Grace Miller was a beautiful woman. Her hair matched the stunning chestnut color of the horse before him, but it was her wide blue eyes that drew attention to her pretty face. Why she wasn’t already married was beyond him. Most Amish couples settled down at a young age. She had to be nearing twenty-five. So what happened?
“None of my concern,” he muttered, answering his own wandering thoughts. He focused on the task at hand. Finding the thief.
Jack moved to the last horse in the barn and stopped short.
“I think we have a winner,” he whispered, and paused to observe the stoic horseflesh before him. Even before Jack held out a hand to touch the smooth, sleek neck of the animal, he knew he was looking at a thoroughbred. This one demanded respect just with the tilt of his head. His coat rippled with tension. “I know it was loud in here tonight,” Jack said, speaking with reverence. “But you’ll be home in your own stall soon. I promise.”
Jack eased his hand slowly toward the muzzle and was glad when the horse deemed him worthy to touch him further. A quick lift of the lip revealed the correct numbers and letter configuration he’d been looking for.
Jack let the horse go and stepped back. A growing disappointment percolated through him. A glance in the direction of the house was followed by a frown. “And someone else will be getting a stall tonight. But hers will be at the county’s holding cell.”
Jack put the lantern up on the ledge of the stall and grabbed some tack. He opened the door and slowly approached the equine with palms up. The horse stepped back, but only once. Jack secured the lead quickly and had him out of the stall and the barn within moments.
Jack’s waiting truck and trailer were hidden at the end of the drive, as he hadn’t wanted to reveal his presence until he knew if the stolen horse was really here. He needed to call his supervisor and relay the events, but until any other missing horses were found, Jack wanted to wait. His best course of action would be to bring the woman in and get her to talk about their whereabouts.
Jack brought the horse to the trailer and loaded him up. He moved his truck to the house and prepared to make his arrest. Sitting behind the wheel here in the farmyard reminded him how different his current life was from his past.
But once he entered the farmhouse, how much of his past would come back? He wanted none of it.
After locking the truck up, he made his way up the steps and knocked hard on the door. “Open up! FBI! I have a warrant for your arrest. Don’t make me come in there.” Please, don’t make me come in there.
“Arrest?” The appalling word felt foreign to Grace’s lips as she repeated what the gunman had just announced.
Gunman or lawman?
She peered out from the side of the curtain to see the looming shape of the man she’d faced in the barn now on her porch. Her mind couldn’t comprehend what all these horrific events were about, and she had no plans to open the door to ask this gunman or lawman or whoever he was to explain.
“Go away!” she yelled. “You should know the sheriff knows all about you.” It wasn’t a total lie. Sheriff Maddox knew about one of the thefts, so he would know there would be a thief, as well.
Just maybe not one so menacing.
“And the FBI knows all about you.” The gunman’s response was quick and nonchalant. “The sheriff won’t be able to stop me from taking you and your daed away.”
Daed?
With a gasp of horror, Grace pressed her back against the wall and glanced over at her father, in his chair at the table. He looked so small now, hunched over with fear and confusion on his face.
“I won’t let them take you,” she said to him. “I promise.”
“I know you don’t like to consort with the law—” the voice came from behind the door again “—but it’s best if you open the door. Resisting arrest won’t go well for you in court.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth? How do I know you’re really the police?” she asked. In the next second she heard a tap on the window beside her.
Grace slipped aside the curtain just enough to see a badge and a small flashlight on a phone illuminating it.
Federal Bureau of Investigation... Special Agent Jack Kaufman.
The light beam moved to the tall man’s face.
They were a match.
Her breath picked up its pace at her dilemma, and she said the first thing that came to her mind. “Please don’t take my daed.” It felt like begging, but that was the only choice she appeared to have left. “You can take the horses, but please leave us alone.”
“That’s not how this works. I watched you steal that horse today from Autumn Woods. There’s nothing you can say to make me not take you in. You’re all under arrest. And that includes your partner with the gun back there, when I catch him. And believe me, I’ll catch him.”
“My partner?” Now Grace was even more confused. But another feeling rose to the surface in a rush before she could temper it. The audacity of this man to accuse her of consorting with someone with such evil intentions as murder! Grace grabbed the doorknob. “He was with you, not me. How dare you?”
“Grace, a soft answer turns away wrath,” Benjamin called from the table in a shocked and concerned voice. He stood up abruptly, knocking over his ladderback chair with a crash. The sound of that and her father’s rightful reminder brought Grace back to her senses. Opening the door to set this man straight would only put them in more danger.
“Thank you, Daed, for reminding me. I’ll be certain sure to keep my mind at peace, even in the midst of such danger.”
“Ya, we must always strive for that peace of mind, Gracie.”
A burst of hope caused Grace to smile at her daed. His moment of clarity was a glimpse into the man that she knew was still inside him. His response was lucid and insightful when he cautioned her to keep her calm. These moments made her forget about all the times he didn’t recognize her.
Until the next time.
Was he even aware of them? Or would it be only Grace who would bear the burden of watching Benjamin Miller become lost in his own mind?
“Open the door, miss.” The lawman spoke again, and it didn’t sound like he was asking.
Grace stared at the doorknob she still held in her hand. Indecision paralyzed her. Never had she had to decide between two perils.
A blast sounding in the distance jolted her, but immediately afterward the window she stood beside shattered inward, knocking her to the floor.
Grace let out a scream as her body hit the wood planking. She rolled over onto her belly and started crawling toward her father. “Get down, Daed!”
The
