Old Promises (PAPERBACK)

Chapter 1.
“Ettie, come away from the window. They might see you.”
Ettie turned around and looked at her older sister, who was knitting as usual. “I'm just trying to get a glimpse of them. We need to see who’s going to be living next door.” 
“They’ll get the wrong impression if they see you staring out the window at them.”
“It's okay, they can't see me. I said they wouldn’t be Amish, and they aren’t. I see a truck is there from the power company, and a man is running the wire for their electricity.”
“I already told you two days ago that they wouldn't be Amish. Maize told me.”
“I wouldn’t rely on anything Maize said. Half the time she’s talking about what happened twenty years ago.”
“This time she was right.” Elsa-May gave a sharp nod of her head, looking up briefly over the top of her thin-rimmed glasses. “I suppose there was a fifty-fifty probability either way. Since we have some Amish and some Englisch living on this road.” 
“I'm sure the new neighbors will be nice. All of the others have been lovely.” Ettie kept watching the moving company men haul boxes into the house. Then, a smart-looking car pulled up behind the truck. “Hmm. Blue, or is it black, or gray?”
“For what?” Elsa-May said with noticeable exasperation. 
Ettie chuckled. “They have a car. I’m trying to work out the color of it. It's an odd shade—that new metallic paintwork that changes color every time you change the angle you're looking from. There’s a tall bald man getting out now, kind of heavy looking, and a smaller woman with dark wavy hair.”
“How old are they?”
“Middle-aged, I’d say.”
“Do they look nice?”
“Hard to tell. They're not talking or laughing, just walking toward the house.”
Elsa-May continued clicking the knitting needles together as she spoke. “I just hope they don't see you staring. They'll think you're an old busybody.” 
Ettie pushed her lips out. “I just need to know who's going to be living beside us. There’s nothing wrong with that, but what if they have an argument with us about the fence? It’s getting old and we know it’ll last another couple of years. They might want one right now and that would be a waste of money. If there’s one thing I dislike it’s—”
“Wasting money. I know. Why don’t we do what everyone else does? Bake them a pie once they’ve moved in and take it over.”
Ettie liked that idea. “What sort of pie?”
“Any kind. It doesn't matter. That's not the point.”
“What if they don't like the pie?”
“Who cares?”
“I do. Everyone likes my pies. Maybe you should bake it and if they don’t like it I can blame you.” Ettie moved the curtains aside once more. “I want them to like me because then I can talk to them if they raise the issue of the fence.”
“If that will shut you up then I'll bake the jolly pie.”
Ettie tittered, then turned around and looked out the window once again. “Okay, denke.”
“Will you sit and rest a moment? It can’t be that interesting watching the moving company people taking the furniture from the truck to the house.”
“I saw them. I’m sure it was the new people. A man and a woman.”
“Just sit,” Elsa-May ordered.
“Very well.” Ettie sat down, wondering why Elsa-May was so bothered. No one from outside could see her looking out the window. After a few minutes, a loud knock sounded on their door. 
Elsa-May looked over the top of her glasses and dropped her knitting into her lap. “That’ll be the new people now, Ettie.”
“See, I should’ve stayed by the window then I wouldn’t have had to get off the chair. It’s so hard to get up these days.”
“It saves me having to bake the pie.” Elsa-May pushed her knitting back into the bag by her feet and Ettie got to the door ahead of her sister.
Ettie opened the door expecting to see their new neighbors. Instead, it was Myra, one of her estranged daughters. She’d lost weight, her cheeks were sunken and dark circles were etched under her eyes. Her hair was piled on top of her head and she wore a brightly-colored, flowing kaftan-style dress, much like the one she’d worn last time Ettie had seen her. From Myra's bothered expression, Ettie knew something was wrong.
“Mother, the police think I’ve killed someone.” 
Ettie gasped and looked around at Elsa-May. Elsa-May’s jaw dropped open. Ettie looked back at Myra only to hear Elsa-May ask, “Did you do it?”
While Ettie grimaced at her sister, Myra pushed her way through the door seeming oblivious to her aunt’s question. Myra sat heavily on the couch and Ettie hurried to sit by her.
“I was joking, Myra.” Once Elsa-May was seated, Snowy lifted his head and made his way over to Myra. “I apologize. I didn’t think you could possibly be serious. Have you really been accused of murder?”
Myra gave a weak smile at her aunt as she leaned down to pat Snowy. “It’s true. The police suspect me of murder, and it’s not Myra anymore. I’ve changed my name.”
“What to?” Ettie wondered what was wrong with the name her daughter had had all her life, the one her husband had particularly liked.
“I am now Sparkle Orient.”
“What?” Ettie shrieked. 
“She said—”
“I heard what she said, Elsa-May,” Ettie snapped. “Why would you change your name, Myra?”
“It’s 'Sparkle,'” Elsa-May corrected. 
“I needed a new start. You see, it occurred to me that no one has a say in their own name and that seems wrong. How can you name a child when you don’t know their personality?”
“Well, parents have got to call them something.” 
Myra patted Ettie’s hand. “Don’t worry. It’s not your fault, and you’re right. You and Father had to call me something. But I’m not a Myra now, I’m more of a Sparkle.”
“What about Crowley, are you two still …?”
Ettie glared at her older sister. “Quiet, Elsa-May. I’m still trying to find out about the name.”
“Didn’t you two hear what I said? I’ve been accused of murder. Who cares if Ronald and I are still together and why does everyone think a new name’s such a big deal? If I get arrested and convicted, I could face life behind bars.”
Elsa-May and Ettie looked at one another.
“I’m only here so you can make them see that I didn’t do it, Mother. Isn’t that what you do best?”
“Well … no.”
“You haven’t been charged with anything yet?” Elsa-May asked Myra.
“Not yet, but they think I did it. And Ronald is overseas somewhere, so he’s no help. I don’t want him to find out about it either.” Myra glared at them, each in turn, until they both nodded in agreement.
The way Myra looked sad when she talked about the former detective, Ronald Crowley, Ettie didn’t feel like asking anything further about that. The pair were in a relationship of sorts, but since Myra was talking about a new start, maybe that meant she needed a new beginning because the relationship with Ronald hadn’t worked out. Myra needed a decent man and Crowley was one, and he was in love with Myra. Ettie didn’t think that would’ve changed. If they weren’t together any longer, it would’ve been Myra who’d ended things.
“Why don’t you start from the beginning, Sparkle?” 
Ettie frowned at Elsa-May, at the way she’d adopted the new name without turning a hair.
“There’s a client of mine who’s been murdered. Ian Carter. You see, I’m a spiritual healer now. That’s what I do for a living. The police think there was some highly toxic poison on the points of the healing crystals I gave Ian to take home.”
Elsa-May leaned forward. “Did you say hearing crystals?”
“No, healing crystals, Aunt.”
“Elsa-May could use some hearing crystals,” Ettie muttered under her breath.
“Wait a minute. They ‘think,’ or they ‘know’?”
Myra continued, “I’m not sure which one. Just let me finish telling you and then you can ask questions. You see, the points of the crystals have power; the energy of the crystal is concentrated on the healing point.” She drew a deep breath, and repeated, “The police told me they found poison on the end of a crystal that was with him when he died. That somehow led them to me. Then someone planted that same poison in my home. They must’ve because I know I never saw that bottle before in my life!”
“How did they get it into your home?” Elsa-May asked.
“And how did they know it was poison without testing it? From what I know, it takes weeks for those kinds of tests to come back,” Ettie said. 
“I don’t know how anyone got in, there was no sign of anything out of place. No sign of a break-in. I don’t know the answer to your question, Mother. Perhaps I was in too much shock to hear correctly. My aura was undoubtedly off balance when the police knocked on my door with a search warrant.” Myra’s lips turned down at the corners. “Will you help me prove my innocence, Ettie?”
Ettie was pleased her daughter came to her every time she had a crisis, but wasn’t at all pleased her daughter had chosen to call her ‘Ettie,’ and sometimes the formal-sounding ‘Mother,’ instead of the usual 'Mamm,' which was what everyone in their Amish community called their mothers, and what Myra had grown up calling her. “Jah, of course we will.”
“Tell us everything from the beginning. Why had this man come to you in the first place?” Elsa-May asked.
“He had a heart problem and had turned away from conventional medicine. Someone told him about me, and I’ve been treating him for a good year now.”
Elsa-May rubbed her chin. “So you said you heal with crystals?”
“Yes, they have healing qualities.” She glanced sideways at her mother. “It’s an energy thing and I don’t expect either of you to understand anything about it.”
Elsa-May and Ettie raised their eyebrows at one another. 
“What was wrong with the man, was he sick?”
“He had heart problems, Elsa-May. She just said that.”
“That’s right. He had faith in the crystals, and in my abilities.”
Ettie sighed loudly and both Myra and Elsa-May stared at her. “I’m just sad that you believe all that and didn’t follow the way you were raised.”
“Let’s not get into that now, Mother.”
“Now, Myra, I mean, Sparkle, how do you go about healing the man with crystals if he has something wrong with his heart?” Elsa-May took off her glasses, folded them and hooked them over the top of her apron.
“He was a big man, quite overweight and the crystals were restoring balance to his system. He knew he had to lose the weight and no matter how much he dieted, the weight wouldn’t budge.”
“And who do you think killed him?” Elsa-May asked.
“The wife.”
“Why?” Ettie and Elsa-May said at the same time. 
“Because, I think she thought that Ian and I were involved. She warned me off him—told me to stay away. I told her there was nothing going on and that I was in a relationship with someone else. She didn’t believe me, and it makes sense that she killed him and framed me.”
“Who’s the detective on the case?” Ettie asked.
“It’s the one you know.”
“Kelly?” the sisters chimed together, again. 
“Yes. That’s the one.”
“When did this happen?”
“Two days ago. That was when he was murdered, and they found something in my house yesterday. It was a small bottle labeled dimethylmercury. It’s a highly toxic heavy metal poison. Just one tiny drop kills on contact.” 
Ettie said, “Wouldn’t Ronald want to know you’re in trouble. He could have a word with—.”
“I don’t want to tell him. He’s following some case from years ago that he could never get out of his head. If I tell him, he’ll be distracted. I’ll handle it alone, with the help of both of you. Anyway, that dimethylmercury they found at my place could’ve killed me if I’d opened it.” Myra trembled. “They have to test it. They seem to think that’s what it is. It had a label on it.”
“Was someone trying to kill you as well?”
“I don’t know, but the police aren’t worried about that. They’re trying to find my motive for killing Ian.” Myra sighed. “I’m a little worried now that the murderer has put that poison on other things around my house. They could’ve.” Myra trembled. “I know I can’t worry about that or I’d send myself crazy.”
“We’ll talk to him and see what we can do,” Elsa-May said.
Myra smiled and nodded and then looked at her mother. 
“Off course we’ll help,” Ettie said. 
Elsa-May folded her arms over her chest. “Tell me, Sparkle, where would one get one’s hands on the poison you mentioned?”
Mrya stared at Elsa-May and blinked a couple of times. “That’s something I don’t know. I’ve been too upset to even think about that.”
Ettie stared at her daughter’s long pointed-crystal earrings. 
Myra frowned at her. “What are you staring at, Mother?”
“Your earrings. Are they real?” 
Myra unhooked one earring from her earlobe and held it up in the air. “This is a natural quartz crystal. This is the way it formed in the earth. Stunning, isn’t it?”
“It’s spectacular,” Ettie agreed.
“Some crystals you buy these days have been faceted to look like this, but this one is in its original natural crystal shape.”
Ettie put her hand out and Myra placed the crystal in it. Ettie held it up to the light to marvel at God’s handiwork. “It’s wunderbaar.” The crystal was perfectly formed as though it had been fashioned that way. And it had, she thought, by God rather than by man. A loop of silver wound around one end of the crystal, its tail forming a hook for the pierced earlobe. 
Myra continued, “And it’s special because it’s a doubly terminated quartz crystal, meaning it has the pyramid-shaped point at both ends. Same as this one.” She touched the other crystal earring that was still in her ear. 
“And are they healing?” Elsa-May asked.
Ettie didn’t approve of her sister encouraging Myra. 
“Oh yes. The energy flows in both directions in a doubly terminated crystal. That’s why they’re so sought after. You see, the single ones are the more common and are formed against a rock. These ones were formed in a soft substance like clay and that’s why they were free to form those shapes on either end.”
“How do they form?”
Ettie glared at Elsa-May from behind Myra. Did she have to keep asking questions?
“It happened millions of years ago when the crystals would’ve been in a molten form and when the mixture cooled down, it formed these shapes. There’s a lot more I could tell you, but I doubt you’d find it interesting. Anyway, the crystals increase my psychic abilities by opening my third eye.”
Ettie scoffed. “We can’t listen to this rubbish.”
Myra turned to look at Ettie. “You should open your mind, Mother.”
“Not to that nonsense.”
Myra tipped her head to one side. “I suppose you don’t know what I mean by third eye.”
“Enlighten us, Sparkle,” Elsa-May said with a grin.
“It’s a spiritual eye, not a natural one. It’s here.” She touched the center of her forehead. “By using my third eye, I can see beyond the earthly dimension into the spiritual world.”
“So, you must know who killed him,” Elsa-May said.
Ettie cringed when she saw Elsa-May smirking and that’s how she knew her sister only said that to be smart. 
Myra nodded, taking what Elsa-May said quite seriously. “I know it’s not something you would’ve heard of before and people are afraid of what they don’t know. It’s not unusual for them to make jokes about it. Anyway, I do know who did it. It was the wife. Didn’t I already say that?”
“Nee, you didn’t!” Ettie said. “Why do you think she did it?”
“She did, Ettie. She said the wife warned her off him and—”
Ettie nodded. “Now I remember. I’m sorry. I was too busy trying to take everything else in.”
“Because you need to clean out your ears, Mother, I’ll tell you once more. The wife thought Ian and I were having an affair and she came to warn me off him—told me to stay away. I assured her he was a client and nothing else. I even told her I was seeing Ronald, but she still didn’t believe me.” Myra sighed.
“That doesn’t mean she killed him, though.” Ettie handed back the crystal earring. 
Myra threaded the silver part of the earring back through the hole in her earlobe. “I know, but I just know Tiffany did it. That’s her name, Tiffany Carter. I have a knowledge of it. Tiffany and Ian Carter have a son together named Byron. Ian told me that Tiffany has been worked up about Maria getting her hands on his money. Ian told me that Tiffany keeps asking to see his will and he won’t allow her to see it.”
“And who’s Maria?” Ettie asked.
“She's Ian’s first wife. She and Ian have a son together, too, Angelo.”
“Let me get this right. Ian was married to a woman called Maria and they had a son, Angelo. Then he was married to wife number two and they also had a son?”
“That’s right. One son each.”
“Now, the second wife was worried that wife number one wanted to get her hands on the money, so to block her from doing so, she asked to see Ian’s will?”
Myra nodded. “That’s exactly right.”
“How long has Ian been seeking treatment with you?” Ettie asked.
“About a year and he swore he felt better. Well, he did, until he was murdered. He came twice a week for two hours at a time. He was always the last appointment of the day and once it was over we’d sip green tea and share snippets of our lives in the sunroom.”
“And he had a lot of money?” Elsa-May asked. “What Ettie and I have found out by experience is this; when someone is murdered, it’s mostly over love, or money.”
“Sometimes revenge,” Ettie added. "Or any combination of those three."
“Yes, Aunt, he had enough money for someone to kill him over.”
“What did he do for a living to get so much money?” Ettie asked.
“He owned an engineering firm and then he sold it.”
“To whom did he leave his money?” Elsa-May asked.
“My psychic abilities tell me he left most of it to Tiffany and their son.”
“What about the other wife and son? Maria, and was it Angelo?”
“That’s right, Mother.” Myra shook her head. “I don’t know how you can remember something about complete strangers and don’t remember anything about me.”
Ettie pursed her lips not knowing what she was talking about and not game to ask. “I’ll try to remember your new name. Sparkle Orient. You’ll have that one for a while, will you?”
“Yes, Mother. I’ve got no intention of changing it. After all, I chose it myself. I’m sure Maria and Angelo would’ve been left something.”
“Ettie and I will visit Detective Kelly and see what we can find out.”
“Did Kelly remember you?” Ettie asked Myra.
“He thought he knew me from somewhere. I had to tell him who I was and then he remembered.”
Elsa-May nodded. “He should be expecting us then.”
“Would you like a cup of tea, Myra … I mean … um …”
Myra rolled her eyes. “Sparkle, Mother, it's Sparkle, and I’d like a green tea if you have it.”
“We don’t,” Elsa-May said. “We can give you black tea, or kaffe, or a glass of milk.”
“Dairy? Don’t tell me you eat dairy.”
“Jah, we do.”
Myra shook her head. “You should be aware of the latest research.”
“We'll read the latest research as soon as we start wearing crystals and locate all three eyes,” Elsa-May said.
At that, Ettie jumped to her feet. “How about a weak black tea, Sparkle?”
“That’ll be fine, thanks.”
Ettie hurried to the kitchen, glad that Myra—Ettie decided her daughter would always be Myra—hadn’t reacted badly to what Elsa-May had just said. As she put the teakettle on the stove, she wondered how she could have produced a child so different from herself. What attracted Myra to the rubbish she was now talking about? That was a big question, one to ponder at another time. For now, they had to get Myra out of trouble. If only Detective Kelly wasn’t the lead detective on the case. Why couldn’t it have been someone else?

ETTIE SMITH AMISH MYSTERIES

Book 1 Secrets Come Home

Book 2 Amish Murder

Book 3 Murder in the Amish Bakery

Book 4 Amish Murder Too Close

Book 5 Amish Quilt Shop Mystery

Book 6 Amish Baby Mystery

Book 7 Betrayed

Book 8 Amish False Witness

Book 9 Amish Barn Murders

Book 10 Amish Christmas Mystery

Book 11 The Amish Cat Caper

Book 12 Lost: Amish Mystery

Book 13 Amish Cover-Up

Book 14 The Last Word

Book 15 Old Promises

Book 16 Amish Mystery at Rose Cottage

Book 17 Plain Secrets

Book 18 Fear Thy Neighbor

Book 19 Amish Winter Murder Mystery

Book 20 Amish Scarecrow Murders

Book 21 Threadly Secret

Book 22 Sugar and Spite

Book 23 A Puzzling Amish Murder

Book 24 Amish Dead and Breakfast

Book 25 Amish Mishaps and Murder

Book 26 A Deadly Amish Betrayal

Book 27 Amish Buggy Murder

Book 28 Dial M for Mennonite

Book 29 Roost in Peace

Book 30 Quilty until Proven Innocent