Plain Killing Read Online Free PDF Page B

moment, letting them all settle on what had been said. “And you believe that Beth’s mother and father will be told this awful thing by the police? Tonight?”
    Rachel nodded. “Soon, I imagine. The authorities will want one of the family to make a positive identification of the body.”
    His brow furrowed, and he tugged absently at his beard. “But why would they do such a thing when you all told the policeman who she was?”
    “Regulations,” Mary Aaron said, leaning forward. She’d set her mug on the ground without tasting the cider. Her face was pale, and she still looked as if she might burst into tears. “The English have lots of regulations. We thought that we should ask you what to do. Rachel will drive me to the Glicks’ if you think—”
    “ Ne, ne, no need for that,” he answered gently. “You girls were right to come to me. I will go to their bishop. This is for him to do, or maybe the two of us together. Such news should not come from strangers.”
    “Will that be okay?” Mary Aaron asked. “You know she left us. She’d been shunned.” She hesitated. “Will they still give her a burial?”
    Bishop Abner pulled a spotless handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his nose. He didn’t reply for long seconds. “I can’t say what the elders of their district will decide. Know this, my daughters. If the bishop of the Glicks’ church will not give this child Christian burial, I will.” He shook his head. “We don’t know the state of her mind, do we? There may have been circumstances we don’t understand that led her to drift away from the true path.”
    Rachel tugged at a loose thread on her denim skirt. “But people say that Beth’s family considered her already dead to them.”
    He removed his hat and rubbed at his bald head thoughtfully. Lines creased around his eyes. “I have heard the same rumors that you have, but I cannot believe that they will not feel differently now. Ours is a stern God, but a forgiving one. And who among us is not guilty of sin? I do not presume to know what He will do with such a wayward one. But I will do what I can to save her, even now.” He smiled sadly at them. “Go home. You both have kind hearts, but you have done all you can.”
    “Can I drive you there in the van?” Rachel offered.
    He shook his head. “ Ne. I’ll hitch up my roan mule. That way I won’t be at Bishop Johan’s home before I have time to ask God to give me the right words to say. That is one of the good things about depending on a four-legged creature for transportation. Your world is too fast, Rachel. Not enough time for silence. Not only do driving horses and mules give us years of faithful service, as well as good fertilizer for our gardens and fields, but they give us time to think.”
    He got to his feet, which Rachel took as the signal that the discussion was over. They thanked him and went back to the van.
    Naamah stood waiting beside the vehicle with two jars of pickled green tomatoes. “Take these to your mothers,” she said, handing one jar to each of them. “My pickled tomatoes turned out especially good this summer. Give them my best and tell them that they remain in my prayers. And remind your mothers of the quilting bee here on Saturday afternoon. We’re sewing a layette for Verna Herschberger. The midwife says she’s expecting twins.”
     
    As they pulled away from the bishop’s home, Rachel’s cell rang. The ringtone told her it was Evan.
    When she didn’t reach to answer it, Mary Aaron glanced at her. “You’re not going to see what he wants?”
    “Battery’s almost dead. I better not.”
    Mary Aaron picked up the phone and checked it as the ringtone ended. “You really should replace the battery. You said it’s using its charge too fast.”
    “Just have to find time to go to the cell phone store in State College.” Rachel concentrated on safely passing a wagon full of milk cans. Both she and Mary Aaron waved at the young man driving.
    The ringtone