Murder, Simply Stitched: An Amish Quilt Shop Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page A

building, I discovered why. Wanda Hunt lay on her side in the shade of the canning shed. She gripped Rachel’s half-eaten blueberry fry pie in her hand. Judging from the blue color of her face, much like the blueberries in the pie, I knew she was dead.

Chapter Four
     
    I fell to my knees beside her. Maybe I was wrong and she was still alive. “Wanda! Wanda!”
    No response. I felt for a pulse on her wrist and on her neck. There was none. Flecks of the fry pie’s blueberry filling decorated her cheek. A chill ran up my spine. Did the fry pie kill her? Rachel’s fry pie? Wanda and Rachel had just had a very public argument in the merchants’ tent and now Wanda was dead holding the fry pie Rachel gave her? This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all.
    I ripped my cell phone out of my pocket and called 911, and then I picked up Oliver and ran full tilt back to the merchants’ tent while describing my discovery to the dispatcher.
    No. I mustn’t panic. Wanda could have been ill. Women suffered from heart attacks and strokes too. Oh, no, I should’ve tried CPR. But I didn’t know the count for the breaths and heart pumps. I needed help.
    Jonah grabbed my arm as I flew by. His grasp jerked me backward.
    “Angie, what’s wrong? You are as white as cow’s milk. I haven’t seen you run that fast since I chased you with a garter snake when we were kids.”
    I gulped air.
    “Ma’am, please stay at the scene. The sheriff is already on the property and will be there in two minutes,” the dispatcher said in my ear.
    Jonah stared at the phone. “Is that the police on your phone? What’s going on?” His normal teasing tone was gone.
    “I—body—dead—Wanda.”
    “What?” His voice was sharp.
    We were about ten yards from the merchants’ tent, and I noticed people were beginning to stare. I turned my back to them. “Wanda’s dead. I found her behind the canning shed.”
    “Show me.”
    I nodded. Yes, that was a good idea. Jonah would stay with me until the police arrived. I had no intention of guarding Wanda’s dead body alone. I led Jonah back to the canning shed. The phone was still in my hand.
    “Ma’am!” the terse voice said.
    As Jonah and I hurried back to the canning shed, I put the phone to my ear. Oliver was becoming heavy tucked under my right arm, but there was no way I would put him on the ground this close to the body. “Yes,” I said into the phone. “I’m still here.”
    Jonah ran ahead of me.
    “Miss Braddock,” the dispatcher said. “The sheriff is on the line and asked I patch him through to you. Please hold on.”
    Before I could argue or even comprehend, I was about to talk to James Mitchell, I heard his voice. “Angie, are you all right?” the sheriff of Holmes County asked.
    As soon as I heard his concerned voice, my stomach fluttered. “Yes, I’m fine.”
    Jonah kneeled beside Wanda’s body, looking for signs of life just like I had. I had to turn away.
    “Are you still there?” The sheriff’s voice held an edge to it.
    “I’m still here.”
    “Anderson and I just arrived on the auction grounds. Where are you?”
    “Behind the canning shed. It’s close to the Nissleys’ house, beyond the merchants’ tent—”
    I was going to go on and be even more descriptive with my exact location, but he cut me off. “I know where it is. We will be there in one minute. Don’t touch anything.”
    Before I could tell him it was too late for that, he hung up.
    “Jo-Jo, get up. The sheriff and his deputy are on the way.”
    Jonah scrambled to his feet, and we heard the whine of sirens as an ambulance approached the auction yard.
    The sheriff and Deputy Anderson appeared on the far side of the shed. Mitchell looked directly at me with his beautiful aquamarine eyes. The gaze lasted for mere seconds, but I knew it would take me hours to fully recover.
    His eyes dropped to poor Wanda on the ground.
    “Are you thinking heart attack, boss?” Deputy Anderson asked.
    Mitchell squatted