A Dark Amish Secret

By Terri Downes

Rebecca had left the big city and the crime that goes along with it when she set up shop in the small Amish town. After a close call with a thug, a murder scene is the last thing she expects. But when a nearby shop burns to the ground, a human skeleton is found during the subsequent rebuilding. The remains are believed to belong to a young woman who had left the Amish town for the Englisch world years ago but had never been seen or heard from again. An Englisch detective comes in to investigate and sees Rebecca as a go-between for himself and the Amish townsfolk who seem willing to help but not willing to speak. Now Rebecca finds herself in danger because the person responsible for the murder of the Amish teen is all too willing to keep his own identity a secret.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trellis Publishing
• Release date: Jul 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201663476

Book preview

When Rebecca saw the fire, her first thought was of her grandmother, whom she had last seen walking into the bakery, through the door now hazy with smoke. It was only later, when she had found both her grandparents in the garden, that she considered what the loss of the bakery would mean for her precious new life.

***

When Maria Troyer saw the fire from her kitchen window, she called her husband Michael, telling him to run and help, even though she knew there was little point. The flames had already caught the roof; the little bakery was done for. But Maria was never one to give up.

***

When Simon Smith saw the fire, he broke the usual silence which normally fell over him and his son Andrew as they rode home from the market.

Looks bad, he said, stirring his horse to a faster trot. I hope the Bontragers got out alright, they're not too steady on their feet these days.

Isn't that English granddaughter of theirs still with them? asked Andrew, craning his neck to see the smoke. She'll have got them out.

***

When Elizabeth Smith saw the fire, just across the pasture at the top of the hill, she did nothing but stop in the middle of her kitchen and start praying.

***

When Detective Samuel Hunter saw the fire, he was driving home from work, up on the crest of a hill several miles away. He pulled the car over to the side of the road, feeling a little ill as he realized that the billowing smoke was coming from a building in his old community.

Then he got back in the car and continued on his way, knowing there was nothing he could do. They wouldn't want his help even if he drove right down there and offered it.

***

Rebecca felt her face flush as she leant over the steaming stove. She had often wondered why her grandmother bothered using the little kitchen stove when they had the big bakery attached to the house, but now she was very grateful. She had been cooking almost non-stop for the last day and a half.

It had taken most of the night to get the fire under control, even with all the neighbours helping before the fire department arrived. It had been odd, hearing sirens in this quiet place, and Rebecca had been brought right back to her old life in the city for a moment.

Rebecca, her grandmother and