“Millie,” he said and carefully placed the paintbrush on the corner of the board. “I hope you weren’t expecting the buggy to be finished. It’s not quite ready for you yet.”

  “Lad just told us that, but he said I might be able to step in to see it. My friend Lois and I just enjoyed dinner at the Amish Corner Bench, and since we were so close, I thought we’d stop by.”

  “Did you see Phoebe?” Lad asked.

  “We did,” Lois said. “She was our server. She’s such a sweet girl.”

  Lad blushed as if the compliment was directed at him, and he ducked his head, but not before I saw the smile on his face.

  Cyril glanced at his son. “Ya, Lad is quite looking forward to his life with Phoebe, though I don’t approve of his rushing into it so quickly.”

  Lois raised her eyebrows. “Why delay? I thought you planned to marry this fall.”

  Lad frowned at his father. “We are getting married this fall. The bishop gave his blessing.”

  His father pushed his glasses up his nose in an irritated manner.

  “We will see about that,” Cyril said and then looked at Lois and me. “My son has to learn a little more about the business before he settles down with a wife and family. He will be the one who is taking over the family buggy shop when the time comes. It’s a great legacy and a great responsibility. It is my opinion that he would do much better if he knew more about the business and buggy-making craftsmanship before he marries and is distracted by a wife and children.”

  Lad listened to his father without a word, but the twitch in his jaw was telling. Being young and in love and being asked to wait was never easy. As a matchmaker, I had seen it many times, and many times I had been asked to intervene. I rarely did in cases like this. In the Amish world, the parents’ blessing on a union is important. Marriages could happen without it, but in my experience as a matchmaker, it was always best to avoid starting marriage in the middle of a family conflict.

  Cyril wiped his hands on a cloth. “Your buggy is in the next building. We probably won’t be done with it until Monday afternoon.”

  I smiled. “That is fine. Lad said the axle came in at the end of the day. I’m just relieved to know that it’s finally here.”

  He nodded. “Me too. It was such an odd size. I’m glad we were able to find one. Take gut care of it. I would hate to have to look for a second one when the first was so hard to track down.”

  “I will,” I promised.

  I knew to Englischers all buggies look the same, but that wasn’t the case for the Amish. As soon as we stepped into the second room, I recognized my buggy. It had no wheels, and it was balanced on giant sawhorses that lifted it high enough into the air so that a repairman could walk underneath the buggy and work on the undercarriage.

  “I know it looks like a mess now, but you will be much happier with the way it handles when we are all done with it,” Cyril said. “It needed quite a bit of work. You’re lucky that it didn’t break down while you were on the road. From what I can tell, this buggy has not been serviced in a very long time.”

  I nodded. “It’s possible. I got it when I moved back to Ohio and I bought it used.”

  “Ya, I thought it might be something like it. Buggies last much longer than automobiles, but this one, I would guess, is almost thirty years old, which is very old for an Amish buggy.”

  I furrowed my brow. “It looks like you have to do a lot more work than you first thought. Will that change the price? I understand if it does.” I thought about my budget, which was admittedly tight as a widow who made her living sewing quilts. I wondered if Cyril would let me pay him on shop credit. I wasn’t sure how else I would be able to do it and keep a roof over my head and feed the goats too. I wasn’t about to give up the goats now; they were family.

  “Please don’t worry about it, Millie. Kip was a gut friend of mine for a long time. If I can’t be kind to a gut man’s widow, what sort of man am I?”

  “I can’t thank you enough. My quilting covers the bills, but when extra expenses like this come up, it is a stretch to the budget.”

  He smiled. “I’m happy to help.”

  “I do appreciate it very much,” I said. “And take all the time you need. Lois is a gut friend to me. She’s been acting as my taxi driver while the buggy is repaired.”

  Lois grinned. “I don’t mind driving Millie around, especially when we are on a case.”

  “On a what?” Cyril asked.

  Lois’s eyes went wide. “When we are on a cake,” she said. “My granddaughter Darcy owns and operates the Sunbeam Café in Harvest, and there is a lot of cake there.”

  Cyril wrinkled his brow as if confused, understandably so. Where did Lois get the idea to say, “when we are on a cake”?

  “I’ve been there a few times,” Cyril said. “The café does look like it has excellent cakes.”

  “The very best,” Lois agreed.

  “Will you be at the church services tomorrow?” I asked.

  “We always plan to go,” Cyril said.

  “I’m sure you heard about the skeleton that was found near the covered bridge,” I said. “I suppose there will be a lot of talk about that.”

  A cloud passed over Cyril’s face. “I have heard about it. I would not be surprised if people talk about it. Everyone in the district likes to talk and spread rumors. I much prefer to work on my buggies and stay out of everyone’s way.”

  “Some people are saying that it’s Galilee Zook.” I watched his face when I said this, waiting for some kind of reaction or tell to show me what he was feeling.

  His face gave away nothing. “Ya, I know this. The bishop was here this morning to tell me. If the body does turn out to be Gali, that will be a very sad end to a sad story.” He began to pick up the tools around the shop and drop them into a red toolbox that sat on the corner of a folding table. “I tell the men to put everything back into place at the end of the day. Usually on Saturday this advice goes out the window. They are ready to go home to their families, their wives, and their children. They will not take the extra minute to care for the tools when it’s the end of the work week.”

  “Daed, I can put those away,” Lad said.

  Cyril nodded and handed his son the tool in his hand.

  Lad gathered up the rest of the tools in a matter of seconds and whisked them out of the room. It seemed he was happy to get away.

  “It must have been difficult when your brother was killed,” I said. “It was so long ago, I don’t remember much from that time. I was a young wife then. I think at the time I was so worried about making a nice home for Kip, I missed many things that were happening in the community.”

  “Of course it was difficult. My brother, my only sibling, was murdered, and my sister-in-law, Gali, was missing. Gali didn’t deserve what happened to her. She was a sweet woman. Many times I thought she never should have married my bruder. He needed a less sensitive wife who could manage his moods. Gali only crumbled when Samuel threw one of his famous fits.”

  “Famous fits?” Lois asked.

  He pressed his lips together and touched his glasses as if he was considering how much he should say. “My bruder was an angry man, and he had a short temper. He had been like that since he was a child. He could be . . . difficult.”

  Poor Gali.

  “Do you believe the theory that she ran away to be Englisch?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “I didn’t and still don’t. Not many people listened to me at the time, but she was too quiet and demure to do something like that. I can’t remember her ever stepping out of line. What’s more out of line than joining the Englisch?”

  Murder came to mind, but I didn’t say that.

  As if he saw the doubt on my face, he went on to say, “If Gali had had just a little bit more backbone, she would have left my bruder long before she disappeared. Samuel was a hard man, and he expected perfection at work and at home. It was impossible to live up to his standard.” Cyril licked his lips. “I didn’t agree with all his methods, but he was my older bruder. Our father was dead by the time we reached adulthood. As the eldest, Samuel had inherited the buggy shop. I worked here, but I did not own it. It became mine only after my brother’s death. I am grateful I only have one son, so that as a father I don’t have to deal with the push and pull of two sons running a business together. I suppose that is why I’m so hard on Lad. I want him to be able to handle this business on his own. Employees are one thing, but in my opinion, sharing the decision making of a business with another person—even if that other person is your bruder—leads to trouble.”

  “Or especially if that person is your bruder,” I said.

  He nodded. “That certainly rings true for me.”

  “Did you want the buggy shop?” Lois asked.

  Cyril glanced at her from behind his glasses. “Every Amish son wants to make something of himself. Our mother was still alive when Samuel took over the buggy shop. It was clear that my brother had purpose. I wanted that too and to prove to her I was as capable as Samuel. I think, like everyone else, she feared to say anything, to say something to Samuel about giving me more responsibility in the shop. He could be very hotheaded. And when our father died, Cyril was the head of the family. He could ignore all of us, even our maam, if we said something he didn’t like, so we said nothing.”

  “Did you know that he and Galilee had a difficult marriage?” I asked.

  “I knew. Everyone in the family knew. I tried to be there for my sister-in-law, but my loyalty had to be to Samuel as my bruder and my boss. I was young and I wasn’t brave enough to tell him to be kinder to his wife. I never spoke up with him. I regret that. If I had, maybe things would have ended differently.”

  “Would you do things differently now?” Lois asked.

  He pressed his lips together and nodded his head. “I learned from what happened. I would never treat my own wife that way when I married. I would treat her like the jewel she was. Samuel treated his wife as a servant at best; at worst, well . . . I didn’t know what it was like at home, but I could imagine that it was difficult for her. It was difficult enough for everyone in the buggy shop.”

  “Where were you when you heard about your bruder’s death?”

  “I was as shocked as anyone when I heard that my brother had been killed, and even more shocked when I learned that Gali was missing. It tore my family apart. My mother died shortly after that of a broken heart. I don’t know if she was brokenhearted over her eldest son’s death or who he had become. I believe she felt that she’d failed him in some way.”

  “You inherited the buggy shop after your brother’s death,” Lois said.

  He nodded. “There was no one else to leave it to; we have no other siblings. Samuel and Galilee had no children. I put my heart and soul into changing the shop for the better. I didn’t want it or the family legacy to be remembered for what it was like when Samuel was in charge of everything. I wanted the people who worked here to feel cared for and valued. It took time because fear of Samuel was so ingrained in my buggy makers, but eventually, this became the best buggy shop to work in anywhere in Holmes County.” Cyril looked at me. “It might be vain of me, but I am proud of that. I could not be more grateful for that and for what we have built here. I’m proud of the business that I will pass down to my son. I want to have full confidence that Lad will be able to carry on in this tradition.” He sighed. “I saw your expression, Millie, when I said I wanted Lad to wait to marry, so that I know the shop will be in gut hands.”

  “I can understand your feelings,” I said. “But you don’t want to alienate your only son the way Samuel did to you.” My voice was as quiet and as gentle as I could make it.

  Cyril frowned as he considered my advice for a long moment. “Sometimes I think about how things would have been different if Samuel had lived. Guilt eats at my heart because I know life would have been harder if he was still with us. Not just for me, but for my family and for everyone who works here. I feel guilty because, in my heart of hearts, I know it was for the best that he died. The only thing I really lost at his death was my mother.”

  I stared at Cyril. Did he know he had just given himself a motive for killing his brother? The strongest one I could imagine.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Lois whistled under her breath. “I like Cyril, but he’s looking like a prime suspect for murder, or is that just me?”

  “I’m sorry to say it, but it’s not just you. I like him too.” I glanced at the clock on the dashboard of Lois’s car. “I need to get home before the ladies come over to quilt tonight. We’ll be working on my commission quilt. I’m grateful that Cyril is doing all the repairs on my buggy for such a low price, but I still need to sell the quilt I’m making on in order to pay the bill.”

  Lois sighed. “I wish I could come to the Double Stitch meeting and find out what Ruth really thinks about Lad Zook courting her granddaughter, but I have been away from the café long enough and need to close up for the night. You will report back, won’t you?”

  I smiled. “I promise.”

  When Lois dropped me off at my niece’s greenhouse so I could collect my bicycle and ride it home. The goats would be disappointed not to see her again that day. They always liked to see Lois, but with my other friends from the quilting circle coming over in just a little while, they would have plenty of ladies to greet.

  After the short bike ride between the greenhouse and my home, I wagged my finger at the goats. “No chasing the quilting ladies when they arrive, okay? Especially Ruth.”

  As quickly as possible, I walked around the house and tidied up. I put out my quilting materials as if I had been hard at work on the quilt all day. I knew Ruth would not be fooled. I was glad I had spent the previous night finishing the piecing of the quilt. I had been up much later than usual, but now the ladies would stretch the quilt on the frame, and we could get to the quilting process.

  “Knock, knock!” Raellen called through the screen door just as I was pulling the quilt frame out of the storage closet.

  “Come in, Raellen!” I pulled the quilt frame into the middle of the room.

  She stepped into the house, carrying a plate of chocolate chip cookies. “Millie!” She set the plate on the closest table. “You shouldn’t be moving the quilt frame all by yourself at your age.”

  “Raellen Raber, it may take me a bit longer, but I’m perfectly capable of moving a quilt frame across the room.”

  She clicked her tongue. “I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, but when you get to a certain age, you need to think about your back. You only have one. My aunt pulled her back sneezing, and she’s not that much older than you. Can you imagine hurting your back by sneezing?”

  Actually, I could. I thought it was the best argument she could have given to convince me to accept her help.

  “Fine.” I shook my head. “Let’s move it together, then.”

  She beamed. “That’s just what I wanted to do.”

  “Hello!” another voice called as Raellen and I put the quilt frame in place. Iris came into the house followed by Leah and Ruth.

  “I’m glad everyone is here on time,” Ruth said. “We have a lot of work to do. Gut to see the frame out as well. Let’s get the quilt on it. We all have church tomorrow, and it will be at the Raber farm. I’m sure Raellen will be in a hurry to return home to get everything in order.”

  “Oh, Ruth,” Raellen said. “Everything is in order. We’ve been ready for days. We are so excited to have the services at our farm.”

  Ruth had an expression on her face as if she didn’t quite believe that.

  I unfurled the quilt topper I had been working on for the last several weeks. I had to admit it was some of my best work. I was almost sorry to let it go. But that is the price of being a crafter or creator of any kind. At some point you have to let go of what you made to make room for the next project. I knew my customer was buying the quilt for her daughter as a wedding present, and she would be thrilled with it just as long as it was perfect. She was an exacting sort, and I had confidence that the Double Stitch would live up to her expectations. That was reward enough for me, and the smile on her face when I handed her the quilt would keep me going through the next time I faced such an enormous project. As the saying went, “Pride in your work puts joy in your day.”

  “Oh, Millie,” Iris gasped. “That is the most beautiful topper I have ever seen. Your color choices are lovely. The wedding ring design is my favorite, and it is one of the most difficult patterns. Getting all the curves on the quilt to be the same circumference is not an easy feat. You did a perfect job.”

  I blushed. It was high praise coming from Iris, who was by far the best quilter in our circle. All of her quilts sold for top dollar.

  I managed a modest “Danki.”

  The other women praised the quilt too, and my blush became even more noticeable. We always complimented one another on our work, but this was the first time I’d had a real standout that everyone loved, even Ruth.

  “It is lovely,” Ruth added when the quilt was spread out and all the ladies had taken their places. I could almost burst with pride, but I kept that to myself. A little part of me couldn’t wait to tell Lois. It helped to have a close friend who was non-Amish. Lois would receive my bragging much better than any of my Amish friends.

  On the quilt frame, the ladies and I put down the back of the quilt, the layer of batting, and then the topper over it. We laid it over the frame as if we were making a bed and then we tethered it to the frame with wooden clamps.

  “That quilt isn’t going anywhere,” Raellen declared when we were done.

  I set my needles, pincushion, small snipping scissors, and pencil in front of me on the quilt topper. Around me the ladies prepared to work in the same way.

  Leah threaded her needle. “We are doing spirals?”

  I nodded. “That’s what the customer asked for.”

  Raellen clapped her hands. “Wunderbaar. That’s my favorite. The spirals forgive mistakes, and we wouldn’t want to do anything to mar this gorgeous topper, Millie.”