Page 66 of Among the Innocent

Sam rubbed his chin. “Good question. The chief never really gave them much attention. He was convinced Troyer did the murders.” He looked over at Dalton. “Enough to arrest him.”

“He arrested the kid?” As far as Dalton knew, Harrison had never been arrested. “How did Harrison end up at that abandoned farmhouse then?”

“I’m not really sure. On the day Troyer killed himself, I had come in early that morning, and Ellis told me he had to let the boy go. He said he didn’t have enough to hold him on.”

Dalton bit his tongue. Harrison’s faith was strong. He would never have taken his own life. Had Ellis deliberately killed him to shield the real killer?

“Then why did he arrest him in the first place?” A hard edge entered Dalton’s tone.

“To this day, I honestly don’t understand why he did that.”

Neither did Dalton. Why go to the trouble of placing him under arrest only to let him go? It almost seemed as if Ellis was setting Harrison up to take the fall so he could bury the problem once and for all.

After a fitful night of tossing and turning, Leah had risen early and made breakfast for Marge. Having the extra time with her mother was a blessing, but she couldn’t get John and the upcoming anniversary out of her mind.

Morning shadows filled the room. Marge had fallen asleep. Leah muted the TV, so the only sound was the air conditioner working overtime to keep the blistering heat at bay.

Too restless to sit, Leah drifted from room to room, glancing out the windows. The two deputies were at their stations. She’d done enough surveillance to know it was long periods of boring monotony, only rarely broken by a few moments of heart-palpitating excitement. Leah made iced tea and first took a glass out to the deputy around back. “It’s hot out. I thought you might like something cool.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said, accepting the glass with gratitude.

Leah recognized him from Beth’s crime scene. “Please, it’s Leah.” She’d spent a lot of time here in the backyard that first year. At times, she still liked to come here and think. “Everything okay back here?”

The deputy took a sip. “Yes, nothing but a couple of squirrels.”

“Good to know.” She smiled and pointed to the glass. “If you want some more, just knock.”

“I will. I appreciate it.”

Leah went back inside and prepared a second glass for the deputy out front. When she returned to Ellis’s office, Marge still hadn’t stirred. Leah slipped into the second recliner. Her phone announced an incoming message from Dalton.

“How are things there?” Dalton asked when she called him, his husky voice a reminder of the tender moments they’d shared before and the hope taking root in her heart.

Leah quietly left the room so as not to disturb her mother. “Fine. Marge is sleeping, and I feel as if I should be doing something. Are there any new developments?”

“Not much. It’s clear the killer is familiar with the layout of the town and surrounding countryside. He’s probably planned out every possible scenario and has an escape route in mind.” She could hear Dalton’s frustration.

“Was there anything salvageable from the burned car?”

“No, nothing.” He stopped. “I’m worried, Leah. It’s almost the anniversary.”

She shivered involuntarily. It felt like watching sand slip through an hourglass.

“Can you remember anything from when you knew John? Did he mention his family? Something to help us find his true identity?”

She’d gone over every single word from their conversationsdozens of times. “John didn’t really talk about himself. He told me he’d been hiking across the country and had come to St. Ignatius to climb the mountains.”

“Did he mention where he’d come from before? Or where he was staying?”

“No, he didn’t, and I never thought to ask. I assumed he might be camping up in the mountains, but I don’t know that for sure.”

“You believe he drove a black car.”

Leah could tell where he was going with this. If John had a car, how could he be hiking across the country? “Yes. He obviously stole the car like he did this time. And the pickup that followed me, I don’t think it’s the same one we impounded but I do believe John was driving it back then.” She couldn’t imagine how difficult all this was for Dalton. If only Ellis had listened to her, Harrison might still be alive. “I did give Ellis the description of the car John drove as well as the pickup. He told me nothing ever came from the search. Now I wonder if he even followed through with them.”

Dalton remained quiet for a long moment. “I had the chance to speak to Sam yesterday. Did you know Ellis arrested Harrison and then let him go on the day he supposedly killed himself?”

She couldn’t believe it. “You’re kidding! I had no idea, but then I really didn’t ask Ellis much about the case, and he didn’t volunteer. By that time, I’d been released from the hospital and he and Marge had taken me in. It was hard...” Everything she knew had been taken from her along with her Amish way of life. It had forever tainted her memories and was the reason why she’d chosen to leave the faith. Everyone around town knew about the murders, including her new classmatesat school. She’d endured the whispers, the accusations that she had something to do with her family’s deaths.

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