Page 97 of Among the Innocent

“So there are others out there?”

Aaron smiled. “That’s really up to you to find out, isn’t it, Leah.”

“Where did you go after you were released from the hospital?”

He didn’t answer for a while. “Oh, here and there. I stayed with my friend Jonathan for a while. And I went back to where I was created.”

It took her a second to realize he was talking about the Amish community where he was born. “You went back to your grandparents’ community?”

Aaron seemed pleased with her reaction. “The Amish are all about forgiveness, Leah. You know that. Besides, he was gone by then. My grandmother took me in ...” He started laughing again.

Leah wondered if he’d done something to his grandmother. She’d have someone check on the woman as soon as she finished with Aaron. “And then you came back here and killed Ellis. You shot him. Why deviate from your previous method of killing?”

“I thought it was only fitting that he die by his own weapon. He took my mother from me.”

Revulsion rose inside, and she fought it. So many families needed answers. Leah kept her expression blank. “You killed my family but let me live. Why?”

Anger flared in an instant. He clearly didn’t like her reaction. “Why do you think? With them out of the way, we could be together. We could be a family like I should have had with her, only she put him first. I knew from the beginning I’d have to do away with your family for you to see we were meant to be together.”

Aaron had gone to great lengths to plan the murders. They would have a strong case for premeditation.

She straightened her shoulders. “You thought if you took my family away, I would run to you, but you were wrong. I had another family who cared for me and took me in. The one that should have been yours. Ellis and Marge. They became my family. They adopted me. Loved me like their own child.”

At her shot in the dark, Aaron’s face quickly contorted in rage. Years of pent-up anger and resentment toward Ellis fortaking his mother from him came spewing out. “He made her send me away. He took her from me.”

“And that made you mad enough to kill him.” Leah waited for the confession she knew Aaron wanted to give.

“She chose him over me!” he yelled, his eyes wild. “I needed her—I was her son—and she ignored me just like her father did.” He panted like a caged animal.

Aaron’s mental issues had started long before Ellis came into the picture. He’d been old enough to feel the impact of his grandfather’s rejection.

He focused on Leah again. “I hated him for taking her away from me. I knew the best place to get their attention was at the Amish community. She would understand the significance. And then I met you.” Just for a second, he flashed her that smile that reminded her of why the young girl she’d been back then had been so easily swept away. “You were so easy.” He was back to baiting her again. “Just like Beth and Eva. Justine and Willa. Those in Wyoming. Others. They were all desperate for kindness.”

A chill sped down her spine. He’d wanted to get back at Marge for choosing Ellis, only Marge had never known the terrible things Aaron had done.

“You were different, Leah. That’s why I came back for you. I loved you, but you deserted me too. We could have been good together if you hadn’t refused to leave them.” The depth of madness in those eyes was terrifying. “I killed them so we could be together.”

“Why wait ten years to come back for me?” It sickened Leah to hear Aaron speak of her family’s deaths and others without remorse.

Aaron’s eyes flashed. “Everything changed when I was ten.I was forced to leave the only home I ever had, by him.” He referred to his grandfather. “I became the person you see before you now at ten. I was born at ten. You were supposed to die on the tenth anniversary.” In Aaron’s twisted mind it all made sense.

There was one more thing Leah needed to know. “Were you the one in the alley outside the police station, smoking?”

His smug grin confirmed the truth.

She’d heard enough. “Aaron Beiler, you’re under arrest for the murders of Gretta and Matthew Miller. Ruth and Elijah Miller. Beth Zook. Eva Hostetler. And for the attempted murders of Justine Raber. Sugar Wallace. Henry Landry. Ethan Burke. Dalton Cooper and myself.” She felt confident they would prove Aaron killed the two Jane Does as well as Jonathan Stephens. And probably others.

“What about him?” Aaron taunted. “Aren’t you going to charge me with his killing?”

Leah leaned forward in her chair. “You mean Ellis Petri?”

Aaron smiled with glee. “That’s right. I killed him. Almost to the date of when I killed your family. Did you like the irony?”

She couldn’t believe it. Aaron had deliberately chosen to kill Ellis close to the anniversary of the murders, yet he’d used a different murder weapon to throw them off.

It broke her heart to realize Ellis wasn’t the man she believed him to be. She understood he was trying to protect Marge, yet he’d framed an innocent man and had forced Harrison to do the unimaginable because he didn’t believe there was any other way out.

How could she ever forgive him?

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