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When Secrets Strike
Marta Perry
In Laurel Ridge, Pennsylvania, a community once united must suspect one of their ownAmish quilter Sarah Bitler's dreams no longer feature a husband and family. Instead, she searches for success in the quilt shop within Blackburn House, a place once tarnished with deadly secrets. She refuses to let the past influence her future…until an ominous fire forces them to collide.Fire-fighter Aaron King was the first to touch Sarah's heart—and the first to break it. Now a widower and father of two small girls, his return to Sarah's life brings her buried feelings to the surface. As a string of horrific incidents tears apart their community, an arsonist's wrath threatens to destroy them all. With Aaron as the only suspect, Sarah must follow her instincts to find the truth. But to protect an innocent man, she might risk her heart to Aaron again…and risk her life to an unknown killer.
In Laurel Ridge, Pennsylvania, a community once united must suspect one of their own
Amish quilter Sarah Bitler’s dreams no longer feature a husband and family. Instead, she searches for success in the quilt shop within Blackburn House, a place once tarnished with deadly secrets. She refuses to let the past influence her future...until an ominous fire forces them to collide.
Firefighter Aaron King was the first to touch Sarah’s heart—and the first to break it. Now a widower and father of two small girls, his return to Sarah’s life brings her buried feelings to the surface. As a string of horrific incidents tears apart their community, an arsonist’s wrath threatens to destroy them all. With Aaron as the only suspect, Sarah must follow her instincts to find the truth. But to protect an innocent man, she might risk her heart to Aaron again...and risk her life to an unknown killer.
Praise for Marta Perry (#ua511355f-be16-5f59-a945-f6afa3f11b1c)
“Abundant details turn this Amish romantic thriller series launch into a work of art.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review, on Where Secrets Sleep
“Crisp writing and distinctive characters make up Perry’s latest novel. Where Secrets Sleep is a truly entertaining read.”
—RT Book Reviews
“Perry’s story hooks you immediately. Her uncanny ability to seamlessly blend the mystery element with contemporary themes makes this one intriguing read.”
—RT Book Reviews on Home by Dark
“Perry skillfully continues her chilling, deceptively charming romantic suspense series with a dark, puzzling mystery that features a sweet romance and a nice sprinkling of Amish culture.”
—Library Journal on Vanish in Plain Sight
“Leah’s Choice, by Marta Perry, is a knowing and careful look into Amish culture and faith. A truly enjoyable reading experience.”
—Angela Hunt, New York Times bestselling author of Let Darkness Come
“Leah’s Choice is a story of grace and servitude as well as a story of difficult choices and heartbreaking realities. It touched my heart. I think the world of Amish fiction has found a new champion.”
—Lenora Worth, author of Code of Honor
When Secrets Strike
Marta Perry
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Dear Reader (#ua511355f-be16-5f59-a945-f6afa3f11b1c),
I’m so glad you decided to read my latest Amish suspense series. I always intended to make Sarah, the Amish quilt shop owner, the protagonist of this story. But as I began the planning, I became aware again of the difficulties involved in having Amish characters in a suspense novel. The Amish believe that faith means following Jesus’s teachings, including the one about turning the other cheek. They will not return violence for violence, and of course suspense often does involve attacks, danger and threats. Obviously my Amish characters could not be police officers or use violence in any way against another person. As I wrote, though, I found that this seeming handicap brought an interesting facet to my characters, as they had to struggle against the temptation of anger and violence in the face of attack.
If you’ve read Where Secrets Sleep, I hope you enjoy revisiting familiar places, browsing in the quilt shop and catching up with what’s happening in the lives of people you met there.
Please let me know how you feel about my story. I’d be happy to send you a signed bookmark and my brochure of Pennsylvania Dutch recipes. You can email me at marta@martaperry.com, visit me at facebook.com/martaperrybooks (http://www.facebook.com/martaperrybooks) or at martaperry.com (http://www.martaperry.com), or write to me at HQN Books, 233 Broadway, Suite 1001, New York, NY 10279.
Blessings,
This story is dedicated to my husband, who always believes in me, with much love.
In nature there are neither rewards nor punishment. There are only consequences.
—Amish proverb
Contents
Cover (#u1f9bac73-d9d9-5b7e-872d-59fe18763ed3)
Back Cover Text (#u0847a5fa-29da-5946-b2ee-78e67310fa05)
Praise
Title Page (#u58be0f58-4b82-5931-b8fa-894d90bf7d3b)
Dear Reader
Dedication (#u32eb34cd-f216-579b-8051-38f3dd374291)
Epigraph (#u90cf01a6-050b-542e-8aff-19fc6a340645)
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
EPILOGUE
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#ua511355f-be16-5f59-a945-f6afa3f11b1c)
BE CAREFUL OUT THERE. Sarah Bitler smiled, thinking of her mother’s familiar goodbye as Sarah had climbed into her buggy this morning. Mammi always said the same thing when any of her family left her sight. She’d really rather they stay safely on the farm, even Sarah, who was nearing thirty and had long since been accepted as a maidal, an old maid, by their Pennsylvania Amish community.
What was there to be careful of on this peaceful back road that wound between Amish and Englisch farms on its way to the town of Laurel Ridge? The route took a bit longer to reach her quilt shop than if Sarah had gone by the main road, but was worth it to keep her mother from worrying.
“Mamm is being a little silly, ain’t so, Molly?” She could talk to her buggy horse out here without fear of being overheard. “There’s not even a storm cloud in the sky today.”
Molly flickered her ears in response to Sarah’s voice and then broke stride. The mare tossed her head, snorting.
“What are you—”
Sarah stopped, seeing a few seconds later what Molly had sensed immediately. Smoke, snaking its way up between the trees ahead of her.
“Someone burning trash, that’s all.” But doubt threaded her words. There was too much smoke for that, surely. Hard on the thought she saw the sparks shooting upward, landing among the trees. Her heart thudded in her chest.
Fire. The one thing that farmers feared most, especially in a dry summer like this one. She slapped the lines, sending the mare surging ahead. She’d have to see for herself what was burning.
Around the next curve in the winding road, the source was visible. Flames licked the back wall of a barn, and smoke billowed upward, fanned by the summer breeze. An unused barn, thank the gut Lord, part of the property belonging to an elderly widow who lived in town. No animals were in danger, at least, but if the fire spread—
Sarah froze for an instant, undecided. Race to the nearest phone to call for help? Or check first in case someone needed help?
A glimpse of the small cottage near the barn decided her. The cottage wasn’t empty—Mrs. Everly let Gus Hill live there in exchange for keeping an eye on the property. Sarah had to be sure he wasn’t in danger.
Turning an unwilling Molly onto the lane, Sarah touched her with the buggy whip, and they bucketed up to the cottage. Sarah jumped down from the buggy seat and raced to the door, her breath coming quickly. If Gus was there, surely he’d have smelled the fire by now. Unless he’d somehow provided himself with a bottle, in which case he could well be passed out and unaware of the danger.
“Gus! Gus Hill! Are you in there?” Sarah pounded on the door, glancing toward the flames that licked at the barn roof. “Gus!” She twisted the knob, and the door swung open.
A quick glance around the two littered rooms told her that wherever Gus was, he wasn’t here. But the barn—
She ran back outside. The fire ate greedily at one corner of the roof, sending a shower of sparks toward the trees. He surely wasn’t in there. He couldn’t be. She should hurry to the nearest phone. But she couldn’t, not without being certain.
Her breath catching, Sarah raced to the barn. The heat radiating from it was terrifying, but she had to look—had to be certain Gus wasn’t in there. She grabbed the hem of her apron and held it over her mouth and nose. Eyes watering, she peered through the open doorway.
Empty—not even any old hay bales to feed the fire. And no crumpled body lying unconscious, either.
A timber crashed, flaming, to the barn floor, sending a trail of fire heading toward her. Sarah spun, fleeing to the buggy, not needing to use the whip to persuade Molly into a gallop. They jolted back down the lane, back around the bend. The Stoltzfus farm, that would be closest, and they had a phone shanty near their barn.
Molly raced up the Stoltzfuses’ lane, heading straight for their barn as if it were her own. Sarah halted the mare at the phone shanty, stumbled down and grabbed the receiver, hitting 911. By the time she’d gasped out the information to the emergency dispatcher, Ben Stoltzfus was running toward her from the barn, followed by three of his sons, while his wife, Miriam, hurried from the house, wiping her hands on a dish towel.
“Was ist letz, Sarah? What’s wrong?” Ben grasped her arm.
A fit of coughing seized her, and she could only point.
“Ach, how did we not smell it? Fire—the old Everly barn, ja?”
Sarah nodded, catching her breath. “I spotted it when I was passing. The sparks...” She didn’t need to explain the danger to Ben. He was already turning to his sons.
“Buckets and shovels into the wagon, quick. We must keep the fire from spreading until the fire truck gets here.”
Wide-eyed, the boys ran to obey. Ben raced for the paddock and his buggy horse.
Miriam had reached Sarah by then and wrapped her arm around her. “You’re all right? Komm, let me see. You didn’t burn yourself?”
“No, no, I’m fine.” A cough interrupted the words. “Just need a drink of water, I think.”
“For sure. Into the house, now.” Miriam glanced to the oldest of her daughters. “Emma, go and call the neighbors. Tell them the Everly barn is burning. Quick!”
Ten-year-old Emma paled, but she bolted to the phone shanty.
Suddenly weak in the knees, Sarah was grateful for Miriam’s arm around her as they headed for the farmhouse. Miriam, like any Amish mammi, clucked and comforted and scolded all at once as she gently shoved Sarah onto a kitchen chair and then set a glass of water in front of her.
“You rest a minute. I’ll start coffee. Lucky I have a couple of jugs of lemonade I can take over, too. The firefighters will need a drink.”
Sarah nodded, accepting Miriam’s automatic assumption that they would provide what was needed. It was what neighbors did.
“Maybe take drinking water, as well. I don’t know what the water source is over there.”
“Ja, that’s true.” Miriam bustled around, putting one daughter in charge of the baby and enlisting the other two in carrying jugs and cups to Sarah’s buggy.
“I looked for Gus Hill.” Sarah cleared her throat and took another gulp of water. “No sign of him.”
“He’s never one to hang around if there’s trouble,” Miriam said darkly. “I don’t know what Julia Everly pays him for looking after the place for her, but he’s not worth it, that’s certain sure.”
Reluctant as she was to speak ill of anyone, Sarah had to admit that Miriam was most likely right. Gus was a fixture in the township, well known for his talent for getting by on the least possible effort.
By the time the buggy was loaded, Ben and the boys had already taken off in the wagon. The wail of a siren pierced the air. The fire truck roared by, followed by the usual cars and trucks carrying extra volunteers. Most of the able-bodied men in the area belonged to the volunteer fire company, both Amish and Englisch. Like Aaron King.
