“Can I borrow some of these hay bales, please?” he asked the twins, pointing to the stacks next to them.

  They nodded without hesitation then watched as Angus used them to cordon off the entire section in front of the barn door.

  “Is there any other way in or out of the barn?” he asked when he had finished.

  “Not unless you’re able to climb up through the vent window,” Justine said as she pointed toward the small opening high above the barn doors.

  “I guess that means you would need a ladder to get up there, and since it would be nearly impossible for that to go unnoticed, I’ll take that as a no,” Angus said.

  “I don’t suppose you might know why Mr. Lapp was in the barn to begin with.”

  “Well, it is his barn,” Timmy said pulling his shoulders to his ears.

  “I see. Is he normally in this early, before you?”

  Justine shook her head.

  “Never. That’s our job, to open up and distribute the animal feed. He usually comes after breakfast.”

  “What about at the end of the day?” Angus continued his questioning.

  Once again, the twins responded at the same time by shrugging their shoulders.

  “One last question. When was the last time you saw or spoke to Mr. Lapp?”

  They looked at each other.

  “Sometime yesterday just before lunch, if I had to guess,” Timmy answered.

  “Thanks, you’ve been very helpful. I’m sorry you had to see him like this,” Angus said. “If you think of anything else, please let me know.”

  The pair nodded then hurried off to where their friends stood waiting for them to one side. Angus turned his attention back to the barn and the prints in the snow. It would be nearly impossible to retrieve any distinct footprints from the area directly in front of the barn, so he walked along the side of the barn toward the back, surveying the immediate area. Behind the barn, the snow was entirely untouched, likely due to it backing onto a large paddock that stretched all the way down to the river. He lingered there for a while, scanning every inch of the snowy ground. As he turned the corner to head back up along the other side, he spotted the faint set of footprints leading from the paddock’s fence along the other side of the barn to where they ran right in front of the doors. Joy flooded his heart and made it jump inside his chest as a wide smile settled onto his face.

  “I take it you found something significant for you to be smiling like that,” Murphy commented as she approached him.

  “It’s that obvious, huh?” Angus replied. He ordered two of his deputies to tape off the entire area around the barn, pointing out the footprints he had found running between the barn and the paddock.

  “So, care to share why you dragged me all the way out here before I’ve had my morning coffee?”

  Angus leaned in.

  “I promise I’ll make it up to you when all this is done, okay?”

  Murphy’s sweet smile sent a bolt of electricity into his stomach. He cleared his throat to adjust his focus back onto the case.

  “We’ve got ourselves another body, Dr. Delaney,” he said.

  “I assumed that was why I was called here.” Her eyes were playful.

  “And guess what?” His voice was teasing.

  “Okay, I’ll play. What?”

  “He died in precisely the same manner as our chiropractor did.” Angus waited for Murphy to digest the information.

  “And you know this how?”

  “Well, come see for yourself, but I reckon we have a double murder on our hands, and by the look of it, my guess is it was committed by the same person.”

  Murphy cocked her head, one brow lifting into a question mark.

  “Right. How about I let your expert opinion assess the situation instead?” Angus replied quickly, smiling.

  “After you, Dr. Delaney,” he added as he gestured Murphy into the barn, instructing the forensics unit to focus on the footprints before he followed her in. When he and Murphy stood over the body, the questions and skepticism in Murphy’s face vanished in an instant.

  “It pains me to say this, but it looks as if you are right, Angus.”

  She knelt down next to the corpse, putting on her latex gloves before she pulled away his eyelids.

  “No hemorrhaging either,” she reported rhetorically before engaging in a series of smaller tests.

  “Wait,” she said stopping halfway through checking the cadaver’s liver’s temperature. “Are you saying we’re dealing with a serial killer here, Angus?”

  “Whoa, I won’t go that far, at least not yet. The body count needs to be three at minimum before we label it as such. Although I will say that the similarities are uncanny. And all I have, is one set of footprints leading up to the barn. That’s it. No murder weapon or COD.”

  “And I’m afraid I can’t say anything to help in that regard either. Dr. Fisher’s autopsy has come up empty so far, and at quick glance, it seems the results will be the same with this guy.”

  Angus scratched the back of his head.

  “This can’t be happening, Murphy. I mean, two bodies less than forty-eight hours apart with what seems to be the same modus operandi.”

  “Not to mention the obvious Amish connection,” Murphy added.

  “What are we missing here, Murph? Without a COD I have no direction to follow.”

  “There is a silver lining with us having two victims though.”

  “Really? I’m all ears.”

  “Well, my examination will now reveal anomalies, and that’s what we want.”

  “I don’t follow,” Angus said, frowning.

  “It’s a simple case of comparison. Two bodies, side by side, with the same test results. Instead of looking for similarities to tie the two cases together, I’ll be looking for abnormalities, anything that deviates from the norm and compare those. If I can spot the same inconsistency in both examinations, it might bring us closer to our cause of death.”

  Angus smiled as he crossed his arms.

  “That’s really smart, Murphy.”

  “In the meantime, I can give you a time of death on this guy if you’d like. Although, it was pretty cold last night so we might be off by about an hour or so.”

  “I’ll bear that in mind,” Angus said.

  Murphy hovered over the corpse, paused, then said, “Two, maybe three hours.“

  “That’s interesting,” Angus commented right away.

  “Why’s that?” Murphy asked as she stood up and pulled off her gloves.

  “Because it was barely snowing at around three thirty a.m. I know because I woke up from Caleb bumping up against the furnace in the room. I happened to look out the window and saw that it wasn’t snowing as much. In fact, it had pretty nearly stopped altogether.”

  “Okay, still don’t get why you find that intriguing.”

  “Because the kids who had found the body said they came in at five a.m. and noticed footprints leading out of the barn. I also found fresh footprints next to the barn, running from the barn to the paddock.”

  “That means that the murder took place between three thirty and five a.m.,” Murphy confirmed. “That’s a great piece of information so why aren’t you smiling?”

  Angus rubbed two fingers across his forehead.

  “Because the footprints I found indicate a small shoe size, most likely a female’s and the direction they went just so happened to also be where they found a bonnet that we believe belongs to Rachel, Caleb’s sister.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Caleb cast a watchful eye across the makeshift bunk room where they had all taken shelter from the storm the night before. He’d spent all night carefully drying out Rachel’s letter in front of the fire while everyone was asleep, and very nearly got caught when Angus woke up while he added more wood to the fireplace.

  With the sheriff’s attention occupied with whatever it was that had him running out in such a hurry a short while ago, he had the perfect opportunity to read the letter he found in the river the day before. He waited for the right moment, keeping his eye on the search party’s leader on the other side of the room where he was briefing his crew—they were getting ready to restart the search. If he were to find Rachel first, he had to see what was in her letter, just in case she might have said where she was going. He glanced at the men standing on the other side of the room, their attention on their leader’s instructions. Now was his chance, Caleb thought, and carefully took the letter from where his scarf was covering it on the floor next to him. The corners of the single folded page were stuck together, and he gently slid his pocketknife between the parchment to break them apart. He slowly unwrapped the letter, peeling away the bright bluish blotches that glued the letter together in several places where the ink had run into the paper. When the paper came apart and opened up, it revealed several smudged words that were now completely illegible. Hope sank into the pit of his stomach. A quick scan of the words around the ink stains made no sense on their own and he brought the letter closer to his eyes to study more closely. But it was entirely useless; the blotches of ink covered all but a few insignificant sentences.

  Behind him, one of the dogs suddenly barked and gave Caleb a fright that made him nearly tear off a chunk of the fragile paper. The dog didn’t let up and Caleb turned around to look at it, instantly realizing that the dog’s attention was pinned solely on him—and Rachel’s letter. How careless, he thought, as he realized the dog must be picking up on his sister’s scent. He hurriedly wrapped the letter between the layers of his scarf before he tucked it under his armpit inside his jacket. When the moment presented itself again, he’d have another go at it, he decided. For a moment, he contemplated showing it to the search commander since there was nothing of significance in the letter but mostly because he was desperate to find Rachel alive. But as he stood up to act upon the notion, he overheard the team leader informing his squad that a body had just been discovered in a nearby barn.

  Caleb’s insides dropped to his feet, his mind working through the news. What if it was Rachel, the thought rushed through his mind.

  “What was that about a body?” he anxiously yelled across the room as he hurried over to where the team stood huddled around their leader.

  When he got close, the dogs frantically barked at him, bringing him to an abrupt stop. The handler’s eyes darted between the dog and Caleb before it settled on his commanding officer’s curious stare.

  Caleb’s body tensed up, his arm pinned to his side and onto the concealed letter inside his jacket. He didn’t like dogs even when they were well-behaved and these two search dogs sent his fear into overdrive. His eyes went to their handlers who were trying to calm their dogs, but they kept barking, their bodies straining against their leashes as they tried to go toward Caleb.

  Taking several steps back toward the exit, his eyes never left the dogs.

  “Call them off!” he eventually yelled at the handlers.

  But the commanding officer’s suspicious glare stuck to his face like glue when he asked the question Caleb knew would come.

  “They’re picking up your sister’s scent, Caleb. Is there anything you need to tell me?”

  Caleb’s mind ran wild in a desperate attempt to come up with something to say.

  “They’re detecting something of Rachel’s, Caleb. If I cut them loose, they’ll go straight to it. So, I’m going to ask you again, do you have anything of Rachel’s? Do you know or have something of hers that will help us find her?”

  Caleb’s eyes were wide, his heart thumping against his chest. He didn’t want to lie. He wanted to protect his sister and make sure she wasn’t in any trouble.

  “It’s nothing,” he quickly answered. “Just an old letter of hers I have in my jacket. I carry it with me, to keep her close to me.”

  His hand moved to retrieve the last letter she sent to him, hoping it would throw the dogs off the one he had found in the river. When he handed it to the commanding officer, the dogs’ noses followed it. Moments later the handlers patted the dogs’ heads, and when they instantly settled down, Caleb knew his diversion had worked.

  “See, it’s just an old letter she sent me,” Caleb said to make sure they believed him.

  Suddenly conscious of someone standing behind him, Caleb turned to look and saw his father’s stern face right behind him.

  A jolt of nerves rushed through his chest as his father’s eyes revealed his thoughts, his glance darting back and forth between Rachel’s letter and Caleb’s eyes.

  The atmosphere between them was thick with tension that rendered Caleb speechless under his father’s angry eyes.

  “You are an even bigger traitor than I thought,” Samuel’s voice came at him, calmer than Caleb had expected to hear.

  “You left us no alternative, Father,” Caleb replied in nearly hushed tones.

  “It was never my choice, Caleb. You have yourself to thank for that. You chose to turn your back on us, remember? And still your respect for this community and your family ceases to exist. I want you to leave and never come back. Do you hear me? You are no longer my son, and you don’t get to call me your father. Get off our land. Rachel doesn’t concern you.”

  Samuel’s words were final as he pushed past Caleb to grab the box of two-way radios from the chair beside the team leader.

  His callous words cut deep into the already opened wounds of Caleb’s heart.

  “I have as much right to be part of this search as any of these men here,” Caleb told his father who now stood with his back turned to him.

  Samuel spun around, his eyes darker than Caleb had ever seen them.

  “Leave, Caleb!”

  Something in his father’s voice told Caleb that he had pushed him beyond what little self-control he still had in his presence, and he took back the letter from the search party commander before he turned and left.

  When the sun’s early rays fell upon Caleb’s face, sorrow lay shallow in his throat. Somehow, he had thought that his coming could fix what was broken between him and his family. That time would have healed his father’s anger towards him. But he was wrong. As far as his father was concerned, he was no longer his son.

  And with Rachel now gone, possibly forever, there was nothing else left to fight for.

  With his heart numbed by his father’s harsh words, Caleb was intent on never returning there again, and set off in the direction of his car. But as he walked past the commotion outside Mr. Lapp’s barn and he saw the coroner wheel away a body atop a gurney, he knew he could never give up on his sister. Nor should he.

  As if a mighty wind propelled his body, Caleb ran across the snow toward the covered corpse.

  Chapter Twenty

  From the corner of his eye, Angus spotted Caleb darting toward the coroner’s vehicle, his gaze fixed on the gurney. It took no time to realize what he was about to do, and Angus moved to stop him.

  “Stop! You can’t touch him, Caleb!” Angus yelled just in time.

  Caleb stopped and looked back at Angus, his eyes questioning as he spoke.

  “Him? It’s not Rachel?”

  Angus was next to him and shook his head.

  “No, it’s not. It’s not Rachel.”

  Caleb’s gaze went back to the body as they loaded it in the back of the coroner’s van.

  “Then who is it?” Confusion mixed with relief washed into Caleb’s face.

  “His name was Jonathan Lapp. Did you know him?”

  Caleb nodded.

  “He was friends with my father.”

  Angus paused, his voice low when he asked his next question.

  “What about Rachel? Did she know him?”

  Caleb’s eyes saw the suspicious look in Angus’ eyes, and he cocked his head slightly when he replied.

  “Why do you ask, Sheriff? What does Rachel knowing Mr. Lapp have anything to do with him being dead? My sister is missing, possibly next in line to end up dead. Why aren’t you out there looking for her?”

  “That’s what I’m trying to do here, Caleb.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re interrogating me, asking me all sorts of idiotic questions about Jonathan Lapp when my sixteen year old sister is still out there in the cold.” Caleb was near panic as he paced back and forth with frustration. “I have to find her,” he said almost to himself.

  “I’d like nothing more, Caleb. That’s why my men are ready to get out there and look for her again. You need to keep your head straight if we’re going to have any chance of finding her. I know it’s hard and you feel frustrated that there’s not more you can do, but right now the best thing is to keep your wits about you.” Angus paused, assessing if his pep talk had any effect on Caleb. When Caleb stopped pacing, Angus placed his hand on top of Caleb’s shoulder.

  “The more men we have out there looking for her the better, so I suggest you put all this energy into the search and join the team instead.”

  Caleb looked away.

  “I can’t. My father chased me away. I’m not welcome here anymore, Sheriff.” Caleb’s voice cracked as he spoke the words aloud.

  “I’m not sure what happened between you and your father, Caleb, but I’m going to pray God works a miracle in your hearts. In the meantime, I have a missing teenage girl and a killer to catch, and I could use all the help I can get right now.”

  Caleb’s eyebrows pulled into a frown.

  “A killer? What do you mean you’re looking for a killer?” Caleb asked.

  Angus didn’t answer, his mind searching for what to say next.

  “I just assumed that Mr. Lapp had an accident, being a farmer and all, and how is this even related to Rachel being missing?” Caleb asked, then rambled off a string of questions without giving Angus a chance to answer any of them. “Wait! Does Jonathan Lapp’s death have anything to do with Dr. Fisher’s death? Is Rachel in some kind of trouble? You have to tell me, Sheriff!” Caleb’s voice was near frantic, his eyes pleading as his gaze searched Angus’ face.

  Unable to avoid the barrage of questions Caleb was throwing at him, Angus decided to drop his guard and trust his heart. He knew he was taking a risk, but his options were limited and this particular situation called for him to step outside the lines of the rulebook.