Page 33 of Rage

Doyle shakes his head fervidly. “Didn’t count it. Didn’t need to know how much. I know what dirty money looks like so I took it out to the trash pit and burned it.”

“Did Aaron say where he got the money?” I ask.

“No,” the Amish man replies. “And we didn’t ask.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Shetler, did Aaron have any problems or disagreements with anyone that you know of? Friends or coworkers? Amish or English?”

Ellen shakes her head. “Never heard of such a thing.”

“Does he have a girlfriend?”

“Not that we know of.”

“Is there anyone else Aaron is close to? Someone I can talk to about him?”

“He ran around with the Stoltzfoos boy for a time,” Ellen says. “Haven’t seen him around in a while, though.”

“First name?”

“Joseph,” Doyle tells me. “Good kid. Good family. Hard worker. He was friendly with Samuel, too.”

I write down the name. “You said Joseph hasn’t come around for a while,” I say. “Was there some kind of falling-out?”

“They just sort of drifted apart, I think,” Ellen says.

I pull out the photo of Cassidy and show it to them. “Have you ever seen this woman?” I ask. “With Aaron or Samuel? Around town?”

Both heads shake in unison.

“Is there anything at all you can tell me about any of the English people Aaron was hanging out with?” I ask.

“Never asked about them,” Doyle says. “Aaron never volunteered any information.”

The Amish man sighs tiredly. “To tell you the truth, Chief Burkholder, we really didn’t want to know.”

I’m twenty minutes from home, pondering my conversation with the Shetlers, when the call comes in. HOLMES COUNTY CORONER pops up on the screen and I hit answer. “Hey, Doc.”

“I know it’s late,” Doc Coblentz begins. “In light of the circumstances, I figured you’d still be working.”

“It’s a scary thing when the coroner knows you so well.”

He chuckles. “I’m here at the morgue with the forensic pathologist, Kate. The autopsy is scheduled for first thing in the morning. We’ve gotten the evidence couriered and the victim cleaned up. There’s not much information to glean at this point, but we may be able to answer a few topical questions if you’d like to come by before we call it a day.”

The morgue is the last place I want to be, especially when it’s late and I want nothing more than a shower, a meal, and a couple of hours of uninterrupted sleep. Of course, those trivial human essentials will have to wait. I’m going to subject myself to seeing what’s left of a young Amish man whose life ended long before it should have. My brain will ponder how in the name of God someone could do such a thing to another human being. I’m going to take that first step toward knowing Samuel Yutzy. I’ll know firsthand the violence he endured. The degradations done to him after he was killed. All in the hope that I’ll walk away with some smidgen of information that will set me on track to finding the person responsible.

“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” I tell the doc, and disconnect.

CHAPTER 9

I don’t think about my destination during the drive to Pomerene Hospital. I call Dispatch on the way and schedule a briefing for tomorrow, requesting a representative from the Ohio State Police attend as well as someone from the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office since we’ll likely be forming a task force. I also put out a BOLO for Aaron Shetler.

The morgue is located in the basement of the hospital. My mood darkens as I take the elevator down. Usually, Doc Coblentz’s assistant, Carmen, is there to greet me, but it’s after hours and reception is deserted. I go through the door to the administrative section, and I’m greeted by an old Neil Young rocker that’s turned up a tad too loud. Doc Coblentz—an improbable lover of classic rock and roll—is standing in his office doorway, looking at me. He’s dressed in blue scrubs with a matching blue head covering and his iconic tie-dyed Crocs. Across from him, a middle-aged woman clad in Scooby-Doo scrubs and sneakers scrolls through her cell phone.

“You have good timing,” Doc says by way of greeting.

“That’s the first time anyone has ever said that to this chronically late chief of police.”

The woman looks up from her cell phone and laughs good-naturedly. She’s got watchful eyes, close-cropped gray hair, and black caterpillar brows.