay, so I can come if I don’t complain?” Sabrina asked.

  Silvie nodded. “You can come.”

  Silvie had made apple cupcakes with lemon icing that day to take to the gathering. Each of the five widows always made something delicious to take to their weekly get-togethers.

  * * *

  Two hours later, Silvie and Sabrina knocked on the door of the elderly schweschders, Ettie and Elsa-May. Not long after they were seated, the other two widows, Emma and Maureen, arrived.

  As soon as everyone was seated, Silvie took a deep breath and began, “Sabrina wanted to come here tonight because something terrible happened at her work yesterday.”

  Sabrina spoke across Silvie, “Jah, my boss was murdered and Silvie was the one who found him.”

  The widows gasped.

  “How horrible for you,” Ettie said to Silvie.

  Elsa-May shook her head with her eyes cast downward.

  “How was he killed?” Emma asked.

  “He was stabbed,” Sabrina said before Silvie could open her mouth.

  “Where was he found?” Maureen asked.

  This time Silvie was quick to speak. “I found him in one of the stables behind one of the horses.”

  “He was in with a horse?” Maureen asked.

  Silvie nodded.

  “Well, we’re not looking for someone who was afraid of horses then,” Ettie said.

  “So, you’ll help then?” Sabrina asked.

  “The police don’t have any idea who did this?” Elsa-May asked.

  Sabrina shook her head.

  Silvie said, “Bailey talked to Crowley last night after the police interviewed everyone. They interviewed Silvie, me and the boss's son, Trevor, and a few employees. Anyway, Crowley wants Bailey to help him with the evidence.”

  “How does Bailey feel about that?” Elsa-May asked, frowning at Silvie.

  “He’d rather stay out of it. He’s left that part of his life behind him and is fearful to take it up again. You know the problems that he’s had with his nightmares and things?” Silvie said.

  “Jah, I’d understand that he’d want to stay away from anything like that,” Elsa-May said. “And what brings you here tonight, Sabrina?”

  Sabrina brightened up. “I’ve come here to see if you could all help find who killed Mr. Caruthers. I know you’ve done things like that before.”

  “Tell us what you know,” Ettie said.

  “I’d seen Mr. Caruthers yesterday morning and that’s all, which isn’t unusual the day before an auction. He’ll usually come into his office of a morning and spend the rest of the day going over the paperwork for each horse, 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.

 

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