Off the Grid (Amish Safe House, Book 1) by Ruth Hartzler Page A

grow
accustomed to knitting, much less enjoy it, chatting with this
group was not all that bad after all.
    Kate wanted to ask questions, but wasn’t
sure the best way to word it. Finally, she decided simply to come
right out and ask. “I was wondering if Mr. Byler had any enemies. I
mean, who would want to murder such a man?”
    “Such a shame,” Lillian said, “murdered on
his own property. You would not expect that here.”
    “The world is getting smaller with the Englischers’ internet and what not,” one lady said.
    “We need to pray harder for the younger
generation,” another voice piped up.
    “Who said it wasn’t someone older?” Lillian
asked. “Why I saw Esther’s grossmammi , Rhoda, chase the cat
that always tears her dresses on the clothes line with a frying
pan. She ran nearly half a mile at gut speed, and she’s over
eighty!”
    Everyone collapsed into helpless peals of
laughter.
    Kate took in all that was being said. These
women were more like everyone else than she had first thought. They
even made jokes with each other.
    “Anyway, Katie asked a question.” Lillian
got them back on track.
    Finally, Naomi, the one who Kate guessed to
be the oldest lady in the room, leaned forward in her rocking
chair. “I think his sohn did it,” she said in a croaky
voice.
    A hush fell over the room.
    “ Nee ,” Lillian said. “ Jah ,
he’s had trouble, but you can’t think that.”
    “His son?” Katie asked. “What did his son
do?”
    “Moses was a lovely little boy,” Lillian
said. “Joseph Byler and his fraa , Barbara, adopted him
because they couldn’t have kinner . Oh, hush,” she said when
the others gasped at her disclosure. “When he grew older, he wanted
to know about his birth familye and was bothered by the fact
they didn’t live in town. He left town looking for them, and got
into trouble with the law. But there is still good in him; I saw it
in his eyes before he left. He is still that lost little boy and he
would never harm his vadder .”
    The oldest lady spoke again. “Sometimes it’s
the person you would least expect.”
    Lillian shook her head.
    Kate listened to everything that was said.
Now, at long last, she had had a suspect. Maybe the shooting was an
act of revenge for perceived wrong doings? Or maybe there was an
inheritance which the young man wanted to get his hands on in order
to fund his criminal lifestyle. Moses was certainly sounding like a
legitimate suspect. Kate wondered if the police were following up
on him. Surely they were, as it was standard procedure to look into
those closest to a victim in a murder case.
    “But what about that developer who was going
to buy Joseph’s farm?” Beckie, one of the ladies, said. “Joseph
told me he was in two minds about selling the farm, ‘cause then the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission could force the farm on the
far side to have power lines built right through it. They could
even force them to sell their farm cheaply.”
    Another suspect , Kate thought. Aloud
she said, “The other farm: are they Amish?”
    “ Nee ,” Lillian said.
“ Englischers , and very wealthy at that.”
    Kate risked another question. “Was Joseph
Byler selling to the developer, or just thinking about it?”
    “His mind was made up,” Lillian said. “He
was going to sell for sure. He was an elderly man, running that
farm by himself. No one knew where his son was, so he couldn’t
carry on the farm. Joseph had no choice but to sell, really.”
    All the ladies nodded their agreement.
    “Beckie, do you think the developer have
killed Joseph?” a lady asked.
    “ Nee , Abigail, that would make the
owner of the farm a suspect,” Beckie said, “and the developer would
have no reason to kill Joseph if he was selling. In fact his death
would slow down the whole process, even stop it, if his heir didn’t
want to sell.”
    “I guess you have a point,” Abigail said,
“but does that mean the wealthy Englischer did it? I’ve
heard he