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and trying to calm Max, who looked as if he wanted to leap into the middle of their get-together. Deborah did notice that his camera was slung around his neck, and he kept looking over at the murder scene.
    Murder scene.
    Was she really involved in another murder?
    Perhaps it was an accident.
    But the injury at the back of the girl’s head … Had there really been blood seeping through her
kapp
?
    How could this happen?
    She lived in a town of six hundred residents. There’d probably only been three murders there in the last twenty years: Esther’s husband, which no one in her community considered a murder; Stakehorn’s homicide, which they’d stumbled into while attempting to sell their quilts; and now this. Surely it was a coincidence that they had happened to stop and ended up finding the girl.
    “Well? Can you go home?” Jonas pulled Joshua away and set him down on the ground. Immediately her son ran to Max and began patting the dog around his harvest-orange bandana — a color that most certainly did not match Callie’s dress.
    Callie’s dress. It was Amish. Deborah opened her mouth to ask, but stopped when Callie held up her hand.
    “Don’t ask,” Callie said. “I see your question, and don’t ask. It can wait. Tell us what Taylor said. Can you answer Esther’s question? Can you leave?”
    “Leah’s tired, and I’d like to be at home.” Esther pushed at a wisp of hair that had escaped her
kapp.
“Not to mention I think the casserole I made for Tobias is ruined by now. A silly thing for me to think about, I know.”
    “I’m afraid we have to stay,” Deborah said. At Esther’s look of dismay, she added, “The
kinner
can go, of course. Jonas, would you mind?”
    “Not at all. I can take them home.”
    “Could you take Leah by one of my
schweschdern
’s?” Esther straightened her daughter’s dress, kissing her on the cheek as she did. “If it’s not too much trouble.”
    “Your
schweschder
Miriam is the closest. I’ll take her by there on the way home.”
    “Thank you, Jonas.”
    “But how long do you have to stay? Why do you have to stay? Haven’t you already talked to Taylor?” Callie moved her arms up and down as the questions spurted out of her like hot grease popping out of a pan.
    Deborah smiled her first genuine smile in what felt like days.
    “What? What did I say?” Callie asked.
    “I think it’s the dress,” Trent whispered, then scooted around the group and began snapping pictures of the crime scene.
    “Oh. I forgot. Yes, well. I’ll explain this — “ Callie smoothed down the apron over her dress, grateful Lydia had at least removed the
kapp.
“I’ll tell you about it later. What happened, Deborah? Who died?”
    Deborah felt Jonas and Callie grow still and quiet, turn toward her, and wait for her answer. She found herself seeking Esther’s gaze.
    Who had died?
    No, Esther didn’t know either.
    They hadn’t had a chance to talk about it. Hadn’t had a moment alone since Esther’s scream and Deborah’s run to find Reuben. But she knew in that moment that Esther had no idea who the girl was either.
    “We don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t think anyone knows. We’d stopped to pick flowers — “
    “What if we hadn’t?” Esther asked. “How long might she have stayed there, undiscovered?”
    “Not so long, I expect. Animals would have found her, and Reuben would have noticed that.” Jonas picked Joshua up again as the boy ran back to him and tugged at his father’s pants leg. “Is she Amish or
Englisch
?”
    “She’s wearing Amish clothing, though I don’t suppose that means she is plain.” Deborah again took in Callie’s clothing, wondering absently what her friend had been up to while at the same time it occurred to her there would probably be several reasons why someone might want to appear to be Amish.
    “So if you spoke to Officer Taylor, why do you have to stay?”
    “County personnel are coming,” Deborah