Page 38 of Rage

“Sounds like both young men may have been heading down the same road.”

“According to his parents, Shetler was throwing around a lot of cash.”

“How much cash are we talking about?”

I shake my head. “Shetler works at a farm store.”

“So he’s not exactly rolling in cash.”

I nod. “His boss hasn’t seen him for two days.”

Tomasetti considers a moment. “It’s not too much of a stretch to imagine two young males falling in with a bad crowd. They’re twenty-one years old. Amish and getting their first taste of freedom.”

“Naïve,” I put in.

“Maybe Yutzy met this Cassidy at The Cheetah Lounge. Maybe he talked too much and she assumed Yutzy had money. She charmed her way into his life. All the while, she was setting him up for some scam or con or robbery. Things went south and he ended up dead.”

“Could be a realistic scenario,” I say. “But it doesn’t explain the five hundred dollars in the cash register at the nursery.”

“What about drugs?”

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

“Other known associates?”

“Still looking.”

He nods. “That takes us back to the business. You mentioned a contractual dispute earlier.”

I tell him about Carter Brooks. “According to the parents, Aaron worked with Samuel on occasion.”

“What do you think of Brooks?”

“I think he’s a slick guy. Tough to read.”

“Does he have an alibi?”

“Nope.”

In the silence that follows, I can practically hear the whirr of our brains grinding through the possibilities.

After a moment, Tomasetti says, “I don’t think we’re going to solve this tonight.” He glances at the clock. “It’s after one A.M. Five rolls around fast.”

“Maybe we ought to sleep on it. Hit it fresh in the morning.”

“Great minds.” Rising, he takes my hand and pulls me to my feet. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re a good brainstormer?”

“Yeah, all the attractive and charming male BCI agents tell me that.”

Groaning, he puts his arm around me and heads toward our bedroom.

CHAPTER 10

They’d named her Druvvel—which meant “Trouble” in English—and the heifer had been living up to her namesake since the day she was born. She’d been just an hour old when her mama rejected her. They moved her into the barn and bottle-fed her for nine weeks. Just when they thought their problems were over, she got a bad case of pink eye, which required a trip to the vet and cost them a pretty penny to boot. Then came the scours, another visit to the vet, and a final assault on Ivan Hershberger’s wallet. Finally, when she was strong and healthy at eighteen months of age, they bred her to their prize bull. Now here she was, a new mama with a healthy newborn calf at her side, and both were stuck at the bottom of a ravine, unable to get out.

“Ferwas bischt allfatt so schtarrkeppich?” Why are you so stubborn?

Standing at the edge of the ravine, Ivan Hershberger shook his head as he watched Druvvel nurse her new baby. In the coming hours, Mama would need water. Getting the calf out was not going to be a problem. Getting Mama out was another story.