A Mother's Gift Page 20

  Jude grunted. “This isn’t just about today’s gunshots. It’s about the way I believe Dexter and Phil have been tempting the twins away from our faith.”

  “All the more reason to talk to Jeremiah, who understands that angle. The sheriff may well refuse to go on a wild-goose chase, trying to find a Phil or a Dexter who owns a gray pickup,” Leah reasoned softly. She tried not to think about the size of the check she’d been anticipating . . . the hay, supplements, and veterinary expenses that money would’ve covered. “After all, we can either sell the meat or eat it ourselves. We’re not facing a total loss.”

  Jude gazed at her, inhaling the chilly morning air to settle his agitation. “You’re probably right,” he admitted with an impatient sigh. “It just seems that we Amish pacifists are as defenseless as your cows, because we’re targets for English pranksters who think we’ll take whatever they dish out.”

  They paused at the gate to the enclosure. “I hope Abner doesn’t turn away your beef, sweetheart,” Jude said. “His regular English customers—and our Plain neighbors who butcher their own animals—might already have lots of meat in their deep freezes.”

  “Jah, I’d thought of that, but it can’t hurt to ask. Maybe God will use this incident to bring about justice in His own way.” As Leah looked at her forlorn remaining cow and the four calves alongside her, she sighed loudly. “Let’s get the carcasses into a wagon so I can butcher them at the barn,” she suggested. “That way, poor Maisie won’t have to watch me.”

  “And then I’ll call Abner for you,” Jude offered. “No sense in taking him more beef than he can sell.”

  Nodding, Leah headed back to the barn to hitch Rusty to the wagon. She’d tried to make the best of this nasty prank, but one thing was certain: it would take a very long day of butchering to deal with the meat from eight slain cattle.

  Chapter 21

  “Not much farther,” Alice panted as she jogged alongside Adeline. “Then we’ll be able to see if the truck’s in the parking lot.”

  “Cutting across the back pastures saved us a lot of time and distance, but I need to catch my breath before we meet up with Phil and Dexter.” With a final burst of energy, Adeline topped the hill and focused on the backs of the last buildings before the main street of Morning Star turned into a county road. “This would’ve been easier if Dat had put the wheels back on our buggy, seeing’s how we’ve stayed home like gut little girls these past few weeks.”

  “Puh! He’ll be mad at us all over again now, for running off.”

  “Well, I can’t let the guys get away with shooting Leah’s cows, can you?” Adeline demanded. She inhaled deeply, shaking her head. “It’s one thing for Phil to be mad about a missing cell phone. It’s another thing entirely to gun down a bunch of defenseless calves and their mamms.”

  They crossed the last several yards of grassy pasture, toward the low rock wall that marked the back boundary of the car dealership. Once they’d clambered the wall and hopped down onto the asphalt behind a row of parked cars, they gazed toward the pool hall.

  “There’s the truck.” Alice looked down, studying the condition of her clothes. “Let’s be sure we’ve got all the loose grass off our jeans—”

  “And we’ll act like we’re really glad to see Phil and Dexter when we spot them,” Adeline strategized aloud. She smoothed her unbound hair and adjusted the blue tank top she wore under the quilted jacket Mammi Lenore had sewn for her. “Better to get them outside, away from the other guys, before we lay into them about what they did.”

  “Do you think they’ll really admit they shot all those cows?” Alice asked as a worm of doubt squirmed in her stomach. “We know it was their truck, but if they deny they fired any shots, what’ll we do?”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Let’s go.”

  Adeline led the way to the edge of the car lot and a few moments later they were approaching the back of the pool hall. Even at this early hour, when most folks were eating breakfast, loud music throbbed inside the building. Several old cars were parked around it, which meant the usual crowd of night shift workers from the pet food factory had come for beer and platefuls of greasy bacon and eggs.

  “Play it cool,” Alice whispered as her sister grabbed the back door’s knob. “Act like it’s old times and we’re back to being their girlfriends.”

  “Jah, if they get nasty about the phone, let’s tell them Dat took it,” Adeline said in a tight voice. “After all, it’s the truth. We had nothing to do with that.”

  “If they get nasty about anything, we’re heading for home,” Alice insisted, holding her sister’s gaze. “Now that I’ve thought about it, maybe it wasn’t such a gut idea to hightail it over here by ourselves. But we’re here. We’ll go inside—”

  “At least to hear whether they shot those cows,” Adeline put in. She took a deep breath to keep her courage up, noting that Alice appeared nervous, too. “And then we should probably head for home anyway. We knew the guys could get rowdy, but I . . . well, I never dreamed they’d run around shooting defenseless animals.”

  * * *

  After a late breakfast, Jude sighed as he stood at the girls’ bedroom window, watching them cross the pasture in English clothes. “Like moths to a flame,” he muttered as he lowered the binoculars. “I don’t like it one bit that they’re heading toward the pool hall to see boys that are not only English, but are armed. I’m going to fetch Jeremiah so we can put an end to this mess they’ve gotten into.”

  “Why would the girls want to keep associating with such violent boys?” Leah asked sadly. “I was hoping their improved behavior these past few weeks meant they’d put those fellows behind them for gut.”

  “I heard ’em talkin’ after breakfast, while they was changin’ their clothes,” Stevie said from the doorway. “They were all riled up—really mad at those guys. They think Dexter and Phil should apologize to Leah and pay for the cows they shot.”

  That’ll never happen, even though the twins are right. Jude turned, sorry his young son had seen Leah’s slain cattle—and sorry that Stevie was getting drawn into the fray his sisters and their English friends were creating. He set down the binoculars and started for the door. “If the girls call home, I want you to phone Jeremiah’s place right away,” he said.

  “I’ll go sit in the phone shanty, so’s I’ll be ready when the phone rings,” Stevie said, pleased to have a job.

  “We’ll let you know if Alice and Adeline come home, too,” Leah put in. “Be careful, Jude. Now that guns are involved, this situation’s a lot more dangerous.”

  “I’ll see you both later,” Jude promised. He kissed Leah and clapped his hand on Stevie’s shoulder. “Denki for your help. Keep us in your prayers.”

  As he loped toward the barn to retrieve the cell phone, Jude’s mind spun with a lot of ideas for bringing a potentially hazardous situation to a positive, safe conclusion. When he reached behind the loose board and grasped the phone, he scowled at it. I should’ve located Dexter and Phil and returned this infernal thing a long time ago. Guide me and my brother, Lord, as we settle this situation once and for all.

  * * *

  Alice put on her best flirtatious smile, the one that could always coax Phil to do what she wanted. As she and Adeline made their way between the noisy pool hall’s back tables, she noted a similar strained smile on her sister’s face. She ignored the remarks from the guys they passed, focusing on Phil and Dexter at a back table.

  Would they be able to tell that she and her sister were scared out of their minds? It was best to play along with Phil’s mood and act as though the sight of all those bloody cows and calves hadn’t upset them. He and Dexter would tease them mercilessly—and play upon their fears—if they sensed she and Adeline were ready to run.

  “Well, well, well.” A cocky voice rose above the loud country music. “Here comes Alice and Addie, just like we figured on, Dex!”

  “Yessirree, Phil!” Dexter crowed, saluting the girls with
his fork. “Do we know how to get their attention, or what?”

  “Maybe if they’d answered their cell phone, a lot of cows would still be grazing in that fence near the road,” Phil added archly.

  Hearing his belligerent tone, Alice wanted to grab her sister’s hand and dash past the pool tables, out the front door, but she sensed the guys would chase them down. Phil, the taller and heavier of the two, chugged the remainder of his beer and slammed his mug on the table with a loud laugh while Dexter brushed aside his shaggy black hair to leer at them. Half-eaten plates of fried eggs and bacon sat in front of them, along with several empty shot glasses. It wasn’t yet ten in the morning and they were drunker than Alice had ever seen them.

  “Cat got your tongue, missy?” Phil taunted as the girls slowly approached their table.

  “Or did our drive-by shooting get you so excited you just had to come see us?” Dexter teased. He grabbed the empty chair beside him and pulled it out. “Sit yourselves down, girls.”

  “Yeah, and if you’re not gonna answer that cell phone I bought you, you can put it right there,” Phil said, pointing angrily at the scummy tabletop. “Don’t think for a minute that this relationship is over until I say it’s over. We’ve given you girls some gifts, and a little repayment of our kindness is in order—wouldn’t you say, Dex?”

  “Yup, a little interest paid on our investment,” Dex replied with a short laugh. “After all, those Tinker Bell tattoos weren’t free—and we’ve hardly gotten to see them.”

  “It—it’s not our fault we haven’t answered your calls,” Alice protested. Her throat was getting so tight she was surprised she could respond. She knew better than to pull away from Phil’s grasp as he pushed her into the chair beside him. She’d seen these two get squirrelly when they were drinking, but they’d never before displayed such a hard, cold-blooded edge.

  “Jah, our dat took the phone and hid it,” Adeline reminded them earnestly. She perched on the edge of the chair beside Dexter, wincing slightly when he hooked his arm around her neck and gave her a sloppy kiss.

  “Hey, you’re nineteen. Your old man can’t run your lives anymore,” Phil shot back. “If you think I’m gonna keep paying the bill on that cell, you’re wrong, girls. Dead wrong.”

  “Dead as those cows,” Dexter remarked. He laughed raucously, as though he’d made a joke.

  Alice felt the blood draining from her face as she stole a glance at her sister. Fibbing about their age had been a bad idea . . . just one of the questionable choices they’d made when these two English guys in their late twenties had first flirted with them.

  “All right, fine. We’ll go home and get your phone,” Adeline asserted in a shaky voice. “Dat’ll hand it right over when we tell him we don’t want to see you guys anymore—not after the way you shot down our cattle!”

  “Jah, he knows your names,” Alice blurted out. “And Leah can identify your gray truck. She saw you drive off after you killed her helpless—”

  “Shut up!” Phil slammed the table with his hand. His eyes were bloodshot as he glared first at Alice and then at Adeline. “You’re ticking me off, girls. If you’re planning to leave home like you said, why do you even care about those stupid cows?”

  “And how many dozen gray trucks do you suppose there are around Morning Star?” Dexter jeered. He tugged at the front of Adeline’s quilted jacket to see what she was wearing underneath it. “Me, I’m thinking it’s time for a lot less of this talk and a whole lot more action. Get my drift, baby doll?”

  “Yeah, it’s time to hop in the truck and take a little ride,” Phil chimed in with a nasty laugh. “There’s a no-tell motel a couple miles down the road. I guarantee you that by the time we finish our business, you girls won’t feel the least bit Amish anymore. Let’s go.”

  Adeline’s heart leapt into her throat as the big man across the table suddenly scooted his chair back. “I—I need to use the restroom!” she rasped.

  “And I need a beer!” Alice said just as desperately. “You should let us catch up, because you’re probably a couple of pitchers ahead of us.”

  Phil scowled and stood up. “That’s the lamest excuse I’ve ever—you girls’ve been giving us nothing but excuses since—”

  “So do you want me to pee on your truck seat?” Adeline challenged as she ducked out from under Dexter’s arm.

  “I’ll go get us another pitcher and four frosted mugs while we wait for Addie,” Alice said, smiling playfully at Phil. “You know we’ll be a lot more fun if you pour a couple of beers down us.”

  “Jah, I’m peeing to make room for beer,” Adeline assured them flirtatiously. She wiggled her fingers in a wave as she started for the back hallway beyond the bar.

  “You know, this salty bacon’s made me thirsty again,” Dexter admitted, glancing into the empty pitcher at his elbow. “But don’t think you can hide in the bathroom,” he called after Adeline. “Three minutes, and I’m comin’ in after you.”

  “And don’t even think about leaving, because I’m watching the doors,” Phil added ominously. “There’s no way you can outrun my truck, anyway.”

  Alice didn’t wait to hear any more. She started toward the bar, so scared she was barely able to breathe the thick, smoky air. God, if You let Adeline make it to the pay phone to call home for help, I promise I’ll never again stray from the path to Plain salvation. And please, please help me distract the guys with this beer.

  “Hey there, sugar, long time no see.” Rick, the paunchy, middle-aged man who owned the pool hall, gave her a gap-toothed grin as he ran beer from a spigot into a plastic pitcher. “Glad to see you girls show up to keep those boys from tearing the place apart,” he said around the cigarette in his mouth. “They were pretty riled up when they got here.”

  As another loud country song from the jukebox filled the pool hall, Alice didn’t know what to say. Rick was somewhat older than Dat, with stringy gray hair, and it creeped her out whenever he looked at her. He set the pitcher on a tray and then took four glass mugs out of the freezer behind the bar.

  Alice took hold of the tray with both shaky hands, for fear she’d drop it. She planned to walk just to the end of the bar, to see if her sister was using the pay phone—except Phil suddenly planted himself in front of her, leaning heavily against the bar.

  “Thought you might need some help carrying that,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “Want you to save your energy for what comes next, once we get to that motel.”

  Alice swallowed hard. Phil had seemed so cute and appealing when he’d first pulled up alongside her and Adeline in the truck as they’d been walking down the road last summer, but the hard gleam in his eye today made her wish she’d never met him. She and her sister had enjoyed defying Dat’s wishes with older, more worldly guys who made them feel so special with their gifts and promises for the future . . . and feel so beautiful with their deep, soul-stirring kisses. Too late, she realized that Leah had been right about these guys all along.

  “Are we gonna go back and sit down while that beer’s still cold?” Phil asked sarcastically. He grabbed the tray and made a point of walking beside Alice so she couldn’t see what her sister was doing.

  About the time Alice realized that Dexter was no longer at their table, she heard Adeline’s shriek in the back hallway, followed by the loud slamming of the pay phone’s receiver.

  Why did you think you could fool these guys? Why did you believe you could come here and set them straight about shooting Leah’s cows? Alice thought desperately. She sat down in the chair next to Phil’s, feeling doomed. They’ll only get nastier after they drink more beer . . . God, can You please, please help us get home?

  When Adeline approached the table with Dexter’s hard arm around her, she wore a frightened expression. She met Alice’s gaze with the slightest shake of her head, as though to say she hadn’t had a chance to talk to anyone at home, let alone leave a message.

  Phil filled the four mugs with beer, his smug expression confirming the stu
pidity of Adeline’s attempt to get help. “Bottoms up, girls,” he said, leering at the innuendo in his words.

  Alice flushed furiously. She nearly choked on her first gulp of beer, wondering why she’d ever pretended she liked it—and wishing she’d never pretended to be someone she wasn’t. Adeline took a short sip, too, trying to make the glass of beer last long enough to plan a way out of this horrible predicament.

  Rick came to the table with four jiggers of whiskey. He was grinning as though he already knew that Phil and Dexter were about to win the prizes they’d been trying for ever since the day Alice and Adeline had first hopped into the truck....

  “Why don’t you give us some more lessons on shooting pool?” Adeline gazed hopefully at Dexter as he tossed back his shot of whiskey.

  Alice grasped for her twin’s conversational straw. “Jah, as I recall, you fellows really enjoy leaning us over the table, showing us how to hold our cue sticks—”

  “Why do you keep changing the subject?” Phil demanded after he, too, drained his shot of whiskey in a single gulp. “I want to talk about how you girls’re going to—”

  “I’m game.” Dexter’s smile was lopsided as he rose unsteadily to his feet. “If we do what the girls want now, they’ll repay the favor when we take them down the road. Come on, Addie-baby. Let’s show ’em how the game’s played.” He grabbed the shot glass in front of Adeline and gulped the whiskey in it.

  Alice hurried to the nearest empty pool table. She stalled, fumbling while racking up the balls, acting clumsy as Adeline came up to help her.

  “We’re in a bad spot, Alice,” her sister whispered before lifting the wooden triangle from the green tabletop.

  “Keep them talking and drinking,” Alice murmured. “If you can hold their attention, I’ll try to slip away—”