Alison Stone - Plain Pursuit

Awareness heated her face when she found him regarding her with a quizzical look. “I’m sorry. I tend to talk too much when I’m upset.” Her gaze drifted back toward the crash site, hidden by the tall cornstalks. “Thank God no one on the ground was hurt.”

Special Agent Miller nodded but didn’t say anything. His economy of words wore on her patience. Fisting her hands, she resisted the urge to slug the information out of him.

Crossing her arms, Anna narrowed her gaze. It wasn’t beyond a law enforcement officer to lie to get what he wanted. She had learned that the hard way. “Why are you really here, Special Agent Eli Miller?”

* * *

The pain in Anna’s eyes spoke volumes despite her display of false bravado. Eli refused to add to her burden, but his conscience didn’t allow him to flat-out lie, either. “As I said, your brother’s name came up in regard to a ten-year-old cold case.” The words rang oddly distant in his ears. This wasn’t exactly any case.

“Is...was—” she quickly changed tense “—Daniel in some kind of trouble?” Her pink-rimmed hazel eyes pleaded for the truth.

“Ma’am.” A baby-faced police officer emerged from the cornfield carrying a green garment. “I understand you’re the deceased’s sister.” Nodding, Anna’s eyes widened. “This was in the plane.” He held out what looked to be an army jacket.

She grabbed the garment and hugged it to her chest. “Thank you.” The officer tipped his hat, respectful of her loss.

“We need someone to identify the body.” The officer tapped his fingers nervously against his thigh.

Anna dropped her head and covered her mouth with her hands. “I don’t know....”

“Where’s the sheriff?” Eli asked. “I thought he’d be out here.”

“No, sir, I’m handling this one.” The officer tucked his thumbs into his belt and looked at Anna. “We really need you to identify the body, Miss Quinn.”

Growing impatient with the officer’s insistence, Eli stepped forward, partially blocking Anna in a protective gesture. “I knew the deceased. I’ll do it.”

Anna lifted her head. “This is something I need to do.” Her voice broke over the last few words. “Where...?” Her gaze drifted toward the cornstalks as if she imagined traipsing through the field and finding her brother’s bruised and battered body on the ground.

The officer’s wary gaze moved to Eli, then back to her. “The morgue is at Apple Creek Hospital. I can take you. It’s getting dark and it’s easy to get turned around on these country roads.”

“Let me drive you.” Eli placed his hand on her trembling arm.

Anna nodded, the corners of her mouth pulling down. “Is it okay if I leave my car parked on the main road?”

Eli took her keys, their fingers brushing in the exchange. Anna’s eyes snapped to his and he smiled reassuringly. “Let me move your car off the road.”

After he moved her vehicle, he guided her with a hand at the small of her back to his SUV parked in the Amish family’s yard. No one was outside the neat farmhouse. Just as well. He had all the information he needed for now. The officer in charge had informed him no one on the ground had been hurt in the crash. Thank God.

Eli opened the car door for Anna. Her long lashes brushed her porcelain skin as she ducked into the vehicle. With his hand still on the door handle, his focus drifted to the familiar farmhouse. A young girl emerged from the house, her pale blue gown rustling around her ankles as she sprinted across the grass toward the building next door. The Amish girl reached the neighboring house without so much as turning her bonneted head. Longing for a simpler life filled him.

Squaring his shoulders, Eli strode around the front of the vehicle. The case he was working on had never been easy. The death of Daniel Quinn was an unexpected complication. But even though he was dead, Eli still had to get answers. For the family. For himself.

TWO

“So, Special Agent Eli Miller, what cold case did you talk to my brother about?” Anna had waited until her FBI escort had pulled out onto the road. For a moment back at the farmhouse he had seemed slightly distracted, as if he had something more on his mind than the plane crash. Her shoulders sagged. She squeezed her purse in her lap and held it close. Tears blurred her vision.

He flicked a gaze in her direction, then turned his attention back to the road. “Call me Eli, please.” His mouth curved into a small smile, transforming his profile from the serious FBI agent to someone...well, someone not so serious. She ran her pinkie fingers under her eyes. She wasn’t partial to men in law enforcement, but her emotional state made her vulnerable to a handsome man with a friendly smile regardless of his chosen career.

Heat crept up her neck and she turned to stare at the cornfields rushing by outside the car window. Instinctively, she was leery of those in law enforcement. Yet Eli’s eyes radiated warmth, a kindness, so unlike her father’s penetrating glare when he was looking for an excuse to punish her. She blinked a few times to dismiss the memory.

“Are you going to tell me about this cold case?” Anna asked again.

Eli seemed intent on staring straight ahead at the road. “The cold case stemmed from an old case—a five-year-old Amish girl was kidnapped from Apple Creek.” His knuckles whitened on the steering wheel.

“Did they ever find her?”

“No.” 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.