Marta Perry - Murder in Plain Sight

The telephone rang. Geneva reached across the desk to answer and then handed the receiver to Jessica. “It’s someone from the courthouse.”

She took the phone. She listened, made the appropriate response and hung up, pressing her fingers against her throbbing temples.

“What is it?” Geneva reached out, as if prepared to comfort.

She shook her head slowly. “They’ve finalized a trial date. It’s only a month away.”

A month. She repeated the words in her mind. She’d expected to have until the next term of court, at least.

A month. Four weeks to find a way to prove that Thomas was innocent, or he could face spending the rest of his life in the state penitentiary.

TREY DIDN’T RETURN TO THE house until well after supper. Because he didn’t want to spend time with her? Jessica didn’t know. But she suspected that he was as blindsided by the feelings between them as she was.

He came into the study, where she’d been working on her laptop, giving her a frowning gaze. “I understand the trial date is set.”

She nodded. “Just a month. Although I’m not sure having more time would help.”

Trey sat in the chair next to her. She could feel his gaze on her face, so intense that he might as well be touching her skin.

“Where were you today?” She didn’t mean that to sound accusing. She just wanted to get him talking so that she could dismiss the intimacy of the moment.

“I had some work to do. Then I went over to Jonas’s place and had a look around the barn.”

The words startled her. “But I didn’t tell you-” She stopped, not sure she wanted to say the rest of it.

“Didn’t tell me what?” He clasped her hand in his. “What, Jessica? You can trust me.”

“I know.” Her smile flickered. “I just didn’t want to sound paranoid.”

His gaze met hers steadily for a long moment. “You don’t think it was an accident.”

She shrugged, not sure she wanted to go that far. “I heard…thought I heard…someone in the loft just before the bales fell over.”

“You didn’t see anyone?” His words came quick and hard.

“No. I can’t even be sure of what I heard. Maybe it was just a natural sound. The floorboards settling or something.”

“But someone might have been there. Someone might have given those bales a shove.”

“How could that happen?” She’d been over this in her own mind a hundred times today. “Wouldn’t he or she have been spotted?”

He frowned, turning her hand idly in his. “Not necessarily. Probably no one was looking at the loft. The kids were all intent on each other, and the few adults probably had their minds on their own chores. Besides, it was dark enough looking up there from below that a person might not have been visible.”

A shiver went through her. She’d much rather think it had been an accident, pure and simple. “How would he get up there? And get away?”

“Easier than you might think. There are several ladders that lead down to the barn floor.” He snagged a pen and tablet from the desk and paused, looked at the image she had doodled earlier that day-the odd little hex symbol that had been on the threatening note. “Is this worrying you?”

“Only because I don’t know what it means, if anything.”

He shook his head slowly, frowning, and she had the sense that he didn’t say what he thought.

“Well, about the barn.” He flipped the page over and drew a rough sketch. “Here, here and here there are ladders.” He pointed. “Somebody could come down while everyone was intent on you. There’s also another ladder over here at the far end. It leads into the equipment area, so if he came and went that way, he didn’t have to go into the main part of the barn at all.”

She looked at him, raising her eyebrows. “Someone in Amish dress wouldn’t have been noticed.”

“That’s ridiculous.” His words slashed back at her. “They wouldn’t do such a thing.”

“They…he…might not have intended to do much harm. If I hadn’t been getting to my feet when the bales fell, I doubt that I’d have been hurt. Startled, maybe. Scared.”

“What reason could any Amish person have for trying to scare you away? They want Thomas to be found innocent.”

“I don’t know.” Her hand twisted involuntarily, and he smoothed his fingers over it, as if he calmed a child. “But you can’t deny that some have been opposed to my involvement. And you must have been suspicious, or you wouldn’t have been out there looking over the barn today.”

“I suppose I was,” he admitted. “Jonas is a good friend, and I could see that he wasn’t satisfied, as well.”

“Did he think it was deliberate?”

“He didn’t say that, but I could tell it was in his mind.” He shook his head. “I can’t make any sense out of it. I suppose an outsider could have followed us, but how would they know you were in the loft? How would they know how to get up there without being seen?”

“That brings us back to accident,” she said.

“I guess.” He enclosed her hand in both of his. “Maybe I’m just spooked, worrying about you.”

She was suddenly breathless. “You…you shouldn’t. I’m used to looking out for myself.”

“And I’m used to looking out for the people I care about.” His voice deepened on the words, and her breath caught. She ought to look away from the intensity of his gaze, but she couldn’t. She seemed to be drowning in it. He leaned toward her-

“There you are, Trey.” Geneva hurried into the room, and Trey jerked back in his chair as if he’d been shot.

“Mom, we were talking.”

“Were you, dear? That’s nice.” She gave them a bright-eyed look and then switched on the television. “I won’t disturb you for long, but there’s something on the local news at seven that I want you to see.”

Jessica retrieved her hand. Lucky Geneva had come in when she had. An interruption was all that would have kept them from kissing again. From getting more entangled in a relationship she was afraid couldn’t go anywhere.

The television newscaster was giving a report on a three-car pileup. Jessica looked from Trey to his mother, but judging from Geneva’s expression, this wasn’t the news tidbit she was interested in.

A brief close-up of the reporter-the same one who’d waylaid her outside the jail and again at the Esch farm. The woman turned, and Jessica realized who she was interviewing.

Geneva. Geneva, big as life, smiling at the camera and telling the world that she believed in Thomas’s innocence, and that she was happy to be paying for his defense.

“There you have it, ladies and gentlemen, a TV 10 exclusive with Geneva Morgan, local business owner, revealing that she is providing representation for Thomas Esch, accused in the brutal murder of Cherry Wilson. A request for comment from Esch’s family and other local Amish was refused.”

The interview was short-that was the only bright spot Jessica could find. It ended, and Geneva switched the set off and turned to Trey with a smile identical to the one she’d worn on camera.

“There. Wasn’t that excellent?”

“Mom…” Trey often sounded frustrated when he talked with his mother, but for the first time since she’d known him, he seemed to feel helpless. “Why did you do that? What on earth possessed you?”

“The community needs to know that some of us believe Thomas is innocent. Now they do.” She beamed. “I’m so pleased about it, and it’s all thanks to Jessica. She gave me the idea.”

Jessica felt her mouth drop open. “I didn’t…”

Trey was looking at her with rage burning in the eyes that had been so warm only a few minutes ago. “Why would you do that? You know I don’t want my mother exposed to that sort of publicity.”